Monks and Weapons

[Dr Unne]

That's interesting info. Where did you get it? Do you know if they fixed INT too? In the NES version it seemingly did nothing at all.

[Grendal]

That's interesting info. Where did you get it? Do you know if they fixed INT too? In the NES version it seemingly did nothing at all.

A Guide to Monks and Masters

As for the INT bug, was there one? I haven't noticed. But magic power obviously does increase with INT, so I guess that answers your question. My Red Wizard, who has 99 INT, can heal up to 400 HP with a single cast of Cura. My Knight, having much less, can only heal around 200 with Cura.

[abrojtm]

I don't believe INT was greatly changed on PSX, but in the GBA remake, INT drastically affects spell damage which makes RMs/RWs a lot less useful than previous versions (rightfully so).

[Grendal]

I don't believe INT was greatly changed on PSX, but in the GBA remake, INT drastically affects spell damage which makes RMs/RWs a lot less useful than previous versions (rightfully so).

Hmm? My Red Wizard (GBA) is a more effective healer than most White Wizards. (PSX) With a cast of Curaga, he can heal 500 HP. With a Rune Staff, he can heal 300 HP to every member. With a single cast of Fir-, Blizz- or Thundaga, he can inflict 800 damage to all enemies. With a Ragnarok blade, he can inflict nearly 1,000 to all enemies. As for his physical skill, his average attack damage is over 1,000. Ineffective? I think not. He replaces everyone.

Ahem...

Jacque, Lv.99 Red Wizard - EXP. 2,000,000
HP 999/999 | MP 999/999

STR ... 61 ATK ... 78
AGL ... 53 ACC ... 255
INT ... 99 DEF ... 43
STA ... 67 EVA ... 180
LCK ... 49

WPN - Lightbringer
SHD - Elven Cloak
HLM - Ribbon
ARM - Sage's Surplice
GLV - Protect Ring

[abrojtm]

Well, duh. He's level 99. Red Mages/Wizards have much lower INT growth than WMs or BMs making their spells weaker for the majority of the game. Of course, stat rolls are random and it's possible for him to have higher INT. In my first playthrough on GBA-Fi/WM/BM/BM-my WM ended up with by far the higheset HP. BM1 had a significantly higher INT, so he was the main spellcaster whereas BM2 was set Haste/Temper/etc.

[Grendal]

Yeah, the GBA version was a bit... slaughtered. The statistics are pretty close to the easy mode found in the PSX version, where the game allowed characters to progress to the 99th level of experience. But the stats aren't really random -- character have a chance to get a "weak" or "strong" gain depending on their specific class. (i.e., Fighters are more likely to gain high amounts of STR and HP) Red Mages are somewhat slow to progress, but if you build them up just right, they can replace almost any character. It's just a matter of paying attention to their growth pattern and trying to influence it in another direction.

As for magic, I don't think Temper depends on INT, nor has it ever. It's one of those spells were you get a random value between 8 - 16, I believe. Haste merely increases a character's number of hits, and has a generally static effect. Some people have this misconception that having a Black Mage / Wizard to support melee characters is ideal, but it's really not. There's no difference between Temper / Haste regardless of which class uses them. Aside from this, there's really no point in having a Black Mage for higher level spells, either. You can gain access to unlimted uses of Berserk and Flare through some of the magic items found later on in the game. And really, there's no point in a Black Mage even having the Berserk spell in the first place -- it can only target the caster!

Sorry. End rant.

[,,,]

My first play through I had no idea that the BB was better without weapons. I always wondered why the attacker of my party did about 16 damage on a good day as I waited desperately for a nunchuck upgrade that never came.

To make matters worse, I didn't have a fighter. My best attackers were my thief and red mage. To this day I don't know how I finished that game.

[Grendal]

Thieves are pretty good substitutes for Fighters. They share most of the same equipment, after all. Thieves are just built to be more agile, but have overall good attack power. Later on in the game, (after class upgrade) they can be compared side-by-side with the Knight.

[Fireblade13]

Yeah I've never found much uses for BM in GBA as they have low HP and Def and their spell power is usually overkill and can be taken up by the RM who can actually do something when he rujns out of MP. I am always checking my BB every few lvl or so when I take one to wait for his unarmed to overthrow his nunchack.

This has gotten way off topic. FF1 may have the most meticulous group of followers probably due to simpleness and the remakes. I'm not meaning an offense just commenti ng on the fact we have the exact formula's for damage and armor posted.

[Dr Unne]

I think FF1 has strong roots in table-top RPGing where you roll dice for damage. That may be why the game mechanics are so simple and often fun to manipulate. May be why the plot is so bare too; in table-top you make your own plot, the game mechanics are just a tool to move things along.