DS Job Evaluation Part 2
Fire Crystal Edition

Well this is certainly a mix bag of classes... No wonder I remember the starting classes better.

Knight - Debatably the best of the four classes given. Knights are a big upgrade over Warriors, they can equip Knightswords, regular swords and heavier armor. No more silly vests for your melee fighters. They also get to use Lv. 1 White Magic and gain a new ability called Defend

Strengths: Quite a few, useful skills, second best defense in the game, can equip heavy armor to help with their already high defense, they also can equip the best weapons in the game with the exception of the Masemune. They actually have some of the best strength in the game, and also get access to the best weapons. Knights are a much needed upgrade from Warriors and have even better longevity than any class you would currently have at this point. They also get all the Paladin skills like auto-guard on weakened party members and Defend gives them a much greater defense bonus than normal guard and actually works in conjunction with the auto-guard ability. If only the class had Counter...

Weakness: Their white magic is pretty terrible. Not only is their MP pool just sad but they only have access to three spells of which only one is useful and yet by the time the class becomes available you should be using Cura with classes that can actually use these spells effectively. The class is also very equipment centric, which helps them end game but also makes their all around usefulness based on where you are in the game. Still, they are easily th best of the second tier classes and easily a great contender for the rest of the game.

Special Item: Save The Queen

Ranger - The class everyone loves but me. Rangers are one of two melee classes that can do some serious damage to groups of enemies. They also can do the same damage in the front or back row which gives them some great defense boosts. In the original game, they could use low level white magic. In the DS version they get the powerful Barrage ability that allows them to attack a group of enemies with four attacks.

Strengths: Obviously long range superiority, Rangers can do as much damage as Knights with the right weapons and they get defense bonuses cause they can fight in the back row with no penalties. With the Barrage ability, they can actually attack groups of enemies.

Weakness: Barrage has a lot of weaknesses, first off, its damage is quartered and even at high levels you won't be doing damage any greater against a single target that you couldn't have done with a normal attack. So its not really useful against single targets. Its split damage makes it not as good as other AoE classes against groups, and even worse, Barrage uses four arrows. Meaning you will bleed though them rather quickly. Which brings us to the other issue at hand which is the class is very equipment needy. Damage will fluctuate on whether you have the best bow and are using the appropriate arrows. Arrows need to be replenished and like FFIV, the game has a tendency to throw them at you in uneven waves. You have to be pretty conservative with the class and careful how you set him up. Personally, I feel most of the other classes are way less of a hassle and often give better benefits.

Special Item: Artemis Bow

Geomancer - Probably my favorite class in FFIII and easily the best version of the class. The Geomancer is a special type of Mage who gets unlimited uses of their magic power at the cost of the spell being random and based on the environment you are fighting in. They get some of the decent mage and light armor gear and use Bells exclusively as their weapons. In terms of melee they are not so great but they are more durable than you would expect.

Strengths: Geomancers are mages who are not redistricted by MP, that alone makes them useful if you ask me. Granted their spells are tied to wherever you are located, but surprisingly enough, most places give them one if not two really strong spells. The first time you see the Geomancer decimate a group of enemies with Earthquake or nuke a boss with ShadowFlare you'll understand why they are a force to be reckoned with. They get a huge arsenal of spells and will have access to water, wind, and earth magic long before the other mages. At high levels, they will be doing as much damage as the high tier mages using Tornado, Quake and Flare. Did I mention they only use the four elements offensive spells (Ice Pillar, Wind Slash, Earthquake, and Fire Pillar) in The World of Darkness?

Weaknesses: Obviously, you have no real control over what spell they use. Which can be an issue in some areas, which is the other problem. Geomancers don't do so well on the ocean and water based dungeons. This is because most of the enemies in these places are water based so any water spell they cast will just heal them. The other issue is when the mage wastes a turn to attempt one of their many instant death spells. Not so bad againts normal enemies but it can be frustrating in a boss fight since all bosses have immunity to death. They are more manageable than other Berserker style classes but some may feel its safer and wiser to stick with normal mages so you have more control.

Special Item: Blessed Bell


Scholar - Oh boy, this class... Well, you only ever need to use it once against a certain boss, and technically, the class has been upgraded quite a bit from the NES version (he can at least use magic and has one ability that looks at both HP and weakness instead of having it split into two skills). Sadly, the Scholar does have some issues that make them a passover class but to be honest, the class has a lot of potential, they just need some high maintenance.

Strengths: Quite a few, Scholars actually have incredible INT stats that make them better with Black Magic than both the Black Mage and Red Mage with it. Their Study ability has several useful effects, it can see an enemies HP, Weakness, and it has the ability to remove all Buffs on an enemy unit. Isn't that snazzy? The class also gets the Chemist ability of Double Potency which doubles the power of all items, including offensive items. This is why I said the Thief can be useful, since they can keep you slightly better stocked. Several enemies in the final dungeon also drop Offensive items regularly, so Scholars do have some long term uses but...

Weaknesses: Where to begin, While Scholars are great Black mages, they can only use Level 1- 3 white and Black magic. Its not so bad when you first get them but eventually Black/Red Mages will do better damage just because they get access to better spells. Scholars have terrible equipment pools and their Tome weapons are pretty awful as weapons. They are entirely dependent on items you get to make them worthwhile party members but most damning of all is that Scholars have the worst vitality stat in the game. For completionist, who want max HP, accidentally gaining a level as a Scholar will completely screw this up cause Scholars practically get no HP when they level. Frankly, their are just better classes you can use over this one. For every strength the class has, it has a terrible catch to it. It probably best to just avoid this class all together.

Special Item: Omnitome