Part 78: Starter Jobs 1: Soldier, Warrior, White Monk

Job Roundup #1: Soldier, Warrior and White Monk

The job system is the core of FFTA2, and it's a little hard to understand the game without knowing at least a little about them. I'll be giving a quick overview of each job with a short discussion of what I think of it.
From Agent to White Monk, there's 59 jobs total! I'll be doing ~3 jobs per post, so this will still take a while.

To start with, let's look at three of the "starter" jobs. These are jobs that have no prior requirements, so any character (of the right race) can pick up that job.

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Soldier



Races: Hume
Locked by: Nothing
Unlocks:
- 1 Ability: Thief, Archer
- 3 Abilities: Fighter, Paladin

Equipment:
- Weapons: Swords, Greatswords
- Armor: Light armor, Heavy armor, Shields

Growths: Solid physical stats, magick is terrible, speed is a bit low.

Soldier is the Hume physical base job. They've got a nice selection of equipment, with bulky heavy armor and powerful greatswords at their disposal. They aren't really tanks, but they will be able to take hits and dish them out. Their main skill gimmick is the "Rend" skill set, which inflict minor debuffs on the enemy. They also get Provoke, which inflicts Berserk, a condition that just isn't good at all. There's also First Aid, a minor self heal that's been nerfed -- it used to heal conditions in FFTA. Another skill, Gauge, reveals the enemy's level 1 loot, but why waste a turn looking when a different job can just steal it?

Soldier really suffers from being an early-game job. By the time you get the swords and greatswords with the good Soldier abilities, you'll have moved on to more powerful jobs already. Stay in Soldier long enough to learn the skills you need. Move to Thief ASAP so you can maybe get some speed.

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Warrior



Races: Bangaa
Locked by: Nothing
Unlocks:
- 2 Abilities: Dragoon (+ a quest), Gladiator, Master Monk (+2 White Monk and a quest)


Equipment:
- Weapons: Swords, Broadswords
- Armor: Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Shields

Growths: Great physical, speed is a little low.

Warrior is the Bangaa version of Soldier, which means it's strictly better but still not great. Like Soldier, they get access to Greatswords and Heavy Armor, letting them punch faces all day and take face punches all night. They also share the First Aid skill and the Rend skills. Fortunately for Warriors, they get some really nice extras: Body Slam does heavy damage but deals a 1/4 of it back to you, and Lifetap reduces the target's HP by 50%. Another ability, Greased Lightning, lets you bypass targets' R-abilities entirely.

Problem is, by the time you've obtained the weapons that teach those abilities, you've moved on to better jobs. The stat growths aren't bad, but other jobs have better growths in both W.ATK and Speed. With offerings like Dragoon, Gladiator and Master Monk, why waste time with Warrior?

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White Monk



Races: Bangaa
Locked By: Nothing
Unlocks:
- 2 Abilities: Bishop, Master Monk (+ a quest)

Equipment:
- Weapons: Claws
- Armor: Light Armor (no helms!)

Growths: Good speed, great W.ATK

I usually forget Warrior exists, because why use it when White Monk is so much cooler? It's basically the hume Fighter job with a few tweaks. The two most important skills for any White Monk are Air Render and Aurablast, which are identical to the Fighter skills. They also get Exorcise, which permanently kills undead -- an essential skill in this game. Later, they'll pick up Earth Render (earth damage in a straight line), Revive (the White Mage spell) and Holy Sign (remove buffs from the target).

White Monks are an exemplary starting class. In fact, I often find myself stuck with one for most of the game, despite never getting more claws. Like Fighter, you'll end up using White Monk's skill set as a secondary for more advanced classes. It's even more essential thanks to the prevalence of undead.