Part 92: Soul Music and Memories: Bard, Heritor
Soul Music and Memories: Heritor, Bard (Job Roundup #15)Today we're looking at a couple unique jobs. FFTA2 has more than is strictly necessary, but they aren't all bad. In particular, we're talking about Hurdy (Bard) and Adelle (Heritor).
---
Bard
Hurdy's Unique Class
Acquired when Hurdy joins the clan after completing "Making Music"
Equipment:
- Weapons: Instruments
- Armor: Light Armor
Growths: Great M.POW and M.RES, below average everything else.
The first of the half dozen or so special units the game hoists upon you, Hurdy the Bard is basically Animist but better. As is the finest of Bardic traditions, Hurdy spends all his time buffing your party. Defense, resistance, regen, cure + Esuna, the works. His most notable ability is Magick Ballad, which restores MP. He can also deal damage to undead and exorcise them with Requiem.
By itself, Bard isn't that great. Magick Ballad is the reason people love it so much, but how much MP do you really need to restore? (All of it, if you're running Ultima on everyone.) I'd personally rather have a Cannoneer who can restore 60 MP in one go. I usually operate on the idea that a good offense is a great defense, so spending a turn buffing one or two units -- because everyone is spread out -- doesn't always seem good in terms of action economy.
Of course, I said "by itself." Teach Hurdy some Black Mage or Time Mage abilities and suddenly you have a self-sustaining mage! That's pretty useful, in my opinion, especially since the Time Mage buffs (i.e. Haste) are always welcome. Bard definitely isn't useless. In my opinion, Time Mage + Bard is a solid support character who has enough utility (thanks to Haste, Slow and Stop) to actually be worth losing an offensive character.
It would be nice if the growths were better though.
---
Heritor
Adelle's Unique Class
Locked by: Visiting Lezaford after the "Through Another's Eyes" quest
Equipment:
- Weapons: All types of swords, Rods, Staves, Poles
- Armor: Light Armor
Growths: More or less average. 62% speed, 8 in everything, 6 HP, 4 MP.
Heritor has a ton of interesting lore, but since we'll be seeing that in the updates, I'll just focus on abilities as usual. Heritors can inflict a handful of conditions (Addle, Slow, Charm, Confuse -- mostly mental ones, interestingly enough) that thankfully come with damage attached. There's a couple ranged options and the usual "damage = HP lost" ability, which is powerful in the right circumstances. Like Parivir, Adelle can also sacrifice herself to heal all allies. It's a solid selection of abilities, though nothing really outstanding.
The really cool thing about Heritor is the equipment selection. Not only can Adelle equip almost all one-handed weapons, but the ones that teach Heritor abilities are the best of their kind. That said, the most common use of Heritor is as a secondary for Hunter, because greatbows have excellent range and she'll have Ultima. Seer is a common secondary because of Magick Frenzy. Personally, I like using her a straightforward all-rounder who is useful in every battle.