I’ve been wanting to do just a fun post to get our readers thinking for a while now, and I think this is a pretty good prompt for you all.  We’ve all thought about what would make the ideal group, party, or what have you, from fictional characters.  The most likely setting is a fantasy RPG world, but if you want to pick out somewhere else (school?), go right ahead.  The limits are any media derived from Japanese culture, this includes video games, anime, manga, drama series, and so forth.

Now, when you do this, I want you to try and be creative about it.  Sure, you can make a party of Cloud, Squall, Vincent, and Riku, but, everyone’s thought of it, and it’s not a terribly interesting group choice as is.  Of course, if you want to write a 10 page dissertation proving me wrong, more power to you.  Also, keep in mind that your characters need to be balanced.  They need to be able to work together not just on the field of battle, but also everywhere else as well.  It’s no good to have a bunch of expert warriors if no one knows how to cook!

Write as little or as much as you want.  Whether or not you’re game for this, I’ve picked out my own personal best party, and you can check it out after the break.

Yuri Lowell (Tales of Vesperia) – Yuri is a natural team leader. He has mid-high stats in all categories so he’s capable of playing whatever role on the front lines is necessary. His skills have good elemental coverage, though he does focus predominantly on wind. He has a also has a mix of rapid fire skills and slow sweepers, giving him excellent synergy with any party member. His tension abilities allow him to create exceptionally long chains with himself, keeping many enemies locked down while the other members complete their tasks, Finally, his Glory personal ability lets him shrug off attacks that would normally stumble others.

Outside of battle, Yuri is a natural group leader as well.  He has a strong personal sense of right and wrong, and acts on it accordingly.  He’s not afraid to make the difficult decisions, even when facing moral crisis.  Yuri is also not afraid to guide his party outside the confines of the law, should the need arise.
Ashton Anchors (Star Ocean II) – Ashton is the offtank and secondary melee dps. Ashton’s skills lean on his high attack power and mid-high defense, however, his magical aptitude is low. He also has horrible luck. His skills give good type coverage, however, most elemental skills have long windups; working in conjunction with Yuri solves this problem. Unlike Yuri, he has several ranged attacks when direct contact would be counterproductive. He also has his supreme skill Tri-Ace, which is a unique combination of nonelemental damage, determined by attack power, measured against enemy magic defense, and it hits the whole field.

Off in the field, Ashton has a surprisingly high aptitude for cooking, so the party’s never going to worry about starving.  The demons attached to his back have been around for a while and are quite knowledgeable, especially when it comes to monsters and other demons.  Their elemental affinities can also be used to clear brush or cross rivers, cutting down manual travel time significantly.
Viki (Suikoden V) – Viki is this squad’s go to girl for attack magic. Her Blinking Rune allows for transit to places that she’s been in the past, as well as instantaneous short range teleportation of enemies or allies. Being able to “blink” like that makes up a bit for her low health and vitality scores. It does suffer from minor reliability issues, though fortunately it’s always the exact opposite effect: failed self teleportation moves the nearest enemy and vice versa. She also has the ability to double cast other attack spells in her arsenal, complementing her sky high intelligence score.

Besides blinking through space, which allows rapid transit between known locations, her rune has also caused her to blink through time on occasion.  This gives her a more than rudimentary knowledge of both the past and future.  Viki also pretty clumsy, serving as a bit of comic relief for the others.
Dahna (Grandia III) – Grandia allows an incredible amount of character customization and role filling, and in this case, she’s going to be the healer and support. Her spell book will be stacked accordingly, along with one or two offensive spells just in case. Her basic physical attack is long ranged card throwing, which counters her naturally low mobility. She also has the ability to summon a mana spring beneath herself, to allow for nearly indefinite spell casting while active. Her other self-support skill gives her perfect physical evasion with auto-counter as long as her barrier lasts. Both together give her an amazing survivability few healers have.

Her knowledge area lies in lore and myths.  As we all know, anything in lore usually comes true at some point during the journey, so that knowledge is invaluable.  Dahna is also kind of a mother figure for the group, looking after them and keeping them out of too much trouble…

Well, have at it!