The old faithful topic.

[Quindiana Jones]

The good old faithful party topic.

I recently rebought this game *sigh of joy*. Last time, I played with the guys because...well, Basch and Balthier are coolest and Vaan...actually, I don't know why I played with Vaan. He's a good player, but I hate the character. Anyway, I wanna play with the three best characters in the game, of course being Basch, Balthier and Fran. Fran will be the medic in the group, and Basch will be toting Great Swords, Spears and Katanas. I haven't the foggiest what I'm gonna go with Balthier though. Can I just leave Basch alone in the melee? I guess I could have Balthier take charge of Green or Time magic or something. I dunno. Is he any good with melee stuff?

Anyway, ignore the above paragraph if you don't really care about my game. The topic is what is your favourite party?

Those who mention the fact that FF12 is one of the few FFs where it is advisable to raise all characters equally will be shot.

[demondude]

I use everybody. Balthier gets more attention than most, however.

[trancekuja]

It may depend on how you're gonna play the game...I mean , are you striving to complete all the hunts including yiazmat or just play the main story? If it's just the main story , than you can pretty much use Balthier for support magic. Although , Penelo and Ashe may be a better choice. Or better sight at least...If you plan to challenge yiazmat you'll probably want everyone to be able to equip strongest weapons.

[Del Murder]

Ashe was my most reliable character because she could tank like a champ. Vaan was my other tank. Basch and Balthier were DDs and Penelo and Fran were mages. I would have one of each class in my party.

[trancekuja]

Basch and Balthier were DDs

Double dildos?

[Marshall Banana]

All girls.

[The Turk]

Pretty much everybody apart from Vaan.

Balthier, Fran and Bash would be the team I'd choose.

[Masamunemaster]

Ashe was my most reliable character because she could tank like a champ. Vaan was my other tank. Basch and Balthier were DDs and Penelo and Fran were mages. I would have one of each class in my party.

I did something like this

Tank: Basch(main)/Vaan(secondary)
DD(damage dealers[for trancekuja:P]): Balthier(main)/Ashe
Healer: Fran(main)/penelo

quin I think balthier does great with katanas....he usually hits 4 times with them...and thats without genji gloves

[demondude]

Basch and Balthier were DDs

Double dildos?

Hell yeah.

[PeneloRatsbane]

I'd use Fran with guns and magic
Ashe with Swords and as a damage dealer
Balthier with Bow's or whatever i felt like giving him and he'd deal with curing and items.

sometimes i'd switch out and just use Ashe and Basch, and occassionally i'd use Vaan instead of Ashe in my main party. only ever really used Penelo for her quickenings

[Ender]

I almost always have Basch out there.

The way I choose licenses and allocate gear, Basch and Ashe have had the best combination of damage and survivability for me. I often use Ashe as my white mage, though I also have the tendency to hold off on curing, etc. far longer than is often prudent, so she spends a lot of time fighting anyway.

Balthier is my usual third choice. For one because I like the character, but also because while he doesn't seem the absolute best in any one area, he tends to do everything pretty well the way I build him, which makes him very adaptable.

For me, Vaan is a good DD choice for "trash" but he also seems to take a lot more damage than the others, which is a liability in tougher fights. I have Fran concentrate on offensive magics, to bring in when the fights require them. I like Penelo, but I rarely use her except for healing-intensive fights, since the way I build her she's good for healing and status effects but contributes very little else offensively.

[Big D]

I like to mix things up sometimes, giving characters roles they wouldn't normally be expected to have. For instance, making Penelo my heavily-armoured, axe-wielding tank. Though in my most recent game, I've tried to keep them on fairly distinct 'career' paths, using skills and abilities that're consistent with their storyline occupations. Vaan remains a single-sword wielder with a moderate range of magic, Balthier uses guns and crossbows and focuses on techniks instead of spells, and so forth.

Though those allocations went out the window slightly once my team literally gained more License Points than I had any use for.

While my exact team varies from time to time, it usually involves Balthier, Basch, Fran and Penelo.

[Masamunemaster]

one thing you should get is decoy, keep all the damage on your main person...makes it easier

[Spatvark]

I kept them in two teams, both with a tank/damage dealer, thief/secondary damage dealer, and a healer/ranged attacker. I had them staggered in levels so group 1 was at lvl.x and group 2 was at lvl.x-1, and would switch them every two levels. I had everyone at around lvl.68 by the time I defeated Dr. Cid and Famfrit at the Pharos. I had them split like so:

Basch (Tank/Main Damage), Vaan (Thief/Secondary Damage) and Fran (Healer/Ranged Damage).
Ashe (Tank/Main Damage), Penelo (Thief/Secondary Damage) and Balthier (Healer/Ranged Damage).

[Jessweeee♪]

So hard to choose! Even though the story didn't interest me much, I loved all the characters. I think towards the end-ish I'd use Vaan, Balthier, and Ashe more, though.