My first party:
Ramza as a Samurai with Two Swords and monk skills
Orlandu
Agrias
some dude as a White Mage with Time magic
some chick as a Samurai with Two Swords and Item

I guess i'm the only one who thought Agrias was better than the other sword knight people, cuz her holy sword attacks work on monsters that don't have equipment.

Also I thought Samurai was a really versatile character, cuz you can wear armor for lots of HP, and the "Draw Out" skill can duplicate many cool effects (healing, area-effect damange, straight-line damage, defenes boost, etc)

For magic, I used one guy with white and time. with white, you get healing *and* attack magic cuz of Holy, and with time you get Haste which is freaking amazing.

Question to people who had the "bonus" characters such as beowulf, cloud, etc.: did you figure out all that stuff on your own, or did you use a strategy guide your first time through? Ditto on Math Skill - I had no idea it was so powerful my first time through, and even now I feel like the time required to learn all the abilities, as well as to decide which multiplier to use each turn, isn't worth the extra power.