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FF1 - What is your preferred party makeup?



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blksabbath74

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If I am playing the original version, in which magic is very limited due to a lack of ether potions and spells by level (max 9) then I'll just go for 2 Fighters and 2 Red Mages. That version is much more difficult, and much less forgiving as far as being able to save, and the monster AI is more apt to target weaker characters. That setup gives me two tanks up front, with two swiss army tanks in back who can fight, heal, nuke, and cast the neccessary specialty spells, such as Life and Exit. There is enough good armor to armor up two fighters, you can give them Exalibur and Masamune, and the Red Mages are every-turn back up hitters who can cast in a pinch, but it's really not their primary duty. This party is made to hack, slash and grind.
 

kuraudoVII

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Hard to say for me. I don't go back to I nearly as much as I've gone back to IV, VI, and VII. I tend to want to have at least one White Mage in the party to use as a healer, especially in harder games such as the original iteration of Final Fantasy I. Since I've never completed the game on any system, the most that I had was the standard White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, and Fighter in every iteration that I have played (in this case, the original and the PSP versions).
 

blksabbath74

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Hard to say for me. I don't go back to I nearly as much as I've gone back to IV, VI, and VII. I tend to want to have at least one White Mage in the party to use as a healer, especially in harder games such as the original iteration of Final Fantasy I. Since I've never completed the game on any system, the most that I had was the standard White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, and Fighter in every iteration that I have played (in this case, the original and the PSP versions).

This is one of the few where you don't have a cast of pregenerated characters that come and go throughout the story.

If I'm playing the later versions that feature ethers and magic points, allowing for pretty much unlimited magic, I'll run a magic-spam party.

You still pretty much HAVE to have a Fighter up front, and a White Mage to Heal-Spam, and then 2 other mages. Red and Black are a good mix. Once you get to a certain point, pretty early on, you can just carry enough ethers to have the White Mage spam a heal, or a targeted cure every combat round, while the Red Mage and Black Mage do the same with nukes. It goes alot faster. Plus, you have acces to phoenix down and other staples unavailable in the original version.

In the original, Red Mages are broken in a good way, and you can obtain Silver Swords very early in the game at Elfheim. Plus, the magic is more limited, and it's a much more difficult game. A highly survivable fighting party makes more sense.

In the high magic later versions, spellspam works better, and you have to wait until later in the game for the good weaponry.
 

kuraudoVII

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This is one of the few where you don't have a cast of pregenerated characters that come and go throughout the story.

If I'm playing the later versions that feature ethers and magic points, allowing for pretty much unlimited magic, I'll run a magic-spam party.

You still pretty much HAVE to have a Fighter up front, and a White Mage to Heal-Spam, and then 2 other mages. Red and Black are a good mix. Once you get to a certain point, pretty early on, you can just carry enough ethers to have the White Mage spam a heal, or a targeted cure every combat round, while the Red Mage and Black Mage do the same with nukes. It goes alot faster. Plus, you have acces to phoenix down and other staples unavailable in the original version.

In the original, Red Mages are broken in a good way, and you can obtain Silver Swords very early in the game at Elfheim. Plus, the magic is more limited, and it's a much more difficult game. A highly survivable fighting party makes more sense.

In the high magic later versions, spellspam works better, and you have to wait until later in the game for the good weaponry.

Yeah, I played the original on an emulator that I had way back when I was in my early teens. The PSP version I hadn't picked up since 2012 when I got bought PSP that actually works.

I'll probably get back to I, but I want to at least finish the PSP version of IV coupled with The After Years first. I've been slacking on that game since I.5 ReMIX.
 

Dentim

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I've never played the original version, but I found that (in the later ones) if you create a team of a Fighter-WhiteMage-BlackMage, your 4th character doesn't matter much anymore aside from being an extra pool of HP for the enemy to hit (thus lessening the hits on the rest). I tend to go with that configuration.
 

Shamdeo

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fighter
white mage
black mage
thief

iboioB5abyTZHG.png
 

blksabbath74

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Yeah, I played the original on an emulator that I had way back when I was in my early teens. The PSP version I hadn't picked up since 2012 when I got bought PSP that actually works.

I'll probably get back to I, but I want to at least finish the PSP version of IV coupled with The After Years first. I've been slacking on that game since I.5 ReMIX.

IMO, the toughest thing about the original is that in combat, it does not redirect attacks, so if a hero was assigned to attack a monster who is already dead, he just wiffs completely. It definately changes up combat strategy.

Also, with no Phoenix Down and no real modern save functions (the game is on hold, and if your party is wiped, they go back to their last visit to an Inn, but you can't go back to load a save point) it is very challenging. Also, you have no party inventory, only 4 armor slots and 4 weapon slots, so you literally have to leave slots open to get treasure items.

It's definately a whole different game.

However, there are two fairly exploitable bugs.

1) Silver Swords (Mythril Sword in later versions) are available in Elfheim. Granted $4000 is alot at that level, but if you invest the time to build up the money, it is well worth it.

2) The Red Mage has not yet been nerfed, and is overpowered. He is slightly limited in spells, but casts at relatively the same strength as a White/Black Mage, and fights roughly equivalent to a Thief, in addition to being able to equip good armor and weapons.

In that version (dowloadable in the Wii for $5) my best strategy is to largely ignore magic, which is much more limited than the later versions and build a fighting party.

Early on, by the time you get to Elfheim, you can get the Fighters in Iron/Steel Plate armor, get the Red Mages in Chain, get them all Silver Swords, and put out a buttload of damage. Get 99 Heal and Antidote potions, Heals and Nukes for the Red Mages, and you are pretty much set to grind out the rest of the game.

In the endgame, you have enough good armor for 2 Knights. Put one in the Diamond set, the other the Dragons Scale and Aegis Shield. Give on Excalibur and the other Masmune. Endgame should look like this;

Fighter - Masmune, Diamond Armor, Diamond Shield, Pro-Ring, Ribbon
Fighter - Excalibur, Dragon Armor, Aegis Shield, Pro-Ring, Healing Helm
Red Mage - Sun Sword, Diamond Bracer, Pro-Cape, Pro-Ring, Ribbon
Red Mage - Defense, Gold Bracer, Pro-Cape, Pro-Ring, Ribbon
 

kuraudoVII

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IMO, the toughest thing about the original is that in combat, it does not redirect attacks, so if a hero was assigned to attack a monster who is already dead, he just wiffs completely. It definately changes up combat strategy.

Also, with no Phoenix Down and no real modern save functions (the game is on hold, and if your party is wiped, they go back to their last visit to an Inn, but you can't go back to load a save point) it is very challenging. Also, you have no party inventory, only 4 armor slots and 4 weapon slots, so you literally have to leave slots open to get treasure items.

Grr, I remember those problems. There was nothing more infuriating than to die in a dungeon and then have to restart from a place nowhere near where you died.

However, there are two fairly exploitable bugs.

1) Silver Swords (Mythril Sword in later versions) are available in Elfheim. Granted $4000 is alot at that level, but if you invest the time to build up the money, it is well worth it.

2) The Red Mage has not yet been nerfed, and is overpowered. He is slightly limited in spells, but casts at relatively the same strength as a White/Black Mage, and fights roughly equivalent to a Thief, in addition to being able to equip good armor and weapons.

In that version (dowloadable in the Wii for $5) my best strategy is to largely ignore magic, which is much more limited than the later versions and build a fighting party.

Early on, by the time you get to Elfheim, you can get the Fighters in Iron/Steel Plate armor, get the Red Mages in Chain, get them all Silver Swords, and put out a buttload of damage. Get 99 Heal and Antidote potions, Heals and Nukes for the Red Mages, and you are pretty much set to grind out the rest of the game.

In the endgame, you have enough good armor for 2 Knights. Put one in the Diamond set, the other the Dragons Scale and Aegis Shield. Give on Excalibur and the other Masmune. Endgame should look like this;

Fighter - Masmune, Diamond Armor, Diamond Shield, Pro-Ring, Ribbon
Fighter - Excalibur, Dragon Armor, Aegis Shield, Pro-Ring, Healing Helm
Red Mage - Sun Sword, Diamond Bracer, Pro-Cape, Pro-Ring, Ribbon
Red Mage - Defense, Gold Bracer, Pro-Cape, Pro-Ring, Ribbon

I'll keep all this in mind the next time I pick up the game.
 

blksabbath74

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Grr, I remember those problems. There was nothing more infuriating than to die in a dungeon and then have to restart from a place nowhere near where you died.



I'll keep all this in mind the next time I pick up the game.

For the modern version, with Spell Points, Ethers and Phoenix Downs, I was considering something radical...and all Mage Party.

2 Red Mages for the front two slots, a White mage and a Black Mage.

Early on, it would be pretty difficult. Even though the Red Mages can fight, they have much fewer HP, and rapidly fall behind between levels 3-10, and they can't equip the best armor.
 

Antar

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I recently started FF1 for GBA and I am using Warrior, Thief, Black Mage, and White Mage. I just went with the basic team but may be I should have picked monk over warrior...
 

blksabbath74

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I recently started FF1 for GBA and I am using Warrior, Thief, Black Mage, and White Mage. I just went with the basic team but may be I should have picked monk over warrior...

No, you almost HAVE to have a warrior in that first slot. They are the only ones who can wear the armor and soak up the damage necessary for that position. Monks are really great damage dealers in the endgame, but underpowered until about Level 15. Even in the endgame, only the Fighter/Knight can really stick that front tank position.

Here are some interesting parties I've tried on the later versions.

Fighter+Fighter+Fighter+White Mage - Nothing to see here, move along...The Fighters hit things with their swords and the White Mage spams Heal. You've got no nukes for those situations with large numbers of enemies, (except Dia for those pesky undead) but you cut through everything with ease and damage is never a big problem.

Fighter+Fighter+Thief+Red Mage - This one is done for equipment optimization. You get enough good armor and weapons for 2 Fighters, plus the Katana for the Ninja and you still have a Red Mage for spells, though obviously this is a fighting party. You can make use of all 4 of the most powerful weapons in the game. For more variety, replace a Fighter with a Monk. Endgame should look like:

Knight- Masmune, Diamond Plate, Diamond Shield, Pro-Ring, Ribbon
Knight - Excalibur, Dragon Armor, Aegis Shield, Pro-Ring, Healing Helm
Ninja - Katana, Ice Armor, Fire Shield, Pro-Ring, Ribbon
Red Wizard - Sun Blade, Diamond Bracer, Pro-Cape, Pro-Ring, Ribbon

Red Mage+White Mage+Black Mage+Black Mage - For a challenge. I haven't finished this one yet, so I don't know if the Red Mage can hold that front position, but once they get to their 3rd level magic spells, it should be spellspam.

Fighter+Fighter+Thief+Monk - You've got Pheonix Downs, Antidotes and all sorts of healing potions. What do you really need with a weak mage? Exit? Just fight your way out, and don't get lost. This party would be an epic fail in the original, but is solid in the newer versions. Also, combat strategy is simple, Attack, Attack, Attack, Attack.
 
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