Best character set up for a newbie?

I recently bought the game for the PSP. Ive always wanted to play this one. It seems a lot of people hate FFII for its unique advancement system. It probably isnt very well balanced out. But it still seems cool.
I was wondering what the some of the best character set ups would be. Im playing throuhg FF1 at the moment but would like to get a little help before starting 2 so that I dont do something completely crazy like I usually end up doing.
I heard that your 4th character always changes. Are already specialised in something when they join? How do I set up my three other characters accordingly?
Some general tips and opinions on what to make each character would be awesome!
Thanks in advance!

The 4th characters are usually specialized.

As for your 3 initial characters definitely train one character with swords because the 2 best weapons in the main game are swords. You'll probably want to train each of your initial characters with different weapons so you can make use of as many weapons as possible. You should try to make all your characters decent at physical fighting so they won't be using magic all the time to attack enemies. As for magic it's recommended that you teach all of your main characters magic. It's up to you whether you want to make them stick with either White Magic or Black Magic or make them specialize in both. I personally prefer making them use both White and Black Magic. It may take longer to train them and make their magic more effective but your character won't be useless against high defense enemies that they're facing alone if your other characters get killed off. Also enemies can drain your MP and it's important to have someone else that can use magic if your main magic user loses all their MP.

Make your characters learn only one type of magic. Teaching two types will take a while. Here is a setup I always use:

Firion- Paladin(Sword, Shield, and White Magic)
Maria- Black Mage(Bows and Black Magic)
Guy- Warrior(Axes only. No magic. Shield optional)

This setup always works for me, but it's up to you if you want to teach Guy magic as well.

Crossblades' party setup sounds good. Alternatively, you can equip Guy with Fists, which cause a lot of damage and are very inexpensive. Last time I played the game, I made Frioniel a White Mage with a staff, Maria a Black Mage with a knife/dagger and Guy a fighter with double axes. The fourth character was somewhat specialized already when you got him/her in your party. I think Leonhart had either a sword or a lance and a shield, and some low-level magic. A sword is recommended for one character, though, since Masamune and Blood Sword are really useful.

I vagauly remember bows causing you to gain a lot of strength, which causes you to lose black magic power, so i just equiped her with with 2 sheilds and made her a pure black mage, (with the important cure and such). also you should probably be warned that its usually a bad idea to put people in the back row.

Cool thanks for the useful tips people. It did help!
More tips are still welcome if people want to give them. Still playing FF1 at the moment.

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Originally Posted by FuzZerd

I vagauly remember bows causing you to gain a lot of strength, which causes you to lose black magic power, so i just equiped her with with 2 sheilds and made her a pure black mage, (with the important cure and such). also you should probably be warned that its usually a bad idea to put people in the back row.

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I don't know about that, but Bows and Shields are the weapon types with the highest penalty for Intelligence and Soul/Spirit. That's why you should never equip a mage character with a Bow or a Shield. On the other hand, Knives, Staves and Fists don't reduce Int and Soul much, so they're pretty good choices for a mage.

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth1999AD

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Originally Posted by FuzZerd

I vagauly remember bows causing you to gain a lot of strength, which causes you to lose black magic power, so i just equiped her with with 2 sheilds and made her a pure black mage, (with the important cure and such). also you should probably be warned that its usually a bad idea to put people in the back row.

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I don't know about that, but Bows and Shields are the weapon types with the highest penalty for Intelligence and Soul/Spirit. That's why you should never equip a mage character with a Bow or a Shield. On the other hand, Knives, Staves and Fists don't reduce Int and Soul much, so they're pretty good choices for a mage.

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That doesn't count in the GBA version does it?

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth1999AD

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Originally Posted by FuzZerd

I vagauly remember bows causing you to gain a lot of strength, which causes you to lose black magic power, so i just equiped her with with 2 sheilds and made her a pure black mage, (with the important cure and such). also you should probably be warned that its usually a bad idea to put people in the back row.

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I don't know about that, but Bows and Shields are the weapon types with the highest penalty for Intelligence and Soul/Spirit. That's why you should never equip a mage character with a Bow or a Shield. On the other hand, Knives, Staves and Fists don't reduce Int and Soul much, so they're pretty good choices for a mage.

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If I want to make Maria a mage, what do you/anyone else suggest I have her use? Canes or daggers? What about shields?

I just started playing FF2 today, so advice is appreciated.

Xurts, I think you're best of equipping Maria with a cane, and lodging her in the backrow.

I, on the other hand, equipped her with a bow and she was also my Mage, and it never affected her Intelligence or Spirit stats, maybe it's different in the GBA version? She done major damage in the backrow with a bow, and made battles a lot more easier, also I conserved a lot more of my magic than usual.

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Originally Posted by Hazzard

Xurts, I think you're best of equipping Maria with a cane, and lodging her in the backrow.

I, on the other hand, equipped her with a bow and she was also my Mage, and it never affected her Intelligence or Spirit stats, maybe it's different in the GBA version? She done major damage in the backrow with a bow, and made battles a lot more easier, also I conserved a lot more of my magic than usual.

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You can't attack from the back row if you're using a cane. I've never seen my stats go down in the GBA version, so maybe it really is different there?

As for Maria's weapon, I used the traditional FF setting of having the white magic user equipped with a staff/cane, and the black magic user equipped with a dagger. I can't really recommend shields for mages because they seriously hurt both Intelligence and Soul/Spirit stats, at least in non-GBA versions.

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth1999AD

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Originally Posted by Hazzard

Xurts, I think you're best of equipping Maria with a cane, and lodging her in the backrow.

I, on the other hand, equipped her with a bow and she was also my Mage, and it never affected her Intelligence or Spirit stats, maybe it's different in the GBA version? She done major damage in the backrow with a bow, and made battles a lot more easier, also I conserved a lot more of my magic than usual.

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You can't attack from the back row if you're using a cane. I've never seen my stats go down in the GBA version, so maybe it really is different there?

As for Maria's weapon, I used the traditional FF setting of having the white magic user equipped with a staff/cane, and the black magic user equipped with a dagger. I can't really recommend shields for mages because they seriously hurt both Intelligence and Soul/Spirit stats, at least in non-GBA versions.

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I didn't say she attack from the backrow with a cane, but you might as well give her that or a dagger.

Okay, great. She has a cane and no shield right now so that should be fine. I'm playing on a NES emulator, btw.

I thank you all, too, as I was going to make this very thread!

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth1999AD

You can't attack from the back row if you're using a cane. I've never seen my stats go down in the GBA version, so maybe it really is different there?

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Stats don't go down in the GBA version. But it does in the NES and PS1 version

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth1999AD

Crossblades' party setup sounds good. Alternatively, you can equip Guy with Fists, which cause a lot of damage and are very inexpensive. Last time I played the game, I made Frioniel a White Mage with a staff, Maria a Black Mage with a knife/dagger and Guy a fighter with double axes. The fourth character was somewhat specialized already when you got him/her in your party. I think Leonhart had either a sword or a lance and a shield, and some low-level magic. A sword is recommended for one character, though, since Masamune and Blood Sword are really useful.

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So, are you saying to have an additional Sword-user on top of Leon or just Leon alone is good?

Just as added input, I played the GBA and NES versions several times each, and here's what I think is the best setup for both.

Frionl/Firion - swords, shields, and black magic
Maria - bows, white AND black magic
Gus/Guy - axes, shields, and white magic
Lionht/Leon - swords and shields, but he's also good with other weapons.

I reccomend shields because (correct me if I'm wrong) they up your evasion pretty good. Swords are almost a must, the best weapons are swords (like the Excalibur from the lady in Dist). The last boss and Astaroth both have hoooooge weaknesses to the Blood sword as well. Bows are the only ones that work in the back row, I'm almost certain (although putting Maria in the front row most of the time is a good idea, to up her HP and defense).

I'm not sure about the statistical differences, but this worked for me the best. In short, a sword-user is a must, and two characters with Cure is a must.