NES :: Characters
Unne

Black Belts suck.
View Characters for: GBA
Characters
Fighter
Fiani

The Fighter is a fighting machine (as the name Fighter suggests). He has the most HP out of any class, and the ability to wear all the best armor lets him keep that HP for a long time. The Fighter also has access to most of the weapons in the game; his offensive power is matched by no other class (except maybe the BB). However all of the Fighter's strengths come from having the right equipment, and the best equipment is pretty expensive sometimes. The Fighter is the most expensive class to buy weapons and armor for, but that's more of a problem early in the game than later on. If you want an easy time in FF1, you pretty much have to take a Fighter.
Thief
Thani

The Thief lacks the strength of the Black Belt or Fighter, and he lacks the magic skills of the Mages. The Thief's main strength is his ability to run from battle and dodge attacks. In situations where running is the best option, the Thief is the best character to have, and there are MANY times in FF1 where you need to run (Sorcerers?). The Thief's also pretty inexpensive to equip; money saved on the Thief can be used on other players to help you through the game faster. Although he's not nearly0 as good a fighter as the Fighter or Black Belt, the Thief can hold his own in battle when he needs to. He's very weak at first, but at around Melmond you'll start finding better weapons he can use, and he keeps getting better from there. All in all, the Thief can be a good substitute for another fighting class.
Black Belt
Bbani

The Black Belt is a pure fighter. He's the only character who can't use magic before or after class change, which is a minus in my book. Although he's not able to equip many weapons, and the weapons he can equip are very weak, the Black Belt's most powerful weapon is his fist. After level 7 or so, if you unequip the BB's weapon and let him use his bare hands, he'll start doing damage comparable to a Fighter. Because he doesn't require much (if any) equipment for most of the game, the Black Belt is cheap as dirt, and his extra armor and weapon slots can be used to store weapons and armor for other characters or magic-casting weapons like the Heal Staff. The Black Belt's weakness is his inability to use magic and his horrible defense, but if he has proper support from a White Mage, and you hide him in the back row of your party, the Black Belt might live long enough to be an effective fighter. (Sometimes.)
Red Mage
Rmani

The Red Mage is the most well-rounded character in the game. He has access to the magic abilities of the White and Black Mages, and he can equip many weapons and armor not available to the Mages, making him strong in some regards as a Fighter. In the beginning of the game the Red Mage is going to be one of if not the strongest character you have. He can use the Silver Sword, and all the second and third strength elemental and healing spells, so he can pretty much do anything, at first. His usefulness starts to slacken as the game goes on though.
White Mage
Wmani

The White Mage's main purpose is to heal her comrades. She lacks physical strength, being able only to equip Hammers, and will never be an effective fighter. Likewise, the inability to use armor other than Bracelets and some minor accessories make her very vulnerable to attack. In spite of her weaknesses, however, the White Mage is indispensible in her unique power to heal and protect her allies. Even the strongest fighter will die pretty quickly if you don't have enough white magic to keep him alive; the White Mage's job is to keep the fighters alive long enough to do their job, and this she does with more skill than any other class. Another strength of the White Mage is her strength against undead. White Mages are the only character that gets to use HARM magic, and there are a ton of undead monsters in the game, enough to make HARM magic worth getting. Although the White Mage's spells will be expensive in the beginning of the game, they're well worth the investment, and she makes up for it somewhat in that she doesn't need expensive weapons or armor.
Black Mage
Bmani

The Black Mage is the weakest character, physically speaking. Black Mages have the lowest HP of any class and have pretty much no offensive power at all. However, his strength comes from his unique skill in wielding black magic. The Black Mage's use of black magic is matched by no other class; spells that damage all enemies at once, or kill an enemy instantly regardless of HP, are in some cases more helpful than even the strongest fighter. From a safe place in the back of the party, away from danger, the Black Mage can deal death to the enemy from a distance, quickly and efficiently.
Knight
Knani

The Knight has all the skills of the Fighter and more. He has access to every piece of armor in the game, with exception of only a few, which suck anyways. He's also the only character who can equip the mighty Xcalber, the second best sword in the game. At high levels, with a good suit of armor and the right weapon, the Knight is a one man army, almost invincible. In addition to his physical strengths, the Knight has the ability to learn some white magic spells, effectively adding a low-level healer to your party. In terms of raw strength and defense, there's no one that beats a Knight.
Ninja
Niani

The Thief undergoes a major transformation when he becomes the Ninja. The Ninja's offensive power is pretty darn good, since the Ninja has access to every weapon in the game, with the exception of a few (too bad he can't use Xcalber). The Ninja is the only character who can use the Katana, which is the third strongest weapon in the game. The Ninja also gets some black magic, effectively adding a low-level Black Mage to your party. The Ninja can also use almost all the good armor; the Ice Armor is darn good. With his speed and agility, and armed with a good weapon and his Black Magic, and of course his ability to run from battle, the Ninja can actually be a good addition to your party. Even if you think the Thief isn't worth it, the Ninja probably is.
Master
Maani

The Master is exactly the same as the Black Belt. He gets nothing from class change. So if you liked the BB before, you'll probably like the Master too. If you hated him before, you'll hate him more now, because every other character gets a bonus from class change and the Master doesn't. The Master is still a pretty strong fighter though. In fact at very (very) high levels, the Master will do more damage bare-handed than a Knight with the Masmune. At level 50 the Master is by far the strongest character, in terms of physical attacks. He still doesn't get any magic, and he still doesn't get any good armor at all, and his HP progression isn't all that great, but if all you want is someone to punch stuff really hard, the Master is your guy. Just make sure you continue to hide him in the back row. Or give him the Opal Bracelet and a Ribbon, it's better than nothing.
Red Wizard
Rwani

The Red Wizard is able to use more powerful weapons and armor than the Red Mage, as well as a wider range of White and Black magic. The Red Wizard is still the most well-rounded character, in that he can use semi-good equipment and most of the good magic. The Red Wizard's disadvantage lies in his inability to learn most 7th level spells, his inability to learn 8th level spells at all, and his inability to use the strongest weapons and armor. He's OK at everything, but he's not a master of anything, and that'll start to cost you the further into the game you get. Despite his disadvantages the Red Wizard's broad range of skills makes him a good addition to your party, as long as you have some more specialized characters to back him up.
White Wizard
Wwani

Having mastered the healing arts, the White Wizard's healing magic is second to none. The White Wizard has access to all White Magic spells, including powerful 8th Level spells that no other class can use. Spells like LIF2, which brings a comrade back to life with full HP, is very helpful when fighting the powerful foes near the end of the game. FADE is probably tied with NUKE for the most useful damage spell in the game. The White Wizard's protection spells become more and more valuable as you fight more enemies with strong magic attacks. Although she's still not much of a fighter, the White Wizard is a great addition to any party.
Black Wizard
Bwani

A master in the art of offensive magic, the Black Wizard possesses strength to rival that of any fighter. The Black Wizard's use of Black Magic is matched by no other class; he's the only class that has access to the powerful 8th level spells. Killing lots of enemies very quickly is a skill you're going to need, and no one does it better than the Black Mage. In addition to his magical strength, the Black Wizard is able to equip the CatClaw, a fairly powerful knife that greatly increases his physical prowess in battle. The Black Mage has enough magic by this point in the game that you're not going to be using the knife very much though. The Black Wizard make a powerful addition to any party.
Comments [69]
Comments
Black Belts suck. said:
(August 30, 2007 11:12)

Black Belts suck.
Brian said:
(August 30, 2007 21:53)

Truer words have never been spoken.
lol said:
(August 31, 2007 07:25)

Master sucks too.
volt said:
(September 05, 2007 04:20)

black belt seems a little better in dawn of souls, byt still crappy.

red mage rules!
scytheholder said:
(September 07, 2007 07:08)

of course they suck, they suck
mark said:
(September 07, 2007 17:58)

there's a zero after the word nearly
<(. .)> said:
(September 08, 2007 08:06)

I like black mage.
Samiam22 said:
(September 14, 2007 16:36)

Oh come on Black Belts aren't THAT bad. And at Master they are the most powerful.

Mark C said:
(September 15, 2007 02:01)

In the PSP version the black mage is 10x better than the red mage.
Samiam22 said:
(September 24, 2007 13:48)

There is a typo somewhere in the thief category. It says "although he's not nearly0 as good as fighter"
<3kickbuttrockerprincess<3 said:
(October 09, 2007 05:32)

dang man mages will kick all yo asses lol jp
Whatever said:
(October 10, 2007 22:34)

Black Belts aren´t that bad, they aren´t good in NES version BUT in the DoS they are pretty awesome!
Green Mage said:
(October 18, 2007 11:01)

I like the red mage the best. But thats just me.
Zeal said:
(October 19, 2007 02:33)

Red Mages should've been called "gods" in the original NES version. Overpowered much?
sluagh said:
(November 13, 2007 03:07)

I was watching my older brothers friend back home in day of the original NES and he took two BB and two BM and pwned the game. Any team can own with the right amount of LvLing. Just a matter of patience.
franz 314 said:
(November 14, 2007 10:15)

I never really played >o< but i like final fantasy!
RMinRED said:
(November 15, 2007 07:59)

Well, the RM is good if you can back him up -- a party of 4 of them will not fare well in the end and will be expensive in the beginning. A recommend a fighter to back up his strength, a white mage (never go without one) to back up his healing, and a Black Mage (Favorite) to back up his black magic. Perfect Party (though abysmally expensive)
codyvector said:
(November 20, 2007 05:00)

Black belts suck in the begining, however after calss change around Onrac they start to hit ahrder than the fighter with NO weapon. That's pretty impressive.

codyvector said:
(November 20, 2007 10:41)

Bri, there should be a part in this section that shows the optimal equipemnt for each character. Excluding the masmune of course, which is the best weapon for any character
Random Encounter said:
(November 21, 2007 05:39)

Black Mage is my favorite, but most useful would be Fighter, if you ask me.
Fuuin no Tsurgi said:
(November 22, 2007 06:45)

Black Mages/Warlocks kick ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fuuin no Tsurgi said:
(November 22, 2007 06:48)

Black Belts are not completly useless, but they're still a sucky class. In the MSX version, he just becomes a waste of space. Oh, and the fact that his Class change only gives him a butt ugly sprite really sinks him.
Leon said:
(November 22, 2007 08:00)

smack me okay I like black belts they're cheap kick ass and aren't intelligent there fore when they get hit they don't care of course they only seem to be this good in the DoS version because the NES version they never seemed to get past elfland before getting crushed by a giant
Tron said:
(November 22, 2007 09:28)

Black Belts are a great class. I love not having to deal with gear for one character, makes the game go faster!
Fuuin no Tsurgi said:
(November 23, 2007 18:59)

Okay, first of all, let's compare the Blackbelt to all the classes, starting with the Fighter.
The Fighter at the begining of the game owns the Black Belt. When the Fighter hits, he does great damage. The Black Belt on the other hand, is always missing, and if he does hit, he dosen't do enough damage. Advantage Fighter.
Now at Elfland is the Black Belt's turning point. The special Black Belt qualities begin to kick in. However, he's getting mauled by Ogres while the Fighter shrugs the attacks off. Advantage Fighter.
When you reach Melmond, the Fighter gets better equipment while the Black Belt's special abilities are improving. There is no advantage between the two.
At Mt. Gurgu, The Black Belt beats the Fighter in damage. Plus his agility is improved, so he's scoring hits and dodging them while the Fighter is having is getting hit all the time. Advantage Black Belt.
However, now that we reached the Class Change arc, the Fighter has gotten very good equipment. The Black Belt is starting to falter a bit. He is still strong, but he is begining to lose out to the Fighter. Advantage Fighter.
Now let's compare the class changes between the Fighter and the Black Belt. The Fighter(Now Knight), can equip almost every non sucky piece of equipment and the ones that he can't equip suck anyway. He is also the ONLY character to use Excalibur and he can cast level 1-3 White Magic. The Black Belt(Now a Master) gets..... Nothing! Except a ****ing ugly sprite. Advantage Knight.
Now at the Temple of Fiends in the Past, you'll need every drop of healing you can get. The Knight has acsess to White Magic, which while it sucks, it's better than nothing. The Master can't cast spells so he can't help you. Now while he will truly surpass the Knight in dealing damage, The Knight is a tank, warrior and a backup healer in one package. The Master is a pure fighter, has crap for defense and just sucks.
Comparing him to mages is like comparing a turkey to a peacock. Especially the Red Nage.
Now the Thief sucks all the way, but he can run very easily and escape death. Also he gets the second best class change and is similar to the Knight.
Overall the Black Belt sucks and is tied to Thief as the worst class.
Danny TH said:
(December 04, 2007 06:23)

I personally love the Black Belt/Monk
And since I go by the philosophy of 2 magic users and 2 attackers I always use a Monk
He's my personal fave FF1 and 3 class, which is odd because on every other FF game I'm a magic addict
Fuuin no Tsurgi said:
(December 07, 2007 14:13)

Blackbelts in the MSX version are completely useless, for they lose all their abilities.
Red Mages are great early but lose out later. They're still my third favorite class.
In one of my games, my Thief had high strength and killed a lot of monsters.
RedMage2000 said:
(December 09, 2007 04:24)

Red mages are awesome
Werefox1989 said:
(December 13, 2007 21:50)

The Knight has always been my favorite and always will be.

I will say that I've become neutral about BlackBelts. Having all of the storage space is so handy and he saves so much money for a smooth ride through the game. As of now my party on NES is BM, BM, WM, and BB. Three mages is annoyingly expensive, so the BB is helping a lot so far, and he really rounds off my party as an offensive fighter.

Anyway, well done on all of your updates, much better than it was in 2003, and even 2006. Good job!
bla bla stabbity death bla said:
(December 14, 2007 09:21)

bb<rm,bm,wm,fi,th.blackbelts can suck it!
Fuuin no Tsurgi said:
(December 14, 2007 10:46)

Fighters and White Mages are necessary classes. As such, I like them. Black Mages are my personal favorite and I ALWAYS include them in my party. If Green Mages (a.k.a, Geomancers) and Blue Mages existed, I'd use them, though they'd have been tough to implement.

De Coda Scott said:
(December 15, 2007 07:41)

Personally i think the Black Belt is an "alright" character. But, i do stand firm on the lines of a fighter being present. Without a fighter (or a Red Mage) the Black Belt is basically asking for an
a$$ whoopin'. I have always had at least one Fighter, a Red Mage (Just because there my fav.), and a white mage. But i have been experimenting with FI,BM,BM,WM, and it is a pretty successful party. The only thing i don't like about the Black Belt is that he is extremely useless for most of the game, although he is cheap, every coin counts. Honestly i think the Black Belt has gotten a bad rap over the years, if he is backed up by a Fighter (or Red mage) and used properly than he is a decent character. Oh yeah, i also wanted ask you all if four Black Belts is even worth trying, or if it just a waste of time lol.

lord_omoka said:
(December 22, 2007 13:35)

Black Belt(Monk) and Master kick ass! Someone needed to say it.
Reaper said:
(December 22, 2007 23:47)

Why the hate about BBs? They're awesome characters! At around lv 30, my Knight with Xcalbur and Red Wizard with Masmune with there powers combined don't do nearly as much damage as a Master. Plus, he is great for carrying equipment. The only disadvantage is that he can't equip a Ribbon or ProRing because it lowers his defense.
Fuuin no Tsurgi said:
(December 23, 2007 03:28)

Yes, but the game is easily beatable at Lv.26-Lv.28. Which means until you reach at least Lv.30, He's pretty weak. Also in Dawn of Souls, they should've had unlockable classes like Blue Mage, Geomancer, Alchemist, Dragoon and Wyrmling and their Class Changes would be Blue Wizard, Green Master, Sage, Sky Knight and Dragon.
Timmeh said:
(January 01, 2008 02:57)

What's a character's max level?
bla bla stabbity death bla said:
(January 03, 2008 01:50)

lv 50 in nes,lv 99 in dos
Stix said:
(January 04, 2008 05:17)

I love Black Belts/Masters

I had a party of Fighter/Red Mage/2x Black Belts

I ended the game at lv 52 and pwnd Chaos in 2 hits!!

55hits 1300 Dmg

56hits 1542 Dmg

Terminated!!!

But that just me, It took awhile but 4 BB are the hardest party to work with, even harder than 4 BM!

Awsome site, a tribute to the finest RPG ever made period. And I bought Final Fantasy when it first came out for ..... $69.00, can u believe it? Oh ya it also happens to be one of the only games that still costs aprox. $50 to get..If you can find it!!!
Stix said:
(January 04, 2008 05:22)

Sorry to be a know it all, but actually it's lv 60 for NES, at least the highest I ever got was 56, but then I got bored and finished it again!!

I'll post some Screen Shots once I get there again (If I don't get bored again ;)
Stix said:
(January 07, 2008 01:45)

Oops I am a dumbass!! It is Lv 50!! so it would have been 42 and 46 I had. Sorry!!
Jesus F. Christ said:
(January 11, 2008 15:21)

From most- to least-favorite...

The red mage is my favorite class, not only for versatility, but for purely cosmetic reasons, as well. You have to admit, that is the coolest sprite ever.

Fighters like swords. I like swords. It kinda works out.

Black belts are greatly to be praised, but it's a greatness that must be earned. Who doesn't love the concept of a 1-hit Chaos kill?

I like white mages only because I hate ghouls and their thrice-damned paralyzing slaps. That's the only downside to a solo-party... one ghoul can slowly beat even a high-level character to death.

Thieves! Thieves and liars! I can't ever put these guys in a party without immediately regretting it. The ease of running away one brings to the party is nice, though... I remember the first random battle I faced without a thief was FOUR Madponies. Irony, to the extreme.

As great as NUKEs are and all that nonsense, I'm not a fan of the black mage. Nope.
De Coda Scott said:
(January 12, 2008 02:56)

1. Red mage.
2. Thief
3. Fighter
4. Black mage

I didn't include the white mage because i don't see the point in having one if you have a red mage. The red mage can use good weapons and armor, can use both white AND black magic... I rarely use a white mage, and i haven't had that much trouble beating the game. Honestly i think it makes the game more challenging.

Don't get me wrong, black belts are cool, but like the white mage, i don't see the point. But, i do use a black belt sometimes in this combination...
F/BB/RM/BB, it is probably my second favorite party because of the brute strength it possesses.

Fuuin no Tsurgi said:
(January 19, 2008 23:47)

When will you people ever learn! Fighter rules, Black Belt drools! Black and White Mages are always better than the Red Mage(although I still really like it)!
And what the hell is your people's problem? Masters may kill Chaos in one hit.... at levels too high to care. Everyone is amazing, and they have more tricks as well. The Knight may lose out to Master in damage at high levels, but he has a ton of benefits that the Master doesn't have, such as very high HP, Armor, White Magic and uber tankiness. In fact, a Knight does almost as much damage as a Master at those levels, so it doesn't matter. That means that the BB/M sucks. Oh, and Dawn of Souls sucks too.

Volt said:
(February 11, 2008 00:52)

You know, black belt might have been better if he got low-level magic on class change. Think about it, one mage has white magic, another has black, and one has both. Now, one warrior gains white magic on class change, one gains black magic, so BLACK BELT SHOULD GET LOW LEVEL WHITE+BLACK MAGIC, RIGHT? Here's how it'll fit with the character. Monks are spiritual warriors, useing meditation to achieve inner strength. It is believed their chi can do supernatural things. That's where the low-level magic comes in!
Fuuin no Tsurgi said:
(February 21, 2008 02:12)

You know to be honest, I kinda wished that Black Belts would get magic after class change. However, he sports the lowest intelligence score in the game so even if he could cast spells, They Wouldn't be effective. In fact they would be as effective as trying to navigate your way through Heroes of the Lance video game, a game where all Raistlin the most powerful wizard in all of Krynn is killed by a fucking gully dwarf and so does all of your characters. It's also about as effective breaking your leg to repair a broken car.
Fuuin no Tsurgi said:
(February 21, 2008 02:14)

You know to be honest, I kinda wished that Black Belts would get magic after class change. However, he sports the lowest intelligence score in the game so even if he could cast spells, They Wouldn't be effective. In fact they would be as effective as trying to navigate your way through Heroes of the Lance video game, a game where all Raistlin the most powerful wizard in all of Krynn is killed by a fucking gully dwarf as well as your other characters. It's also about as effective breaking your leg to repair a broken car.
wiseman said:
(March 17, 2008 05:07)

Is it me, or is Red Mage kinda nerf in DoS and PSP?

In the NES/PSX version he'd be right next to the fighter owning everything, but it seems that in the new versions the thief and black belt got a damage boost... and RM's magic is now significanly weaker than either of the mages.

I took a monk instead on the PSP version... something about doing 3-digit damage before reaching the elves sounded appealing. :)

...and idk why everyone hates the thief so much. sure, they're not as good as a fighter, but they're quick and cheaper to equip. at least they stay alive, and they make great item-giver-outer-guys until you get a ninja.
Kain said:
(March 17, 2008 10:30)

for sum reason i like the games default party the best F/RM/BB/TH sure you have to spend time gainin levels to get past the harder parts of the game but when u get the Xcalber for the knight Masamune for the redmage the katana for the thief and the masters crasy attack power barehanded u can just smash ur way through any monster who stands in ur path
Green Ogre said:
(March 18, 2008 16:20)

I love final fantasy 1 it is my favorite game!
Andre said:
(April 03, 2008 13:59)

Ok, I seriously don't understand why people hate the black belt so much in the original NES version of final fantasy. I'm currently playing a thief, thief, black belt, white mage party and the only character getting me through the dungeons is the black belt. After elf land, he's the only one that can consistently get in 2+ hits and cause some serious damage. The thiefs are, in all rights, utterly useless. The rarely if ever hit the target and when they do, the enemy hardly flinches. And if you plan to run from all your battles (the only use of a thief), why are you even playing the game?
Winz said:
(April 03, 2008 21:42)

I'm not sure why people hate black belts so much and love red mages so much. There's a lot of talk about how black belts need to be super high levels to be effective....however at level 10 they get 4 attacks and will hit much harder than everyone's beloved red mage. That's level 10....don't tell me anyone beats the game before level 10...and the gap only widens from there. Red mage can use the chain armor which is great early in the game, but lacks armor options at the end of the game, making him even squishier than the black belt since he'll also have less health. Also keep in mind red mages don't get Ice3 until level 24 or 25(with most parties I've killed chaos by then), and his spell charge progression is awful. Add that in to the fact that he can't use Ruse until class change, can never use Hel2 and can also never use Cur4....and what you wind up with towards the later stages of the game is a ninja with weaker attacks(no katana) and less absorb(absorb is godly in this game...which is why fighters are ridiculously overpowered) and some weak white magic(LIFE is nice, but usually the only one who needs to be LIFEd is the red or black wizard)
Jesus F. Christ said:
(April 25, 2008 12:59)

You know, I should really discuss the promoted classes as well. From most- to least-favorite...

Red Wizards significantly suck more than their more specialized counterparts, I'll give. But hey, the idea of having the Sun Sword/Masamune, FAST, and RUSE in one character appeals to me a lot. Combined with area attacks and decent healing, it makes one of the best characters to solo with. And come on... the HAT...

Knights are simply fighters with better weapons, RUSE (IIRC), and healing. Overpowered, yes, but good GOD, they're nice.

While he gains very little, if at all, from his class change, the Grand Master is undoubtedly the most godlike character in terms of offensive might. You can literally do a hundred hits in a turn with one. Epic. However, I doubt he's ever played a game of chess in his life...

Ninjas are actually pretty nice. I despise thieves on the NES, but ninjas make having one worth it. Katanas, decent armor and shields, FAST, and the occasional FIR2 go GREAT with a character that was formerly capaple of doing little else but dodging an running. I also like this one from a PURELY role-playing standpoint: someone with no courage, conviction, or special talents undergoing an incredible transformation and overcoming all odds with his newfound power... Oh yeah.

White Wizards are IMMORTAL. FADE, LIF2, HEL3, CUR4, HRM4, etc... probably the most useful, if not powerful, magicians in the game. She's also got Thor's Hammer. Still, I usually prefer not to use one. Shame they (as well as the white mage) are the only female characters... unless you consider the red mage some transgender freak. Heheheh... Which I should from now on.

Black mages gain a bunch of instant death spells, SABR (which, unless equipped with the Masamune, makes it less than wonderful on black mages), and NUKE with their promotion to Black Wizard. That, and Guile's haircut. Meh. Once again, not my favorite.
RandomGuy said:
(April 30, 2008 05:28)

weak characters like thief/ninja, BB/master, rm/rw do pathetic physical damage to bosses or enemies with high defense at average or low levels
Learn How to Play said:
(July 01, 2008 10:32)

I wonder why all you guys hate the black-belts so much. If you think they suck, cast the LvL2 Black Magic spell TMPR on them and watch their damage explode.

On another note, it took me awhile playing this game to try a party without a white mage. Now my personal favorite is Fighter/RM/RM/Black-belt. You have 3 decent healers (after transformation), 4 good fighters, and for boss fights just have the RM's cast TMPR/Fast on the Black-belt. The black-belt class by far gets the most benefit out of these "buff" spells than any other class due to his naturally high # of hits per attack.
Monte Katzenberger said:
(July 10, 2008 17:14)

Dude...why does everyone hate the black belt? At higher levels he deals more damage than any other character. He sucks at first but I noticed at level 10 he was starting to perform well with no weapons or armor. Who cares that the BB gets no mana...that's why you have mages. The strongest magic users in the game are white and black mages. Only they can use the best spells. Using a knight or a red mage for magic is like asking a plumber to wire your house. Sure, he can do the job, but shouldn't you just let someone who knows how to do the job RIGHT do it? I don't see how the black belt could be tied with thief for worst class. I think the BB pwns the Knight. I have 2 BB, and I am pwning. My black belts are up front, backed by a BM and a WM. I've been pacing Tiamat's corridoor since I was LVL 25 waiting for warmech to appear and he still isn't here and I'm level 30. In fact, I have been waiting for something to at least TRY and kill me since crescent lake...no takers...

...sorry guys, the knight just doesn't deal the damage when it is necessary.
blah said:
(July 17, 2008 04:57)

blah blah blah.
getting to very high levels is cake as you can fight high xp yielding mobs at treasure chests over and over, so arguing that a class shouldn't be used b/c it is weak prior to level 30 seems silly to me. i have played 4 masters and they mow through anything at higher levels. they don't take hits very well, especially early on, so 2 fighters and 2 black belts work well. all 4 characters can potententially break 999 hits, the 2 fighters will tank 75% of attacks with opal and dragon armor, and all of them hit like trucks with high hit% and masmune/xcalber usage for the fighters. fighters and black belts are the only classes that gain 3 hit% per level and blackbelts get double their hit% effectiveness, which is why they hit so many times (thief,rm,wm,bm gain 2,2,1,1 respectively). with this much physical damage output, magic is more or less unnecessary. magic is limited when in a dungeon, and with so much dps nothing will last long enough for fast to really matter. the only downside is your black belts are vulnerable to death spells, but black belts also gain the most magic defense per level, and at high levels which are easy to obtain with so much dps at chest mobs, they are unlikely to work. now there are other strategies such as 4 white mages casting inv2 3 times and being nearly impossible to hit (only crits get through), but if you want to just mow through stuff, take very little damage, have serious hps all around, and not worry about recharging magic, 2f/2bb is a good way to go.
it is really just about preference. this game is so old that each person has their own reason for even playing it to begin with. (NES version)
Scytheholder said:
(July 22, 2008 09:20)

The next person to bash a thief will get their head bashed in by a giant wrecking ball, why? Because they are good, if you train right you'll hav e great fighters...however if your an idiot you'll probably make them be in the back and run from everything instead of actually killing things with him, face it, so what if half the game is beat when you get ninja, he outshines the Knight, with Black Magic, he kicks the Knights weak healing ass, plus the Katana is badass...although I can't help but feel he was cheated in some ways...like he wasn't shiny enough...because he was rarely used and people piss me off when they choose to in sult a thief, a thief can ultimatly be a badass, possibly moreso than any other, the BB sucks in comparison because all he has is brute strength, you try making it in life with nothing but brute forceon your side, speed and about 2/3 a fighters power rules...now shut up or i'll make you look like a BB.
blah said:
(August 01, 2008 03:56)

The main advantage of a ninja over a fighter is that a ninja can fast himself, if you want to waste a round doing that. A fasted knight would almost always kill a fasted ninja if you even could put the two head to head, which you can't. "Why? Because..."

The knight has better armors
The knight has better weapons (barring masmune)
The knight has more attacks per round
Level 4 magic is gimp except buffs (i.e. fast)
The knight gains strength every level (barring a reset leveled ninja)
The knight has more hits (I don't think a ninja can have 999 hits but I'm not willing to go look it up)

a black belt has twice as many attacks per round as a fighter, and always will have 999 hits at lvl 50 (vitality goes up every level). i don't know which would win if you could put a master against a knight. it depends on how much the knight's armor and the blackbelt's lack thereof factors into their overall damage on each other, as well as how often the blackbelt landed crits. one could fight mobs with similar armor values and make good assumptions, but i'll pass. i have a party of 2 masters and 2 knights going; if i ever finish it i'll youtube a fight and post a link. i'm too busy atm. ff1 isn't exactly the most important thing in life.
Um... said:
(August 08, 2008 06:14)

Ninjas aren't better than Fighters.
Ninjas are spectacular assistants to Fighters because they get to keep all the leftover armor (Flame Armor, Ice Shield, Zeus gauntlet etc), they know how and when to run from a fight, and they can back up the Fighter with a FAST spell.
But they still swing the katana for 150-300 Damage while the Knight is blowing monsters to smithereens with the Xcalbur or the Rapier or whatever the heck he feels like using because he's such a badass.

I love the Thief/Ninja, and I think that the game seems incomplete without one in the party because the Katana kind of goes to waste and I don't like giving a ribbon to an Opal Armor Fighter, but F/F/WM/BM is just plain more powerful. Besides, if there's already a BM, who is the Ninja going to FAST? Himself? Chaos seems more afraid of a WM with Masmune.

As far as the BB argument goes: I don't like him.
The BB is a waste of a character. I don't care that it does massive damage at high levels. I don't even care that it does low damage at low levels. So do the Thief and RM and BM and WM and Knights w/o Silver Swords equipped.
The problem is that:

1. The sprite is ugly. It's UGLY. It just is.

2. No weapons or armor or magic. Many people find this to be a plus because it saves money, but you still need to level, so the money comes regardless. Money is never a problem unless you've got a low level challenge going on, and from the sound of it, that's not what BB players are all about. And if a character isn't accessing the cool weapons and armors and spells in the game, what is he doing? Punching crap? It's BORING! Boring and Ugly. It's ridiculous to bypass everything cool about the entire game, without a need to open a single treasure chest, and then call it the "good" thing about the character.
Oh, wait, Nunchucks. Very briefly, in the beginning, while the BB is weaker than a RW, he has some uniqueness by using nunchucks.

3. Lack of armor makes BB vulnerable to attack. There is no "special armor." There are no "special moves." It's just a weakness of the class. Why does it need a weakness? Why does Kraken have to kill him EVERY time?

4. Class change is nothing. A very exciting, very cool change in which there's a quest with talking dragons that gives your Knight white magic and the Xcalbuer, makes your garbage Thief into a badass ninja, gives your BM the confidence to remove his hat and nuke the hell out of things etc! BB gets nothing. If I played 4BB, I probably wouldn't even class change. It's too depressing. Games shouldn't depress me.

Overall, the problem with the BB is that its class decreases the gameplay value. That is why it is a bad class.

On a highly agressive note: RMs suck. Once you have the Mystic Key, they suck. With a silver sword, a RM is still just about as weak as a Thief with a Rune Sword. You need to level it to ridiculous levels, like 15, in order to cast Fire3 on Lich, and any other character can handle himself well enough that it isn't necessary to drag a slow moving RM along for that or anything afterward, up to and including climaxing at Silver armor (defense as bad as BB/Master), poorly wielding weapons that would fit better on a Ninja or Knight, and puzzling if he'll ever be at a high enough level to use Lit3 and Ice3 against anything (the answer is no. Even when you gain the ability to use those spells, the only helpful one is EXIT at the ToF, and WM can do that too.)
RM is ONLY good for parties that don't want to sacrifice 2 slots for mages, but I find that it's better to go without magic at all in the beginning rather than have a weak character with poor magical abilities later in the game. We have Mage Staffs and Heal Staffs and the Thor's Hammer etc. anyway.

Now, I have wasted enough time here.

I wonder if anybody will ever read this.

I know that it will not matter to whoever does.

Alas!
Shade Tail said:
(August 26, 2008 08:00)

Why do Black Belt defenders keep asking why people bash on him? Everybody explains why quite clearly: low HP, low defense, and inability to heal easily means that BB sucks. Is that really so difficult to understand?

And please don't give me that "at really high levels he is strongest" nonsense. Believe it or not, some people do not have the patience to grind their party up to that high a level. Particularly considering that the high 20s to low 30s are plenty powerful enough to beat the game.

Black Belt / Master just isn't a good class. Feel free to disagree, but don't insult us by pretending that we aren't giving rational reasons for our opinion.
blah said:
(September 04, 2008 08:03)

'irrational' vs. 'nonsense' /ponder
if u don't want to level the toons high, the bb is 'reasonably' not so hot. if u level higher, the bb is hot. i don't really consider this game a grind though; it's too easy to level. i won't post to youtube the final results b/c i made the names vulgar, but i can say that at lvl50 with a masmune my fighter hit chaos for 352 (5 hits/crit). the black belt hit for 1104 (8 hits/crit) and 1043 (7 hits/crit). the black belt did have an advantage b/c he'd used the power gauntlet b4 attacking, but i don't think it matters that much (i was stalling to let chaos attack a little). that is about the normal ratio that the bb outdamages the fighter on other mobs. it'd take time to test much further than that as i can only hit chaos so many times before he dies (3 in this instance). i never ran and never used a heal potion on the way to chaos; 2 heal helmets, a heal staff, the white shirt, and sometimes a little help from the wizard staff bring the party to full health on most encounters. both bbs and fighters had 999 hits.
blah said:
(September 04, 2008 09:25)

eh okay. i editied it while i watched tv. i'm really bored today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV-I-uER6DY
the last blah said:
(September 04, 2008 17:43)

last test... i have a lot of excess time today. i let chaos attack until he got the party down to 523/797/746/365 (f,f,bb,bb). chaos did the following: ice3,lit3,slo2,cur4,fir3,miss,crack,miss,inferno,swirl,tornado,ice2,miss,fast,miss,miss,crack,miss,miss,nuke,ice3,lit3,slo2,inferno,cur4,swirl,fir3(i attacked)
my toons hit for:
fighter: 6 hits 124 dmg
black belt: 10 hits 1686 dmg crit
black belt: 7 hits 1245 dmg crit
i don't know the mechanics for crits, but i think the bbs always crit at 50. the fighters usually do but not always. (crit chance is prolly higher for bb and prolly 100% or 100%+ at 50. armor and evade are negated on crits, so i guess that answers my previous question to whether a lvl50 fighter would kill a lvl 50 bb. i find it ironic that the lvl50 class that would kill every other lvl50 class 1v1 in this game is said to suck the worst.) i recovered to full hps at rounds with crack spells, but too many dmg spells in a row after the last crack made me fall behind. never used power gauntlet; i read it's for magic dmg increase anyway.

i messed with this game again b/c i loved it as a kid. my final answer to the best party is f/f/bb/rm. this makes the best use of the available armors in the game (opal armor, dragon armor, opal bracelet, 3 ribbons). fighters have good dps and will take 75% of hits. rm has access to most spells and can protect the bb with white magic; bb will do the dps on tougher mobs. defense sword on the rm imo.

as for the level question about bbs vs. fighters for dps, bbs start doing 8 hits at lvl 32. at 6 hits they do at least the dps of fighters versus most mobs. the mistake ppl make is they expect them to tank. have fun!!!
blah said:
(September 10, 2008 19:53)

youtube link is dead. search for 'final fantasy ideal party' within youtube.com for vid on how bbs do not suck if interested. swap rm for wm in post above.
Winz said:
(September 16, 2008 13:36)

The reason people bash black belts is because they compare them to Fighters. That is not a fair comparison for any of the other classes in this game either. Fighters get the best absorb, highest hp(for most of the game unless you level really, really high), and can use the best weapons. Doing great damage and taking 1 damage from most enemies when you get hit, it going to make all the other classes look silly. That's actually why I never play with fighters/knights...they are just too good. Someone earlier said their red mage was owning as much as their fighter, but my guess is they haven't even gotten the boat yet if they are making that kind of statement
OMG h4x said:
(September 18, 2008 09:44)

I agree whole-heartedly with Winz. I mean this guy has got it down. I am going to follow his advice and post a YouTube video of me boxing Warmech to death. Then I'm going to dominate two chili dogs with slaw and sit back as I crown myself king of the mythbusters.

Black Belts are winz. If you don't believe me, walk into a Karate studio and say, "Screw all you Asian bastards! I'll stomp you all!"

Kthanks.
Black Belts are interesting said:
(October 31, 2008 14:16)

I dont think BB sucks in either game, i think BB is a very challengng character in either game, but he certainly has his strenghts. when you get to around level 40+ NES or 80+ GBA/PSP/DOS, the Master is THE boss killer, dishing out enormous pain.

In short, Black Belts one of those classes that starts out horrible but ends up pretty dang awesome. I still prefer fighter because well hes the best tank, and almost as good a boss slayer as the BB, but hes still good.

More on black belts said:
(October 31, 2008 14:37)

I left out the most important point. Black belts and Theives demonstrate something about this game that made it a masterpeice, it caters to both the min maxer playstyle and the playstile of playing it for the fun of slaying monsters. A Fighter/RM/WM/BM party is simple, fun, and plays to strategey. A BB/Theif/WM/BM party is challenging because everyone in your lineup can get smote by a monster, and its fun... if you like to play the game in a different way. There is no winner to the blackbelt/fighter argument. You are both right, because when you sit down to play, you prefer this character and he makes the game more fun for you.

Personal Preference: Gimme Fighter/Theif/White Mage/Black Mage, but ive played with a BB tanking,a nd it was prety hard sometimes, but a rewarding experiance.

Chris said:
(November 12, 2008 01:11)

Red mages suck. They can't use most of the good spells in the game that the other two mages can do.

Black Belts are very good and as a Master they can do the most damage in the game, even at a lower level. Don't underestimate them.

Using either the Theif or BB as your second character is good any way you look at it. Sure they have a low defense, but just cast INVS and cure if needed and they kick just as much as as a Fighter.
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