Why not have Shinji in a Gespenst at the begining, and then upgrading to something like.. I dunno... the Wild Wuerger? Excellen is a must.
Are you a mind reader or something? Shinji's beginning mimics the one in OG - for the very first battle (Sachiel), the only units available are two Gespenst MkII-M's and the Grungust Type-0 piloted by Sanger.
Predictably, in that battle Sanger carries the team, as the Gespenst have a hard time damaging Sachiel.
I intended to have the following cast return from OG (and OG only), along with their final mecha:
-Katina Tarask (Huckebein 008-L)
-Latouni Subbota (Weissritter)
-Sanger Zonvolt (Grungust Type-0)
-Tasuku Shinguuji (Giganscudo)
-Lefina Enfield (Hiryuu Custom)
The rest is the support crew:
-Nicholas 'Hawk' Jonsson (Wildschwein)
-Simon Choi (Gespenst MkII-TT)
-Ignas Cervantes (Schutzwald)
-Dan Odjin (Guarlion)
And the two NGE pilots:
-Shinji Ikari (Alt Eisen)
-Kensuke Aida (Wildraubtier)
If I added Excellen again, I suppose I could give Latouni the Huckebein 008-L, and give Katina the Gespenst R... but then, no Rampage Ghost (there's a reason why I gave it to Latouni).
Thoughts?