Best job for every character? Differences between Prima Guide and online suggestions.

[HideoKoncima]

I have the Official Prima Guide (in pdf), and their suggestions are pretty different from those I find online. And I don't know what to think, because, for example, the high mag atk stats of Penelo, are wasted with their suggestions.
Their explanation is: "this team includes every job, so you get the full experience, and has a varied team you can swap in and out"

These are their suggestions:
Vaan: Uhlan and Black Mage
Penelo: Monk and Foebreaker
Basch: Bushi and Time Mage
Balthier: White Mage and Archer
Fran: Red Mage and Shikari
Ashe: Knight and Machinist.

Any opinion?

[Casurin]

Ignore them.
You do NOT need every job, far from it it actually makes your characters "weaker" - BUT pretty much every combination can still easily beat the whole game and unless you really want to have a bad team (like all whitemages) you can still easily defeat every superboss too.


So for the classes i would still suggest going with what you like.
If you want to min/max everything then you could also take into consideration not only the job-combos and stats of the characters (the stat difference in offensive stats is negligible) but also the character-weapon animation speed (Balthier and fran are notorious for being slowPistol/Bow user).

I personally did go with a 12 job combo. I already beat the game several times on the Ps2 and this version became even easier so i dont care about the party being ever so slightly stronger.

[HideoKoncima]

Thanks. What was your 12 job combo?

[it's a gabe]

Trust me, you don't want to trust all that much on Prima. Their guides are terrible. I actually have the Shin Megami Tensei 4 CE, which comes with a printed guide written by Prima, and that thing just abruptly ends long before the game ends (I'd say they left about 20 to 30h out of the guide). If they did that because the progress changes dramatically once you reach a certain point, they didn't even bother to let readers know. The guide just jumps immediately into some quest and fusion charts and whatnot. No wonder Prima isn't a thing anymore.

Anyway, personally, I went with a combination that's slightly lore-friendly but still useful. I used all jobs except for... What is it called? Foebreaker or something like that? But as Casurin said, there's no need to be a purist and min-max unless you really want to. Anyway, here's my combo:

- Vaan: Shikari/Monk (access to ninja swords as well as Protectga, Shellga, and a few other white magicks)
- Penelo: Bushi/Red Mage (access to black and white magicks, as well as AOE dark magicks, and magick attack/potency enhancements through Bushi)
- Fran: Archer/Time Mage (cuz it makes sense for her to be an Archer and I usually play with two party compositions, Vaan, Penelo, and Fran being my second, so I wanted to have Haste accessible without needing to use Balthier on this composition)
- Basch: Knight/Uhlan (if memory serves, the Zodiac Spear is one of the strongest melee weapons. This combo seems to boost physcal attack quite a bit. I wanted Basch to be sort of a tank, hence the combo)
- Ashe: Black Mage/White Mage (cuz I wanted access to advanced black magicks but this party composition didn't have strong white magicks, not to mention Bubble is very useful later on)
- Balthier: Machinist/Time Mage (makes sense for him to be a machinist, though I have no idea what those scale abilities do as I've never used them in the IZJS, and also cuz I wanted this party composition to have access to Haste)

I actually started the game all over again after I've finished King Raithwall's Tomb cuz I had realized I messed up my party, and I didn't want to deal with those things that modify save files. Then, the second time around, I carefully tried to put together a varied and flexible composition where the job combos either compliment one another (for the same character) or the entire party (as is the case for Fran and Balthier both having Time Mage). Just from looking at its available abilities, I found Foebreaker to be quite unnecessary as you have access to some of those weakening abilities through other boards.

So just go with what you think will fit your playstyle. You will hardly make use of every single ability/magick in the entire game, so there's nothing wrong with being adventurous. Shades of Black, for example, is a little risky to use in many situations but when it lands a black magick the foe is weak to, it's devastating. Telekinesis is also a great ability to have and Haste is always useful. Personally, though, I never used any of the Foebreaker weakening abilities even though I had that class set to *someone* in the IZJS, so I just skipped it entirely this time around.

[HideoKoncima]

Originally posted by unnecesaurus:

I actually started the game all over again after I've finished King Raithwall's Tomb cuz I had realized I messed up my party, and I didn't want to deal with those things that modify save files.

Thanks. What was your wrong party composition?

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by SiegfriedM:

Originally posted by unnecesaurus:

I actually started the game all over again after I've finished King Raithwall's Tomb cuz I had realized I messed up my party, and I didn't want to deal with those things that modify save files.

Thanks. What was your wrong party composition?

I don't remember, but it was mostly a personal preference. I do remember, though, that my main party (Basch, Ashe, Balthier) had no major healing spells down the line and no one had black magicks either.

I'd recommend looking at each board individually as soon as you have the option to set Vaan's job and try and understand how they can work together both in the same character and in the party. Not one job is exclusively meant to work with another in any way, so there are numerous combinations you can come up with. For instance, one of the reasons I decided to go with Bushi/Red Mage for Penelo is due to Bushi's magick enhancements. Back when I played the IZJS, however, I remember seeing people mention that Bushi is particularly useful due to Shades of Black, so I imagine all those magick enhancements would be a good fit with Black Mage instead.

It all depends on what you deem useful for what you're trying to accomplish with your party.

[it's a gabe]

Oh! Thought I'd also let you know what I think are the most useful jobs, one everyone should have around for how they perform in combat. Just note that this is my opinion:

- Shikari for late-game ninja swords. This job also has a high chance of hitting multiple times within the same action (especially with later ninja swords) and at least when this is set for Vaan, his evasion can become stupidly high to the point where he'll evade most attacks;
- Time Mage for Haste. Haste is always useful. I don't remember if this game has Hastega, but I imagine it does and if so, Time Mage should be the job which has it;
- White Mage for powerful healing spells as well as Bubble, which increases the enchanted party member's HP to 9999 (though in pre-TZA, the value could actually exceed 9999, but you just didn't actually see the value cuz the interface didn't support it. No idea if the same is true in this version). You can acquire multiple bubble belts down the line but that's not such an easy task, so getting just enough of them and relying on WHM for the reamining party member's bubble buff is a valid strategy;
- Black Mage for advanced black magicks, of course. When used properly, they can make a huge difference;
- If I'm not mistaken, Uhlan is one of the strongest melee classes in part due to the Zodiac Spear, though I don't remember it being that remarkable back when I played the IZJS. It was strong for sure but everyone in my party was strong in a way or another, especially cuz I farmed the zodiac weapons relentlessly. Anyway, I remember a lot of people used to favor this class.

[HideoKoncima]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate your explanations.

[Pacoroto]

I managed to get what I THINK it's the best composition, this way you don't waste any good weapon and can ignore the badones, like axes (random damage wtf?):

1st party

Vaan: knight/monk (dps/healer IF NEEDED)
Penelo: shikari/time make (dps with ninja swords/magic dps)
ashe: red mage/uhlan (dps with magic and/or maces that scale with mgk power/healer)

2nd party

Fran: archer/black mage (dps with either a bow or a staf)
Balthier : machinist/white mage (dps/healer)
Bash: bushi/foe breaker (HIGH dps with katanas, and HIGH HP that's all)

with this composition you can unlock almost every spell for almost every character and have a pretty balanced team.

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by Pacoroto:

I managed to get what I THINK it's the best composition, this way you don't waste any good weapon and can ignore the badones, like axes (random damage wtf?):

1st party

Vaan: knight/monk (dps/healer IF NEEDED)
Penelo: shikari/time make (dps with ninja swords/magic dps)
ashe: red mage/uhlan (dps with magic and/or maces that scale with mgk power/healer)

2nd party

Fran: archer/black mage (dps with either a bow or a staf)
Balthier : machinist/white mage (dps/healer)
Bash: bushi/foe breaker (HIGH dps with katanas, and HIGH HP that's all)

with this composition you can unlock almost every spell for almost every character and have a pretty balanced team.

I'm curious, how useful is foe breaker? I skipped it entirely as I sort of failed to see its usefulness as I never used those weakening skills in the IZJS.

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by unnecesaurus:

I'm curious, how useful is foe breaker? I skipped it entirely as I sort of failed to see its usefulness as I never used those weakening skills in the IZJS.

It's pretty useless. Wither is the only break worth using, and you can get that on a much better job (Monk). The breaker weapons are terrible, with the exception of Vrscika which is great in the midgame but middling at best in the endgame (and can always just screw you on RNG).

There's little reason to use Foebreaker outside of special-restriction runs (like using all 12 jobs).

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by Hinnyuu:

Originally posted by unnecesaurus:

I'm curious, how useful is foe breaker? I skipped it entirely as I sort of failed to see its usefulness as I never used those weakening skills in the IZJS.

It's pretty useless. Wither is the only break worth using, and you can get that on a much better job (Monk). The breaker weapons are terrible, with the exception of Vrscika which is great in the midgame but middling at best in the endgame (and can always just screw you on RNG).

There's little reason to use Foebreaker outside of special-restriction runs (like using all 12 jobs).

Thanks for clarifying!

Yeah, I'm using, like, 11 of the 12 jobs. The one I skipped is foebreaker xD I was like "what makes this one so special when most of these skills are available on more useful jobs?"

[Arkhne]

Originally posted by unnecesaurus:

Originally posted by Hinnyuu:

It's pretty useless. Wither is the only break worth using, and you can get that on a much better job (Monk). The breaker weapons are terrible, with the exception of Vrscika which is great in the midgame but middling at best in the endgame (and can always just screw you on RNG).

There's little reason to use Foebreaker outside of special-restriction runs (like using all 12 jobs).

Thanks for clarifying!

Yeah, I'm using, like, 11 of the 12 jobs. The one I skipped is foebreaker xD I was like "what makes this one so special when most of these skills are available on more useful jobs?"

It's so very speschul. The most speschul class of them all. Even Uhlan is better, and imho, Uhlan is only good for bestowing Heavy Armour Licences.

[HideoKoncima]

In the meantime, I've found this https://steamcommunity.com/app/595520/discussions/0/1700542332319186028/?ctp=2

Seems pretty interesting

[Sakhari]

Originally posted by SiegfriedM:

In the meantime, I've found this https://steamcommunity.com/app/595520/discussions/0/1700542332319186028/?ctp=2

Seems pretty interesting

Just be aware that any guide recommending Shikari/Breaker (especially those calling it a top-tier choice) have tripped at the first hurdle, never got past the theorycrafting phase, and should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

I'll echo much of what you've already heard in that the game isn't hard enough to warrant agonizing over this choice too much. Hinnyuu generally gives good advice and in both our cases, if you feel like looking back at old threads, I don't think either of our recommendations have changed too much beyond the first month after the PC release.

Incidentally, I also never use Archer, Breaker, or Uhlan in my runs anymore unless I'm just screwing around or someone's doing a limited 12-job run. Time Mage is pretty easy to leave out too but with 6 characters, it's no loss giving it to someone for a couple quality-of-life spells that are nice to have.

[HideoKoncima]

Originally posted by Sakhari:

Originally posted by SiegfriedM:

In the meantime, I've found this https://steamcommunity.com/app/595520/discussions/0/1700542332319186028/?ctp=2

Seems pretty interesting

Just be aware that any guide recommending Shikari/Breaker (especially those calling it a top-tier choice) have tripped at the first hurdle, never got past the theorycrafting phase, and should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

I'll echo much of what you've already heard in that the game isn't hard enough to warrant agonizing over this choice too much. Hinnyuu generally gives good advice and in both our cases, if you feel like looking back at old threads, I don't think either of our recommendations have changed too much beyond the first month after the PC release.

Incidentally, I also never use Archer, Breaker, or Uhlan in my runs anymore unless I'm just screwing around or someone's doing a limited 12-job run. Time Mage is pretty easy to leave out too but with 6 characters, it's no loss giving it to someone for a couple quality-of-life spells that are nice to have.

Thanks, but I think I'll go for lore friendly jobs, so Fran as Archer, Balthier as Machinist, Basch as Knight, and so on...