Xbox Living

Wings of the Goddess. This forthcoming expansion for Final Fantasy XI has me all curious. Curious for one on how Square Enix will deploy it for Xbox 360 (a download like Oblivion’s Shivering Isles, or on disc to install like the original game?) Curious about the crazy ideas like ancient stories and time travel. But one thing that a lot of people are curious about is the announcement of new FFXI jobs.

You may ask yourself, “Final Fantasy XI already has eighteen jobs! What more could there be?”

If you then thought, many!, you’re right! Final Fantasy has seen many other jobs in its history, and here are some of the ones that have not yet appeared in FFXI:

Time Mage. These mages have appeared in Final Fantasy V and the Tactics spin-offs, and they basically control time. They’re an unlikely candidate for XI, though, since most of these spells are already owned by other mages. Haste, Slow and Gravity would be in the repetoire of a Time Mage.

Chemist or Alchemist. The chemist, seen in FFV, Tactics and X-2, is primarially a support job that mixes items together to provide special effects to the party. I’d see the chemist as a solid option for a new job, although the Bard, Red Mage and Corsair already fill up enough support roles. This job may be better if they give it some offensive abilities or potions.

Mystic Knight or Sorcerer. The Mystic Knight, seen in FFV, uses a sword as its main weapon but empowers it with magical enchantments to strengthen it. The mystic knight would have advantages over other mages, since they’d use less MP and would be able to attack like a melee (unlike the Red Mage which, while sword-wielding, rarely attacks directly). Still, the enhancement aspect of the Mystic Knight is already attributed to the RDM and his “En-whatever” spells.

Geomancer or Elementalist. The geomancer was suggested in a semi-official capacity for Treasures of Aht Urhgan, but was later removed and replaced with the Corsair. The geomancer uses abilities that base on their current environment. For example, in icy zones like Xarcabard, they’d have access to some powerful ice-based spells. In the Altepa Desert, they might have stronger earth-based spells. The inherent flaw here is that you’re likely to find mobs that are resistant to the element associated with their environment. Still, this is a strong possibility since Square Enix was already considering it. Geomancers appeared in Final Fantasy III, FFV and Tactics.

Mime. Mimes, seen in FFV, VI and VII (through materia), mimic the abilities of others in the party and effectively become a hybrid of various jobs. This might be an interesting job in Final Fantasy XI, but could quickly become horribly broken and all too powerful if given the freedom to mimic any job. In most games, the Mime can only choose a handful of abilities to replicate, though. This would present huge variety to the class, as players could essentially customize their job. I’d be most interested in seeing this one.

Of course, the game’s developers aren’t restricted to previously-envisioned jobs. The Puppetmaster, for example, is unique to FFXI, and the Corsair is a significant variation of the Gambler class in other titles. We may see something new altogether.

What would you hope for?