| The holy sword that smites evil!!
Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Etria. Or High Lagaard. Two fave hanging places.  | Posts | 1,366 |  | Gil | 71,451.99 |
| I choose Bangaas.
As to why I chose them, the explanation is simple: ridiculous job-mixing versatility. Only Humans are actually capable of pulling a stunt like that, followed by Moogles. To explain myself more: Bangaa jobs are few, but they synergize well with the other classes they have. For example, I shall use the job class that has the most chances of combining with anything in the whole game, IMO: the Templar.
Templars are, mainly, a physically inclined class with an edge against magicians. They can cast spells (Silence, Haste, and Astra), have a skill that boosts their attack power (Cheer), a skill that makes damage-dealers think twice before aiming at him (Lifebreak, if he can actually survive the holocaust), the anti-MP-long-range-no-MP-cost attack (Soul Sphere), and the speed-murdering surrounding skill (Warcry). Now, to further maximize the Templar's capabilities, what other skills should it have? What if I tell you: pick from any of the Bangaa jobs, and he'll still own? Many people would doubt it. For the purposes of the explanation, I'll use the format "main class/secondary job skill", so you have it on mind.
Let's begin, shall we? Templar/Warrior has, perhaps, the worst skillset of the bunch, but being a Templar, he'll have enough MP to spam Downsize, and combine Cheer with Body Slam to increase the effectiveness of it. Templar/White Monk is sort of a one-man army: combine Haste, Lifebreak and Soul Sphere (and maybe Cheer), with skills like Air Render, Far Fist, Earth Render, Chakra, and the godly Revive skills. Templar/Dragoon keeps the spear to properly use Jump, plus it has a wonderful set of elemental breaths (plus the non-elemental Bangaa Cry), and Lancet to play with enemies' HP. Templar/Defender is a kamikaze machine: Haste, Aura, Meltdown, rinse, repeat. Yup, that simple. Plus, you'll have many surround skills: Tremor, Meltdown, Mow Down, and Cheer (imagine: you murder their speed, you lower your own speed, then you Haste. How humiliating can that be? Oh wait, you Haste yourself, then you murder their speed). Templar/Gladiator is for those who want some good attack/defense with some good MP at hand, and a complete offensive (Elemental Swords, Blitz for pinpoint accuracy, Beatdown for huge damage, Wild Swing for when they surround you, and Ultima Sword for showing off, coupled with Haste/Lifebreak/Soul Sphere). While Templar/Bishop is good, the opposite is better, so I'll explain later.
Now, what other Bangaa classes mix and match up well? Defender/Warrior is awesome: you'll have Downsize, Aura and Meltdown in a neat package, plus you'll be weakening up the enemy as you see fit, Body Slam will be less painful, and you have First Aid for when you are bored. Defender/Gladiator will balance a bit more offense and defense, but much less MP (but who needs it with Aura + Meltdown?), plus the inverse (Gladiator/Defender) is also as good (besides, the reaction skills of the Gladiator are priceless). Gladiator/White Monk is the Bangaa's response to the Human Fighter: has all of the skills ('cept Air Blade and Backdraft, which are elemental), the raw offensive power, and gives the Bangaa awesome durability (Chakra and Revive), plus the elemental mastery (Fire, Ice, Thunder and Earth, against just Fire and Air), with the only weird thing of having the same move twice (Whirlwind and Wild Swing). Plus Ultima Sword, I might add. White Monk, in general, sucks as a primary class, but its skill list is godly for the rest of the classes (and Reflex is also good). Bishop/Templar, as I mentioned before, is very good (you actually complete the entire Bangaa spell list, plus you add lots of MP and Magic Attack, which is good for the attack spells), but there's another reason why it is so good: use Soul Sphere with a Healing Rod, and you become a walking MP generator!! (as you can see, Bangaas are notorious for being cheap bastards, the only other race being Vieras. I'll explain later). Dragoon mixes up well with Warrior (attack variety), Templar (as with TEM/DRG, but with an extra offensive punch), and White Monk (a survivor with the ability to use elemental skills, jump, and drain HP, plus it looks awesome as a Dark Knight-archetype). Counting all the good mix-ups, you get 12 good ones (not repeating the inverse versions)
Let's go with Humans. Humans, as you may know, have the most classes, and the true most versatility (let's face it, it can cover all kinds of jobs better than the Bangaa, or any job for that matter, as they got damage-dealers, tanks, healers, nukers, and ranged-attackers). But, because of that, they rarely end up with good mixtures. For example: Paladins are your archetypal tanks, complete with Cover for added punch, but they have some skills that are lacking (Parley? Drop Weapon? Subdue? Ok, Subdue is useful for capturing monsters, but nothing else). Other than that, they got awesome skills (Nurse, Cover, Holy Blade, Saint Cross, Defense). They mix perfectly with Fighter (complements the offensive side perfectly), White Mage (a tank that can revive? WTF? Geez, Dread Raven shoulda taught you that...), and Blue Mage (I'll explain later), with Black Mage as a so-so mix-up(well, you get offensive skills. Guess what, you just made Saint Cross better, but a Nu Mou still overwhelms you). Fighters are the main damage-dealers, racewise. Their skills deal with all kinds of situations (too much HP/Def, too muh Evasion, range, elemental weakness, surround), plus Strikeback is godly. They mix well with Paladins (same as above), having Ninja (Double Sword replaces your typical fancy routine into a double-hit fragfest) and Thief (this smells like Bandit, for crying out loud), as so-so mix-ups. Thief sucks as a primary class, but the skills are awesome...if you need to steal something. Otherwise, leave as-is. Ninja has the awesome Double Sword support skills (Bangaas don't, point for humans all over), but the other skills are relatively weak (though their chance to damage, deal elemental damage, and status is a OK on my list). They mix well with Fighters (more offensive for your buck) and Thieves (only thing needed is to name the guy Edge, it has it all written over its face). Mages, 'cept for Blue Mage, are the Nu Mou territory, so I shall not add them for the purposes of mix-ups. Plus, they rarely mix well: maybe Ninja/Black Mage (odd combo at most. Ninja Wizards, with lasers shooting from their eyes?). The Blue Mage skillset is to the human what the Templar skillset is to the Bangaa: a welcome combo in most places. Though, that depends on how good you actually are capturing all those elusive spells. Plus, I heard they have the best stat progression game-wise, so that adds up a point. But, personally, they may suck as primary jobs. Pally/Blue Mage, awesome; Fighter/Blue Mage, sorta good, but still meh (White Wind is a saving grace, as so do the "physical" spells); White-or-Black Mage/Blue Mage, a novelty at most; Illusionist-or-Archer-or-Hunter/Blue Mage, a waste at most. Archers are good ranged attackers: they mix well with Paladin (for more survival plus extra-long Holy Blade) and Hunters (now that's obvious, ain't it? But the inverse works better). Hunters are much better than Archers, but with lesser range. Hunter/Paladin, very good (extra survival, plus you get two, not one, super attack skills: Ultima Shot and Holy Blade); Hunter/Archer, much better (Archer and Hunter skills are meant to be ranged moves), Hunter/Ninja, a novelty at most (whee, you get a sorta Ranger class, Viera still does it better!!!). So, mix-ups for humans: 6 good ones, 3-4 novelties (odd to see, but not that battle-shaking), 2 they-would-be-good-but-Thieves'-skill-list-isn't-that-hot (the Fighter/Thief and the Ninja/Thief), 2 sorta good (Fighter/Ninja and Ninja/Blue Mage, if only someone could crack up how Ninja Skill works, they would be good). Sum: 13-14 total (wow, actually more than Bangaas), but since only the good count, I say 6. If I add the sorta good, 8. And, if I add the -/Thief good combos, 10. All Bangaa classes add up to 12 (and I had not added the Bangaa so-so mix-ups, that would take the mix-ups up a good notch). Thus, as I say, only Humans can pull it off, but their greater versatility punishes most of their mix-ups.
Now, Moogles. Moogles are unique in their jobs, sharing only Thief, Black Mage and Time Mage. Animists are odd: can be very useful or annoying depending on the mix-up. Awesome secondary skill, BTW. Mog Knights are the main standard: they are the perfect Moogle class. Mog Knight/Animist is quite OK enough (100% Wool, Sheep Count, Chocobo Rush and Cuisine are awesome skills, and perfect for a mini-tank), and Mog Knight/Black Mage is the Moogle counterpart to the Pally/Black Mage mix-up for the Humans: not that hot, but good for variety. I'll add up Mog Knight/Juggler, because it ccan be also good, if you know how to use it. Nu Mou are better mages, so I'll skip 'em, but I'll mention Black Mage/Animist as a wonderful combo (the set-up for my Montblanc, and it works wonders). Thieves are equal to their human counterparts: physically weak, awesome evasion, and their skillset is useful only sparingly. Jugglers do not mix well with other classes (Thief at most), but their skillset is second to none: Ring, Dagger, Smile, Hurl as the awesome ones, Fireball and Ball as the so-so ones. Keep as main job only, but the skillset they have is so good, you'll be forgetting that you have a secondary skillset soon enough. Gunners are godly in this game: the skillset is wonderful, and Concentrate/Stopshot is between the Top 10 most broken skill combos the game has, right after Aura/Meltdown, Doublecast/any spells or summons, Conceal/Last Breath, and just before Healing Rod/Soul Sphere. Plus, the Gunner/Mog Knight combo is utter fearsome: have a small guy going Ultima Shot at you and having Mog Rush, at a distance, with extra aim, plus a Mog Attack that can knock-back from a distance? Gimme that, man!!). And, finally, who actually uses Gadgeteer? It's too risky for my taste: the last thing I want is to heal the entire enemy party or to risk a status ailment on my team, plus, Target All law completely nulls them. Really meh. So, the amount of mix-ups is actually 6, and I'm adding all of them.
Now, Nu Mou, otherwise known as "the nuker race". Yep, no other race has that raw magic power they have. White Mage/Black Mage and Black Mage/Time Mage are awesome to behold: the amount of damage and healing and MP these guys can deal/have is simply blissful. Alchemist and Sage are THE essential Nu Mou main jobs, and they blend perfectly with any magic-related class (wow, 6 excellent mix-ups!!! ...well, ALC/WHM isn't that good anyways 'cause Alchies have Item, which sorta nulls half of the WHM skills), though you'll forget all about it when the god-like combo of Alchemist/Sage (or its much better inverse set-up) is unleashed upon the unsuspecting enemies (Flare!! Meteor!!! Death!!! Toad!! Drain!!! Giga Flare!!! Oh, my, not enough life, plus some guys died...RAISE!!!!!!!!). Morpher and Beastmaster, though, are the primordial reason they are not Bangaa/Human material: frankly, though they can have some GOOD uses, mostly they suck, and their skillsets too. It all depends on how you use them. And, please, do not even think of mixing both classes. Talking from experience. Morpher/Sage can save you a bit, but you'll be using the Sagacity Skill more than the Morpher skill. And Illusionist? Well, they mix well with all base mages, but they depend so much on having Turbo MP and a MP generator...I mean, a BIS/TEM with Healing Rod around... And adding Alchemy/Sagacity Skill steals the Illusionist's shine (but at least they'll never be loafing around). Mix-ups total: 13!!! (wow again, more mix-ups than Bangaas?). But, sadly, Silence and Rasp/Soul Sphere is the bane of Nu Mou anywhere. At least the Defender can cheat death. And what do you say of the Exodus Totema? That makes even Babus and Ezel cry in shame!!!
And, finally, the hot & sexy Vieras. I'll be very quick: Fencer sucks, Elementalist sucks, White Mage is subpar with Nu Mou WHM, but still lacks the punch. Archer is much better than Human Archers, but who'd want an Archer anyways. At least, the Archer/Paladin combo pays off. Archer/Assassin comes quite close. Red Mage is one of the best classes Vieras have: versatile spellcasting, and Doublecast. RDM/Summoner was a match made in heaven: it's actually one of the top 10 best mix-ups. Sniper is also very good: better than Archer, almost equal to Human's Hunter, lacks in comparison to the Moogle's Gunner. SNP/Elementalist is an odd combo (Ranger, wheee!!), and Sniper/Archer is expected. But the single class that excels from the Viera job list (I think they made Fencer and Elementalist just to nerf the Vieras, and this is why), and perhaps the second most broken of all classes (Defender being first), is the Assassin. Or don't tell me that when you heard "Assassin has Last Breath", you didn't went "ZOMG TAHT CLASS IS SO BROKEN,LOL !!11!!1111". And, the best mix-up as well: Assassin/Sniper. Assassins can equip Greatbows, so they can rain hell upon their enemies with ranged attacks (and the Vieras can equip Max's Oathbow, so...), plus: Conceal. With Last Breath. Nothing's worse than having a completely hidden Assassin own you from your back, at 60% or so chance to kill. Heck, I'm serious in giving Vieras double points for ASN/SNP and RDM/SUM. Oh, wait, I was almost forgetting Summoner. Yup, only Vieras can summon entities (well, Moogles can too, but it's so unpredictable...), and the entities they can summon are top grade: Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, Kirin, Unicorn, Phoenix, and Madeen. I intentionally skipped Carbuncle: rarely use Reflect anyways. Good Viera mix-ups: 6 (I said I'd give 2x points for some mix-ups, otherwise it would be 4), and 7 if I add some others I skipped (5, actually). Nope, not close to Bangaas.
After my long speech, I hope I have explained properly why Bangaas are, to me, the best race ever. I hope this have helped all of you a lot.
...plus, they're so f***ing darned cool, gosh!!!! |
04-19-2006, 05:49 AM
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They're cute,cuddly,fluffy,and dangerous!
Wich race is best on FFTA??humans...? 
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