CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

For those who have been exposed to the older final fantasys, namely 1 through 5, and possibly 6, many of the characters have some sort of class.

Kain Highwind is a Dragoon (FF4)
Rosa is a whitemage + archer (FF4)
Yang/Sabin/Blackbelt are all Monks
Locke is a theif
Shadow/Ninja/Edge is a Ninja

and those are only a few

Ever notice that many characters, with their ever so modern look, still retain the characteristics of certain classes?

I think the most obvious one would be Cid Highwind, note his last name is the exact same as Kain's. They both have jump attacks, and use lances/spears. Which is a characteristic of a dragoon.

Zell and/or Tifa might be somewhat of a "Monk" especially with their usage of fists and feet.

Your obvious Cloud/Squall/Tidus are all "sword users" and could be a fighter/knight type of character.

Red... XIII is just... a wolf... (if you want to, I guess he can be put in the "animal category" along with Umaru and any random Moogle) FF9 you have your obvious Vivi as a black mage.

I guess some are more subtle then others, especially with clothing and such.

A side note: 7 was the first to have your players use firearms. (Edgar in FF6 does not count, yes those are firearms but those were his "tools" not a default weapon, plus they weren't "bullets" but rather "bolts/arrows")

Yeah, these classes must have a special place in the hearts of the producers or something. But then there's characters that make you go "what the heck???" that are just oddballs (Gogo, Cait Sith, and many others that I'm not familiar with). Personally, I think the best use of changeable classes was in FFT, at least that I've played so far. I understand they've released another Tactics for the Gameboy advance or something, but I haven't played any sort of Final Fantasy game beyond the first disc of FF9 (I'm a poor, depraved child).

EDIT

Syreth wrote:But then there's characters that make you go "what the heck???" that are just oddballs (Gogo

Gogo isn't really an oddball, he was a Mime. The Mime was definitely in FF5, at least...in fact, in order to get the Crystal Shard containing the Mime job, you had to defeat Gogo (by doing nothing, appropriately enough). The Mime job is also in Final Fantasy Tactics, though it is exceptionally difficult to get.

Isn't it rumored that there is some sort of Gogo lookalike in FF5?

Gogo just happens to be my #1 favorite playable character in FF6

Mr. SmartyPants wrote:Isn't it rumored that there is some sort of Gogo lookalike in FF5?

As far as character sprites? I don't think so. I just know you fight him in a boss battle to get the Mime crystal shard (at the bottom of that tower underwater).

Gogo just happens to be my #1 favorite playable character in FF6

And he really is useful, considering not only can he mimic the last action performed, you can also customize his secondary abilities, making him that much more versatile.

Yeah, Gogo is quite usefulin #6. My favorites are mimicking a double Ultima or an X-Fight/Genji Glove combo. Do you guys remember that scam that was going around for awhile that said that you could supposedly transform Gogo into Golbez from FF4?

The Mime job is also in Final Fantasy Tactics, though it is exceptionally difficult to get.

I forgot about that. It's been awhile, can you tell?

It is true that the Final Fantasy series does frequently borrow heavily from its earlier games. However, the original classes were more or less intended to represent the many different possible varieties of fighting. Thus it is only inevitable that later classes are going to resemble them.

uc pseudonym wrote:It is true that the Final Fantasy series does frequently borrow heavily from its earlier games. However, the original classes were more or less intended to represent the many different possible varieties of fighting. Thus it is only inevitable that later classes are going to resemble them.

Very true. However I find it very cool how Kain and Cid share the same last name, and are both the same class and use the same attacks. (I mean, they could of given cid a gun or a sword and still kept the jump ability) I think cid was meant to be a dragoon in the first place, but more modern looking. Perhaps they are somehow related?