Fynn
is an EoFF Hero and/or Heroine
Radical Dreamer

Fair enough, course VIII just did it really well, even FFXII's Ivalice doesn't always feel as cohesive as the environments in DQVIII did.

I figured as much. I assumed they would just use IX's system of doing things instead, but it looks like they tried to merge VIII and IX's design which may not have been the best choice.

Oh they get bigger, hell if memory serves me correct two slabs are actually one continent just cut down the middle.

I would assume they rebalanced the game to compensate for the new job class system.

Also, I found this interesting article/critique of SMTIV I felt you might enjoy.

I would be really surprised if they let you sequence break getting either of those characters since finding both of them is a big part of the story. Melvin especially was a huge part of the first disk. and Aisha joins not so long after that. Thankfully in the original, both of them started off with several skills and better stats than the other party members.

Sounds to me like the job system was changed to feel closer to DQIX's system. In the original, you kept every skills and spell you learned, which seriously does bork the game a bit at parts but the skills were also scaled, so sticking too long in the starter classes could make middle sections more difficult as their skills don't quite have the punch of the Intermediate classes. Technically all of the Advanced classes were broken as all hell with great stat boosts and special traits. None of this is helped that the game would often have significant difficulty jumps between locations as you progressed. There are monsters in the final dungeon I'm more of afraid of than the final boss, and I could only imagine what the bonus dungeons must have been like.

Pirate is a great and underrated class, and I do highly recommend it for the main character. Gabo was the character I gave Tamer too, but he usually had all of the odd job classes but they always turned out great for him. Shephard, as dumb as its costume design is for the game, is actually a fairly useful class in terms of the skills it teaches. Tamer in the original taught the powerful Elemental Breath skills and BeDragon.

I also wanted to mention that I finally fixed my alignment back to neutral, so I can continue the plot of SMT1. I also just took down Varin/Colonel Beck with the loads of plot twists afterwards and I'm currently working on dealing with all of the games optional bosses like King Frost, Metatron, and Beelezebub.

Well my story was more of a Sherlock Holmes knockoff, with the Sherlock character being some powerful Devil Summoner and the story being told from the viewpoint of his mundane human assistant who becomes more enraptured with the world of the occult as the story goes along. It's set in America as well, but specifically a Lovecraftian version of New England. You could still add your own twists to your idea to make it unique and interesting, because it's not like mine isn't borrowing heavily from Doyle, Lovecraft, and the Raido Kuzunoha titles.

It may not be as bad as you think, stat wise, your original plan may actually work out for the hero because his stat specialty among the group is defense.

Hero - Defense/Healing
Maribel - Magic/Offensive spells
Gabo - Strength/Melee skills
Melvin and Aire are both balanced, so they can go either way.

I will say that you best bet is to focus on melee skills that multi-hit like the Dragoons Quad-Hits and it may be in your best interest to have most of your party master Teen Idol (can't remember the new name) because that class teaches some amazing skills including a group heal that has no MP cost. It's really easy to break the game to be honest. I'm not sure if the Monster Classes are still present, but some of them can be useful as well. In fact the best offensive spells are exclusive to them.

My English teacher said he's so over Greenville Tech because of all of their rules like... teaching grammar.

I got approved to write my compare and contrast essay based on sympathy vs empathy as it relates to video games!!

I have to keep it under 6 pages double spaced, but still!!