Best "Red Mage" magic list?

[Peter_20]

This topic actually contains two questions. :)

I know Red Mages aren't very great in this game, but I'm gonna give it a try anyway. :)

The first question concerns which magics each character should have.
All characters should preferably share the same magic repertoire, since I have a thing for structure. :rolleyes2

Right now I'm trying to figure out the best collection of white and black magics.
So far this is what I've got:

CURE LIFE HEAL EXIT
FIRE ICE BOLT AERO
BLNK SAFE SHEL BARR
BSRK HAST HOLY ????

Is this a good magic list, or is there anything I should add/discard?
Any advice on changes?

The second question concerns those weird question marks.

You most likely noticed the question marks in the last column.
You know about ULTM, right?
Well, since there's only one ULTM spell, I can't have all chars share that spell.
So, therefore I'd like each char to have one "private" spell in the last column.
Now I wonder, which magics should I place there?
I've got these ones so far:

ULTM
FLAR
WARP (?)
DOOM (?)

Well, whaddya think? :D

[rubah]

It really doesn't matter what spells you have, there's only a few of them that are really useful. I found it good to have the main three focus on one elemental (maria had ice, guy had fire, and frioniel had bolt) spell and then really only use white magic aside from that. Frioniel has flare that he uses, and maria and guy use holy and guy has ultima, but they're none of them really good compared to physical attacks.

Blink, safe, barrier, and shell really aren't that useful for everyone to have, and you really really should have people with change and aspil. Aspil is only like the most useful spell in the game, because it breaks you of your dependence on elixirs etc. I'd say keep safe and shell.

You only need one person to have exit, because there's really only one good use for it; exiting.

I can't say I've ever used it, but you might give someone Wall.

[Peter_20]

Thanks, rubah. :)
I didn't realize that Exit actually isn't necessary to have on all chars. XD

Yeah, magics in this game do tend to suck, especially the offensive ones (150 DMG on all enemies at LV16? LOL)

However, I do think that black magic spells like Haste and Berserk intensify your damage quite a bit; at least in the Origins version, Berserk saved my life many times there. :p

But I agree that white magics are far superior; Cure, Life, Heal and Exit are the only spells you will really need, the rest is pretty much superfluous. :p

[Martyr]

Red mage is the Best idea for magic in this game. Increasing Intelligence and Soul both promote each other by decreasing strength and Vitality. You have a character that attacks with magic (no need for strength) and the Vit is low, but it'd be low with a BM caster anyway. The only real problem is that you'll have more spells that that individual character will be wanting to cast all at the same time. Chances are, all the spells will be at high levels (with the possibility of making ULTIMA useful, according to some theories which I don't believe). You'll have to decide whether you want to Cure or Attack a great deal of the time. Perhaps you could change this by giving all your characters White Magic, in case the dire ned for it arises (That's what I do).

Now... To the main topic:
As far as I can tell, WALL, SAFE, and all the like are entirely useless. I've leveled them high, and still got nothing out of them.

White Magic: Cure, Heal, Life, Exit, Holy (If your WM doesn't have good phys attack)

Black Magic: Beserk, Flare, Fire, Ice, Bolt, Aspil.
These spells are not useless, but more like vital. Fire alone levels super high without you even trying, because there's so much Ice and Undead in the game.
(Drain and Haste are extremely optional. Mostly because Haste is acquired FAR later in the game than Beserk, and it takes too much time to both Haste and BSRK your fighters. I'd rather use full effect of lv. 10 BSRK twice than spend entire boss battles peaking my fighters with hastes and bsrk etc.)

In fact- That last slot: ASPIL, baby. Or whatever it's called. The one where you drain opponents MP and refill your own. It's the best final spell. You can cast it on Leon over and over to gain more MP than he even has.



CURE LIFE HEAL EXIT
FIRE ICE BOLT AERO
BLNK SAFE SHEL BARR
BSRK HAST HOLY ????

If I had it, Id do:

CURE HEAL LIFE FLARE
FIRE ICE BOLT BSRK
ASPL DRAN HAST EXIT
CURSE AERO AURA CHANGE

Edited because I wanted to