Any must have spells?

[Citronvand]

I have 100% SaGa Frontier so I'm not completely new to SaGa games, but am I shooting myself in the foot by limiting myself to water, lunar and solar spells?

I'm very comfortable with my current party. But after getting my ass kicked by a certain dragon's AoE fire which dealt 400 damage on everyone I'm not sure if I'm going to need some other spell, like firewall to protect me. I'm sure there are several ways to deal with the dragon (diplomacy?), that's not what this is about. I *don't* want to know how to deal with the dragon but it got me thinking whether I should diversify my spells.


This is my current harem party:

Julian - Swordsman / Tank (Heavy Armor & Frontline) / Lunar & Water for healing, cure status & water column

Monika - Shortsword / Fastest party member with low weight / Lunar & Water for same reason as Julian, possibly shadow servant shenanigans later if it works the same as in SaGa Frontier

Crepe (Tatyana) - Spearman / Tank (Heavy Armor & Frontline) / SP Crown

Ellen - Martial Arts / 2nd fastest party member / DPS / SP Crown / Healing Staff

Undine - Solar & Water spells / SP Crown / AoE DPS or support if I really need it

Formation: Seer's Focus (Increases Undine's spells)

Strategy: If I'm encountering a hard enemy, I theoretically cast Water Column on everyone. 3 characters can cast it so it should only take 2 turns. That way everyone will regenerate life and block 50% of physical attacks. Due to Monika's speed she can either Feint if possible or heal before enemy attacks. That's my base strategy at least, obviously I change it when needed.


As you can see I could teach Tatyana & Ellen some spells. But I'm not sure if I should, because I will lose their SP Crown. Besides, if I get other schools of magic, won't that screw with the environment? Water column only regenerates HP if the current environment is water, if I suddenly start to cast fire spells... you get my point.

[Citronvand]

Well, I just beat the game, including the new optional boss Yama. The only spell I would say is a must have, if any, would be healing spells. While I did get shadow servant and a couple of other strong spells such as corona, quicktime and parhelion. None of them felt necessary. That said, corona was a great AoE spell, especially after I got the Mage ring which 1/2 the cost of all spells and gives +5 MAG.

My final party was Julian, Monika, Ellen, Undine and Leonid. As soon as I saw I could get a vampire party member I had to bring him along and I thought he was very good in the end. Apparently the fire magic Revive can heal him but I never got any fire spells, even then I didn't have any issues keeping him "alive". Give him 1 or 2 Ring of Demise and 1 or 2 Ring or Fending and he will be super tanky (68/68 DEF/MDEF) and he is immune to most status effects and he regenerates 10% HP every turn. He also doesn't take abyss(?) damage from the final boss which is another plus. Just don't put him in the frontline when the enemy has firewall since he is weak to fire.