FF1 Parties

[Bahamut, King of Dragons]

I'm surprised that there isn't a thread for this already.
What are your favorite parties to use for FF1?
I like to use 4 black belts because I'm a masochist.

[Peter_20]

Hehe, I like these threads. :)

I ALWAYS use the Fighter/Thief/White Mage/Black Mage party, because I love that formation.
I was really happy when you got to use it in the beginning of FF9. :)

Other worthy parties:

Fighter
Fighter
Fighter
Red Mage

...or...

Fighter
Fighter
White Mage
Black Mage

:D

[TurkSlayer]

Fighter, Red Mage/Thief(I shift every time I play), Black Mage, White mAge.

[Suikojowy]

Fighter, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage

[omnitarian]

Fighter, Black Belt, Red Mage, White Mage.

[Tempest]

Fighter, Bl. Belt, Red Mage, and White Mage but, also 2 Fighters, White Mage and Black Mage.

[Crossblades]

Warrior, Monk, Black Mage, White Mage

[SiberianKiss]

Red Mage, Fighter, Black Mage, and White Mage. I think the next time I play through, I'll use Monk and Thief.

[boys from the dwarf]

fighter, theif, white mage, black mage. on my second game though a had a red mage , black belt , black mage and white mage but i think that the first one was better.

[KoShiatar]

Fighter, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage.

[Nightmare X]

Real men fight with 4 white mages.

[Momiji]

Fighter, Monk, Red Mage, Black Mage.

[Reine]

I have two parties...

File 1
Knight
Master
Red Wizard
White Wizard

File 2
Knight
Ninja
White Wizard
Black Wizard

[Starboard Regulator FlareNUKE]

Bl.BELT / MASTER
RedMAGE / RedWiz
Wh.MAGE / Wh.Wiz
Bl.MAGE / Bl.Wiz

[Cruise Control]

Fighter, White Mage, Black Mage, Theif.

EDIT: Ninjas rock.

[Primus Inter Pares]

and we PARTIED LIKE IT WAS FINAL FANTAYS NINE!

But yeah, Fighter, Black Mage, White Mage and Either a Thief or Black Belt.

[RaidenWeb17]

I dont like Black Belts or Red Mages. Black Belts have no magic and Red Mages always suffer later in the game. I tried an all Black Mage party one time and couldnt beat the Marsh Cave.....

My Party
Warrior, Black Mage, White Mage, Thief

[Creeping Shadow]

cant go wrong with:


fighter
red mage
white mage
black mage


only 1 flaw to this party
theyre very expensive

[Apollo]

cant go wrong with:


fighter
red mage
white mage
black mage


only 1 flaw to this party
theyre very expensive
Yeah, this is my favorite party too. I go with this one all the time. :]

[Black Mage FF1]

Meh, IMO the Black Mages and White Mages suck. So my party usually consists of Fi/Th/BB/Rm. All characters are strong and have a purpose. And its really a lot of fun to use.

[Elite Lord Sigma]

Fighter, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage.

[Starboard Regulator FlareNUKE]

RedMAGEs are terrible later, they're Strength stops killing enemies in blow and their higher-level magic... ARUB and ICE3, Not even CUR4 or EXIT...

[Black Mage FF1]

RedMAGEs are terrible later, they're Strength stops killing enemies in blow and their higher-level magic... ARUB and ICE3, Not even CUR4 or EXIT...


Their attack power is godly when compared to the Black Mages and White Mages. And so what if it is not that great at the end? They are great throughout most of the game. Unlike the Wm/Bm, when the Rm runs out of magic, he can still be usefull.

[ljkkjlcm9]

the best party is One fighter, One Red Mage, other two dead. Because they level up faster, the redmage can take out large groups of enemies and still fight and live, the fighter becomes a powerhouse faster due to the 2 times exp, plus if one becomes paralyzed you still have the other (because getting paralyzed is the only thing that kills a single person party). Oh, and the two dead people make great weapon and armor storage for those magic casting items.

THE JACKEL

[Creeping Shadow]

the best party is One fighter, One Red Mage, other two dead. Because they level up faster, the redmage can take out large groups of enemies and still fight and live, the fighter becomes a powerhouse faster due to the 2 times exp, plus if one becomes paralyzed you still have the other (because getting paralyzed is the only thing that kills a single person party). Oh, and the two dead people make great weapon and armor storage for those magic casting items.

THE JACKAL

thats accualy a good party (applaudes)

[Alexander]

Fighter, two different kind of mages (most of the times, one of them is a Red Mage. After class change, they are teh pwnz. I don't need any stinkin' Flare/Holy to own all) and a Thief. I plan on kicking Fighter/Thief to put a Monk; I've never really used one.

[roachman]

I used 2 fighters and 2 red mages. If anyone has beat it at a lower level using a different party let me know. Although I dont think it is possible. I have gotton to chaos at level 12 only one time and it was impossible to beat him at that level but again i was using 2 fighters and 2 red mages. You need the fast spell. Now on the new game for gba it is impossible to do it at such levels so I will try different combinations and see what is the best team to use for that as well. I did reach lich at level 7 but it was impossible to beat him my hits did no damage and his wiped me out with one or two hits. I managed to get to tiamat at level 18 but again it was a waste of time trying to beat him. Levels go up way to fast in this one and the each level up doesnt really add all that much to the stats. So far I am thinking that the red mage may not be all that great in this one.

[crashNUMBERS]

Yeah man!! I was at this one party where Fighter got drunk from too much potions which I don't understand because he should have like maximum defense, so he started flipping coins with his head, and then black mage was doing fake circus tricks, like blowing fire out of his mouth to impress white mage while she was out looking for some tea at a beer party and the black belt was doing tumbo rolls back and forth around the floor until he puked. Then came Thief who playing darts with knives and accidently stabbed Red mage, but red mage was like laughing and stuff. So it was kind of awkward...

[Christmas]

I'm surprised that there isn't a thread for this already.
What are your favorite parties to use for FF1?
I like to use 4 black belts because I'm a masochist.



Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt


http://ff1.classicgaming.gamespy.com/characters/fight/bbdead.gifhttp://ff1.classicgaming.gamespy.com/characters/fight/bbdead.gifhttp://ff1.classicgaming.gamespy.com/characters/fight/bbdead.gifhttp://ff1.classicgaming.gamespy.com/characters/fight/bbdead.gif
Strong Points: Good offense, cheap
Weak Points: Lack of defensive strength, lack of magic, incredibly un-fun, ugliness of the Black Belts, smelliness of the Black Belts, worthlessness of the Black Belts
Rating:
-43/10

(Yes, I've finally been worn down by the COUNTLESS emails from disgruntled Black Belt lovers. I think I've gotten over 100 emails so far (no, I'm not exaggerating) So I've changed my -43/10 rating to something a bit higher.)

7-4-02 Changed my mind... back to -43 it goes. :)

If you like Black Belts I guess this is an OK party. It is cheap, I give it that. You'll need that money for the thousands of gallons of heal potions you'll go through during this game. Also plan to become a regular at the local Clinic. You'll be able to fight OK though, once you get to Elfland and you can start using your fists; before then, you just have to pray. But for the whole game, the BBs' defense sucks, big time. BBs have no magic, so they can't heal themselves, and they also can't use magic to kill large groups of enemies, and they can't run as well as thieves; in other words, you get to stand around and look dumb while monsters use your party for target practice. So be prepared to drag a couple corpses around with you 90% of the game. If by some chance you manage to make it to class change with this party, well, you get a huge reward of NOTHING, because BBs don't get anything from class change. But on the bright side, your sprite becomes uglier. Wait... sorry, that's not a bright side. There is no bright side to this party. You'll probably find that you depsperately need the magic-casting items you get later in the game, but those don't make up for the pitiful lack of magic in this party. I think I'd rather take a party of four elderly groundhogs than take a party of four BB's, to be honest.


:mad2:

PS: I DO NOT OWN THAT SITE.
I used fighter, white mage, black mage and a thief.

[Discord]

Fighter, 3 White Mages or Black Mage, 3 White Mages. Works out fine:)

[crashNUMBERS]

Favorite Party?? The at the FF club of course!! They were playing Lasgo and DJ Tiesto!! It was awesome!!

Fighter
Thief
Black Mage
White Mage

Alternative

Fighter
Thief
Black Belt
White Mage

[Memoria]

Fighter
Black Belt
Red Mage
White Mage

Having two healers in a bad spot is a good thing and a little magic here and there is great. Black Mages are okay if playing an easy version of the game where you get more MP but in the original it's better to take a red mage who has a decent attack score, too. Black Belt is cheap to maintain and after he hits level 15, strip him of his stuff and cast FAST on him. Yeah.

[DarkLadyNyara]

Solo Black Mage/ Wizard. Partly because it's challenging enough to keep me interested, and partly 'cause I love BM from 8-bit theater. :D Killing Shinryuu was a bitch, though. :mad:

[moogle maniac]

usual fighter, theif, black mage, white mage

[Carmilla]

Cool topic...

Myself, i like - Fighter, Thief, Black Belt, White Mage

Black Mages are cool but the best spells he has are Fast and Temper, both of which a Thief can get after class change.

And i also remember fondly when my Fasted/Tempered Master Black Belt scored a critical hit and killed Chaos in ONE HIT. I could not stop laughing for an hour after that. :p

[Memoria]

Even as Ninjas, theives have no place to me at all. Black mages are all I need to actually make all the black spell casting I need. Make that Red mages. Sadly, a Red Mage can not learn nuke.

[robfinalfantasy]

My very first FFI party was:

Red Mage
Fighter
Thief
White Mage

In that order I believe. As the game progressed I was forced to switch the fighter and red mage because the RM was getting killed too much :mog:. After class change my party was unstoppable.

[Robesphere]

I used to play with 2 fighters for the frontline, a blackmage and a whitemage. But as already one fighter in your party makes the whole fun way too expensive, two fighters make you poor. 2 Monks would be great but I never did that. Thieves are just lame since they are weak and not able to steal. What the hell are you supposed to achieve with a thief who cannot steal a single item!?

[NetOwl]

I've done the four white mages thing, and it was okay. My latest trip through was with two black belts, a black mage, and a white mage, which gives you almost too much offense by the end of the game. You have to deal with having basically no defense, but you can kill any boss in just a couple of turns.

First time I played, I used fighter, thief, black mage, white mage.

The most fun thing to do with the new version of the game (Dawn of Souls) is to beat the bonus bosses with a solo white mage.

[a nirvana fan]

Fighter
Fighter
Mage
Monk

In my opinion this has GOT TO BE thee best combo ever...it's made my game a lot easier to play:D

[FianlFantasy1]

i use, when i fisrts started to play, a fighter,theif,black mage, and a white mage but now that i have beaten the game i want to play black magex4

[Alside]

Main File
-4 Warriors

Subfile
-Warrior
-Monk
-Theif
-Black Mage

[chronic_Maniac]

I don't remember a thief in the one for nes?

[Carmilla]

I don't remember a thief in the one for nes?

Maybe you dont remember the Thief because no one ever picked him. :mog:

[Crossblades]

Fighter
Fighter
Mage
Monk

In my opinion this has GOT TO BE thee best combo ever...it's made my game a lot easier to play:D

Which Mage?

[PramTheOracle]

Main:
Fighter
Red Mage
Red Mage
White Mage

This party Easily beat Omega and Shinyru. With the RM's casting 2 Protecra(sp?) or Invisra each turn, Omega ended up doing only about 12 dmg per hit...to the Red mage!

[Bowser]

Red Mage, Red Mage, Fighter, Fighter.
White Mage, Black Mage, Fighter, Fighter.
Black Belt, Fighter, White Mage, White Mage. :D

[Rengori]

Fighter, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage

[yuno]

fighter,thief,red mage,monk.a bit difficult at the beginning,since my only healer is the red mage.but after job change,everyone owns.and the knight gains access to white magic.very useful.

[chronic_Maniac]

Okay I might not remember thiefs in nes form cause I never used them, but job change? even some of the places seem like I never even played the game.... I beat it 5 times

[yuno]

Okay I might not remember thiefs in nes form cause I never used them, but job change? even some of the places seem like I never even played the game.... I beat it 5 times
didnt you change jobs?

fighter>knight
thief>ninja
monk>master
white mage>white wizard
black mage>black wizard
red mage>red wizard

is the job change only in the anthologies version for ps1?

[Spuzzter]

Two RM, WM, BM.

I love using magic, and the two Red Wizs are both very capable with offense / defense (or so I find).

This of course is a VERY expensive party, but the eye definitely helps.

[Mikeneko Rocker -- Tim]

For some strange reason, my typical party tends to stick with anything with Fighter/?/WM/BM format:

Fighter/(anyone but the Monk)/White Mage/Black Mage.


And no, I'll never play with 1-type parties.

[Uilliam]

[td]<blockquote>
<div style="padding: 5px 0px; font-size: 8pt;">


Originally Posted by Bahamut, King of Dragons:</div>

<div class="quotebox">I'm surprised that there isn't a thread for this already.

What are your favorite parties to use for FF1?

I like to use 4 black belts because I'm a masochist.</div>
</blockquote>



<blockquote>
<div style="padding: 5px 0px; font-size: 8pt;">


Originally Posted by http://ff1.classicgaming.gamespy.com/parties.shtml:</div>

<div class="quotebox">
Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt





http://ff1.classicgaming.gamespy.com/characters/fight/bbdead.gifhttp://ff1.classicgaming.gamespy.com/characters/fight/bbdead.gifhttp://ff1.classicgaming.gamespy.com/characters/fight/bbdead.gifhttp://ff1.classicgaming.gamespy.com/characters/fight/bbdead.gif

Strong Points: Good offense, cheap

Weak Points: Lack of defensive strength, lack of magic, incredibly un-fun, ugliness of the Black Belts, smelliness of the Black Belts, worthlessness of the Black Belts


Rating:

-43/10



(Yes, I've finally been worn down by the COUNTLESS emails from disgruntled Black Belt lovers. I think I've gotten over 100 emails so far (no, I'm not exaggerating) So I've changed my -43/10 rating to something a bit higher.)



7-4-02 Changed my mind... back to -43 it goes. images/smilies/smile.gif



If you like Black Belts I guess this is an OK party. It is cheap, I give it that. You'll need that money for the thousands of gallons of heal potions you'll go through during this game. Also plan to become a regular at the local Clinic. You'll be able to fight OK though, once you get to Elfland and you can start using your fists; before then, you just have to pray. But for the whole game, the BBs' defense sucks, big time. BBs have no magic, so they can't heal themselves, and they also can't use magic to kill large groups of enemies, and they can't run as well as thieves; in other words, you get to stand around and look dumb while monsters use your party for target practice. So be prepared to drag a couple corpses around with you 90% of the game. If by some chance you manage to make it to class change with this party, well, you get a huge reward of NOTHING, because BBs don't get anything from class change. But on the bright side, your sprite becomes uglier. Wait... sorry, that's not a bright side. There is no bright side to this party. You'll probably find that you depsperately need the magic-casting items you get later in the game, but those don't make up for the pitiful lack of magic in this party. I think I'd rather take a party of four elderly groundhogs than take a party of four BB's, to be honest.
</div>
</blockquote>


images/smilies/mad.gif






Favorite party: Monk, monk, monk, monk. Because I am a sadist.

And to those who say this party is bad... um... no. Depending on how much time you care to spend leveling, monk can have the highest defense of any job ( in easy versions, anyway, where the level cap is higher), because their defense is equal to their level... A fighter's defense, or any other job for that matter is limited by their equipment. Even in the hard (original) version, you can get a monks defense highenough to where most hits only do 1 damage... if they hit at all, because monks also have the highest evasion. And no enemy in the game, boss or otherwise, can take more than 1 hit from a high level monk. I had to jump out of my seat when I saw that FF1 didn't have a damage cap of 9,999 like all the rest.
Well... maybe monk, monk, monk, black mage... Throwing a few steels, sabers (from Giant's Gloves), and a haste on a monk will get a monks damage from one attack into the 40k-50k range...

[Starboard Regulator FlareNUKE]

You're kidding right? in FF1, my MASTER is the first to die... from start to finish, My MASTER's defense was 26 at the end... everyone else had better defense and also they all equal EXP...

[Rengori]

In defense of Dr Unne,

OK. First of all, let's compare the BB to a Fighter. The BB has horrible HP advancement. It's not as bad as a Mage of course, but also not as good as a Fighter. In my game with a Knight and Master, both level 28, my Knight has 602 HP, the Master has 522. Now maybe by some miracle the BB will pass my Fighter up at level 50 or something, but at that point it doesn't even matter, since the game is easily beatable at level 28.

How about defense. Obviously the Fighter wins in this category. The Fighter gets the best armor in the game. The BB gets bracelets, which are the worst armor in the game. The BB is little better than a Mage. His stats help him a little, but he's still pretty weak. In my game, the BB, in the second row, takes a consistent beating from every encounter, while my Fighter, in the FRONT row (meaning he takes more hits), happily stands and takes it with a smile. Maybe if you put the BB in the back row, he'd do OK. And he does get a little better as the game goes on and his stats build. But the Fighter gets even MORE better, what with the Dragon Armor his vast array of helmets and shields.

Now the real question. The BB is known for his physical attack power. If his attack was very much better than a Fighter's that might make up for his other huge weaknesses. But his attack power is NOT better than a Fighter's until very late in the game. So late that it's irrelevant. The Fighter with a Silver Sword does far better than a BB with his fists, at Elfland. The BB starts catching up after that, but if you get the Ice Sword from the CoO or Volcano as soon as possible, the Fighter leaps way ahead again. After that, with the Defense, Sun Sword and Excalbur, the Fighter stays way ahead for the rest of the game, until sometime after level 30 where the BB catches up again. At that point, the Fighter can kill anything in the game in one hit, except bosses, and that's all you need. Admittedly, if you level up to 50, the BB will finally end up the Fighter. I've heard many times, "A Black Belt can kill Chaos in one hit!!" Well a Fighter with Masmune at level 30 or so can kill him in three or four. That's more than enough power. In any case, if you beat the game at level 30 or so, the BB will be barely equal to the Fighter in terms of attack power. Certainly not ahead, by any means.

Conclusion: BB sucks in every way compared to a Fighter. A BB is a crippled Fighter, plain and simple. Now let's compare him to Mages. Mages serve a few very specific purposes. First of all, they hurt multiple enemies at once. Even the strongest level 50 BB or Fighter will take 9 rounds to kill 9 monsters just by attacking physically. Black and Red Mages lend support by wiping out multiple monsters at once. It saves time, and HP, since the longer you stand there swinging your fists, the more damage you take. Once you get the magic-casting items, Mages become a little less valuable, but not by much. Magic-casting items only cast FIR2, LIT2, etc; not the more powerful spells needed for the more powerful monsters late in the game. And why would you want to waste a bunch of turns having your fighting characters use those items in battle? Mages are around so that fighters don't have to. Secondly, Mages lend support to fighters. FAST effectively doubles the damage a fighter does. Protective magics help fighters (and everyone) last long enough to do enough damage to kill stuff. Support magic isn't essential to doing well, but it certainly helps. Finally, Mages heal. Healing is something you need from the first time you battle an Imp till the trek through the ToF. Heal Potions just don't cut it later in the game, and they're expensive anyways. The Heal Staff / Helmets are OK, but you need to use them a ton of times to equal one CUR3 or CUR4. The cost of heal potions is almost crippling in the beginning of the game, if that's all you have, and late in the game only being able to carry 99 of them at once means very limited healing ability.

The point: comparing Black Belts and Mages is like comparing apples and schnauzers. It doesn't make sense. They serve different purposes. The only differene is, a Mage serves its purpose very well in the game; a BB tries to serve a purpose, and fails miserably at it.

All that's left is the Thief. I will start with an admission. Thieves suck too, compared with the other classes (besides BB). They're basically crippled Fighters just like Black Belts. However, they serve a tiny secondary purpose that makes them worth it, in my eyes. They run well. In my games, I use RUN a whole lot. In the beginning you need to run often from annoying low-level enemies like Wolves. It's just a time saver; why stand there wasting time with Wolves when you could be killing Ogres? Also, enemies that poison you are very annoying. Running before they can is a good way to save PUREs and time. Same goes with large groups of undead that can paralyze you. Sometimes running as quickly as possible from those battles is all that stands between life and a slow death. Then there are Sorcerers. Don't think I need to say much there; you NEED to run from them. Thieves are the best runners in the game, in my experience. I've almost never had a Thief fail to run on his first attempt to do so, from enemies that allow you to run.

Secondly, Thieves get Black Magic after class change. By the time you get it, it's not all that great, but it's still useful. FAST is always good. If you have two characters to FAST, and only one mage, you can waste two turns casting it, or you can cast it in one turn by using a Mage and a Ninja. That's helpful versus strong bosses, and versus Warmech for example, where every single round matters. FIR2, LIT2, and ICE2 are also useful until the very end of the game. Not as good as FIR3, LIT3 or ICE3 of course, but once your mage runs out of higher-level magic, it's good to have some backup.

Now those advantages aren't very good. All characters can RUN. A Mage is almost as good at running as the Thief. And the magic the Ninja gets doesn't mean as much once you get the magic-casting Mage Staff, Black Shirt, etc. But I like the Thief anyways. I find the balance good when a Thief is paired with a Fighter. If the Thief were purely a fighting character, he'd be totally worthless, but getting magic and running well give him a little bit of use. It's understandable if someone didn't like them though; the advantages of using a Thief wouldn't be as good as the advantages of using another Fighter. Sometimes it's good for some variety though. A BB on the other hand IS purely a fighting character, and not a good one at that. So BB's, in a way, ARE worse than Thieves; Thieves serve a tiny purpose, whereas BB's serve none. If you won't swallow that argument, put the Thief and BB on equal level at the very bottom of the bucket. It's probably valid to do so.

The conclusion: Black Belts are worse than Fighters and Mages, and at best tied with Thieves for WORST CHARACTER EVER.

As if all of that wasn't bad enough, let's look at some of the other ways the BB sucks. The Fighter gets White Magic. Not that great, really, since CURE and CUR2 are pretty weak by the time the Fighter gets them. But they do help in places like the ToF where you need to squeeze every little drop of healing out of your characters to make it to Chaos with full HP. In fact the Black Belt is the ONLY character who never gets to use any magic. Secondly, and this is purely my opinion, but finding armor and weapons in dungeons is exciting. This is a fantasy game, after all. Finding a legendary sword or a one-of-a-kind piece of armor that protects you from magic is part of what makes fantasy fantasy. The BB gets no good armor, ever. After a little while, a Black Belt has to start using his fists, and keep using them the entire rest of the game. Incredibly boring, if you ask me. Using a BB in battle in itself is incredibly boring. "Hold down the A button" is your only strategy. That, and resurrect him when he gets stomped by weak parties of monsters, which will happen frequently. The Black Belt is also the only character who gets absolutely nothing from the class change. His sprite changes, and that's it, period. No magic, no new equipment able to be equipped... nothing. That's pathetic.

Now the BB does have two advantages that other classes don't. First of all, in the NES version, not having to equip much weapons or armor frees up his equipment slots to hold magic-casting items like the Heal Staff. That's nice, if you plan to use the BB as nothing but an item-using Mage-wannabe. It's hardly reason enough to take a character that sucks so badly otherwise. Secondly, not having to buy weapons or armor makes him very cheap. However, I contend that even a party of four Fighters or four Mages is EASILY affordable, even if you equip them with the best weapons and armor in the game at all times. Most of the time, with my favorite party of F/Th/WM/BM, I end up with millions of extra G by the end of the game. There are two parts where money is a factor in any way: Elfland, and Melmond. That's it. The stuff in Elfland is affordable after you're done leveling up, which you almost certainly need to to brave the Marsh Cave. Or you can just wait until after the Marsh Cave; you get tens of thousands of G worth of treasure from all the locked chests. In Melmond, the Steel Armor is very expensive, yes. But it's not all that necessary to get it anyways. Even without it, the Fighter has better defense than a BB of comparable level. The Iron Armor is good enough if you don't feel like saving up the G for Steel. And the Fighter gets Ice /Flame Armor shortly after Melmond in any case, which is even better than Steel Armor, and free. After that, every single weapon or piece of armor worth using is found in treasure chests, except the ProRing (which a BB needs too) and the Gold Bracelet, which is VERY expensive (and still not that good), and is something a Fighter for example doesn't even need.

My final argument is again a matter of opinion: Black Belts are ugly. Before class change, dressed in powder-blue sweat pants, or whatever those things are, they look like toddlers. After class change, they don't even get to wear a belt! I guess they forget their martial arts training or have their Black Belt license revoked or something. Wouldn't surprise me.

Yeah, it is a crapload but it's true.

[Black Mage FF1]

In defense of Dr Unne,


Yeah, it is a crapload but it's true.


Its a biased opinion. Doesnt make it true. I use Black Belts all the time and I rarely have them die or suck up a lot of potions. However, when I use a crappy Black Mage or White Mage. They die all the time and waste all my potions. For what? For them to deal horrible, horrible damage? Nah I prefer a Ma/Rm instead of a Wm/Bm.

[Doomie]

Its a biased opinion. Doesnt make it true. I use Black Belts all the time and I rarely have them die or suck up a lot of potions. Whoever, when I use a crappy Black Mage or White Mage. They die all the time and waste all my potions. For what? For them to deal horrible, horrible damage? Nah I prefer a Ma/Rm instead of a Wm/Bm.

Then why isn't your User Name Master FF1? I'm just amazingly curious.

[Rengori]

Whoever, when I use a crappy Black Mage or White Mage. They die all the time and waste all my potions. For what? For them to deal horrible, horrible damage? Nah I prefer a Ma/Rm instead of a Wm/Bm.
This is why the they're mages. You buy them Magic. The damage problem is solved with Black Magic and the White Mages will save you a lot of money on potions if you keep them updated with the latest Cure/Heal spell.

[Starboard Regulator FlareNUKE]

I've seen "Black Mage FF1" always complain about the Bl.MAGEs on other forums... people ask him why that's his name... he never answers... AND THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO KEPT DYING WERE MY MASTER!!!

[Uilliam]

Firstly, in reply to the idea that monks defense is bad because all they can wear is bracelets... well, thats why their defense is bad. If you equip any armor on them, they are crap... but with NO armor, they have the highest evasion, and defense is equal to level. In my experience, after around 30-40 defense, very little hits for more than 1 point of damage. Now, a fighter with dragon armor, aegis shield, etc is around 65-70 defense, and will never get better. A monk caps out at 50, or 99 on easy play mode.

As for attack, monks attack is double their level. A fighter/knights attack, with masamune will never get much higher than 100, not even that high on normal mode (with level 50 cap). A monks attack is 100 at level 50, or 198 at level 99. Now add to this, that the monk has higher accuracy than a knight with masamune (more hits, therefore more damage) multiplied by the fact that monks get 2 attacks per 32 points of accuracy, rather than 1... and you get THOUSANDS more damage. By the time my knight was regularly getting 1000 damage hits, my monk was landing hits for well over 10,000. No other job fighter, mage, or anything else can do that. And for free...

Which leads me to healing. More than enough money laying around to keep 99 heal potions. Using four monks, I have never run out of heal potions in a dungeon. Using fighters and mages, I have run out of healing many times. Not enough money top keep stocked on potions, and not enough spell slots to last through a long dungeon.

Really, if you aren't getting good results from a monk, you are either equipping him with armor and or weapons (which i usually stop doing around level 10), or, you are just not spending any time leveling. I guess if you are going for the "I beat the game with the lowest level" award, thats fine, but I find that the sense of reward that comes with leveling characters up is one of the main reasons I play RPGs.

PS my last completed game save file: Knight 67, Monk 99, Ninja 65, White Wizard 65. Note how my monk died the LEAST...

[Rengori]

Major flaw: That sounds like a lot of leveling to do before monks are good. Most people avoid uber-leveling because then nothing challenges them and it sucks the fun right out of the game.

[Black Mage FF1]

This is why the they're mages. You buy them Magic. The damage problem is solved with Black Magic and the White Mages will save you a lot of money on potions if you keep them updated with the latest Cure/Heal spell.


Yeah but you see, like I stated many times. The Bm/Wm are completly useless because there is a Red Mage in this game. Red Mage = Wm/Bm but with good hp and good attack power/defense. I mean really. Tell me what is the point of this party

Fi/th/Wm/Bm.

The fighter attacks (does a great job BTW), thief attacks (sucks) or runs away (useless), the black mage casts strong black magic (he becomes useless once it runs out, unlike the Red Mage)

Then you have the white mage. Who does what? If you actually have a good party then healing wont be needed as often. So what in the hell is the white mage to do? Attack for horrible damage? Cast useless "Support spells"? The red mage can do all that and when he doesnt need to he can contribute to the battle. Same for the black mage. His amount of charges will not last throughout a dungeon if you have him cast in every battle. So what is he to do when he runs out or when you try to save charges? Thats what I thought. All in all. Rm>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Trash>>>>>>>>>>>>Wm/Bm

Oh and all of my posts refer to the NES/Origins version of FF1. Not the pansy version AKA DoS.



I've seen "Black Mage FF1" always complain about the Bl.MAGEs on other forums... people ask him why that's his name... he never answers... AND THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO KEPT DYING WERE MY MASTER!!!

There are only 3 forums that I visit. This, gamefaqs (rarely) and COTD. And I know for a fact that you have never been to COTD. So I dont know what you are talking about.


"Why is your name Black Mage FF1?"

*Laughs*


More reasons on why the Black Mages suck can be found here

http://forums.eyesonff.com/showthread.php?t=45104

[vampirepiggyhunter7]

Fighter, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage
Second

[Rengori]

Yeah but you see, like I stated many times. The Bm/Wm are completly useless because there is a Red Mage in this game. Red Mage = Wm/Bm but with good hp and good attack power/defense. I mean really. Tell me what is the point of this party

Fi/th/Wm/Bm.

The fighter attacks (does a great job BTW), thief attacks (sucks) or runs away (useless), the black mage casts strong black magic (he becomes useless once it runs out, unlike the Red Mage)

Then you have the white mage. Who does what? If you actually have a good party then healing wont be needed as often. So what in the hell is the white mage to do? Attack for horrible damage? Cast useless "Support spells"? The red mage can do all that and when he doesnt need to he can contribute to the battle. Same for the black mage. His amount of charges will not last throughout a dungeon if you have him cast in every battle. So what is he to do when he runs out or when you try to save charges? Thats what I thought. All in all. Rm>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Trash>>>>>>>>>>>>Wm/Bm
Fair argument. Thieves are good at running as you said, and that is very useful in a lot of situations, such as when you don't like getting poisoned or need to get to an inn fast without dying. The thief is also in this party so you DON'T have to waste all your magic going through a dungeon. If an enemy can't go down in a few hits, you can run to save magic. But your point about red mages is a valid one. However, they run out of magic far more quickly and tend to be expensive.

[Darkone311]

I roll the vanilla way
Fighter
Thief
BLM
WHM

[Starboard Regulator FlareNUKE]

My Bl.BELT always dies, And I never equiped anything

[Acid Raine]

Fighter/Thief/White Mage/Red Mage

I dont like Black Mages. Red Mages can pick up the slack that is left behind, and Thiefs and Fighter rawk!

[Starboard Regulator FlareNUKE]

All Right, FYI, I USED my Wh.MAGE a lot... it could cast LIFE earlier instead of having to wait for class change... and my Bl.MAGE always doused enemies with spells, but his attack always sucked...

[Super Black Mage]

i use Fitgter B.Belt B.Mage W.Mage

[Vincent, Thunder God]

I had a warrior, thief, red mage and a white mage. It was ok, but not the greatest. Next time I'm play I'm going to have a warrior, monk, black mage and white mage. Magic is fairly important in that game.

[Slam Dancin' Moogle]

Well, personally, I always enjoy a well-balanced party (and a breakfast, like my location)

Fighter; Thief;Red Mage;White Mage (what I beat the game with the 1st time)
Fighter; Fighter; Black Mage; White Mage
Fter, BB, BM, WM
Fter, BB, RM, WM

Basically thats it

Oh yeah:
Fter, RM, BM, WM

[Avathar]

Fighter, Fighter, Red Mage, Black Mage

^_^'

[Fireblade13]

DoS- Fighter,White mage, Redmage, Thief/Fighter/Monk
I've only completed the game with a fighter,thief,whiemage,redmage party and got all the way to chaos with 4 knights not enough healing. ( I feel noobish)

[ljkkjlcm9]

I've been thinking long and hard and have come to a conclusion about the best party. All right, the lower people in the column get hit less, and for most of the game, the Fighter is the only person who can take a lot of damage, so first slot is fighter. Typically people choose BB or Thief next, but then people complain that BB gets killed too much, or Thief isn't strong enough, hell, put in another Fighter, that solves that problem. Next people like two mages, but let's be honest in the original NES version, which is the only version I really ever play, magic isn't all that great. So I'd suggest putting in another physical fighter. But you have two fighters, which are expensive, perfect place for a BB. Then ok, you need fast, which severly limits your last choice, Red or Black mage. I think the choice is obvious. Red mage, because black mage can only use magic, and I typically beat the game only being able to cast 1 or 2 NUKE spells, which is the only thing they can do against Chaos, and other spells are severly limited the ENTIRE GAME. So my last slot goes to the choice of Red Mage.

SO:
Fighter
Fighter
Black Belt
Red Mage
..... I also enjoy the same party except another Red Mage instead of a black belt, but that tends to be quite expensive.

THE JACKEL

[Mikeneko Rocker -- Tim]

My challenge party:

Black Belt, Thief, Red Mage, Black Mage -- given the lack of a warrior and white mage, and not to mention the Black Belt and Thief as main attackers, this party leans more toward Black Magic, and heavier dependence on potions, gold needles, and antidotes, respectively.

[dirkdirden]

My challenge party:

Black Belt, Thief, Red Mage, Black Mage -- given the lack of a warrior and white mage, and not to mention the Black Belt and Thief as main attackers, this party leans more toward Black Magic, and heavier dependence on potions, gold needles, and antidotes, respectively.

done it, easy, just kind of hard at first, after level 18 it's cake.

4 WM is the only chalange that gave me trouble.

[Mikeneko Rocker -- Tim]

done it, easy, just kind of hard at first, after level 18 it's cake.

You probably did it in Easy Mode :tongue:

Anyway, the other parties I did and liked:

Fighter, White Mage, Black Mage, Black Mage -- just for the heck of the extra Flare blasts!

Fighter, White Mage, Monk, Red Mage -- just trying out a "Flare-less" game.

[Kuroshima]

4 thiefs

[dirkdirden]

You probably did it in Easy Mode :tongue:

Anyway, the other parties I did and liked:

Fighter, White Mage, Black Mage, Black Mage -- just for the heck of the extra Flare blasts!

Fighter, White Mage, Monk, Red Mage -- just trying out a "Flare-less" game.

WTF

either you are Jokeing or I am blind. How do you change the difficulty.

all role playing games are easy, you just have to take the time to level up.

[Mikeneko Rocker -- Tim]

WTF

either you are Jokeing or I am blind. How do you change the difficulty.

As for the difficulty, Origins allow the player to choose either Easy or Normal in I.

And yes, I'm making a joke about you, doing it on Easy mode. :)

[Crossblades]

4 thiefs

How hard is the game with that party?

[dirkdirden]

O I still play it my my NES. They don't have a easy mode.


4 thefs is pretty hard, not as hard as 4 white mages, but I'd say its the second hardest, at least for me it was. for me this is how it goes easyest to hardest.

4 fighters - very easy, but you will have no extra money or room
4 Blackbelts - Hard at first easy at last lots and lots of extra money
4 Redmages - evenly difficult throught the game, expensive as well
4 Black mages - this is hard thought the entire game, you have to run alot
4 Theifs - Very hard at first, gets a little easyer once you get the key.
4 White mages - hard all the way till the end. you have to be on a very high level to pass it with this team. MONTHS of leveling up, not worth it.

[xchaos knightX]

a thief , awrrior, a red mage and a black belt.

[Blank]

Warrior, Thief, Black M, White M

if i ever replay:
Warrior, Monk, Red M, White M
or something

[Blank]

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2225/ultimateff1party3il.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
seriously

[Cid Vicious]

Warrior.
Warrior.
Warrior.
White Mage.

This is my first playthrough, so I don't know how it's gonna go.
But so far it's alright. The Warriors are powerful and take little damage.
The WM just heals them.

[Cinda]

I always use the default party cos I'm a nerd.
No actually it's because I hate mages - whenever I use them I die and I always prefer fighters with magic who can actually take a hit than some silly robed piece of bait trying to vain to defend themselves with stuff like clothes and shirts. :mog:
So default party it is for me. And I dig black belts - mine got me through the Ice Cave single handedly while the rest of my team's corpses steadily decomposed.

[crosster]

I am now currently try four white mages and its a lot of fun!! so thats my favorite party besides 3 black mage and a white mage

[Doomie]

A monk.

[Zarniwoop]

Fighter
White Mage
White Mage
Black Mage

[ValiantKnight]

NES - Fi/Th/WM/RM Guessing here since I never played the NES version.
Thief for running which you will do alot of.
Fighter - duh
WM - Life and such
RM - Fire2 and such without the weak defense of black mage early on.

Origins - Fi/Fi/RM/WM
Thief loses run ability... bye bye thief.
erm see above...
May replace RM with BM if i wanna level a bit.

Origins Easy - Fi/BB/WM/BM
Fi - duh.. maybe put a second black belt in.. but will be rough early on.
BB - 99absorb, ultimate evasion, unresistable Death tied to his attack at lvl 50+ :)
WM - Infinite Magic charges... infinite Holy/Life2/Harm spells
BM - Infinite magic charges... Infinite NUKE/Flare

DoS - Fi/Th/Th/Rm
Fi - Duh...
Th - still can't run.. but now I am a king of Fighting and outdamage fighter!
RM - shot of Fir2 and shot of life... grab Judgement staff for Flare, and Rune Staff for Healing.

*shrugs* critique....

NES - All are usable.. no disadvantages or nerfs...
Origins normal - Thief running ability mega nerfed.
Origins Easy - Mages inifinite charges and Black Belt higher cap of absorb/evasion/damage.
DoS - Thief turned into a damage machine, BlackBelt mega MEGA nerfed. 99 black belt on DoS = about a level 40 black belt on NES... thats sad. Evasion levels slower... Absorb cut in half... Damage cut in half or 1/3

When I say infinite.. well.. are you really going to use 27 charges of Fire2?

Post which version you are posting for as well.. as above mentioned changes can greatly affect opinion/usability...
ie.. Black Belt is just plain is lousy in Dawn of Souls.. and I'm pro-BB.

[Alixsar]

Doesn't matter what version it is, I almost always use:
Fighter
Black Belt
White Mage
Black Mage

Sometimes I use two warriors, and occasionally I use a thief or red mage.

[Lawr]

RED MAGE
RED MAGE
RED MAGE
RED MAGE

[Krag Koopa]

well..I remember using a black mage...I think another black mage....a monk. and a white mage (or red mage) I dunno...but I liked it that way.

[ljkkjlcm9]

99 black belt on DoS = about a level 40 black belt on NES... .

Yes well level 50 is the cap on NES, and you need not go higher than like 25 on NES. I just like BB cause he's the cheapest in any version

THE JACKEL

[ValiantKnight]

But akin to that...

A lvl 38 Black Belt on Dawn of souls would be equal to not a 38 black belt on NES, but a 19 Black belt.. looking far inferior to Fighter and the others.

DoS ... 40 Kn/Ma/WW/BW
equals roughly a NES 40 Kn/20 Ma/40 WW/40 BW

[Garland]

I still like my self proclaimed "ultimate offense" party: Master, Black Wizard x3. Low on defense perhaps, but dead enemies deal no damage. I'd be an idiot to claim it's the best party. It has tons of shortfalls, namely expense and survivability. Still, I like the blitzkreig strategy gameplay it promotes. Works even better in DoS where you can get ethers to restore mp and magic points aren't divided into tiers.

[gigames08]

Fighter, Black Belt, White Mage, Black Mage. No contest.

[ljkkjlcm9]

But akin to that...

A lvl 38 Black Belt on Dawn of souls would be equal to not a 38 black belt on NES, but a 19 Black belt.. looking far inferior to Fighter and the others.

DoS ... 40 Kn/Ma/WW/BW
equals roughly a NES 40 Kn/20 Ma/40 WW/40 BW

I'm quite sure they toned down all the characters a bit with each level. If not then that's extremely stupid because then you get a max level Master equal in both games, as it should be, but max level other classes twice that of the NES game, that's just retarded.

THE JACKEL

[Garland]

I think in FF1 DoS Fighter got nerfed some, he's noticably weaker offensively than Thief and Black Belt. In prior incarnations, he rivalled Black Belt and surpassed Thief. Red Mage also got nerfed when Int became a factor in spell potency. Either that Black and White mages got a buff - take it as you will, there's now a large discrepency in potency. Thief got buffed so much he's almost a new character entirely. I can't say I mind having a character with a hit count that rivals a monk and damage that surpasses the warrior. In my Warrior, Thief, Monk, White Mage party, my Monk was always top DD.

[Mr. Graves]

Fighter, Black Belt, Red Mage, White Mage.

:thumb:

Another one I quite like is Warrior, Warrior, White Mage, Black Mage. All the magic, and twice the Fighter power.

[mastercylinder]

Fighter, Black Belt, Black Belt, Red Mage

Kill your BB's right away, leave them dead till the Marsh Cave. Kill your FI too as soon as possible. RM levels up 4 times faster than normal, and level him way up. Add the FI back when strong enough to go to peninsula-with-the-extra-strong-monsters.
With a high level FI and RM, the BB's will level up very quickly, and act as fodder to protect RM in the Marsh Cave, so what if they die. But before long, they're equal to the FI, and then better, and behind him their weaker defense doesn't matter. Try it.

[Firenjar]

I used a monk warrior thief and red mage on game boy though but my red mage is on level six magic but the spells are only for red wizard whats that???

[KentaRawr!]

DoS:

Warrior - Ocin
Red Mage - Nano
Black Mage - Mowse
White Mage - Miki

In any other version of the game, I use the same party. I list it as DoS since that is the only version I have beaten. Man, I stink at FF. :rolleyes2

[ChrisBurr555555]

My Favorite Party is....

Warrior(Knight)
Monk(Master)
Thief(Ninja)
Red Mage(Red Mage)

I love Attacking & Strength parties, and this to me is the best one, and I did not even Die once.

[ChrisBurr555555]

These are normal suggested/recommened parties on ff1 sites....
(My Ratings out of 10)

Warrior/Monk/Thief/Red Mage(10/10)-My Favorite Party Overall/I love heavy fighting and doing lots of melee damage, Toughness of all 4 characters, the speed of the Monk & Thief, Red Mage's Magic, and the gobs of HP & Offense & Defense work really well(save slots for Life, Warp & Exit), In my opinion, this party beats all, I never died with this party and beat the PS version easily.

Warrior/Red Mage/White Mage/Black Mage(7/10)-Good party if you like Magic a lot with a little bit of melee/I don't use this party, but see why others do, lots of offense with Warrior, Red & Black Mage, and lots of spells with the 3 mages, but defense and speed can be a problem though.

Warrior/Warrior/Black Mage/White Mage(10/10)-Good party of equal fighting & spell casting, I never use this party, but the Defense of the Warriors & the magic users are worth it.

Warrior/Thief/White Mage/Black Mage(10/10)-My 2nd favorite party of these recommended and the very 1st party I beat the NES version with the first time, Strength of Warrior & Thief is key as well as Thief's speed, and the magic users aren't too bad to boot, I also beat the PS version with this party.

Warrior/Thief/Red Mage/Black Mage(10/10)-I never used this one, but this party has tons of offensive Firepower to boot in both attacks and spells.


Warrior/Thief/Red Mage/Red Mage(10/10)-I rank this 3rd of these, I have not used this one yet, but this is one of my favorite parties, you have great fighters, plus 2 jack of all trades characters to boot, I can see myself using this party.

Warrior/Monk/White Mage/Black Mage(10/10)-Another one I have not used, but many people love this party, good in all aspects and who needs a weapon or armor when you are a monk/master, good part in my opinion.

Warrior/White Mage/White Mage/Black Mage(1/10)-I'm a heavy fighting fan and not a heavy magic user, Lots of Offense is what I like, this party lacks it, crappy choice.

White Mage/Black Mage/Black Mage/Black Mage(0/10)-No No No No No!, lots of trips to the clinic.

Red Mage/Red Mage/White Mage/Black Mage(10/10)-I'm a heavy fighting fan, but if you are a magic user lover, this is the party for you, Loads of Magic in all aspects!

Black Mage/Black Mage/White Mage/White Mage(5/10)-If you wanna use nothing but magic, here ya go, but don't come crying to me when your ass gets toasted for 700+ damage!

Warrior/Red Mage/Red Mage/Red Mage(6/10)-An accurate party, you don't need more than 2 of any character though, as much as I like the heavy attackers.

Red Mage/White Mage/White Mage/Black Mage(1/10)-This won't work either.

Warrior/Black Mage/Black Mage/Black(4/10)-Tons of Offense is the only strong point here, too many Black Mages!

Warrior/Warrior/Warrior/White Mage(6/10)-75% Offense and good use of White Magic, but I never will use this party, don't use more than 2 of any character.

Warrior/Warrior/Warrior/Red Mage(7/10)-Loads of Offense, but see party above this one, some people say this is the party you beat the game the fastest with, I beg to differ.

4 Warriors(9/10)-No EXIT or LIFE

4Thiefs(6/10)-same as 4 Warriors

4 Red Mages(7/10)-Be careful, I can't believe someone beat the game with this party

4 Monks(5/10)-No Magic

4 White Mages(0/10)-See 4 Red Mages, the Worst

4 Black Mages(0/10)-Die and Die alot, one of the worst

[Firenjar]

I had master,knight,ninja and red wizard but i started again with 2 monks a black mage and a white mage i use monks/masters without weapons and there the strongest possible!!!!!!!against Chaos with my master he was hitting 2000(after temper and haste)

[Mattokenzi]

Red Mage
Red Mage
Red Mage
Red Mage

I finished the Red Mage Party :D

Next is my Fighter Party

I might do my journal of it.

[bipper]

Fighter, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage

This was my Favorite as well. I enjoyed replacing the Thief with Monk, but that made it too easy :D

[mlake6]

4 black mages makes it tougher but not as tough as 4 wht mages!

[Mikeneko Rocker -- Tim]

Fighter
White Mage
White Mage
Black Mage

I did that party at least once, and I have to admit, while there is only one beatstick (Warrior, since I play Origins), there is more than enough White Magic to compensate the lack of it. Gotta love abusing Holy, Dia4, and Life2 is an absolute.:)

A party I would like to explore in the future (once I get my FFO disc back) is RM-Th-Monk (BB)-BM.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/Tim-A_Gusher/RM-Th-BB-BM.png

Pros:

--Three beatsticks throughout the game.
--Abundance of Black Magic.
--A White Magic user.
--A party member that can run well.
--Advantages of BB

Cons:

--Red Mage being the cannon fodder (c'mon, everybody knows that the party member located on the top is the most-attacked one)
--Disadvantages of Monk (BB)
--Warp 2 and other higher-level White Magic are only available after Class Change.
--Not enough White Magic.
--Lacks armor.

With those in mind, I'm gonna be careful playing this party.

[Garland]

In the same vein as my FF1NES and Origins BB, Blm, Blm, Blm party, I'm trying another offensive-only party in FF1 DoS.

Warrior
Thief
Monk
Black Mage

Whereas I feel monk, 3x blm is the most potential damage you can bring to any single encounter, I think this party is the most you can bring w/o repeat classes. The one thing I disliked about the first party is three of the same job. I've become a big fan of parties that avoid damage by killing fast. Balanced parties are wonderful of course but this is my new kick lately.

[FF1 Novelist]

For the novel I will use:
Fighter
Thief
Red Mage
White Mage

Someone knows a person from Square-Enix to tell them about my novel?

Thanks.

P.S. My english isn`t very good...

[deek the noob]

the most balanced party would be 1 white mage , 1 black mage , 1 red mage , and 1 fighter. The white mage gets healaja and holy at high lvl magic (I'm going by the dos version) and holy owns pretty much anything. the black mage and red mage would haste and temper on my fighter respectively. I'd get the fighter to use giants gloves to cast saber on himself so he dished out some serious damage each turn.The red mage got whatever spell the white and black mages didn't get and one of the good spells of black or white magic on the other slot. Its always a good idea to have a red mage on the team for backup in case one of the other mages dies . The black mage sucks to begin with, untill he gets the area affect spells and he gets better and better after that. I like white mages because of all the protection and healing spells, but other than that they're useless.

[ljkkjlcm9]

yes deek, Mages are good for DoS because of the amazing amount of MP, but then again, every good spell can be cast using an item.....

THE JACKEL

[master axel]

fiter
thefe
white mage
black mage:tongue:

[Markus. D]

Red Mage
Red Mage
Red Mage
Red Mage


(ZOMG powerplay)

[Crossblades]

Afet looking at this thread, I've come to a conclusion that the Red Mage is the most popular class in the FF.

[Kirr]

The party that I all ways use is:
Fighter
Thief
Red Mage
Black Mage

[SpikingZero]

I liked using Warrior, Red Mage, Monk, White Mage, in that battle order. While your Monk is rather weak physically in the early stages, keep him in the rear to keep him from taking damage.

As the game progresses, you see the Red Mage become weaker and weaker compared to everybody else, while the Monk just takes off in both speed and physical strength. Eventually, your Warrior and Monk will just blast through the game with attacks, while the RM and WM heal your party.

Mm-hmm.

[Mystik_Ninja]

F/F/F/BB

[KentaRawr!]

I ALWAYS choose Fighter, Red Mage, White Mage, Black Mage. Magic foreva.

[Sunny Day Suicide]

I dare someone to try M/M/M/WM. Oh it'd be so boring.

[Odin2006]

Fighter
Fighter/BB/Thief
Black Mage
White Mage

[Nerevarine]

fighter/knight
red mage/red wizard
thief/ninja
white mage/white wizard

two with life
two with fast
two with exit
3 good fighters(unlike f,rm,wm,bm which only has two)
N,RW and WW(w/ mage staff,black robe and thor hammer) can all have elemental attack spells

and its kind of cool to see all my characters in red at the end

[Siegurd]

My most recent play through i'm using:
Red mage
Red mage
White mage
Black mage

I have one red mage setup like a 'time' mage with all buff/debuff type abilities, and heals, the other red mage with some damage spells/heals as well. So far it's been pretty fun, and a bit stronger than the last play through I did that was Fighter/BB/RM/BM, since the amount of healing available in my current party just lets me go on for ever.

[Sylvie]

Fighter | Thief | Red Mage | White Mage

Fighter | Thief | White Mage | Black mage

Fighter | Black Mage | Red Mage| Thief

I never go without my Fighter AKA Genji. :D

[Nerevarine]

I never go without my Fighter AKA Genji. :D

ya no fighter usually leaves you in a few pickles throughout the game.

other than solos i have never had a serious party without one

[ReloadPsi]

Fighter
Fighter
Red Mage - With Black Magic
Red Mage - With White Magic

Can't use LV8 spells. So what? They're useless anyway. The final bosses are pretty much resistant to all of them, and the random encounters aren't hard enough to make them necessary.

I'm currently having a lot of fun with what I call the Seanbaby party (check the Useless Power Ups article, NES Page, seanbaby.com)

Black Belt (KIK!)
Red Mage (FAG.)
White Mage (FOOD)
Black Mage (ORKO)

[Laddy]

I never use a different party other than this one...

Fighter
Monk
White Mage
Black Mage

:D I like balanced parties.

[VeloZer0]

Well, personally I find all black magic, with the exception of haste and the '-2' spells, to be not all that useful, hence I try to avoid black mages. As for thieves, they are basically inferior to Red Mages for half the game, and then on the same level (perhaps slightly higher) for the other half. Not worth it imho.

With that in mid I usually go:
Fighter
Fighter
Red Mage
White Mage


You have your haste, '-2' spells, healing, exit, and lots of up front melee damage. (Plus you can swap the two fighters positions to minimize necessary healing even more)

[Tainted Angel]

Fr,Fr,Fr,Fr
Rm,Rm,Rm,Rm
I've never done the game using Bm,Bm,Bm,Bm

I still want to try that party some time.

[ImAFarmer]

Pure fighter or Pure red mage xD

[Stewy]

This is the order they are in: Fighter, Black Belt, Red Mage, Fighter

[Black Magic Shopkeeper]

Mine?

Black Mage, Fighter, Thief, and Red Mage (in that order.)

And just for fun, I'll tell you their names! In order.
Why, Hulo, Thar, & Chum. x3 I had fun naming them.

[Ogrius]

I somehow lost my original cartridge when I was a teenager. I need to go find a used copy of it on ebay to play it again. I think I have done every group of all 4 of the same class now. 4 white mages was freakin insane!!!!!! That's the most grinding I've ever done in a game. Of course back then, FF1 came out and then there wasn't another solid rpg for about 1.5-2 years.

[The black mage]

The best party Is F/T/WM/BM
Its the only party i use for run throughs.

[ReloadPsi]

RedMAGEs are terrible later, they're Strength stops killing enemies in blow and their higher-level magic... ARUB and ICE3, Not even CUR4 or EXIT...
I'm mostly going off what's written in the Uncyclopedia article here, but that's because it's true.

The only time you ever need a White Mage in the party is when there are White and Black Mages in the party. Therefore, Red Mages never need to Cure4 themselves because they don't take enough damage for it to be necessary; Cure3 gets the job done.

As for offensive power, the Black Mage is a joke. He can cast powerful spells. Occasionally. Most of the time he sits in the back row waving a stick or a knife around for single digit damage, making him a liability in the countless random encounters you'll go through. Fire2 and such might be nice if you didn't find yourself needing them for bosses as well, and besides, the Red Mage can cast that and attack when it runs out. Red Mages can also cast Haste and Temper on themselves. Even then I'd rather just do 200+ damage for free with a Sun Sword than spend magic on it. Sure, BM can cast Sabre but what the hell's the use when it only works on a character whose attack power sucks anyway?

White Mages can be useful sometimes I guess; sometimes they get real lucky on their defense and HP bonuses at level up like my current party. In fact my White Mage currently has more HP than my Black Belt...

[Grendal]

Fighter, Thief, Monk, Red Mage

Who needs magic?! :p

[robfinalfantasy]

fighter/knight
red mage/red wizard
thief/ninja
white mage/white wizard

two with life
two with fast
two with exit
3 good fighters(unlike f,rm,wm,bm which only has two)
N,RW and WW(w/ mage staff,black robe and thor hammer) can all have elemental attack spells

and its kind of cool to see all my characters in red at the end
Finally someone gets it!!

[Frostwake]

I tried a 4 Red mage party once and got owned by Kary/Marilith at level 16... Mythril swords didnt do jack and lvl 2 spells didnt do jack either.. Plus she was hitting for 400+ damage each time (and yes I had all the best items available and upgraded characters, I didnt get the items in the mirage tower etc though.. its a bit lame)

After that I tried 2 Fighter + 2 White mage and finished the game.. I have to say its a VERY fun party.. fighters have masamune and excalibur (I dont like masamune on mages) ... In random battles, fighters attack and white mages cast holy or heal... in boss fights, white mages spam shield2/nulls (all of them) and fighters kill :)

(Origins normal mode)

[sockmonkey]

I generally go with three fighters and a red mage in the original and WSC versions.
Since you start getting the spellcasting items around the same time as the class change most of the thief's low level magic is pointless. Cost isn't as big an issue as one would think as this group's toughness makes it possible to head for the monster peninsula earlier for quick EX and GP. Also, by only getting the best armor for the lead fighter, then passing it on down to the next guy as better becomes available, you save a ton of GP. The majority of the fighting and time spent in the game is the random battles so one may as well be good at it.
This isn't to say that I don't like the WM and BM, because I do. I'm using a three BM and a WM party right now in fact. It just drives me nuts watching them poke at enemies while my fighter cuts through them like cheese whiz.

[darksword12]

Fighter, Red mage, White mage, Blacke mage.

Thief works well in place of red mage, though.

[Nugget Mage]

4 White Mages!
It's fun and unique.

Although, my standard party is:
Fighter/Black Belt/White Mage/Black Mage

Black Belts don't suck! Don't tell me killing a Warmech in 1 attack sucks.

[Martyr]

4 White Mages!
Black Belts don't suck! Don't tell me killing a Warmech in 1 attack sucks.

Were you below lv. 32?

[Nugget Mage]

I beat the game at lvl 30 with my White Mages, so yeah! I tried the temple of fiends at lvl 27, I made it to Chaos, but didn't have enough FADEs, so I left to recover.

Even below lvl 32, the Black Belt is still good. I know, it has horrible defense, and it doesn't gain anything from class change, but it deals a crapload of damage and you don't have to waste 1 single gil in it, and that's great since EVERYTHING in the game is expensive. You get a Warrior with the power of a Knight/Fighter for the price of 0, and you don't have to spend any time looking for equipment for him. And all the equipment a Red Mage/Thief/Other Fighter would use is sold, and you can buy more magic/weapons for your characters. You don't waste any time killing monsters for money, so you progress faster in the game. I don't know why people don't consider that.

And his defense is corrected by something called White Mage, which can cast FOG, AFIR, ALIT, AICE, ARUB and WALL so the dude doesn't die. You can also make him wear a ribbon to protect him from special attacks.

But I think the best thing to do is stick to the topic, I think I talked too much.
:D

[crazybayman]

Fighter, Black Belt, Thief, Red Mage

SWORDCHUCKS YO!

[sockmonkey]

If the mages used the MP system instead of that pain-in-the-butt spells-per-level one I'd have them in my ideal party.

[Bluecho]

The Fighter/?/White Mage/Black Mage formula is just about the best set up you can have. You can fill the last spot with your personal preference, but logically one would want another physical attacker to balance out the party.
I prefer to fill that last spot with a Theif or Red Mage. The Red Mage is very versitile, and the Theif is slightly more useful than the Black Belt at the beginning.
I tend not to use Black Belts because they have all their eggs in one basket: raw physical strength. All the other classes get more useful after class change, except the Black Belt.

[Mage_of_Fire]

Single thief. :P (no class change)

My personal challenge for a while now. Haven't had access to my save for a while though, so no playing for me. :(

IMO, it's the hardest possible team, dunno if it's even possible really, still on Astos (lvl. 27 or so).

[Milanion]

Fi/Th/RM/WM

[Hayabusa]

Fighter, Bl. belt, Red Mage, and Fighter.

[Gigas]

Fighter, Monk, White Mage, and Black Mage.


The only thing that makes me mad about that party is the lack of armour for Monk, WM, and BM....constant healing galore!

[LXX]

My first party(NES)was:
Fighter
Black Belt
White Mage
Black Mage

My second party(WSC)was:
Fighter
Thief(I hate thiefs)
White Mage
black Mage

[xpmsrwcmt]

My opinion on the Fighter/?/White Mage/Black Mage (assuming you want a diverse party):

Fighter/Red Mage/White Mage/Black Mage = Best early game party

Fighter/Black Belt/White Mage/Black Mage = Best mid-game party

Knight/Ninja/White Wizard/Black Wizard = Best late game party
Bonus: the only party that can use every weapon, armor, and spell in the game.

[vaanhalen]

Fi/Fi/BB/BM really is the best powerhouse party for the NES. If you have two fighters you don't need a healer cuz you never run out of hit points, your party is really cheap (one fighter gets good armor, the other gets the hand-me-downs), BB doesn't need healing cuz he's all the way in the 3 spot, and BM clears out packs of enemies with FIR3 any time you need it (ice cave) and most importantly casts FAST. By the time he FASTs everyone, the boss is dead. Battles also go much quicker with three heavy hitters, so the enemy doesn't really hit you. So, no need for a healer.

Besides, why use a character spot for something a potion can do just as effectively?

with that party, you'll easily beat the game well before your BW ever levels high enough to even cast nuke, much less need it.

[ReloadPsi]

Fi/Fi/BB/BM really is the best powerhouse party for the NES. If you have two fighters you don't need a healer cuz you never run out of hit points, your party is really cheap (one fighter gets good armor, the other gets the hand-me-downs), BB doesn't need healing cuz he's all the way in the 3 spot, and BM clears out packs of enemies with FIR3 any time you need it (ice cave) and most importantly casts FAST. By the time he FASTs everyone, the boss is dead. Battles also go much quicker with three heavy hitters, so the enemy doesn't really hit you. So, no need for a healer.

Besides, why use a character spot for something a potion can do just as effectively?

with that party, you'll easily beat the game well before your BW ever levels high enough to even cast nuke, much less need it.


with that party, you'll easily beat the game well before your BW ever levels high enough to even cast nuke, much less need it.

You may as well have taken a Red Mage instead of the Black Mage. They can learn all the field-clearing spells, they can use decent enough weapons and can even cast FAST on themselves and be useful for it. And then just in case, they can learn LIFE after the class change.

[vaanhalen]

yeah, you're completely right. I even tried subbing a ninja for the mage one time, but it was too tedious pre-class change. As for the BM party, I was probably enticed by nuke (which i never had to use, actually, cuz the game was over before he levelled enough to even use it), though, and the black mage has more magic points and learns spells at an earlier level, and with this party you can race through the game really fast, so knowing more FASTs and FIR2s at a low level is nice. Red mage attack would be a serious step up, but, honestly, with two fighters and a master, no fight lasts longer than a round or two.

[Relapse]

F, M (BB), BM, WM.

2nd slot is variable.

[fire_of_avalon]

Please do not revive dead threads. Feel free to, instead, post a new thread on the topic.