And now, for the last time, let's get this show on the road.
Odds and Ends: Status dealers
Statuses are a valuable part of the arsenal in FFT. While mainline titles have moments when status is the key to defeat a particularly tough encounter or boss, by and large the games are more conductive to prioritizing damage and having status as secondary option. Positive statuses (buffs, in other words) are generally more respected in mainline games, due to their more broad applicability: effects like taking less physical/magical damage, recovering HP passively, faster turns, more attacks and increased attack/magical power tend to be useful regardless of circumstances.
In FFT and sequels though statuses are respected. This is due many factors: movement and range are important factors, the general turn structure, the fact that accuracy isn't automatically perfect, the limited number of commands available at once, etc... All this factors combined make statuses, both positive and negative, a strong force multiplier in these games. The original FFT makes status a concern of the Oracle and Time Mage Jobs, and of the unique character Beowulf. FFTA has various Jobs that can apply some status, positive or negative, and we've already seen most of them: from the basic buffs of the White Mage or Bishop to the Time Mage's speed-altering spells and even Jobs like the Assassin, that make status a weapon. Continuing on this trend and closing the FFTA Job listing we have the Alchemist and the Juggler.
The Alchemist is a (surpise) No Mou Magic-based Job. They wield a variety of spells that can hurt enemies and inflict status, with a focus on non-elemental spells. The stats are typical of the many No Mou mages: low HP, high MP, very low Attack, low Defense, high Magic and Resistance and low Speed. They wield Maces and use hats and clothing as armor. The abilities are split between magical attacks and status, with some of them classic FF spells: they can cast Astra (1-shot status shield), Death, Frog, Poison, Rasp (MP damage), Flare and Meteor. Thye also have access to the Maintenance (prevents item destruction/stealing) and Magic Pow+ (more magic power) Support abilities. In addition to this Alchemists have always access to the Item command, appearing as third skillset. Alchemists are alright. The high Magic and poweful spells makes them useful on the offensive, and innate Item use means they can be used as healer if needed. There's no Throw Items in this game (or A2) sadly, you'll have to get close. A popular combination is with Sage, for even more powerful spells and some AoE healing; depending on your preferences it can be either Sage as primary or secondary Job, both work well. you can also mix Alchemist with other casters, like TIme or White Mage for more support or with Black Mage or Illusionist for more offensive power.
How does A2 treats Alchemists? It's ok. Death is gone and it's now an Arcanist spell, replaced with Transmute: a melee-range ability that transmutes an opponent with critical HP in a consumable item. Human transmutation is legal in Ivalice, Potions are Soylent Green. You heard it here first. Apart from that spells in general got their MP cost slashed, Toad way less than the other though. Alchemist can now learn Item Lore, a new Support ability that doubles Item power; nice to have, but still no Throw Items. Overall not much has changed, Alchemists keep their role and can now lean more on items use, but that's it.
On to the Juggler. here we ahve a Moogle Job, themed around clowns, acrobats and circus in general with a strong affinity for status effects. Jugglers feature good HP, low MP, good Attack, a surprisingly high Defense (as in more than the Mog Knight), low Magic and Resistance and high Speed (outpaced only by Thieves). Similar to Thief, the Juggler uses daggers and can use hats and clothes as armor. The Juggler abilities focus on throwing around various objects for different effects, mostly circus themed. We start with Hurl, a direct copy of the Ninja's Throw that allows the Juggler to throw a weapon in the inventory for damage. Gil Toss allows Jugglers to throw away money for damage; it's sadly not as strong as Zeninage was. Then there's Hoop, an ability that Stops an enemy, and Ball, that deals Confusion. We have Firebomb for fire damage + a chance for Berserk, and Dagger is similar in dealing damage + a chance for Disable. Last there's Smile, that works like Quick and allows the target to take a turn immediately after the Juggler's. This for 0 MP and at range 4, so pretty much a better Quick. With how Ring is a better Stop (0MP, same range) the TIme Mage must feel clowned. The Juggler can learn 2 Reaction Abilities: Return Fire throws arrows back at the archer (though it works only on normal attacks), while Catch allows the Juggler to catch and keep weapons thrown by Ninjas and Jugglers. Jugglers are a very powerful support Job: they're fast, durable, have decent Attack and the combination of Ring and Smile allows them to control the flow of battle. Dagger is a good offensive option, the damage is only ok but with the added Disable chance it will often take an opponent out of the battle for a while (and Moogles can get Concentration for higher %). Then there's the Juggler train you can do with 2 or more Jugglers tossing Smiles at each other for endless turns. Secondary Jobs for Jugglers can vary: Animist or Time Mage are ok for more general support, Mog Knight for more offensive power (and Smile chains ending in Ultima Charge can take out opponents before they can act), Thief for stealing, or you can go for chaos with Tinker. Juggler can work well as secondary Job for Mog Knights (Smile is nice, but here it's more for Ring and Dagger), Tinkers (Smile and Ring) and Fusiliers, though for them basically only Smile ends up being used due to their own abilities outranging the Juggler's by a significant margin.
FFTA2 changes little. The Juggler Defense was scaled back, now being only good compared to best in race as before, but that's basically it. The Concentrate nerf hurts, though chances are they'll stil use it for better hit% on status moves. Juggler makes for a good secondary Job for the Chocobo Knight, since it's even faster and can act as support if it's on foot.
And with these 2 I'm done with the FFTA Jobs. But of course FFTA2 still has some Jobs to talk about, with some being tied to status effects.
Let's start with the Green Mage. This is the last of the *color* Mages, and it's a Viera Job that focuses on using both positive and negative status to support the party. The stat spread is unusual: low HP, mediocre MP, low Attack and Defense, ok Magic, low Resistance and high Speed. They use hammers and maces as weapon and light armor, robes and hats as armor. Their spells are entirely based on status effects; this makes their ok Magic stat useful only for any secondary Job they might have equipped. On the buff side the Green Mage has the classic Protect and Shell (now Green and not White Magic) and two new new spells: Tranq increases the target's Accuracy, while Leap increases the target's Move and Jump by one point each. Shell and Protect are AoE while Tranq and Leap are siglne target. Then there's the negative status spells: the classic Blind (single target), Sleep (AoE) and Silence (AoE) and the new entry Oil (single target). Oil causes the affected unit to take more damage from Fire attacks, physical or magical. Green Mages can choose between Absorb MP and Evade Magick as Reaction ability, and have access tot he Spellbound Support ability to extend status duration on themselves (even the negative ones, keep it in mind). Green Mages are a support Job first and foremost. With high Speed and low everything else they have a weak offensive presence, so they work best focusing in supporting other, more offensive Jobs. Green Mage is a good support Job for Assassins: the draw here is Tranq for the sweet 30% bonus accuracy and Leap is nice too, if expensive at 18MP. They can also work as secondary for Red Mage, as Green Magic can be Dualcast. Summoner or White Mage as primary are also an option, or you can double up the status with the Spellblade. The Green Mage is an interesting Job, though not what you call an offensive powerhouse. They work best as secondary Job more than primary one, between stats and not exactly stellar choice of equipment, but in this role they can carve out a niche.
Next there's the Spellblade, another Viera Job that focuses on status. The Spellblade however is a offense-focused Job that combines status with strikes to overwhelm the opponents. Stat-wise Spellblades ahve very low HP, lo MP, good Attack, low Dfense, Magic and Resistance and ok Speed. Their weapon of choice is the humble sword, and they can use light armor and hats. Their abilities work in a simple way: each one is a weapon attack that, as a rider effect, causes a status effect. The options here are: Poison (Poison Blade), Oil (Oil Blade), Sleep (Sleep Blade), Slow (Slow Blade), Confusion (Confusion Blade), Immobilize (Stun Blade), Disable (Maim Blade) and Doom (Doom Blade). These abilities benefit, despite having "Blade" in the name, aren't restricted to sword and can be used with any weapon. Also, despite being physical attacks, they work with Turbno MP ofr increased power and accuracy at the price of double MP cost (so 16 MP, up from 8MP). Spellblades also have the Critical: Evasion Up Reaction ability and the very powerful Blood Price Support ability. Blood Price lets you cast spells with HP instead of using MP, but the price is doubled. Also, while the game doesn't tell you this, Blood Price also powers up your spells like Magic Up. This is just broken. Not only you ge to cheat the MP system, you also get a power up for basically no cost. Combine this with Doublecast and maybe element absorption, Doublecast the appropriate spell on yourself and the enemy and just laugh. Summon magic as secondary completes what is on of the most OP units in the game. The Spellblade by itself is a fine Job. While it's on the frail side (as all Viera Jobs TBH) their abilities are rather strong and can work both as primary and secondary Job. As primary they benefit from Red Mage as secondary, because Doublecast works with their own abilities and Red Magic allows a good deal of flexibility. Green Magic is good if you want to double up on status and have some range. As secondary Job they work very well with ranged attackers like Archers, Snipers and Assassins, because Blade Arts does work with bows despite the name. Snper tend to be the favored one, high Attack and their abilities don't cost MP; a popular Support ability is Turbo MP, use Doubleshot/Beso Toxico in the off tuns when you don't have MP and the Blade Art of your choice when you have them. Fencer can also work, both as primary or secondary Job, though there is some overlap in their abilities.
Last of the status-focused Job is the Bard, and it's also the last Job returning Job from FFT (even if Omi never got around to unlock it). Much like the Dancer, the Bard is an unique Job in FFTA2. The unique Job of a certain Moogle, the Bard is another support Job that uses statuses, but with some healing and other tricks beside. The stats aren't anything to write home about: mediocre HP, low MP, very low Attack and Defense, good Magic, ok Resistance and mediocre Speed. Appropriate to the name, the Bard uses instruments as weapon and can equip light armor and hats. As a nod to past FFs, the Bard joins with already lerned the abilites Requiem (AoE heavy damage to undeads + removes undead tombs), Hide (Invisible on self), Magickal Refrain (Increases Resistance of target) and Battle Chant (raises Defense of the target). Beside those abilities he can learn Angelsong (Regen to an ally), Nameless Song (Random buffs in an AoE), Magick Ballad (restores 10MP, AoE) and Soul Etude (Heal + removes debuffs, AoE). Magick Ballad is very useful, it's the weakest MP restoring ability but it's also the only AoE one and it can enable multiple strong openings. The Bard has the Critical: Vanish Reaction ability learned when recruited, normally unavailable to Moogles. The Bard is a support Job with very unique abilities, though it's usually used as secondary Job due to the not great stats. It can work as secondary Job for casters like Black or Time Mage, for MP recovery and buffs. Another common use is as secondary Job on the Juggler, for pure support with Smile and Magick Ballad on a faster Job. This character (and another Moogle unique character) can't become a Chocobo Knight though, so Juggler is the best option (Thief is faster, but Juggler has better Defense and HP for a small loss in Speed). A last popular option is to level as Moogle Knight, for increased physical Defense, HP, and defensive abilities (and some attacks on the side). Still the Bard is a versatile Job, though most useful as secondary skillset than as primary Job.
So that's the deal with status users. Most can be seen as primarily offensive (Assassin, Spellblade, Alchemist,...) but you also get some defensive and hybrid ones, mainly in A2.
I'll take another post to go on about the last Jobs, probably tomorrow.
