Ni no Kuni best familiars early game

I also just started playing and I've been browsing the board a lot for familiar suggestions too. Here's what's commonly suggested, grouped by characters for their preferred genus:

Oliver:
Mite (starter): Good to use in the beginning, but stats will become subpar compared to others. Would be a good idea to replace him with another attacker/tank when you get the chance.
Seed Sprite (story event): Not one of his preferred genus, but a good healer and mage. Doesn't get a revive spell however.
Lagoon Naiad (story event, if picked): Like the Seed Sprite, but focused on healing and support. Won't get an offensive spell until it's third form (Greater Naiad), but also gets a revive spell (Upsy-Daisy).
Naja (Ding Dong Well): Great attacker, but a bit of a late bloomer. A long-term investment.
Purrloiner (Castaway Cove area): One of the highly recommended attackers for Oliver. Good stat growth early on and incredibly fast. Stats won't be as impressive as Naja late in the game, but still worth using.
Little Bighorn (Old Smokey): A solid tank when you first get it, but not great in the long run.
Dinoceros (Genie's Step, air transport required): You won't be able to get this one for a while, but it's considered to be the best familiar for it's ridiculous attack power and tricks.

*Note: Oliver is already a good offensive mage on his own so it's not really necessary to have a familiar fill that role. He'll need a healer though.

Second Party Member:
Drongo (starter): Probably the best of the starter familiars, a beefy mage/healer. Not considered a top familiar, but still good.
Bubud (Ding Dong Well): A good tank and healer when you first get it. Can learn Upsy-Daisy in its third form (Lotus Bubbud). Get's outclassed by another familiar later on.
Napcap (Golden Grove): Both of its final forms have some of the highest overall stats of all familiars, but they're very late bloomers. Not recommended for the main game.
Green Buncher (Desert area): Strong attacker with good defense. Not as commonly recommended as the next two.
Danglerfish (Ding Dong Well): A very strong attacker, but a bit slow.
Hooray (Seas of the Southern Isles, sea transport req.): Another strong attacker, slightly less powerful than Dangler, but faster. Both seem to be equally recommended on here.
Sparkee (Seas of the Southern Isles, sea transport req.): One of the strongest offensive mages, learns the best offensive spell (Parp) in its third form, Acee. Doesn't have the best equip options for a mage, but still very powerful.
Lumberwood (Not Mine Island, sea transport req.): The best tank in the game, plus it learns healing spells. One of the best familiars.

Third Party Member
Hurly (Starter): It's just a bad familiar, not even one of his preferred genus. Replace ASAP.
Thumblemur (story event): Replace Hurly with this guy. Good attacker early in the game. Can learn Upsy-Daisy in its third form, Aye-Aye Catcher.
Bonehead (Desert area): A VERY late bloomer, but it does become one of the best attackers in the game at high/max level. However some think it's not worth using in the main game.
Monolith (Desert area): An excellent tank that can learn Upsy-Daisy in its third form, Paleolith. Decent caster too.
Girlfiend or Wisp(Tombstone Trail): Both are good offensive mage choices. Girlfiend will have a better magic growth.

I'm sure there are other good familiars to consider, but these are just the ones that are most frequently recommended just to give you an idea.

Posted by user Divini:

I made this guide to help people new to the game that have questions on good familiars to catch early on soon after you get the ability to tame that are good to use throughout the game. I based these suggestions mostly on personal experience, so don't let what I say dissuade you from trying out other familiars if you really want to use them.

In addition, I posted my postgame familiar setup at the end, just to show you the path I took.

Two gameplay mechanics that you should know before reading:
1. Preferred Genus' get a 10% stat boost, which is significant (so I'll be sticking to the preferred genus for each human in this guide)
2. Familiars will have higher stats for their next forms if you level their previous forms to the maximum. Therefore, if you want the best stats possible for a certain familiar, you should raise them from their first forms, at level 1, and always level to the maximum before you metamorphosis.

Oliver:

His first familiar Mite is very average compared to other familiars that are obtainable that fulfills his role as a physical attacker. This is because the Mite line are physical attackers that specialize in high accuracy (and mediocre everything else), and quite frankly Accuracy is the most underwhelming stat in the game. Being forced to evolve it early certainly doesn't help either.

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Attacker: The Naja (Ding Dong Well), and the Purrloiner (Castaway Cove) are great familiars you can tame off the bat with excellent stat growth and high attack speed. The Plessie (Sea Northwest of Autmnia) is also a solid choice - though it trades attack speed for better defenses.

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Tank: Little Bighorn (Old Smokey) is what you're looking for. Good attack, physical resistant, and has a strong movepool (like getting Spire of Fire so early). I consider it an upgraded Mite, since they even come with the same gear slots.

One thing to note however, is that the Little Bighorn line gets easily outclassed both in damage dealing and taking once you reach the late/post-game. The Dracones genus in particular in gets powerhouses like the Dinoceros (Genie's Steps) and the Sapdragon (Post-game) for example...

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Magic: Worker Bumbler (Golden Grove) has very good magic attack, but you'll need to use magic gems on it since it learns mostly physical attacks. You won't find as good of a magic user until the Sillymander (Vault of Tears) far later.

Note that Oliver himself more than makes up for a lack of magic familiars with his wide array of attack magic he eventually gets. His healing power is lackluster though, so a Lagoon Naiad (Islands South of Summerlands, or free from Temple of Trials) is a good support familiar to round out Oliver's party, even if it's not one of his preferred Genus (Nymphae). This is because the Naiad line is arguably the best pure healing/support familiar in the game.

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