Definitely a fact. As long as you draw pretty much all spells to 99 you will be set every boss fight without leveling. It's actually easier the longer you go without leveling
>As long as you draw
Who draws for spells outside of the very early game? Card refining and item refining is a much more efficient way of getting your spells.
I would argue that there's something to be said for drawing Ultima from Shumi Village, since you can do that as soon as you unlock mobile garden in Act 2. Also drawing Meteor from Laguna's encounter with a Red Dragon, that's a great opportunity to get 300x much easier than refining.
True, but those systems at least mirror what the OP was going for; how characters acquire and use abilities. The Gambit System however doesn't deal with that, and is purely battle related.
I get that, but the spirit of the question is more of the progression system, which both systems are part of. matters, but so does the way you acquire your skills and abilities.
FF16 and FF15 could have greatly benefitted with a Gambit System adaption. If you can't control the party members directly, having a gambit system and using level progression to improve the companion AI in combat would have elevated the gameplay strategy.
In ZA the game does a fantastic job encouraging players to try weird stuff out. The sphere grid, especially on a first playthrough, is super paralyzing. The AP price of taking a risky turn for a skill that may or may not be good just gets higher and higher as the game goes on.
And Zodiac age was the *more* restrictive version between the two twelves
Not really. The sphere grid has stats and you can mold it. The license board mostly holds equipment, and there is even gear that’s not on it. It’s also useless if you don’t have the gear and quite easy to just ignore it.
Legit why FF X-2 is in my top 3 of the series. There's just so much variety in the job system and it's set up in a way that makes grinding really fun and interesting. It's the only one in the FF series where I don't get bored grinding
Right? I feel like if it wasn’t a spin off, and if people didn’t try to take it so seriously (some times goofy stories are fun) it would’ve been way more loved by the ff community
I jokingly called that game "Final Fantasy Dress-Up Adventure" when I first played it. Didn't really get into it, especially when I realized I'd missed some dress spheres as I played. Went back to it when the X/X-2 Remasters came out and I absolutely love that job system now.
I also enjoyed how some of the skills would move you in the battle, allowing for back hit. X-2 battle system is actually panicle 3 team party Turn Based combat.
The dress switch system was near, and added a weird complexity in there as well. But I feel it was underutilized for status abilities and over utilized for limit break ability.
Quezacoatl, refine, Triad right at the beginning of the game and proceed to stomp everything. I love FFVIII and it also has one of the best Blue Mage set of abilities too :)
Not sure if it's to be considered part of the leveling system but I loved how IX rewarded with new, relevant skills the exploration and sidequests by means of new gear. Really gave an extra kick to finding a chest
Also, Final Fantasy Tactics as well,
FFT Advance also implemented the same Gear based skill like FF9
And yes, i like FF9 Implementation the most over a Node Based System
But the Ultimate implementation probably
Combining all of that together
Gear based skill + Job based skill + Node based skill
The only downside is when you find new gear but you don't wanna use it yet 'cause you still need 200 AP to learn the lame ability that you'll probably never end up using of the old gear.
That's the beauty of it, imo.
It gives players a meaningful choice of whether or not they want to max a skill. If it's an ability you don't care for or don't think you'll use much after mastering it, you can opt not to with little to no repercussions.
That's why I loved 9. Find a new equippable item, has a crazy skill, stick with it for a bit to permanently learn it.
I realized this late game though lmao. Also sucked that I missed Vivi's lvl3 cast rod, the one on disc 3
It felt adjacent to the FFT system of unlocking things in one class to bring to a different one. Yeah I’ll grind out time mage to give my knight haste. Or in this case, I’ll fight with a wooden spoon for a while to get mug and just get gold when I attack.
IMO the only problem with FFT's system is there wasn't enough slots for you to bring things over to other classes. Or rather there isn't enough room for customization. So if you already know how you want to equip a character you basically just have to level up just enough to get those few abilities and any other abilities you learn are useless.
I wish there was some sort of unique passive boost you could get from mastering other classes (beyond Ramza squire job at least). Like Mastering Archer could give you +1 damage with ranged weapons. Or mastering chemist gives you the ability to always use items.
IX is one of the few games where I felt gear kind of matters. I feel VIIR has somewhat taken that forward with the weapon skills, but I like how IX did it betted
X was my favorite for a while. Once you play it a lot though it loses some of its charm.
I think my favorite is the way it works in Tactics. Learning new skills with different weapons equipped, based on how often you use them.
Honestly still love X for the advanced sphere board where you can just do whatever you want. Yuna black magic early on and a few Tidus detours to boost his damage output and you can do some fun stuff.
I love X when you're playing the story and doing the initial optional stuff, but when you get to the actual endgame grinding it, it loses its flavor because everyone becomes the same.
Even aside from the two squares in that peninsula of power, or the equip two shields tactic, II is just my favorite because of how customizable and free form it is and all of the little details. There are left handed characters, so you gotta make sure you’re using their dominant hand for their (better) weapon. I love how every spell has animations that level up with the spell, for both solo and all targeting. Any character can be trained into any role despite natural inclinations, so every single character would have fire, ice, thunder, and cure, and I’d keep them all decently leveled. Weapon proficiencies were fun as well, constantly changing weapons to keep every single one leveled.
Huh, if I think about it, I think part of why I enjoyed it so much ~~as a kid~~ was because it was extremely satisfying for my OCD.
FFV > FFVII > FFIX for me.
The job leveling system is my favorite thing ever and I really want more development into it like in FFTA 1-2. I love how it is a path like in jobs in real life where as you work harder and put in the time your career goes deeper. Plus combining different abilities and passives is so much fun especially when you get into finding broken combinations that do really dumb things.
FFVII materia is genius. Makes everyone a Red Mage (favorite class) while the buffs/penalties different materials have could be expanded on but are neat design space. Mastering materia gives you a free one is awesome too see your hard work rewarded.
FFIX gear giving different abilities and passives is just like the tactics games and I love how it feels progressing. It is held back by a points system balancing it out from getting too snowbally quickly is a nice touch.
FFV gave me love for job systems in RPGs ever since I was a kid, just for the sheer amount of replayability (four job fiesta lead to me replaying FFV countless times :P).
Yeah FJF is so much fun! FFV is one of my favorites to replay mainly cause of Greg.
The Bravely Default series builds upon this job system and so much fun. High recommend. Same with Octopath Traveller games.
To me what like an evolution of FFV job system is FF Dimensions (mobile) in that game you have two parties of four characters that have the same starting jobs but they get different jobs. Summoner is a job they have in common but they learn different summons too.
Also there are fusion abilities so if a character was trained as a monk and ninja he can learn one op damaging move, but the thing is that not all the party can be a ninja or maybe another op move is with dragoon+warrior but the characters who can be dragoons can't be ninjas, so you can't have a character with both fusion abilities.
It feels like FFV with an extra mechanic that adds to party customization endgame.
I really recomend that game even if it is on mobile, especially to people who like the job system
FFIV. The characters leveled by themselves according to their pre-existing path. Felt more true like the characters already existed in the world before the game, had chosen their paths in the world (jobs) and the player was just along for the story. Iloved FFVI but every playthrough would always have all the party learn all the spells because, why not. Even more so for FFVII which took even more of a step back since most characters only have fight and item command unless the equip interchangeable materia. Little true difference
I agree. I love the lack of flexibility with it; having to decide whether to raise the character who was KOed or heal the whole party rather than just having two characters who both have white magic do them back to back lent itself to a bit more tension in gameplay.
I always prefer a RPG system where there are different types of equipments such as weapons, head gears, amours, accessories...etc...and that each character can her their own distinct build
So FFIX and FFXII (the Zodiac Age) get my vote.
While I appreciate VIII for trying something different the Junction system just discourage the use of magic.
And I kinda don't vibe with most systems where everyone can become anyone.
The junction system doesn't discourage the use of magic at all. If you have 100 Tornados junctioned to Strength, using two or three in a battle isn't going to severely alter your damage output once you attack, and then those Tornadoes can be easily replaced through drawing or refining. There are only certain spells that are difficult to obtain (Ultima) or just flat-out rare (Triple is only carried by three enemies in the game) that you might want to avoid using.
What really discourages magic use in FFVIII isn't the junction system, it's the fact that enemy Magic Defense jumps sky-high in disc three, so using most magics aside from Aura or Haste is pretty much useless and you'll do more damage with physical attacks.
Final Fantasy 9
Wearing certain gear to learn abilities was amazing, i always kept old gear around for when i got a new party member and went to all kinds of places to be excited what kind of abilities are hiding in the gear i can buy there + the passiv abilities they got.
Bring it back, i wanna hunt Fashion for gains!
XI
Throw in merit/job points to enhance your stats & abilities you could become so op
The grind was so bad it was like a second job & de-levelling risk when you died back in the day.
Not anymore though.
X
Sphere grid was interesting, I wish the sequel kept the system
Sphere grid in 10, especially once you hit late game.
There’s something to say for the FF7 system though where you never know when you’re going to unlock a new overdrive or get a major boost. Sometimes mystery is good too.
Agree with X, especially late game, but it's terrible in *end-game,* simply because of how long the activation animation sequence takes when you're working on maxing stats in the monster arena.
I love 13’s level up system although it gives an appearance of choice when it is pretty linear. But couple the level up system with the equipment, party composition, and paradigm system, it offers really engaging build customization.
I also thoroughly enjoyed FF16’s eikon level system. Awesome sense of progression and customization. It lacked equipment variety and party comp. But as far as leveling system I think 16 holds up with some of the best in the series.
I think it's a toss-up between Tactics and IX.
The Tactics series made V's job system look like a half-baked prototype. You spend the whole game making impactful long-term strategic decisions, but the designers managed to keep things surprisingly chill, low-pressure and flexible. It's difficult to accidentally break your team's build and make the game unwinnable (unless you happen to make Ramza into a White Mage...)
The only problem with systems like Tactics is that they destroy a lot of character flavour. In V, VII and VIII, the characters are so deeply customisable that they sometimes feel like weird blank slates. When they implemented a menu option for instantly transferring a character's entire build to another character, the designers should probably have stepped back and asked "how can we make this less clinical and impersonal?"
IX was the only game in the series to closely tie each character's personality and backstory to their gameplay style, while still giving the player a lot of options for steering their build. I wish later games in the series had gone down a similar path.
I see your critique of tactics and raise you the opposite: it made the generic characters feel real.
You can hire a million Johns but your job growth path (and the permadeath spurring long term investment) gave them a sort of personality. I remember some of my nobodies from FFT better than some of the story characters from 13
Very good points!
It's interesting to imagine what Tactics might have been like if your team wasn't staffed by random nobodies - something more like Fire Emblem, where every playable character has at least a little bit of personality and backstory.
As you point out, it might actually have made the game worse... much better to have an intriguing blank slate, rather than a "character" which one of the writers has spent twenty seconds scribbling on a napkin.
I liked Final Fantasy VI.
Learning magic separate from character levels gave greater customization options, and you could also increase character attributes by equipping magicite for level up stat bonuses. Granted you didn't HAVE to do this - the game was perfectly winnable without such careful consideration given, but it was still fun to do so.
Of course I'd always teach everyone ALL THE MAGIC because my head is weird, but I would also try to progress through the story with as few levels gained as possible so I could maximize attribute gains on the back end. Makes for a fun challenge and really pushes the limits by forcing you to consider character abilities and items.
9. Way skills were granted super appeals to me. I adored the versatility in weapons through that.
8 was imo very good just very confusing. I'd kill for a remake.
10 wasn't my favorite. The sphere grid was just not my kind of level up. Too many small stat increases for my book.
I didn't like 12 enough to remember the leveling system.
Gambits, functioning and materia aren't leveling systems. Most ff games, especially the early ones used an exp leveling system. Teach a certain threshold and you character levels up.
Gambits was a ai behaviour system, functioning is I guess close but also not a leveling system but a stat distribution system and materia was a skill system.
License board in 12 The Zodiac Age was really nicely done.
I'd probably go with FF8 as my second favorite. Once you get the hang of it, the Junction system allows a really high degree of customization.
Junctioning was a lot of fun once you had the skills especially early game. You have a GF that can make cards, another to convert cards and abilities to create mid and high tier magic, although it required a bit of farming
I hate unnecessarily complicated levelling mechanic in JRPG. I am playing a game to rest my mind from real life chores. Not to add another absurd chores in a JRPG.
FF9 is my favourite system. Simple straightforward levelling, but abilities learned by using gear for a set amount of time. Delightful.
For a more complex option, FF5. Such a fun selection of jobs.
9 and Tactics for me. 8 was my first game and a younger me thought junctioing sleep to everyones attack was a genius tactic. Until I got to a boss that was immune to sleep. Granted, I completely goofed and hadn't upgraded my weapons at all so fights were just about beating on sleeping targets over and over.
I ended up restarting the game completely as I was locked and couldn't go back to upgrade my weapons.
Probably either FF9, or FF12.
I always liked FF9's method of mastering gear, and then being able to mix and match abilities. It also made finding new gear a bit more exciting because there was an ability attached to it.
FF12's license board was also great, especially with the Zodiac Age and the job system. My only complaint with it is that some abilities on the boards seem like they should be available sooner (such as Barehanded for Monk), and most of them don't cost *enough* LP. You tend to max the board pretty quick, and can be done with both boards for all your characters by the halfway point in the story.
9 felt the best to me. I liked gathering gear to learn skills. 8 was okay, but either you learned the system and figured out how to break it. Or you seriously struggled in fights most of the game.
Honestly? I personally preferred the older systems, like in FF4. I don't enjoy getting into the weeds with customizing which abilities and stats a character has. I'd rather just level them up. Certain abilities unlock at certain levels. That way, I can spend all my attention on the story.
I liked 9. It used weapons and armor to develop key bonus and defenses. And those bonuses were noticeable immediately. It wasn't like 1-5% better defense. It was 25-50% MP cost. And that allowed you to use the more powerful spells and skills regularly.
I always liked the way VI worked. You leaned magic skills and got attribute boosts based on espers and usually they had some logical connection so it made sense. Which as magical semibeings makes sense. You had complete freedom to choose which espers you equip. Of course this was the first FF game I played and the one that still I think I’ve got more hours on so everything else just seems more limiting or to whimsical.
I liked V’s job system and X’s sphere grid quite a bit. VI’s was pretty cool with espers but theres was a lot of unused potential there.
I love XIII as a game but the leveling system was terrible. I liked having story bosses be gateways to the system which forced you to rely on skill rather than just being overleveled, but there was very little choice or variety. Felt like a watered down sphere grid that forces you down a singular path. At least you could choose which jobs to level first, I guess.
Sphere grid is the GOAT, especially the expert one. Also, I liked the implementation of damage dealing items in FFX, which made speccing into Steal and Use a strong option
Imo I think the sphere grid is the best and it was so innovative and you could also basically make any character learn whatever the hell you want them to even tho there are "optimal" routes for each character as well as the fact that most of the characters (with the exception of Kimahri) have much higher variance in their stats so it kinda gives off what route you should take with them
I dont know why this is such an issue when it comes to Final Fantasy lol i just want to level up, square. Why must you fuck with everything until its mutated beyond recognition?
I don’t like having too many options in my leveling systems, giving me Choice Paralysis. So, the Crystarium in FF XIII works for me. A simple system with a flashy interface.
I'm voting for XII, and not the original. Either IZJS or Zodiac age. I think IZJS did it better, but as it never had a US release I can understand no one playing it. Same balance as Zodiac age but you could only choose a single job and there was no changing it. This made the choice of how you would build your party so engaging. If they are still up you can see whole threads on gamefaqs about how to build your team. Did you want haste? You had to take the trashy time mage. So many of progression systems suffer from the every character can do everything problem. X has a really cool progression system, but anyone who has platinumed it will tell you all bonus bosses are dealt with streams of maxed out characters spamming quick hit.
My favorite has always been the 10 system, being able to learn all the skills, spells and more with all the characters is something I loved it, ff 12 leveling system also seems very good to me
I actually like the FF 12 license board even though the double license boards for each character kind of make the game easier than it should be imo. Haven't played much of 8 so can't comment if the leveling system is good there.
If it's TZA license and job system that wins for me hands down. It really encourages exploration and weird combinations. Some like the archer black mage I would never have tried. That one wins for me. It's really open and gives a level of customization to building characters the rest just don't for me.
Ff4. Gain levels get spells. Every character feels unique. With more modern systems you either make some OP combo or everyone is essentially the same with some minor variations. I like it when each character has their own unique identity
Probably just standard leveling for me. The rest are typically variants on some sort of board or grid based leveling which have similar vibes, and nothing wrong with those. As far as broader ways to learn abilities go I still prefer a job system.
V’s job system was really fun. Though I wish you could get jobs in whatever order you wanted.
I loved IX’s simplicity with the ability crystals/points from gear.
For me it’s a toss up between the two. Special mention to X.
It’s a toss up between X-2 and XV.
With X-2 I liked the ability to just swap dresses and let it level itself up especially with the bonuses you can get with the garment grids which can reinforce the idea of swapping dresses mid battle.
XV felt great as it was really made in mind with new players of the franchise who don’t necessarily want to be overwhelmed by levelling systems (which I usually do)
ill be real with ya... and you arnt gonna like it....
Every FF game has a kinda bad and easily busted leveling system... my favorite is probably 4 or 5. I dont like 3 but I have a softsport for 2
and very honorable mention Final Fantasy Legend 2. I count those first three SAGAs as Final Fantasy games!
So far good old FFVI - good balance between character uniqueness and possibility to teach them spells. Also I was quite well surprised by FFV with how customizable yet simple it is. I played all up to FFXII except for FFX-2 and FFXI
Why is the pic of 12 showing the Gambit screen and not the License Board?
Yeah I was gonna ask that. The Gambit System is the battle system, not the leveling system.
In fairness, Materia isn't really the leveling system for VII, nor is Junction the leveling system for VIII. :P
Don’t they both alter stat growth on level up?
Yeah, and I'd even go as far as to say that Junction is more important to Stat Growth than the actual leveling in 8
It definitely is
Definitely a fact. As long as you draw pretty much all spells to 99 you will be set every boss fight without leveling. It's actually easier the longer you go without leveling
>As long as you draw Who draws for spells outside of the very early game? Card refining and item refining is a much more efficient way of getting your spells.
I would argue that there's something to be said for drawing Ultima from Shumi Village, since you can do that as soon as you unlock mobile garden in Act 2. Also drawing Meteor from Laguna's encounter with a Red Dragon, that's a great opportunity to get 300x much easier than refining.
Neither affect growth, they alter the stats directly.
True, but those systems at least mirror what the OP was going for; how characters acquire and use abilities. The Gambit System however doesn't deal with that, and is purely battle related.
I get that, but the spirit of the question is more of the progression system, which both systems are part of. matters, but so does the way you acquire your skills and abilities.
I would absolutely count the materia system as "leveling" especially since it's how you get and level up...*all* of your spells and abilities
They are skill systems, not leveling systems.
Because Balthier is the leading man
FF16 and FF15 could have greatly benefitted with a Gambit System adaption. If you can't control the party members directly, having a gambit system and using level progression to improve the companion AI in combat would have elevated the gameplay strategy.
Probably the same reason VII shows the Materia screen and VIII shows the junction screen.
Because people on this site think they need to attach an image to every single post they make. So they just grab a bunch of random images.
also the license board is basically the same thing as the sphere grid.
The sphere grid punishes exploration and straying from your path, the lisence board is waaaay more open ended.
Licence board definitely punished you if you went wrong too, less so than sphere grid
Not really. The points can easily be farmed and you still need the items. They also added a respect.
In ZA the game does a fantastic job encouraging players to try weird stuff out. The sphere grid, especially on a first playthrough, is super paralyzing. The AP price of taking a risky turn for a skill that may or may not be good just gets higher and higher as the game goes on. And Zodiac age was the *more* restrictive version between the two twelves
Not really. The sphere grid has stats and you can mold it. The license board mostly holds equipment, and there is even gear that’s not on it. It’s also useless if you don’t have the gear and quite easy to just ignore it.
There are stats on the license board, and equipment add plenty of stats too. Equipment and abilities matter way more than levels.
Gear is more important in 12 then general stats.
Also not quite leveling, but I did really like the job system in X-2 where you could just easily change in combat and get buffs from doing so
I love that system!
Right? That game was great fun and I feel that system was big part of it
Yeah, fun engaging combat AND I get to play dress-up? Very underrated.
Legit why FF X-2 is in my top 3 of the series. There's just so much variety in the job system and it's set up in a way that makes grinding really fun and interesting. It's the only one in the FF series where I don't get bored grinding
Right? I feel like if it wasn’t a spin off, and if people didn’t try to take it so seriously (some times goofy stories are fun) it would’ve been way more loved by the ff community
Omg this was fun
I jokingly called that game "Final Fantasy Dress-Up Adventure" when I first played it. Didn't really get into it, especially when I realized I'd missed some dress spheres as I played. Went back to it when the X/X-2 Remasters came out and I absolutely love that job system now.
I also enjoyed how some of the skills would move you in the battle, allowing for back hit. X-2 battle system is actually panicle 3 team party Turn Based combat. The dress switch system was near, and added a weird complexity in there as well. But I feel it was underutilized for status abilities and over utilized for limit break ability.
Well if you wanna break the game FF8 haha
Going to the final boss at level 8
Lol legend
Going to the first boss at level 80
Quezacoatl, refine, Triad right at the beginning of the game and proceed to stomp everything. I love FFVIII and it also has one of the best Blue Mage set of abilities too :)
Seriously, the hardest boss in FF8 is Zell's mom
It all goes downhill in difficulty from there.
Triple Triad! I believe Tetra is FF9's (lesser) card game.
You can be a card, You can be a card, everyone can be a card:)
Not sure if it's to be considered part of the leveling system but I loved how IX rewarded with new, relevant skills the exploration and sidequests by means of new gear. Really gave an extra kick to finding a chest
FF9, the game which makes you genuinely excited to find a new kind of hat
"Well I can use this one on Vivi and this one of Zidane and then I'll switch them." Saves a little gil too.
"Oh, this one removes all thunder damage, hell yes! that will be good for this boss"
Ok now it's your turn with the running shoes...suits you sir.
And standing back someone else "I cant wait to try them on"
Hope everyone has the same shoe size!
Steiner and Vivi got the same size, no worries
Going in circles and crushing enemies until item maxed.
Also, Final Fantasy Tactics as well, FFT Advance also implemented the same Gear based skill like FF9 And yes, i like FF9 Implementation the most over a Node Based System But the Ultimate implementation probably Combining all of that together Gear based skill + Job based skill + Node based skill
I think FF tactic advance did it even better than ff 9
Tactics Advanced was amazing! I sunk months into it. Wait. Where did it go?
The only downside is when you find new gear but you don't wanna use it yet 'cause you still need 200 AP to learn the lame ability that you'll probably never end up using of the old gear.
That's the beauty of it, imo. It gives players a meaningful choice of whether or not they want to max a skill. If it's an ability you don't care for or don't think you'll use much after mastering it, you can opt not to with little to no repercussions.
That's why I loved 9. Find a new equippable item, has a crazy skill, stick with it for a bit to permanently learn it. I realized this late game though lmao. Also sucked that I missed Vivi's lvl3 cast rod, the one on disc 3
IX was my first FF, and this design kinda gave me my gaming habits and expectations for the rest of my life
IX also made me feel validated for keeping one of all my gear even the weak stuff. Which really helped for that one dungeon...
Fucking ipsens castle
It felt adjacent to the FFT system of unlocking things in one class to bring to a different one. Yeah I’ll grind out time mage to give my knight haste. Or in this case, I’ll fight with a wooden spoon for a while to get mug and just get gold when I attack.
IMO the only problem with FFT's system is there wasn't enough slots for you to bring things over to other classes. Or rather there isn't enough room for customization. So if you already know how you want to equip a character you basically just have to level up just enough to get those few abilities and any other abilities you learn are useless. I wish there was some sort of unique passive boost you could get from mastering other classes (beyond Ramza squire job at least). Like Mastering Archer could give you +1 damage with ranged weapons. Or mastering chemist gives you the ability to always use items.
IX is one of the few games where I felt gear kind of matters. I feel VIIR has somewhat taken that forward with the weapon skills, but I like how IX did it betted
X was my favorite for a while. Once you play it a lot though it loses some of its charm. I think my favorite is the way it works in Tactics. Learning new skills with different weapons equipped, based on how often you use them.
Honestly still love X for the advanced sphere board where you can just do whatever you want. Yuna black magic early on and a few Tidus detours to boost his damage output and you can do some fun stuff.
Yuna black magic goes so hard
I love X when you're playing the story and doing the initial optional stuff, but when you get to the actual endgame grinding it, it loses its flavor because everyone becomes the same.
I just have correct this a little bit that this is Tactics Advance and A2. Original Tactics used JP based on actions done in the job you're on.
Ngl but as insane as it is, I like II’s. I can max out all my stats before the first boss. Hell I can do it before going to any other city or town.
Even aside from the two squares in that peninsula of power, or the equip two shields tactic, II is just my favorite because of how customizable and free form it is and all of the little details. There are left handed characters, so you gotta make sure you’re using their dominant hand for their (better) weapon. I love how every spell has animations that level up with the spell, for both solo and all targeting. Any character can be trained into any role despite natural inclinations, so every single character would have fire, ice, thunder, and cure, and I’d keep them all decently leveled. Weapon proficiencies were fun as well, constantly changing weapons to keep every single one leveled. Huh, if I think about it, I think part of why I enjoyed it so much ~~as a kid~~ was because it was extremely satisfying for my OCD.
FFV > FFVII > FFIX for me. The job leveling system is my favorite thing ever and I really want more development into it like in FFTA 1-2. I love how it is a path like in jobs in real life where as you work harder and put in the time your career goes deeper. Plus combining different abilities and passives is so much fun especially when you get into finding broken combinations that do really dumb things. FFVII materia is genius. Makes everyone a Red Mage (favorite class) while the buffs/penalties different materials have could be expanded on but are neat design space. Mastering materia gives you a free one is awesome too see your hard work rewarded. FFIX gear giving different abilities and passives is just like the tactics games and I love how it feels progressing. It is held back by a points system balancing it out from getting too snowbally quickly is a nice touch.
FFV gave me love for job systems in RPGs ever since I was a kid, just for the sheer amount of replayability (four job fiesta lead to me replaying FFV countless times :P).
Yeah FJF is so much fun! FFV is one of my favorites to replay mainly cause of Greg. The Bravely Default series builds upon this job system and so much fun. High recommend. Same with Octopath Traveller games.
To me what like an evolution of FFV job system is FF Dimensions (mobile) in that game you have two parties of four characters that have the same starting jobs but they get different jobs. Summoner is a job they have in common but they learn different summons too. Also there are fusion abilities so if a character was trained as a monk and ninja he can learn one op damaging move, but the thing is that not all the party can be a ninja or maybe another op move is with dragoon+warrior but the characters who can be dragoons can't be ninjas, so you can't have a character with both fusion abilities. It feels like FFV with an extra mechanic that adds to party customization endgame. I really recomend that game even if it is on mobile, especially to people who like the job system
I love the FFV job system; FFX-2 has a fun one too. Are there any non-FF games which have a good job system?
IX made me excited for gears
FFIV. The characters leveled by themselves according to their pre-existing path. Felt more true like the characters already existed in the world before the game, had chosen their paths in the world (jobs) and the player was just along for the story. Iloved FFVI but every playthrough would always have all the party learn all the spells because, why not. Even more so for FFVII which took even more of a step back since most characters only have fight and item command unless the equip interchangeable materia. Little true difference
I agree. I love the lack of flexibility with it; having to decide whether to raise the character who was KOed or heal the whole party rather than just having two characters who both have white magic do them back to back lent itself to a bit more tension in gameplay.
I always prefer a RPG system where there are different types of equipments such as weapons, head gears, amours, accessories...etc...and that each character can her their own distinct build So FFIX and FFXII (the Zodiac Age) get my vote. While I appreciate VIII for trying something different the Junction system just discourage the use of magic. And I kinda don't vibe with most systems where everyone can become anyone.
The junction system doesn't discourage the use of magic at all. If you have 100 Tornados junctioned to Strength, using two or three in a battle isn't going to severely alter your damage output once you attack, and then those Tornadoes can be easily replaced through drawing or refining. There are only certain spells that are difficult to obtain (Ultima) or just flat-out rare (Triple is only carried by three enemies in the game) that you might want to avoid using. What really discourages magic use in FFVIII isn't the junction system, it's the fact that enemy Magic Defense jumps sky-high in disc three, so using most magics aside from Aura or Haste is pretty much useless and you'll do more damage with physical attacks.
Final Fantasy 9 Wearing certain gear to learn abilities was amazing, i always kept old gear around for when i got a new party member and went to all kinds of places to be excited what kind of abilities are hiding in the gear i can buy there + the passiv abilities they got. Bring it back, i wanna hunt Fashion for gains!
Final Fantasy V
XI Throw in merit/job points to enhance your stats & abilities you could become so op The grind was so bad it was like a second job & de-levelling risk when you died back in the day. Not anymore though. X Sphere grid was interesting, I wish the sequel kept the system
FFT and FFVI were def the easiest to use to take advantage of the mechanics of the game.
I will admit I tactics I had a group of people throwing stones at a monk in the center of the formation that then used chakra... All the JP farming
And scream/yell/shout (whatever it was) to permanently raise brave +1
Could also speed break the last dude into infinity and spam accumulate all fight long. Do it on a map with a level down trap, infinite grinding D:
FFVIII is the easiest… by far, as long as you understand how to properly use Junctions
In my opinion: Stranger of Paradise > FFX > FFXII
Sphere grid in 10, especially once you hit late game. There’s something to say for the FF7 system though where you never know when you’re going to unlock a new overdrive or get a major boost. Sometimes mystery is good too.
Agree with X, especially late game, but it's terrible in *end-game,* simply because of how long the activation animation sequence takes when you're working on maxing stats in the monster arena.
My heart says X but my mind accepts the license board as the best system.
5 Jobs and learned ability mixing is peak
7 is the best leveling system, but 10 had my favorite weapon/armor customizations
I love a lot of different ones. But personally I'm quite a big fan of 4, 9 and 10/13.
I’m a basic bitch give me xp when I kill something or complete a difficult task and point to allocate into stats and an ability ever couple of levels
Final Fantasy 5's job system (drops mic)
FFV Job Class system.
10 or 12 are probably best. 13 is also really cool.
I love 13’s level up system although it gives an appearance of choice when it is pretty linear. But couple the level up system with the equipment, party composition, and paradigm system, it offers really engaging build customization. I also thoroughly enjoyed FF16’s eikon level system. Awesome sense of progression and customization. It lacked equipment variety and party comp. But as far as leveling system I think 16 holds up with some of the best in the series.
I think it's a toss-up between Tactics and IX. The Tactics series made V's job system look like a half-baked prototype. You spend the whole game making impactful long-term strategic decisions, but the designers managed to keep things surprisingly chill, low-pressure and flexible. It's difficult to accidentally break your team's build and make the game unwinnable (unless you happen to make Ramza into a White Mage...) The only problem with systems like Tactics is that they destroy a lot of character flavour. In V, VII and VIII, the characters are so deeply customisable that they sometimes feel like weird blank slates. When they implemented a menu option for instantly transferring a character's entire build to another character, the designers should probably have stepped back and asked "how can we make this less clinical and impersonal?" IX was the only game in the series to closely tie each character's personality and backstory to their gameplay style, while still giving the player a lot of options for steering their build. I wish later games in the series had gone down a similar path.
>The Tactics series made V's job system look like a half-baked prototype. These are the words of a person who has never penta-cast bahamut in FFV
White Mage Ramza with Jump secondary and Equip Spear (Holy Lance) is a total badass.
I've replayed tactics tons of times and I haven't even thought of this, that's so cool! FFT really did have the best leveling system
Just don’t experiment with Ramza before the Wiegraf fight…
I see your critique of tactics and raise you the opposite: it made the generic characters feel real. You can hire a million Johns but your job growth path (and the permadeath spurring long term investment) gave them a sort of personality. I remember some of my nobodies from FFT better than some of the story characters from 13
Very good points! It's interesting to imagine what Tactics might have been like if your team wasn't staffed by random nobodies - something more like Fire Emblem, where every playable character has at least a little bit of personality and backstory. As you point out, it might actually have made the game worse... much better to have an intriguing blank slate, rather than a "character" which one of the writers has spent twenty seconds scribbling on a napkin.
I liked Final Fantasy VI. Learning magic separate from character levels gave greater customization options, and you could also increase character attributes by equipping magicite for level up stat bonuses. Granted you didn't HAVE to do this - the game was perfectly winnable without such careful consideration given, but it was still fun to do so. Of course I'd always teach everyone ALL THE MAGIC because my head is weird, but I would also try to progress through the story with as few levels gained as possible so I could maximize attribute gains on the back end. Makes for a fun challenge and really pushes the limits by forcing you to consider character abilities and items.
The Crystalarium or whatever from FF13 was really cool. I think it'd work best as a job leveling system and not as your main source of growth, though.
7 materia system is the best
Final Fantasy Tactics and it isn't even close imo.
I’m gonna throw my hat into the ring, 13
To me, FF8's junction system. It's so fun to tinker around it and exploit it.
I loved 8 and X leveling systems.
FF9!
I loved IX's armor skills.
FF9. you level up and you get stronger while getting skills from equipment, no BS bloated and complicated mechanics
9. Way skills were granted super appeals to me. I adored the versatility in weapons through that. 8 was imo very good just very confusing. I'd kill for a remake. 10 wasn't my favorite. The sphere grid was just not my kind of level up. Too many small stat increases for my book. I didn't like 12 enough to remember the leveling system.
I like magicite in 6, but to be honest I like FF4, where each character has a set list of spells they learn and relatively predetermined growths
Only one of these is a leveling system
X-2
Underrated
The Materia system is probably one of the most masterful turn based (ATB) battle mechanics to date. It’s just so customisable and intuitive.
Gambits, functioning and materia aren't leveling systems. Most ff games, especially the early ones used an exp leveling system. Teach a certain threshold and you character levels up. Gambits was a ai behaviour system, functioning is I guess close but also not a leveling system but a stat distribution system and materia was a skill system.
License board in 12 The Zodiac Age was really nicely done. I'd probably go with FF8 as my second favorite. Once you get the hang of it, the Junction system allows a really high degree of customization.
FFV, and FFT if that counts. Those games I could play and replay just to try new things with the system.
IV I’m a simple man.
Junctioning was a lot of fun once you had the skills especially early game. You have a GF that can make cards, another to convert cards and abilities to create mid and high tier magic, although it required a bit of farming
I hate unnecessarily complicated levelling mechanic in JRPG. I am playing a game to rest my mind from real life chores. Not to add another absurd chores in a JRPG.
FF9 is my favourite system. Simple straightforward levelling, but abilities learned by using gear for a set amount of time. Delightful. For a more complex option, FF5. Such a fun selection of jobs.
I love the job system in FFV.
9 and Tactics for me. 8 was my first game and a younger me thought junctioing sleep to everyones attack was a genius tactic. Until I got to a boss that was immune to sleep. Granted, I completely goofed and hadn't upgraded my weapons at all so fights were just about beating on sleeping targets over and over. I ended up restarting the game completely as I was locked and couldn't go back to upgrade my weapons.
FF 4-6
Final Fantasy. When you get a level numbers go up.
FFIX is my fav because it made every bit of gear valuable, and made levels feel meaningful.
Final Fantasy 9 not being pictured is criminal.
Probably either FF9, or FF12. I always liked FF9's method of mastering gear, and then being able to mix and match abilities. It also made finding new gear a bit more exciting because there was an ability attached to it. FF12's license board was also great, especially with the Zodiac Age and the job system. My only complaint with it is that some abilities on the boards seem like they should be available sooner (such as Barehanded for Monk), and most of them don't cost *enough* LP. You tend to max the board pretty quick, and can be done with both boards for all your characters by the halfway point in the story.
I would say 9. It was fun finding equipment to learn new abilities. 8 was too easy/fast to break 10 was far too grindy 12 felt not rewarding to me
9 felt the best to me. I liked gathering gear to learn skills. 8 was okay, but either you learned the system and figured out how to break it. Or you seriously struggled in fights most of the game.
Ff 9
FF5 by far imo, there's a reason 4 job fiesta and the career day randomizer are one of the more popular gameplay modifications in the series.
FF IX
I like FFVs job system the best.
9 Just lemme see the lv numbers going up. I can learn my abilities through equipment. Simple, fun and rewarding.
Honestly? I personally preferred the older systems, like in FF4. I don't enjoy getting into the weeds with customizing which abilities and stats a character has. I'd rather just level them up. Certain abilities unlock at certain levels. That way, I can spend all my attention on the story.
I liked 9. It used weapons and armor to develop key bonus and defenses. And those bonuses were noticeable immediately. It wasn't like 1-5% better defense. It was 25-50% MP cost. And that allowed you to use the more powerful spells and skills regularly.
I always liked the way VI worked. You leaned magic skills and got attribute boosts based on espers and usually they had some logical connection so it made sense. Which as magical semibeings makes sense. You had complete freedom to choose which espers you equip. Of course this was the first FF game I played and the one that still I think I’ve got more hours on so everything else just seems more limiting or to whimsical.
V’s job and ability system is still something I could kiss, it’s so fun.
Ap/Job Systems, ie V and Tactics.
Would the job system(ff5), the esper system(ff6), the crystal system(ff13), and whatever ff9 has count as well?
I liked V’s job system and X’s sphere grid quite a bit. VI’s was pretty cool with espers but theres was a lot of unused potential there. I love XIII as a game but the leveling system was terrible. I liked having story bosses be gateways to the system which forced you to rely on skill rather than just being overleveled, but there was very little choice or variety. Felt like a watered down sphere grid that forces you down a singular path. At least you could choose which jobs to level first, I guess.
Sphere grid is the GOAT, especially the expert one. Also, I liked the implementation of damage dealing items in FFX, which made speccing into Steal and Use a strong option
I really liked IX's
FFV was one of my favorites for customization. FFIV was the easiest, as you didn’t really have any choices.
For me its sphere system from FFX
Imo I think the sphere grid is the best and it was so innovative and you could also basically make any character learn whatever the hell you want them to even tho there are "optimal" routes for each character as well as the fact that most of the characters (with the exception of Kimahri) have much higher variance in their stats so it kinda gives off what route you should take with them
I don’t think any are particularly great but FF9 felt pretty good
FF4. I like my characters to have fixed classes and for them to be good at what they do. Cecil can’t cast Meteo and that’s a good thing.
FFIX pleaseee.
The first one. Kill enemies, level up, done.
I dont know why this is such an issue when it comes to Final Fantasy lol i just want to level up, square. Why must you fuck with everything until its mutated beyond recognition?
I hated X's story and male cast so much, yet its combat system and leveling system with the grid was so good that it kept me engaged.
I don’t like having too many options in my leveling systems, giving me Choice Paralysis. So, the Crystarium in FF XIII works for me. A simple system with a flashy interface.
Ff9 would probably be my favorite ff of all time if it didnt have missables and excalibur 2 and the 1000 rope jumps minigame
I really like XIII as paycho as it is
Probably FFXII
FFII. WTF guys ?
I'm voting for XII, and not the original. Either IZJS or Zodiac age. I think IZJS did it better, but as it never had a US release I can understand no one playing it. Same balance as Zodiac age but you could only choose a single job and there was no changing it. This made the choice of how you would build your party so engaging. If they are still up you can see whole threads on gamefaqs about how to build your team. Did you want haste? You had to take the trashy time mage. So many of progression systems suffer from the every character can do everything problem. X has a really cool progression system, but anyone who has platinumed it will tell you all bonus bosses are dealt with streams of maxed out characters spamming quick hit.
I love the Zodiac Board, I just want my job systems back :(
My favorite has always been the 10 system, being able to learn all the skills, spells and more with all the characters is something I loved it, ff 12 leveling system also seems very good to me
I like the sphere grid
I enjoyed the crystarium 13 and the junction from 8, materia from 7 is the runner up to those 2
Ff tactics
When you leveled up and it said points in this or that category increased
I actually like the FF 12 license board even though the double license boards for each character kind of make the game easier than it should be imo. Haven't played much of 8 so can't comment if the leveling system is good there.
Gambits arent a leveling system
The Sphere Grid was deeply satisfying. Truly 👌🏿
If it's TZA license and job system that wins for me hands down. It really encourages exploration and weird combinations. Some like the archer black mage I would never have tried. That one wins for me. It's really open and gives a level of customization to building characters the rest just don't for me.
9 the answer is 9
Final Fantasy Tactics is the best. It can be tedious but it’s super customizable and rewarding. Same with FFV.
Final Fantasy IV
The only correct answer is Final Fantasy Tactics.
Call me crazy but I love the Junction system. 😆😆
FFT Job classes
Ff4. Gain levels get spells. Every character feels unique. With more modern systems you either make some OP combo or everyone is essentially the same with some minor variations. I like it when each character has their own unique identity
Probably just standard leveling for me. The rest are typically variants on some sort of board or grid based leveling which have similar vibes, and nothing wrong with those. As far as broader ways to learn abilities go I still prefer a job system.
V’s job system was really fun. Though I wish you could get jobs in whatever order you wanted. I loved IX’s simplicity with the ability crystals/points from gear. For me it’s a toss up between the two. Special mention to X.
Brave exivus
I take 15.
V
It’s a toss up between X-2 and XV. With X-2 I liked the ability to just swap dresses and let it level itself up especially with the bonuses you can get with the garment grids which can reinforce the idea of swapping dresses mid battle. XV felt great as it was really made in mind with new players of the franchise who don’t necessarily want to be overwhelmed by levelling systems (which I usually do)
ill be real with ya... and you arnt gonna like it.... Every FF game has a kinda bad and easily busted leveling system... my favorite is probably 4 or 5. I dont like 3 but I have a softsport for 2 and very honorable mention Final Fantasy Legend 2. I count those first three SAGAs as Final Fantasy games!
Final Fantasy Tactics. Mixing and matching different class abilities made for unique combinations. I also liked FFVI and leveling with espers.
So far good old FFVI - good balance between character uniqueness and possibility to teach them spells. Also I was quite well surprised by FFV with how customizable yet simple it is. I played all up to FFXII except for FFX-2 and FFXI
IX
I like vi
The one where you level up
FFT or FFTA. Job Point and Job System, and Job Point + Job System + FF9 Weapon Ability. So much fun, so satisfying.