I got a ways through the game and restarted, 'cause I hadn't been buffing my characters the right way. Doing much better this time! But I didn't get far enough in the game to experience all RPCs, so am undecided who to hang out with this time.

In my party I have:

1 Samurai
1 Fighter
1 Valkyrie
1 Mage
1 Bard
1 Priest

Any opinions on who the best RPCs are? They must all have their advantages and disadvantages... I only wish there was one RPC for every profession. No recruitable mages or alchemists or lords or...

Not sure about alchemist, but I know there is a recruitable lord and a recruitable mage, though I think they come along fairly late in the game.

My favorite RPC is RFS-81 (Monk). He has some of the best lines in the game.

Possible Spoiler - Names and classes of RPCs
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Vi - Valkyrie - Arnika
Myles - Rogue - Arnika
Saxx - Bard - Mt. Gigas
Sparkle - Ranger - Mt. Gigas
? - Samurai - Mines
RFS-81 - Monk - Mines
? - Fighter - Bayjin
? - Mage - Rapax Castle
Rodan - Lord - Rapax Away Camp
? - Ninja - Rapax Away Camp
Madras - Gadgeteer - Trynton
? - Psionic - Arnika

You could try this guide from GameFAQs:

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/dosw...y_viii_rpc.txt

I agree though, that RFS-81 is one of the best characters in the game. Not only does he have a ...unique... personality, but he's also one of the few RPCs who will (almost) never abandon you.

[ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: Merulus ]</p>

I've tried every one but the Mook Psionic, and for my style (which is heavily biased toward close combat) the metal man was the only one that I really liked. The others are just too ready to abandon the party. It's better not to come to rely on the 7th or 8th member of your party and then miss them when they go.

Well, as far as the "best" RPCs, it depends on your standards. The two that will go the most places with you are Vi and RFS (Valk and non-magic-wielding Monk respectively). Vi will not go (willingly) to the Bayjin or Rapax areas but will accompany you everywhere else except the Wilderness Clearing. RFS will not accompany you to the Wilderness Clearing nor will any other RPC because you need to have room for the two prisoners to be recruited.

That said, let me add that while I chose to use RFS and Vi in my first time to completely go through the game, this time around I am only going to recruit RPCs that I need to to get quests done because I want the extra XP for my own characters.

In my very first party (I got through Arnika, Trynton, Swamp, Mines, Gigas and Bluff areas before restarting) I recruited every RPC for a little while to see what they were like. The two Trynnie (Madras and Sparkle) I found annoying quite quickly - Sparkle more so than Madras. Saxx was interesting but quickly found to be useless because he wouldn't accompany me to the T'Rang areas. Tantris wouldn't go to the Umpani areas and since you spend a lot of time in both places, I quickly discarded those two. Myles I kicked out as soon as Vi was rescued because I didn't like his superior attitude, tho his backstab was nice. Urq would have been interesting but again wouldn't go to enough areas willingly to make it worthwhile to build him up. I kind of liked Sexus for awhile but there were too many limitations to using him due to his race - he leaves you as soon as you annoy the Rapax which you almost have to do pretty quickly after finding Sexus. Glumph, Rodan and Drazic might have proven to be more interesting but were shorter-term RPCs needed only to complete quests and R&D both complain too much if you try to take them anywhere but MB or Gigas.

So basically I found that it wasn't so much their skills that caused me to keep or drop an RPC as it was where they'd go and what their personalities were.

Jem,

Glumph is not an option for any purpose other than completing the Umpani quest. He was designed to be obnoxious, and they designed him well. Ignoring this, his skill as a fighter is, well, underwhelming.

Most of the other RPC's had good points except maybe Myles. I really liked Sparkle's character, but my party already had a ranger.

Just my very biased personal opinion:

Best choice: Play without RPCs whatsoever, if you have a good party you don't need them, they steal 25% of your combat experience points!

Second best choice: RFS-81

Third best choice: RFS-81 + RPC of your choice depending on your party composition

Myles and Vi anytime.

Vi is sexy, Myles is funny. :D

RFS-81. Has some limitations, but he's really cool.