A brief history of Berserkers!
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"Bite me. Oh, better yet, let me bite you!" —Rikku, Final Fantasy X-2
Have you ever felt the need to lose control? Have you ever been red with fury? Perhaps you've had a desire to dress in exotic furs? The Berserkers of the Final Fantasy series know how you feel. Recognized by their fuzzy attires and unwillingness to cooperate with others, the class first made its appearance in Final Fantasy V, where a shard of the Water Crystal is broken in Walse Tower and you receive the power of a Berserker! The berserker job class is very much a give and take for your characters. While this job class does grant the wearer with physical stats much higher than those of other classes, allowing you to pack a huge punch with an automatic attack, it takes away your ability to control the character for the duration of the battle.
However, Berserkers are more than just a job class. There are characters in the Final Fantasy series where Berserking is actually a part of the characters personalities! Umaro from Final Fantasy VI is a secret character in the game, and the first example of a true Berserker. As long as you have Mog in your party, whom your big Yeti pal feels a connection with, you can acquire Umaro after getting access to the Yeti's Cave in the World of Ruin. Although the only equipment he can use is the Bone Club and Snow Scarf he comes with, you can influence the attacks he uses by the relics you customize him with. He helps the party take down Kefka, and is seen on the airship next to Gogo near the end of the credits. It's worth pointing out that Gau from Final Fantasy VI has an ability called Rage, which is berserk-like, but concentrates on enemy skills rather than purely physical attacks.
The Berserker class in other games in the series:
-In Final Fantasy VII, Vincent Valentine's Limit Breaks make him turn into uncontrollable monsters with increased stats.
-The Berserker class appears in Final Fantasy X-2 in the form of a dressphere during chapter 3, after defeating the enemies outside of the Travel Agency at Lake Macalania. The Berserker class in Final Fantasy X-2 has the highest agility stats of any class in the game.
-In Final Fantasy XII International, the Breaker license board gives you abilities similar to that of a Berserker.
-In Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, characters of the Seeq race can be Berserkers. However, unless they are using a Reaction ability, they are not Berserk passively.
-In Dissida 012 Final Fantasy, Berserker is a job card in Labyrinth mode, increasing your parties EX Gauge after each battle. The Berserk job can also double your initial bravery in Quick Battle or wireless matches.
-The Berserker class can also be seen in the Final Fantasy trading card game as well as the Final Fantasy: Airborne Brigade mobile phone game.
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You may have noticed that this article is noticably less character specific than the previous "Brief History of..." that I wrote about dragoons (Link here!). This is because there are far fewer Berserkers than there are dragoons as well as many other classes in the Final Fantasy series. Hopefully we can see more of this unique class in the future! Thank you for reading!
