Job evaluations

Just looking for a variance of opinions initially; I'm just past the Tower of Owen, so I only have the first set of jobs open.

More specifically, from what I've read online, the Knight job looks incredibly useless--it's basically a Warrior with more emphasis on defense, and only the Viking has the Provoke ability. With no hate system in the game, there doesn't seem to be any way to make mobs hit the Knight instead of whoever the hell they want, which eliminates the Knight's usefulness as a tank. How do you get mileage out of the job?

Is Samurai any good?

Do the jobs have any specific weapon proficiencies? I'm used to FFXI, so I'm accustomed to Warriors dual wielding axes because of a high axe proficiency--in FFIII, shouldn't I just equip the warrior with the highest damage weapons I can find, or is there any advantage to sticking with axes?

with the knight, for the little time that i have him (before the next class upgrade) i now just equip him with 2 shields, front row, and defend every turn. And when other party members go into the yellow, he covers thier damage until he dies. So he is good for a good 8-10 hits on normal monsters, before i ever have to use a cure! But thats just my view, i think Jackal had a similar way too.

Samurai? Dont know, i think they took them out of this one.

No, there are no proficiencies in this, although certain classes can only weild certain weapons and armor.. IE warriors cannot equip rods or robes

as I said with a Knight, which is the class that can equip ragnarok/excalibur, which you will want, I typically put two shields on him. If I know monsters only attack physically in an area, I leave my other 3 characters always in yellow. He defends everyturn in the BACKROW. He covers the other three and takes no more than like, 10 damage. Basically making your party invincible against any physical attacks, though magic would kill everyone.

Knight is one of the best classes in the game

idk what this "samurai" is, there is no samurai in this game.

Equip the best weapons at the time, though be aware some weapons have elements which even though are weaker ATP wise, will do more damage against certain enemies. And with my thief, sometimes I leave two long range weapons on him so he can stay in the back row, even if they aren't his strongest weapons. Mages, just use the magic casting rods every turn.

My final party will probably be, Knight, Ninja, Devout, Summoner. Black magic pales in comparison to summons at the end, and Devout is the best healer without a doubt. Knight and Ninja can equip the 4 best weapons in the game, plus Ninja can throw shurikens for massive damage.

THE JACKEL

They left samurai out? Drat, I loved them in FFV :<

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Originally Posted by Citizen Bleys

They left samurai out? Drat, I loved them in FFV :<

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well considering this game first, it's really like the samurai was a new addition to FFV, and a really good one. Gil Toss was amazing. But no, there is no Samurai in this game.

Freelancer
Warrior
Knight
Dragoon
Dark Knight
Viking
Thief
Ninja
Monk
Ranger
Scholar
Devout
White Mage
Sage
Geomancer
Bard
Evoker
Summoner
Magus
Black Mage
Red Mage
Onion Knight
Black Belt

There is no particular order as to how I listed these classes, just put them all as I thought of them.

THE JACKEL

Actually, knights grow to be stronger than warriors in the end. I have one in my party, replacing a warrior.

Samurai isn't in the DS version.

No.

Jackal, why no dragoon?

Because Knight and Ninja are the best two attackers for the final boss, and I also want two magic users, being a Devout and a Summoner. I've never been a huge fan of dragoons, and hate the Kain fanboys from FFIV who think he's the best character ever.

THE JACKEL

OMFG! KAIN IS TEH 1337SAUCE!!!!!

Still, dragoons have a pretty sweet outfit, and dual spears are pretty fun ^^

plus, kinda wimpy, leavin battle for a while :(

The Knight will cover allies in critical health status. So, if you're fighting enemies that rely solely on physical attacks, you can give him dual-shields and use Defend to absorb any and all damage for your teammates if you keep them at critical health.

In addition, only the Knight can equip Excalibur, though you won't get that until the final dungeon.

Just experiment with what jobs you like best. All the jobs in this version are reasonably well-balanced, so any party with a dedicated healer should succeed.

Warning: Long Post

Where you are now, you have the Warrior, Thief, Monk, Black Mage, White Mage, and Red Mage. I suggest one or two Warriors, a Monk, a White Mage, and maybe a Red Mage. Black Magic isn't all that effective in that stage of the game. Be warned, in Hein's Castle, black magic is almost essential to beating the boss.

Right after the Tower of Owen, you're very close to getting your second compliment of classes. Use the Geomancers. They are incredibly good. Even if you only use them to attack, they're really good. They're mostly treated as a mage class, but they're a very effective fighting class. the Terrain skill has the issue that its random, but it can be effective in certain circumstances.

(SPOILER)Near the end of the game there are actually three classes that can equip the best weapons in the game. It rather disappoints me that there isn't a second powerful long range weapon. But I digress...

The Knight can equip Excalibur and Ragnarok. Until this point I have found little use for a knight. I'd be just as well off with a caster or another melee class. About the knight becoming better than the Warrior, I don't know, but it can certainly equip better weapon in late-game. The warrior does much more damage than the knight mid-game. Especially with his Advance ability.
The Ninja can equip Masamune and Moonring Blade, as well as any other Dark Blades, including the Kiku, which has a higher attack than the Moonring Blade The Dark Knight can also equip Masamune and Kiku. He cannot equip the Moonring Blade, and can't throw Shurikens, but he can deal with groups very well using his special ability.

As for casters, I used a Devout and a Sage at the end game. I pretty much knew the sage would go last due to his low speed, so I planned accordingly. I never used Summons, mostly because I could only effectively use them so late in the game that I was needing two healers at that point anyway. Or at least, I felt far more secure with two healers. Two casts of Haste is very effective in the first round. You could probably get away with only using one healer and relying on elixers, which by that time you could reasonably use anyway.
A group of three Ninjas would be interesting... three shurikens per turn... vicious.

Realistically, the easiest party to beat the final boss with is probably Devout Sage Ninja and Knight. You get the uber weapons of doom with the Ninja and Knight, you get the Shurikens, and the Sage and Devout can either haste or heal every turn, thereby allowing you to continue fighting a long fight.

Next query

I've just unlocked the Bard class -- is there any way to control what effects he gives? I've been playing around and I seem to get Minne first no matter what, and if I try to sing overtop of Minne, I get nothing.

I believe the effect of Sing changes depending on what Harp the Bard has equipped. Equip different harps for different status effects.

Aha, so I'm much too early in the game to get much use out of a bard...I just got the class unlocked, so I'm probably better off changing Arc back to blm.

Yes, but later on, the Bard can become the ultimate support character with multi-targetting buffs and recovery songs. But earlier on they won't be as useful.

Eh, Im stickin with a Bard anyway for a Viking, Bard, Dark Knight and Dragoon team.

Im at Amur, havent even touched Goldors manor, but i got teh 1337 shoes!

Im soo screwed at this point >< But brute health and force will win! *grinds 40 levels*

No healers? Isn't that called suicide?

Nah, I've got stubborness to back it up!

The bard will heal...once i get past Goldor....I hope....><

Worst comes to worst, Ill still be in pretty good shape the rest of the game :P

With my Viking and dragoon, combined they take down a guy, dark knight takes out the whole field with souleater, i have bloodsword equipped on him too! And my bard keeps em protected.

So it could be alot worse.

alot worse.

Spoken like a true Dwarf! Healers are for sissies who can't hold their Ale!

but, er... hyeah... Just don't try to use magic against Goldor. It'll do you no good. Aside from that, the bloodswords should keep you alive.

Buggersmurferations. No magic. I guess I have to train my blm as either brd or melee. I'm at the same spot (training to lv 25 first though) and my party layout is dark knight, white mage, knight, black mage. (Changed Arc back to blm after trying brd)

Just to let you know bleys, this is my 2nd time going through (so no heal\er for a change, meh) and after you beat goldor, you have access to an island that has pretty good bard stuff, so you might be switchin arc back if you want the bard action.

O...crap, I am out of smurfin magic keys. *Sigh* Luneth is going to have a crappy time in battle for a while :(

Yep, found that stuff. Just got the Nautilus...Now...what the devil do I have to do to make Evoker useful? He can't use any of my black magic, I can't find a shop that sells summons, and I'm level 28, so no way I could win any ffxi-style avatar battles....seriously, if you have to be 40+ to make use of the Evoker class, why is it unlocked so early in the game?

uhm there's a town on the big continent, with the kingdom, at the northern edge, that sells some low level summons... Just follow it along the northern coast, chocobo, ifrit, shive, titan and one other. Basically, they sell all 5, because the other 3 are Odin, Leviathan and Odin.

THE JACKEL

I wish they sold summons :(

But intresting question, I also switched to an Evoker class (but quickly switched to DK) after i found out that no summons were available.

One wacky expectation may be that they learn them ???

EDIT:Darn you jackal! you made my post null :(

Um...they do sell summons, as ljkkjlcm9 pointed out. You have to buy them at Replito, a town northwest of Salonia (which you should probably avoid until later after you've explored the world and seen all the different shops for different classes.

Thankfully, the Bard and Geomancer town Duster is on an island located practically at the center of the world map.

I don't know about anyone else, but I always got through FF's my own way. I have stuck w/Red mage, Black Mage, White mage & a Warrior so far and all are at around lvl 32's right now. I'm sure I'll have to switch jobs up for efficient tasking but I have just been grinding more than I should and been dealing w/"more difficult" parts/bosses/enemies pretty much w/ease.

I've put in about 21 hours into the game so far. I don't know. I don't know much as some of you about the intricacy of Job proficiency but I'm doing my own thing, which seems to be doing alright for me so far. Good game. Expected story and gameplay for a 16 y/o title.

If you take the time to level up Geomancer it can be pretty great. The only thing mine does that doesn't do better than any attacks my melees do is Whirlpool, and even that one hit kills sometimes. It has a problem of low defense, but just put it in the back row. Terrain isn't affected by row. As you increase job level you get a better chance of getting advanced attacks with Terrain. Shadow Flare rocks. Once time I was facing a hard boss and I got Shadow Flare with Terrain which killed it.

Right now I have just gotten the submarine. I use Knight or Dragoon depending on who has better equipment for the time being, and then Geomancer, White Mage, Black Mage. I'll upgrade the mages to Devout and Summoner when I get them. I'll also try out Ninja. I also use Dark Knight sometimes because Souleater is pretty useful at times.

No one spoke of the useless class of a ranger yet? >_>.

Also, with monks, I don't like their retaliate. if the enemy only does physical attacks, I have a 25% chance of getting hit.

In what way are Rangers useless? They went out of their way to make sure that all classes are balanced out; no class is useless.

Rangers in particular are very good at dealing great damage earlier on with Rapidfire, and their elemental arrows really help against the water-based enemies you fight right when you get them. I don't see how they're useless.

Their rapidfire is nice, but it would be better to choose which ones to shoot at. Plus, it takes a lot of arrows.

I didn't find them to be too strong, even with the right arrows, my regular fighters were better.

I was going to switch to them, but found out that the strongest bow I have is 70 strength. And the arrows can be anywhere from 20-30. So thats like 100 right? any one of the other weapons I have equipped right now has more strength than that. Plus, dual weilding makes it double.

That's all well and good, but just because a class or character is more powerful than another doesn't make it useless.

Well, useless is a strong word >_>.

But to make up for it, I guess that a ranger in the back row is better than a knight up front with one weapon and shield.

I had a White Mage and Black Mage each at Job Level 99, and I have had cases where they would do more damage (with physical attacks and not magic) than the Red Mages at lower Job Levels. So I suppose any class can be very useful if you raise the Job Levels.

You could, of course, raise all the classes to Job Level 99, but it would take a whole lot of time--even with the Job Level Trick (i.e. have everyone defend for 5-6 turns and just fight the Goblins around Ur).

Anyone tried a party of four Vikings yet? ;) :D

*hums "I am a Viking" by Yngwie Malmsteen*

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Originally Posted by FF_Dude

I had a White Mage and Black Mage each at Job Level 99, and I have had cases where they would do more damage (with physical attacks and not magic) than the Red Mages at lower Job Levels. So I suppose any class can be very useful if you raise the Job Levels.

You could, of course, raise all the classes to Job Level 99, but it would take a whole lot of time--even with the Job Level Trick (i.e. have everyone defend for 5-6 turns and just fight the Goblins around Ur).

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I think Job lvls increase your accuracy and such.

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Originally Posted by Fusionedd

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Originally Posted by FF_Dude

I had a White Mage and Black Mage each at Job Level 99, and I have had cases where they would do more damage (with physical attacks and not magic) than the Red Mages at lower Job Levels. So I suppose any class can be very useful if you raise the Job Levels.

You could, of course, raise all the classes to Job Level 99, but it would take a whole lot of time--even with the Job Level Trick (i.e. have everyone defend for 5-6 turns and just fight the Goblins around Ur).

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I think Job lvls increase your accuracy and such.

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what your job level does, varies depending on what job it is. As you can see, certain jobs get stat bonuses if you like at character status. The higher the job level, the higher the stat bonus.

THE JACKEL

I use my FF1-5 party of Warrior, WM, BM, RM. Red Mage being Heal/Buff. It works pretty well. At lava cave.

So, a theif would have higher agility and a Knight would have a higher strength and vitality.

I generally level up everyone as a BB untill they master the bare-handed fighting ability. Then I use that skill to level up my WM,BM, or any of the other classes that only get weak weapons.

I know most people are you going to say this is a crappy group of jobs but I have. One Black Mage, one White Mage, one Warrior, and one Monk. Im only like two hours into the game. So these are the only jobs I have avaliable to me right now.

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Originally Posted by BlueChaos

I know most people are you going to say this is a crappy group of jobs but I have. One Black Mage, one White Mage, one Warrior, and one Monk. Im only like two hours into the game. So these are the only jobs I have avaliable to me right now.

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That's a pretty standard group actually. I found the thief to be one of the best offensive physical attackers. Their agility gets so high and they get so many hits from it, it's crazy.

The Dragoon seems to be a real powerhouse. I have him at level 50 job 99 and he is doing 9999 damage via attack or jump in the Anchients Maze.

I basically have Ninja attack, Dragoon jump, Magus use drain, Devout use protect... and I breezed through Eureka.

Not only does the Knight have CAPE they are adequete good fighters and can use Excalibur. For the final I had Knight, 2 ninjas, and a sage

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Originally Posted by Citizen Bleys

...from what I've read online, the Knight job looks incredibly useless--it's basically a Warrior with more emphasis on defense...

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You're kidding, right? The Knight can cover other characters, defend better, has overall better stats (I'm pretty sure), and cast Level 1 White Magic. I am rarely without one of these guys in my party. Later, of course, it's probably a good idea to switch jobs and/or experiment.

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Originally Posted by sockmonkey

I generally level up everyone as a BB untill they master the bare-handed fighting ability. Then I use that skill to level up my WM,BM, or any of the other classes that only get weak weapons.

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FF3 has no system for retaining class abilities. You're probably thinking of FF5. Plus, there are no skills like "Bare-handed" in FF3. Just throwing this out there. The FF3 Job system is markedly different from the one in FF5.

P.S.: If I have hurt anyone's feelings with this post, you may rest assured that this was not my intention.

I guess the first thing I would say about job evaluations is that, although they did a great job in doing so and really improved alot of jobs, at the end of the game there are just classes that are really good and ones that aren't useful.

First, some of the jobs you talked about:
Warrior - actually a very solid choice anyway you slice it. One thing I did that was interesting my last playthrough was to give him a bow and arrow and put him in the back, early in the game. With a decent bow and arrows, he can deliver a good amount of damage, plus the armor and stamina makes him highly resistent to physical damage. Alot like Barret in VII.

Viking - another good choice, even higher defense than a warrior, and still gets some solid weapons end game, though it doesn't compare to the later ones i'll get into.

Dark Knight - probably one of the best jobs in the game, because of the fact that it can dual wield Ragnarok and Masamune. I don't think I need to go beyond that.

Knight - possibly the best fighting class in the game because it can equip crystal armor, and Excalibur and Ragnarok.

Dragoon - it seems a few people have overlooked this compared to the ninja or knight. You can get 2 sets of Crystal armor endgame, so the dragoon is already ahead of many classes. But with the Holy and Dragon lances, this job really rivals the Knight.

Bard - this is where we get to what i was talking about earlier. Seeing how bards usually get trashed on in FF, I wanted to see how I could make use of one in III, and they are very useful for a good part of the game. Madhura Harp allows you to cast protect on all characters, although the white mage can only cast one at a time. Loki Harp casts haste on all, as the white mage can only cast 1 at a time here too. Dream Harp restores an ok amount of HP to everyone, but you have to level up the job to get it decent. Also, none of this uses MP, so in a lot of ways, the bard is better thant he white mage.

And then there's the Lamia Harp. I don't know how many people know this, but I think this harp's song deals 9999 damage against all enemies in the Final Battle usually it deals miniscule damage, decent to undead, but when I played the final boss the first time around (don't want to spoil this) it dealed 9999 to all enemies.

The only problem is the Bard doesn't have what it takes to push you through the endgame. Even at high levels, dream harp isn't reliable as a healing source. The songs are ok, but you're really better off having a devout, who can cast a wider number of spells and full heal and full life at will. The bard has to use phoenix downs to revive, and this won't cut it in the endgame.

The Geomancer has the same fate. Don't get me wrong, this job will get you through most of the game - the spells are usually just as, if not more powerful than a Black Mage's, and even though it's random, there's only at most 3 enemies at a time, so it almost always works in your favor. The fact that it doesn't consume MP makes this job alot better than the Black Mage. But in the final battle, you really want to be able to control who is targeted with the magic, so the magus/sage/summoner all block this class out.

the jobs of ninja/knight/dark knight/sage/summoner/devout/magus/and dragoon are all superior to the rest of the job system in their sheer usefulness. I think they really did a great job in balancing the jobs out, but they just didn't quite get there. maybe with the moogle sidequests, but i have yet to do those.

One class that I will say has been greatly improved is the Scholar. Despite using magic, once you get the scholar robe and hat, this really is a melee character. The damage it can put out from books is stunning, especially as you gain job levels. I think in a side dungeon you can get a book which does a lot of damage. Plus this job can double the use of items, so high potions and spell items become that much more effective. Add in sight and you have an all around great job. I don't know about endgame though.

Just some of my thoughts, I know there's alot more to get into.

So far from playing. The only class that seems useless is the Freelancer~

My Current party consists of an Evoker (I suppose the first Mage classes CAN be considered useless :S IF I ever find this last spliffing crystal ever >_<), Dark Knight, Dragoon (Already getting 9999 jumps on flyers at JL24) and the Token Whitemage Refia (Devout Kitty :3).


edit: My Endgame will Consist of a Bard and a Dragoon so far. apparently the bards damage gets real real real high in the final job levels. but suck really early on only being a wonderful support class as to a DD.

Im going to back Bolivar are on the usefullness of the scholer. I mastered one (very early too... they level pretty quick) With the book upgrades he could hit for just a little under my knight... and when his elemental books attack enemies with a weakness to them he surpasses my knight. Double the effect of Spells cast by items gives him stronger magic than my black mage. Clearly under-rated seeing as its been mentioned in this thread just once

The reason it levels so quick is because it is the only Job that gets 20/99 points apart from Freelancer.

The Onion Knight would suck to raise :| (It's like... lower than 10... or something)

I'm new here, but I have a few things to add and ask. (Warning, long post!)

Bards
First off, Bards are incredibly useful. They can top off the entire party's health, cast 3 different buffs and Requieum (I believe) does the inverse of the ammount of damage the monster did the last turn. Meaning on the first turn a Bard can hit any monster for it's max hit. On the world of darkness bosses and the final boss Requieum will do 9999 damage on the opening round. Also if the monster does very little damage one round (like if your Viking Provokes and takes 0dmg) Requieum will do the same dmg as on the opening turn. On lower level trash their regular Attack (with the right harp equiped) can stiffle, confuse or sleep. This is just an all-around awesome support class.

Tanks: Knights vs Vikings
In my personal experience, these are the two most usefull "Tank classes". Vikings for their provoke, and Knights for their well-roundedness and their "Life Saving" ability.
Vikings: With 2 Crystal Sheilds and Protect on, the End boss will critical (with physical attacks) for 0-1 dmg on a Viking in the front row. And at higher job levels, Vikings can Provoke to get the Boss' attention making healing almost unnecessary (assuming you don't miss). Plus they do pretty good damage and most of their hammers do lightning damage. But remember, when you Provoke, your Viking can't do anything else, so while your team isnt' taking as much damage only 3 people are doing damage. In short Vikings can limit or totally eliminate damage done to other group members by using Provoke (its effectivness is directly related to your Job Level).

Knights: Do MASSIVE damage with the right weapons and a high Job level. My 99 Knight would consistantly do max damage and could do more damage than my Black Belt (assuming the BB didn't take a turn to charge). Also if you don't have a Bard to sing Minne, one of the Knight weapons (forget the name) can cast Protect on a group member without using any MP. Knights have very high defense which is greatly increased with Defend and can cast Cure and Posiona. Their Tanking ability soley relies on their ability to "Rescue" other group members that would normally die from an attack. That saves your healer from having to cast Arise a lot! Basically, Knights have high defense, great damage, and moderate ulility, but you have very little control over their ability to reduce the damage done to the rest of your team.

IMO this is how it breaks down. Vikings are better if you need some one to actively Tank. Provoke allows you to make sure that the monster focuses on your Viking and not the squishies in your party. On the other hand, they do not do as much damage as other classes and cannot do anything else if they are Provoking. Knights on the other hand are much more versitile. They have well rounded stats, high defense, can heal, buff, do damage and can block damage to any teamate in the yellow. You can't control a Knight's ability to "Rescue" a teamate, but they do lots of other usefull stuff and their "Rescue" ability does not take up a turn.

Depending on your style of play, both classes are very, very usefull in the end game.

Sorry about how long this post got, but I got carried away. Anyways, I do have one question. Why does everyone love Ninja's so much? Seems to me like their vitality is really low and they take alot of damage. I know you can stand in the back row and shuriken for 9999, but my Black Belt could do 9999 damage and didn't take as much damage standing in the front as my Ninja does standing in the back. Can some one explain why everyone <3s Ninjas more than BBs?

I don't like or use either BB or NinNinNin~