Top 10 FF1 Party Setups According to YOU!

[@KeiMontague]

Party enmity in battle is: Slot 1 - 50% chance to be targeted Slot 2 - 25% chance Slot 3 - 12.5% chance Slot 4 - 12.5% chance

[@M_Alexander]

Except in my game where they keep killing my fing mages

[@someguy5977]

I have a dim memory of Nintendo Power having a little chart where they said it was: Slot 1 - 40% chance to be targeted Slot 2 - 30% chance Slot 3 - 20% chance Slot 4 - 10% chance But I never tried to verify it. I often wondered if the difference between position three and four might actually be about the same, but then a ten percent difference wouldn't necessarily be noticable. Your numbers might actually be the accurate ones.

[@tyrrax]

"Four White Mages? It will never work."

[@se7enist]

And then how many years later?

[@arcticbanana66]

"Chaos! You're too tall!"

[@patrickstrahm05]

What about 4 black mages

[@M_Alexander]

Oh lordy that reference is decades old isn't it

[@Luckycat9lives]

8 bit Theater.

[@statichamster75]

I always run 3 Black Belts and a White Mage. Leave their equipment empty after level 3 and be sure to put the items that cast spells in their inventory. It's great to give the White Mage Masmune. Everything gets sold and only youll only be spending money in your White Mage so it makes it less of a grind too.

[@chadherbert18]

This was my favourite too!

[@puubd3370]

YES!!! This was one of my builds as a kid! It was tough. NOT!

[@callmesasser]

Just the fact that you have a lot of spare inventory slots makes this party so versatile. The monk/black belt really is a broken character class in this game.

[@mindlessmeat4055]

When I went through the PR last time I rolled a d6 to figure out what I would use. I think I wound up with 2 thieves, a Red mage and Black Mage

[@TheReturnersHideout]

How did that work out in the end? Do you think it made the game any easier?

[@aspieatheist6040]

The Red Wizard can use Exit, but the Red Mage cannot. You would have to have a class change in order to have the red wizard use Exit.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

I wasn’t for sure! I can never remember what the Red Mage/Wizard can use vs their more dedicated counterparts! Thank you!

[@mountainmgtow5421]

This is not true for the NES version. Red Wizard can never use Exit. Only in later versions of the game (PS1 and more recent) can the Red Wizard use Exit.

[@aspieatheist6040]

@@mountainmgtow5421 No, the Red Wizard can use/learn Exit after the class change, even in the NES version.

[@mountainmgtow5421]

@@aspieatheist6040 Then there is a typo on the charts that I still have for FF1. It says he can't.

[@Typical.Anomaly]

My go-to party has always been FI, RM, WM, BM.

[@M_Alexander]

That was probably the first party I beat the game with

[@theinsanegamer1024]

I usually go with a fighter, a red mage, a monk, and a white mage. Good power, decently defensive, doesn't die often, access to just about every support magic I could need.

[@tempestfennac9687]

That was my set-up when I played the PS1 version.

[@tduyduc]

My formation when playing on every version, whether it's NES or GBA.

[@CassiusZedaker-pr7kc]

One of my worst habits is always gravitating to the same party when I play FF1 or similar games (it happened again in Bravely Second.) Fighter, monk, white mage, black mage.

[@TheGenuineFer]

I'm actually playing FF1 right now. Got the game for Christmas 94 and finally beat it a few years ago. Currently using Fighter, Thief, Red Mage, White Mage. Thief is not the greatest early on but is a badass after the class change. I always have a White Mage in my parties for harm, cure, and exit spells.

[@gurvmlk]

It may not be the best out there, but my favorite party is probably Red Mage, Thief, Black Mage, Black Mage. It's got lots of magic, which to me is just simply more fun than mindlessly hitting things with a sword ad infinitum. Sure, the Thief doesn't start with magic, but he is handy for escaping from tight situations, or whenever you're caught by a random encounter that isn't worth the effort. And with two Black Mages, not only can you wield more diversity with your available black spells, but you've got an abundance of MP for those spells. Making it much easier to nuke hoards of monsters without depleting your MP halfway through a long dungeon, while also having plenty of Temper and Fast spells to compensate for the lack of a Fighter or Black Belt against bosses. Sure, the party lacks a White Mage, but with two Black Mages, the Red Mage can focus mostly on learning white spells, with perhaps a few exceptions thrown in on spell levels where the white magic options are trash (I'm looking at you, Level 4). This, however, is assuming you're playing the game in a properly functional state, with bugs fixed so things like Luck and Temper actually work as intended. Which I usually get around by patching the game via the Retron 5, rather than playing the game on my actual NES.

[@IntuitiveYakOfAllTrades]

That first list (fighter, monk, white mage, and red mage) is what I did my first playthrough with on the PSP version with. I know the PSP version isn't the NES version, but it's what I had. I kind of miss those days.

[@FourBoxComix]

I usually run with Fi, BB, BM, RM but I feel like I should switch out the BM with another RM so running a FI, RM, RM, BB would be the new ideal party for my FF1 runs

[@philliparrigo]

I've beaten it with a single Fighter and also a single Red Mage.

[@Dhalin]

Fighter, Fighter, BB, White Mage. Almost invincible party that rarely takes any physical damage, and with the right armor distributed between the two fighters, they usually don't take much elemental damage either. The BB is for the one-shot on bosses (and anything else for that matter...) and the white mage is there just in case the monk takes an unlucky crit and goes down, and also for undead slaying and multi-target healing as well as the Exit spell. No black magic, but you will eventually find items that cast spells to get rid of the hordes of small fry. The Zeus Gauntlet, the Light Axe, and a couple other items that cast element-2 spells will take care of any hordes of weak enemies you come across later on. Also don't forget to keep the heal staves and heal helmet for free healing. Kill all but 1 enemy and just heal up. You will spend lots of gold on equipment for those fighters, but that's a good thing because farming gold means getting to Lv50 sooner. I usually end up as Lv50 right after getting the Canoe (I fight the PEDEs near Crescent Town usually until I'm 50). If you need to know how to get money fast for those 2 steel armors, go to the Dark Elf's castle. There's a tile in front of the one locked chest that is a forced encounter. HRM3 wipes the whole group out while HRM2 will kill the small fry and leave one or two alive for the fighters to finish off. Either way it gives lots of gold and XP very quickly.

[@michaelbawyll1574]

My favorite party that I haven’t seen on here so far, was two fighters, a red mage and a white mage. Lots of power with the hard hitters, everyone has healing magic after the class change, and just enough black magic from the red mage to help with the grind/ get me out of sticky situations. The main drawback being it’s an expensive party to set up.

[@Wind-Whistler]

Party number 7 - FI/FI/RM/BB has always been my go-to. There are exactly two full sets of opal armor in the game. Equip those on your two knights and they become a brick wall. The black belt is a glass cannon, but with him safely in the back row he is free to unleash hell on the enemy. And the Red Wiz is there to buff/heal/cast Exit. And to be fair, he is a perfectly competent melee combatant himself for the first half of the game.

[@pp-zj1mv]

the understated part of monk is all those free inventory slots. guess where you can put all those magic weapons and armor you find?

[@andyreichert499]

My first time was Warrior / Red Mage / White Mage / Black mage, and that worked out really well. Well balanced. I tried a thief once, and even the Ninja seemed unimpressive. Last time I just did 4x monk. The start is harsh, and the peninsula of power is necessary for early leveling. But once you change classes you just roll over everything.

[@souperdad]

Had no idea party placement played a part, that’s crazy

[@TheReturnersHideout]

I still need to learn the right percentages as far as how big the chances are that certain slots will be attacked, but it was a huge realization for me! Thanks so much for sticking around!

[@NightSprinter]

Yeah. As I commented in his last video, the "get hit by" percentages from top slot to bottom are 50/25/12.5/12.5 respectively. So any single-target attacks, you want your moste defensively-geared party member at the top, and the squishies in the bottom two.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

There it is! Thank you again, NightSprinter (It won’t let me pin replies or else I would)!!

[@NightSprinter]

@TheReturnersHideout I still am trying to figure out how the hell a Ribbon can't protect someone from a mindflayer's deathtouch from physical attacks. Last time I played, I had a party wipe in Mirage Tower because of that.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

@ I read recently about that and I can’t remember specifically - something about it’s attacks that 1-hit KO you being tagged as a non-elemental attack and there’s no armor that reduces the effectiveness of non-elemental attacks or something similar to that idea!

[@RedPyramid-lf4sb]

The party I use are Fighter, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage. They're my go-to every time.

[@Jikkuryuu]

I once did an element-themed run with 3 RM and a BM, Fire, Ice, Lit, Death. The only attack spells they got were the ones matching their element, other magics were spread around thematically. (ie: Lit Mage would get FAST, Ice Mage would get FOG) Naturally the Black Mage was a waste of space until the Bane Sword, and then he was only _mostly_ a waste of space. There's no lightning sword, so Lit got the Defense eventually. The others would end up with the Sun Sword and Ice Sword. It's a little interesting to find ways to express the theme with each character. Not a _good_ team, RM has unimpressive hp, but this is anything but optimal.

[@thomasderosso5625]

My setup (I didn't know that party position mattered) was Red Mage, Warrior, Thief, Black Mage. It was a little dicey early on with the Red Mage as the only healer, but once I promoted the game was a breeze.

[@someguy5977]

Fighter's ability to soak up damage is just so impressive. My number one rule for ff1 is to run with two fighters. Most attacks will hit slot1 AND slot2. Sure, position1 takes most of the hits. But the second spot still has to tank a lot of attacks. 2 fighters gives you good defense for good staying power. I used a redmage and a black belt too, but postions three and four aren't nearly as important. I think the ultimate survivor party would be two fighters and two white mages. Best armor and defense, best healing and utility/defense magic and raise. One white mage can even raise the other white mage if either gets hit with an instant death attack.

[@jackaltwinky77]

Your Number 3 has a problem, as only the Knight (Fighter with class change) can use the Xcalibur (in the NES original), so any group without a fighter has no need to do that side quest. My personal favorite is Fighter, RM, WM, BM. It was fun doing an all Fighter run. All BB run was less fun, though there were a lot of magic items to be spread around for bulk enemies The difficulty in each of them is the final dungeon, where once you’re in, you’re in.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Thank you for pointing that out to me - I knew that but when I get to talking sometimes I get jumbled, and I didn’t use a script for this one. I’ll be more careful moving forward. I also think, in addition to the final dungeon point you made, that sometimes the beginning of the game can be similar if you’re under leveled, getting on the ship and fighting for the first time comes to mind! Thanks so much for commenting!

[@jackaltwinky77]

@ There’s so much grinding for gold to get new gear, and then immediately starting over when you get to the next town. My strategy since I was a kid was to do just enough to get through Elf/Astos and immediately go to Crescent Lake, where the equipment is great, and the enemies give you good EXP/Gold. That and sequence break to go to the Water Shrine instead of the Volcano, so you’re getting the magic items that do damage without using spells, which makes the Volcano a joke by the time you get there.

[@redmageviewer]

My favorites are Fighter, Red Mage, Monk and White Mage. Also Fighter, Red Mage, White Mage and Black Mage. The first one is one I stumbled on when I got the GBA version and loved it. And the other party was what I ran as a kid in the NES version.

[@Joshuazx]

My favorite party that I've used so far, not featured in this video, is Fighter, Red Mage, Thief, and Black Mage. I hope you get this reference, but this is the 8-Bit Theatre party.

[@mystbunnygaming1449]

I do mine Warrior, Red Mage, Monk, White Mage. I double up on healing and some protection with my red and white mages. As for black magic, I feel this setup on the NES almost makes the black mage obsolete.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

You might be right - with that much power, you might not need any black magic, but a haste spell would be super helpful, but I think the Red Mage can learn it so I think you got a solid team here! A!

[@mystbunnygaming1449]

​@@TheReturnersHideout Oh yeah, if he couldn't learn haste, I'd probably go black mage instead. Though I still get the tier 2 and 3 element spells, and on the NES version, same spell power.

[@chadherbert18]

I played 3 Black Belts & a White Mage to level 99. 16 preemptive crits for each Black Belt pretty much aces everything, and you have a White mage to heal what gets through. 😆 I remember some fight where everyone hit for 1 damage, but I still beat it…

[@cedhabs20]

2 Red Mage on top and 2 Black Belt at the bottom would be my choice for playing the game without grinding and trying to finish the game the fastest I can. All your money will go on the Red Mage, Black belt don't need any money or maybe a total of 580 credit for both, if you want to equip them at the start of the game. 4 characters with high physical attack, 2 can bring good amount of magic. I don't do it cause I hate using 2 times the same character in a party, but to beat a speed record, this would be my choice.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

You might be right! When I get to the later versions of FF1 I might use this setup to see if I can bring my run time even lower! Thank you for commenting!

[@pmiller8292]

Two monks, a white mage, and a black mage. White heals and protects team. Black mage casts haste and temper on the monks. Monks punch bosses to death. I’ve wiped out all bosses except Chaos in under 5 rounds.

[@Mordax227]

I remember doing the 2 fighter + 2 red mage party back when I was a kid. It was memorable cause the cartridge had a super weird glitch happen where the save data got corrupted right at the start of the game. I lost the weapons on all characters and the fighters stats were all reduced to 1... except for their STR which was at 255! And they just kept increasing from there. They were so power that they were able to take out Chaos in 2 attacks. I did that party again a few years ago... not as OP as the glitch party but still a fun group to play the game with.

[@chriskroutil1518]

The intelligence stat is actually not broken. It was never intended to do anything in the first place other than indicate the number of Spell charges a character would get

[@gwgux]

Those are some really interesting lineups. I'll have to give them a try at some point, but I have tried the WM/WM/BM/BM party on the NES version years ago. I don't remember getting very far, but I should try it again sometime. Come to think of it, for all the different versions of this game, have you done a comparison of parties across different versions of the game? Between the bug fixes, and additional items like Ethers getting added, has it changed the party you like to use the most?

[@n1fffan]

I typically like to run the game with FI RM WM BM, pretty well balanced setup imo, though expensive to equip

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Oh yeah that is an expensive set up, but good all around for physical and magical power! A-!

[@DJBVWA]

I beat FF on nes with 4 whitemage back in the day, Nintendo Power challenge. Was really rough til yiu start finding casting-items. And even then, I did a ton of grinding.

[@M_Alexander]

I think my favorite party has been Fighter, Thief, Red Mage, and Monk. Granted, late game it's just the Ninja and Red Wizard buffing the Knight and Master as they annihilate the monsters

[@M_Alexander]

Am I remembering that right? Is there a black magic that boosts attack power?

[@aspieatheist6040]

I like going Fighter, Black Belt, White Mage, Red Mage. You have some good physical attack and some good healing. While the Black Mage is a power house, he's a glass cannon and can be hard to keep alive. The Red Mage provides almost as much power with more defense and a little bit of extra healing, which you'll need.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

I also think the Black Belt is a bit of a glass cannon also! Seems to get hurt more than most due to low defense stats!

[@matthewgagnon9426]

Definitely one of the more powerful setups. Nuke is good, but Red Mage can hold Masamune pretty well which leaves the Excalibur for your Fighter. Black Belt just naturally gets to hit as hard as the Fighter with the best weapon in the game, so that one is absolutely killer on bosses too.

[@davidmahoney9877]

I've done the 3 Fighters + 1 Red Mage party on the NES, it's a bloodletting, nothing stands up to that much damage output long enough to get going against you. I've also done the 2 White Mage + 2 Black Mage party in the Pixel remaster, it's a little sus the first half of the game, then you just obliterate everything with multi target spells, the party laughs at huge undead encounters. Chaos is rough though, because it's really challenging to get damage through fast enough to outrace Cure 4 because his MDef is so high (Masamune + buffs was the only thing that actually hurt him).

[@foodmetaphors]

i like to use red mage, black belt, white mage, black mage. u get all the best spells, plus doubles of the more useful ones, the black belt costs nothing to help offset the heavy expenses of the other three and gives reliable damage output

[@scottydu81]

Fighter, Black Belt or Thief, B mage, W mage is my main group, but I did one of four black belts and they were gore machines

[@zshimada]

Certainly some intriguing options, some of which make a lot of sense, but I think I'll stick with the usual suspects. Warrior, Fighter, White mage, Black mage. May not be fancy, but are reliable time and again.

[@diothar]

Why would you only use footage of the Knight, Monk, Black Wizard, White Wizard when talking talking about 10 different part compositions? Why not show the specific parties? Also, in the amount of time it took for you to say “I don’t know if Red Mage can cast Exit,” you could have looked it up.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Primarily because the footage would look nearly identical anyway. Not a lot of diversity in the types of attacks so it would have been exactly the same footage with the different jobs.

[@Dom_Maretti]

The run that I did that was extremely easy...to the point of being kind of boring...was Warrior, Monk, Monk, White Mage. You basically get exactly as much money as you need and exactly as much healing and utility as you need with a bonus. I don't know how common of a setup it is...but it is an absolute breeze.

[@carlbowen7965]

The fastest I ever got to Kary on original ff1 from start was Fighter, Black Belt, Black Belt, Red Mage. I was approaching Kary in under 4 hours at level 14 average plowing through everything until I stalled out here. EDIT: my red mage was on the bottom for healing, but yeah, number 2 was mine lol

[@nathanrcash]

2 warriors 1 monk 1 red mage. Red Mage cast fast on Monk. Monk attacks. One shot kill on final boss.

[@costby1105]

Thieves are pretty good in version GBA onward and can potentially outdamage fighters as their accuracy increases faster and some the gear in the extra dungeons make the Ninja pretty evasive. There was a lot of rebalancing of classes and Warrior and Red Mage, arguably the most valuable classes in the NES and PSX versions received nerfs both directly and indirectly.

[@alphega1983]

I always do a Fighter, Monk, Black Mage, White Mage

[@mogalixir]

W/RM/M/BM Post class change move the Master up into Red Wizard’s spot as their durability flips.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Solid! I also like the late-game placement strategy! Also, I love the name Mogalixir! The set up is an A, the name is S+!

[@fredtobin4671]

When i just played my first time on the pixel remaster i used 2 monks,white mage and black mage. It was pretty strong an saved a lot of gil on equipment

[@KamisamanoOtaku]

Isn't Fighter/Thief/Red Mage/Monk the Nintendo Power Strategy Guide's *cover artwork* team? The rest of the illustrations look like Fighter/Monk/Red Mage/Black Mage (or their upgraded classes), but specifically the cover of Volume 17 of Nintendo Power replaces the Black Mage with someone else who doesn't look like the Black Mage (or White Mage), so I assume the Thief (or perhaps Ninja).

[@ryanc5572]

My favourite run so far is 1 red mage, 1 white mage, and 2 black mages. Lots of spell expenses, but they nuke the hell out of everything haha

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Oh yeah for sure! That’s a LOT of magic power you have there!

[@raza5757]

The ending 😂❤️

[@DrPluton]

Call me traditional, but I usually go Fighter, Thief (or Black Belt), White Mage, Black Mage.

[@antilopezmexicanos]

My favourite party, fighter, red mage, white mage and black mage, all covered twice, physical attack, with fighter and red mage, defensive magic with white mage an red mage, offensive magic with black mage and red mage, no weaknesses, good speed, medium physical damage, high magical damage and constant healing.

[@AndyNinXdo]

Warrior, Warrior, Monk, Red Mage

[@TheReturnersHideout]

That’s a solid set up, lots of physical power there! A!

[@AndyNinXdo]

@TheReturnersHideout very hard to die. High armor and HP

[@TheReturnersHideout]

@AndyNinXdo and some protection/healing from the Red Mage!

[@madsli]

May be late to the party, but my first win was fighter, monk, monk, white mage.

[@brekedekdang39]

I did 9 on my last run. I liked having all three of the fighter-types, it is a good-looking party. But frankly, the Thief/Ninja just kind of sucks. It is quite unfortunate. I guess it helps that he can cast Fast. But that's about the only benefit to having a Ninja over a Knight or Master.

[@mountainmgtow5421]

Red Mage can't equip Excalibur. Also, my favorite party is Red Mage, Black Belt, Black Belt and Thief. I love how tons of people still don't realize you're not supposed equip any weapons on the Black Belt.

[@Veylon]

Why are there Iron Nunchuks for sale if you're not supposed to use them? The game is counter-intuitive - and buggy - so figuring out optimal strategy is hard.

[@mountainmgtow5421]

@@Veylon Because Black Belts are very weak at Level 1 without a weapon.

[@paddyhopper]

Oops all black mages is hard and so is oops all thieves. 4 WM was actually easier than you'd think.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

I want to try one of those set ups but it would be oops all buried

[@paddyhopper]

@TheReturnersHideout You can see me beat the game (PR) with a single level 1 red mage on my videos. No cheats no nothing glitch or special it can be done. I've done the NES one on around Level 10. That was hard bc you can't quick save in the Dungeons.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

@ I will have to check that out when I get some time!

[@gurvmlk]

I did an all Black Mage run about a year ago, and while it was tricky in places, it was also a lot of fun. I've also done all Red Mages, but that's it. I think it could be neat to try that with every job at some point, but not sure if I ever will.

[@y2a1979]

By no means the "best" party, but I always used a thief and one of each mage.

[@lucretiakillingsworth]

I've soloed as a White and Black Mage

[@brucemckinlay9739]

You mentioned a Red Mage using Excalibur. Only the Knight can use Excalibur IIRC.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

You’re correct, I knew that but I didn’t script this video and I just talked blindly, forgetting ultimately that I was talking about 2 red mages - thank you so much for commenting and pointing it out, I clearly didn’t catch it in editing either lol

[@Jinx_Skeel]

Hey friend, could you give me some directions on what are all the bugs and unbalancing issues with the NES original FF1 cart? I kinda wanna apply some improvement patches, but only to correct these issues and I'm not sure which one I go for the win.

[@BigTuk]

Wank a busted part...4 monks. You'll be weak until you hit like level 16 and after that.. you don't need to fret about defense. very few encounters will last long enough. That party also destroys bosses.

[@GellyVelly]

I actually have recently ran the set up mentioned in the thumbnail of 3 Warriors and a Monk and tbh I thought it was great. Just use potions for healing. Magic is overrated. You don't really need any offensive spells if you're just killing most things in one shot anyway.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

You're right, especially by the time you find Excalibur and Masamune! Thank you for commenting!

[@AstroTibs]

Try Monk, Red Mage, White Mage, Black Mage.

[@Azure30]

Always felt one of each mage and a monk was best. If you're really degenerate I think you want to solo up to the class change as Red Mage because theres no difference in stat growth between Red Mage and Red Wizard, but every other class gets better on promotion. I could be wrong about the original NES release though. Red Mage can tank hits just fine, and a hasted Monk will simply delete bosses.

[@matsujonen]

Fighter, thief , red mage, black mage

[@tf4665]

Warrior, thief, b mage, w mage Pretty sure that's the most standard way to play it. No heavy pros or cons, about as middle of the road as it gets.

[@kevinfogle7929]

Two fighters and two red mages. It is like playing the game on easy mode.

[@BGShadowSlay]

Thieves get so much hate...they aren't that bad. Coral + Dragon sword are 2 damage off of being Silver Swords for Thieves. Red Wizards Can use exit. Red Wizards can Not use Excalibur. Its like the only Knight Sword they can't use.

[@jeffdaigle5487]

The ninja is a beast if ypu know how to level them. My OG party is 2 kinghts a white and black mage. The heal items on all my ppl with my white mage with the masamune and they are lvl 99. Chaos had nothing on me.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

I need to do a run through with a ninja! I just dislike the Thief class in FF1 lol

[@jeffdaigle5487]

@TheReturnersHideout the hardest one I've done was 3 theifs and a white mage, spent 6 months just lvling up, but the benefits where worth it. Especially after the change. Didn't need to equip weapons. The power was higher with out them.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

@jeffdaigle5487 Oh! Does the Ninja have a similar setup like the Monks where weapons don’t really add much value at a certain point?

[@jeffdaigle5487]

@@TheReturnersHideout yeah, I found it out on Google, but I'm pretty sure there's videos about it on KZbin.

[@jeffdaigle5487]

If I remember correctly the evade is like ridiculous high and attack Power is equal to the best swords in the game. Pain in the ass but cool I can say I did it. ... Just took me 3 years 😂

[@richmorgan8546]

For number 3 red mages can't use xcaliber

[@brekedekdang39]

Sorry to be a negative Nancy, but I am not a big fan of this video because you didn't take the time to show the parties you were describing as you were describing them. The video was basically just something to look at while you were talking, but ended up being super distracting, since it doesn't relate to what you are talking about. I basically have to listen without watching.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

No need to apologize! So I definitely tried to do that, but it all ends up looking like the same footage anyway due to the lack of battle backgrounds and types of attacks. It would look exactly the same as it already does but with the jobs switched out. Thank you for commenting! I’ll try something different moving forward

[@brekedekdang39]

@TheReturnersHideout no worries. I think my favorite party will always be #9. It isn't the best party, but looks the best and you get a good amount of power and magic. At higher experience levels, the magic gets less useful. If I wanted to take out Chaos quickly, I only need attack and defense. The Master can take out Chaos in a couple of hits at a high enough level.

[@warlock415]

Isn't Excalibur Knight-only? Meanwhile, Fi/RM/RM/WM.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Yes I got talking too fast and wasn’t thinking! Also, that’s a solid set up but could be a bit expensive, that’s an A-!

[@warlock415]

@@TheReturnersHideout It's so good, it's like having an extra party member. You have three attackers, two offensive casters, three healers (four healers after class change). It only really starts to fall apart towards the end of the game, but that's not the hard part of the game.

[@vellayiikintherealworld]

Fighter, monk, red mage, black mage, Also I like FF2 please don’t bully me 😭

[@TheReturnersHideout]

The FF2 NES prototype that we almost got in the US is the game I’ll be covering once all these FF1 videos are out so stick around!

[@MatthewJohnson-n1c]

Once you get really good at the game four white wizards is the strongest party in the game. If you are less skilled its anything with a knight and a white wizard in it

[@erics8192]

let's be honest, PR is so easy that almost any combination can beat it without a lot of difficulty

[@TheReturnersHideout]

While the balancing is night and day difference across the board, the final battle might be the thing that breaks some runs. Definitely not impossible, but would be more difficult! Thank you for commenting!

[@erics8192]

@@TheReturnersHideout people beat the NES version (which is WAY harder) with 4 white mages back in the day, it can be done.

[@LOVEPHOENIXDANCER]

i still prefer my red mage warrior monk and the mage ofyour choice line up

[@UGAlawdawg]

Warrior and 3 Black Mages. Just nuke everything

[@Meshric]

Number 9 isn't obscure, that's the default party.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Well this wasn’t a list of obscure setups, just setups I liked that were commented by viewers on a previous video.

[@Meshric]

@TheReturnersHideout No slang against you. No I was commenting on what the suggestion comment said.

[@neilfmoore]

Why would you ever pick Thief on the NES/Famicom version when every bonus the class has is bugged to nonexistence? Oh, right, because of the upgrade to Ninja. Carry on, then.

[@Wind-Whistler]

I mean, even the Ninja is tragically mid. Looks badass though!

[@phoenixw2w]

Red Mage solo!

[@dh4352]

2 fighters, blackbelt, red mage is best.

[@LightsolP]

I tried the 3 Fighters and a Red Mage once. The game's pretty much a joke; nothing can stand against the raw power of three Fighters to begin with, and adding the Red Mage for healing and a bit of magic damage plus physical offense?

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

You might say Warrior-Thief-White Mage-Black Mage is (as Mr. Garrison would say) the "missionary position" of FF1 teams...a little boring but tried and true.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Haha I haven’t tried it, but I’ll take your (and Mr Garrison’s) word for it! Thanks for commenting!

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

@@TheReturnersHideout You've never done the standard Warrior-Thief-White Mage-Black Mage team? When I first played FF1 on the NES for the first time in 2013 (before then I wasn't so sure about the whole turn based combat thing) I figured three of the four were obvious...Warrior as your "quarterback", White Mage and Black Mage to have full access (eventually) to all white (defense) and black (offense) magic...leaving the second position a toss-up.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

@JohnSmith-zw8vp it’s true! I’ve never done it! Looks like I’ll do one more play through of it, or I’ll wait until I do a run of the recently found FF1 pre-release prototype and try it then! Video coming soon!

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

@@TheReturnersHideout I thought how it normally worked for most players (especially the ones who played this when the NES was in its prime in the early 90s) was that after being able to breeze through FF1 with one of the "usual" teams, THEN they try the more eh, creative/unorthodox ones listed at Strategy Wiki.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

That’s how it says to play it in the manual too, use the default setup and just go for it, I did not do that lol

[@1funkylionsfan913]

Fighter Fighter Thief Thief

[@TheReturnersHideout]

FUNKY LIONS FAN! We were watching football last night and saw how well Detroit is doing at the moment and thought about you! Also, once class change happens, that would be a beastly physical party! A-!

[@1funkylionsfan913]

@@TheReturnersHideout yeah it's been a long time since we thought the lions would actually be a team that could go to the Super Bowl . And yeah in the early game the 2 fighters carry the party but after you get the Canoe you got 2 relatively short caves then the game gets easy . Plus you get to use both katanas in the end game allowing you to use the 4 strongest weapons in the game and both ninjas get fire and ice protection while both have a heal helmet for healing and they have fast to buff the knights .

[@mikeduff2070]

Why are you talking about excalibur in the hand of a red mage/wizard?, only one class could use excaibur and that was the knight. Masamune could be used by anyone in the game but only knight could use excalibur.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Time stamp where I say that! I might have misspoke!

[@TheReturnersHideout]

I found it, and you’re right! I completely misspoke at that point! Good catch and thank you for making me aware of my mistake. I knew the knight could only wield that weapon but I suppose next time I’ll stop and think about what I’m saying!

[@kclink1579]

If only SE let me play the original, but sadly they are embarrassed of there past.

[@ddpsf]

Fighter, Thief, Black Mage, and White Mage. Been running this setup since I first played.

[@john1701q]

I did the 3 Fighters and 1 Red Mage. It was fun.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

That’s a physical powerhouse! You get an A! What was your third Fighter using as a weapon since Xcalbur and Masamune were tied up?

[@john1701q]

@@TheReturnersHideout Been a while, think I just used another sword. At that point it was just overkill. Think I used the names DETH, KILL, SKUL, and MRDR

[@TheReturnersHideout]

@ HAHA I suppose you’re right - it kinda doesn’t matter at that point!