Why don't you get a job...

[Bolivar]

I'm not sure you can even divide FF7 or other similar games into such classes. Each character had different weapons... but that's really the only way to divide them. There wasn't nearly as much differentiation as in other games.

I think starting equipment, limit breaks, and statistics can help you on that, although their differences in the last are not as diverse.

Tifa and Yuffie are obviously a monk and ninja, respectively. I think of Barret as like the Warrior from FFIII, he has high Vitality (DEF) and Attack, and can used ranged and close-range weapons. Cloud I see as a magic knight/black mage & warrior combo since he has the highest magic other than Aeris, starts with Lightning and Ice, but also has high attack with a sword. I've always though of his spikey blonde hair replacing the pointy yellow hats, and the blue outfit.

Cait Sith represents his own "toysaurus" class, with manipulate, hypno crown, and status materia like transform and seal. Aeris is obviously the White Mage, Cid a Dragoon, and I just make Vincent and Red XIII red mages since they're well suited for it, statistically speaking, and look the part as well (Vincent in outfit, Red in color and in name).

Obviously you can get through FFVII ignoring all this but that's how I play it.

[Edgar]

I liked the knight class when I saw it on FFT, but god it's skills are so crappy I don't even know where to spend the Job Points I got.

[hhr1dluv]

I lack the thought processing skills to really answer this question right now, so I'm just going to post what my favorite job in each job-based game was. I guess I could also say favorite character (in terms of fighting) in those games where the characters have distinct roles.

Of course, because I never go without them, my favorite class is most likely the White Mage.

I- mmm...Seriously, I quite enjoyed the Thief to Ninja situation. Knight was good, too.
III- I LOVED being a Geomancer.
IV- Methinks I enjoyed Cecil and Yang the most, so here it was Paladin and Monk that were my favorites.
V- The Monk was most definitely my favorite class. Gladiator was fun also.
X-2- Alchemist!! I also thought the Berserker class was fun.

[Raistlin]

I liked the knight class when I saw it on FFT, but god it's skills are so crappy I don't even know where to spend the Job Points I got.

FFT is an interesting case because each class is not meant to be used on its own, but in conjunction with other skills. Knights have the best physical stats and equipment, so it's understandable that their active skills would be subpar. However, Knights plus some skills from other classes (like two swords) = beast.

Speaking of FFT, the monks in that game were the only monks I actually liked. Otherwise, the "pure" monks are too boring (such as in FF1). I think the fantasy genre in RPGs is too much fun not to take advantage of some big explosions and flashy spells. I'll use classes like Knights as frontline tanks, but the backup for me usually has some sort of magic.

[Wolf Kanno]

What are people's thoughts on the Mime class though? I was just finding it amusing since Bartz is a Mime in Dissidia yet he doesn't quite follow the rules of a mime since he can equip weapons Mimes normally can't. We've had several different Mimes in the series so which do you think worked best?

[Shotgunnova]

The topic reminds me of this GIF:



What's your favorite true job class? Oracle
What's your favorite version of the class? Temple Knight (!)
What version do you feel was the weak link in its history? None!

I forget if there's an FFTA equivalent to Oracle, but I don't think so. Either way, focusing primarily on nasty side effects is awesome, only made better by the Temple Knight's instantaneous strikes. Oh, and its knightswords. I wish the class was more prevalent in the series but it's not really made for xtreme offence, so guess that wishing well's dried up... :P

[Wolf Kanno]

The Oracle class has sorta reemerged though obviously altered, as the Green Mage class in FFXII and FFTA2.

I agree though, I love my Yin/Yang magic

[Jiro]

My favourite class is the Thief. Something about stealing and using daggers appeals to the inner criminal in me. Zidane and Locke are definitely my favourites. Zidane brought a cool new element with the thief swords which I liked, and having the agility of a monkey is always handy for a thief. Locke is just an all round useful character who always seem to make my squad. If they were ever let down, it was by the FFI thief who couldn't steal. That was a pain.

Blue Mages... I know they're awesome, but I can never bring myself to put in the effort to make them useful. I think I would find it much easier if I just had a list of skills and enemies to learn from before hand.

[Mirage]

I've always liked thieves and ninjas. Ninja-thieves!

[aquatius]

Usually thieves suck, but Zidane was really well balanced, and with skills like Thievery it makes him very useful.

[Wolf Kanno]

I think my favorite thing about Zidane as a thief is that he actually has an ability that allows him to see what items an enemy is carrying. This to me was sorta one of those hindsight things where I'm like "Why the hell didn't we do this before?" I also liked that IX allowed you to go for all items instead of the traditional bull that you get one shot at the item selection and if you get the common item that was it...

Locke is a great thief too but much like Zidane, he's far from a traditional thief and most of his unique equipment (Valiant Knife anyone?) really set him apart from the normal thief class.

Ninjas on the other hand I feel is a class that ebbs and flows in quality as the series goes along. Awesome in III, terrible in IV (except for the DS version), okay in V, pretty awesome again in VI (High evasion and a built in counterattack that usually does 3x more damage than his base attack? Sign me up), mediocre in VII until you get Conformer, and generally broken in the Tactics series...

[TheSpoonyBard]

Locke is a great thief too but much like Zidane, he's far from a traditional thief and most of his unique equipment (Valiant Knife anyone?) really set him apart from the normal thief class.

Locke is much more than a traditional thief... he's a TREASURE HUNTER!

[auronlu]

Predictably, since my root Final Fantasy is X, I lurve me some black mages.
No, not the cleavage. The firepower. All my battles look like this by the time Rikku joins the party:

Tidus: *ping* 203HP
Kimahri *steal*
Wakka *thwock* 400HP [one monster is now ded]
Rikku: *steal*
Yuna: *pray*
Auron: [OVERKILL 1200HP]
Lulu: [THUNDARA 2200HP]

Neeeext....

Vivi delighted me as well.
FFXII was weird. I kept trying to have a dedicated black mage, since that's my default method of dealing with problems, but I wound up distributing all the magic somewhat mushily, and didn't use any of it very consistently.