(as "Final Fantasy")

Final Fantasy

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Platform:

Classes

Many thanks to PanamaJack for the picture of the classes!

-The Fighter is a necessary factor for an easy game. The Knight uses 3 levels of white magic and wields the best weapons in the game.He's strong and he has very high HP.He's my favorite character.

-The Thief is quick and the Ninja can use 4 levels of black magic , but he lacks some of the knight's strength and HP .

-The Blackbelt becomes very powerful as a Master. I've personally had bad luck with the Master against Chaos because I am rarely at very high levels and thus, he didn't attack as hard as in other cases which were brought forward to me (I've had many emails saying that in fact at high levels , mid thirties, he scores MAJOR damage). If you have the patience to level up a little more, go for it, he can, apparently, be very strong. You can put him instead of a fighter ( in a 2 fighter group ).Another adavantage is his cheapness. He can equip very few pieces of equipment. Up until level 12, as Dan Exner suggested, its wiser to let him have some nunchucks, but after that, he fights very well with his fists from all the accounts that I've heard.

-The Red Mage is a very good character , BUT he can't equip the most useful weapons and as a Red Wizard, he can't use level 8 magics. He has a limit of 3 spells of either white , black or a combo of both and even there , he has a smaller number of spells he can cast without needing to rest than true wizards.

-The White Mage is a must . She heals and she kicks the crap out of undead characters . She may lack HP and strength , but you'll see how a White Wizard can help in big fights . However, if you're a power leveler, then big fights probably won't last more than a couple of rounds, so it depends on your playing style.

-The Black Mage is another must . You want to get rid of the enemy quick , this is your man . The Black Wizard can score some major damage against any creature with different elemental spells,if not obliterate the entire party using spells like Bane.

Pros and Cons of the formations :

2 Fighters , 1 white mage , 1 black mage : Powerful magic and very good physical offense , this is my personal pic . The problem is that it gets expensive to buy the best stuff for each and you may lack space if you don't simply drop stuff .

4 fighters : This calls for a VERY easy game , but I only suggest this to experienced players since you need to know the challenges that will come ahead , since you do need to heal and purify (poison and stone) your guys , and you need to know the uses of the special equipment you shall find. Also , you won't be able to cast exit , so if you're trouble , TS . This will get you through pretty much any fight in a breeze. I once beat Chaos while only losing 1 character and the others were almost full.

1 fighter , 1 white mage , 1 black mage , 1 black belt : The only difference with the 2 fighter group is that its going to be cheaper , and you're going to have more room . the problem is , when I played this on my NES , I got to Chaos with a Master and it wasn't that useful . If your fihter dies in that fight , you are going to lose a lot of fighting power and a lot of time since you'll probably have to redo the shrine all over.

4 white mages : Have fun : ) . This has absolutely NO ATTACK OR DEFENSE POWER , except against the undead . If you actually do finish with this group , you are truly a great ff player. That or you seriously need a life .

4 black belts : Nice and cheap, though too low on defense and healing.

1 fighter, 1 red mage, 1 white mage, 1 black mage : The red mage...Really expensive at the start and at the end he won't be as strong as any of the characters in their own art , but he can be useful.

1 fighter, 1 red mage, 1 thief, 1 black belt : This was a suggestion I've had. Its an interesting group. The Ninja will be able to use fast on the Knight and Master later on, which is excellent and you can put the katana to good use. The Red Wizard will be able to kick in with some spells and some offense. The problem is , IMHO, is that this group will be atrociously expensive. The first major spot will be elfland where you'll have to buy the silver sword for the fighter and red mage as well as some heavy defense and the level 3 and 4 spells. This group also lacks healing unless you use your red mage mostly as a white mage , which would basically kill the purpose of having a red mage around since his added offense and defense would seldom be useful. Also , it takes the red mage/wizard a lot more time to get the spells, so if you need healing badly and you have nothing but potions , you're screwed. The thief isn't the greatest fighter to start with and it takes some time before you can upgrade him to ninja class. "For final weapons it evens out. The knight gets excaliber, the Ninja gets Masamune, master is un armed, and Red Wizard gets Sun Sword." In the end, its really good .

More notes on this class formation from Dan Exner: You say at the end that the Fighter gets the Excalibur, the Thief(Ninja) takes the Masamune, and the Red Wizard takes the Sun Sword. However, when I used this one, I gave the Ninja the Katana and the Red Wizard used the Masamune, as that setup deals a lot more damage, and it killed Chaos fairly quickly at only level 28. Also, you say not to equip the Black Belt with a weapon, however, until he reaches level 12, the Iron Nunchuks deal more damage than his fists do. You also say that they don't deal enough damage for you at the level you go after Chaos with, however i'm usually around level 25-30 when I enter the Temple, and when I reach Chaos I use Fast on both my Fighter and my Black Belt and the BB does more damage than the Fighter using Excalibur, so I am just wondering what level you are usually at when you enter the Temple."

I gotta say that Dan makes this sound good...