What is the best team (Chapter 9 and beyond)?

[Crowseye]

EDIT: Does anyone know what Simurgh does, btw? Even the guide doesn't tell you. "A very special synthesis" or something along those lines. Interesting...

I assume they mean that if you equip Simurgh (or its first upgrade) and four Kaiser Knuckles Hope becomes immune to physical damage. Except he can't be healed by magic, and the weapon offers no magic stats afaik...

Fang has a weapon like that too, but they're the only two.

Fang and Snow have a similar weapon that equipped with four Magistral Crests make them immune to magical damage, but also can't be healed by magic and have no strength stat.

I have no idea if there are any practical applications of either weapon in the endgame (since you only get the fourth Accessory slot after beating the main story).

[Loony BoB]

I'm told that you can get Snow to a point that he is effectively indestructable (as SEN), although it would make for very boring gaming.

[Del Murder]

Like most everyone I'm going with the balanced party of Lightning (leader), Hope, and Fang. They are pretty awesome together.

I have the strategy guide and it suggests you stick with this party and not develop your other characters. Then, much later when you gain access to the final Crystarium, you can make those characters specialists in one job which turns them into powerhouses. Sounds like a plan.

[Draniei]

What I do is I just stick the characters with the highest HP into my party. Considering I level them up in all 6 classes, it's all fun.

[The Space Pope]

I switched up my team regularly to keep things from getting too stale but I prefer using Lightning, Fang, and Hope even though I wish Hope would contract flesh-eating bacteria.

I never used Snow except for when I didn't have a choice.

Snow, if you ever read this, know that I hate you and your cliche-even-by-FF-standards look and 'personality'.

[Eagle299]

I made my default team Lightning, Fang and Vanille. I didn't like to switch the party around much because they made reassigning your paradigms such busy work. I will admit that Lightning, Fang and Hope is a better default balanced party, but I couldn't stand Hope, so I made due without a dedicated Synergist. I tried going with Lightning, Fang and Sahz for a while when I first arrived on Gran Pulse, just making Lightning my healer, but against some of the game's stronger monsters, she just can't cut it as your primary healer. So I traded Sahz for Vanille and made due without a dedicated Synergist. And it worked out for me in the end. I minored all three of them as Synergists, and it worked out pretty well. Fang gets only a basic set, but it includes Haste, which is probably the most important Synergist spell. Lightning gets almost everything but the Bar- spells, so she makes a good Synergist in then end if you're willing to put the time in. Master's Seal Achievement/Trophy requires that anyway. And Vanille is a better Medic than Hope, since she has much higher health and will survive longer to keep supporting your efforts to make enemies dead.

In the end, with the right equipment, you can probably make any party work. Some just take a bit more grinding than others.