I can't pick starting class!

[Branoic]

I got the original version last year, and I've just downloaded the new version, but I've never actually played past the starting tutorial area on the beach. I must have started the game about 5 times in the last year. I just can't seem to settle on classes for the player characters! My problem is that I understand that magic is really powerful in this game but I don't actually like magic. In all other RPGs I play, I would never pick a wizard / mage style class. I'm always usually a straight up fighter or sometimes a ranger / hunter.

Is it a really bad idea to pick two non magic users in this game and just rely on NPC party members to bring the magic? Im thinking maybe fighter or knight, and ranger or wayfarer. Wayfarer is magic i know, but doesn't seem too focused on it, and i quite like the spider summoning.

Or will I really really be missing out by not making one or even both PCs magic users? I know there's all the stuff about different schools of magic complimenting each other etc.

[Osaka from Azumanga Daioh]

Pyromaniac mage is insanely strong (except for fire boss), and on my 2nd play i'm doing it without him.. That's kinda painful. Witch curses range is way too low.

[Talana 💃]

You can of course choose to play two non-magic users - no problem ! You`ll meet a magician in the first town, and in addition you can hire one. That`s a least what I learnt by reading a lot about this game - good luck

[Arteas Naur]

Tbh i used a little of magic- and mostly to Summon / Buffing with Bless and Oath of Desecration. Sometimes Vampire or Regeneration to heal. So you can beat game without dedicated mage (1 in hydro and couple points in Geo for summons/bless) and youre ready to go! My comp was mage (summoner) /2h warrior/ 1h + shield warrior with Regeneration skill/ ranger

[Paranoia]

This game doesn't really have classes per se (what you see when you create your main characters are presets that you can customize), so you could always put, say, 1 point in witchcraft just to get some buffs for yourself without really going into the whole max-int-caster routine. It's really nice to have a mage, but it's possible to complete the game with full physical party. Furthermore, if you wish to experience how elements mix with each other it's possible with grenades and elemental arrows.

Anyway, yes, it's possible to recruit and customize a mage companion who starts with air and water magic OR take a henchman later on. They can't benefit from character traits like your MCs do and there are some restrictions (it's impossible to respec henchmen and the same goes for said mage companion; other companions always respec to their starting stats), however you're not missing out at all. You still control them, choose what abilities they take and so on.

So you'll do just fine if you play what you like.

[Kolopaper]

It's just the first few levels. After that whatever class you have, you can get a wider variety of skills and your characters will become more versatile. They will all feel better!

[MeatPopsicle]

Me too, so many choices i don't know what to do!

[Winking Wizard]

Holla to people who spent 2 hrs on the creation stage.

A standard party build will be 2 ranged + 2 mele, at least one mage (cmon, it's an RPG, you always need a mage), one tank (ditto), the rest up to you.

On the highest difficulty though, your mage would be casting buff/debuff 80% of the time, none of your character could really "tank" so I strongly recommend NOT having a classic one handed + shield guy, as he or she is not going to do anything to anyone.

My first playthrough on the original version was with an one handed + shield tank (regret), a two handed secondary tank, a pyro + oil mage (filthy casual cheese) and an archer. Now I'm switching the shield guy with a two handed rogue, and stop using oil cheese all together. So far so good.

[Winking Wizard]

If you're not playing on the highest difficulty, don't even bother, you'll get through it one way or another. If you're on tactician, however, at least have one mage in your pary (doesn't have to be your PCs) otherwise you're going to be throwing grenades all day everyday.

[76561198034396398]

mage,thief.warrior,archer works everytime (can't remember the ingame names for them)

[Jactar]

I'm playing following party composition. One mage / healer ranged, one archer / buffer / debuffer ranged, one 2h melee tank / healer (yeah my tank have some heals too) and one rogue melee.

[Zarakaï]

Mages are the most useful honestly, a healer is a good idea, but you'll meet Jahan in the first town and he's an hydrosophist ( so he can heal ).

If you don't like mages, go with a tank and an archer. Archers can be really powerful BUT they need a lot of special arrows, and thos cost a lot of money at the begining of the game. investing in crafting to craft your own arrows is a good idea.

If you make a warrior tank, invest in SPEED or else he won't have enough action point to play more than once per turn, and it's really annoying. Dual classing warrior/geomancer mage can be good to use some nice spells ( there is a rock armor I think ), or warrior/aerothurge is a nice idea too, some lighting spells can be really useful in close combat.

I don't recommend playing without at least two mages, one healer/buff/debuff/crowd control and one damage dealer. Blinding, stunning or knocking down your ennemies will save your life more than once.

As for the rogues, it's generally my favorite class, by here I don't like them :

- not resistant enough, needs constant healing, get targeted by ennemies first
- they need to be in the back on an ennemy to be efficient, which means that they usualy end up in the AOE of mages/rangers, or in oil/fire/poison zones
- any other character can pick pockets or pick locks and disarm traps, a ranger with high perception will do the trick just fine to detect traps and stuff

Sure they do a lot of damage WHEN they land a crit, but it doesn't outweight the cons imo.