What are the differences

[Pumpkin]

Between the original and the DS version. Seems like there are a good amount? I've only played the DS version

[Sephex]

The DS version is very much overhauled. The characters have distinct looks and personality, and the Jobs have been rebalanced somewhat. Obviously, the graphics were updated too. That one is easy to notice.

[Wolf Kanno]

Quite a bit actually. Ignoring obvious graphics and audio enhancements...

The four characters are nameless protagonist who surprisingly do talk though one character basically speaks for them all. You also start with all four characters instead of recruiting everyone.

You have a much more limited inventory than the DS generously gives you and must make frequent uses of the Fat Chocobo for storage.

Due to the hardware limitations of the DS and the graphical upgrade, the game can only generate up to four enemies on the screen whereas the original could allow up to eight. This ends up making several sections of the game significantly easier such as the splitting enemies towards the end of the game cause their numbers are more manageable. To try and balance this, some enemies have improved HP and stats. This also has the sad effect of reducing the usefulness of things like Status Magic which was vital for survival in certain sections.

The original used an RNG factor to determine damage or if a move even hit. What this means is that damage would fluctuate so a hit might do 20hp of damage one round and then 120 the next and this worked both ways so some battles could be more difficult if the RNG hated you enough cause suddenly your Knight gets KOed cause the Blizzara spell that has been doing between 60-100hp of damage suddenly pulls off 200hp. Also magic would miss... a lot.

There is no Freelance class and characters start with the Onion Knight Job.

All of the sidequests associated with Mog Messaging are exclusive to the DS version as is Mog Messaging itself.

Almost all of the classes were altered or rebalanced in the DS version:

Warrior - Gained the ability Advance, he originally just hit things. His equipment pool was expanded to make him more useful longer.

Monk - Gained Retaliate and got better stats for defending against magic.

White and Black Mage - Gained better stats, significant MP gains and expanded equipment pools to keep them useful

Red Mage - Gained a ton of equipment expansion and much better MP and stats overall, their pretty badass in the DS version.

Thief - Is acquired with the Fire Crystal in the original, Steal has been retooled to be much more useful in this game with better items.

Ranger - Gained the skill Barrage in the DS version, lost the ability to use White Magic. stats were lowered.

Knight - Gained the ability to use magic in the DS version. Defend is significantly more useful, and equipment changes to give him endgame appeal.

Scholar - Probably the biggest change. In the original, scholars had the abilities of Scan and Peek, one told you the enemy weakness the other told you their HP. In the DS version they lose both skills and get Study which not only gives you both stats but can remove beneficial status effects the enemy may have, they gain Lv. 1-3 Black and White Magic and they also have Item Lore which doubles the usefulness of items. Their Vitality was also raised significantly in the DS version.

Geomancer - Was acquired later with the Water crystal in the original. Geomancers Terrain ability works differently in this version, there are not multiple terrain effects for areas in the original, and they had hit rates, if the terrain failed to hit any enemy in its calculations, the Geomancer would be hit with a terrain effect called Backfire that reduced their health by 25% of their maximum health, not current health maximum which means they can kill themselves. The DS versions are much better and borderline game breakers...

Dragoon - Jump could actually miss in the original, His agility got lowered in the DS version. In the original their Jump got a bonus against Dragons, in the remake it's against enemies weak to wind.

Viking - Gained the Provoke command in the remake, most of their stats were raised in the remake as well except Vitality which is significantly lowered probably due to damage algorithms being altered.

Evoker - Got huge gains in MP and some better stats in the remake. Sadly the lower enemy count on the field makes this class lose its usefulness because it was a great class for crowd control as its Summons either did some serious damage to a random target, healed the party, or inflicted a status effect with 100% accuracy on every enemy in battle. With the limited enemies, its often easier to kill them than rely on the gamble.

Dark Knight/ Magic Knight - In the original the class was called the Magic or Mystic knight depending on translation, they both equipped katanas that were used to defeat multiplying enemies but beyond that the classes are pretty different. the original class could use White Magic whereas the Remake uses Souleater. The original class had overall better stats, specifically Vitality but the DS version has a much better equipment pool, I mean you can't really use the original class when you first get it because you have almost nothing for it to wear until you reach Falgabird near the end of the game.

Bard - Another big change, the original they had two moves Scare and Cheer. Scare lowered enemies levels by 3 and if it gets lowered enough they will run from battle. Cheer raises a character base damage. In the remake they gain the ability Sing which, depending on the harp they have equipped will heal the party, damage enemies, or cast a party-wide Haste, Protect or Shell.

Black Belt - Was gained with the Water crystal instead of the Earth Crystal in the original. Other than that they are largely unchanged beyond finally getting some Int and Mind to help with magic damage.

Devout - MP growth is the biggest difference with DS version having all around lower MP for each spell category. In the original a Lv. 60 Devout could cast Lv. 8 magic 17 times as opposed to the Remake version which can only cast it 5 times. Stats are cruddier in the remake as well.

Magus - Same MP issue as Devout, also they lost a ton of Vitality in the remake making them far more fragile.

Summoner - Strength and speed get lowered in the remake in exchange for much better vitality. Ina reversal, the Summoner has much better MP growth in the Remake. Other than that they are the same.

Sage - A class that got worked over in the remake. In the remake they had their MP drastically reduced in order to make the other Mage classes more useful, they lost the ability to use the summoners version of the summons spells and instead use the Evokers. They are also acquired through the Earth Crystal whereas in the original, you gained them by reaching the bottom of Eureka.

Ninja - Like the Sage they are acquired earlier with the Earth Crystal jobs instead of in Eureka like the original. They lost the ability to equip every piece of armor or weapon meaning they lose out on using powerful weapons like Excalibur and Ragnarok. The original version didn't have the Throw command but could equip Shuriken which would then be spent after they attacked meaning you would have to re-equip it between turns. There stats, specifically their vitality again is reduced in the DS version.

Also the original game never allowed you to hit a button on the game pad to find hidden switches but then again the graphics of the NES version made it pretty obvious.

[Sephex]

Yeah, that stuff too. I was going to say exactly all that stuff, but my finger slipped.

[Rez09]

In the remakes, "guest" party members will occasionally help you during battle. It doesn't change much in the game, but it is interesting to see what spells people are packing; Unei is holding out on you. >: |

[metagloria]

Quite a bit actually. Ignoring obvious graphics and audio enhancements...

etc. etc. etc.

O_O

Thanks for this. I knew the general contours of the changes, but never in this level of detail. Super interesting!