I like Hot and Cold conceptually, what I don't like is spending a billion hours not finding a gorram Chocograph.

Fynn - I almost always end up using Zidane/Dagger/Vivi/Steiner for the entire game. They're a really strong combo, easy to use, familiar and good characters. Eiko can be useful in certain situations but it's pretty rare that you miss her. Dagger ends up with basically everything you could need anyway.