So what are some of the ways you implement "jobs" in FF games where they don't exist?

[robfinalfantasy]

I'm talking about Final Fantasy 2, 7, 8, 12 where everyone is a general character that can pretty much learn every spell/skill there is (in other words Super Mages). I find some are hard to simulate while others are easy (BW, WW). Here's what I do.

FF2:
Black mage - all black magic/daggers
White mage - all white magic/staves
Knight - swords/heavy armor
Thieft - daggers/almost every piece of armor is heavy so no choice there

FF7:
Black mage - all attack materia/back row
White mage - all curative materia/back row
Monk - counter materia (Tifa really suites this one)
Thief - steal materia
Ninja - throw materia
Knight - cover materia
Summoner - all summon materia/back row
Blue mage - enemy skill materia/sense materia

FF8:
Thief - mug/initiative
Knight - cover/mad rush
Dark Knight - darkside/absorb
Summoner - only person with gf command
Black mage - only draw attack magic
White mage - only draw curative magic
Red mage - only draw basic attack/curative magic, no -agas or other high-level spells
Monk - counter
Time mage/Oracle/whatever - only draw effect magic/lvl up/lvl down
Chemist - med lv up/auto-potion/treatment/revive/recover/move-find

FF12
Knight - swords/heavy armor
Thief - steal/daggers/light armor
White mage - white magic/staves/mystic armor
Black mage - black magic/rods/daggers/mystic armor
Red mage - white black magic (only up til lvl 3)/swords/mystic armor
Dark Knight - swords/heavy armor/souleater
Ranger - gun/light armor
Archer - bows/light armor
Dragoon (wannabe) - lances/heavy armor (but no jump command)
Summoner - rods/mystic armor/summons exclusive to that character
Paladin - swords/heavy armor and white magic until lvl 3

[LunarWeaver]

I hate to admit this, but for the games where specific jobs don't exist I usually don't implement them for very long myself. I always start playing thinking, "Okay, this time, I'll force myself to make so-and-so this and that," but within a handful of hours I've got everything slapped on them imaginable. My willpower is not up to snuff for this sort of thing.

[DarkLadyNyara]

Yeah, pretty much what Lunar said. I mean, I specialize a bit, (especially in II) but there are no really recognisable classes.

[ljkkjlcm9]

Uhm, if there is no requirement to "specialize," typically I make it so everyone can heal, and otherwise, they're mostly physical attackers, except for FFII where they grow on what you do, basically making them into classes.

THE JACKEL

['Gilgamesh']

Ya, i never really specialized in those ones except II. I did in twelve at the start but it didn't last long and got useless fast.

[Mirage]

I don't specialize more than maximizing the strengths of a character, really. I give them what they are best at.

[Kanshisha]

Hmm i dont think 7, 8 or 12 really rely on jobs....Like example... In 8 it is hard to make a Summoner....a reason is because a summoner is the only person in the party that can use GF's....what if that person dies?....Now what...?and you happen to run out of phoenix downs... No offense but if i had that i would be screwed...

[feioncastor]

FF7 has a system that makes it quite convinient to change between "jobs" when you feel like it. Though it's obvious that Cloud can do much more physical damage than Aeris or even Tifa... I always give Cloud the good physical materia like 2x Cut and Slash All. Then I'll have a person with a lot of magic and maybe a summon for emergencies. And finally, I'll have my person with the Command Materia and back-up magic like Cure and Life.

In FF2, I definitely specialize from the beginning because then you'll have a more powerful magic user or physical attacker by the end. I usually have Firion and Gus doing physical damage, with two swords on Firion and an Axe on Gus. I give Maria a staff, but I also give her the good spells. And my fourth is just whoever it is. I also give Firion and Gus a few spells, too. In case we're up against an enemy who is resistant to physical damage.

[Laddy]

I pretty much only did that in FFVII.

Cloud-Green Mage (More of a fighter, but used status spells.)
Aeris-Black Mage
Tifa-Monk
Barret-Warrior
Red XIII-Red Mage
Cid-Dragoon
Cait Sith-Blue Mage
Vincent-White Mage/Summoner
Yuffie-Thief

(Yeah, pretty dumb, but I beat the game like that, was very strict, for example, only Vincent summoned, Red XIII never mastered spell types.)

Overall, the class had to fit personality.

[forgotten_fantasy]

what about 10?

[Crossblades]

what about 10?

The characters in X are sort of fixed till near the end of the game

But yeah, I love to make my characters specialize in different things. VI and VII was an exception because I felt all my characters needed to learn all types of magic. Here was my party setup for II and XII(Never played VIII)

Final Fantasy II

Firion - Paladin with Sword and Shield with some White Magic
Maria - Black Mage with Bows
Guy - Axe Warrior
Josef - Monk
Richard - Dragoon
Minwu - White Mage
Leila - Thief with Daggers

Firion and Maria are the only two people I teach Magic. I don't teach it to anybody else(Minwu already comes to the party with Magic).

Final Fantasy XII

Vaan - Thief/Warrior with Greatsword and Heavy Armor
Basch - Warrior with Axes and Heavy Armor
Balthier - Thief with Daggers and Light Armor
Ashe - Paladin with Sword, Shield and White Magic. Also with Heavy Armor
Fran - Black Mage with Arcane Magic and Bows. With Mystic Armor
Penelo - Summoner/White Mage with Time Magic, Green Magic, and Staffs. Also with Mystic Armor

I pretty much only did that in FFVII.

Cloud-Green Mage (More of a fighter, but used status spells.)
Aeris-Black Mage
Tifa-Thief
Barret-Warrior
Red XIII-Red Mage
Cid-Dragoon
Cait Sith-Blue Mage
Vincent-White Mage/Summoner
Yuffie-Monk

I really like this setup. I'm gonna give it a try when I replay VII. However, Yuffie should be the Thief and Tifa is actually the Monk

[Bunny]

Main male character becomes a "knight", specializing in swords. Main female character, or first female character, becomes a "white mage". Secondary male character becomes a heavy hitter, utilizing whatever does the most damage. In the case of a secondary female/third male character they become a black mage/thief.

I'm not very good at this. I just hit things usually.

[rubah]

I don't. I'm perfectly fine with having characters with clonelike abilities.

[Laddy]

I pretty much only did that in FFVII.

Cloud-Green Mage (More of a fighter, but used status spells.)
Aeris-Black Mage
Tifa-Thief
Barret-Warrior
Red XIII-Red Mage
Cid-Dragoon
Cait Sith-Blue Mage
Vincent-White Mage/Summoner
Yuffie-Monk

I really like this setup. I'm gonna give it a try when I replay VII. However, Yuffie should be the Thief and Tifa is actually the Monk

You're right! I switch!

[ReloadPsi]

Yeah, I did a playthrough of 7 with forced classes on each character.

Cloud - Time Mage (also with Restore for Regen; I made the Cure spells out of bounds)
Barret - Knight (with Counter as well)
Tifa - White Mage (her ultimate weapon sucks so she may as well be one)
Aeris - As long as she lasted, I made her a Sage and gave her the best Black and White spells available at the time
Red XIII - Black Mage (he suits it; starts off with Fire)
Yuffie - Ninja/Thief (Steal, Throw, 2x-Cut etc)
Cait Sith - Blue Mage, but next time might give him ailments and leave him in Fury state so he can be a Gambler a lot
Vincent - Summoner. Anything else would be made useless by his Limit Break.
Cid - Oracle/Green Mage


This adds a lot more fun as you'll sometimes switch different characters in for certain situations. Until you reach the end and you only use Cloud because you have to, Tifa for her White Magic and Yuffie for 2x-Cut. I guess Red, Cid and Vincent were my least used here, though Vincent was fun to have in some boss fights; he'd do most of the damage, then when he ran out of summons he'd morph. Awesome!