>>717648542
see >>717648693
Mao sucks in his main game, but it's because 3 just felt like retread of 1 with most of the story being going into Mao's heart over and over again and he even spends a good chunk of it talking like a baby.
Mao's main problem is he doesn't really bounce off his supporting characters like Beryl or Almaz. Laharl has very good back and forth with Etna and Flonne and each other which is why they're still considered by far the best. Even Adell with Rozalin was good. Beryl and Almaz just kind of react to whatever Mao does, they never push back and just follow him around and Mao suffers for it.
I think his cameos show that Mao conceptually is one of the best characters, its just they don't take advantage of it in the main game.