Final Fantasy Tactics Talk (the Tactics Revisited)
(This entry was started on the 20th and only finished today. Just a FYI)
Well I've now managed to capture 10 of every single capturable fiend in Final Fantasy X. The time was approximately 115 hours. I haven't defeated the special creations but that shouldn't be difficult with aeons. This game is so great, so far it has rarely ever gotten boring. Always new goals to stride for, new challenges to overcome, blitzball games to win. The most I ever played any other FF game was IX and I think I completely dropped it after beating the game. Yep, I definitely think I could say this is my favorite FF game overall. The battle system just adds so much, same for the sphere grid. Anyway, since I'm running out of major things to do I'm sure I'll stop playing it not too far from now. I still have plenty of other stuff to play -_-. I never thought I'd enjoy it this much though...Next game run-through - No Sphere Grid Challenge! ^_^
Anyway recently I've been downloading some Final Fantasy Tactics music, ahh does it bring back some good memories. When I'm done with X, I might go back to Tactics but I'm not sure if I should continue with my old file which I'm not too proud of cause it was a first-time experimental run-through and in this game, you can screw yourself over. I'm sure I could still win with the other file and one of my first goals when I started the game was to try out every job class but I don't have any need to anymore cause I simply don't feel like it.
Why did I stop playing in the first place? Well it's not an easy game if you don't make use of rather cheap techniques {Auto-Potion (well at least IMO ), etc.} and I got Game Overs in random battles as much if not more than Story Battles. Both are hard as random battles have monsters with equal levels and some baddies are real pains in the ass (don't remember the name...but Mind Blast was the technique >_<). Story Battles are also hard as there's often overwhelming numbers and the enemies are pretty freaking smart. So many archers would go up to high areas and stay out of reach as they slowly take down your numbers, or perhaps Black Mages who start casting a spell right after your turn is over so you have no chance of escaping or counteracting it. However I don't think this is what made me stop playing, as I think I spent too much time doing other things like leveling up as opposed to continuing with the story. For a while I did those bar missions one at a time, one after another and it took forever, that was probably the ultimate factor that shooed me away even if I really enjoyed playing the game. And as said before, my party was pretty weak and I only started to realize till late how it's probably better to focus on a few characters rather than trying to keep everyone at equal levels. OOOH another major factor of the game that can shoo people away: since most of your party is up to you and there isn’t exactly a limit to the possibilities, when characters or monsters die, there’s a chance they won’t be coming back. Here’s the deal, in this game when a character and/or monster falls (friend or fiend =P), a little number will appear over their head. This number should be anything from 1-3? Well anyway the number goes down by one each time that person’s turn would pass had they been alive. On the turn after the number has changed to 0, (well its either their 0 or -1 turn, probably -1), this character disappears from the screen and in their place either a crystal (human) or treasure chest (monster). For treasures, somebody must go to that tile and will collect a usually crappy treasure the monster has left behind. In the case of crystals, when a character steps to that tile, can either fully heal themselves or automatically learn some abilities that fallen character had known (just a few, not many). This is a good thing if the fallen person is a baddie, but if it’s an ally that usually means hitting the soft-reset keys. Not only will it rid your party of one hard-worked on character but it probably wouldn’t look bad if you didn’t revive a bunch of fallen allies as the game records it in your history. Yes these fallen characters can of course be revived before the countdown finishes whether by Phoenix Downs or Raise but after that 0 turn...goodbye sky harbor. Oh and actually I think the faster the character is, the less turns they have to be revived..that’s peachy aint it? =P Yeah so this can be a real pain in the ass as it happens a lot for the average player who is still learning the game and I had to reset it every time. A clever and unique aspect definitely…but a pain-in-the-ass >_<.
An example of a major screwup in terms of characters: After letting Agrias get all her Holy Knight skills, I put her into the Mediator class cause I wanted someone who can help pick up brave, faith whatever but that was a horrible choice. Couldn't use Gained JP up cause I needed to put on Equip Sword so she could still use the Holy Knight skills. It took forever for her to get a good amount of skills and her attacking abilities were a lot weaker afterwards because one's stats grow in respect to their current job class so her character got screwed over pretty badly.
The gist of my party on my old file (Probably a third of the way into my game, I made up my own characters)
Ramza - Squire (der) turned..Monk turned Samurai I believe - Samurai is OK but not too impressive and going Monk to go to Samurai is a waste. Still a good character but probably not like the Godlike Ramzas of other people's games.
Corey - Lancer/Geomancer?? He was one of my better if not best characters but not perfect.
Will - Monk turned Ninja turned Ninja/Thief - as stated before it's not a bright idea to change jobs midway and although Ninjas are weak defensively, mine seemed to be very weak. Could be very effective but at the same time completely useless.
Jess - Geomancer? turned Black Wizard turned Calculator/Black Wizard with some White Magic - Yeah going from an attackeresque job to a magic user is a very bad idea. I don't care what other people said, switching to Calculator job to get the Math skill is not worth it. Caluclators are horrible, SO freaking slow!
Amanda - Summoner turned Summoner/Dancer - what did I learn from this, do not no matter what try to combine a summoner and a dancer. Amanda was a great summoner and one of my better characters but she should have stuck with summoning =P (don't take that in offense..). Either one or the other. Yep another bad move.
Many other default characters I ditched in a matter of sorts so I could concentrate on a few, bad idea or no? Not sure.
Mustadio - Engineer turned Engineer/Knight - read about how useful this can be in a FAQ and it is, one of the better moves a person can make.
blahblahblah
Agrias - read further up
Warning: The following is rather long and possibly quite uninteresting. Read if you like, but don't spit in my face if it's boring.
Is there anyone who'd like to request to be in the game and be a specific job? The fill-out form is at the very bottom if you want to do it but skip the class explanations. Have Fun! Yeah right -_-…..
Options are:
Squire - Nothing special, just act as a leadway into other jobs. Ramza has an advanced form but yeah none of you will be MY Ramza. Evaluation - Not recommended
Chemist - Heal party members and vanquish status effects through healing items. The reason they're so effective is their ability to throw items over great distances. Too bad Phoenix Downs suck...The start of a magic user's line but known as one of the better secondary job classes. Oh and they can use guns (long shot range but damage can only be increased with a better gun, nothing else )later on. Evaluation: Secondary class
Knight - Does this really need to be explained? Very high attack power but not too quick. Breaking abilities can be very helpful if successful. Think Steiner/Auron. Better if it's a guy. Evaluation: Great class but not the most interesting of ones.
Archer - Although not one of the better ones in terms of usage, one of my personal favorites as I think it's still a cool job. Why are they so bad? Their skill makes use of Charge +# so the higher the charge, the more turns it takes to execute the attack but also the more powerful it gets. However the higher charges, you could forget about..Although they can shoot from rather incredible distances at high altitudes (they use either 1-handed crossbow (don't) or a bow), if the target moves even 1 tile over, attack will miss no matter what. Evaluation: Eh...I never heard of a good archer..besides an evil AI-controlled one -_-
White Priest - A necessity in every FF game right? Well ask many of the better players and they'd probably frown upon a full-fledged white mage. Reasoning? There are better jobs for magical stat growth and also the high CT for some spells as well as JP for skill buying is a turnoff. Common scenario: White Mage tries to cast Life1 on a downed party member, only to be killed off by a baddie in the spellcasting period. Think Garnet(Blade>Dagger=p)/Eiko/Yuna. Better for females than males. Evaluation: Not a primary class, take a few spells and run.
Black Wizard Ahh I can still remember Will talking about his Wizard "Cherry" and how great she was and how she did so much damage and all. Known as one of the better classes as they can take enemies down from a distance, although it will require some luck and good timing. Problem is their damage does not discriminate so should one of your characters get in an area where a spell will hit, they will take some damage too. Better if it's a girl. Evaluation: Never tried to do a full-fledged mage so I'm not sure of their potential but I guess I'd recommend it.
Time Mage Their purpose is to screw you over and help their guys out. Their role is in the name, they manipulate the flow of time with Slow, Slow2, Haste, Haste2, Quick (what else??), and can use Meteor with enough JP. Good for taking those few spells and putting it as a secondary class as they can be quite useful. Think White Mage Tidus. Evaluation: It's not at all a bad skill but once again, better off as a secondary.
Thief - Love 'em or hate 'em, they have always been around and always will be. Personally I'm quite a big fan of thieves, Cloud held my Steal materia most of the time, I purposely put Zidane on Auto-Haste so I could get as much crap as I could and I'd actually try to slow battles down and extend them in length just for this reason. Well this is a more advanced version of the thieves we know as they can steal specific equipment be it shield, weapon, helmet, accessory, even gil and EXP. Problem is they have low HP and the rate of success aren't too great. Think Zidane, Locke, Rikku. Evaluation: Excellent as a secondary skill, specifically for Ninjas who are quicker (rate of success depends on agility).
Oracle - I can't remember too much about them but they're main purpose is status effects like Darkness, Stop, Petrify, Silence and others that are specific to this game. No poison :-O! They can attack two spaces cause of poles but they're not designed to be warriors. They become obsolete when a hidden character comes along. Think Wakka if Wakka sucked ass. Evaluation: I had bad experiences with them...
Monk - Ahh the Japanese monks we all know and (love?). Fists of Fury is the name, ass-reapage is the game. No weapons here, nope. It's known as one of the better classes as they can do nearly anything: raise fallen allies (good luck with this though as the height has to be EXACTLY the same between the two participants), cure and vanquish status effects, ranged attacks and they own in melee fighting. Targeted at male characters. Evaluation: Go ahead but I don't like the way they look. =P
Summoner - Aah what a great class. Sure the CT for summons is long later on but the advantages are rather good. Summons discriminate towards the target so only allies will be healed, only baddies killed. Summons also act on large areas and are quite effective and powerful. High stat growth as well. HP leaves something to be desired though. Summons are attack and leave btw. Targeted at girl characters. Think Dagger/Eiko/Yuna without the individual turns factor/Vincent (if your name is Corey). Recommended: I'd definitely want one of these in my party.
Mediator - I was about to say they suck but this FAQ disagrees. They can permanently raise or lower Faith/Brave and have access to some status affect abilities. They can also invite monsters and humans I think (story battles too). They also shoot people. Evaluation: According to him, good as a secondary skill.
Geomancer - This job boggled my mind during my playing and they still do. Yes they attack in crosses, from far away, instantly, and even cause status effects but mine were so damn weak. With an axe their melee damage could be good but also fluctuates a lot. Supposedly with the right training, they're great but I dunno. Evaluation: Good as a secondary skill??
Lancer - Another one of my favorite classes. They can attack from afar and do a hecka lotta damage even if it takes them a turn or two to fall back down (they're invincible in the air) after Jump. Spears have a reach of two tiles with normal attacks. Good stat growth too and they look cool. Think Freya. Evaluation: Highly recommended!
Samurai - A rather interesting job class and my Ramza was a Samurai but that wasn’t really a good choice… The cool thing about them is that they’re rather powerful attackers and actually can do area attacks with their special job class. These area attacks can of course do damage, as well as heal allies and do status attacks on whoever it applies to. Their Draw Out skill is actually based on magic so the character needs to be strong in magic also or else they’ll suck. This class actually took me a while to figure out how to use as they make use of katanas, unique to that job but for Draw Out you need to have multiple katanas cause they can break after an attack, etc. Ex. there are katanas in the game called Heaven’s Cloud and there’s a Draw Out skill by that name which uses that katana. Evaluation: meh…a fancy class but not necessarily in a good way. It’s hard to make a good samurai..
Ninja - The ninja is one of the best classes in the game and a good example of why classes aren’t exactly balanced. As ninjas they hold weapons in two hands so therefore when they attack, they attack with each weapon, very, very useful. Also just as their real-life counterparts are very quick, they get around quickly too, but this leads us to their big flaw. They have rather low HP like a thief so just as a Ninja can take out baddies quickly, baddies can take out ninjas quickly. They also can throw weapons from a distance which is rather useful at times. Also given Steal skill as their second class is really useful. Targeted at male characters. Think Shadow as well as Amarant but in Amarant’s case, these ninjas are much better as opposed to Amarant who sucks ass and these ninjas kick ass while he is just cruddy. Evaluation: Iidesu nee!!
Calculator - *Coughcough* Vomits…UUUUGH I hate this class. I don’t care how useful Math skill is on a wizard, these guys are so damn slow so it takes forever for them to gain JP and they just plain suck. Who the hell attacks with a dictionary anyway!?!? The people are ugly looking also. Evaluation: You’re insane to choose this. I-N-S-A-N-E
Bard - I actually never got to try out these guys in my game and supposedly I wasn’t missing much: “Bards are single handedly the absolutely most horrible, pathetic, crappy, hopeless type of unit in the game.” Hmm guess you can be worse than a Calculator. Their main ability is Sing which allows them to raise stats, HP, MP, other good stuff to every ally on the field. This however takes time to do, like each raise HP will take 3 turns or so to cast, whatever and then they’ll continue to “sing” till you tell them to do something else. Horrible stat growth I hear. Only male characters may be bards. Evaluation: Choose this and...
Dancer - These characters are basically the opposite of bards. For example dancers can only be female characters (sorry Corey), and while everything a Bard does will help allies, dancers will only do negative actions to enemies. They also take time to do their dances, just like songs, and will continue to do so till they’re told to stop. While bards go up the magician’s line, dancers go up an attacker’s line. Supposedly every party should have a dancer because of this, this, and this but eh… I dunno. Evaluation: Just as in RL, the only way you’ll get a known good dancer is to actually be a good dancer…if not your just another regular shmoe..
Mime - Never tried these guys out either, supposedly they have unparalleled stat growth. And while they can be incredibly useful, they can be incredibly weak at the same time so I dunno…
You can also be a tamable monster like Chocobo, or any other monster in the game but this is kind of a waste of space.
All the Job skills are listed here:
Squire - Basic Skills -Stuff like Throw Rock, Heal, etc
Knight - Battle Skill - Break Weapon, Break Armor, Break, Power Break, etc.
Chemist - Item - Throw a potion, remedy, Phoenix Down, Soft, etc.
Archer - Charge - (Charge an attack for a few turns to make it stronger. Target must stay in same position) Charge+1, Charge+5, Charge+20, etc.
Monk - Punch Art - Wave Fist (attack from about two tiles away), Spinning Fist, Chakra, Revive, Stigma Magic (cures some status ailments), etc.
Priest - White Magic - Cure, Cure4, Raise, Raise2, Reraise, Esuna, Holy, Wall, Regen, etc.
Wizard - Black Magic - Fire, Ice3, Bolt4, Poison, Flare, Death, Frog, (no Ultima), etc.
Time Mage - Time Magic - Haste, Haste2, Stop, Quick (target has next turn), Slow, Demi, Meteor, Reflect, etc.
Summoner - Summon Magic - Moogle (cures allies), Ramuh, Shiva, Lich, Golem (absorbs some physical damage), Odin, Bahamut, etc.
Thief - Steal - Gil Taking, Steal Heart, Steal Helmet, Steal Weapon, Steal Accessory, Steal Exp., etc.
Mediator - Talk Skill - Praise (Raise Brave+4), Invitation (invite enemies to your side), Death Sentence, Preach (Raise Faith+4), Negotiate (make enemy give you gil), etc.
Oracle - Yin Yang Magic - Blind, Life Drain, Pray Faith, Zombie, Silence Song, Dispel Magic, Sleep, etc.
Geomancer - Elemental - (these are elemnental attacks that depended on the terrain type of the location) Hell Ivy, Local Quake, Lava Ball, Blizzard
Lancer - Jump - Level Jump2, Level Jump8, Vertical Jump5, Vertical Jump8, etc.
Samurai - Draw Out - Murasame (heals), Asura (magically attacks enemies), Koutetsu, Bizen Boat (lowers MP), etc.
Ninja - Throw - Shuriken, Battle Axe, Water Ball, Magic Shuriken, Mage Masher, Knife, etc., etc.
Calculator - Math Skill - CT (calculate using CT), 5 (calculate using multiples of 5) , 4, 3, Prime Number
Bard - Sing - Battle Song, Life Song, Magic Song, Cheer Song, etc.
Dancer - Dance - Slow Dance, Wiznaibus (Damages enemies), Polka Polka (Lowers Physical Attack), etc.
Mime - Mimic - Umm.. I don’t think you can equip this as a second ability…I dunno………
Probably the only part most of you care about. This is of course optional.
So you want to be a part of Ramza’s world eh? I’d prefer you fill it out in this fashion:
Real Life Name - Self-Explanatory
In-game Name - (What’d you like to be called in the game if not your normal name. Say MindGuru and…)
Preferred Job - What job you want to be
Secondary Job Skill (aka Duel-Class) - What you want your secondary skill to be such as Black Magic, Summon Magic, etc. The difference between primary job and secondary skill is you don’t have the innate abilities of that job for second skill so a Knight with Throw (ninja skill) would not be able to wield two weapons. Also difference classes have equipment restrictions like Chemists can equip guns but Knights can’t so that also applies. Secondary skill only lets you use those actions that are listed above ^.
Requests - If you have any special wants or needs such as “Oh make sure I don’t have Jump as my second ability” or “I only want to use Axes” or “I hate Corey, should he die, let him stay dead.” If you do want something else, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll follow through with it though.
Comments - Have anything else to say? Put it here, ex: “Tommy is a fag” or “You’re a bum for thinking about this instead of doing something else little brother” or “Video games are for kindergarteners.” Of course you’re not restricted to negative comments, you can say pretty much anything you want.
Finally I just want to list some good FFT music if you’re interested. This game’s music is highly underrated IMO and although there aren’t as many tracks as the typical FF, this game is nowhere near a typical FF so the OST is restricted to two? discs: Requiem, Unavoidable Battle, Run Past through the Plain, Antipyrectic, Warrior’s Hideout, A Chapel, Memories, Battle on the Bridge, Hero’s Theme, Meeting Theme, Opening, In Pursuit, ETC., ETC.
FIN
Well I've now managed to capture 10 of every single capturable fiend in Final Fantasy X. The time was approximately 115 hours. I haven't defeated the special creations but that shouldn't be difficult with aeons. This game is so great, so far it has rarely ever gotten boring. Always new goals to stride for, new challenges to overcome, blitzball games to win. The most I ever played any other FF game was IX and I think I completely dropped it after beating the game. Yep, I definitely think I could say this is my favorite FF game overall. The battle system just adds so much, same for the sphere grid. Anyway, since I'm running out of major things to do I'm sure I'll stop playing it not too far from now. I still have plenty of other stuff to play -_-. I never thought I'd enjoy it this much though...Next game run-through - No Sphere Grid Challenge! ^_^
Anyway recently I've been downloading some Final Fantasy Tactics music, ahh does it bring back some good memories. When I'm done with X, I might go back to Tactics but I'm not sure if I should continue with my old file which I'm not too proud of cause it was a first-time experimental run-through and in this game, you can screw yourself over. I'm sure I could still win with the other file and one of my first goals when I started the game was to try out every job class but I don't have any need to anymore cause I simply don't feel like it.
Why did I stop playing in the first place? Well it's not an easy game if you don't make use of rather cheap techniques {Auto-Potion (well at least IMO ), etc.} and I got Game Overs in random battles as much if not more than Story Battles. Both are hard as random battles have monsters with equal levels and some baddies are real pains in the ass (don't remember the name...but Mind Blast was the technique >_<). Story Battles are also hard as there's often overwhelming numbers and the enemies are pretty freaking smart. So many archers would go up to high areas and stay out of reach as they slowly take down your numbers, or perhaps Black Mages who start casting a spell right after your turn is over so you have no chance of escaping or counteracting it. However I don't think this is what made me stop playing, as I think I spent too much time doing other things like leveling up as opposed to continuing with the story. For a while I did those bar missions one at a time, one after another and it took forever, that was probably the ultimate factor that shooed me away even if I really enjoyed playing the game. And as said before, my party was pretty weak and I only started to realize till late how it's probably better to focus on a few characters rather than trying to keep everyone at equal levels. OOOH another major factor of the game that can shoo people away: since most of your party is up to you and there isn’t exactly a limit to the possibilities, when characters or monsters die, there’s a chance they won’t be coming back. Here’s the deal, in this game when a character and/or monster falls (friend or fiend =P), a little number will appear over their head. This number should be anything from 1-3? Well anyway the number goes down by one each time that person’s turn would pass had they been alive. On the turn after the number has changed to 0, (well its either their 0 or -1 turn, probably -1), this character disappears from the screen and in their place either a crystal (human) or treasure chest (monster). For treasures, somebody must go to that tile and will collect a usually crappy treasure the monster has left behind. In the case of crystals, when a character steps to that tile, can either fully heal themselves or automatically learn some abilities that fallen character had known (just a few, not many). This is a good thing if the fallen person is a baddie, but if it’s an ally that usually means hitting the soft-reset keys. Not only will it rid your party of one hard-worked on character but it probably wouldn’t look bad if you didn’t revive a bunch of fallen allies as the game records it in your history. Yes these fallen characters can of course be revived before the countdown finishes whether by Phoenix Downs or Raise but after that 0 turn...goodbye sky harbor. Oh and actually I think the faster the character is, the less turns they have to be revived..that’s peachy aint it? =P Yeah so this can be a real pain in the ass as it happens a lot for the average player who is still learning the game and I had to reset it every time. A clever and unique aspect definitely…but a pain-in-the-ass >_<.
An example of a major screwup in terms of characters: After letting Agrias get all her Holy Knight skills, I put her into the Mediator class cause I wanted someone who can help pick up brave, faith whatever but that was a horrible choice. Couldn't use Gained JP up cause I needed to put on Equip Sword so she could still use the Holy Knight skills. It took forever for her to get a good amount of skills and her attacking abilities were a lot weaker afterwards because one's stats grow in respect to their current job class so her character got screwed over pretty badly.
The gist of my party on my old file (Probably a third of the way into my game, I made up my own characters)
Ramza - Squire (der) turned..Monk turned Samurai I believe - Samurai is OK but not too impressive and going Monk to go to Samurai is a waste. Still a good character but probably not like the Godlike Ramzas of other people's games.
Corey - Lancer/Geomancer?? He was one of my better if not best characters but not perfect.
Will - Monk turned Ninja turned Ninja/Thief - as stated before it's not a bright idea to change jobs midway and although Ninjas are weak defensively, mine seemed to be very weak. Could be very effective but at the same time completely useless.
Jess - Geomancer? turned Black Wizard turned Calculator/Black Wizard with some White Magic - Yeah going from an attackeresque job to a magic user is a very bad idea. I don't care what other people said, switching to Calculator job to get the Math skill is not worth it. Caluclators are horrible, SO freaking slow!
Amanda - Summoner turned Summoner/Dancer - what did I learn from this, do not no matter what try to combine a summoner and a dancer. Amanda was a great summoner and one of my better characters but she should have stuck with summoning =P (don't take that in offense..). Either one or the other. Yep another bad move.
Many other default characters I ditched in a matter of sorts so I could concentrate on a few, bad idea or no? Not sure.
Mustadio - Engineer turned Engineer/Knight - read about how useful this can be in a FAQ and it is, one of the better moves a person can make.
blahblahblah
Agrias - read further up
Warning: The following is rather long and possibly quite uninteresting. Read if you like, but don't spit in my face if it's boring.
Is there anyone who'd like to request to be in the game and be a specific job? The fill-out form is at the very bottom if you want to do it but skip the class explanations. Have Fun! Yeah right -_-…..
Options are:
Squire - Nothing special, just act as a leadway into other jobs. Ramza has an advanced form but yeah none of you will be MY Ramza. Evaluation - Not recommended
Chemist - Heal party members and vanquish status effects through healing items. The reason they're so effective is their ability to throw items over great distances. Too bad Phoenix Downs suck...The start of a magic user's line but known as one of the better secondary job classes. Oh and they can use guns (long shot range but damage can only be increased with a better gun, nothing else )later on. Evaluation: Secondary class
Knight - Does this really need to be explained? Very high attack power but not too quick. Breaking abilities can be very helpful if successful. Think Steiner/Auron. Better if it's a guy. Evaluation: Great class but not the most interesting of ones.
Archer - Although not one of the better ones in terms of usage, one of my personal favorites as I think it's still a cool job. Why are they so bad? Their skill makes use of Charge +# so the higher the charge, the more turns it takes to execute the attack but also the more powerful it gets. However the higher charges, you could forget about..Although they can shoot from rather incredible distances at high altitudes (they use either 1-handed crossbow (don't) or a bow), if the target moves even 1 tile over, attack will miss no matter what. Evaluation: Eh...I never heard of a good archer..besides an evil AI-controlled one -_-
White Priest - A necessity in every FF game right? Well ask many of the better players and they'd probably frown upon a full-fledged white mage. Reasoning? There are better jobs for magical stat growth and also the high CT for some spells as well as JP for skill buying is a turnoff. Common scenario: White Mage tries to cast Life1 on a downed party member, only to be killed off by a baddie in the spellcasting period. Think Garnet(Blade>Dagger=p)/Eiko/Yuna. Better for females than males. Evaluation: Not a primary class, take a few spells and run.
Black Wizard Ahh I can still remember Will talking about his Wizard "Cherry" and how great she was and how she did so much damage and all. Known as one of the better classes as they can take enemies down from a distance, although it will require some luck and good timing. Problem is their damage does not discriminate so should one of your characters get in an area where a spell will hit, they will take some damage too. Better if it's a girl. Evaluation: Never tried to do a full-fledged mage so I'm not sure of their potential but I guess I'd recommend it.
Time Mage Their purpose is to screw you over and help their guys out. Their role is in the name, they manipulate the flow of time with Slow, Slow2, Haste, Haste2, Quick (what else??), and can use Meteor with enough JP. Good for taking those few spells and putting it as a secondary class as they can be quite useful. Think White Mage Tidus. Evaluation: It's not at all a bad skill but once again, better off as a secondary.
Thief - Love 'em or hate 'em, they have always been around and always will be. Personally I'm quite a big fan of thieves, Cloud held my Steal materia most of the time, I purposely put Zidane on Auto-Haste so I could get as much crap as I could and I'd actually try to slow battles down and extend them in length just for this reason. Well this is a more advanced version of the thieves we know as they can steal specific equipment be it shield, weapon, helmet, accessory, even gil and EXP. Problem is they have low HP and the rate of success aren't too great. Think Zidane, Locke, Rikku. Evaluation: Excellent as a secondary skill, specifically for Ninjas who are quicker (rate of success depends on agility).
Oracle - I can't remember too much about them but they're main purpose is status effects like Darkness, Stop, Petrify, Silence and others that are specific to this game. No poison :-O! They can attack two spaces cause of poles but they're not designed to be warriors. They become obsolete when a hidden character comes along. Think Wakka if Wakka sucked ass. Evaluation: I had bad experiences with them...
Monk - Ahh the Japanese monks we all know and (love?). Fists of Fury is the name, ass-reapage is the game. No weapons here, nope. It's known as one of the better classes as they can do nearly anything: raise fallen allies (good luck with this though as the height has to be EXACTLY the same between the two participants), cure and vanquish status effects, ranged attacks and they own in melee fighting. Targeted at male characters. Evaluation: Go ahead but I don't like the way they look. =P
Summoner - Aah what a great class. Sure the CT for summons is long later on but the advantages are rather good. Summons discriminate towards the target so only allies will be healed, only baddies killed. Summons also act on large areas and are quite effective and powerful. High stat growth as well. HP leaves something to be desired though. Summons are attack and leave btw. Targeted at girl characters. Think Dagger/Eiko/Yuna without the individual turns factor/Vincent (if your name is Corey). Recommended: I'd definitely want one of these in my party.
Mediator - I was about to say they suck but this FAQ disagrees. They can permanently raise or lower Faith/Brave and have access to some status affect abilities. They can also invite monsters and humans I think (story battles too). They also shoot people. Evaluation: According to him, good as a secondary skill.
Geomancer - This job boggled my mind during my playing and they still do. Yes they attack in crosses, from far away, instantly, and even cause status effects but mine were so damn weak. With an axe their melee damage could be good but also fluctuates a lot. Supposedly with the right training, they're great but I dunno. Evaluation: Good as a secondary skill??
Lancer - Another one of my favorite classes. They can attack from afar and do a hecka lotta damage even if it takes them a turn or two to fall back down (they're invincible in the air) after Jump. Spears have a reach of two tiles with normal attacks. Good stat growth too and they look cool. Think Freya. Evaluation: Highly recommended!
Samurai - A rather interesting job class and my Ramza was a Samurai but that wasn’t really a good choice… The cool thing about them is that they’re rather powerful attackers and actually can do area attacks with their special job class. These area attacks can of course do damage, as well as heal allies and do status attacks on whoever it applies to. Their Draw Out skill is actually based on magic so the character needs to be strong in magic also or else they’ll suck. This class actually took me a while to figure out how to use as they make use of katanas, unique to that job but for Draw Out you need to have multiple katanas cause they can break after an attack, etc. Ex. there are katanas in the game called Heaven’s Cloud and there’s a Draw Out skill by that name which uses that katana. Evaluation: meh…a fancy class but not necessarily in a good way. It’s hard to make a good samurai..
Ninja - The ninja is one of the best classes in the game and a good example of why classes aren’t exactly balanced. As ninjas they hold weapons in two hands so therefore when they attack, they attack with each weapon, very, very useful. Also just as their real-life counterparts are very quick, they get around quickly too, but this leads us to their big flaw. They have rather low HP like a thief so just as a Ninja can take out baddies quickly, baddies can take out ninjas quickly. They also can throw weapons from a distance which is rather useful at times. Also given Steal skill as their second class is really useful. Targeted at male characters. Think Shadow as well as Amarant but in Amarant’s case, these ninjas are much better as opposed to Amarant who sucks ass and these ninjas kick ass while he is just cruddy. Evaluation: Iidesu nee!!
Calculator - *Coughcough* Vomits…UUUUGH I hate this class. I don’t care how useful Math skill is on a wizard, these guys are so damn slow so it takes forever for them to gain JP and they just plain suck. Who the hell attacks with a dictionary anyway!?!? The people are ugly looking also. Evaluation: You’re insane to choose this. I-N-S-A-N-E
Bard - I actually never got to try out these guys in my game and supposedly I wasn’t missing much: “Bards are single handedly the absolutely most horrible, pathetic, crappy, hopeless type of unit in the game.” Hmm guess you can be worse than a Calculator. Their main ability is Sing which allows them to raise stats, HP, MP, other good stuff to every ally on the field. This however takes time to do, like each raise HP will take 3 turns or so to cast, whatever and then they’ll continue to “sing” till you tell them to do something else. Horrible stat growth I hear. Only male characters may be bards. Evaluation: Choose this and...
Dancer - These characters are basically the opposite of bards. For example dancers can only be female characters (sorry Corey), and while everything a Bard does will help allies, dancers will only do negative actions to enemies. They also take time to do their dances, just like songs, and will continue to do so till they’re told to stop. While bards go up the magician’s line, dancers go up an attacker’s line. Supposedly every party should have a dancer because of this, this, and this but eh… I dunno. Evaluation: Just as in RL, the only way you’ll get a known good dancer is to actually be a good dancer…if not your just another regular shmoe..
Mime - Never tried these guys out either, supposedly they have unparalleled stat growth. And while they can be incredibly useful, they can be incredibly weak at the same time so I dunno…
You can also be a tamable monster like Chocobo, or any other monster in the game but this is kind of a waste of space.
All the Job skills are listed here:
Squire - Basic Skills -Stuff like Throw Rock, Heal, etc
Knight - Battle Skill - Break Weapon, Break Armor, Break, Power Break, etc.
Chemist - Item - Throw a potion, remedy, Phoenix Down, Soft, etc.
Archer - Charge - (Charge an attack for a few turns to make it stronger. Target must stay in same position) Charge+1, Charge+5, Charge+20, etc.
Monk - Punch Art - Wave Fist (attack from about two tiles away), Spinning Fist, Chakra, Revive, Stigma Magic (cures some status ailments), etc.
Priest - White Magic - Cure, Cure4, Raise, Raise2, Reraise, Esuna, Holy, Wall, Regen, etc.
Wizard - Black Magic - Fire, Ice3, Bolt4, Poison, Flare, Death, Frog, (no Ultima), etc.
Time Mage - Time Magic - Haste, Haste2, Stop, Quick (target has next turn), Slow, Demi, Meteor, Reflect, etc.
Summoner - Summon Magic - Moogle (cures allies), Ramuh, Shiva, Lich, Golem (absorbs some physical damage), Odin, Bahamut, etc.
Thief - Steal - Gil Taking, Steal Heart, Steal Helmet, Steal Weapon, Steal Accessory, Steal Exp., etc.
Mediator - Talk Skill - Praise (Raise Brave+4), Invitation (invite enemies to your side), Death Sentence, Preach (Raise Faith+4), Negotiate (make enemy give you gil), etc.
Oracle - Yin Yang Magic - Blind, Life Drain, Pray Faith, Zombie, Silence Song, Dispel Magic, Sleep, etc.
Geomancer - Elemental - (these are elemnental attacks that depended on the terrain type of the location) Hell Ivy, Local Quake, Lava Ball, Blizzard
Lancer - Jump - Level Jump2, Level Jump8, Vertical Jump5, Vertical Jump8, etc.
Samurai - Draw Out - Murasame (heals), Asura (magically attacks enemies), Koutetsu, Bizen Boat (lowers MP), etc.
Ninja - Throw - Shuriken, Battle Axe, Water Ball, Magic Shuriken, Mage Masher, Knife, etc., etc.
Calculator - Math Skill - CT (calculate using CT), 5 (calculate using multiples of 5) , 4, 3, Prime Number
Bard - Sing - Battle Song, Life Song, Magic Song, Cheer Song, etc.
Dancer - Dance - Slow Dance, Wiznaibus (Damages enemies), Polka Polka (Lowers Physical Attack), etc.
Mime - Mimic - Umm.. I don’t think you can equip this as a second ability…I dunno………
Probably the only part most of you care about. This is of course optional.
So you want to be a part of Ramza’s world eh? I’d prefer you fill it out in this fashion:
Real Life Name - Self-Explanatory
In-game Name - (What’d you like to be called in the game if not your normal name. Say MindGuru and…)
Preferred Job - What job you want to be
Secondary Job Skill (aka Duel-Class) - What you want your secondary skill to be such as Black Magic, Summon Magic, etc. The difference between primary job and secondary skill is you don’t have the innate abilities of that job for second skill so a Knight with Throw (ninja skill) would not be able to wield two weapons. Also difference classes have equipment restrictions like Chemists can equip guns but Knights can’t so that also applies. Secondary skill only lets you use those actions that are listed above ^.
Requests - If you have any special wants or needs such as “Oh make sure I don’t have Jump as my second ability” or “I only want to use Axes” or “I hate Corey, should he die, let him stay dead.” If you do want something else, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll follow through with it though.
Comments - Have anything else to say? Put it here, ex: “Tommy is a fag” or “You’re a bum for thinking about this instead of doing something else little brother” or “Video games are for kindergarteners.” Of course you’re not restricted to negative comments, you can say pretty much anything you want.
Finally I just want to list some good FFT music if you’re interested. This game’s music is highly underrated IMO and although there aren’t as many tracks as the typical FF, this game is nowhere near a typical FF so the OST is restricted to two? discs: Requiem, Unavoidable Battle, Run Past through the Plain, Antipyrectic, Warrior’s Hideout, A Chapel, Memories, Battle on the Bridge, Hero’s Theme, Meeting Theme, Opening, In Pursuit, ETC., ETC.
FIN