Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > Final Fantasy: Nerds in Paradise > Final Fantasy I > Your FF1 Party, DoS Style

[Garland]

It might be early yet for a thread like this, but it's not too early for me, so here it goes. There used to be tons of threads about your current or favorite FF1 party, and the pros and cons associated. We should do one now, taking into consideration the massive overhaul DoS introduced. This is just a generic "your party" topic, whether it be your favorite or not, I don't care. Rating the party above you might be a nice and helpful diversion too. Just remember, there are no crappy parties, only crappy players.

My first party is Master Matt, Red Wizard Zorro, White Wizard Jesus, and Black Wizard (George) Bush. I'm at endgame now, because all I do is play FF1 at work. I always form parties with some sort of pattern or logic, and this has the most extreme specialist in each field, and one who can do all three. I don't consider tanks a party role in FF1 because no one character slot gets attacked so much more than the rest to require a devoted meatshield. In my opinion, melee, white magic and black magic are the three party roles available in FF1, so I formed my party accordingly.

My specialist mages first priority are the spells my redmages can't learn. Rather than have my mages learn only the best available spells, I tried to have them learn every possible spell, that is untill level 7 when the Red Wizard grinds to a halt. Quantity over quality, I guess. In theory I have the spell for every situation, though in practice, Flare, Holy, Healga, Curaga, and 'Element'aga are the answers to every situation, but what can you do? MP might as well be unlimited, for as much MP as I have, so I always let out the fireworks every battle. I can't imagine levelling, picking off each enemy one at a time.

For boss battles though, it's all about Haste+Temper+Master. No enemy can survive it - at least as of yet. I've already exceeded the NES limit of 10 attacks (20 hasted). I hear the Master's new cap is 16 attacks unhasted. I'm almost there, and throwing out 32 attacks with the str boost of Temper will make bosses pee themselves in fear.

[Captain Maxx Power]

One thing I've found is that thieves have been super charged in terms of offense. They now gain insanely large hit% number, so a hasted level 30 one can easily reach 16 hits.

[Dragoon Kain]

my hasted master does 32 hits. its crazy!

[commodorejohn]

It depends. On original/WSC FF1, I take a Fighter, Thief, White Mage, and Black Mage. My logic is as follows: Fighter becomes Knight, who can equip Excalibur, one of the three most powerful swords in the game. Thief becomes Ninja, who can equip the Katana, another of the three. White Mage becomes White Wizard and exists solely to keep the other three in good shape. Black Mage becomes Black Wizard, who can cast the better of the two attacking magics (Flare and Holy/NUKE and FADE) that retain full effectiveness against Chaos. (Yes, really, Chaos is resistant to all other attacking magic. I verified this in Hackster.) When he runs out of Flare casts, there's no point in casting other magics, so he can use the most powerful sword in the game, Masamune, to keep on dishing out good damage. So we have two great attackers, one excellent healer, one awesome caster, and are able to use all the best weapons in the game.

On DoS, the stat growth seems to be somewhat different, so I don't know what my favorite party is yet.

[Black Mage FF1]

I havent played DoS but my favorite party is Fi/Th/BB/Rm. No crappy White Mage and Black Mage. Why take a white mage? Heal spells + Red Mage = better and cheaper replacement. Same goes for the Black Mage. Red Mage replaces him and the only thing worth getting that he misses out on is Nuke(but 2 casts wont matter). After that, Knight with Xcalibur, Ninja with Katana, Master with fists and Red Wizard with Masmune. All characters ALWAYS serve a purpose in every fight unlike the Bm and Wm, who basically do nothing the whole game.

[commodorejohn]

BMFFI: You forget that NUKE is the only offensive spell besides FADE that retains full effectiveness against Chaos. All the others (FIR3, ICE3, LIT3) do laughably little damage. And by the end of the game, it's not two casts; it's typically more like four or five. And White Wizards can cast CUR4 and LIF2, both of which are practically must-haves for the final battle. (Although I did manage to beat the game without a White Mage once. Still had a BM though.)

[Captain Maxx Power]

Mages do lose much of their edge during the game, especially when you start getting the spell casting items. Heck by the end of my DoS first time through my WM and BM were basically there to look pretty for the most part. They were extremely useful during the extra boss battles though.

[Black Mage FF1]

Originally Posted by commodorejohn

BMFFI: You forget that NUKE is the only offensive spell besides FADE that retains full effectiveness against Chaos. All the others (FIR3, ICE3, LIT3) do laughably little damage. And by the end of the game, it's not two casts; it's typically more like four or five. And White Wizards can cast CUR4 and LIF2, both of which are practically must-haves for the final battle. (Although I did manage to beat the game without a White Mage once. Still had a BM though.)

I dont know what you are doing but in my game experiences FAST + Master with his fists and FAST + Red Wizard with Masmune > 2 Casts of Nuke/and or Fade. And if you are playing Origins ad Steel or Saber to that and you are laughing as CHAOS falls it a couple of rounds.

And IMO Cur4 and Life2 are some of the most useless spells in the game. If you have a good party than there really is no need for Life2, every time I take a Fi/?/Wm/Bm I usally end up using my Life spells ON the Wm/Bm.

And as for Cur4. Cur4 costs more than the total you'll need to spend on heal potions for the entire game. Its pointless to level up so high that you can have 5 casts of it. I usally beat the game at level 25-28 (which is easily done)so that means I only have like 2 casts of the level 8 spells.

So they are not must haves at all. Considering I have beaten a solo Thief no class change should prove it.