I'm playing Front Mission 1st Remake in preparation for FM 2 Remake that I bought recently. I've reached New Milgan, or the second location unlocked just before the second mission in FM1stR. I've been grinding in the Arena with Royd Clive, main protagonist of the O.C.U. story which, as far as I can tell from what I've looked up, is the only side of the story with characters able to be recruited into the party. It makes sense though since it wouldn't be up to the main protagonist in the U.C.S. story to recruit people unless they were also in the military. Or deserters. Depending on the context of the story which I look forward to playing and finding out. With Royd Clive, I've gotten his Short weapons rank to 11 (Short weapons are firearms like machine guns, rifles, etc.). I probably should try to work on his Dodge rating next before working on Ryuji's efficiency levels though. The Long weapons rank is 10 (they all start at 9 in all areas so far), but Royd's Dodge rating is still 9. So, I think I'll work on that next with him in the Arena. Afterwords, I'll be improving Ryuji's efficiency ranks. ^^
I'd delayed finishing the game because I saw that they're going to make all 3 Front Mission games as Remakes that the Switch will be able to play. The FM2 Remake has issues from what I've read, but I still want to play it because I've never played the second one before, like some Front Mission fans. I can't wait until the 3rd FM Remake comes out~ ^^