Zemurian ore Trails in the Sky 3rd

I wouldn't forge Ries's either if I were you. Ries is much better used as a caster since her Phantasmagoria weapon gives her a lovely 250 ATS bonus (much higher than anyone else can hope to attain), plus more bonus from the Phantasmagoria armor (or if you have enough time to waste, Schwarz Silk+Spiritual Shoes), and she has a good orbment and okay base ATS. Of course her Zemurian Weapon then doesn't give anywhere near as much ATS, and she has no real trick for physical attacks beyond whacking things with it anyways.

Aside from Richard and Joshua, I think the good candidates are Tita's Cannon (she has the unique ability to have her weapon attack actually working with buffs after Orbal Gear, unlike default), the rapier and 2h sword (can potentially be used by two users each if you put them in separate parties and take care of the exploration order, plus Julia and Mueller can get the bonus twice when they use their chain crafts), and Schera's whip (Fox Tail is even faster than Richard's crafts if you want to use her that way, plus +150 ATS). The SPD bonus on the gun and Renne's scythe don't really give enough benefits to outweigh the enormous damage bonus to those physical attackers.

Well my final lineup was Kevin, Reis, Richard and Renne. Renne's speed boost of +10 isn't much, but with it she and Kevin kept perpetual Earth Wall on the team, took 0 damage during that fight (literally zero, always roll with a 200 CP Grail Barrier till you get your Clock Up EXs rolling). Renne was punching 2150 ATS with a Crimson Eye and Kitty Band+, and 1 Support Mage, 2 Physical Attackers, and 1 Devastation mage runs well with me.

If you were to hand it out to only melee, I'd put Tita as the next choice (didn't know about the extra buffs), followed by Agate. Orbal Gear Solid : The Phantasmal Pain gets even more powerful with the extra +300, and Dragon Dive, well why not buff that, right?