rionaleonhart | I Would Accept A Betrayal At Your Hands.

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I Would Accept A Betrayal At Your Hands.

A question for the Final Fantasy players among you: what's your preferred party for the games you've played that let you choose your own party? Did you choose that party for gameplay reasons, are they characters you like, or do you want particular characters in the party because you think that makes most sense for the story? Or do you not have a usual party; do you switch it up on different playthroughs, or swap members in and out throughout the game?

Here are my answers:

Final Fantasy VI: This game has too many characters! My usual team is Celes, Sabin, Edgar and Locke. Celes and Sabin are my favourite characters; I like Locke a solid amount; I'm not particularly into Edgar as a character, but I find his Tools function useful in battle, and, as Sabin is already on my team, it seems fitting to include his brother.

Final Fantasy VII: My first playthrough was Cloud, Cid and Vincent, but nowadays Cloud and Yuffie are always in my party. Cloud's compulsory, of course, but I like him a lot, so I'd probably have him in my party anyway. Yuffie's fun, and her ability to attack from a distance is extremely useful.

I don't really have an established third member. If I were using my favourite characters, it would be Aerith, but on a practical level she's not an ideal party member. I used Red XIII on a recent playthrough, and I thought he was a solid member of the team; I think I might stick with Cloud, Yuffie and Red XIII.

Final Fantasy VIII: Squall, Zell, Rinoa. This is simple enough: they're the characters I like the most.

I've experimented with different parties in Final Fantasy VIII. Squall and Zell are always in my party, but I've done Squall-Zell-Selphie and Squall-Zell-Quistis playthroughs, because Rinoa is unusable for a large portion of the story and I thought I shouldn't get used to having her as a member. (In my first playthrough, I started out with Squall-Zell-Rinoa and then used Irvine in Rinoa's absence, just because he had the highest level.) Eventually, though, I decided I wasn't going to let Rinoa's patchy availability prevent me from using my favourite party; I use Rinoa whenever she's around. When she's not an option, my third member is usually Selphie.

Final Fantasy IX: On previous playthroughs, it's been Zidane, Garnet, Freya and Amarant. I like Zidane, Garnet and Freya; I'm not that interested in Amarant, but my Chocobo Hot and Cold addiction always makes him into a powerhouse, so he's too practically useful to give up! On my most recent playthrough, though, I developed an unexpected fondness for Steiner and swapped Freya out for him.

Final Fantasy X: Yuna, Auron and Rikku. Yuna and Auron are my favourite characters, but, honestly, that's largely coincidental; the main reason I use these three as my party is because they're the three characters I can get the Celestial Weapons for. All the others are impossible! Yuna, Auron and Rikku are manageable, which means they end up doing ridiculous amounts of damage while everyone else is capped at 9999. I level everyone up pretty evenly until I reach the point at which I can get the Celestial Weapons, at which point I start focusing exclusively on these three.

Final Fantasy XII: I actually don't have a party for this game. Because the 'you can switch characters out mid-battle' mechanic means it's beneficial to have strong backups, I level up all the characters evenly, constantly swapping them out, like they're a Pokémon team. On a practical level, all the XII characters are pretty much the same, so I suppose I'd use my favourites if you made me pick a party: Balthier, Fran and Ashe.

Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning, Sazh and Fang. This party doesn't have a great medic, which is a slight gameplay drawback, but overall it has a good balance of roles, and I like the characters a lot. If I were just using my favourites, it might be Lightning, Sazh and Snow, but I think Snow is best in small doses (even if I'm very fond of him), and I don't want to give up Fang's ludicrously high Strength stat.

BONUS QUESTION: how do you feel about your favoured party as an OT3/OT4/OTX? Let's see if I'd ship mine.

Celes/Sabin/Edgar/Locke: I could go for this? I could go for this. The sibling incest might complicate things, but honestly that's the main thing making me go 'this could be interesting?' rather than 'no, get Edgar out of there'.

Cloud/Yuffie/Red XIII: n-no. I do not ship these guys in any combination. The mercenary made entirely of psychological problems, the bratty sixteen-year-old and the lion? I don't think that would work, and it wouldn't even explode in a fun way; it would just be confusing for everyone involved.

Squall/Zell/Rinoa: yes, absolutely! This is a ship I've actually contemplated before. Squall/Zell is my favourite Final Fantasy VIII pairing; Squall/Rinoa is canon; Zell/Rinoa would be extremely cute; Squall/Zell/Rinoa would be great, although Squall would occasionally need to lie down in a quiet room to recover.

Zidane/Garnet/Steiner/Amarant: this is fine until you get to Amarant. Remove Amarant and then we'll talk. Steiner being confused and alarmed by this EXTREMELY IMPROPER arrangement would be great.

Yuna/Auron/Rikku: ooh, I could go for this. Yuna/Auron could be fascinating. I think Yuna/Auron is the main draw for me here, and I'd probably prefer the pairing on its own, but adding Rikku doesn't ruin it. (I don't imagine relationships between cousins would be considered incestuous on Spira; it's relatively rare for them to be considered incestuous on Earth.)

Balthier/Fran/Ashe: this is a great idea, yes! The only problem is that I feel this threesome carries a risk of ballooning Balthier's ego to dangerous levels.

Lightning/Sazh/Fang: huh! Hadn't occurred to me, but I'd be up for it. Maybe a V-shaped arrangement focused on Lightning; I think I'm inclined towards interpreting Fang as a lesbian, so I can see Lightning/Sazh and Lightning/Fang more easily than I can see Sazh/Fang.

If you'd like to, feel free to answer the 'what's your usual party and would you ship them together?' questions for other party-based games, not just Final Fantasy!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The mercenary made entirely of psychological problems, the bratty sixteen-year-old and the lion? I don't think that would work, and it wouldn't even explode in a fun way; it would just be confusing for everyone involved.

I know the kind of dynamic you mean. Sometimes ships aren’t good, but they’re entertaining disasters. At other times it’s just “No, that does not sound pleasant to watch or read about on any level.”

this is a great idea, yes! The only problem is that I feel this threesome carries a risk of ballooning Balthier's ego to dangerous levels.

That sounds like a fun problem to have!

Sometimes ships aren’t good, but they’re entertaining disasters. At other times it’s just “No, that does not sound pleasant to watch or read about on any level.”

Very true! 'This wouldn't work in a fun way' and 'this just wouldn't work' is an important distinction.

Cloud/Yuffie/Red XIII isn't even an unpleasant concept, really; I just find it impossible to picture. There are plenty of threesomes I can envision Cloud Strife in; I can easily see him with any combination of Aerith, Tifa and Barret, for a start. But, if I try to picture him with the bratty teenage thief and the lion, the inside of my head is just a blank.

You're right, come to think of it; it would be a fun problem!

FF6: This is a bit of a funny one as it's the Final Fantasy game where I've made the least progress in (got to the Floating Continent and got wasted) and the part of the game prior to that has a lot of split parties, so I wouldn't say I've ever 100 percent fixed on a party - I think there are actually some characters I never got to getting, too. With that in mind, my party was generally Edgar/Sabin/Celes/Cyan - I think it might potentially be Edgar/Sabin/Celes/Gau these days, depending on how patient I'm feeling with the Veldt! I always like to have some form of healer around (I don't use offensive magic a lot in Final Fantasy games, I preserve MP for bosses only) but it's nice to have offensive magic as a bit of an option. Edgar/Sabin have useful skills although as a kid I completely failed to use Blitz and got stuck on my first playthrough. Cyan's ability just felt easy to use but can feel like a bit of a waiting game, and Gau is versatile depending on if you get favourable skills from the Veldt, and useless if not.

FF7: When I was a kid, this was Cloud/Aeris/Vincent, because Cloud is mandatory, Aeris is best healer (and healing wind best limit break), plus I just thought Vincent was cool as hell. (How much of that was character design vs character I don't know!) Since I don't like to use Aeris nowadays so much because it feels like a waste of levelling, sorry Aeris I still love you! Nowadays I tend to favour Cloud/Barret/Cid, who are possibly the most bad-tempered party ever, but I like their skills/limit breaks.

FF8: This was definitely Squall/Rinoa/Selphie as a kid, although when Selphie is out of commission for what feels like forever I drafted Irvine in. Nowadays it's pretty solidly Squall/Rinoa/Zell. Angel wing is the best limit break and nobody will convince me otherwise! I still love both Squall and Rinoa to quite a ridiculous degree as characters.

FF9: I always struggle with an FF9 party as I want to fit more people in than I have slots. As a kid, I went with Zidane/Vivi/Eiko/Freya - the party of small children and cool Irish dancers. As an adult, I go with Zidane/Steiner/Garnet/Vivi, although I always feel like I need to try and get Freya in there as I really like her dragoon abilities. Steiner and Vivi have the good combination (sword magic) and sometimes you just need offensive magic, but I also need access to a healer. When Garnet is absent or ...ing in battle, I draft in Eiko. To be honest, if I could, I'd take Zidane out and put in Freya! I like Zidane as a character but he's not my favourite combatant by a longshot!

Final Fantasy 10: Before we get onto the superboss bit, my preferred party is Tidus/Auron/Wakka (Yuna would definitely be in there but this game gives me a system where I can sub in and out my healer so not have to compromise on losing DPS, so I use it!). Like you, however, I'm a bit hampered by the time you need to upgrade Celestial Weapons and when I want to fight the dark aeons, I need break damage limit. This means I can only choose between Tidus/Auron/Yuna/Rikku, so I normally go with the former. I feel like the celestial weapon for Wakka and powerups is within reach, but by the time I've played like 50 blitzball games and it doesn't want to appear as a prize (think a crest or sigil rather than the weapon itself?) I'm so done with it. Lulu's is just impossible. I think my brother helped me get Tidus' celestial weapon and/or power up - he helped on the chocobo race that you have to finish in less than 0 seconds or something stupid like that!

FF12: I feel like with the Zodiac Age you could say anybody because you can control the versatility of the characters, so first I'll talk original FF12. I used to use Vaan/Balthier/Ashe. I always feel like the main character should be in the party (-cough-even though I said what I did about FF9) or it feels wrong, and technically Vaan is our main character (even if sometimes it feels like it should be others) so felt I had to have him in. In Zodiac Age, I could finally put Fran in my party (the archer skills had never interested me) so it became Balthier/Fran/Ashe, with sometimes bringing in Vaan, because it just felt wrong to never use him, even though the other three characters are much more interesting to me.

FF13: I swapped people in and out depending on what set of paradigms I wanted to have available, but when I wasn't specifically strategising for big fights or needing abilities that only certain characters got, I typically went along with a Lightning/Hope/Sazh party: aka, the party of synergists. ALL OF THE BUFFS. Hope's a great healer too even though his health isn't great. They were mostly my favourite characters and then I found the paradigm set up worked quite nicely for me, although it's probably not an optimised party.

-timydamonkey

Nowadays I tend to favour Cloud/Barret/Cid, who are possibly the most bad-tempered party ever

I'm cracking up at this. It's like you were challenged to cram as many attitude problems as possible into one videogame party.

I like Zidane as a character but he's not my favourite combatant by a longshot!

It's true; a lot of other party members have more useful skills than Zidane, whereas Squall and Cloud are both extremely useful on a practical level!

I always feel like the main character should be in the party (-cough-even though I said what I did about FF9) or it feels wrong

Interesting! I'm fine with swapping Vaan out, but I definitely think I'd feel weird if my Final Fantasy XIII party didn't have Lightning. I wonder if that's because Vaan feels less involved in the plot than the average main character of a Final Fantasy game.

Final Fantasy VIII: Squall, Rinoa, Irvine.

This is because neither Rinoa nor Irvine are SeeDs. He has no reason to trust their judgment or training in a SeeD operation executed without his direct supervision. And Rinoa is his client. He would never be so unprofessional as to send her, for example, with Selphie to infiltrate a missile base.

Final Fantasy X: Yuna, Tidus, and Wakka.

They're just the strongest from a combat perspective. I always make Yuna incredibly OP and teach Tidus steal skills, and Wakka is the only one who can hit aerial enemies for most of the game. And I'm someone who loves to use status spells and debuffs on my enemies. There's really no storyline reason for it.

Final Fantasy XII: Ashe, Balthier, and Basch.

They're my faves.

Final Fantasy XV:

My Glaive from the now discontinued multiplayer. :(

This has reminded me that I really need to finally finish IX and VI. And I guess VIIR, even though I remain a loud VII naysayer.

I remember you mentioned your 'the qualified SeeDs are the ones Squall trusts to act without his supervision' reasoning a couple of years ago, when you were explaining your missile base party composition, and I really like it! I could never use that reasoning to form my own party, of course, because I refuse to live without Zell in my main team, but it makes a lot of sense.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts if you do indeed finish those games!

I think it's interesting VIII, with all its problems, is the only one (thus far) where I care so much for preserving the integrity of the storyline that I allow it to impact my gameplay!

For IX, it’s practically been years since I last picked it up so I don’t remember what my original party compositions were, but I was biased towards magic users so I’d bring them to every boss battle.

I always benched Quistis in VIII. I hated grinding in VIII for some reason, so I never saw a use for her. This is why I never managed to reach the endgame without being severely underleveled… oops. Rinoa, Irvine and Selphy were my most used party members.

I feel the same with XII. I switch out members (and play around with gambits. god this was so revolutionary for it’s time!) constantly for whatever’s convenient at the present circumstances (Characters with Steal or Poach if I’m grinding, White mages for access to Regen, ranged fighters against flying enemies etc etc.) but I always try to put Ashe in the lead even if it’s not the most optimal choice— she’s a favorite of mine!

I was biased towards magic users so I’d bring them to every boss battle.

I'm absolutely terrible about using magic, and I'm always sort of impressed by people who are actually able to make good use of magic systems. I'll use plenty of healing magic, but I never touch offensive magic. I just want to hit things with swords! (The Persona series is a rare exception; the 'using the right magic will knock the enemy down and get you another turn' mechanic is a strong incentive!)

Thinking about it, maybe what I'm really resistant to is using consumable resources. I can't use magic; that'll use up MP! In Final Fantasy XIII, meanwhile, which doesn't have an MP system, I'll happily throw magic all over the place.

I always benched Quistis in VIII. I hated grinding in VIII for some reason, so I never saw a use for her. This is why I never managed to reach the endgame without being severely underleveled… oops.

Good news: staying at low levels actually makes Final Fantasy VIII easier, as the enemies level up with you, so there's no need to grind! I always equip Enc-None as soon as Diablos learns it, so I can trot happily through the game without any random battles. I do tend to spend ages drawing and junctioning magic to make myself ludicrously overpowered, though.

Oh man it's been a long time, let's see what I can remember...

FF6 - I went with Edgar, Sabin, Setzer, and Strago, and clearly because I liked them the most. |D Sabin's blitz and Edgar's tools were useful, and Strago could get some hard hitting spells off too. Setzer was mostly for support. I remember using Gau a lot too when I got the right rages for him! Shipping the four together would be a mess, Strago is really the odd one out there lol. Although I can see Edgar, Sabin, and Setzer getting into stupid misadventures together.

FF7 - It was Cloud, Cid, and Vincent, since I was such a rabid Cid/Vincent shipper back in the day. I could see that threesome although I imagine Cid getting exasperated a lot. Barret can come too lol

FF8 - Squall, Irvine, and Zell, with Squall and Zell doing damage (I was very good at Zell's limit break!) and Irvine running healing. I just liked Irvine, what can I say. Squall and Zell obviously click, Irvine might add a fun lazy dynamic in there.

FF9 - Man it's been a long time, but I'm pretty sure it was Zidane, Amarant, Vivi, and Freya. Although I might have also had Quina in there because Mighty Guard was SUCH a good ability. I just really loved all those characters. |D Vivi is baby, so he couldn't really be in a ship so much, although I've seen some fun stuff with Freya/Amarant. I actually wrote two sentences of a Zidane/Amarant story a million years ago that I never got anywhere with lol. I dunno if I'd ship them now though, although them all pestering Amarant could be fun. Quina... Quina is a wildcard...

Although I can see Edgar, Sabin, and Setzer getting into stupid misadventures together.

God, they really would. Then they all head back to the airship to make out with Strago.

Your Cid/Vincent shrine was, I have to admit, the reason I went with a Cloud-Cid-Vincent party the first time I played VII.

Squall and Zell obviously click

yesssss, glad to have your support. It's always been weird to me that Squall/Zell isn't a bigger pairing! It definitely has a following, but that following's always been on the small side.

Just checked, and Squall/Zell doesn't even make the list of the ten most-written pairings in AO3's Final Fantasy VIII section! (Somehow two of the pairings in the top ten manage to be Cloud/Squall. One of them is Cloud/Tifa. I can't believe Cloud/Tifa is a bigger Final Fantasy VIII pairing than Squall/Zell.)

although them all pestering Amarant could be fun

Now that you mention it, while I've never really contemplated shipping Amarant before, I do enjoy the thought that Amarant would be slightly annoyed to end up in any sort of relationship.

FF7 - It was Cloud, Cid, and Vincent, since I was such a rabid Cid/Vincent shipper back in the day. I could see that threesome although I imagine Cid getting exasperated a lot. Barret can come too lol

Yeeesssssssss. You are one of my people. I feel it.

FFVI.
I always aim to do a completely different group every playthrough. Most recent one was Strago, Relm, Shadow, and Gau (Team Family Issues, my bf liked to call it). Tho my favorite comp was probably Mog, Gau, Umaro, and Gogo during my natural magic run of the game.

FFVII.
When I was a kid, my go-to group was Cloud, Tifa, and Cid. Most recent playthrough used Cloud, Cid, and Yuffie, which was also very enjoyable.

FFVIII.
God it's been forever since I played, but I think Squall, Quistis, and Irvine were my core group. I loved the latter two's limit breaks.

FFIX.
Zidane is sadly mandatory, but Eiko, Vivi, and Steiner were my faves for a main group.

FFX.
Kihmari, Rikku, and Auron were my core group the last time I played. My bf got me hooked on Rikku's overdrive lol.

FFXII.
Ashe, Balthier, and Basch are my faves, but my last playthrough traded Balthier for Penelo (my bf's fave).

In terms of shipping, uhhhhhh yeah that's a hard pass from me on nearly all of them lolsob. Expect for Ashe/Balthier/Basch. That was one of my first OT3s way back in the day!

Your 'completely different group every playthrough' aim for Final Fantasy VI is a very cool one! I do feel a little bad that the people who worked on this game took the time to create all these different characters with all these different abilities, and my response was 'NO. ONLY THESE FOUR.'

I'm cracking up at how terrible almost all your parties are in terms of shipping. Ashe/Balthier/Basch is a good one, though!

We have the same parties for VI (sometimes swap Terra for Locke when I need more magic) and IX (Amarant's healing move is great for keeping Garnet ready to summon constantly)! VIII I tend to Squall, Quistis, Zell, and XIII I liked Ladies' Night of Light, Fang, Vanille (OT3 yes.)

X because I am a powermonger I just use everyone in every battle.

I didn't realise until my most recent playthrough how useful Amarant could be as a healer! He narrowly pulled me back from the brink of defeat in the final boss battle with his 'revive allies from KO' move.

That revive is absolutely clutch.

I'm actually a pretty big swapper, unless I hate a character I rotate a decent amount, but I do have some preferred characters!

Final Fantasy VI: I'm Gau/Sabin/Edgar+Setzer usually but also Celes, Cyan, or Locke. I always kinda hced that Sabin would train Gau and so then Edgar would be involved with that, also Cyan. and Setzer's just cute lmao, the best reason to pick anyone (actually I think I like gamblers in rpgs. Throwing dice is a fun attack!)

Final Fantasy VII: Cloud/Barrett/Cid is my preferred, but I also have done Cloud/Tifa/Cait (Cait is so dumb to use but it amuses me... and again, he throws dice. I don't know why I like that so much). The last time I played with my sister we did Cloud/Yuffie/Red, which was a lot of fun too! I actually did write a fic about it but it was not at all shippy, it was more about Cloud being annoyed, as he obviously would be.

Final Fantasy VIII: Squall/Selphie/whoever I feel like using. Selphie's my favorite and I love the whole cast so there's a lot of rotation... Irvine's probably the most common because I love Selphie/Irvine.

Final Fantasy IX: I'm not a huge fan of 9 and so it's like, Zidane/Freya/Quina/Vivi because Freya's my favorite character and then I like the contrast in character designs by adding Quina and Vivi LOL. I like Steiner too but I feel like between Zidane and Freya I don't need more physical attackers so he doesn't really get in there.

Final Fantasy X: It's been so long since I played, but I'm pretty sure it's Tidus/Yuna/Wakka until Rikku shows up, then sub her in for Wakka. This is pure favoritism.

Final Fantasy XII: Vaan/Penelo/Fran (though with Zodiac Age I pretty much kept an A and B team in equal use). Not a big 12 fan either, so partially I picked this to kinda pick the characters people seem to dislike the most; I like Vaan and Penelo and think they compliment each other. Fran? Uh. Bunny??

Final Fantasy XIII: Hope/Lighting/anyone except Snow. Hope is my favorite 13 character and I like his dynamic with Lightning, anyone else I'll swap as I like except Snow, which I will not be rude about since you said you like him haha.

As for shipping... god this really lays out that I'm a big sucker for some canon FF ships and then just like characters in parties that I have more familial hcs about. Cloud/Barrett/Cid is hilarious though; I like Cloud/Barret on its own but throwing Cid in is hard to imagine. I wanna believe.

This would be really fun for other games... I would love to know what people do for games with really large casts, like would there be any consensus on most used characters in Suikoden? But SMT/Persona stuff would probably work better for this kind of comparison.

I actually did write a fic about it but it was not at all shippy, it was more about Cloud being annoyed, as he obviously would be.

You should link me to it!

Zidane/Freya/Quina/Vivi because Freya's my favorite character and then I like the contrast in character designs by adding Quina and Vivi LOL.

Ha, that's as good a reason for forming a party as any! I've been replaying Bravely Default recently, and I love the stupid mismatch of character designs you can end up with based on the jobs you choose. Right now my team is Tiz in full armour, Ringabel in a pirate costume, Agnès in a fancy dress and Edea in a giant fursuit.

anyone else I'll swap as I like except Snow, which I will not be rude about since you said you like him

Go on, bully Snow, he deserves it! I just find it really hard to dislike him, somehow. He's just so friendly and energetic and loving; he's like a big dog.

Cloud/Barrett/Cid is hilarious though

It really is. The grumpiest ship!

sure!

Your Bravely Default team sounds great! I liked how many outfits that game has. And yeah, I think that's partially why I always use animals and unusual looking characters in general in my party... it's not every game that you get to be freeform goofy like that.

I won't bully Snow anyway...... he's probably one of my least favorite FF characters ever LOL. Just totally not for me. One of my best purchasing decisions ever was not buying the Play Arts of him before I played 13, I was convinced I would love him!

Guess I’ll bite at the other RPGs bit too:

Persona 3 FES

As a kid: Protagonist/Koromaru/Ken/Aigis. Nowadays: Protagonist/Ken/Junpei/Mitsuru/ The first team is the team of absolute odd balls: the dog, small child, and robot. This was deliberate but generally speaking in my early experiences with the Persona games I tended to be underlevelled, so using a party of mostly later characters served to deal with this a little bit since I’d be like oh, the character who has just joined is 5 levels higher than me. Whoops. In my party you go! I like using Ken as I think the small child with the death wish, anger issues and giant spear (plus good healing spells to go along all the aggressively named kill rush etc skills!) is hilarious. I really appreciate Junpei a lot more as a character now I’m older and I think his arc is excellent. Persona 3 isn’t perfect, but I think Junpei’s arc, as well as Akihiko/Shinji/Ken’s is really powerful. Btw. I really like Akihiko but he struggles to make my parties as two electricity users is a bit one-sided and I find Ken more useful overall. Mitsuru is great and easier to use in Portable, where you can control the party, so she isn’t casting tentarafoo or marin karin on everything and missing all the time.

Persona 4

As a kid: Protagonist/Naoto/Kanji/Teddie. I really liked Naoto as a character but in the original game she is not good combat-wise, with mostly gun skills and insta-death spells as I recall, which are useless against bosses and probably okay in dungeons if, y’know. I would ever consent to use SP for non-weaknesses. Naoto also had megido spells which are powerful but cost a lot of SP, so SP conserver me said no. Kanji is another favourite of mine. Teddie got good multi-hit healing spells and amrita, and shouted “bearsona!” which I thought was funny. I think he’s a case of the levelling phenomenon I mentioned earlier though: higher level than Yukiko and accessing spells potentially earlier due to that, so it was pretty much common sense. Now: Protagonist/Yosuke/Chie/Yukiko. The original party packs quite a bit of a punch and I do generally enjoy their characters, probably Yosuke the most and Yukiko the least of this bunch.

Persona 5 (plus Royal I guess)

Protagonist/Akechi/Ryuji/Morgana. When Akechi is unavailable, I bring in Makoto. Ryuji’s my favourite, Akechi is a ball of absolute rage and hatred trying to cover it (and is at his best in Royal when he’s no longer trying) and I’m there for that, Morgana is a cat which is lots of plus points for me, and Makoto was the one I originally dated, and I dig her smarts contrasted with her kind of goofy social skills.

Trails in the Sky games

Estelle/Joshua/Kloe/Agate In SC, I brought in Kevin for Joshua early on, then for Agate later. I tend to favour physical hitters or characters with healing/defensive s-crafts (think Aerith’s healing wind limit break), so characters that I like such as Olivier don’t make it in here as they’re designed to be arts users. If Olivier was in the party instead of Agate it may be a weirdly workable ship.

Trails to Zero/Azure

I’m boring and like the original party: Lloyd/Elie/Randy/Tio. I mean, there’s not exactly a lot of choice in Zero, but in Azure, I still stick with that company whenever possible. Shit’s going down; leave it to the SSS.

Trails of Cold Steel

In the first and second games, when I had a choice, I went with Rean/Elliot/Laura/Gaius. The third and fourth games throw loads and loads of characters at you and some parts you’re playing as Rean and other adult (or at least older) characters and some parts you’re playing from just within the New Class 7 crew. In the third and fourth games, my preference was Juna/Ash/Kurt/Altina, and when Rean was available, the preference would be Rean/Ash/Kurt/Juna. Kurt was more for gameplay reasons, but I really loved Ash as a character, and while Juna's combat doesn't blow me away she has some really nice character beats.

Trails to Reverie

C/Nadia/Renne/Ash where possible. This game has over 50 playable characters, it’s insane. I started the game finding C team very difficult to play and getting my ass kicked, but they became my favourite combatants when I realised how to use them with three of these members all being from C team. I also liked them a lot given I do quite like a party of old favourites, thank you, but only Ash survived staying in the team – I really like Ash as a character. Still, I think this is nice as it gives some new characters – and some not often playable characters – a chance to breathe.

Shadow Hearts

Yuri/Alice/Halley. One of the funny things about the Shadow Hearts games is the judgement ring battle system, and there are some characters I won’t touch with a bargepole in battle as I don’t like their judgement ring placement – if I’m more likely to miss than hit in battle, I’m not using you, no matter how good a character you are. I seem to remember Joachim in the second game felt strongly into this category – though I wasn’t too enamoured with his character anyway. Speaking of...

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Yuri/Karin/Anastasia/Blanca. I have a few variants of the small child and animal party here, and here’s another one. Karin is just cool as hell so she makes it in for that.

Shadow Hearts: From the New World

Johnny/Shania/Hilda/Ricardo. Shania is in as a utility character: you’ve got to have a Harmonixer in your party in a Shadow Hearts game or it just feels weird. I seem to remember quite liking Hilda’s character and utility, and Ricardo attacks/supports by playing music, which I think was my entire justification for bringing him into the party.

I know I’ve played more RPGs than this but I can’t think of any others at the moment that don’t have fixed parties or aren’t stuff like SMT where you really don’t have a fixed party as demons get swapped out a lot. Maybe Digital Devil Saga? My team there was generally Serph/Gale/Argilla, because they’re my favourites!

-timydamonkey

I tended to be underlevelled, so using a party of mostly later characters served to deal with this a little bit since I’d be like oh, the character who has just joined is 5 levels higher than me. Whoops. In my party you go!

This makes a lot of sense! It had slipped my mind as a reason one might choose to use particular characters, but it's the reason I replaced Rinoa with Irvine on my first Final Fantasy VIII playthrough; Irvine was at a higher level because he'd joined the party later. I love the weird party you ended up with as a result.

When I was writing this entry, Final Fantasy was the only series coming to mind in which I had to choose a party; I was kicking myself when I realised I'd forgotten Persona! Might as well post my own parties here:

Persona 3: protagonist, Akihiko, Yukari, Mitsuru. As you mention, Mitsuru's AI is a bit dodgy, but I kept her in my party because I liked her character!

Persona 4: protagonist, Yosuke, Kanji, Yukiko. Yosuke and Kanji are my favourites, and then I like everyone else pretty equally (except Teddie); I mainly use Yukiko because she's a good healer.

Persona 5: Joker, Ryuji, Makoto, Ann. For the final term, I switched to Joker, Ryuji, Makoto, Akechi; I don't use Akechi when he first joins the party, but he becomes much more fun after he shows his true colours.

I definitely seem to lean towards just choosing characters I like in the Persona games, possibly because all the characters tend to have unique strengths, so it's rarer for one character to make another redundant (whereas I wouldn't have e.g. Garnet and Eiko in the same party in Final Fantasy IX).

Ship-wise, honestly, I think any of my Persona parties could work as an OT4, with the possible exception of Joker/Ryuji/Makoto/Akechi; I don't think Akechi would consider Ryuji worth his time. (Sorry, Ryuji. I still love you.)

(deleted comment)

SURPRISE, you're getting a response two months later, I am very timely.

I think I actually had Eiko in my party, not because of any interest in her but because I couldn't find a more powerful healing spell for Garnet, iirc.

It's a real struggle for me that Eiko learns better spells than Garnet, but I like Garnet more. Garnet's always the one I have in my party, but I quietly lament the fact that she can't learn Regen. At least the Auto-Regen ability exists.

Tidus/Yuna/Auron would be an incredible OT3.

i always pick my parties based on my fondness for the characters first and foremost, which, from a strategic standpoint, is Terrible unless i feel in love with the tank of the crew huhu

i know when i played ffx i usually had yuna, auron, and tidus, with yuna being the character i shifted in and out the most (cause ngl i grew attached to everyone so i tried to balance them out, especially later on when, ahem, Strategy did Matter) and i would 1000% ship them (which is also another way i tend to base my party make-ups, like when i used to actively play fire emblem heroes, my party ships came above all else first

that's probably also why i struggled so much gameplay wise lol but the heart does what it does!)

Yuna, Auron and Tidus are a great party, and also a great ship! I hugely respect choosing parties based on fondness and shipping; that's the correct approach, frankly, even if it can cause strategic struggles. I apologise for taking almost three months to write a two-sentence reply.

failed strategies mean nothing in the face of love!! no worries! time is an ever escaping concept after all

What a fun question! In general, I’m always swapping our party members all the time, even ones I don’t like that much, because I have an obsessive need to use everyone. If a character is getting any kind of plot focus, I’ll usually put them in. So with all that in mind, a few quirks I tend to fall into…

VI: I like to group up people based on shipping haha. Terra/Celes, when they’re both available, is novel, and I like to keep Sabin with his old husband Cyan, and adopted son Gau. I throw Shadow in as his boyfriend. So when splitting the party it usually looks like Terra/Celes/Locke/Edgar, Sabin/Shadow/Cyan/Gau and Setzer/Relm/Strago/Mog.

Ship Potential: Terra/Celes/Locke/Edgar? Sure. I like almost any combo of these characters. Sabin/Cyan/Shadow/Gau? Nah. As we’ve discussed above, Gau is Sabin and Cyan’s son, and Shadow is their transient boyfriend. I… will not dignify the last group with a response.

VII: In disc one I have a fondness for using Cloud/Tifa/Aerith. They’re a strong party and an even stronger OT3. Aerith can so easily be the most ridiculously powerful character while she’s available, so it’s fun watching her whack people to death with that staff you can steal from a Hell House. Later in the game, I tend to default to Cloud/Cid/Vincent. Cid x Vincent are OTP, and even though Vince kinda sucks compared to everyone else, I love his ~aesthetic~.

Ship Potential: Yup to both!

VIII: Twinsies! I like using Squall/Zell/Rinoa the most too. When you have to split the party for half of Disc 2 I usually keep them together so they can ~~kiss~~ hang out at Garden while Selphie/Quistis/Irvine go ~~kiss~~ to the military base.

Ship Potential: Right there with you! Throw in Quistis and/or Seifer and you’ve got the perfect ship cluster. Backpeddaling to the Squall/Zell/Rinoa thing, I tend to imagine Zell and Rinoa are more in it for Squall, mostly because they give off strong “rich girl and her gay himbo bff” energy, but I think they’d be fine getting down and dirty in the same location if their emo boy toy is in the middle.

IX: The Zidane/Dagger/Vivi/Steiner group is classic and effective. Sometimes it’s fun to do a swap for Zidane/Eiko/Freya/Amarant.

Ship Potential: VIVI IS A BABY. EIKO IS A BABY.

X: I feel like the battle system really wants you to constantly swap to hit enemy weaknesses and level up appropriately. If I’m going for straight up damage though it tends to be Yuna/Wakka/Auron.

Ship Potential: Yuna/Wakka/Auron doesn’t really do it for me. Replace Yuna or Wakka with Tidus or Lulu and I’m sold. Hell, replace Yuna with Kimahri and I’m sold. For some reason, Yuna x Wakka just doesn’t do it for me.

XII: Constantly swapping… but I am partial to Balthier/Basch/Ashe, because they are my favs. Also sometimes do an all boys or all gals group.

Ship Potential: They be fuckin’. (And Fran is usually involved too.)

XIII: For gameplay, I feel like Light/Fang/Hope are the best. But I like to run Light/Fang/Vanille because all girl groups are fun, and they are OT3 vibes. (Strong “This is my girlfriend Fang, and Fang’s wife Vanille” vibes)

Ship Potential: They Be Fuckin’ 2: Lesbian Boogaloo

If a character is getting any kind of plot focus, I’ll usually put them in.

I really like this strategy, actually! I don't think I could adopt it, because it would result in a lot of suffering from the plot-relevant character being underlevelled, but I think it's a very cool idea.

You've got some very shippable parties in here! (Even if there are some less shippable ones in the mix; I can't get along with Yuna/Wakka either.) Cloud/Tifa/Aerith, Squall/Zell/Rinoa and Lightning/Fang/Vanille are particularly great. Although of course nothing beats Setzer/Relm/Strago/Mog.

Sorry for taking forever to reply! I've got another months-old comment from you somewhere in my 'reply to this' pile, so brace yourself for another incredibly overdue response at some point.

(Hah, I love overdue replies. No worries!)

Yeah, we all ship Setzer/Relm/Strago/Mog. I'm working on my 69 chapter PWP opus featuring them, Of Airships and Moogles: Passion on the Arid Wind that I fully expect will make me the most popular and influential writer in all of history. An excerpt for you, since I know you're one of their largest fans:

"Kupo!" Mog's pom bounced luridly. Setzer released the Strago's saggy, fleshy undercarriage, transfixed. Relm, who was now eighteen and totally legal, sighed heavily, her massive breasty bosom heaving with pent up desire. It was going to be a long flight.

This is a masterpiece. I can't wait to hear the podfic version.

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I Would Accept A Betrayal At Your Hands.

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strategy ruled by fondness

Re: strategy ruled by fondness

Re: strategy ruled by fondness

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