I always thought that the theif wasn't that great. The purpose of the thief seemed to be to have an agile fighter on the team, as opposed to a strong, endurance fighter. If he stole from enemies as theifs do in later games it would be worth while, but now I'd rather have the hit points and attack power of a figher or the magic of a red mage. The theif is a redundant character that is even more obvious now that they cleaned up the game for it's re-release.