The main issue you will have later on is your guest characters eventually becoming just another part of your team. Which for me meant they were terribly underleveled, and I sorta lost motivation trying to get them up to speed. Grinding is a slow process in this game.
I never felt like it was grinding, as fighting battles is the meat and potatoes of the game.
>>Am willing to change opinions based on data<<
Still haven't got around to starting Chapter 2 yet.
Did you guys take on new characters early on? The ones that were offered to me were lower Bravery and Faith than my guys at the minute, so I think I'll leave them.
You need Alicia and Lavian in the party to acquire a unique accessory later in the game. (No quest, just to be able to buy the thing). The accessory is extremely good, but in no means necessary.
Even if you don't want someone it is always better to accept them, de-equip all of their stuff, and then dismiss them, As for other characters that you get from now on, they are all special so I would hold on to them even if you never use them.
>>Am willing to change opinions based on data<<
Some more good Tips for Tactics, guys. Thank you! As for side quests, I never even thought there would be any in a game like this. I barely seem to have time to play it though so I think I'll just stick to the main story.
Of course side quests consist exclusively of extra battles to fight. No mini-games here.
>>Am willing to change opinions based on data<<
Just replaying War of the Lions right now and remembered one of my favorite combinations of people. To put beside each other. I team up a Mage and a Monk together for battles. The Monks are easily over powered in the first few chapters of the game. Plus they have the Chalkra ability which is free healing for Hp and MP. Have them beside an offensive Mage and you have two people who can attack at distance with free HP and MP regeneration who can take care of business up close. I also keep the squire abilities as a secondary quite often as I use them to up attack when things are out of reach with focus. Hope you are enjoying this so far
A monk with the squire skillset can also turn out a little broken. Unlike everyone else who uses Strength * Weapon the monk uses Strength squared. Which means raising it a few points with Accumulate/Focus makes them power up extremely quickly.
>>Am willing to change opinions based on data<<
I just remembered that I made this thread, but I had no idea it was so long ago! How that time has flown by. I never got around to starting chapter 2 after I last posted in this thread almost exactly two years ago. Seeing as I started up the game again (seeing as it's been so long and I forgot what happened at the beginning / how to play) I thought I'd revisit this.
I'm going to start a Tactics replay myself. It is a really fun game and the level of customization you can do for each character adds to the replayability.
Maybe I'll setup one of those "pass-the-controller" kind of deals with some friends and have Tactics night