with angela as main character and as #1 or #2 companion,

[heime2003]

there is a difference? i really like angela to be focus of my first playthrough but i dont like her attributes.
my usual party in rpg is made up of one main melee fighter and as companion, one ranged damage dealer and utility fighter/healer.

[Jeffer'son Airship]

The main character affects which prologue comes first and who is the main antagonist of the game for you (though the overall plot doesn't change much, just the final boss)

[heime2003]

Originally posted by Mokinokaro:

The main character affects which prologue comes first and who is the main antagonist of the game for you (though the overall plot doesn't change much, just the final boss)

thx

[Zunnoab #931]

Not just the final boss; there is at least one unique dungeon too, for each of the three paths.

[heime2003]

Originally posted by Zunnoab #931:

Not just the final boss; there is at least one unique dungeon too, for each of the three paths.

ive heard some people do multiple playthroughs to see all game offers. any recommendation of party setup for the first playthrough?

[Zunnoab #931]

All parties can work, so that depends on what play style you like. If you list what party members you want people can probably help list class suggestions, but even the least optimal party can still beat the game.

[Drake]

To be accurate, the main char determines the prologue, the endgame boss, the midgame dungeon and the second to last dungeon (and the dungeon is divided in 2 halves, exterior and interior, each with their unique bosses).

Also, the character slot determines the lines in dialogs. So for example let's say a dialog has a structure like this :
char 1 gets a line
char 2 gets a line
char 1 gets a line
char 3 gets a line
char 1 gets a line

If you put angela in slot 2, she will speak a certain line at line 2, but if you put her in slot 3 she will speak a different line at line 4.

So if you want to hear every dialog, you have to play with the char in every in slot (so 3 playthoughs for that char).

Also an important thing, characters also have specific lines in dialogs if they are or are not in the party (because characters you don't pick are still important npcs of the game and you will meet them). Like charlotte will engage in certain additional dialogs if she's in the party.

There are also banters between specific characters at certain times in the game, and not necessarily pairs.
Like when leaving Maia, if you have duran and kevin, they will talk about combat stuff while you explore the area.

So while the game is mainly the same, the overall experience may be different depending on the combination.

[Shift]

Angela have the best AI in the game by a large margin and is also the character with the highest damage output by also a large margin. That said, you don't need to actually take control of the focus character outside towns, so you can pick her as main character but control let's say, Duran for the whole game while on combat and let Angela's AI do the work.

In terms of slot, well, it's complicated. You need to take into account the character importance to the scene and the slot they take. So for example, if you take a scene with Angela's mom, it won't matter if she's the MC, second or third, she'll be one giving the dialogue. Otherwise, the second character usually have a higher priority on scene if the third aren't more plot important to it than the second.

[sWX]

Originally posted by Shift:

You need to take into account the character importance to the scene and the slot they take. So for example, if you take a scene with Angela's mom, it won't matter if she's the MC, second or third, she'll be one giving the dialogue. Otherwise, the second character usually have a higher priority on scene if the third aren't more plot important to it than the second.

I think this explains it pretty well.

[Sh1nRa358]

angela and the sword hero are actually the 2 best characters. Hawkeye is pretty good as well with his non elemental attacks by the end.

[Zeal]

If you want Charlotte as the voice of reason for the party, put her in slot #2. Sadly, that is the least likely slot for anyone to put her into their party as she can join a lot earlier than any other 3rd party member if you put her in slot #3.
That said, she is a pretty damn good addition for any party as she gets great debuffs and damaging spells in her dark forms, sabers and decent physical attack (for a support) in her light form, and multitargetting healing in any evolved class.

As for nice first playthrough party compositions (chosen in such a way that for each party there are 2 characters that share a path, marked with *; I recommend making one of those two your main character, even if you end up controlling another one primarily in combat):
- Magic Party with Tank: *Duran (Knight->Liege), *Angela (her class hardly matters, honestly), Charlotte (Enchantress->Warlock)
Charlotte can debuff with her demon breath attack and decrease enemy stats, she also is the primary healer and off-mage, Duran tanks and has passives that reduce enemy stats, and Angela wrecks things with magic.
- Power Party: *Kevin (Brawler->Fatal Fist), *Charlotte (Priestess->Sage), Riesz (Starlancer)
Riesz and Charlotte buff the party, Charlotte also heals and gives some sabers, while Kevin wrecks stuff with his crits.
- Slightly riskier Power Party: *Hawk (Ranger->Nomad), *Riesz (Rune Maiden->Fenrir Knight), Kevin (Monk->Divine Fist)
Hawkeye has some buffs and spells, Riesz has debuffs and a class that benefits from having full health for dps, Kevin wrecks stuff as usual, and he can also buff his own attack and heal. I recommend controlling Riesz or Kevin there. And if you think you need more healing, just put Kevin into his other Light class to get multitargetting heal light. I recommend controlling Kevin if you make him a Divine Fist, and Riesz otherwise.

[Grave Knight]

Incidentally my first play through was basically your setup. Hawkeye (Ninja Master) was melee/range DPS/debuffer, Reisz (Starlancer) as melee/buffer, and Charlotte (Sage) as the healer.

My second play through was Angela (Magus) as ranged DPS (though pretty much all her tier 3 are DPS), Duran (Samurai...er...I mean Edelfrei) as tank/melee dps, and Kevin (Warrior Monk) as melee DPS/healer.

I think for what you want you should do Angela (either as main character or first companion) and either go Grand Diviner or Magus, Duran (either as main character or first companion) as Edelfrei cause it's really his best class (high DPS and 6 of the 8 saber spells) and Charlotte as your second companion (not sure about what path, I choose Sage cause access to 4 saber spells and really good healing).

[Zeal]

Charlotte should be in any of her dark classes when you have Angela in your party, just because of the synergy she gets for a magic focused party (an ability to decrease magic defense of all enemies and either Foul Breath or Dark Curse to debuff magic defense even further, as well as powerful spells of her own). Having both Duran and her for sabers is also fairly redundant.

And Duran is the most useful for a magic focused party in his Liege class, because 1. he can Provoke enemies, thus allowing the mages to do their thing more easily and 2. because he gets an Ability that reduces all enemies' magic defense (he also gets one that reduces their regular defense, but in a power party you would want him in his dark classes for sabers).
And yes, I am very much aware that you would not need both Duran and Charlotte as healers at the same time, but the benefits Light Duran brings to the party outweigh this redundancy. I am also really, really happy that Angela and Duran got this kind of synergy in the remake. In the original, neither of them could really learn anything that would actually benefit the other. There was not even a way for Duran to tank and take aggro away from her... not that it mattered when you could hardly ever use magic in the first place, because every boss starting with Ludgar countered all magic (and higher level class strikes; not Hawkeye's Ninja techs, though) and people who did not know then kept wondering why bosses kept chain-casting screen wide spells...

Between those two, Angela can wreck things even better.
I would also argue that Archmage is her better light class, because you get the Judge ability that further increases damage against bosses, which are the only kinds of life that will survive your basic room clearing magic in the first place. ;)
For a bit more of a challenge (but also kind of fun spells), make Angela a Rune Master (one of her dark classes, I may also remember the name slightly wrong). In that class, her ultimate spell is dark elemental (unlike her other classes where her ultimate spell is non-elemental). That means, you can't just spam that one spell all the time to clear a room (as you would with the Magus' Ancient Curse, for example) but have to pick and choose which Level 3 Elemental spells to get and which to use when.