Favorite & Least Favorite Incarnation of Each Job/Class

[Wolf Kanno]

Alright, this is going to be a doozy. To make this easier on me, I'm only going to use games that have job systems. Games where characters have defined roles will not really count because it's easier on me, some characters are actually multiple roles rolled into one, and some roles kind of get OP in the titles with party members in predetermined class roles. Case in point is the Thief class, which is a useful class in of itself but is damn near game breaker in VI, IX, and X since Locke and Zidane suffer main character syndrome allowing them to take and receive damage like more traditional warrior style classes, and Rikku is obviously a mix of Thief and Chemist and the second job makes her OP. So let's begin:

Knight
Best - (Final Fantasy) As long as you grind to keep them in top gear, the Knight is a pretty OP class in FFI and largely regarded as the best class in the game bar none. They have decent magic ability and can cast better than future incarnations of the class as well.

Worst - (Final Fantasy V) Boring but practical, the Knight doesn't really teach any useful skills except maybe Doublehand, which is all but useless once Dual-Wield becomes available. Most of their wear armor skills are useless in this game as opposed to having some merits in FFTactics; and Guard and Cover are not nearly as useful as their FFIIIDS incarnation. It doesn't help the class is stuck in a game with some of the series best melee classes.

Thief
Best - (Final Fantasy Tactics/Tactics Advance) Yes it's two different games but their skill sets are not terribly different from each other and they are both invaluable in their respective games, getting you great gear at no cost much earlier than you really should. Especially useful in TA where gear teaches skills to your jobs. Not to mention stealing said items severely weakens your opponents as well so even if the enemy doesn't have some unique gear, it's nice to cripple them by stealing their armor and weapons.

Worst -(Final Fantasy) There is nothing to say really, the Thief has no real strengths in this game that are not better covered by another job. They don't have the steal command and they lack any good gear, stats, or abilities. The only reason to bother with them is to acquire their awesome job upgrade of Ninja. They are the dead weight of FFI.

Monk
Best - (Final Fantasy Tactics) Let's combine great damage potential with a skill set that makes them excellent backup healers and dramatically increase their damage range and you've got one serious powerhouse at your disposal. They might be a bit flimsier than their earlier incarnations but they make up for it with one of the best skill sets in the series.

Worst - (Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light) just to clear something up, there is a class in this game called monk, but is entirely different from any incarnation in the series, being a mage class focused on powering up when killed. The actual "monk" class is called Fighter instead. It's not a bad class in itself, mostly focusing on moves that raise critical hit rates and double HP, but the class is trapped in a game where there is a heavier emphasis on mages, party teamwork, and support classes. Being a pure solo melee class makes it nice when you first acquire it, but the class quickly gets overshadowed by the game's heavier emphasis on team dynamics.

Black Mage
Best - (Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light) Easily one of the best classes in the game. The game's game mechanics remove MP from the equation so the class' Achilles Heel is gone and the mechanics of the game make this the best magic damage dealer bar none. Most strategies involve buffing the class through it's unique job skills and support classes like Shaman to allow the class to perform insane damage without resorting to random and rare Psyche power ups to perform group assaults, even with the psyche power up, two mages hitting an elemental weakness will generally trump a full team melee build up. I feel it's safe to say the game's mechanics were built around making the Black Mage finally the star player.

Worst - (Final Fantasy NES/Famicom) The fact most of the game's bugs involve the Black Mage is probably why it often gets a bad rap from veteran fans who cut their teeth on the original. The class is much better in the remakes to say the least but having bugs making several of your support skills useless, and the INT bug allowing Red Mages to do equivalent damage with the same magic just made this version of the class look bad in comparison.

White Mage
Best - (Final Fantasy III) A great combination of healing and support magic including the useful Haste spell, combined with better battle flexibility with the Aero spells and Holy makes this an ideal support class. The fact it's packaged in one of the sturdier incarnations of the class is just an added bonus.

Worst - (Final Fantasy Tactics A2) Being stripped of all support magic and even holy to give to more novelty classes, leaves this class as just a plain old healer, in a game where several classes can be built for group party heals and be excellent fighting/support units leaves this class incredibly lacking in versatility.

Red Mage
Best - (Final Fantasy III) The last incarnation of the class to still be the right combination of abilities to make them excel at everything, the class can be a beast and carry you quite a ways into the FFIII, especially the DS incarnation that has expanded equipment and MP range from it's Famicom counterpart. They may not hit as hard as black mages and fighters but they do it well enough you won't care.

Worst - ( Final Fantasy V) The true "jack of all, master of none" incarnation of the class. Even having Doublecast as an ability can't save them from their lackluster stats and equipment pool. It doesn't help the whole sub-class mechanic alone pretty must trivializes what made this class great in the first place, so it quickly lost it's place in the whole mix up. There is a reason future incarnations make the class have some form of specialization or built around using double cast.

I'll do advance classes later.