These threads are always amusing. Any party that isn't 2 Fighters, 2 Red/White Mages or 3 Fighters, Red/White Mage is just handicapping itself. Fighters are superior to every other fighting class in every way. They are the most broken class.

Yes, having a Thief to run away with is great and adds some flavor to the party, but again, Fighters rule the day when you get right down to it.

I used to love Black Belts, but the slight damage edge they have over the Fighter does not compensate for their horrendous defense and that whole "we're almost as bad as Thieves until we hit Level 10 and start getting 4 Hits" thing.

Putting Black Belts and Theives in the party is a great way to add flavor, but strictly speaking that spot would be more effectively filled by a Fighter instead.

The only things that Thieves contribute are the ability to run away (sort of nice for a Low Level game or those who can't handle the encounter-happy dungeons in FF1) and the ability to cast Black Magic that can BE DUPLICATED BY THE ITEMS YOU ALREADY HAVE IN YOUR INVENTORY. Be still my beating heart. Running away + Haste + Item-duplicatable spells doesn't stack up to Excalibur, more Healing, and a lot more HP.