Which game does Magic feel the most rewarding to you?

[Wolf Kanno]

What it says on the tin. Magic is a staple of the series, but which entry does it feel the most useful to you?

[Lord Golbez]

FFIV. Gaining new spells with levels makes level grinding more interesting than in most of the other games. And the spells really pay off and make the difference in battle. The curative items are typically less plentiful or less potent than in other entries (I don't think there even is a Megalixir, for example), so Rosa's white magic is pretty much critical and Rydia is pretty much my MVP damage dealer in the end.

[Raistlin]

All of them that aren't FFVII. Not really, but FFVII is where most magic and summon materia become pretty pointless rather quickly.

I dunno if it's the best or most useful, but it's very rewarding to me to just blow trout up as a black mage. So games like FFI and FFT made that fun. Rydia and Terra were also pretty OP.

[Lord Golbez]

Really? I tend to think it's much less rewarding in FF8. For one, the game actively encourages you to avoid using magic to keep your stats maxed. Secondly, magic is pretty weak until you get some decent magic junctions. Third, for the most part you can't use spells on multiple enemies, which is a big benefit to using magic in most of the other games. But then,even if you could you almost never fight more than 3 opponents anyway. At least in FF7 there are several instances where you can run into groups of five enemies and magic is quite useful for quickly dispatching them. Sure FF7's magic is less rewarding than a lot of others, since you can typically get by just attacking, but it definitely doesn't seem the worst to me.

[Wolf Kanno]

Yeah but magic is still more important in VIII than VII since it's the linchpin of the entire Junction system. I can see where he's coming from with how finding new magic in VIII would be more rewarding because it gives you more options for building your characters, whereas magic materia has you cast a spell once, and then probably forget about it.

For me, it would likely be VI since it's OP as all hell and likely FFXII since magic has a wide range of uses with status magic and buff/debuff spells basically being absolutely needed to take on Marks as early as possible. I can also agree about magic in games with job classes, but it depends on the entry at that point.

[Fynn]

Agreed with most that has been said. It’s underwhelming in VII and I feel it’s actually pretty satisfying in VIII, but it’s VI, XII and the job class games (sans X-2) that really make magic feel satisfying.

Also, personally, I like it when magic growth is separate from regular level growth. Makes it feel more mystical and in games like XII, it’s actually satisfying to hunt down those last remaining spells in some dark dungeon. I love IV as much as the next guy, but interesting magic is not something that comes to mind when I think about it

[Lord Golbez]

I like magic and skill growth to be tied to levels because it makes leveling more interesting to me and I also like that you can become super powerful early in FFIV if you so choose without being limited only to the spells available at a specific point in the game. You can learn Meteo as soon as you get a magic caster if you're masochistic enough to grins that much.

I also tend to feel FFVI makes it less satisfying due to diminishing returns. It just kind of becomes rote that everyone is casting magic later in the game. So yeah, it's OP, but the combination of being OP and everyone has access to it actually makes it less satisfying to me.

[Karifean]

I'm actually gonna say IX, for being damn powerful at all points in the game and every new tier of spell being felt very hard. And Spellblade is just all sorts of great.

[Fynn]

Honorable mention goes to XV. It’s dumb that it’s basically just a consumable item but it’s insanely devastating and with the right accessories you don’t have to worry about friendly fire. Ring magic is also very fun to use. And then the astrals are just spectacularly devastating.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm actually gonna say IX, for being damn powerful at all points in the game and every new tier of spell being felt very hard. And Spellblade is just all sorts of great.

I can agree with this. I still feel Vivi is the best pure black mage in the series from a build stand point. The fact he's IX's best damage dealer helps as well.

In terms of an entry where I felt magic was not as useful, eh it depends...

I can agree with Lord Golbez that magic in VIII, when used conventionally, is incredibly underwhelming. Likewise, I agree with Fynn that VII's magic is often just overshadowed by summons, enemy skills, and good ole fisticuffs. I also find magic underwhelming in XIII, but that's likely because it functions differently from a usual DPS thing so it feels like an after thought. With that said, I find magic the most underwhelming in entries where melee options tend to overshadow it.