Thoughts on Kimahri.

[Lacarus]

Inspired by a thread about classes I came to wonder about Kimahri's function in FFX. Seeing as the other characters had a function, Tidus = fighter, Auron = samurai, Yuna = summoner/white mage, Lulu = black mage, Rikku = thief and Wakka = joggler, I came up with a theory that Square's original intent with Kimahri was that he was supposed to be the dragoon and/or blue mage of the game. However, in the game we learn that only Ronso can learn fiend abilities, so putting these abilities on the Sphere Grid was impossible (I think the Sphere Grid idea came after the writing of the characters) since everyone would be able to learn them. Maybe that's why he doesn't have a path of his own on the Grid and blue magic is an overdrive ability, which sadly makes him quite useless.

Agree or disagree, please.

[~ Kain ~]

Quite useless? While he might not be as clear-cut as the others in terms of a defining role, he is certainly not useless. Mighty Guard, white wind and nova are all great ronso rages. What I always do with him is send him through the thiefs area so he can start steling items for customization later on. When you get Rikku and they both have Mug, things just start getting easier for me. I'm crazy about thiefs though and thats just how i feel he is best used early. or you could send him through lulu's area and have him as a second spell caster which is the easiest way to perform consistant high damage early.

[Lacarus]

I didn't find Kimahri useless either, but many does and I can see why, although I find him quite versatile. But he would be less useless if his Ronso Rage ability where an ability called Blue Magic, no?

[Tavrobel]

The problem comes with Kimahri being moldable into any function that you desire. That also gives you 6 primary options, and any number of intermediate positions. More people can have fun with Kimahri if they would but a little bit of thought into what they want from a character that is virtually built from scratch. Do you like going pew pew with lazerbombs? Make a second Black Mage. Do you need someone who can use Armor Break without not being able to move again? Pull an Auron.

He is a Dragoon/Blue Mage. His first Overdrive is Jump. The very point of him being able to learn stuff from the enemy (and there's a bunch of stuff you can learn without going out of your way) is to make him more versatile. Who doesn't want a fighter with a multi-target healing spell?

Unfortunately, this potential is never fully realized on the first playthrough. You'll need to play FFX twice or so to really appreciate him, and unfortunately, there isn't much of an incentive to do so, unless you wanted to hear the Al Bhed translated THAT badly.

Technically, it isn't Blue Magic because he doesn't need to be hit and survive the blow to learn the magic. He gets it from Lancet.

[Roogle]

I disliked how Kimahri had no real path on the Sphere Grid to follow. This made it difficult to give him a proper role suiting his stature and storyline. I am sure that the character designer for Kimahri did not intend for a hulking, inhuman warrior to be a weakly Black Mage or a Thief in combat.

[LunarWeaver]

I've played this game a million times but never end up using him much. I don't feel like putting in extra work to elevate him above the crappy version of someone else. They should skin the guy and make a nice coat out of him iyam.

[Lacarus]

Technically, it isn't Blue Magic because he doesn't need to be hit and survive the blow to learn the magic. He gets it from Lancet.

Quina ate monsters to learn their skills. That's called blue magic.

[qwertysaur]

Khimari is the only character that feels incomplete compared to the other characters. It is obvious that he was intended to fill the role of Blue Mage / Dragoon, with using a spear, having the lancet ability and having a blue color scheme.(Yuna wears white and is a white mage, Lulu wears black and is a black mage) He was just lost somewhere in the process, and never really picked up.

I think that the original intent was to have blue magic be similar to summoning, in that it would be an extra command available only to Khimari, so to make up for it he would have a smaller section of the sphere grid. But that idea was dropped, and the sphere grid map stuck.

Also a response to the thought of Khimari as a hulking character, he is a very small Ronso, so by their standards it's not that surprising to see Khimari as a mage. But any way you look at it, he is very easy to pass over.

[Namelessfengir]

i usually got him into rikku's section before she joins up then made him a jack of all trades. tidus' speed then wakka and aurons strength.

when i come to the junction i have rikku learn some of yunas healing for the bikinal - bevelle section

[arcanedude34]

I tried to have Khimari as a back-up black mage... he had just learned thunder when Lulu learned thundara, so I gave up on that. Then I tried to have him take Tidus's path, which worked pretty okay... I definitely used Khimari more than Rikku...

[FFIX Choco Boy]

You'll need to play FFX twice or so to really appreciate him, and unfortunately, there isn't much of an incentive to do so, unless you wanted to hear the Al Bhed translated THAT badly.

Huh? He translates Al Bhed?


Well, I usually take Kimahri through Tidus's area of the SG, and he gets to be really good since his weapons typically have piercing and he gets time mage spells.

After Tidus's area, I take him counter clockwise just like all my other chars, taking him through Yuna's next, then Rikku's, then Lulu's(Lulu and Yuna should have been side by side), then Wakka's, then last Auron's, and by that time the extra strength in Auron's area makes no difference.

[Tavrobel]

You'll need to play FFX twice or so to really appreciate him, and unfortunately, there isn't much of an incentive to do so, unless you wanted to hear the Al Bhed translated THAT badly.

Huh? He translates Al Bhed?

No. I was referring to the "compile Al Bhed" primers function that can be found in certain places in Spira. Translation books can jump save files, and is independent of any Kimahri awesomeness.

[LunarWeaver]

I'd like to add his name can be shortened to Kim and that makes him a sissy.

[Jessweeee♪]

He's useful if you make him useful. Unlike the other characters, there's no enemy where you really have to use him except for one battle in Gagazet, but it's easy, so you don't have to worry about his stats much.

[Pete for President]

I usually make him a second Wakka at the start because he has a lot more MP to compensate Wakka's lack of it. Status attacks can be very useful every now and then. Later on I usually send him down Auron's path.