Xenosaga 2: Jenseits von Gut und Bose:
chaos: 3/10. He has theoretical use involving his #2 magic stat, but it tends not to pan out in practice much. Innate spirit helps for a few randoms.
Jin Uzuki: 3.5/10. Quite badly outclassed by KOS-MOS and there's little reason to use both. Again, has a slight edge over her in randoms (slash element damage while enemies are grounded) but overall, eh.
Gaignum Kukai "Rubedo" Jr.: 6/10. Piercing damage is a good element, he can break even if he can't air/down, generally better stats than Jin.
Ziggurat "Ziggy" 8: 6/10. Really really good if you want to do physical damage or fire, or the chains you have planned don't suffer from those. However, forced element does make him useless sometimes.
MOMO: 8/10. Well we all know the story. Game-best magic, great element, so she smashes things and is more durable than you'd expect. Also speed/MP make her the best support character even if she weren't good at killing things.
Shion Uzuki: 4.5/10. While she's obviously great in the aftergame, maingame the chain really screws her up sometimes. However, there are a good number of mec enemies very weak to lightning, beam, and magic, and she at least shines against those even if she should be laughed out of most boss fights.
KOS MOS: 7/10. You need someone to air/down enemies. Obviously Ziggy's a good man for that sometimes, but too often he isn't, and then your choice is to either use KOS or the vastly inferior Jin. Even when you're using Ziggy, KOS is generally a better Jr. thanks to that strength/HP. So yeah, second best PC.
Suikoden Buddies, Friends, Etc.:
Cleo: 7.5/10. Great magic and speed, decent physical and durability! Yeah, no weaknesses here. Not sure it's an 8 since she doesn't actively stand out, but she's good.
Gremio: 2/10. Okay early on with the Talisman unite, LVP after Pahn leaves, descends into "just awful" as his post-L20 strength growth kicks in. I guess Talisman saves him from that 1.
Pahn: 4/10. The better side of the Talisman unite, and in general uh... kinda decent for a S1 fighter without a broken rune. But that's not good enough.
Viktor-1: 3/10. High HP helps some midgame, and Clone Rune can mitigate his horrid hit while keeping his decent power, but overall, bleh.
Odessa: DNR. Good though.
Flik-1: 7/10. Almost a Cleo clone; she has more magic (and is L-range) and he has more strength and otherwise they're basically identical. She wins that clearly enough, but not by a huge margin or anything.
Nanami: 5/10. Spark Rune and reasonable overall stats makes her quite workable, but she's nothing special.
Bolgan: 2.5/10. I probably need to look at him more closely but I remember him being quite underwhelming.
Eilie: 4.5/10. Feels a bit overall underwhelming, magic needed to be higher. B fire is something.
Rina: 6.5/10. One of the first PCs to hit three rune slots, and decent magic. I generally didn't find S2 physical twink runes so easy to come by to rate this as highly as one could, but she still deserves some respect even if she lacks any worthwhile A/B affinities.
Flik-2: 6.5/10. Again, pretty decent all-around. Stats are lower than in S1, but at least he got a B in lightning.
Viktor-2: 4/10. Has power I guess.
Thomas: 2.5/10. Okay in his own chapters, useless garbage outside them.
Cecille: 5/10. Outright good in her own chapters, useless outside them (one of the worst tank-types even after she catches up).
Juan: 7.5/10. Status immunity isn't too hard to get, you can even snag it in Thomas' own chapters if you're crafty. Still a bit of a slower starter, but so much smash.
Piccolo: 3/10. See Thomas, although he's a bit better all-around despite being a pure mage in S3.
Snowe: 3/10. Well he's better than Gremio or something.
Keneth: 6/10. Lightning shenanigans are decent.
Tal: 3/10. Physicals and the earth rune don't really cut it when you don't even have speed.
Jewel: 4/10. Lots of better choices for her role.
Paula: 6/10. Decent mage but not exceptional, and wind isn't the most useful affinity.
Georg: 7.5/10. Georg is great. He'd hilariously be worse if you could use him for the final fight, or if there wasn't a three-part dungeon before the final so your using him would hurt your Exp. Otherwise, the best physical fighter before twinking and holds up admirably after.
Sialeeds: 2/10. Yeah, she... starts out as like a 4, sure. Game-worst PC by the time she leaves, though. No free rune slots whatsoever, Wind ain't cuttin' it.
Miakis: 8.5/10. I think everyone knows the story here, first PC to three rune slots + good speed + good magic + good base physical + above average durability. Does everything, and unmatched at the midgame physical destruction.
Galleon: 3.5/10. One of the better tanks in S5, while Cecile is one of the worst in S3! I'll let you guys decide what it says that the latter is clearly the better PC.
Kyle: 6/10. Flik type, but the speed holds the mix back a bit.