New Game

[Bluecho]

I suggest a thief.
You could use a Red Mage, which would be incredibly useful in the beginning. But after class change, the specialization required in the later dungeons only leaves the Red Mage wanting.
The Thief, on the other hand, is not really useful in the beginning, but becomes incredibly useful after class change. The Thief can run very well, and can sometimes match the Fighter's damage dealing when properly equipped. And after class change, the Ninja will be very powerful, essentially acting as a kind of Fighter himself. Like, having a Fighter after class change, not as powerful as a Knight, but still very good. And he can also use low level black magic. You just need to keep the Thief alive in the meantime, and he will become a great asset.

[sockmonkey]

I'd go with the red mage or the fighter. A backup meatshield is nice just in case the first suffers some bad luck and the random battles (which is most of the game) will go a lot easier.

Likewise the red mage is meant to be a backup to all the other classes. A way to cast exit, cure, or fire if one of your mages dies and a way to finish chopping up the bad guy who just killed your fighter.
They aren't bad at running either.

[Kanshisha]

Prob pick a thief.. theives for unlocking or even a monk... monks are pretty much like warrior but a money saver..

[darksword12]

Prob pick a thief.. theives for unlocking or even a monk... monks are pretty much like warrior but a money saver..

If I'm being stupid and this was a joke, forgive me, but... thieves don't "unlock" anything in ff1.

Update on the red mage situation:

The thing red mages really don't do well is attack. Late in the game you'll really notice an imbalance: you'll only have one good fighter.

I've never used a two-fighter party, but I can imagine it would be really good. Once the thief becomes a ninja, though, he can act pretty well as a fighter.

[Comet]

Thief FTW

[ReloadPsi]

Drop your Black Mage for a Red Mage and fill the last space with a Thief.

Black Mage will be a liability from beginning to end.

[arcanedude34]

Guys, I already started the game with a Fighter, Black Mage, White Mage, and Thief. This thread needs not to go on.

[sockmonkey]

Can we at least hassle you over your choices?

[Sefie1999AD]

Taking 2 Fighters, a White Mage and a Black Mage would probably be the most effective team out of the Fi/?/Wm/Bm parties. However, if you don't want to have two characters of the same class, I'd suggest taking the Thief.

I suggest a thief.
You could use a Red Mage, which would be incredibly useful in the beginning. But after class change, the specialization required in the later dungeons only leaves the Red Mage wanting.
The Thief, on the other hand, is not really useful in the beginning, but becomes incredibly useful after class change. The Thief can run very well, and can sometimes match the Fighter's damage dealing when properly equipped. And after class change, the Ninja will be very powerful, essentially acting as a kind of Fighter himself. Like, having a Fighter after class change, not as powerful as a Knight, but still very good. And he can also use low level black magic. You just need to keep the Thief alive in the meantime, and he will become a great asset.

You know, this is why Fi/Th/Rm/Wm is my favorite party. Fighter is the tank, White Mage is the healer. I don't use Black Magic spells all that often, so I'd rather use a Red Mage than a Black Mage. Red Mage is a good class in the beginning, but he loses some of his effectiveness later in the game. On the other hand, Thief isn't that great until the class change. So at the beginning of the game, Fighter and Red Mage will be the damage dealers, and after the class change, Knight and Ninja will be doing the physical damage.

Fi/Rm/Th/Wm early in the game prevents the Thief from dying pretty often since the Red Mage will be taking damage instead. When the Ninja gets some better armor, I'll switch the party order to Kn/Ni/Rw/Ww. This team works quite well for me.

[Doomie]

I just recently started a game too, and have two warriors with a red mage and white mage. I'm breezing through it right now, and none of my characters have yet to die.

[sockmonkey]

You probably won't have any trouble at any point with that party really.
Two or more fighters make random battles a breeze and that's most of the hassle gone right there.

[Bolivar]

I've stayed away from Fighters this time, i'd rather trade a little defense for more utility.

[crazybayman]

I've stayed away from Fighters this time, i'd rather trade a little defense for more utility.

More utility, and more fatality.
Fighters can be expensive, but they dispatch of the enemies quicker than anyone, and have great defense.

I just finished a game with a Fighter, Thief, Black Belt and Red Mage. Aside from Warmech battles, the only fatality I had was at the end of the castle of ordeals, which I visited early (before Gurgu Volcano) to get the early class change. I wound up finishing it at level 27 and 28. Plus, after the class change, my Master was a machine, hitting for more than my knight at times.

So that proved to be a pretty balanced party. I dont' like having the liability of a BM (or WM), in which you have to save spells for the boss fight.

[Necronopticous]

Just pick a job that would make the game fun for you. The big appeal of Final Fantasy was that you could create the characters you wanted to experience the game with. If you're playing the original it's a tough game, but it's loads more enjoyable to choose a party that seems fun to play through with. It's possible to beat the game with any party combination, so go nuts.

[Bolivar]

I've stayed away from Fighters this time, i'd rather trade a little defense for more utility.

More utility, and more fatality.

Actually ALOT more utility, and no fatality (so far).

I'm playing DoS. It's a little more challenging than the first time i played through it, but I find it to be much more enjoyable.