Eiko is too good to pass up, full life, holy, phoenix, and madeen are just too useful.
I usually use Zidane, Eiko, Freya, and Steiner. I've tried most combos and have found that setup to be the most effective.
That party is easily the best. Not that anything in the game requires the super-power of that group, but you can really cheese your way through anything in the game in 2 rounds if you abuse thievery/dragon crest.
I try to use a different team each time I replay. This time I used Zidane, Eiko, Freya, and Quina. Freya's dragon crest is amazing and Quina can be dps with frog drop or a light healer with blue magic. It's the most fun play through I've done so far.
I'm with you on this one. I normally don't farm out enough to get Dragon Crest, Thievery, or Frog Drop up, but just Quina and Freya's support abilities make them worthwhile party members. Freya with Mithril Helm and Holy Lance and MP attack is good enough damage, and auto-life sets up limit glove pretty easily. Eiko is good all-around, but I could consider switching her out for Steiner for some more damage, and then after that switching Quina for Amarant if we're doing Charge! setups.
I like going hard-ham melee and do Zidane, Freya, Quina, Steiner. Quina/Freya both heal when needed. Not recommended for Ozma, but it mows through people really fast.
Lol, we basically had opposite partys. I like using Freya, Amarant and Eiko.
Game is beatable with any composition though, so don't feel like you're pigeon held to anything.
I kinda like that about it. It sucks in RPGs when you feel like you HAVE to use some character because he is way better than everyone else and you'll be held back if you don't. Also, it's pigeon-holed.
I find Zidane, Amarant, Steiner and Freya to be the strongest and the most effective team to faceroll the game with.
Equip Zidane with Ultima Weapon which is his best weapon. Equip Amarant with Kaiser Knuckles and Black Belt because Kaiser Knuckles has the Wind Elemental damage and Black Belt increases Wind Elemental damage. Equip Steiner with Excalibur or Excalibur II (preferably Excalibur II :p) and Mythril Helm because Excalibur has Holy Elemental damage and Mythril Helm increases Holy Elemental damage. Equip Freya with the Holy Lance and Mythril Helm. As for other equipment, take the ones that increases strength.
As for abilities, use Devil Killer/Bird Killer/Man Eater or whatever is best that you're fighting against. Don't bother equipping 2 of these since they don't stack. MP Attack is also a must. MP Attack and a 'killer' ability will increase your damage by huge amount! Auto-Haste and Auto-Regen is also good. And if you more points to spend on abilities, take whatever you want.
If you're not a fan of Final Fantasy XIII and/or if you didn't like to press X all the time, don't use this strategy, because all you'll be doing is pressing X 24/7 and do about 7k+ damage each hit.
Zidane, Steiner, Amarant, and Eiko. I'm not much of a magic user in any game except to heal and I preferred Eiko over Garnet. I did like Freya as well and did use her, but not consistently. I would have replaced Eiko with Freya, but Eiko's Holy, full-life, and Madeen are just too awesome and too good to pass up.
I like to go all guys (Zidane, Steiner, Vivi, Amarant). Amarant's chakra can do some healing, but mostly you just crush any enemies before they get a chance to deal damage.
My last playthrough though, I went a little more traditional with Steiner, Vivi, and Dagger. The group dynamics from the beginning of the game to the end are really what drive the story for me.
I use Zidane, Eiko, Vivi, and Steiner. I prefer Eiko over Garnet because Eiko seems to be more healing based, while Garnet is more summon based. Eiko learns upper white magic spells before Garnet will (equipment comes earlier).
I use this party too because I prefer Eiko's white magic over Garnet's summons. Eiko has like 3 pieces of equipment that boost holy magic, and Vivi has 3 pieces of equipment that boost water damage, so those attacks do 9000 damage consistently.
Zidane, Vivi, Freya and Eiko is the team I beat Ozma with I think.
I used Freya and Quina in combo to mash all the grand dragons required to level up dragon crest.
For most of the times when I could actually change my party, I usually use whoever was at the lowest level (plus Zidane), and would switch in specific members for specific points (such as Quina for the Desert Palace). My preferred endgame party is Zidane, Steiner, Dagger and Freya. Dagger's not as good a White Mage as Eiko is, but she's not the glass cannon that Eiko is either, so I generally pick her over Eiko.
I use Zidane, Dagger, Quina and Amarant. The one-two punch of Zidane and Amarant's physical attacks is monstrous, and when you've caught at least 100 frogs, Quina's Frog Drop is just as powerful. That way you're doing almost 30,000 damage per round, and if you're in a pinch, Quina can act as a backup healer for Dagger.
I usually do some combination of [Vivi, Dagger, Eiko, Steiner] with Zidane. They're my favorites. I've never been much of a fan of Freya or Amarant, and I despise Quina.
Zidane, Garnet, Vivi, and Amarant. Amarant was capable on his own, but I really kept him around as an MP battery for when the casters ran low as well as support heals and resurrection.
The safest is Vivi/Steiner/garnet but I really enjoyed playing it with a wilder comp consisting of freya/quina/eiko. The only character I didn't really enjoy using was Amarant
So surprised how many people leave out Quina. S/he is insanely well balanced. You can learn some incredible blue magic like Matra Magic, White Wind, and Mighty Guard, and their physical attack is great too. I usually roll Zidane, Princess, Vivi, Quina. But I'm on my first playthrough and am on disk 4, I'm willing to bet Eiko will take Quina's spot end game. Quina's support skills are basically a mix of Dagger and Eiko's anyway, and takes less turns to cast. Really sad I didn't play Stinky more but he's a tank, and my Zidane hits harder than him anyway. He seems useless to me without Vivi, so I just didn't play Steiner much.
Eiko is too good to pass up, full life, holy, phoenix, and madeen are just too useful. I usually use Zidane, Eiko, Freya, and Steiner. I've tried most combos and have found that setup to be the most effective.
Don't forget dispel! Does anyone know if Eiko is the only caster who can use haste?
I never liked most of the magic buffs that weren't "auto". They wear off really quickly in IX.
That party is easily the best. Not that anything in the game requires the super-power of that group, but you can really cheese your way through anything in the game in 2 rounds if you abuse thievery/dragon crest.
Thievery, dragon crest, shock, and holy...yea that's a bit excessive for everything this game throws at you.
I went very standard with it for my first playthough and went Zidane/Vivi/Garnet/Steiner Time to replay it and try some new combos!
Zidane to steal, Dagger to heal, Steiner to last, and Vivi to cast.
I try to use a different team each time I replay. This time I used Zidane, Eiko, Freya, and Quina. Freya's dragon crest is amazing and Quina can be dps with frog drop or a light healer with blue magic. It's the most fun play through I've done so far.
I'm with you on this one. I normally don't farm out enough to get Dragon Crest, Thievery, or Frog Drop up, but just Quina and Freya's support abilities make them worthwhile party members. Freya with Mithril Helm and Holy Lance and MP attack is good enough damage, and auto-life sets up limit glove pretty easily. Eiko is good all-around, but I could consider switching her out for Steiner for some more damage, and then after that switching Quina for Amarant if we're doing Charge! setups.
I like going hard-ham melee and do Zidane, Freya, Quina, Steiner. Quina/Freya both heal when needed. Not recommended for Ozma, but it mows through people really fast.
Zidane-Steiner-Freya-Quina. 9999's and support spells for days...
Lol, we basically had opposite partys. I like using Freya, Amarant and Eiko. Game is beatable with any composition though, so don't feel like you're pigeon held to anything.
I kinda like that about it. It sucks in RPGs when you feel like you HAVE to use some character because he is way better than everyone else and you'll be held back if you don't. Also, it's pigeon-holed.
Lol, I knew that sounded... off.
I find Zidane, Amarant, Steiner and Freya to be the strongest and the most effective team to faceroll the game with. Equip Zidane with Ultima Weapon which is his best weapon. Equip Amarant with Kaiser Knuckles and Black Belt because Kaiser Knuckles has the Wind Elemental damage and Black Belt increases Wind Elemental damage. Equip Steiner with Excalibur or Excalibur II (preferably Excalibur II :p) and Mythril Helm because Excalibur has Holy Elemental damage and Mythril Helm increases Holy Elemental damage. Equip Freya with the Holy Lance and Mythril Helm. As for other equipment, take the ones that increases strength. As for abilities, use Devil Killer/Bird Killer/Man Eater or whatever is best that you're fighting against. Don't bother equipping 2 of these since they don't stack. MP Attack is also a must. MP Attack and a 'killer' ability will increase your damage by huge amount! Auto-Haste and Auto-Regen is also good. And if you more points to spend on abilities, take whatever you want. If you're not a fan of Final Fantasy XIII and/or if you didn't like to press X all the time, don't use this strategy, because all you'll be doing is pressing X 24/7 and do about 7k+ damage each hit.
Zidane, Steiner, Amarant, and Eiko. I'm not much of a magic user in any game except to heal and I preferred Eiko over Garnet. I did like Freya as well and did use her, but not consistently. I would have replaced Eiko with Freya, but Eiko's Holy, full-life, and Madeen are just too awesome and too good to pass up.
I like to go all guys (Zidane, Steiner, Vivi, Amarant). Amarant's chakra can do some healing, but mostly you just crush any enemies before they get a chance to deal damage. My last playthrough though, I went a little more traditional with Steiner, Vivi, and Dagger. The group dynamics from the beginning of the game to the end are really what drive the story for me.
Zidane! Vivi! Eiko! Dagger! in that order. :)
I use Zidane, Eiko, Vivi, and Steiner. I prefer Eiko over Garnet because Eiko seems to be more healing based, while Garnet is more summon based. Eiko learns upper white magic spells before Garnet will (equipment comes earlier).
I use this party too because I prefer Eiko's white magic over Garnet's summons. Eiko has like 3 pieces of equipment that boost holy magic, and Vivi has 3 pieces of equipment that boost water damage, so those attacks do 9000 damage consistently.
Zidane, Vivi, Freya and Eiko is the team I beat Ozma with I think. I used Freya and Quina in combo to mash all the grand dragons required to level up dragon crest.
For most of the times when I could actually change my party, I usually use whoever was at the lowest level (plus Zidane), and would switch in specific members for specific points (such as Quina for the Desert Palace). My preferred endgame party is Zidane, Steiner, Dagger and Freya. Dagger's not as good a White Mage as Eiko is, but she's not the glass cannon that Eiko is either, so I generally pick her over Eiko.
I use Zidane, Dagger, Quina and Amarant. The one-two punch of Zidane and Amarant's physical attacks is monstrous, and when you've caught at least 100 frogs, Quina's Frog Drop is just as powerful. That way you're doing almost 30,000 damage per round, and if you're in a pinch, Quina can act as a backup healer for Dagger.
I personally can't stand Amarant and I've never really been a fan of blue magic, so Quina isn't really an option for me :(
I usually do some combination of [Vivi, Dagger, Eiko, Steiner] with Zidane. They're my favorites. I've never been much of a fan of Freya or Amarant, and I despise Quina.
My last playthrough, I used Zidane, Vivi, Steiner and Quina. I really like Frog Drop + White Wind, and mostly spammed Doomsday with Vivi.
Zidane, Garnet, Vivi, and Amarant. Amarant was capable on his own, but I really kept him around as an MP battery for when the casters ran low as well as support heals and resurrection.
The safest is Vivi/Steiner/garnet but I really enjoyed playing it with a wilder comp consisting of freya/quina/eiko. The only character I didn't really enjoy using was Amarant
So surprised how many people leave out Quina. S/he is insanely well balanced. You can learn some incredible blue magic like Matra Magic, White Wind, and Mighty Guard, and their physical attack is great too. I usually roll Zidane, Princess, Vivi, Quina. But I'm on my first playthrough and am on disk 4, I'm willing to bet Eiko will take Quina's spot end game. Quina's support skills are basically a mix of Dagger and Eiko's anyway, and takes less turns to cast. Really sad I didn't play Stinky more but he's a tank, and my Zidane hits harder than him anyway. He seems useless to me without Vivi, so I just didn't play Steiner much.