What do you feel is the "best team" of FFIX?

[Goldenboko]

This is a question I've always wondered about. In many of the later games the answer is more clearcut, as there are characters that can just plan do more damage, or characters are so cookie-cutter in battle that it doesn't matter. Each character in FFIX has his or her own specific strengths and weaknesses. Personally I used Garnet, Vivi, Zidane, and Steiner. I feel like optimally, Garnet should be switched out for either Quina for auto-life, or for Eiko's dual white magic and Phoenix revive ability.

EDIT: Also did anyone ever smurfing use Amarant? I've always wondered if he was good but was too lazy to find out.

[Slothy]

I used Amarant a couple of times I think but I don't remember how useful he was. I'd usually stick with Garnet, Vivi, Zidane and Steiner as well. Sometimes I'd switch out Garnet for Eiko for the reasons you mentioned, but she always weirded me out because it looked like she wasn't wearing pants and I feared being misconstrued as a pedophile so I never kept her in for long. I also avoided Freya because she wasn't as cool to me as our Freya, and I avoided Quina because I dislike Blue Mages and never seem to bother getting their spells so she was quite literally useless do to lack of use.

[Quindiana Jones]

Zidane, Amarant, Steiner and Freya can all hit the maximum damage for very little MP whilst retaining some useful healing spells. I used them all the time for that very reason. By end game, Amarant's Chakra heals a few thousand health and Freya's Reis' Wind (I think) restored considerable amounts of MP, so more dedicated healers were unnecessary.

[Freya]

I never really had much of a plan. I really just like to keep one healer with me and whomever else. I do this in like every rpg. So Eiko/Dagger and then just damage people. Well have to have Zidane, but it's whomever i feel like really.

[blackmage_nuke]

I too very much liked Dagger, Vivi, Zidane, and Steiner because I do love the traditional WM/BM/Thief/Fighter setup, though I have managed to defeat the final boss with Quina, Freya, Amarant and Eiko.

Normally I choose parties depending on where I was going at the time but since this game pretty much chose the party for you for a large portion of the game that wasnt really a problem

[Del Murder]

Zidane - fast, high damage, great equipment, can steal, can do max damage with Thievery
Eiko - best healer, can pull out damage with Holy, summons are more sparse than Garnet's but just as good if not better for most situations
Aramant - Aura is broken, Chakra decent heal, other Flair skills are diverse, does decent damage
Quina - Frog Drop is best attack in game, Auto-Life is invincibility, white wind for healing, other spells are an endless bag of tricks

I like diverse characters that can both heal and do damage. The other characters are more one-trick ponies. Freya and Steiner are just physical attackers and not much else, Vivi can only nuke (which Quina can do among other things). Garnet is more diverse but Eiko surpasses her in every way except for number of summons available.

[ReloadPsi]

I like Zidane, Quina, Amarant and Freya. They're the team I first beat Ozma with and I've just been kind of attached ever since. I might swap Amarant out for Eiko once in a while, Quina for Garnet and Freya for Steiner, but not very often.

[Sephex]

I usually go with Zidane, Stiener, Garnet, and Vivi. There is so strategic purpose for this. I just feel it's the perfect classic FF party for a game that goes for the classic FF feel.

[Laddy]

Zidane, Vivi, Freya, and Quina. It's a versatile party that can also heal effectively whilst dealing heavy damage.

[Old Manus]

Zidane, Vivi, Quina and Freya is pretty much a game-breaking party with their moves that depend on outside factors (Thievery, Doomsday, Frog Drop, Dragon's Crest). Amarant is a bit of a poor man's Steiner. His introduction is pretty funny when you call him 'Homo' though.

[Raistlin]

I preferred Zidane, Vivi (mandatory because I love black mages), Freya, and then either Amarant or Quina. I underutilized Quina for most of the game until I realized how good she/it is.

[krissy]

i like zidane, dagger, steiner+vivi combo party

steiners magic sword goes through reflect status on bosses and stuff it's great

i beat necron with only steiner and dagger still alive, he zombie'd my zidane and quina (who i switched to for the white wind in that attempt)

dagger kept going curaga on all and steiner kept just whamming at him
luckily necron was spamming the blue 1 hp thing on steiner

anyway it was really close so it felt like i really achieved something there

[maybee]

I like Zidane, Eiko, Vivi and Steiner.

Eiko felt like a better White Mage to Garnet and her summons felt different and unique.

And of course the Vivi + Steiner team.

Though sometimes I replaced Eiko with Quina. Yeah I like Quina.

[Christmas]

Kill the rest and leave only quina.

[Ralvyn]

First time I played the game, I really liked Vivi.

But then after knowing how some skills can easily reach 9999 damage I rarely used him.

So it's like Zidane, Garnet, Freya, Quina.
I could replace Garnet for Eiko or Steiner though.