All that said, the argument we have about Nepgear only having a collection of hammers in terms of available weapons/tools is still entirely valid.
And I'm not just talking about Nepgear herself.
Take a look at Team GEAR:
1) James Roberts - annoyingly unkillable counter-dodge-monkey
2) Michael Rodriguez - spell-immunity, conditional auto-kill on (weak) demons, and a buff for our War Angel Gabriel.
3) Samael Balier - redonculous number of spells - most of which are an assortment of damage and defense buffs, various damage plinkers (i.e. not all that useful), and (blessedly, thanks Shirley and Brilliant Key!) a few utilities like Spell-Stop, Heal, Spell-Reflect and Stun.
4) War Angel Gabriel - she is dear to my heart and I love her a whole lot, but I value her the most for her Presence of Light and for being the strongest direct hitter outside of MGs on the team. I like her because she keeps the team safe well enough, but that's about all she does.
5) Aquila Riven, the Elf - specialized ranged support (and spec ops training).
6) Lucky Star, the Fairy - spellcaster nuker and general magic trivia dispenser.
Samael is the only one actually specced for something other than a form of "kill the enemy dead" - by virtue of having things to play around with - and he only got them on the last mission. Comparatively, even the most genocide capable MG to ever live (yes, Goddess Gold, unless I miss my mark) has a well-developed and appropriately overpowered Total Lockdown spell.
Point is, for all the seeming wealth of options we are afforded, the overall path this wealth of options points at, is unfortunately narrow. Team GEAR is very good at killing things dead, at attracting attention of heavy hitters from squishies, and at completing the uncomplicated missions. Once we go past this remit, we start to flag - not because we're so inept. But because we're simply not equipped for anything else.
Seriously, I'd have Nepgear pay through the nose for us to get a few spell grenades with Total Lockdown and a few emergency escape dimensional/teleportation beacons - because it would help our versatility so, so much. In fact, I figure those emergency escape options are becoming more valuable by the minute, what with Goddess Grey led kill teams aiming for us 24/7 with a 38-53% chance of getting us an auto-loss on a mission until it's dealt with.
