Characters:
Terra: Half esper, half human who you begin the game with, the closest thing to the main character. Her special abilty is Morph, in which she takes her Esper form, Increases all her stats, use ability sparingly though

Locke: Thief/Treasure hunter with a checkered past, specialty, steal, very usefull near the end of the game when you fight the gods, since you can steal the Ragnarok, Illumina, and Atma Weapon from them.

Edgar: King of Figaro, traitor to the Empire since he is also one of the top leaders in the Returners. Specialty, tools, usefull near the begining, and end, when you get the chainsaw and air anchor.

Sabin:Prince of Figaro, martial arts expert, I believe he's the best character in the game. His specialty is Blitz, in which you enter in combonations of buttons to perform awesome attacks such as Bumrush is a full circle on the Arrows.

Cyan: The Retainer of Doma, a kingdom poisoned by Kefka, if you train him, he is quite usefull. HIs specialty is the unique swordtech, in which you charge a meter to perform an array of attacks.

Shadow: the most mysterious character in game, aside for GoGO, technically he is a secret character. To keep him in your party, on the floating continent, near the end, wait for him until the timer is 5 seconds, if you arrive at 4 seconds or lower, or he does not show, just leave, once he jumps with you to the airship, you must do a few more things. In the World Of Ruin, go to the veldt cave and find him and the Striker. Once found he will rest in Thamasa then go to the colloseum. Bet the Striker in the colloseum to fight him, beat him and he joins the party. His specialty is throw, where he throws unequipped weapons. Another specialty he has is sometimes when he attacks, his dog, interceptor will tkae come of the damage, and then counter attack for some good damage

Gau: the plucky comic relief of the game, raised by animals on the veldt, to get him in the WoR, go to the veldt and fight, he will rejoin the party after a few battles. Specialty, Jump/Rage, while in the veldt he can jump on enemies to learn their attacks, then to get him back fight a few more battles and he'll rejoin with new rage abilities

Celes: Ex-General of the Empire. has a special relationship with Locke. Other born magic user of the party, her specialty is Runic, where she raises her sword to absorb magic attacks used by anyone, friend or foe, to add to her MP. It is really only usefull in the begining of the game, when no one can use magic.

Mog:hidden character, before you go to the esper world, go back to Narshe and go to the house on the eastern side of town. Chase down the man there and he will threaten to kill Mog on top of the cliff, do nothing, and Mog will attack him, save Mog and he'll join the party,His specialty is Dance, fight in different areas to learn new dances. To get him in the WoR, go back to the Moogle cave in Narshe and he'll be there, talk to the place he was looking to get the moogle charm, which when equipped to Mog, keeps all battles away.

Setzer:Own the Airships, his specialty is slot where he can do an array of good atacks depending on the result of the slot.

Strago: The last of the Magi,specialty, monster attacks,(forgot the actual name), fight with him and he will learn attacks the monsters use.

Relm:Clyde's daughter, or is thought to be, fiesty and a bit funny, her specialty is Sketch/Control where she either draws a pciture of the monster that attacks the enemies, or tkaes control of an enemy.

Umaro: a sasquatch that you don't really control, fight tritotch in the WoR to gain access to his cave, wander about in the cave until you find the Esper there, when you take it, Umaro comes, fight him, and when you beat him he joins.

GoGo:THE BEST character in the game, To get him/her in the WoR go to triangle island and be absorbed by the enemy there. solves the puzzles to reach GoGo in the center on the cave, by going to his status, you can equip him with any techniques you want him to have, he knows all the magic of those in the party with him, and all the blitzes, and sword techs and tools of those around him.