Part 30: Water Crystal Jobs

Water Crystal Jobs

Berserker



Berserkers are a loose cannon that play by one set of rules: Maim what's in front of them. Berserkers are heavily armed and armored, being the only job that can brandish hammers and axes. Their secondary ability is their only ability: Permanent Berserk.

In the Pixel Remaster the Berserker gains some benefits from bug fixes or balance tweaks. Previous releases had a bug that delayed a Berserkers first turn. Early releases also had some complicated battles that pushed some incredibly complicated combat scripts under the hood, and those complications really punished Berserkers. Now those fights merely punish them. The trade off is that you trade these good bug fixes for them also fixing a magic underflow glitch that made their ultimate weapon more ultimate.

Abilities:

Berserk (100 ABP)

User gains the automatic Berserk status.

Equip Axes (400 ABP)

Any job with this ability equipped can equip Axes and Hammers, and gain the Berserker's strength stat.


Worth mastering?

No, if you really need a way to give a class a viable strength stat, just use Bare Handed.


Mystic Knight



Mystic Knights have are a somewhat complicated job to use to their full potential. Unlike a Knight that just stabs an enemy to death, or a Black Mage that burns them to ash, a Mystic Knight requires a turn to imbue their blade with a magic spell. After that their attack has that element or status effect applied to the attack. An elemental spell only is effective when its used against an enemy weak to it, otherwise it does nothing more than a normal attack.

Now that might sound like a condemnation, since their whole schitck requires a turn to prime the spell (it does only cost half the MP of an actual spell cast for balance), and foreknowledge of what to use when, but far from it! Mystic Knights have solid stats in Strength, Agility and Stamina and negligible boost to Magic. So even without playing with their gimmick a Mystic Knight can do real damage.

New to the Pixel Remaster is status spell blades don't instantly miss when used against an enemy immune to it.

Mystic Knights have a passive ability that casts shell when they're in critical status.

Abilities:

Magic Shell (10 ABP)

Gives any user the automatic shell at critical ability.

!Spellblade1 (20 ABP)

Gives the user Fire, Blizzard and Thunder Blades. Gives a fraction of the Mystic Knight's strength boost (and magic "boost" according to the algorithms guide, this probably just means a boost to Berserker and Monk honestly, neither can USE this.)

!Spellblade2 (30 ABP)

Gives the user the above, plus Poison, Silence and Sleep Blades. Gives a little bit more strength boost.

!Spellblade3 (50 ABP)

Gives the user the above, plus Fira, Blizzara and Thundara Blades. Gives about half of the mystic knights strength.

!Spellblade4 (70 ABP)

Gives the user Drain, Break and Bio Blades. Gives the user more of the Mystic Knight's strength.

!Spellblade5 (100 ABP)

Gives the user Firaga, Blizzaga and Thundaga Blades. Gives most of the Mystic Knight's strength.

!Spellblade6 (400 ABP)

Gives the user Osmose, Holy and Flare Blades. Gives the full Mystic Knight strength.

Worth mastering?

I would say so, the cost is high but the utility of all these tools and the boost to stats for Freelancer might be worth it.


Red Mage



We come to the Red Hatted child of the system. In the grand scheme of things, if playing casually there's nothing really bad to say about them. Early on they are incredibly viable, but like Monk they suffer in the mid-game as their limited magic selection and stats fail to keep up.

In casual play this just means change to another job. In Fiesta rules it means enduring and hoping other jobs can bolster them in some way or another.

In the Pixel Remaster they gain new albeit costly life. You'll see... you'll all see

Abilities:

!Red1 (20 ABP)

Allows user to cast Cure, Libra, Poisona, Fire, Blizzard and Thunder.

!Red2 (40 ABP)

Allows user to cast the above, plus Silence, Protect, Mini, Poison, Sleep and Toad.

!Red3 (100 ABP)

Allows user to cast the above, plus Cura, Confuse, Raise, Fira, Blizzara and Thundara.

!Dualcast (999 ABP)

Allows user to cast All Red Magic above, plus any other spell the user knows TWICE

Worth Learning?

This one is a tall ask. That 999 ABP I listed above is not a typo. Honestly I'm surprised the Remaster didn't lower it since FF1 lowered exp to level and FF1 and FF3 made phoenix downs buyable to make things easier. Honestly I'd say dualcast is overkill but I can't deny its fun. If you choose to do this there are ways to grind at a reasonable clip that won't over level your actual character levels that I'll show off as they come up.

Time Mage



Time Mage is a strange class. It has the second highest magic stat in the game (excluding the Advanced Jobs, which are out of scope here), yet none of its spells use it. Black and White Mages have some buffs and debuffs, but the majority of status manipulation spells rest with Time Mage.

Abilities:

!Time1 (10 ABP)

Allows user to cast Slow, Regen and Speed. Grants a fraction of Time Mage's magic stat.

!Time2 (20 ABP)

Allows user to cast the above, plus Mute, Haste and Float. Grants more of the Time Mage's Magic stat.

!Time3 (30 ABP)

Allows user to cast the above, plus Gravity, Stop, and Teleport. Grants half of the Time Mage's Magic stat.

!Time4 (50 ABP)

Allows user to cast the above, plus Comet, Slowga and Return. Grants more of the Time Mage's Magic stat.

!Time5 (70 ABP)

Allows user to cast the above, plus Graviga, Hastega and Old. Grants mostof the Time Mage's Magic stat.

!Time6 (100 ABP)

Allows user to cast all Time magic. Grants the full Time Mage's Magic stat.

Equip Rods (250 ABP)

Allows any job to equip rods.

Worth mastering?

You get a lot of bang for your buck for mastering Time Mage. If you're not planning on mastering Summoner it's a valid choice, otherwise !Time6 is more than enough for some fun.


Summoner



Summoner is a magical beast. While Black Mage is a powerful class in its own right in a one on one fight, Summoner is an artillery piece that will raze the whole enemy party.

There are other non attack spells in their arsenal but mostly you bring a summoner to bring the pain with their best magic stat in the original game.

Abilities:

!Summon1 (15 ABP)

Allows anyone to cast Chocobo, Sylf and Remora. Grants a fraction of the summoner's Magic stat.

!Summon2 (30 ABP)

Allows anyone to cast the above, plus Ifrit, Shiva and Ramuh. Grants more of the summoner's Magic Stat.

!Summon3 (40 ABP)

Allows user to cast the above, plus Titan, Golem and Catoblepas. Grants more than half of the Summoner's Magic Stat.

!Summon4 (60 ABP)

Allows user to cast the above, plus Carbuncle, Syldra and Odin. Grants most of the Summoner's Magic Stat.

!Summon5 (100 ABP)

Allows user to cast all Summon magic. Grants all the Summoner's Magic Stat.

!Call (500 APB)

This ability will cast a random summon at no cost. Summon must be known to be casted.

Worth mastering?

If you intend to use magic in the endgame, having the Summoner's magic stat is definitely worth it.

The Mystery Crystal

There's that one shard on the ledge we couldn't reach, what's on it?