Party Planning Help

[StalkerPizza]

Like I do before I play every Suikoden game, I plan a party. However, I am having problems with this because there is very little information about the characters (except for Jade, Marcia, Hero, and Liu, but I generally want to use different characters than the 4 mains), so who are the best:
Fighters?
Mages?
Healers?
Etc?

Thanks.

[DawnRune]

Depends, how far are you in the game? I can think of a few good people off the top of my head, but I don't want to suggest someone you won't have for a while.

Also, I'm at work right now, so I don't have the game up in front of me. I also haven't beaten the game yet (close, but not quite; missing 16 stars), so I don't know ALL the characters' strengths.

A few good characters that you get early on are: (in no particular order)
Zenoa - Obviously, she makes a really good mage
Manaril - Also makes a good mage
Zahra - Decent at fighting, but he makes a good healer with the right spells
Chrodechild - Good knight-type character, gets even better after a certain point (new 'spell' + weapon)


I'll post more later once I get home...

[StalkerPizza]

I don't really care about spoilers, as long as it isn't like: "Hey, SP, this is how the story ends" or something like that.
So go ahead and suggest anyone possible

[kippei]

i like that sniper guy, the quiet one... if you do the quest to get the prototype guns he gets really strong... yod is a cheap beast, mainly because you dont need equips for him that much... don't know the others that much yet, im still at the point where im about to retake astrasia, but in the meantime, im getting all my characters (i think theres 49 right now) to around 48.. (upto level 42 in the volcano region, then fighting the giant white moths upto 48).. ill get there slowly ^^... oh, and selen can be a beast, if not for her short mana... selen + eunice can pretty much lock a monster (shrike + cure unbalance) for couple of turns... hmm, thats all i can remember so far, dogha with toy hammer equip is good right now in mine too, especially with his quake skill..

[Runemaster]

You mean Buchse?
His defense is pretty low so I ditched him out of my group for Chrodechild and her twins.

[patapi]

Buchse is a long-range sharpshooter, so he is not supposed to be in the front line.

By the way, Fredegund is two whole years younger than Chrodechild, so they are not twins.

[Runemaster]

Buchse is a long-range sharpshooter, so he is not supposed to be in the front line.

That's precisely why I want him ditched. I just want three front-liners so the damage wouldn't be concentrated to one or two tank/s so I ditched him instead of Manaril.

By the way, Fredegund is two whole years younger than Chrodechild, so they are not twins.

Oh I meant her twin blades, Divine Edge.

[patapi]

Oh, the blades. I gave them to Hero. They are easily the best pair of swords until you enter the final dungeon, so might as well give them to the party staple.

[Runemaster]

Hero's equipped with God beast Sword and Iris Blade and I'll look into your suggestion.
Another thing, do you guys think I should take Fredegund instead of Chrodechild? Fred's got a Fury-provoking spell and a Flame Vortex too.

[DanShot360]

I took both Fredegund and Chrodechild for the final battle. To me, they seemed to be by far the best physical fighters. With True Falcon, and their unite attack. I also took Manaril(sp) to heal the group. Was very easy.

[Belcoot4]

I've beaten Tierkreis three times so far and used a number of diffrent characters. There are a lot of different combinations of physical fighters you can try. Diulf and Megion of The Furious Roar are both really effective but limited when it comes to magic. Any of the Auster Folk work out really well, especialy Ordovic, toward the end of the game equip him with a Sun Ring and he has well over 700HP and not to mention 400HP I find him to be the ultimate character. As for Healers unless they have the healing spells that heal everyone I wouldnt be too worried about using one. I used items when I didnt use healers and if you have a lot of the food items it really helps. But I'd say Luo-Tao,Manaril, and Hafin are really good healers. Some of my favorite characters were the mages although most of them had low HP with the right equipment they are beasts. I think Asad and Liu are the best overall when it comes to attacking and defensive magic, equipment selection, and HP. Zenoa, Sophia, and Diadora are also really powerful. For the first time play through i recomend using the original characters (Hero, Liu, Marcia, Jale) because together the cover everything you need they're good "medium" characters. But the team i liked best based on attitude, looks, and skills was: Hero, Asad, Ordovic, Eumnclaw.

[Chaos_Zero]

Characters so far that I found to be incredibly useful: (I use 2 or 3 front row physical attackers to spread damage better). I like equipping Bishamon Armor and Adept's Shoes/Strength Sash on all my physical attackers. That's at least a 40 attack bonus. Anyone who can't use the Bishamon Armor = no go.

Front Row Physical Fighters:

Jale: Can equip many weapons
Crodechild: Duel-wielding swords
Fredegund: Same as Crody
Mourgent: Same as the girl Blades
Yula: Same as the Girl Blades
Chein: Piercer Spear
Selen: Her and Jale early-game = win. Too bad she can't equip the Bishamon Armor.
Any of the Auster folk duel-wielding Giant God Fists (+200 HP AND 120 atk boost? Oh yeah)

Back Row (my healers mainly. Haven't found a need for attack mages:
Marica: Give her a strong physical weapon like a Piercer Spear, Sky-Rend Bow, Soul Reaper, etc. Magic stat isn't important for healing). She can equip Bishamon Armor which made her and instant fave when it comes to back row characters.
Manaril: Broom/Sun Ring (200 HP)
Sphiel: Broom/Sun Ring
Zenoa: Broom/Sun Ring
Diadora: Her Chronicle weapon or Broom/Sun Ring.

Support:
Erin: early game
Gorno: Apparently helps with normal attacks, and since I use Auto 90% of the time, he helps.
Gadburg: Gets rid of the weak mobs, and if you Unbalance/Sleep any big normal enemies, it will spell instant death. I haven't tried with Paralyze or Poison yet.

I haven't found a pressing need to abuse Fury or Alert inducing skills, so I don't bring that to the equation. I pick my characters based off overall usefulness and speed in getting rid of most enemies.

[Belcoot4]

I totaly agree.. if they can't equip the Bishamon Armor then they have no chance making into one of my final parties. It seems everyone really loves Chrodechild, shes really effective but there are others who are better. For swordsman, Mourgent and Meruvis's power are a lot higher than hers when equipped with the best stuff Scale Swords, Bishamon Armor, and Strength Sashs. I also think Fredegund is better than her because shes equal in strength basicaly and she has offensive magic that hits back-row enemies. Even on my third play through i still find it hard not to want to use some of the original characters (Jale, Liu, Marica), something just tells me that atleast one of them should be in the final party. I'm going to try not to use them though, I'm trying to find the best overall party so this is what I'm going with. Hero (btw does he have a real name?), Mourgent(his normal attack is sick), Nova(hes a tank), and Asad (in love with his cyclone spell). If anybody knows anything special about characters most people dont use let me know.

[Runemaster]

Bisha-whaaat?!?!
I've never had that armor!!! Where is it found?

Just for your information, Vaslof has this skill that deals 300% damage to a foe and makes him Unbalance, so does he have an Equilibrium which prevents the Unbalance status..

Yep, you can abuse this one!

[KFCrispy]

Gadburg: Gets rid of the weak mobs, and if you Unbalance/Sleep any big normal enemies, it will spell instant death. I haven't tried with Paralyze or Poison yet.

Paralyze definitely does not allow Spark to trigger, and I doubt Poison would either since it doesn't disable the enemy.