Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls/Classes
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- This is only for the GBA and PSP versions. See the main page for the NES, WonderSwan Color, and PS1 versions.
The game allows you to create a party of four characters (chosen from warriors, 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. Warriors 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 higher level spells and some non-magic using classes will now be able to learn low level magic.
For more on the 1,296 possible party configurations, see the party recommendations page.
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[edit] Physical fighters
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 fighters do all of the fighting while your magic users protect themselves. However, in many situations, it will be magic than ends the fight quickly and your fighters will simply act as a buffer between the magic users and the enemies. You should have at least one, if not two, fighters in your party.
[edit] Warrior/Knight
Warriors 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 can make having more than one rather expensive.
Pros:
- Highest HP, Defense, and Strength stats.
- They can equip almost every weapon and armor in the game, including the most powerful equipment.
- Knights can take some of the burden of healing off of other characters.
Cons:
- They can't use any magic until they upgrade, and then only weak White magic.
- Very expensive to keep fully equipped in the beginning.
Upgrade:
- Knights can use low level (1-3) White magic.
- Aside from being a bit stronger and faster, they are the same as in the original games.
You want a Warrior 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 attack the party leader the most often. They have incredibly high defensive power as well as high HP - high enough that an attack that would do 80+ damage to any other class will only do 1 damage to a warrior/knight. They also have surprisingly high agility and evasion (improved even further with shields). Once upgraded you can use them for healing minor wounds and save your White Wizard's MP for when you need powerful healing spells during battles.
[edit] Thief/Ninja
Thieves start off fairly useless, but once they start hitting multiple times per attack, they can do as much damage as a Warrior. However, they have relatively low HP and defense (compared to a Warrior), so they tend to be the first to fall in a fight. After the class change they can learn basic Black magic spells, two of which are very useful.
Pros:
- A Ninja can do almost as much damage as a Knight during most of the game.
- Ninjas can equip more weapons weapon than Knights and the second most amount of armor.
- Ninjas can use Haste and Temper - two of the most useful Black magic spells
Cons:
- They have lower defense and magic resistance than Knights, so they will take considerable damage from strong enemies.
- Their HP is much lower than a Knight's, and will eventually drop below that of the White Wizard.
Upgrade:
- Ninjas can use low level (1-4) black magic.
- They are much, much slower than before. They can no longer run away from most anything.
- They are significantly stronger now and can do as much damage as a Warrior.
Thieves are basically Knights with crappy defense and HP. The major use for them over a second Knight is that they can learn Haste and Temper, which boosts attack by quite a bit, however a Red Wizard can learn those spells as well. They have all of the Master's weaknesses with none of their strengths. When all is said and done, the Ninja is actually a pretty weak choice.
[edit] Monk/Master
They are a lot like the Thief/Ninja class in terms of defense, speed, HP, and magic resistance, however they are much stronger, but cannot learn any magic. Not too far into the game they will be able to do more damage than even a Warrior/Knight equipped with the best available weapon. They also use very little armor and no weapons so they are very cheap to maintain.
Pros:
- High Strength stat and high number of attacks per turn, making them even stronger than a Warrior/Knight.
- Very cheap to keep fully equipped since they won't need weapons or much equipment.
Cons:
- Lower defense, HP, and magic resistance.
- No magic at all.
Upgrade:
- Absolutely nothing, besides looking really cool.
- Much higher defense and magic resistance.
They would be even better than the Knight if not for their lower defense, which keeps them from being a good person to put in the front slot. That said, the Master is great in the second slot, with a Warrior/Knight/Meatshield in the front row taking most of the damage. Around level 20 or so they will get more hits in than any other character resulting in more damage. When Haste and Temper are cast on the Master, he can kill most bosses in one hit. He will take a fair amount of damage, so it is recommended that you also take a White Mage/Wizard with you to heal, or at least stock pile Hi-Potions.
[edit] Magic users
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 Red, can use both types of magic (just not the strongest of each). All wizard classes have low attack, low HP, and low defense. If the magic users are in the bottom two rows they will not be targeted as often. It is still necessary to have a physical attacker or two since you cannot use magic all of the time.
Later on in the game you will start finding weapons and armor that can cast spells an infinite number of times, however they are not a suitable replacement for magic users as the items can only cast fairly low level spells, a very limited number of spells, and the effectiveness of the item-spell is determined by the magic stat. Magic users have much higher magic power than a physical fighters, so the items will be more effective if used by them. Besides, you usually need to keep your fighters attacking the enemies, not using items.
[edit] Red Mage/Red Wizard
They are a very good class in the beginning, and even in the end they are still pretty good due to their versatility. In addition to being able to cast both types of magic, they can equip a fair amount of weapons and armor. They are not as physically strong as the fighting classes, nor as powerful with magic is the other magician classes.
Pros:
- They can use (most) level 1-7 White and Black magic.
- They can use basically the same weapons and armor as a Warrior/Knight until late in the game.
- Significantly better defense than either of the two other wizards, about on par with a Ninja or Master.
Cons:
- Cannot use the most powerful magic spells.
- They get much less MP than the other wizard classes.
- Incredibly low HP - about half of a White Mage/Wizard.
- Some low level magic available to a White or Black Mage is only available to a Red Wizard.
- They can be more expensive than Knights to maintain since you have buy both spells and equipment.
- Their Spell Level goes up 1-3 levels after the Black and White Wizards.
Upgrade:
- Red Wizards can use up to level 7 magic (with some restrictions).
- Most level 1-5 magic that was restricted can now be used.
- Much, much lower HP - they will often have around half of what a Knight of the same level has.
In the beginning they are as strong as a Warrior and 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 apparent. Even though they can use up to level 7 spells, they are restricted from using quite a few of them - specifically the useful White ones. There will also be more and more weapons and armor that they cannot use, so they will fall behind the Knight in terms of attack and defense. White Red Wizards can be acceptable substitutions for a Ninja, Master, or even a Black Wizard, they cannot replace a Knight or White Mage/Wizard. The incredibly low HP will be the biggest problem of a Red Wizard, and will be come a sever handicap early on, so they should be moved to the third or fourth slot, even ahead of a White Wizard. It should also be noted that with the Red Mage/Wizard you can use the silver apple two times and their HP will be higher than the Black Mage/Wizard. The Silver apple can be obtained by chance as many times as you want it in the Earth Gift Shrine on the dark forest floor level.
[edit] White Mage/White Wizard
They are excellent for supporting your other party members because of their healing magic. However, their low defense and weak armor will make them easy targets, especially later in the game. Since Red Wizards and Knights cannot cast Life2 or the advanced Cure spell and have much less MP, you may find yourself relying on items for healing if you don't have a White Wizard. While they will always be weak, they can make up for it by using spell-casting equipment to do reasonable damage to all enemies at once. They can also use the Dia series of magic, which is quite 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 the Life, Cure, and Harm families.
- They can use magic that enhances the stats of the rest of the party.
- Very cheap to maintain in terms of equipment.
- Very good HP and MP (about on par with a Monk/Master.
- A White Wizard can revive a dead team member to full health in one shot. What more can you ask for?
Cons:
- They have low Defense and Strength stats. Their low Strength isn't much of a problem if you have two or three others can can do decent damage, but their low Defense sure will be a problem.
- Their attack spells only work against the undead (with one exception), 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.
- Higher defense and speed stats.
- Significantly stronger, especially after the class change, though still the weakest class.
- A lot more HP.
Basically, you need a White Wizard. All you can do is put them in the rear so they get hit less often. There are a lot of powerful healing spells - such as Full-Life and Curaja, as well as all Heal and Dia spells - that are restricted to the White Wizard, so a Red Wizard cannot replace a White Wizard. Even with a Knight's insanely high defense and HP, they will need a lot of healing.
[edit] Black Mage/Black Wizard
They are great to have because of their spells but, like the White Wizard, they have fairly low offense, and very low defense and HP. When used properly, Black magic can do more harm than any physical attack.
Pros:
- They can use level 1-8 Black magic.
- Many spells can target multiple monsters at once, allowing you to kill them all instantly instead of one at a time. Most of the major bosses are weak against one or more spell.
- Most of their equipment is very inexpensive.
- Once equipped with a Cat Claws they can do a fair amount of damage.
- Very, very high magic power and MP - even higher than the White Wizard.
Cons:
- They have a very limited amount of weapons and armor that they can use.
- They have very low HP and defense on par with White Wizards.
- Black Wizards can use all black magic.
- Black Wizards can equip a few weapons with decent power, including the Cat Claw.
- Slightly stronger defense and HP, though they are still the weakest.
A very useful and highly recommended class, though not quite a valuable as the White Wizard and Knight classes. They are excellent for clearing out large groups of enemies (which you will encounter a lot of). Once you get the Gauntlets, anyone can "cast" Thundara so their usefulness in this regard is diminished. However, they still have the highest magic power and can cast some very powerful spells, including the most powerful spell, Flare. Once you get their strongest weapon they are surprisingly powerful and can many weaker enemies in a single hit. The biggest problem with them is their low HP, however it is no where near as bad as a Red Mage/Wizard's.
