They may be a ragtag group of losers, but they're my ragtag group of losers!

[Vermachtnis]

How do you build teams on games? Do you pick your favorite characters, even if it mean a little extra work in a few boss fights? Or do you pick the characters with the best move sets? Or do you not worry about it and try to have everyone equal?

And I don't mean just who you battle with, I mean when you get to a new town with new armors and weapons how do you choose who to buy for first? And stuff like that.

Me, I pick my favorites and tough it out. Even if that means I'll have a LV07 guy with the second weapon equiped xD. The real big drawback to this method is when you're forced to use it in a solo battle. Those don't come up to often though for non-main characters though.

[Moon Rabbits]

Just like in the real world, I collect pretty people.

[Bunny]

I only use characters who give me raging hard ons.

[Roto13]

If we're talking about RPGs, then I need a healer, an attack magic user, and a standard fighter. If there are more than three slots, the rest get filled with whoever is awesome.

[kikimm]

Just like in the real world, I collect pretty people.

*high five*

[DK]

As long as I have someone who can heal me and revive me, the rest are usually just people who do the best attacks. Or attacks/techs that I like the best, like in Chrono Trigger I always used Crono and Frog 'cause I liked X-strike even though it wasn't one of the best.

[Psychotic]

My 3-character FF parties have taken on this form:

VII: Cloud, Tifa, Red XIII
X: Tidus, Yuna, Auron
XII: Vaan, Ashe, Basch.

Thus we can conclude I follow Hero-Heroine-Badass rules.

[Ryth]

I need a combat-focused person, attack magic person, and protect magic person. If a fourth slot exists I normally fill it with the equivalent of a "red mage" when possible.


Dragon Quest VIII has this exact party set-up.

[Big D]

My 3-character FF parties have taken on this form:

VII: Cloud, Tifa, Red XIII
X: Tidus, Yuna, Auron
XII: Vaan, Ashe, Basch.

Thus we can conclude I follow Hero-Heroine-Badass rules.Either that, or you play your OT3s unconsciously...

During normal gameplay, I use whichever characters have the most helpful, practical skills for the given situation. But once I get to the stage of harvesting experience and abilities, or I'm onto my second play through, I'll build up my favourite characters rather than the ones the game wants me to use. For instance, in FFX my 'dream team' almost always includes Lulu and Auron.

[blackmage_nuke]

I pick based on the current situation in the story, for example if i was going to a persons home town to do something then i would pick that person and his crush or something because i want to get the most dialogue out that i can.

However if its one of the more recent games like FFX where everyone is pretty much with you all the time i pick based on move sets and the like even though i might hate the characters. Also i tend not to buy equipment for a character in my party until i have enough money to buy something for everyone.
Oh and i usually have a thief in my party because im a real klepto

[Markus. D]

Synergy over everything.

I'll itemspam for healing instead if it's an option ^^~ (I do this in each Squenix/Tri-Ace game I've played in recent years :D!).

However if the healer has something else to give if the Itemspam is an option~ I'll ovcourse choose the healer if I like it more as a character~ (Attack Speed Buffs, Giant AoEs, w/e~!)

[Karellen]

Paladin, wizard, cleric, warrior/wizard, warrior/cleric, warrior/thief

[Mercen-X]

I try to build everybody up until I can see what they can do. I also always try to collect every available playable character.

[Jiro]

I pick my favourites, which is normally the hero, plus a female and a badass. Pretty much the same as Psy :D

[Rantz]

The first time I usually pick the characters I like. The second time I typically go with more tactical choices. Further times, I vary my party to make sure I've seen potential story variations and tried all characters and such.

[Realm25]

I always prefer heavy melee over magic whenever possible. Take FF1 for example, I'll always have either all Fighters, or all Monks etc, with just one Red Mage in there for some spells if and when I need em.

I use that set up for any RPG I play.

[ljkkjlcm9]

Usually focus on the physical as well, or those with the best unique attacks

FFVI: Shadow, Edgar, Sabin, Cyan
FFVII: Cloud, Barret, Cid (multi hit limit break)
FFVIII: Squall, Zell, Rinoa (Limit Breaks again)
FFIX was back to stereotypical.... Zidane(quick melee), Steiner(physical), Vivi(black), Dagger(white/summon)
FFX.... meh, never got far in it
FFXII: Vaan (high evasion dagger, time+arcane magic), Ashe (healing/katana), Basch (pure physical)

and in any other game, I prefer physical people as well.

THE JACKEL

[Wolf Kanno]

My first playthrough usually has me using my favorites or has people who might make a bigger impact on the story (see blackmage_nuke's post). In my second playthrough, I tend to focus more on gameplay so I tend to start using more unique parties and trying to discover secrets.

I build efficient parties that focus mostly on offense and speed. I rarely use magic users cause lets face it, modern JRPGs no longer make them a requirement since you rarely run into things weak exclusively to magic. Not to mention melee characters are starting to get uber special moves that allow them to hit whole groups of enemies once again making magics other strength irrelevant especially when the melee fighter tends to do it for free or at almost no cost. I also rarely use summoners cause they are quite overrated.

[Fate Fatale]

I mainly just use my favorites, but I make them work in a way that they don't suck.

FFVII: Cloud (Because you had to), Yuffie (quick melee), and Vincent (quick melee). I mainly just kicked ass in this game.
FFIX: Zidane (quick melee), Vivi (magic), Freya (melee), and Quina (tank). I didn't really need to heal that much, so a healer was unnecessary.
FFX: Tidus (quick melee), Lulu (magic), Auron (tank)
FFXII: Ashe (battle mage), Penelo (ranged caster), and Basch (tank)

There isn't really a trend. The games ahve become harder over the years though, so I need a healer more.