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Red Mage is odd for me. I’ve always really liked their design and stuff, I just never seem to be able to justify actually putting one in my party. If I did, I’d constantly be thinking about how some other non hybrid would be a better choice due to their focused skill set.
I just love how the edgy personality comes with the Dark Knight job, even Yuna in FFX-2 changes her personality with quotes like: "As I bear this darkness into battle, my suffering becomes my strength" or "My suffering mirrors yours"
I'm surprised that Thief is not mentioned, Its part of the main jobs, and almost every entry has an iconic thief character. From Edge, Faris, Locke, Yuffie, Zidane, Rikku. Its one of the jibs that mesmerized me due to their speed.
It was weird for me that before this they did a poll asking which was bigger in the series: paladins or thieves. To me, thieves should've won out because I feel like they're in every game and have many memorable representatives. I feel like paladins are important, but not nearly as synonymous to FF as thieves
@@ChaosMechanica That's a tricky one. I think because thieves have the tendency to be on the lower end of the damage scale, they are easier to forget when you look at the jobs across the board. paladins are superior tanks, white mages are superior healers, black mages best nukers- summoner is unique, red mages were iconic from the moment they were introduced. I'm honestly not sure why dark knight ranged on the list , if i had to guess, simply because of the story focus on the job in some games. when i saw the thumbnail, i was also sure that monk would be on the list, but similarly to thf, i think it just got left behind for other flashier jobs. Warrior has also always been a staple- but again, it's very one dimensional compared to the others on the list.
@@ChaosMechanica This was my exact thought. Paladins really don't have that big of a role in the series as a whole. I think a lot of hardcore older FF fans just really like FF4 so the impact of paladin can get overstated. For the series as a whole, holy knight type characters are actually very rare outside of 4 and the mmos. Even in games with a job system, paladins don't always make the cut. I'd give it to thief or blue mage long before I'd give it to paladin. Most FF games have a thief character or a blue mage or both.
there's 1 game that has paladins be important, and its ff4. to say its more iconic than thief is just wrong on so many levels. same with monks. hell, one of the biggest memes in ff history involves a monk suplexing a train. paladins on the other hand are almost literaly the same as the knight in ff1, or a warrior with sub white magic in ffv or tactics. to say its iconic is just nonsense.
@@marcosdheleno here's the thing, name a game where the mechanics of a theif, their core identity is on display for a majority of the plot. "steal" is thief's mechanic, and practically every game in existence has some plot line around stealing something from someone, even when a thief isn't involved. Steal is also a mechanic that falls off pretty heavily late game. where something like white magic, black magic, paladin healing and support, always has a place in the game.
Blue Magic is iconic, I agree. However, I think the Blue MAGE has only recently begun developing their own style as a job, with FF14 giving them the FF5 look. Every other game it's either a specific character or Materia that does the work, and they're usually the least-developed character in the cast (pour one out for Kimahri). I find they fill a similar role to Red Mages - with the exception of FF7 (where you could snap the game's difficulty in half with White Wind and Mighty Guard), a Blue Mage's skillset pegs them as jacks of all trades, masters of none.
Dark Knight is my pick... mostly because my actual introduction to Final Fantasy was through Final Fantasy IV and what got me into RPGs as a whole. I did play Final Fantasy 1 before but at the time I had no idea what I was doing (due to English not being my birth language and not knowing it yet, I was 5 at the time). That scene with Cecil and Kain leaving the Baron castle and the music ramping up into that beautiful melody always makes me teary eyed even to this day.
if i had to pick THE most iconic. i dont think anyone can disagree that the black mage is, in fact, the most iconic job from ff. i would even go as far as to say, that dark knight isnt even the top 3, as the "gunbreaker" and the "soldier" are both far more iconic as well.
Cecil was the best character because of his ability to tank ridiculous amounts of magical & physical damage. Combining with Rosa's love it was even more romantic to play.
Thief should have been an honorable mention at least because you can't get some of the requirements to be an ultimate class without them. But it's a solid list
I think Thief is an important class, but to me, it's one that's more applicabe across the RPG board, rather than just being iconic to FF. With the exception of Black and White Mages, this job list is very specific to Final Fantasy. Kind of the same reason Warrior didn't get a mention, even though the traditional term for an assembled team of heroes is traditionally "Warriors of Light".
The thief almost made the list, but lost in a poll to the paladin. And that's a shame, because stealing is such a core mechanic of the SNES, PS1 and PS2 games.
Blue Mage is probably my favorite because the abilities aren't so generic like other mages. When I saw Lulu and her dolls in FFX, I thought that'd be a neat gimmick for a Blue Mage. That or have the Blue Mage be a shapeshifter, assimilating new forms throughout the game. Ooh if they could transform the other party members into these forms that'd be great, especially if each character applies their own unique spin to the monster form.
@@MoonMagicks Well, there's Stranger of Paradise. Jack is never explicitly called a Blue Mage, but he retains the ability to use enemy skills no matter what job he is.
I feel like Blue Mage is pretty iconic because it's so unique to the Final Fantasy series, I would have called that more iconic than Paladin, which is just a mainstay of fantasy stories in general and not wholly unique to FF, but that's just me.
White mages are the cutest job. I love how they are healer with a little bit of offense to it with the Holy spell. I wish we would get a Minwu and Rosa inspired armor for White Mage in FFXIV.
@@TheMissileHappy Minwu wasn't a cute girl! He was a cute guy though. I agree there is a cute girl healer trope, but Final Fantasy often doesn't do this, especially in the most recent entries in the series.
As others have mentioned, the list could have included blue mages. But I also think that mimes could have been an honorable mention, due to how unique their role is.
blue mages aren't exactly core the series... they are virtually never a "main job" in any of the mainline games. they are more a bonus/hidden job (for instance i believe kimari is the only blue mage ((and even then, he's suppose to be mix of a dragoon and blue mage)) that is a core character in a mainline game, every other time they appear they are optional. including the poster child for blue mage... quina) then a core job the series is known for. if anyone was overlooked, it was the thief job. they are in every single title and are some of the most prevalent characters in the series. edge, faris, locke, yuffie, zidane, just to name a few.
My prediction going in: WHM, RDM, BLM, PLD, DRG, SMN, THF I would argue that Thieves are way more iconic, given Zidane, Locke, and Rikku, but I'm happy with 6/7!
9 and 12 literally had a thief as the protagonist, thieves were present from 1-14 with only a few exceptions, and even Yuffie is a thief in all but name. On the other hand, pally/dark knight have the same basic reasoning behind them (yes that is a dig at him) so I feel like of the two, if they fridged paladin nobody would mind.
Great video! I agree with some of the others that the list should have expanded to ten jobs, so it could include monk, rogue/thief/ninja, and blue mage.
Black Mage all the way! I just love to bring out calamities upon the field. Especially with spells like Scathe and Scourge in FF12, they render well the idea of black magic being used.
So I found out that Cloud is a true Red Mage. He is perfectly balanced in stats without materia and can be pushed into each direction of the job pyramid.
Though it is not a job, Sword Users are the most iconic people in the history of the Final Fantasy series As you can see in Yoshitaka Amano & the other's artworks, almost every single protagonist is a sword user and their ultimate weapon is some kind of sword ( Terra's Apocalypse, Cloud's Ultima Weapon, Squall's Lion Heart, Tidus's Caladbolg & Lightning's Omega Weapon )
Sure, that's true. But it also true for most fiction that has combat, excepting those that focus on guns or martial arts. Though there is Star Wars which has the iconic sword users as well as lots of guns.
I actually thought they would show up over Red Mages and Dark Knight, but yeah if this was a 9 or 10 list then those two would be there, and 10th would be Blue Mage or Samurai (probably Blue Mage)
i can even understand dark knights being in the list, but paladins? who the hell seriously belive that they are iconic? in ff1 the knight was basically a paladin. and in ffv or tactics, you could make one by putting a sub white magic on a warrior/squire/knight job. i said this in a few diferent posts but. those last 2 are in no way that iconic. monk and thieves are far more. and even above those 2, the gunbreaker and soldier, while not really being "real jobs" are BY FAR more iconic than half of that list COMBINED. i mean, you cant look at any gunblade in any game and not make the connection to ffviii, or talk with a non fan and not have cloud or sephiroth not came up on famous characters.
@@Spike2276 no, cloud is a soldier, that's his job. now you can argue about soldier being similar to other jobs in the series, but that's not really how it works, if anything, he would be closer to a red mage, or even a blue mage. but his and sephiroth's design are iconic enough to genuinely make soldier be an iconic job.
@@marcosdheleno SOLDIER isn't a job, Cloud technically has no job but the developers were going to make him a "Mystic Knight" SOLDIERs are too varied to have a unifying theme (other than Zack and Cloud, because even Angeal is different using a one handed sword and no magic)
In my experience when I'm discussing RPG classes with people largely outside the Final Fantasy fandom - TTRPG enthusiasts for the most part - the FF Jobs that have bled through the most into general knowledge are Red Mage, Summoner, and Dragoon. Red Mage is synonymous with the "Jack of all trades, master of none" concept, it really codified a design concept for modern RPGs. Summoners have some of that same basic appeal of Pokemon or Persona but more over-the-top and cinematic, which is why they frequently get replicated in other fantasy RPG franchises as evoking a summon with great fanfare is a great feeling to give your players. Then there's Dragoons -- armour design, the ornate spears, the fantastical agility and jump attack -- everyone thinks Dragoons are cool. Dragoon as a fantasy is the one I've seen among the most commonly wanted to add into Dungeon & Dragons somehow, and I can understand why.
disagree. the ones that have are the soldier, gunbreaker and black mage. there's not even a spec of doubt about it. gunbreaker is so iconic that you cant have a gunblade show up in any other media, and it not be directly compared with the revolver, similarly, if you talk to "non ff players" about iconic, they will point towards sephiroth and cloud. finally, black mage are the definition of iconic, as for dragoons, they are popular, but their designs are very often confused with the dark knight, SPECIALLY for non fans. hell you could put a dark knight in a dragoon armor, or the reverse, and they would still look the part!(except for the ff tactics designs of course). so yeah, completely disagree on those 3 being the most iconic.
Red mages will always be my favorite class. I love battle mages and red mage perfectly suits that, especially with the sick hat. Too bad the class by definition limits itself, but i still love them regardless
I think the neat thing about that is that Red Mages have slowly started to pull themselves away from that limitation, by adding unique elements like dualcast and combo spells. Red Mages are some of the coolest classes aesthetically for sure though.
I'd put in Gunbreaker but gunblades themselves are already a staple of the franchise. So for me, Dark Knight, Black Mage, Ninja, Dragoon, and Monk are my top 5 jobs
Yeah. I think Blue Mage got shafted here. It's certainly more unique to Final Fantasy than, say, Black Mage, Summoner and Paladin. Summoner is mostly carried by the iconic summons.
Summoner, my favorite job and characters in the series! Given their large list of different summons, they really become some of the most versatile mages in the series. Also the most fun caster in FFXIV 😊
I think what helps them is that summoning isn't all they do. Rydia used Black Magic, Yuna, Eiko, and Garnet used White, and in FF5 you could give a Summoner Red, White, Blue, or Black Magic to take advantage of their magic power without having to call your Big Flashy Friend every fight. Maybe it's different in 14, but I can't imagine a summoner whose only power was to summon. It would either be broken or EXTREMELY situationally useful.
I think Monk would be an honorable mention, given how much damage they do even without equipment. It’s definitely the strongest job next to Warrior and Red Mage in FFI, and with characters like Yang in FFIV and Tifa in FFVII, I’d say it’s pretty iconic.
Pretty much what I expected. Black, White, and Red Mages are the core flavor of this series. Dragoon is by far the most iconic physical job. The "dragon knight" is certainly not specific to Final Fantasy, but this very specific flavor of it I feel is pretty synonymous with Final Fantasy at this point. Paladin and Dark Knight are jobs/classes that are iconic to a number of other series', stories, and games going back to D&D even, but primarily because of their distinct tie to Cecil I think it's carved a certain iconic status within the series. And Summoner's very gimmick alone practically drove the series for an entire era of its life. Out of all of those though, I do think Black Mage in particular is *the* most iconic to FF overall in terms of overall aesthetic. Even some people I've met who don't play Final Fantasy do at least recognize the iconic look of their og sprite with the blue robe, big tan or yellow hat, and obscured face with glowing eyes as "something from Final Fantasy". It's one of those recurring images along with Chocobos, Moogles, and crystals that immediately invokes the FF name among gaming at large.
The love for FFIV is tangible in this video and is so, so much appreciated ❤️ Love to see it! As much as I love Kain and dragoons, I feel like summoners are just too fascinating to me. Being able to summon these magic, absurdly powerful and beautifully designed beings will never not get my attention.
Also I wonder what you would consider in your thoughts honorable mentions? I feel like the theif made a iconic impact with characters like locke, Zidane, rikku, and kinda yuffie ( being a ninja and all). Or maybe the monk with Tifa, sabin, snow if you will,. I really wish there was more representation of the mystic knight, as it has always been one of my favorite classes
If the list were to be expanded to 10, I'd add "Thief" er... "Treasure Hunter", "Ninja", and "Blue Mage". Shout out to Edge, Shadow, Yuffie, Steal Mug and Throw Materia, Zidane, Vaan, Strago, E. Skill Materia, Quistis, and Quina. (Kimahri was already mentioned for his Dragoon abilities, but although Lancet could be used by other Final Fantasy X characters, the property of gaining enemy abilities through Lancet was unique to him.)
I'd think that Monk (black belt/master) would be a bit more iconic than Red Mage. Ninja probably deserves a mention as well. Tifa is effectively a monk, and she's one of the most iconic characters in all of Final Fantasy.
My favorite Job is definitely Dark Knight, since surprise - surprise, 4 was 1st Final Fantasy game. But if we're going by pure iconic prowess, Dragoon is the top no contest. The very name Dragoon has bee so widely spread throughout anime and manga almost as much as the name "Bahamut".
No idea why but this video made me have a thought on getting someone to draw kingdom heart characters as ff jobs. I feel sora would be best as a red mage
Agree with all except Paladin! In comparison to the others on the list, Paladin seems kinda niche. Personally, I would've put monk or blue mage, as they've been big staples in the series. Quina, Kimahri, Quisits, Tifa, Sabin, Zell, Yang, etc. So many incredible characters have had these jobs, or aspects of these jobs, on top of the earlier games showcasing them.
My first FF game was 11 and I was drawn to BLM. Needless to say after playing that role for years, it’s my favorite of the franchise. There was a sense of responsibility in that role to manage hate (avoid dealing too much damage so the tank holds the monster) and to evacuate the party from certain unwinnable fights, using Escape (super long cast time to teleport party out of dungeon) and Tractor (moving corpses for safe resurrections!)
dark knight and dragoon ( lancer ) are my fav unique Final Fantasy job … even in every Final Fantasy use job system im always bring those job in the battle
The paladin class/job is always going to be the coolest one for me. I'd want to see them put a spin on the paladin job and make one out of it that's more offensive-based. Something more like a zealot or a crusader. Perhaps broaden the Dia spells to allow them to do lower damage on living foes, but do more damage against evil creatures, demons, and undead.
i understand that, and i really dont have anything to say against it. but the thing is, its not iconic. there's been 1 famous paladin in the entire franchise. and when talked about, they will bring him up as the image for paladin.
@@marcosdheleno Yeah. Its a shame that Cecil is the only named paladin through the whole franchise. Beatrix doesn't really count because she isn't a fully playable character. She is a paladin, sure. But the player doesn't get to play as her in the game she's in.
My picks would be Red Mage, Blue Mage, Dragoon, Dark Knight, Summoner, and Dancer. All of those are jobs that are simultaneously found across many games in the franchise, but not found in other media. When you think about other games such as D&D, classes like Wizard and Cleric and Paladin are all over the place. But where else except Final Fantasy do you get ideas like the concept of Blue Magic?
I feel like thief and monk are important, but I think that’s just because I played so much of 6 when I was a teenager. They probably aren’t as big of a deal as my nostalgia thinks.
You include Redmage and Summoner but completely overlook the Thief roll. I feel some of the more iconic rolls is that. Locke, Noel, Rikku I feel are more so iconic that Redmages or Summoners.
I like how in Dissidia you have every character being a different job then there is Bartz who is literally every job and uses all the other protagonists's weapons.
I just beat ffiv tay and I have to say that game has some of the most iconic characters for each job. Cecil, Kain, Rydia even the Cid of that game is iconic and he is also the first machinist of ff.
Dark knight will always be my favorite job/class. Since sephiroth doesn’t exactly have a class (he’s my favorite character) dark knight is such an interesting idea plus utilizing darkness to protect or destroy those who threaten your loved ones is a bit relatable, I won’t go into any details in that. Honestly I love the redemption arc with Cecil, yet I wish he would have been able to switch like he does in dissidia
After Final Fantasy X the summoner job has become my favorite. I can't wait for Finals Fantasy XVI where will see another version of the summoner in Clive.
Today I finally realised that Lightning is technically a Red Mage. I love finding out how characters from the less job-focussed games nonetheless fit into the archetypes. Also pleased to see my personal top 3 of Red Mage, Dragoon and Summoner all made the cut.
I missed the thief and the item-wielding classes a bit (i.e. ninja and chemist with things like throw and mix). I would say they are more iconic than the red mage for instance.
Blue Mage is clearly missing. Not only does it pop up frequently, but it's also one of the most unique jobs compared to jobs and classes in all other games. Thief, Warrior, and Monk are a bit too much on the generic side IMO, although there are certainly iconic characters of those classes, in particular thieves.
@@dogoku That's not what I said, nor the way I used the arguments. Stealing is ubiquitous in RPGs. It's not particularly unique or iconic. While I didn't even mention Red Mage, the way magic + physical capabilities are usually merged is to some sort of magic knight where they use both in conjunction. The Red Mage is more of someone who can do a bit of both. It's not a merge; it's a bunch of skills picked from different classes. And there are at least three jobs involved.
Agree with summoner taking the top spot as certain stories literally revolve around their abilities. I think blue mage deserves a spot due to how unique it is to the FF franchise.
Not entirely sold on Paladin. While nowadays its an iconic job within gaming, I think that's more due to World of Warcraft than its association to Final Fantasy. Personally, I would drop Paladin and Dark Knight off, and include Monk and Thief instead.
@@gorimbaud yeah that could also be true, I first encountered it in Warcraft 3, and then WoW, which exploded beyond the usual audience of games etc, so that's where I was coming at it from
@@flukeditgaming There has definitely been a kind of back and forth of influences since. I remember when 4e first came out and it felt like they were trying to adapt an MMO experience, which didn't go over well with my friend group, so we just went back to 3.5e.
The most iconic job?? Dancer, of course! Even Sakaguchi-san admitted that's his favourite job. All jokes aside, this video sums it up well - just go and play FF IV and you'll get the majority of the coolest and most iconic job classes in their best forms ever.
I largely agree, but when I think iconic FF jobs I think iconic to FF itself. Other games like D&D have paladins as a core part of the game. I would have personally used jobs that are if not exclusively used in FF, known *because* of FF. Onion Knight Blue Mage Summoner Dragoon Black Mage Dark Knight Red Mage
How you manage not to describe Dragoons as the third main floor tank is beyond me! It should have been Floor tanks everywhere! Lol. Also, I felt attacked when all black mages do Fire IV. We sometimes cast Blizzard as well, lol!
Summoner is my main and final fantasy XIV. Currently I think the class is a little broken right now, everything seems to die a lot faster when I use that class
So... The most iconic jobs are the Mages introduced in the first game and the main characters' jobs in Final Fantasy IV, even when it wasn't the game to introduced them. That actually makes perfect sense. FF IV doesn't have a job system that allows for customization, but it more than makes up for it in characterization. The characters embrace their job identities in their gameplay, design, story and personality. Meanwhile, the FF I mages are all about the customization and iconic designs. Warrior, Monk and Thief aren't much unique compared to D&D and other rpg's, but the mages, specially Black and Red have a pretty unique and charming style to them.
I don't know if I agree with putting Paladin on a list of iconic Final Fantasy jobs, because they're one of the most generic fantasy classes out there, and perform basically the same way they do in any other fantasy game, with no real strong ties to Final Fantasy outside of Cecil. Something can't be iconic if it's ubiquitous, it needs some kind of distinction to help it stand out as an example of what you're only going to get from Final Fantasy, and Paladins just don't have that. But, you know what does? Blue Mages!
Can't think of a single named red mage from a mainline none mmo FF game. Monk on the other hand has Yang, Sabin, Tifa, Zell and Yda/Lyse off the top of my head.
Ninja is mostlyy favorite class....not too iconic but its skill dual wield throw and having power scale base speed and atrength make them agile speedy and devastating
Separate! Red mages could traditionally use staves and were limited to medium class armor. Mystic knights were limited to swords due to the way their magic worked, and could use heavy armor
I'd argue Cloud is more of a Red Mage than a Mystic Knight, since none of his innate skills really relate to Spellblades, and the other distinctions don't apply to VII as a whole. The ways he relates to a Red Mage are distinct to him across the cast, while he doesn't relate to Mystic Knights in ways no one else does aside from using a sword.
I love all of your video about FFs, thank you for doing that. Can you make a video about porting/inheritance of tech on FF games to the next FF games? Like FFXI's Battle system was ported and refined to FFXII all the way to FF7R, Snow's model looks like a modified Seifer's model, etc.
Hey Emilio! Although it's perhaps not what you want to hear, we started working on this video series a few years ago, but unfortunately never got around to finishing it: ua-cam.com/video/DwG8zUUcP0E/v-deo.html
Too bad blue mages weren't mentioned, while they're not all that powerful, using g monster abilities is quite interesting and wild to say the least lol
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Will you make a part 2 to this list? Cause I feel like you missed a few iconic ones like thief’s,monks,warriors,assassins,and tanks
Dragoon will always be my favorite job
Totally destroyed in final fantasy tactics!
Floor tank gang xd
Me 2
Same here!
Dragoons are the best!
Red Mage will always have my heart. The utility, duality and balance between black (dark) and white (light) magic, and the hat! Forever Red.
Red Mage is odd for me. I’ve always really liked their design and stuff, I just never seem to be able to justify actually putting one in my party. If I did, I’d constantly be thinking about how some other non hybrid would be a better choice due to their focused skill set.
mine too
I just love how the edgy personality comes with the Dark Knight job, even Yuna in FFX-2 changes her personality with quotes like: "As I bear this darkness into battle, my suffering becomes my strength" or "My suffering mirrors yours"
And then there's Ringabel from BD series.
@@rafaynoman1180 I mean, Ringabel is not edgy, Alternis Dim on the other side...
I'm surprised that Thief is not mentioned, Its part of the main jobs, and almost every entry has an iconic thief character.
From Edge, Faris, Locke, Yuffie, Zidane, Rikku.
Its one of the jibs that mesmerized me due to their speed.
It was weird for me that before this they did a poll asking which was bigger in the series: paladins or thieves. To me, thieves should've won out because I feel like they're in every game and have many memorable representatives. I feel like paladins are important, but not nearly as synonymous to FF as thieves
@@ChaosMechanica That's a tricky one. I think because thieves have the tendency to be on the lower end of the damage scale, they are easier to forget when you look at the jobs across the board. paladins are superior tanks, white mages are superior healers, black mages best nukers- summoner is unique, red mages were iconic from the moment they were introduced. I'm honestly not sure why dark knight ranged on the list , if i had to guess, simply because of the story focus on the job in some games. when i saw the thumbnail, i was also sure that monk would be on the list, but similarly to thf, i think it just got left behind for other flashier jobs. Warrior has also always been a staple- but again, it's very one dimensional compared to the others on the list.
@@ChaosMechanica This was my exact thought. Paladins really don't have that big of a role in the series as a whole. I think a lot of hardcore older FF fans just really like FF4 so the impact of paladin can get overstated. For the series as a whole, holy knight type characters are actually very rare outside of 4 and the mmos. Even in games with a job system, paladins don't always make the cut. I'd give it to thief or blue mage long before I'd give it to paladin. Most FF games have a thief character or a blue mage or both.
there's 1 game that has paladins be important, and its ff4. to say its more iconic than thief is just wrong on so many levels. same with monks. hell, one of the biggest memes in ff history involves a monk suplexing a train.
paladins on the other hand are almost literaly the same as the knight in ff1, or a warrior with sub white magic in ffv or tactics. to say its iconic is just nonsense.
@@marcosdheleno here's the thing, name a game where the mechanics of a theif, their core identity is on display for a majority of the plot. "steal" is thief's mechanic, and practically every game in existence has some plot line around stealing something from someone, even when a thief isn't involved. Steal is also a mechanic that falls off pretty heavily late game. where something like white magic, black magic, paladin healing and support, always has a place in the game.
The FF4 jobs are so damn good, Square hit it out of the park with that cast and their jobs
Blue Mage would be iconic as well. Having a party member learning enemy abilities, "Bad breath”
Blue Magic is iconic, I agree. However, I think the Blue MAGE has only recently begun developing their own style as a job, with FF14 giving them the FF5 look. Every other game it's either a specific character or Materia that does the work, and they're usually the least-developed character in the cast (pour one out for Kimahri).
I find they fill a similar role to Red Mages - with the exception of FF7 (where you could snap the game's difficulty in half with White Wind and Mighty Guard), a Blue Mage's skillset pegs them as jacks of all trades, masters of none.
Dark Knight is my pick... mostly because my actual introduction to Final Fantasy was through Final Fantasy IV and what got me into RPGs as a whole. I did play Final Fantasy 1 before but at the time I had no idea what I was doing (due to English not being my birth language and not knowing it yet, I was 5 at the time). That scene with Cecil and Kain leaving the Baron castle and the music ramping up into that beautiful melody always makes me teary eyed even to this day.
if i had to pick THE most iconic. i dont think anyone can disagree that the black mage is, in fact, the most iconic job from ff. i would even go as far as to say, that dark knight isnt even the top 3, as the "gunbreaker" and the "soldier" are both far more iconic as well.
Cecil was the best character because of his ability to tank ridiculous amounts of magical & physical damage. Combining with Rosa's love it was even more romantic to play.
Thief should have been an honorable mention at least because you can't get some of the requirements to be an ultimate class without them. But it's a solid list
Agree!
I think Thief is an important class, but to me, it's one that's more applicabe across the RPG board, rather than just being iconic to FF.
With the exception of Black and White Mages, this job list is very specific to Final Fantasy. Kind of the same reason Warrior didn't get a mention, even though the traditional term for an assembled team of heroes is traditionally "Warriors of Light".
Crime is the universal class. It is a cosmological constant. Even taking stuff from chests and random places is very much embracing CRIME
The thief almost made the list, but lost in a poll to the paladin. And that's a shame, because stealing is such a core mechanic of the SNES, PS1 and PS2 games.
@@daviddalrymple2284 Also failing to steal >.
Blue Mage is probably my favorite because the abilities aren't so generic like other mages. When I saw Lulu and her dolls in FFX, I thought that'd be a neat gimmick for a Blue Mage. That or have the Blue Mage be a shapeshifter, assimilating new forms throughout the game. Ooh if they could transform the other party members into these forms that'd be great, especially if each character applies their own unique spin to the monster form.
A FF game with a Blue Mage as the protagonist would be awesome.
@@MoonMagicks Well, there's Stranger of Paradise. Jack is never explicitly called a Blue Mage, but he retains the ability to use enemy skills no matter what job he is.
Wasn't Khimari the Blue Mage of X?
I feel like Blue Mage is pretty iconic because it's so unique to the Final Fantasy series, I would have called that more iconic than Paladin, which is just a mainstay of fantasy stories in general and not wholly unique to FF, but that's just me.
White mages are the cutest job. I love how they are healer with a little bit of offense to it with the Holy spell. I wish we would get a Minwu and Rosa inspired armor for White Mage in FFXIV.
I like them in theory, but I'm kinda sick of the "cute girl is the healer".
@@TheMissileHappy Minwu wasn't a cute girl! He was a cute guy though. I agree there is a cute girl healer trope, but Final Fantasy often doesn't do this, especially in the most recent entries in the series.
@@TheMissileHappy I main White Mage in FF14 and my Cat boy Armor set id like to think isnt all that cute its like Stripper meets battle mage lol
@@TheMissileHappy I think you have Final Fantasy confused with Fire Emblem.
Dragoon and Dark Knight are my favorite with them fighting over which one being number 1 with Summoner coming in third.
My poor Warrior. Unsung hero of FF. The original tank and the most overlooked for those with flashy armor and skills.
As others have mentioned, the list could have included blue mages. But I also think that mimes could have been an honorable mention, due to how unique their role is.
blue mages aren't exactly core the series... they are virtually never a "main job" in any of the mainline games. they are more a bonus/hidden job (for instance i believe kimari is the only blue mage ((and even then, he's suppose to be mix of a dragoon and blue mage)) that is a core character in a mainline game, every other time they appear they are optional. including the poster child for blue mage... quina) then a core job the series is known for.
if anyone was overlooked, it was the thief job. they are in every single title and are some of the most prevalent characters in the series. edge, faris, locke, yuffie, zidane, just to name a few.
@@jmc2830You forget Quistus from 8.
Also Faris, Edge, and Yuffie aren't Thieves. Edge is a Ninja, and Faris and Yuffie have no defined jobs.
No.
My prediction going in: WHM, RDM, BLM, PLD, DRG, SMN, THF
I would argue that Thieves are way more iconic, given Zidane, Locke, and Rikku, but I'm happy with 6/7!
9 and 12 literally had a thief as the protagonist, thieves were present from 1-14 with only a few exceptions, and even Yuffie is a thief in all but name.
On the other hand, pally/dark knight have the same basic reasoning behind them (yes that is a dig at him) so I feel like of the two, if they fridged paladin nobody would mind.
Great video! I agree with some of the others that the list should have expanded to ten jobs, so it could include monk, rogue/thief/ninja, and blue mage.
Black Mage all the way! I just love to bring out calamities upon the field. Especially with spells like Scathe and Scourge in FF12, they render well the idea of black magic being used.
FF12 had the best end-game black magicks. Scathe and Ardor look so awesome.
So I found out that Cloud is a true Red Mage. He is perfectly balanced in stats without materia and can be pushed into each direction of the job pyramid.
Well, I’ll be damned. I thought he’d classify as a Fighter/Warrior, but Red Mage actually makes a lot more sense.
pretty sure red 13 is suppose to be the red mage of 7.
I may have some quibbles, but I can't deny that Summoner is one of the most eikonic jobs in the series!
Nice
Love all your job videos, this one's great too. I'm playing an old school Vivi/FF1-style Black Mage in a dnd campaign right now and am loving it.
No mention of Gafgarion from FFT when discussing the Dark Knight class? He's my favorite Dark Knight
Though it is not a job, Sword Users are the most iconic people in the history of the Final Fantasy series
As you can see in Yoshitaka Amano & the other's artworks, almost every single protagonist is a sword user and their ultimate weapon is some kind of sword ( Terra's Apocalypse, Cloud's Ultima Weapon, Squall's Lion Heart, Tidus's Caladbolg & Lightning's Omega Weapon )
Sure, that's true. But it also true for most fiction that has combat, excepting those that focus on guns or martial arts. Though there is Star Wars which has the iconic sword users as well as lots of guns.
Absolutely! I always notice that too, kinda love it
i think you're confusing ubiquitous with iconic
Dragoon is my absolute love. Second Dark Knight.
Valid list, thief and monk are two that definitely would’ve made it if it was a list of 9
I actually thought they would show up over Red Mages and Dark Knight, but yeah if this was a 9 or 10 list then those two would be there, and 10th would be Blue Mage or Samurai (probably Blue Mage)
i can even understand dark knights being in the list, but paladins? who the hell seriously belive that they are iconic? in ff1 the knight was basically a paladin. and in ffv or tactics, you could make one by putting a sub white magic on a warrior/squire/knight job.
i said this in a few diferent posts but. those last 2 are in no way that iconic. monk and thieves are far more. and even above those 2, the gunbreaker and soldier, while not really being "real jobs" are BY FAR more iconic than half of that list COMBINED.
i mean, you cant look at any gunblade in any game and not make the connection to ffviii, or talk with a non fan and not have cloud or sephiroth not came up on famous characters.
@@marcosdheleno one word: Cecil
Also by that same logic Mystic Knight is THE most iconic job ever because it's Cloud's
@@Spike2276 no, cloud is a soldier, that's his job. now you can argue about soldier being similar to other jobs in the series,
but that's not really how it works, if anything, he would be closer to a red mage, or even a blue mage.
but his and sephiroth's design are iconic enough to genuinely make soldier be an iconic job.
@@marcosdheleno SOLDIER isn't a job, Cloud technically has no job but the developers were going to make him a "Mystic Knight"
SOLDIERs are too varied to have a unifying theme (other than Zack and Cloud, because even Angeal is different using a one handed sword and no magic)
I would have add gunbreaker tho, Gunblade are unique to FF after all.
Great vid as always. I'll be awaiting your expert background info on why Freya plays like a Dragoon but looks like a Red Mage!
In my experience when I'm discussing RPG classes with people largely outside the Final Fantasy fandom - TTRPG enthusiasts for the most part - the FF Jobs that have bled through the most into general knowledge are Red Mage, Summoner, and Dragoon.
Red Mage is synonymous with the "Jack of all trades, master of none" concept, it really codified a design concept for modern RPGs.
Summoners have some of that same basic appeal of Pokemon or Persona but more over-the-top and cinematic, which is why they frequently get replicated in other fantasy RPG franchises as evoking a summon with great fanfare is a great feeling to give your players.
Then there's Dragoons -- armour design, the ornate spears, the fantastical agility and jump attack -- everyone thinks Dragoons are cool. Dragoon as a fantasy is the one I've seen among the most commonly wanted to add into Dungeon & Dragons somehow, and I can understand why.
disagree. the ones that have are the soldier, gunbreaker and black mage. there's not even a spec of doubt about it.
gunbreaker is so iconic that you cant have a gunblade show up in any other media, and it not be directly compared with the revolver, similarly, if you talk to "non ff players" about iconic, they will point towards sephiroth and cloud.
finally, black mage are the definition of iconic,
as for dragoons, they are popular, but their designs are very often confused with the dark knight, SPECIALLY for non fans. hell you could put a dark knight in a dragoon armor, or the reverse, and they would still look the part!(except for the ff tactics designs of course).
so yeah, completely disagree on those 3 being the most iconic.
"Black Mage: All I Do is Press Fire 4 :)" That is a lie! Sometimes they press Ley Lines, too!
Red mages will always be my favorite class. I love battle mages and red mage perfectly suits that, especially with the sick hat. Too bad the class by definition limits itself, but i still love them regardless
I think the neat thing about that is that Red Mages have slowly started to pull themselves away from that limitation, by adding unique elements like dualcast and combo spells. Red Mages are some of the coolest classes aesthetically for sure though.
I'd put in Gunbreaker but gunblades themselves are already a staple of the franchise. So for me, Dark Knight, Black Mage, Ninja, Dragoon, and Monk are my top 5 jobs
Dragoons and blue mages are the classes that come to mind for me
Yeah. I think Blue Mage got shafted here. It's certainly more unique to Final Fantasy than, say, Black Mage, Summoner and Paladin. Summoner is mostly carried by the iconic summons.
Summoner, my favorite job and characters in the series! Given their large list of different summons, they really become some of the most versatile mages in the series. Also the most fun caster in FFXIV 😊
I think what helps them is that summoning isn't all they do. Rydia used Black Magic, Yuna, Eiko, and Garnet used White, and in FF5 you could give a Summoner Red, White, Blue, or Black Magic to take advantage of their magic power without having to call your Big Flashy Friend every fight.
Maybe it's different in 14, but I can't imagine a summoner whose only power was to summon. It would either be broken or EXTREMELY situationally useful.
I think Monk would be an honorable mention, given how much damage they do even without equipment. It’s definitely the strongest job next to Warrior and Red Mage in FFI, and with characters like Yang in FFIV and Tifa in FFVII, I’d say it’s pretty iconic.
Pretty much what I expected. Black, White, and Red Mages are the core flavor of this series. Dragoon is by far the most iconic physical job. The "dragon knight" is certainly not specific to Final Fantasy, but this very specific flavor of it I feel is pretty synonymous with Final Fantasy at this point. Paladin and Dark Knight are jobs/classes that are iconic to a number of other series', stories, and games going back to D&D even, but primarily because of their distinct tie to Cecil I think it's carved a certain iconic status within the series. And Summoner's very gimmick alone practically drove the series for an entire era of its life.
Out of all of those though, I do think Black Mage in particular is *the* most iconic to FF overall in terms of overall aesthetic. Even some people I've met who don't play Final Fantasy do at least recognize the iconic look of their og sprite with the blue robe, big tan or yellow hat, and obscured face with glowing eyes as "something from Final Fantasy". It's one of those recurring images along with Chocobos, Moogles, and crystals that immediately invokes the FF name among gaming at large.
The love for FFIV is tangible in this video and is so, so much appreciated ❤️
Love to see it!
As much as I love Kain and dragoons, I feel like summoners are just too fascinating to me.
Being able to summon these magic, absurdly powerful and beautifully designed beings will never not get my attention.
I've been listening to discussion videos for a long time and have been craving something FF related. This is exactly the video I needed
Also I wonder what you would consider in your thoughts honorable mentions? I feel like the theif made a iconic impact with characters like locke, Zidane, rikku, and kinda yuffie ( being a ninja and all). Or maybe the monk with Tifa, sabin, snow if you will,. I really wish there was more representation of the mystic knight, as it has always been one of my favorite classes
Red Mage
If the list were to be expanded to 10, I'd add "Thief" er... "Treasure Hunter", "Ninja", and "Blue Mage". Shout out to Edge, Shadow, Yuffie, Steal Mug and Throw Materia, Zidane, Vaan, Strago, E. Skill Materia, Quistis, and Quina. (Kimahri was already mentioned for his Dragoon abilities, but although Lancet could be used by other Final Fantasy X characters, the property of gaining enemy abilities through Lancet was unique to him.)
Blue mage always spoke to me.
Probably should have rounded this list out to 10. While all the mage classes are iconic, not having Monk or Ninja in the list feels criminal
Been a Dragoon main in FFXIV since day one and I have no desire to change. The GOAT job in my eyes.
I'd think that Monk (black belt/master) would be a bit more iconic than Red Mage. Ninja probably deserves a mention as well. Tifa is effectively a monk, and she's one of the most iconic characters in all of Final Fantasy.
My favorite Job is definitely Dark Knight, since surprise - surprise, 4 was 1st Final Fantasy game. But if we're going by pure iconic prowess, Dragoon is the top no contest. The very name Dragoon has bee so widely spread throughout anime and manga almost as much as the name "Bahamut".
No idea why but this video made me have a thought on getting someone to draw kingdom heart characters as ff jobs. I feel sora would be best as a red mage
OMG!!! Red Mage actually made the list!!!! Finally Red Mage gets some love. They get you through the entire dungeon with your party in fine fit.
"Finally" gets some love? Play FFXIV.
@@omegagilgamesh i think thats what they were referencing with the "entire dungeon" bit. i may be wrong though.
How could it not? It’s one of the original jobs
Agree with all except Paladin! In comparison to the others on the list, Paladin seems kinda niche. Personally, I would've put monk or blue mage, as they've been big staples in the series. Quina, Kimahri, Quisits, Tifa, Sabin, Zell, Yang, etc. So many incredible characters have had these jobs, or aspects of these jobs, on top of the earlier games showcasing them.
Watching this really makes me want to see more lore on characters like Leon, lulu, minwu,& especially rydia
My first FF game was 11 and I was drawn to BLM. Needless to say after playing that role for years, it’s my favorite of the franchise. There was a sense of responsibility in that role to manage hate (avoid dealing too much damage so the tank holds the monster) and to evacuate the party from certain unwinnable fights, using Escape (super long cast time to teleport party out of dungeon) and Tractor (moving corpses for safe resurrections!)
i never thought that anyone's first FF would be FFXI
You gotta be more precise my guy I read that as ‘Black Lives Matter’
@@zacheray it's the same in FFXIV
@@zacheray lmaoo the comment section makes so much more sense now
Thief and Monk are definitely some strong suggestions, though I’m not sure if they would knock anything on this list… except maybe red mage…
dark knight and dragoon ( lancer ) are my fav unique Final Fantasy job … even in every Final Fantasy use job system im always bring those job in the battle
It's a good list but what about the warrior, blue mage, thief, monk, sage, or magic knight jobs?
The paladin class/job is always going to be the coolest one for me. I'd want to see them put a spin on the paladin job and make one out of it that's more offensive-based. Something more like a zealot or a crusader. Perhaps broaden the Dia spells to allow them to do lower damage on living foes, but do more damage against evil creatures, demons, and undead.
i understand that, and i really dont have anything to say against it. but the thing is, its not iconic. there's been 1 famous paladin in the entire franchise. and when talked about, they will bring him up as the image for paladin.
@@marcosdheleno Yeah. Its a shame that Cecil is the only named paladin through the whole franchise. Beatrix doesn't really count because she isn't a fully playable character. She is a paladin, sure. But the player doesn't get to play as her in the game she's in.
Black Mage has always been my go to class, i just enjoy blasting everything
Summoners will always have a special place in my heart
My picks would be Red Mage, Blue Mage, Dragoon, Dark Knight, Summoner, and Dancer. All of those are jobs that are simultaneously found across many games in the franchise, but not found in other media. When you think about other games such as D&D, classes like Wizard and Cleric and Paladin are all over the place.
But where else except Final Fantasy do you get ideas like the concept of Blue Magic?
I feel like thief and monk are important, but I think that’s just because I played so much of 6 when I was a teenager. They probably aren’t as big of a deal as my nostalgia thinks.
You include Redmage and Summoner but completely overlook the Thief roll. I feel some of the more iconic rolls is that. Locke, Noel, Rikku I feel are more so iconic that Redmages or Summoners.
If you had 10 seconds and 2 crayons to sketch "Final Fantasy", you probably couldn't do better than the iconic Wizard's Hat.
Surprised but glad Dark Knight made the list as it's my favorite job class.
Summoner is one of my favorite jobs ever!
I like how in Dissidia you have every character being a different job then there is Bartz who is literally every job and uses all the other protagonists's weapons.
Can't believe I managed to call the first 6 iconic classes, only missing summoner at the end.
I always thought Kain Highwind in Dissidia is so cool, that's why i love Dragoon class.
I just beat ffiv tay and I have to say that game has some of the most iconic characters for each job. Cecil, Kain, Rydia even the Cid of that game is iconic and he is also the first machinist of ff.
Dark knight will always be my favorite job/class. Since sephiroth doesn’t exactly have a class (he’s my favorite character) dark knight is such an interesting idea plus utilizing darkness to protect or destroy those who threaten your loved ones is a bit relatable, I won’t go into any details in that. Honestly I love the redemption arc with Cecil, yet I wish he would have been able to switch like he does in dissidia
Red mage is by far my favorite but surprised to see it over thief honestly
After Final Fantasy X the summoner job has become my favorite. I can't wait for Finals Fantasy XVI where will see another version of the summoner in Clive.
Today I finally realised that Lightning is technically a Red Mage. I love finding out how characters from the less job-focussed games nonetheless fit into the archetypes.
Also pleased to see my personal top 3 of Red Mage, Dragoon and Summoner all made the cut.
I missed the thief and the item-wielding classes a bit (i.e. ninja and chemist with things like throw and mix). I would say they are more iconic than the red mage for instance.
Nice, love your work. Could u do more complete evolutions of other FF Classes? If u need suggestions could u do Samurai, Ninja, and Machinist?
Blue Mage is clearly missing. Not only does it pop up frequently, but it's also one of the most unique jobs compared to jobs and classes in all other games.
Thief, Warrior, and Monk are a bit too much on the generic side IMO, although there are certainly iconic characters of those classes, in particular thieves.
Thief with a unique ability that only they can do (steal) is too generic, but red mage who is a literal merge of 2 other jobs isn't? Riiiiight...
@@dogoku That's not what I said, nor the way I used the arguments.
Stealing is ubiquitous in RPGs. It's not particularly unique or iconic.
While I didn't even mention Red Mage, the way magic + physical capabilities are usually merged is to some sort of magic knight where they use both in conjunction. The Red Mage is more of someone who can do a bit of both. It's not a merge; it's a bunch of skills picked from different classes. And there are at least three jobs involved.
Summoner is probably the most iconic, but I'm probably biased because Yuna is my favorite character.
Agree with summoner taking the top spot as certain stories literally revolve around their abilities.
I think blue mage deserves a spot due to how unique it is to the FF franchise.
It’s unique but not really a commonly iconic job in the series
if i could be a class irl id pick dragoon or summoner ive always loved these 2
Not entirely sold on Paladin. While nowadays its an iconic job within gaming, I think that's more due to World of Warcraft than its association to Final Fantasy.
Personally, I would drop Paladin and Dark Knight off, and include Monk and Thief instead.
I'd put it down to D&D more than WoW, since that's where Final Fantasy and Warcraft cribbed a lot of their notes.
@@gorimbaud yeah that could also be true, I first encountered it in Warcraft 3, and then WoW, which exploded beyond the usual audience of games etc, so that's where I was coming at it from
@@flukeditgaming There has definitely been a kind of back and forth of influences since. I remember when 4e first came out and it felt like they were trying to adapt an MMO experience, which didn't go over well with my friend group, so we just went back to 3.5e.
The most iconic job?? Dancer, of course! Even Sakaguchi-san admitted that's his favourite job. All jokes aside, this video sums it up well - just go and play FF IV and you'll get the majority of the coolest and most iconic job classes in their best forms ever.
I largely agree, but when I think iconic FF jobs I think iconic to FF itself. Other games like D&D have paladins as a core part of the game. I would have personally used jobs that are if not exclusively used in FF, known *because* of FF.
Onion Knight
Blue Mage
Summoner
Dragoon
Black Mage
Dark Knight
Red Mage
Theif and Ninja should be on the list Blue Mage and Mystic Knight , and Freelancer for honorable mention.
Started as arcanist in FFXIV. I love Summoner. Also a big fan of Red Mages
My personal favourite has to be the paladin as it’s such an iconic chin in the final fantasy series. But I loved the list.
How you manage not to describe Dragoons as the third main floor tank is beyond me! It should have been Floor tanks everywhere! Lol. Also, I felt attacked when all black mages do Fire IV. We sometimes cast Blizzard as well, lol!
Always fun to hear about these Jobs.
"All I press is Fire 4", That a KonoSuba reference I detect there? lol
I'm honestly surprised that you didn't have warrior in there.
Summoner is my main and final fantasy XIV. Currently I think the class is a little broken right now, everything seems to die a lot faster when I use that class
freaking adore this channel.
If dragoon isn’t number one we are gonna fight
So... The most iconic jobs are the Mages introduced in the first game and the main characters' jobs in Final Fantasy IV, even when it wasn't the game to introduced them.
That actually makes perfect sense. FF IV doesn't have a job system that allows for customization, but it more than makes up for it in characterization. The characters embrace their job identities in their gameplay, design, story and personality.
Meanwhile, the FF I mages are all about the customization and iconic designs. Warrior, Monk and Thief aren't much unique compared to D&D and other rpg's, but the mages, specially Black and Red have a pretty unique and charming style to them.
Isn't Noctis a summoner as well? 🤔
I'd have had thief too and probably monk. 9 most iconic jobs. By the end of everyone's opinions you'll have to do a 97 most iconic jobs in FF.
I don't know if I agree with putting Paladin on a list of iconic Final Fantasy jobs, because they're one of the most generic fantasy classes out there, and perform basically the same way they do in any other fantasy game, with no real strong ties to Final Fantasy outside of Cecil. Something can't be iconic if it's ubiquitous, it needs some kind of distinction to help it stand out as an example of what you're only going to get from Final Fantasy, and Paladins just don't have that.
But, you know what does? Blue Mages!
Can't think of a single named red mage from a mainline none mmo FF game. Monk on the other hand has Yang, Sabin, Tifa, Zell and Yda/Lyse off the top of my head.
Ninja is mostlyy favorite class....not too iconic but its skill dual wield throw and having power scale base speed and atrength make them agile speedy and devastating
Here's a question - Mystic knights (e.g., Cloud): The same as red mages, or separate?
Separate! Red mages could traditionally use staves and were limited to medium class armor. Mystic knights were limited to swords due to the way their magic worked, and could use heavy armor
I'd argue Cloud is more of a Red Mage than a Mystic Knight, since none of his innate skills really relate to Spellblades, and the other distinctions don't apply to VII as a whole. The ways he relates to a Red Mage are distinct to him across the cast, while he doesn't relate to Mystic Knights in ways no one else does aside from using a sword.
I love all of your video about FFs, thank you for doing that. Can you make a video about porting/inheritance of tech on FF games to the next FF games? Like FFXI's Battle system was ported and refined to FFXII all the way to FF7R, Snow's model looks like a modified Seifer's model, etc.
Hey Emilio! Although it's perhaps not what you want to hear, we started working on this video series a few years ago, but unfortunately never got around to finishing it: ua-cam.com/video/DwG8zUUcP0E/v-deo.html
Too bad blue mages weren't mentioned, while they're not all that powerful, using g monster abilities is quite interesting and wild to say the least lol
Best job is Monk and there's no more discussion about it