Fighter/Fighter/Fighter/Red Mage = the best party?

[Peter_20]

Really, isn't this the best party?
You've got three powerhouses in the front, and in the back there's this jack-of-all-trades guy who can throw most good spells in the game AND attack.
You basically got four fighters, a white mage and a black mage.
Besides, the attack power will get rid of most enemies in the game, and once you've got the best swords in the game, you WILL be unstoppable!

[Brennan]

No not really, but i did it before, it sucked.

[Black Mage FF1]

No not really, but i did it before, it sucked.

lol

[Meat Puppet]

I’ve tried it before, and I got stuck in that cave with those bats and zombies and junk like that.

Though that is where I usually get stuck.

[Martyr]

You're better off trading one of the fighters for a Thief since he can run good, can carry the same armor, use the Katana, and can, most importantly, give you extra FASTs.

I mean, the bottom line is that you got, what? Xcalibur, Sun Sword, Defense... Then what. The awesome swords are used up, and even the Sun sword is a little sappy. Once you have 3 Fighters, one carrying the Sun sword and leaving the RM for a crappy weapon, it becomes redundant.

[Nerevarine]

i found this party very boring

Also you could heal or run well and you run out of good equipment as Martyr said

[Sefie1999AD]

That party should make the game very easy, but it's not exactly the most interesting or varied party there is, and I think that Red Mage being the only mage in the party will hurt your magic casting abilities a lot. You won't be able to cast many spells, and you may especially have difficulties with large groups of enemies and undead monsters.

[feioncastor]

I'd use a white mage instead of a Red. Can Red Mages/Wizards use "Exit"? I know they can't use Harm (Dia), and I don't think they can use Heal or Life. Honestly, Harm (Dia) has saved my life, many times. When leaving the Earth Cave after fighting the Vampire or something, and you run into 8 geists. Those things love to stun you with every attack, so if you have your WM use HARM or HRM2, and if you have BM, have him use FIR2, and they're toast, assuming your mages don't get stunned.

My party is almost always Fighter, Black Belt, White Mage, Black Mage. I've used other combinations for kicks, but I love that set up and it's the one I've been using since I first played the game, back in 1992ish.

[Martyr]

RedWiz can cast lv. 5 Life and Exit, if I'm not mistaken.

I don't think it ever learns Cure4.

But it does suffice for white magic well enough if you have 3 other Cure casting Knights who rarely need to be cured in the first place.

I wouldn't underestimate the red magic.

[feioncastor]

Yeah, I guess I never have given a Red Mage a fair trial. I'll start a game with one, get to the Marsh Cave/Astos part of the game, then quit

[Martyr]

Yeah, I guess I never have given a Red Mage a fair trial. I'll start a game with one, get to the Marsh Cave/Astos part of the game, then quit

Bff. That's not necessary. You use a RM if it adapts to the needs of your party, that's it.

3 Knights don't need a WM because they aren't going to die or need healing as often, and they won't need the back up black magic much either. (The game greatly favors physical attack. I mean, the best black bagic Spell, aside from NUKE, is probably FAST, which is an attack buffer)

If you have, say, a F/T/?/BM then a RM might be a great replacement for a WM because it fights better than the thief in the beginning, and as good as the BM, and it heals. Later on, The Ninja and Knight won't need much healing (Ninja+Knight combo owns this game), and the RW will be able to fulfill those basic needs that the WW provides with simply a Life or a Cure3 or an Exit here and there. (BW always has WARP).

[feioncastor]

I've found that Black Magic will save you in certain fights, like using LIT2 on the Wizards guarding Astos' Crown, and of course, FAST on your Fighter and Black Belt.

Can the Red Mage/Wizard use AFIR, AICE and so forth?

[Black Mage FF1]

I've found that Black Magic will save you in certain fights, like using LIT2 on the Wizards guarding Astos' Crown, and of course, FAST on your Fighter and Black Belt.

Can the Red Mage/Wizard use AFIR, AICE and so forth?


Yes, he can use those spells, but I never do. They are useless IMO.

Oh and all the fire spells >>>>>> all the harm spells. At least with the fire spells you can hurt undead and alive enemies.

[feioncastor]

Yes, but Fire1 can only hit one enemy, whereas HARM will hit all enemies, and it's a level 1 spell.

I don't think the AFIR and all them are useless. There's one that protects against all magic. Because of FF1's unusual damage formula, I can't say for sure, but it seems that AFIR actually lessens the damage done by Warmech's Nuclear.

I always use AFIR when I fight Kary, and so on. They really do make a difference. Typically, there's nothing else I can have my White Wizard do anyway. I may as well use AFIR. I'll sometimes have her (looks like a girl to me) use an item like Heal Helmet or Mage Staff.

[Black Mage FF1]

Yes, but Fire1 can only hit one enemy, whereas HARM will hit all enemies, and it's a level 1 spell.

Fire 1 is still better. I don't care if it only hits one enemy. In the beginning of the game thats pretty much all you need.



Typically, there's nothing else I can have my White Wizard do anyway. I may as well use AFIR. I'll sometimes have her (looks like a girl to me) use an item like Heal Helmet or Mage Staff.


Which is why the White Mage is the most useless class in this game. You said you never really used a red mage all the way? I suggest you do so. Because unlike the white mage, when spells are not needed, he can actually contribute to the battle with offensive spells (that can hurt all enemies) or physical attacks.

[The black mage]

Red mages are useless nearer the end. Think about it, can a red wizard cast LIF2? No! Can a red wizard cast CUR4? No! Red mages may be good in the beginning but not the end.
Its hard for a red mage to heal a downed fighter

[Captain Maxx Power]

For reasons of sheer sanity, you should never have more than two of a single class type in any reasonably balanced party, unless you are on some kind of a challenge.

[Black Mage FF1]

Red mages are useless nearer the end. Think about it, can a red wizard cast LIF2? No! Can a red wizard cast CUR4? No! Red mages may be good in the beginning but not the end.
Its hard for a red mage to heal a downed fighter


Well considering that they give you so much great weapons and armor at the end of the game, you really shouldnt be dying that much. I mean really, the only boss in the Tofr that actually causes a lot of damage is Lich with Nuke. And Chaos, but a fasted Knight with the masamune = dead in no time.

[The black mage]

Red mages are useless nearer the end. Think about it, can a red wizard cast LIF2? No! Can a red wizard cast CUR4? No! Red mages may be good in the beginning but not the end.
Its hard for a red mage to heal a downed fighter


Well considering that they give you so much great weapons and armor at the end of the game, you really shouldnt be dying that much. I mean really, the only boss in the Tofr that actually causes a lot of damage is Lich with Nuke. And Chaos, but a fasted Knight with the masamune = dead in no time.

Lots of mosters can get lucky hits. especially Chaos. And the red mage can't heal that well

[Martyr]

Lots of mosters can get lucky hits. especially Chaos

Even a White Wizard at lv 50 can't cast LIFE2 to revive a comrade slain by Chaos. All deaths in that fight are permanent because Chaos is an unstoppable badass who used to be a knight with 106 HP.

All I know is that I played a party once: F/RW/WW/BW

At lv. 27, I endeavored to slay the abomination that was once Garland and break the Time Loop forever. And after a barrage of spells from both sides, the slinging and slashing of Xcalibur, the gigantic crushing paw of Chaos and the quaking ot the ancient temple of Fiends, my RW, barely able to stand amidst the corpses of his comrades took one last defiant step forward to Chaos (merely 13 HP from death), and the Masmune proved it's worth.

The RW didn't just kill Chaos. He chopped him into so many miniscule pieces that the monster was literally dissolved.

Now tell me, which of the 4 lived? RW. Which of the four has that ultimately badass Dissolve Attack Style? RW. Which of the four is the best? RW.

No more questions.

[tffl85]

That's my current team, I must say it's very easy. I've only had one or two random encounters in the entire game (and I'm approaching the end) that I haven't been able to handle.

It beats Warrior / Monk / White Mage / Black Mage (PS names) anyway. Perhaps some of you guys can shed some light on this, does Monk have ANY redeeming features at all? I got 7 hours into the game and simply restarted from scratch because Monk was so diabolically useless and I couldn't afford to have such a terrible team. With the Warrior / Warrior / Warrior / Red Mage line-up I got back to the same point in less than 2 hours.

[Sefie1999AD]

The Monk / Black Belt does more damage if you make him bare-handed, but when I played with a team of Fi/Bb/Wm/Bm, I think the damage the Black Belt did was still very low, at least on WSC. My guess would be that he's the ultimate physical attacker only in the NES version.

[ValiantKnight]

PS1 version, which is a port of the WSC i believe, has him dealing lots of damage.

If memory serves, around 80-150 around level 11, 300-600 around level 21, and 900-1500? around level 31?
But memory could be wrong.

Black belt suffers from low level games, but shines in high levels.
His multiple hits give him chances for multiple criticals, which eats through some of the more high defense monsters. His armor is very weak until extremely high levels however, and he is thus referred to as a "Mage with a cannon on his arm"

Black Belt is ok... horrible on Dawn of Souls, and not sure why you aren't seeing wonderful damage from him, he certainly outdamages a Red Mage in all my parties that have him and the RM together past level 11.

Back on topic... I have a save or two with the aformentioned party, and yes, it is a good party, but the lack of magic sort of hinders it a little, and it seems boring at times, where having more variety adds fun.
I would never really want more than 2 fighters myself after using 3 + RM. Also the RM/RW runs out of healing quite fast without frequent heal staff/helm usage, and without the additional healing of the Knights, it gets a little scarce on healing. Things hit hard even on Knight armor, and RM doesn't have.

It also depends if you play FF1 more running away from battles and skirting through the dungeon to hit the final boss, or fully exploring each dungeon, fighting every battle, and completely clearing it?

The former takes much less healing, while the latter... well.
you get the idea.

Erm just my opinion though, and by the clock it seems I'm going to be late for class at college. /wave.

[Nerevarine]

For reasons of sheer sanity, you should never have more than two of a single class type in any reasonably balanced party, unless you are on some kind of a challenge.

completly agreed rarely do i have more than one of each class. it make the game boring with out four different classes

[Mr. Graves]

For reasons of sheer sanity, you should never have more than two of a single class type in any reasonably balanced party, unless you are on some kind of a challenge.

Fighter/Fighter/Wh. Mage/Bl. Mage? It seems varied enough.

It's not bad, but it would be boring in the beginning. I've found the use of magic to be the reason battle is so exciting, just by the sheer variety of spells. Also, the limited slots for each spell level adds some nice strategy even if only a little. To be fair, though, you could easily beat the game if you just level enough.

[Sefie1999AD]

For reasons of sheer sanity, you should never have more than two of a single class type in any reasonably balanced party, unless you are on some kind of a challenge.

Fighter/Fighter/Wh. Mage/Bl. Mage? It seems varied enough.

It's not bad, but it would be boring in the beginning. I've found the use of magic to be the reason battle is so exciting, just by the sheer variety of spells. Also, the limited slots for each spell level adds some nice strategy even if only a little. To be fair, though, you could easily beat the game if you just level enough.

I agree, a team of Fi/Fi/Wm/Bm isn't that boring. It's actually a very good and a well balanced party. A problem with the teams that have 2-4 of the same party member is often that they're quite unbalanced, but I don't think Fi/Fi/Wm/Bm has that problem. Another pretty interesting team is Rm/Rm/Wm/Bm, or at least that's what I've heard. I've never actually tried out that party myself, but you'll get a lot of magic that way, and since Red Mages can cast both white and black magic, I don't think you'll make them identical clones of each other, giving them some variety.

[Martyr]

Another pretty interesting team is Rm/Rm/Wm/Bm, or at least that's what I've heard. I've never actually tried out that party myself, but you'll get a lot of magic that way, and since Red Mages can cast both white and black magic, I don't think you'll make them identical clones of each other, giving them some variety.

RM/WM/BM/BM. The second BM more than makes up for a second RM in the beginning, and it's better to cast more high spells later on then it is to have a second eroding RW.

The only problem is that white magic occasionally can be hard to come by. But once you get the heal staff and helms and ribbons and such, even the 2 black mages can hold their own for a while, And it's a heck of a lot of fun to blast your enemies to bits with three black magic casters.

[Paul]

i played through the NES version once as Fighter/Monk/White Mage/Black Mage.

Monk seemed fine to me, a bit weak defensively but more likely to kill an enemy in one hit than fighter (except during the beginning). towards the end it was monk who took the biggest chunks out of the bosses for me.

then i played Dawn of Souls and had the same party except swapped Monk for Thief. i wanted to try out Ninja, and also thought thief's running away skill would be handy. except in the GBA version THF running is average if not worse (i think black mage has better running than THF in this version) but he is a much better fighter, not missing as often and having stronger hits. also ninja black magic is useful at the end.

but i have never used a red mage, both playthroughs i kept BM and WM. my impression of red mage is that, although he may help boredom during battles where you don't want to waste spells, he can't get the best of anything and he always feels like an unfinished product. in FFIII i used red mage for a fair amount because i could always switch to W or B for the power spells.

didn't intend to write that much thx bye