The Majesty of Bards and Dancers Pt II

Dance Dance Revolution
The dancers in Final Fantasy have moves much better than that sweaty kid down at your local arcade. They do share one thing in common though; when they dance, lights flash, things beep and magic happens. The dancers of Final Fantasy started out in Cornelia, with that one dancing girl who knows an unreasonable amount of information on where your quest is taking you. The only type of dancers I can think of who would be privy to that much information are… Nevermind, let’s look at our performers!


The Warriors of Light (V)
The Warriors of Light return for our first glimpse of the dancer as a playable class in Final Fantasy. Their special ability, Dance, picks one of four random dances, each with varying effects ranging from confusing enemies to dealing four times normal physical damage. By equipping certain items, the player can raise the chance of using the Sword Dance, which damages the enemy for four times normal damage, making the dancer a powerhouse. By equipping the Dancer’s Dagger with a non-dancer character, that character’s attack move will instead change to Dance, meaning you can reduce the weaknesses of the class whilst retaining the benefits.


Mog (VI)
Mog the moogle from Final Fantasy VI is a combination of a dancer and a geomancer. His eight dances are all elemental based, and once started, Mog will dance continually until the battle is over, performing one of four different attacks dependant on the dance. Mog’s role in Final Fantasy VI is minor, being an optional character except for his one appearance early on, along with the other moogles. His love of dance is evident in his SNES introduction: “Human-loving, fast-talking, street-smart, SLAM-dancing... Moogle...”. Slam dancing sounds violent, and with good reason; with his high magic stat, he can cause some serious damage. Besides, he’s just so gosh darn adorable!

Dancer Class (XI)
Just like the bards, the dancer class took a long vacation away from the series, returning for the series’ first foray into the online world. Dancers are a capable healing class, and can eliminate the need for other MP-based healers. They have primarily healing abilities which are unique to the class, making them a valuable addition to any party. Dancers have a handful of very useful party buffs as well, increasing their versatility. They are also one of the few classes who can learn the Dual Wield at level 20, which is a useful skill across classes. The dancer Lilisette is an important character in the Wings of the Goddess expansion. Show them your funky moves!

Backup Dancers
There have been dancers throughout the series, mostly appearing as NPCs and mostly appearing in pubs. Penelo, in promotional shots for Final Fantasy XII, appeared to be a dancer, though the lack of defined classes in the game ultimately proved that false. However, Penelo later appears in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings and Tactics Advance2: Grimoire of the Rift with the unique dancer class. The dancer class also exists in the original Final Fantasy Tactics and was the counter-part to the bard, being a female only class. The dancing class also exists in Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, and Chocobo from Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon can also use the dancer class.

Encore!
So you’ve met our bards, and you’ve met our dancers. We have everything we need to put on a grand performance, really. What we don’t have is a front man, or a front woman; a lead singer to direct the show. That brings us to our final entry, a dancing, singing combo known as the Songstress.

Yuna (X-2)
While technically the Songstress dressphere is open to Rikku and Paine as well, Yuna and the Songstress dressphere are intimately linked through the plot. By using it, Yuna can tap into the thoughts, feelings and memories of Lenne, a summoner from 1000 years ago, before the war between Bevelle and Zanarkand. It is revealed that Lenne and Yuna share many things in common, including the fact that Tidus – being a dream of the Fayth – is actually based on Lenne’s boyfriend, Shuyin. Small world, huh? The Songstress dressphere combines the buffing and debuffing skills of the bard and dancing classes into one, and removes their ability to attack directly unless berserked.

The departure from noble bards and dancers into pop princesses may offend many fans of the classes, which are under appreciated at the best of times, but it goes to show that even as technology advances and the threats to Final Fantasy worlds continue, there will always be a need for people with smooth, melodic voices, banging tunes and some very funky moves.