Final Fantasy/Classes

The game allows you to create a party of four characters (chosen from fighters, monks, thieves, black mages, white mages, and red mages) and go on a quest to activate the four crystals and restore peace to the land.

Each of the six base classes can be upgraded once you complete the Citadel of Trials quest a little over halfway through the game. Fighters become knights, monks become masters, thieves become ninjas, black mages become black wizards, white mages become white wizards, and red mages become red wizards. Aside from a newer, older, cooler look, each character can now equip stronger weapons and armor. Magic using classes will now be able to learn high level spells and some non-magic using classes will now be able to learn low level magic.

Warriors
These are the types of characters that you put on the front lines since they can survive hard hits and hit back even harder. You'll generally want to conserve MP, especially early in the game, so you'll have your warriors do all of the fighting while your magicians protect themselves. However, in many situations, it will be magic than ends the fight quickly and your warriors will simply act as a buffer between the magicians and the enemies. You have at least one, if not two, warriors in your party.

Fighter/Knight
They are a good start for someone who's new at the game because of their many positive qualities and relatively few negative qualities. They work well with any class and unlike most of the other classes, they are still effective when you have more than one in your party. The cost of keeping them (especially Knights) up to date with the latest equipment makes having more than one rather cost-prohibitive.

Pros:
 * High HP, Defense, and Strength stats.
 * They can equip almost every weapon and armor in the game.

Cons:
 * Low Speed stat. They will often be the last to attack when in battle.
 * They can't use any magic until they upgrade, and then only weak white magic.
 * Very expensive to keep fully equipped.

Upgrade:
 * Warriors can use low level (1-3) white magic.

You want a Fighter in your party, period. Not only can they smash enemies to pieces, but by putting them at the head of the part they work as excellent shields for the Mages/Wizards since enemies at the party leader the most often. Once upgraded you can use them for healing minor wounds and save your white wizard's MP for when you need powerful healing spells.

Thief/Ninja
These guys are a tough sell because they are fairly weak through most of the game and will have to rely on the other party members to survive. They improve quite a bit with the class change however, so it's up to you whether you want to put up with the Thief until you get the Ninja. Both classes have extremely high agility which will make it significantly easier to flee from battles throughout the game.

Pros:
 * High Speed stat. This will allow them to from battles easily, which is reason enough to have one.
 * A ninja can do almost as much damage as a knight during most of the game.

Cons:
 * They have somewhat low HP and defense (though still better than Wizards), so they can get killed quickly if enemies target them primarily.
 * They are not very useful in the early game when your levels are still low.

Upgrade:
 * Ninjas can use low level (1-4) black magic.

It is a good idea to have a ninja as your secondary warrior, especially when teamed up with a fighter/knight, so you don't have to put him at the front of the party. Unlike many other RPGs where you can stomp on your opponents with easy if you level up enough, battles in FFI tend to be brutal, so you will be running away a lot, solely for the purpose of having enough HP and MP to fight the boss at the end of the dungeons. Thieves, and especially ninjas, practically guarantying that you can flee from a fight.

Monk/Master
They are a lot like the fighter, except they have much lower Defense. While they can hold their own in the beginning of the game, their low Defense will come back to bite them in the ass later. They can beat most monsters into paste but die very quickly, at which point they are of no use to anyone.


 * Monks were called Black Belts in the NES version.

Pros:
 * High Strength stat, high numbers of attacks per turn, and high HP.
 * Very cheap to keep fully equipped since they won't need weapons and very much equipment later on.

Cons:
 * Low Defense. This will be a problem later in the game so watch out.
 * Sometimes they do pathetic damage, especially to monsters and/or bosses that have a high absorb and/or defense stat.
 * No magic at all.

Upgrade:
 * Absolutely nothing.

They are great at the beginning of the game since they cost almost nothing to maintain. Unfortunately they bring almost nothing to the party as well. While thieves are weaker, their high agility more than makes up for it. The low defense of the master means that it isn't a suitable replacement for a knight since they take so many hits.

Magicians
There are two types of magic in the game:white and black:and a Wizard that can use each type exclusively. They third type of Wizard class, the reds, can use both types of magic (just not the strongest level of each). All wizard classes have low attack, low HP, and low defense. Fortunately spells are not reduced in power when the character is in the back row, unlike physical attacks. If you put the Wizard in the back you are basically doubling their defense, and they will be targeted less. It is still necessary to have a warrior or two since you cannot use magic all of the time.

Red Mage/Red Wizard
They are a pretty good choice in the beginning because of their versatility. The only other class that's still effective when you have two in your party but after that, it drops off a lot. In addition to being able to cast both types of magic, they can equip mid level weapons and armor.

Pros:
 * They can use level 1-5 white and black magic.
 * They can equip quite a number of weapons and armor, especially early in the game.
 * Decent stats all around - none that are really high but none that are low.
 * Significantly better defense and offense than either of the two other wizards.

Cons:
 * While stronger than other wizards, they are no where near close to the warriors, especially towards then end of the game.
 * Similarly, they are powerful magic users early on, but fall behind the White and Black Wizards.
 * Not all of the level 1-5 magic is available for use until after the class change.
 * They can be more expensive than knights to maintain since you have buy both spells and equipment.

Upgrade:
 * Red Wizards can use up to level 7 magic (with some restrictions).
 * Level 1:5 magic that was restricted can now be used.

In the beginning they are a fighter that can use most spells, so new players might be tempted to go with four Red Mages. However, as you progress their limitations will become more and more of a hindrance. Even though they can use up to level 7 spells, they are restricted from using quite a few of them - specifically the useful ones. For example they can only use one of the four level 7 white magic spells - both the harm and healing spells are restricted to the White Wizard. There will also be more and more weapons and armor that they cannot use, so they will also fall behind the Knight.

White Mage/White Wizard
They are excellent for support for your other party members because of their magic. However, their low Defense and usually weak armor will make them easy targets later in the game. Since Red Wizards and Knights cannot cast Life 2 or the more advanced Cures, you will have to rely on items for healing if you don't have a White Wizard. While they will always be weak, when equipped with Thor's Hammer they can do about half one what the ninja can do if they are in the front. They can also use the Harm series of magic, which is extremely powerful against the undead, which you will be facing a lot of in the game.

Pros:
 * They can use level 1-8 White magic, including Life, Cure, and Harm.
 * They are a great support because of curative spells and magic that can enhance the stats of the rest of the party.
 * They are very cheap to maintain.

Cons:
 * They have low Defense and Strength stats. Their low Strength isn't much of a problem if you have two warriors, but their low Defense sure will be later on in the game.
 * Their attack spells only work against they undead, so they can do next to nothing against the living.
 * They have a very limited amount of weapons and armor that they can use.

Upgrade:
 * White Wizards can use all white magic.
 * White Wizards can equip a few weapons with decent power.

Basically, you need a white wizard. All you can do in put them in the rear of the party near and in the back row so they take less damage and get hit less often. There are a lot of spells that are restricted to the White Wizard, so a knight or red wizard cannot replace them.

Black Mage/Black Wizard
They are great to have because of their spells but, like the white wizard, they have very low offense, defense, and life (lower, actually). When used properly, black magic can do more harm than any of the warriors.

Pros:
 * They can use level 1-8 Black magic.
 * Spells can also target multiple monsters at once, allowing you to kill them all easily instead of killing each one at a time. Most of the major bosses are weak against one or more of their spells.
 * They are very cheap to maintain.

Cons:
 * They have a limited amount of weapons and armor that they can use.
 * They have lowest HP and Defense of all the classes.
 * Offensive spells are not always reliable as they'll sometimes do little damage to certain monsters and bosses in the game.

Upgrade:
 * Black Wizards can use all black magic.
 * Black Wizards can equip a few weapons with decent power, including the Cat Claw.

Another very useful and highly recommended class, though not quite a valuable as the white wizard and Knight since you can get through the game relying only on physical attacks. Equipped with the Masmune, the strongest weapon in the game, the Black Wizard can do a decent amount of damage and won't have to rely completely on magic or other characters.