Unusual/Unpopular Party Members?

[Action-Bastard]

Some of us have played these games dozens of times already in the past, so I'm a little tired of using the same party/characters all the time. I'm interested in hearing if any of you have some party members you like to bring along who are not the usual popular picks, IE Pesmerga, Crowley, etc.

For instance Millie in S2 is a surprisingly good mage and has high affinity with lightning. Since she's young you can take her on the Greenhill mission too.

[BloodyPork]

Millie has low magic stat, equal to Lorelai's stat growth who is hybrid with much better physical than millie (both also has 2 empty rune slots). Millie's atk growth is one of the worst in the game. Her only advantage over Tengaar is high affinity in lightning, which is a good element, but Tengaar has much higher magic and in like all stats except luck which is useless for Millie anyway. There is a better lucky long range hitter if you want which is Meg, who has the highest luck in the game and comes with permanent lucky ring for even more massive luck. And she also happens to have A affinity in lightning as well just like Millie!

To sum up there is nothing that sets Millie apart than the other L characters. She might be the worst one overall probably. In terms of Thunder carrier, like Flik, Sierra (who is a very popular and overused character even though meta wise she is average and squishy, there's a lot better frontliners), Killey, Mazus these all have the same high lightning affinity as Millie but with much better magic and stat spread.

Overall Millie is worse than the Nina, Eilie, Meg, and the likes. Might actually be one of the weakest female party member in the game overall, I'd rate her even lower than the Ayda, Yoshino, Lo wen. Viki is still the worst though due to bad affinity coupled with lack of str.

For Greenhill mission you can take much better chars like Shiro, even if you're only taking girls Tengaar, Eilie and Meg are better. Also that mission has no boss to fight against either, making lightning even more pointless, you're fighting highland soldiers mostly where auto attack is the efficient way.

[Action-Bastard]

I probably should have specified I just use Millie for the early game, regardless that's great info, thank you.

[BloodyPork]

Originally posted by Action-Bastard:

I probably should have specified I just use Millie for the early game, regardless that's great info, thank you.

That's even worse because her auto attack is horrible. Kinnison is much better early game due to his unite with Shiro. Even Hanna and RIkimaru is better. There is actually no early boss where Millie's lighning rune affinity comes in handy. She can't be used vs the north window boss or the sword or mist monster. So it's just the double headed snake if she's forced into your party (and she is the worst out of the options) but at that point I'm not even sure if lightning orb is even available or not. Against bonaparte she's just dead weight. After all these the next boss iirc is the sewer boss at that point you have access to much better mage in Luc. And past that point she's competing with too many characters, Rina can even unlock her 3rd slot at only level 35 or so where you can then double jab fury doublestrike/warrior her.

[BloodyPork]

Millie is actually so bad she wouldn't even make it into the little girls only challenge run (meaning those that can use kid item like "badges," Tengaar and such is too old for that). So in this challenge your final party member is Wakaba, Tomo, Eilie, Meg, Nina iirc. Millie would be next in line and wouldn't make it because she is that bad.

[Owlcoholic]

I find it more fun not to 'min-max', even if another character is definitely a better choice practically, it doesn't really matter. The games are pretty easy even on hard. Just try going with a team of characters you actually like, or go by looks, or by how the characters know one another stuff like that, it can make the game a bit more challenging which is an added bonus

[BloodyPork]

Originally posted by Owlcoholic:

I find it more fun not to 'min-max', even if another character is definitely a better choice practically, it doesn't really matter. The games are pretty easy even on hard. Just try going with a team of characters you actually like, or go by looks, or by how the characters know one another stuff like that, it can make the game a bit more challenging which is an added bonus

Purposely handicapping yourself is practically mandatory for Suikoden veterans in these games because these games are indeed too easy. In fact in s5 using weak party is not enough, you need even bigger handicap like banning yourself from using some runes because it's even easier than this game. S3 is the only suikoden with an acceptable difficulty that doesn't require a lot of self-imposed rules and handicap to not feel the game being too trivial.

[jomigaru]

Originally posted by Action-Bastard:

Some of us have played these games dozens of times already in the past, so I'm a little tired of using the same party/characters all the time. I'm interested in hearing if any of you have some party members you like to bring along who are not the usual popular picks, IE Pesmerga, Crowley, etc.

For instance Millie in S2 is a surprisingly good mage and has high affinity with lightning. Since she's young you can take her on the Greenhill mission too.

For S1 go with Liukan (oh, his dex), Hellion (widely known her magic is awesome) and Krin (he is so...Krin)

[Chad Power]

What I'm doing is beating the final boss with everyone currently. Each character can only be used once - so if you use main character one, he has to show up KO'd next fight. I'm enjoying it. Quite a challenge too.

[Tiberius]

I always use shiro cos i love doggo

[Captain Steve]

I find Suikoden 1 is harder to do this with because half your party is generally forced on you throughout the game. Suikoden II though? Flying Squirrel final boss party.

[Ashuran]

Lu Su Fu is cool even though he is not popular because overshadowed by flik, viktor, pesmerga etc. Hix also not popular but am using him at the moment with killer rune which is perfect because of his high luck stat. Varkas and Sydonia has one of the coolest unite attack so will use them on second playthrough. Going to make an all bandit team.

Hopefully the game will give us a patch that will implement what others call Convoy system wherein required party members can be brought along as inactive member so we can still keep using our preferred teams.

[Sierra]

wdym Pesmerga, Crowley?!
why sould those two be unusual/unpopular picks? xD

[Vex]

In Suikoden II, I actually like using Viki now and then. Mostly I stick her as a healer or buffer with Flowing/Mother Earth Runes. The only real issue is that Riou is an OP healer himself, so there isn't much room for a mage who is also a healer. Even if there were, I could slap that Flowing Rune on Luc or Mazus.

Still, Viki is awesome, and I like bringing her along. Suikoden V did her justice.

[Trance]

Frontliners : Miklotov + Camus other than having a decent unite they got quite decent stats, and also Camus comes with a Rage rune, Anita and Valeria other than being BAEs both have falcon AND a sick Unite, give them both a Main-Gauche and you'll be set for life, Oulan is neat if you give her a rage rune same goes for Zamza, who's actually very competent despite being a douche, works well with a Fire Seal rune to protect him against the fire damage he gets from his rune.
Backliners : Eilie and Rina are great mages, Eilie with Fire and Rina with water, also i reckon Rina is one of the few recruits who unlocks the head slot relatively early for a blue gate, Tengaar is a great mage too who's very competent with nearly every element, great candidate for a Resurrection rune as well, i put Lo Wen in the backliners because i always used her as a range choice, her stats are OK, but she comes with a Down rune, which is pretty good, one of the best weapon runes you can get your hands on, Sierra, i overlooked her for a long time but then i realized she's got one of the best element scaling in the game, A in Thunder and Darkness, B on Wind, if you're sick of using the same mages give her a shot. Killey, he's got sick elemental scaling but his stat sucks, i guess you can try him if you want a razor edgy character in your roster. Nina i guess, she's a decent mage with a fire rune

[Furry Wrecking Crew]

Sergei and Luc. Both are S range and get killed easily in Hard Mode.