The Ninja can equip any weapon or armor on the FC version, in addition to being able to throw Shuriken. The Sage can cast any magic spell, including the Summoner's summon attacks. While the Ninja's offensive power and the Sage's magical prowess are slightly less than the classes that specialize in those two things, they're still incredibly powerful. A party with a Ninja, Sage, Shaman, and another Melee class would be incredibly effective in the FC version.

In the DS version, the Ninja could not equip every weapon or armor, and had a big decrease in damage output, but was still the only class capable of throwing. Sages could cast any spell, but they were limited to the lower level summoning techniques and had less spell charges. These changes, along with the rebalancing of the other jobs helped to make the Sage and Ninja not so terribly overpowered and no longer a party staple (Bard power).