Black Belt Bugs

[ScottyRedXIII]

so going over the game and found out about the black belt absorb bug, witch i wasnt botherd about, but no he's at ln. 6 he's absorb has gone back down to 1?????? any one know why???? and if you can alert me of any others.

Many thanks.

ScottyRed

[Saber]

A black belt works better with no equipment at higher levels. So you may want to un-equip him and make sure when you put something on that it helps.

[theundeadhero]

Anything you equip will lower his stats in the NES version. For some reason I've found that sometimes if you equip him with a proring first the bug will self-fix itself and then you can equip other armor for an increase instead of a penalty.

[ScottyRedXIII]

I had the black belt weaing gloves, i took them off and he's stats went back to normal........ -_- silly me lool

[Garland]

From GameFAQs: Final Fantasy (NES) Game Mechanics Guide by AstralEsper (http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/522595-final-fantasy/faqs/57009) -

"Due to a bug, Black Belts gain +4 Magic Defense per level, but Master actually
gain considerably less, +1. It is thus advantageous to hold off on class change
for a Black Belt."

[Roogle]

Is it intentional that the Black Belt and the Master perform better without any weaponry? It seems like a strange type of bug considering the weapon shop sells weapons for Black Belt at certain points of the game, right?

[Saber]

Black Belts don't always work better without equipment. At low levels those later game weapons for black belt are welcomed. I don't remember at what level black belts start performing without items. I stumbled upon it when I was max level. I took off all my equipment on my characters and seen my monk hit Imps harder then anything else.

[Garland]

The only reason many people suggest never equipping black belts is because it's a hassle to continually check to see what's optimal - the tendency is to forget if you're not buying anything new for them.

[theundeadhero]

On the NES it's between lvl 5-10 when you stop equipping weapons.

[aidenn]

After each level-up, the black-belts absorb gets set to its level. So if you e.g. level from 15 to 16, the absorb gets set to 16. You can view it in the status screen and exit to fix.

*edit* This only happens if you don't have a weapon equipped.

[FFIX Choco Boy]

Is it intentional that the Black Belt and the Master perform better without any weaponry? It seems like a strange type of bug considering the weapon shop sells weapons for Black Belt at certain points of the game, right?

I think it's fully intentional. If you start with a weapon, then never take it off, you would just see stats go up when you buy new ones. However, the knowledgeable gamer is expected to explore thing, such as looking at stats when weapons are off as opposed to on. However, in later versions, there is a reason to keep weapons on. Putting a weapon on a Monk makes all his attacks hit harder - except there are less of them. So, while hand attacks cap out at 18 hits of about 500 damage each, however with a weapon equipped at lvl 99 he will do 15 hits at like 750 damage each instead.