Summary
InFinal Fantasy, a job is not a way to justify one’s continued existence in society and to satiate basic needs but how a character contributes to victory during a battle, whether through support, offense, or healing. The series is well-known for having invented many jobs over the years, such as black mage, dragoon, and summoner, many of which carried into subsequent games.
With such a colorful spread of possibilities, fans mightstruggle to pick a favorite. Fortunately, the directors of manyFinal Fantasygames have recognized that variety is the spice of life. As such, manyFinal Fantasytitles have provided a diverse offering of characters with unique jobs, or the option to pick from a buffet of different job types at a whim, keeping gameplay fresh from start to finish.
In a departure from the previous game, Yuna and her Gullwings companions do not have set roles inFinal Fantasy 10-2but can switch between them, even amid battle, thanks to the “dressphere system.” This mechanic gives the player access to 17 jobs,providing they have been unlocked, such as songstress, dark knight, berserker, gunner, and the (for some reason) ultra-powerful “mascot.”
Different versions ofFinal Fantasy 10-2provide a slightly different number of dress spheres. Players with theInternational Versionwill gain access to an additional two: the festivalist and the psychic. Fortunately, for the curious, these two extra jobs were packaged into theFinal Fantasy 10/10-2 HD Remasteredition, so anyone who may have missed them on the original on the PS2 might want to check them out.
Jobs inFinal Fantasy’s first MMO,Final Fantasy 11, are divided into two. When players hit 30 in any of the six basic jobs, they are free to choose between one of the advanced jobs (including some unusual types such as the puppetmaster, the rune fencer, and the dancer), providing they can complete the requisite quest associated with it, first.
Final Fantasy 11 initially shipped with 12 jobs total, and each expansion introduced a new set of two or three. Swapping jobs is possible, but it means taking the level of the newly equipped job, which can be a setback. However, players can take advantage ofthe abilities of two classes at onceby taking a support (or sub) job. This grants them access to another job but at half of their current job’s level.
WhileFinal Fantasy 5might have been the game that nailed down job swapping,Final Fantasy 3was the game that did it first. The 3D remake first appeared on the Nintendo 3DS and added an extra job on top of the 22 existing jobs (the oddly-named onion knight), which in the original game took the place of the default job, the freelancer.
Like in the original, jobs are staggered out in sets according to which crystal the party had last encountered. One point to consider about some of the jobs found later in the game is that they are only upgrades of existing jobs that permit the use of more powerful abilities or spells (for example, the black mage is made obsolete by the magus, and the magus is made obsolete by the sage).
Given thatFinal Fantasy 14is still steamrolling along in popularity and content, including the sporadic implementations of new playable jobs, it should come as no surprise that it should make it to a high point on the list. With the advent of the “Dawntrail” expansion,FF14’s total job count is 23. This number excludes all the eight base classes (that act as basic versions of regular jobs). Had these classes been called “basic jobs” (asFinal Fantasy 14’s predecessor,FF11,calls them), they would not have been discounted, and the number could have been raised to 31.
Jobs can be swapped between and mastered at any time, making for an incredibly flexible system. Although the “classes” must be discounted on a technicality, there is also a case to be made to include the eight crafting classes as jobs. Crafting classes have their own active skills; for example,serving up a feast as a culinarianrequires the player to use crafting-specific skills just like they would in combat, and there are even questlines associated with each of the Disciplines of the Hand.
Ask any fan of theFinal Fantasyseries, and they will tell you that the biggest selling point ofFinal Fantasy 5is its stellar job system, which saw huge improvements over its predecessors. There are 22 in total in the original and Pixel Remaster, with theGame Boy Advance versionincluding an extra four atypical (for Final Fantasy) jobs: the necromancer, cannoneer, gladiator, and oracle.
Adding to the huge number of distinct jobs available to collect and master is the fact thatFF5gives players much more control over their characters' jobs, including customization and skill mix-and-matching. As withFinal Fantasy 3, jobs are unlocked as the party encounters a new elemental crystal or its shards.
InFinal Fantasy Tactics, rather than controlling a set party, the player directs units drawn from a large cast of characters. It makes sense, then, thatTacticswould include plenty of roles for variety. The original PlayStation version ofFinal Fantasy Tacticsprovides 20 “generic” jobs (based on those of the mainline series) that any character can learn with enough investment.
An additional 11 special jobs come loaded exclusively on unlockable characters, and although these jobs cannot be taught, once obtained, theseunlockable characters and their jobsbecome fully controllable. TheWar of the Lionsversions introduced two extra generic jobs (as if the original number wasn’t already high enough).
