Bravely series

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Another Bravely Default update that no one but anonymous lurkers asked for. . .


The next step after getting the Black Mage job was to go to Lontano Villa and fight the Knight Asterisk Holder. . .


Ringabel Character Level 12, Job Level 3 Black Mage
Black Magic & Miscellany commands
 
Weapon:  Ogre’s Club (increases Lightning damage)
Shield:  Buckler
Hat:  Red Cap
Body:  Rainbow Dress
Accessory:  Growth Egg (I wanted more experience points, OK?  )

vs.


Heinkel:  3240 HP, Lightning weakness, Human
2 Sky Archers:  162 HP, Lightning weakness, Wind resist, Human


Heinkel is a tutorial boss in this game, and he’s supposed to teach you the value of switching jobs rather than remaining Freelancers the whole game.  Physical attacks are almost worthless in this fight since Heinkel will cover for the minions and buff his already high Physical Defense.
 

Two group cast Thunders from Ringabel took out the Sky Archers on round 1.  I initially had him use the Blood Shield, but that reduced Heinkel’s damage to 1, and I wanted something resembling a fair fight!  To have a bit of fun, I switched to the Buckler. 

After Ringabel died on the first attempt due to not recognizing his attack pattern, I knew to Default when he was low on health.  Heinkel sometimes used Shield Strike twice in a row, leaving him at negative BP.  Ringabel used that opportunity to cast Thunder and heal with Potions.  He cast enough spells during the fight to finish Heinkel off with a Piercing Bolt.  It wouldn’t be one of my playthroughs without using that move, would it?  



Defeating Heinkel unlocked the Knight job, which is quite useful for a solo playthrough.  Their high HP and VIT allow them to survive physical bosses, even without Norende armor in some cases.  Like in Final Fantasy 5, they unlock the Two-Handed ability that doubles Physical Attack if they don’t have a shield.  I’ll probably save this for bosses that Brave into negative BP and give me free rounds to attack.  The Stomp attack complements Two-Handed by giving a 25% damage increase in exchange for a 25% Physical Defense penalty for two rounds.


Going to Ancheim let Ringabel use level 2 White and Black Magic.  Level 2 Black Magic only has status ailment spells, which are unreliable in this series.  White Magic at least lets you cast Protect and Shell to give 25% buffs to Physical and Magic Defense respectively.   The Aero line of spells is White Magic in the Bravely series too, much like in Final Fantasy 3.
 
 Outside of Ancheim, Ringabel leveled up to 18 while raising all his current jobs to at least level 3.  This was good for the next boss. . .


Ringabel Character Level 18, Job Level 3 Knight
Chivalry & White Magic commands
Abate Fire passive ability
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor
Shield:  Round Shield
Head:  Iron Helm    
Body:  Iron Armor
Accessory:  Growth Egg

vs.


Jackal:  6570 HP, no weakness, Human
Khint:  6570 HP, no weakness, Human


This fight was another case where I held back on using Norende armor to have more fun.  Khint the Spell Fencer enchanted his weapon with Silence, which was a bit annoying when I wanted to heal.  Fortunately, a few stockpiled Echo Herbs and higher level potions let Ringabel get around that.  When he wasn’t trying to inflict status ailments, Khint tried to kill Ringabel with Fire slashes.  Abate Fire reduced the damage to manageable levels. 


The Jackal stuck to the tactic of Braving into negative BP and hitting Ringabel with regular attacks with his wimpy dagger.  Normally, Jackal steals your Potions and uses them to heal himself, but that skill must not work on High Potions or X-Potions, since he never did it once the entire fight.
Ringabel ignored Khint while attacking, because he’s programmed to flee once Jackal loses enough HP.  A few Stomps finished off Jackal after one of his Brave rushes.




The Knight’s defenses have their limits, and the next boss fight proved that. . .
 
Profiteur:  8100 HP, no weakness, Human
Khint:  6750 HP, no weakness, Human
 
Profiteur the Merchant had Takeover, the Bravely equivalent of Gil Toss.  It’s much weaker than its Final Fantasy 5 counterpart, and only hits a single target for 50 damage multiplied by character level.  Still, 300 damage is too much to handle in Chapter 1 even for Knights, and Profiteur often used it twice when he Braved.  Khint fought the same way he did in the Jackal fight.  What to do?
 

Ringabel’s equipment and setup:
Character Level 20, Job Level 4 Thief
Thievery command
Physical Defense 10% Up passive ability
 
Weapon:  Angel’s Bow
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Growth Egg
 
The solution lay in the Thief job!  Job level 4 unlocked Life Thief, an attack that restores HP equal to damage dealt.  Every time Profiteur used Takeover, Ringabel could steal the health back and deal damage at the same time.  Jackal made the mistake of wielding daggers that use STR instead of Bows that take advantage of high DEX.  Thieves are much better in Bravely games than in Final Fantasy 5 if you know how to use them unlike certain Asterisk Holders! 

Heike equipment may seem like overkill, but Thieves have E rank in heavy armor and most of the danger came from fixed damage attacks anyway.

Khint abandoned Profiteur in the middle of the battle after demanding a 51.2 billion pg surcharge, equivalent to a “national budget”.  This is nice foreshadowing for Ringabel’s next encounter with the Spell Fencer.


After defeating Profiteur, Ringabel went to Yulyana Woods to purchase Mythril equipment.  This paid off for a boss that wasn’t an Asterisk Holder for once. . .



Ringabel Character Level 22, Job Level 3 Knight
Chivalry & Thievery commands
Abate Fire passive ability (probably should have been Physical Defense 10% Up)
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor
Shield:  Mythril Shield
Head:  Mythril Helm
Body:  Mythril Armor
Accessory:  Growth Egg   

vs.

Dragon:  10,125 HP, Water weakness, Fire immune, Dragon


Life Thief combined with the Night Emperor sword and the Knight’s HP and VIT stats meant this was an easy battle for Ringabel.  The Dragon only used physical attacks such as Mow Down.  I expected it to breathe fire, but maybe I was confusing it with the “elemental dragons” from Chapter 4.  Ringabel finished off the Dragon with style by using Hack and Slash and saying “That hurt?” with a smug grin on his face. 

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

I meant to play Etrian Odyssey 5 today, but I forgot to swap cartridges earlier.  So here's another Bravely Default update!

For starters, here's a comparison that will show you how character level works in this game:


Ringabel Character Level 23, Job Level 5 Knight

HP:  990
MP:  139
STR:  26
VIT:  30
INT:  16
MND:  21
DEX:  19
AGI:  19
 
Level 24, Job Level 5


HP:  1041
MP:  142
STR:  26
VIT:  30
INT:  16
MND:  21
DEX:  19
AGI:  19


As you can see, only HP and MP increase.  Job levels and equipment determine the other stats, similar to Final Fantasy 5.  A level 99 party can lose with the wrong setup in Chapter 7 and Chapter 8, making most single job variants nearly impossible under normal circumstances.  This is why I'm multiclassing with solo Ringabel.


The next mission was to take out the Wind crystal fiend, which is much harder than the Wing Raptor from FF5. . .


Ringabel Character Level 23, Job Level 5 Knight
Chivalry and Thievery commands
Abate Fire passive ability
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor
Shield:  Mythril Shield
Head:  Mythril Helm
Armor:  Mythril Armor
Accessory:  Growth Egg
 
Vs.
 
Orthros Fire Head:  6750 HP, Water weakness, Fire immune, Beast
Orthros Ice Head:  6750 HP, Fire weakness, Water immune, Beast
 
Get used to seeing this boss.  Ringabel will fight the crystal fiends 4 more times in Chapters 5-8!  This repetition is one of the most hated parts of Bravely Default, and for good reason.

Anyway, Life Thief let Ringabel survive all those fire and ice breath attacks.  He targeted the ice head first because he had Abate Fire to make the other head less dangerous.  Hack and Slash with the Beast Slayer part hit the fire head for major damage.  I played with Ironclad a bit in this fight.  It buffs Physical Defense by 50% for a turn, so it’ll be useful on rounds when Ringabel attacks.   Using the Night Emperor for all these early game fights sounds silly, but the other ways for a solo character involve excessive level grinding or throwing tons of attack items at the bosses.


The final sidequest boss of Chapter 1 required drastic measures. . .
 

Ringabel Character Level 24, Job Level 5 Knight
Chivalry & Thievery commands
Speed 20% Up passive ability
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Reflect Ring.
 
What fight could possibly require such an overpowered loadout?  It’s my old friend from Bravely Second!
 
Khamer:  8100 HP, no weakness, Human
Khint:  8100 HP, no weakness, Human
 
Yes, Khamer the Time Mage has returned to torment me with his Stop spells!    Not laughing at me for using Norende equipment now, are you? 

Well, it wasn’t enough for several attempts.  Khamer would cast Stop, and then cast Quara until I died.  After dying often, I decided that since Khamer wasn’t playing fair, neither would I.  Time to break out the Bomb Arms!  Throwing 1500 damage attack items defeated them both at the same time.  Khint’s dying quote about money being the cause of his defeat was appropriate when Bomb Arms cost 2000 pg each!


Chapter 2 had a great place to grind for the early game.  The flowery areas around Florem have Alraunes that give much more experience and job points than earlier enemies.  I leveled most of Ringabel's jobs to about 6 there before going after the next sidequest.  The next fight reminded me of the Bravely Second sidequests, but was much more difficult. . .

Ringabel Character Level 36, Job Level 6 Thief
Thievery & Sword Magic commands
HP 10% Up and Physical Defense 10& UP passive abilities

Weapon:  Night Emperor
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Body:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Peace Ring

vs.

Mephilia:  13,498 HP, no weakness, Human
Legion Impaler:  1350 HP, Lightning weakness, Human
Legion Archer:  2970 HP, no weakness, Human


This is the first asterisk boss with respawning minions, similar to Geist, Barbarossa, and Khamer from Bravely Second.  Mephilia summons the Earth element Girtablulu after a specific number of turns that I can't recall right now, and that is the major threat in this fight.  The Peace Ring was there because the Legion Archer has a "Chaos Arrow" attack that can confuse.  I tried this fight with Spell Fencer, but chapter-appropriate gear wasn't enough to survive all those attacks even with the Magic Defense buff that Spell Fencers get when they're hit by magical attacks.  Life Thief kept missing whenever I tried to use it with the Spell Fencer.  I call the Evade stat trash, but apparently it's not useless when enemies have it!

Switching to Thief made sure Life Thief hit more often.  Perhaps it's coded as a single-hit attack?  Normally Evade only reduces the number of hits from a physical attack, but missing entirely is rare.  Life Thief having only one hit would explain the low accuracy from jobs with lower DEX than the Thief.  That's what happens when you play solo runs in RPGs.  You learn the number-crunching mechanics even if only by accident.  

(I'll have to check if the Bravely Second equivalent Steal Breath has more than 1 hit, and edit the post when I find out.)

The Bloody Shield and Heike equipment are more for physical attacks than magic, and Thieves have an E rank in all of those.  They were still better than the other armor Ringabel could equip at this point.  Enchanting the Night Emperor with Thundara allowed Life Thief to take out the Legion Impaler quickly.  Leaving the Legion Archer alive prevented Mephilia from respawning the other minion.  Ringabel then used Life Thief and X-Potions to survive Girtablulu summons.  It was a close battle, but Ringabel won and acquired the Summoner job.

Summoner might be useful for grinding, but attack magic in general is weak in Bravely Default.  All the summons have equal power except for Susano-o too, ensuring that the job doesn't scale well later in the game.


The next boss at Mount Fragmentum was mandatory, and tough enough to require a different build. . .

Ringabel Character Level 36, Job Level 6 Knight
Chivalry & Sword Magic commands
HP 10% Up, Physical Defense 10% Up passive abilities

Weapon:  Night Emperor
Shield:  Cross Shield
Head:  Yggdrasil Helm
Armor:  Yggdrasil Armor
Accessory:  Gauntlets

vs.

Land Turtle:  20,250 HP, Water weakness, Aquatic

If I had remembered that the Knight job has the Ironclad 1-turn Physical Defense buff, the fight would have been a bit easier!  

Land Turtle is one of those fights where you're supposed to use a certain job command.  In this case, it's Sword Magic.  The Land Turtle often puts itself in Reflect status to block spells, but you can get around that with elemental physical attacks.  Blizzara enchantments made the Night Emperor do respectable damage. 

The boss's irregular attack pattern confused me for a while, since it won't always use its spinning attack on the turn after Defaulting.  When it Braved, it used its spin attack twice, which was enough to almost knock out Ringabel from full HP if he wasn't Defaulting.  It took several tries for me to get this fight right without resorting to Norende armor or Arctic Winds.

(I didn't know this until after the fight, but summons bypass Reflect.  That explains why early attempts at the Mephilia fight with the Reflect Ring failed.  Not that I would have used Summoner anyway, because it's far too frail a job to be effective in a solo run.)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

This update covers the rest of the Chapter 2 bosses for the solo Ringabel playthrough.

Ringabel Character Level 36, Job Level 6 Thief
Thievery & Sword Magic commands
Two-Handed & Speed 10% Up passive abilities (should have switched those to defensive ones)
 
Weapon:  Angel’s Bow
Shield:  Cross Shield (used while Defaulting)
Head:  Yggdrasil Helm
Armor:  Yggdrasil Armor
Accessory:  Gauntlets
 
Vs.
 
Einheria:  27,000 HP, no weakness, Human
 
Wait a minute.  A Thief is fighting a physical boss without Norende armor?  Yes!  Einheria had a predictable pattern to exploit.  All Ringabel had to do was Default with the Cross Shield, then attack when Einheria had negative BP after using Jump or Crescent Moon.  Crescent Moon in particular was welcome because it’s designed to hit all party members, making it less dangerous to a solo character than the single-target Jump.  Valkyrie abilities may be useful, but they come with a high BP cost.
 
Einheria doesn’t have a weakness, so I switched between Fira, Blizzara, and Thundara for fun.  I discovered that Sword Magic doesn’t disappear when you switch or remove weapons, allowing me to switch to a shield after a turn attacking with a two-handed weapon like the Angel’s Bow.  Life Thief with a Sword Magic buff did around 500 damage per hit to Einheria, and 1000 with a critical.  It healed Ringabel for that amount after Einheria used Spirit Barrier to make my attacks damage MP instead of HP.
 
   
 
There were still a few sidequests remaining in Chapter 2, so Ringabel went after the Ranger Asterisk Holder next. . .
Ringabel Character Level  41, Job Level 7 Thief
Thievery & Sword Magic commands
Two-Handed & Physical Defense 10% Up passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Reflect Ring? ( my short-term memory is terrible, but I think it was this)
 
Vs.
 
Artemia:  20,250 HP, Fire weakness, Human
Legion Impaler:  2025 HP, Lightning weakness, Human
Legion Mage:  1620 HP, no weakness, Human
 


Ringabel killed the Legion Mage first to ensure she wouldn’t cast percentage damage Gravity spells.  Fira with Sword Magic along with Life Thief was the preferred tactic once again.  Artemia’s pattern was difficult to predict, since she didn’t always use Multiburst when I expected her to.  That’s why I used the Heike gear and Bloody Shield instead of the Florem store-bought equipment.  I tried to use Sleep once on the Legion Impaler, but she woke up quickly.  Sword Magic may be a useful command, but it’s no Final Fantasy 5 Spellblade!
       

One of the most annoying sidequests in the game was up next.  This game may use quest markers, but when they mislead you, what good are they?  You’re supposed to talk to one person before talking to DeRosa at one point to trigger the boss fight, and I had the wrong equipment on the first attempt because I was confused there.  It’s still not as bad as Dragon Quest 7’s event flags. . .
 


Ringabel Character Level 41, Job Level 6 Knight
Chivalry & Sword Magic commands
Abate Lightning & Two-Handed passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor (no shield for most of the fight)
Head:  Yggdrasil Helm
Armor:  Yggdrasil Armor
Accessory:  Rebuff Locket
 

This boss only took two tries, which was surprising to me.  DeRosa is such a pain for 4 character parties because he tend to charm everyone with Captivating Cologne.  There’s only one Rebuff Locket in a hidden treasure chest inside the Water Temple to prevent it this early, and Edea starts the battle charmed.  This gave an excuse for Ringabel to kill off the other characters for once!
 

Two-Handed was needed to out-damage DeRosa’s Curas that healed him for over 2000 HP each.  Hack and Slash helped a lot thanks to its user-friendly trigger based on Braving 10 times.  Its Physical Defense debuff and hit count increase assisted with regular attacks too.  Ringabel would not have survived all those Thundaras without the Summoner passive Abate Lightning.
 


The end of Chapter 2 required Heike equipment again.  It felt dirty, but I was going nowhere trying it with Florem armor. . .
 

Ringabel Character Level 41, Job Level 7 Valkyrie
Acrobatics & Sword Magic commands
Speed 10% Up & Physical Defense 10% Up passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Lü Bu’s Spear (Hooray for the U.S. International Keyboard!)
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor 
Accessory:  Rebuff Locket
 


Rusalka will get its revenge in Chapters 5-8.  Don’t worry if this first battle seems anticlimactic.  Ringabel enchanted his spear with Thundara, then used Crescent Moon to hit all the Rusalka clones after it dove underwater.  The Rebuff Locket was necessary to avoid charm.  Even with all these advantages, the fight took a long time.  Rusalka crashes the game if you try to use High Jump auto-battle on it, as I found out in a non-variant playthrough.   
 

Hartschild in Chapter 3 sold the elemental resistance accessories, so I bought all the ones I didn’t already find in treasure chests.  Level 3 Time Magic and Level 4 White Magic are now available too.  Reflect, Dispel, and Aerora might come in handy.  Veil raises Evade, but the Ninja job and its guaranteed Utsusemi dodge will come soon anyway.  Haste and Slow only affect turn order in this series, and Time Magic in general is much less effective than in Final Fantasy 5.  I have no idea if Gravity works on bosses, so I’ll have to test it.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ow!  The Chapter 3 bosses cheat so much!    

The choices for Ringabel are as follows.  Fight Praline, and die to critical hits from her respawning minions after she buffs their BP and Physical Attack.  Or I can battle Qada and deal with a Dark Breath attack that hits for 9999.  Beating Chaugmar gives me enough passive ability slots to grind with Obliterate, but it can heal itself with a draining attack that kills fully-equipped Knights within a few rounds.

Qada seems like the best option for now, though it will take grinding Red Mage to Job Level 10 so I can Dispel his Regen status.  Spirit Barrier can block Dark Breath if timed correctly, since even if your MP bar goes to 0, it will take another hit to start losing HP again.  Brent Scheppmann on YouTube came up with that strategy.  I take no credit for it. 

If I can beat Qada, Ringabel can switch to the Salve-Maker job, a toned-down equivalent to the Final Fantasy 5 Chemist.  With that, Ringabel could double his HP with Compounding, use attack items on the cheap, and manipulate elemental weaknesses or immunities.

From here on out, Norende equipment will be required.


EDIT:  I finally got the Salve-Maker job!  That was a relief.  Will the Chapter 8 sidequests be this bad?  


The next boss was the worst experience I ever had in a Bravely solo run:
 
Ringabel Character Level 52, Job Level 10 Red Mage
B/W Magic & Acrobatics commands
Shield Lore & Speed 20% Up passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Rod of Ice
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Star Pendant
  
Vs.
 
Qada:  54,000 HP, no weakness, Human
 
Qada is a Salve-Maker, a job very similar to the Chemist from Final Fantasy 5.  Sullla and T-Hawk will now understand why this boss is a pain for a solo character despite being predictable.  To put the tedium and frustration of this battle in perspective, I had 99 X-Potions when I began the fight.  Ringabel finished with 1.  Think about that for a moment.
 
Qada often used Water of Life on himself to regenerate for around 1600 damage if Ringabel didn’t cast Dispel.  My main form of offense was Bomb Arms, because attack spells are weak and Qada always Defaulted before his Brave Rush.  Acrobatics was there solely for Spirit Barrier.  Without Spirit Barrier, Dark Breath would have dealt the amount of damage Ringabel had done to Qada.  Since he has 54,000 HP, that would have been instant death regardless of defenses. 
 
To get BP in order to attack in the first place, I had to hope for a 25% chance of gaining BP from Revenge whenever Qada attacked Ringabel.  This meant many rounds of using X-Potions and Ethers instead of damaging the boss.  The fight was so long and frustrating that I put the DS in sleep mode for a few minutes because I was feeling lightheaded.  Now I know how Sullla felt when he was playing through FF5 with a weak class like Geomancer!  Bravely Default hates the player, and will not hesitate to let you know that.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Here's today's update.  The game gets much easier for a solo character once you beat Qada and get the Medication commands.


The next step was to defeat the Fire fiend and get an extra passive ability slot.  That way, I could use Obliterate to auto-win lower level encounters and grind faster.  (I know you're not supposed to get the Conjurer until Chapter 6, but I carried it over in New Game Plus purely for Obliterate.  The T-Hawk quote about everyone being in Doom and Aging status in real life would apply here.)


Ringabel Character Level 54, Job Level 10 Red Mage
B/W Magic & Medication commands
Shield Lore, Speed 10% Up, & Attack Item Amp passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Ripper
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Mage Shell?  (Don’t remember exactly, but I think I was going for Magic Defense)

vs.
 
Chaugmar:  54,000 HP, Lightning weakness, Demon 
 
If I had the Demon Slaying Special part, this fight would have been a little easier.  Ringabel needed to be a Red Mage for Revenge BP because Chaugmar was a jerk who would drain my BP occasionally.  He also has a health draining attack called Blood Suck, which undid much of the damage Ringabel inflicted.  I’m not looking forward to fighting it four more times. . .
 
Ringabel relied eon Pantheon’s Wraths for offense, so he didn’t have to worry about Chaugmar’s force field much.  When it was down, however, he used Dagger Specials that were based on number of items used.  The Giant’s Draft mix (Beast Liver + Dragon Fang in that order) proved to be the most effective form of healing yet.  It doubles your max HP for the rest of the fight and fully restores it too!  Ringabel certainly couldn’t have survived Energy Blast without it, though he died a few times to unlucky criticals.
 

The Performer Asterisk Holder beat me so many times before I got Salve-Maker that it was nice to have my Revenge. . .
 
Ringabel Character Level 55, Job Level 9 Knight
Chivalry & Medication commands
Revenge, Attack Item Amp, & Adrenaline passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Ripper
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Heike Gloves
 
Vs.
 
Praline:  54,000 HP, Light immune, Human
Black Blade:  3780 HP, Lightning weakness, Human
Black Axefighter:  4050 HP, Lightning weakness, Human
 
Sailor Nemesis’s FAQ suggests the respawned minions have less HP.  When I tried this fight using Knight and Sword Magic, Ringabel died often to critical hits and bad damage rolls after Praline buffed her sidekicks’ Physical Attack and BP.  Medication provided a way around that with the Giant’s Draft HP buff.   The Tengu Sneeze mix killed Praline’s fan club, and Adrenaline gave me extra BP every time they died! 
 

Shortly afterwards, it was time to defeat the Swordmaster in Starkfort. . .
 

Ringabel Character Level 56, Job Level 9 Knight
Chivalry & Medication commands
Revenge, Attack Item Amp, & Adrenaline passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Kunai (found in a treasure chest on the way to the battle)
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Heike Gloves
   
Vs.
 
Kamiizumi:  81,000 HP, no weakness, Human
 
Anyone who’s read my Bravely Second solo Exorcist playthrough know how difficult Kamiizumi can be when he concentrates on one character and gets extra Multitask hits.  The first time I tried this fight, Ringabel died on the first turn when he tried to use Giant’s Draft.  Yes, Kamiizumi can kill a Knight from full health with Norende equipment.   The Salve-Maker mixes were necessary to give a chance of victory at all!  Fire Bane (Insect Antenna + Phlogiston) gave him an elemental weakness, and Bomb Arms (Phlogiston + Phlogiston) did most of the damage along with occasional Dagger Specials.  Fortunately, Kamiizumi was more reckless than his characterization would suggest, and always went well into negative BP when he attacked.
 
After annoying backtracking involving taking the minor character Egil to Innkeeper Xemnas, it was time to get the final job of Chapter 3. . .
 
Ringabel Character Level 56, Job Level 9 Knight
Chivalry & Medication commands
Revenge, Attack Item Amp, & Adrenaline passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Kunai
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Heike Gloves
 
Vs.
 
Kikyo:  81,000 HP, no weakness, Human
 
Kikyo was another breather battle.  She couldn’t do much to Ringabel after he used Giant’s Draft, and Dagger Specials ignore Utsusemi’s physical attack blocking property.  Since I had set my Specials to Lightning element, I used the Pantheon’s Wrath mix (Fulmen Shard + Fulmen Shard) for most of the fight, along with Lightning Bane to give her a weakness.
 
The Ninja job will be more useful to me than to its Asterisk Holder.  Utsusemi dodges combined with Transience counter-attacks allow Ninjas to autobattle physical bosses that don’t Brave, such as the elemental dragons in Chapter 4.  One of their passives removes the Physical Attack penalty for dual-wielding in case I want to do that later in the game.


EDIT:  The random encounter RNG seems to be different from Bravely Second, at least based on some grinding sessions.  I didn't seem to die to the same fight twice in a row after reloading a save.  Is there a reason the RNG became more predictable in the sequel?  I may have to do some more research on this. . .

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Yet another solo Ringabel update is here, this time featuring the Swordmaster job.



Before ending Chapter 3, I leveled all non-Freelancer jobs to at least 9.  This gave me some useful commands and passives, as you’ll see in this next boss battle on Grandship. . .
 

Ringabel Character Level 61, Job Level 9 Swordmaster
Bushido & Medication commands
Counter Amp, Angelic Ward, & Revenge passive abilities
 


Weapon:  Raikiri
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Heike Gloves
 
Behemoth:  108,000 HP, Lightning weakness, Water immune, Aquatic
 
Wait, Leviathan’s the aquatic monster in the Book of Job, not Behemoth!  Did the English translators mess up, or the Japanese programmers?   I wanted to have a bit more fun with this fight and see how effective the Swordmaster would be.  Turns out that Bushido may be much better for solos than for parties!  I don’t think that their Before Swine and Nothing Ventured counterattacks draw attacks to the user until the sequel.
 

The Raikiri katana is Lightning elemental, and also grants Lightning immunity.  Nothing Ventured allowed Ringabel to attack while taking half damage from Behemoth’s exclusively physical attacks.  The White Mage passive ability Angelic Ward reduced damage by half again 50% of the time.  Giant’s Draft provided the healing as usual, and the Salve-Maker’s Inoculate ability prevented poison for 6 turns for the cost of an Antidote.
One boss guarded the city of Eternia and its Level 5 magic scrolls. . .
 


Ringabel Character Level 62, Job Level 9 Swordmaster
Bushido & Medication commands
Counter Amp, Angelic Ward, & Revenge passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Raikiri
Shield:  Bloody Shield  (switched during the fight)
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Heike Gloves
 
Vs.
 
Ice Golem:  81,000 HP, Fire weakness, Water absorb, Inorganic
 


One thing you notice if you replay this game after Bravely Second is that there are far fewer non-Human bosses in the sequel.  Ringabel used mostly the same tactics that he used to beat Behemoth.  After a while, I realized “Hey!  Wouldn’t equipping the Iceflame Shield be a good idea against this ice boss that uses mostly Water attacks?”  Sometimes the obvious escapes me until it’s too late.


 
The Ice Golem’s attacks can inflict Stop, so I should have equipped the Time Mage’s Stop Immunity passive ability.  That’s what I get for not looking at GameFAQs for every boss in advance!  Despite my incompetence, Giant’s Draft healing and Nothing Ventured counterattacks took Ringabel to victory.

 
Eternia guarded the roads to Central Command with several bosses.  At least one of these is optional, depending on which route you take, but I’m going to fight them all.  What kind of solo run would it be if I didn’t fight pointless battles?


 
Ringabel Character Level 62, Job Level 9 Swordmaster
Bushido & Medication commands
Counter Amp, Angelic Ward, & Revenge passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Raikiri
Shield:  Iceflame Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Heike Gloves
 
Vs.
 
Guardian:  121,500 HP, Lightning weakness, Inorganic

 
This fight was similar to the last few times I used the Swordmaster.  I’ll save the Ninja guaranteed evasion silliness for the elemental Dragons unless one of the Central Command bosses is too hard without it.
 

Every few turns, Eternian troops fired cannons at Ringabel, doing about 1500 damage if Angelic Ward didn’t activate.  The artillery triggered Nothing Ventured attacks, however.  Other than that, the fight wasn’t notable.  The Guardian mostly stuck to physical attacks without additional effects, and buffed itself occasionally.
 



And the western route boss. . .


 
Ringabel Character Level 62, Job Level 9 Swordmaster
Bushido & Medication commands
Counter Amp, Angelic Ward, & Revenge passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Raikiri
Shield:  Iceflame Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Star Pendant
 
Vs.
 
Dragon Zombie:  33,750 HP (2 lives), Fire & Light weaknesses, immune to other elements, Dragon, Undead
 

The Star Pendant made this fight a joke.  The Dragon Zombie’s specialty is Poison Breath, and without its status ailment, it was just a fairly weak physical boss.  The usual Swordmaster setup worked again.  When it revived, I felt cheeky enough to use a Phoenix Down on it.  It worked, just like the Tyrannosaur in Final Fantasy 5! 


The fights will be more interesting once I get to the Chapter 7 and 8 parallel universes.  Four Asterisk Holders at the same time will be tricky. . .

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Not much of an update today, because I spent so much time money grinding.  Salve-Maker is an expensive class, I can tell you that!  You need to buy High Potions and X-Potions for auto-revive, elemental compounds like Phlogiston for attacking, and Beast Livers and Dragon Fangs to double your max HP with Giant's Draft.  Dragon Fangs cost 5000 pg each.  You can probably guess why I decided to allow Obliterate before Chapter 6.

Ringabel managed to beat one set of annoying Asterisk Holders who don't come back for the sequel. . .

Ringabel Character Level 62, Job Level 9 White Mage (Red Mage might have been better)
White Magic & Medication commands
Angelic Ward, Shield Lore, & Revenge passive abilities (probably should have used Speed 10% Up)

Weapon:  Diamond Staff
Shield:  Iceflame Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Hermes Sandals


Victoria:  94,500 HP, Light weakness, Dark resist, Human
Victor:  108,000 HP, Dark weaness, Light resist, Human


I used the Star Pendant the first few times because Victoria loves casting Poison and following it up with Exterminate to kill any party member who has a status ailment.  It turned out Ringabel's AGI was within the "margin of error" in turn order, so I equipped Hermes Sandals to cast Reflect instead.  Maybe it's because my jobs are underleveled.  I'm supposed to have Level 5 magic by this point according to the Eternia shop.

Reflect did much of the damage in this fight, especially to Victor when Victoria kept hitting him with Dark spells by mistake.  Victor's Holy hit Victoria a few times too, but he would heal her with Curada to make up for it.  Curada isn't a typo, but another spell level between Cura and Curaga.  Sullla has a point when he says the spell names after Final Fantasy 8 are confusing! 

Unfortunately, Victoria's Corpse spell that causes Doom bypasses Reflect, and I had to mix a High Potion and an X-Potion to revive after the turn countdown reached 0.  Doom is one of the reasons I think the only pure single job solo that might be viable is Salve-Maker.  Healing Specials can get rid of it too, but the triggers are more finicky in this game than Bravely Second.

Ringabel sometimes attacked with Light elemental mixes when he didn't have to spend all his BP on defense.  The fight lasted so long, I used 95 out of the 99 Glitterbugs I had at the beginning.  Bravely Default solos are not for the impatient.  Inducing a Light elemental weakness with a mix made Victor kill himself with Holy at the end of the fight.  


I may do a job analysis post soon, along with recommendations for viable variant runs if any of my readers want to try something other than a solo.  Fiesta rules would have to be a little different from the Final Fantasy 5 version.


EDIT:  Victoria has more HP than she did in the unwinnable Chapter 2 fight, so I made a correction in this post.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

This is the last update before the annoying busywork of Chapters 5 and 6.


Ringabel Character Level 64, Job Level 9 Swordmaster
Bushido & Medication commands
Counter Amp, Angelic Ward, & Revenge passive abilities
 
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor
Shield:  Bloody Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Hermes Sandals
 
Vs.
 
Braev Lee:  47,250 HP (3 lives), Dark weakness, Human
 
Braev was much easier than you would think for a boss with 3 lives.  Another purely physical boss meant another chance to abuse Nothing Ventured counterattacks.  Nothing Ventured can activate multiple times per round, which came in handy when he decided to Brave multiple times.  When he had negative BP, I healed with Quarter Elixir mixes (X-Potion + Ether) and attacked with Dark Sigh (Dark Matter + Dark Matter).  He praised dead Edea’s strength when he fell, not acknowledging Ringabel at all!  Carrying 3 corpses around the whole game makes the in-battle cutscenes a little strange.
 


 
Ringabel Character Level 64-65, Job Level 9-10 Ninja
Ninjutsu & Medication commands
Counter Amp, Two-Handed, Transience, & Comeback Kid passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Hermes Sandals
 
Vs.
Salamander:  134,998 HP, Water weakness, Fire absorb, Dragon
Mizuchi:  134,998 HP, Lightning weakness, Water absorb, Dragon
Wyvern:  134,998 HP, Fire weakness, Wind absorb, Dragon
Ladon:  134,998 HP, Wind weakness, Earth absorb, Dragon
Jabberwock:  134,998 HP, Light weakness, Dark absorb, Dragon
Shinryu:  134,998 HP, Dark weakness, Light absorb, Dragon
 

I listed all these bosses together because they’re the “elemental dragons”, the bosses with the laziest design in Bravely Default unless you count the Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 Asterisk Holder rematches.  They all have 3 attacks.  One is Bite, a single target physical attack.  One gives the party a weakness to the dragon’s element.  Their final move hits all party members with an elemental physical attack that can cause a status ailment.


 
They never Brave, and all their attacks are physical, so a Ninja with Utsusemi is invincible.  Add Transience to counterattack after dodging, and Comeback Kid to add a buff after evading an attack, and Ringabel could autobattle all 6 dragons.  Shinryu let himself go after Final Fantasy 5!

 
After winning the tedious dragon battles, I found out from GameFAQs that the next boss could be defeated with Utsusemi too. . .


 
Ringabel Character Level 65, Job Level 10 Ninja
Ninjutsu & Medication commands
Counter Amp, Two-Handed, Transience, & Turn Tables passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor
Head:  Lamia’s Tiara
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Hermes Shoes
 
Vs.
 
Lord DeRosso:  202,500 HP, Light weakness, Dark resist, Human


 
He may claim he isn’t a vampire, but DeRosso dresses like Dracula, lives in a stereotypical Gothic castle, has lived for thousands of years, and has the Vampire Asterisk.  What else could he be?  The Vampire is the Blue Mage of Bravely Default, and it’s a bit odd that you get this job so late.  Lots of backtracking is required to get all the Genome skills, and most of them aren’t worth it for a solo character at this point.  Bravely Second did a better job with its Catmancer version of the class, and gave more in-game documentation for it too. 


 
Most of his attacks are counted as physical, including the non-damaging BP draining Battle Thirst, and he never Braves.  Utsusemi counterattacks made for an easy victory, but it wasn’t entirely autobattle like the dragons.  DeRosso sometimes cast Graviga to deal thousands of percentage based damage, and apparently it can kill its target in Bravely Default.  So I made sure to set up auto-revive with the High Potion + X-Potion mix when necessary.   
 


Everlast Tower was annoying to navigate.  Braev Lee wanted to control the crystals, and that meant hiring an avant-garde architect, I guess.  How do the workers navigate these places without getting confused?  I would ask the same question about the Skyhold in Bravely Second.
 



Anyway, the boss required a different setup, and even then I won in spite of my build, not because of it. . .
 


Ringabel Character Level 66, Job Level 9 Swordmaster
Bushido & Medication commands
Counter Amp, Item Critical, Attack Item Amp, & Abate Earth passive abilities
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor
Shield:  Dark Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Safety Ring
 
Vs.
 
Gigas Lich:  108,000 HP, Light weakness, Earth absorb, Undead


 
No, I didn’t try a Phoenix Down.  I wasn’t smart enough to think of that at the time.  I also should have gone with Ninja instead of Swordmaster to gain a turn order advantage.  Gigas Lich alternates between the physical Slam and casting Quaga, so I couldn’t time the Swordmaster counterattacks properly.  The Safety Ring was mandatory for this boss due to all the Death spells it slung around.  Ringabel mostly used Light elemental mixes to damage Gigas Lich, and the passive bonuses allowed attack items to outpace its Quaga healing.  Dispel would have been pointless because Negative Power buffed the boss’s attacks at the end of every turn.  A random passive counterattack finished off the boss.


 
One more boss left to go in Chapter 4. . .



Ringabel Character Level 66, Job Level 9 Swordmaster
Bushido & Medication commands
Counter Amp, Two-Handed, Attack Item Amp, Absorb P. Damage, & Angelic Ward passives
 
Weapon:  Night Emperor
Shield:  Dark Shield
Head:  Heike Helm
Armor:  Heike Armor
Accessory:  Hermes Shoes
 
 
Alternis Dim:  135,000 HP, no weakness, Dark resist, Human
 
Yet another battle where I should have selected Ninja as Ringabel’s primary job.  Perhaps Utsusemi would have dodged all those 9999 damage Minus Strikes!  Minus Strike is the Bravely Default version of the ???? spell from Final Fantasy 5.  It inflicts damage based on the amount of HP that the user has lost, and since this game has bosses with more than 9999 HP, well. . .
 
Auto-revive mixes saved Ringabel once again, and the Hermes Shoes allowed him to set it up again before the inevitable Minus Strikes.  The Dark Shield blocked Black Bane, and Ringabel occasionally got some counterattacks from it.  After he started using Minus Strike, I used Light element mixes.  Fortunately for me, some Dark Knight skills drain the user’s health, so the fight went a bit quicker.
 
The next update will probably be a quick job overview.  Bravely Default’s pacing dies at the beginning of Chapter 5, and it doesn’t resurrect until possibly Chapter 7 when the sidequests become interesting again.  The Yulyana sidequest in Chapter 6 will be covered, since that’s the first chance to get the Conjurer job.  As for the story?  You fight the 4 crystal fiends again and again and again and again!

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

While I was doing other things, I leveled Ringabel up to 99.  That sounds like overkill until you've tried to play a variant on Hard, and even then, that's not always enough to save you.  It was impossible for 4 pure Monks to do the Chapter 7 and 8 sidequests, let alone Airy's third form.

Now I'll give you a primer on the jobs.  This may take several posts if it gets too long.  Some of this comes from personal experience, but much of this will be stolen from GameFAQs or other sites that have done more research on Bravely Default than I have.

Here are the Prologue-Chapter 1 jobs. . .



Freelancer:  Bravely Default Freelancers are completely different from the Final Fantasy 5 "Bare" version.  A lot of this has to do with the weapon proficiency system. 

In Final Fantasy 5, Freelancers were the only job that could equip everything.  Bravely Default doesn't have equipment restrictions like this.  Instead, each job gets a rank from "E" to "S" with different types of equipment.  E gives you only the base offensive and defensive stats of an item, and "S" grants double the benefit.  BD Freelancers have "B" rank in everything. 

Final Fantasy 5 Freelancers also have the advantage of being able to equip 2 command slots from different jobs, since it had none of its own.  BD Freelancers have a set of commands under the "Miscellany" label, such as Examine to learn enemy stats, and Mimic to copy previous actions. 

They also have passives such as Poison Immunity and Stand Ground (75% chance to endure fatal attack with 1 HP if you had more than 1 HP).  Other utility skills allow them to disable dungeon traps or learn the number of treasure chests.  Utility skills aren't a big deal in this series because dungeons in Bravely games are vestiges of old RPG design.  You can turn off random encounters in this game, making all dungeons pointless!  Freelancers have no offensive skills whatsoever.

Their final skill Late Bloomer gives Freelancers permanent stat boosts based on number of jobs mastered.  The opportunity cost of using this as a main job is too high to really justify it.


Monk:  I resent the Monk because I tried and failed to get through Bravely Default using 4 of them.  The problem with Monks is that they are a "high offense, low defense" job in a game where bosses have extremely high HP to compensate for all the overpowered skills the players could have.  A 9999 damage cap really hurts if all your attacks hit only once.  Natural Talent is needed for them to compete with other jobs, and that requires forgoing all equipment including accessories.  Final Fantasy 5 Monks did not have such a restriction, and they hit twice with each punch.  To make matters worse, Natural Talent is a level 14 skill, so you probably won't get it until at least Chapter 5.

Pressure Point ignores Chaugmar's force field, so you may want to consider using Monk commands when fighting that boss.  Phoenix Flight reduces your HP to 1 and uses the amount of HP sacrifices as a fixed damage attack.  Any HP over 9999 is wasted.  Not a very good skill unless you want to use Mass Attack, Minus Strike, or some other skill that requires low HP to work well.  Qigong Wave is like a regular attack that can pierce Default, and Hidden Dragon has a negative turn order priority in case you want to go last.


A character level 99 job level 14 Monk can have over 12,000 HP with its passives equipped.   Unfortunately, this means X-Potions are worthless for them.  This is probably one of the best jobs for a "no equipment run" if you want to do that.


White Mage:  Healers are useful in most RPGs, and Bravely Default is no exception.  White Mage also gives you an excuse to use staff Specials since their triggers depend on the number of times the user has healed someone.  Rejuvenation can give your whole team extra BP if you have the right Special parts from rebuilding Norende.  Most of the usual Final Fantasy White Mage spells are here.  Reflect and Dispel are more useful than you may think.  I would have never gotten solo Ringabel past Chapter 3 Qada without Dispelling his Regen status, and Reflect made Victor and Victoria kill each other with their own spells.

The Red Mage is probably better for a solo run because of Revenge BP, but the White Mage has superior endgame healing spells.  White Mages have useful passive skills too.  Angelic Ward reduces damage by half with 50% odds, and Epic Group-Cast removes the multi-target penalty from spells.  Conservation of Life auto-revives dead allies once per fight, and I used that frequently in my first non-variant Bravely Second playthrough.
 


Black Mage:  Its damage isn't enough to justify low defenses, and that's optimistic considering how underwhelming attack magic can be in Bravely Default.  They have some passives that let them cast single-target magic on groups, or ignore Magic Defense.  Of course, you can stick those passives on better jobs and cast the Black Mage aside once you learn them.  Or upgrade to Arcanist, since that's an extension of Black Mage anyway.



Knight:  If you've read my playthrough so far, you know how useful the Knight job can be.  Its high HP combined with S rank Shields and A rank Armor allow even a solo character to survive the boss fights.  Passives like Two-Handed give them some offense when they need it, and Dual Shields lets you have even more defenses if you're using fixed damage attack items, or stalling for more BP with Default.  They can take hits for HP critical allies too.  Vengeance is funny in solo runs because it becomes more powerful when 3 party members are dead.


Thief:  Bravely Default Thieves are far superior to Final Fantasy 5 Thieves, so don't write this job off as weak.  Use bows instead of daggers.  Bows run on DEX rather than the Thief's lower STR.  Life Thief makes Thieves surprisingly durable early in the game, and possibly later with proper defensive support.  It's a single hit physical attack though, so don't be surprised if it misses if used with low DEX jobs.  They can steal items too, and rare steals are the only way to get more Elixirs if you run out.  Some Thief passives increase Speed, which is useful for getting past the "RNG turn order" threshold.



Merchant:  Merchant is a weird support job that doesn't have an equivalent in Final Fantasy 5.  The closest thing I could think of is the Dealer from Dragon Quest, and that's mostly because of the passive More Money.  They have Takeover, a weaker version of Gil Toss.  It only hits one target for 50 multiplied by character level, making it almost worthless.  Their other skills can be better with the right team.  If you're willing to grind for money, BP Drinks can be bought in emergencies to give a character more actions.  Low Leverage is a field effect that halves damage, healing, and MP/BP costs.  This can be overpowered for teams that suffer from the damage cap, or really need the BP or MP.




Spell Fencer:  It's a downgraded version of the Final Fantasy 5 Spellblade.  Spell Fencers enchant their weapons with Black Magic, like you might expect.  This lets them heal with Drain, exploit elemental weaknesses, or get an attack buff from the power of the spell.  Spell Fencers are much more MP-efficient than Black Mages, and enemies can't Reflect a stab!  Consider their Anti-Magic passive if you're not using Reflect when dealing with a mage boss.



Time Mage:  This would be the best support job in the game if its passives were spells instead.  Unfortunately, Time Magic is weaker without an ATB turn system.  Haste and Slow only modify turn order, not the number of actions taken.  Gravity fails when used on bosses.  Reraise can be mimicked with a relatively cheap Salve-Maker mix.  Comet, Meteor, and the Earth elemental Quaga can be used to attack, but physical attacks are generally better in Bravely Default.

Time Mage passives are overpowered, even if the job itself is weak.  Slow World lowers everyone's BP by 1 every other turn, which can make bosses lose turns with proper planning.  Hasten World raises all combatants' BP by 1 every turn.  When used with the Spiritmaster's Stillness or the Valkyrie's High Jump, your party can be invincible!  Stop Immunity is nice too, since there's no accessory to deal with that ailment.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chapter 2 jobs:


Ranger:  All you Final Fantasy 5 players have fond memories of X-Fight hitting a boss 4 times per weapon, and the gimmick Animal summons.  Well, Bravely Default took their useful skills away.  Most of their attacks are of the "do 50% more damage to a specific monster family" sort.  The problem is that many of the bosses are Human or another type that isn't weak to those skills. 

Multiburst sounds like X-Fight for the cost of 1 BP, but it doesn't actually count as a multi-hit attack versus a single target!  Some people on GameFAQs message boards seem to like them when combined with Sword Magic, but Thieves can do something similar with more utility.  Paralyze Immunity is nice if you don't want to equip an Earthing Rod accessory.   

One other thing that makes Rangers less relevant is the fact that Bravely games don't have a front or back row.


Summoner:  Yet another job that's weaker than its FF5 counterpart.  All but one summon (Susano-o) in Bravely Default has the same base power as the starter Earth summon Girtablulu, so imagine being stuck with Ifrit or Shiva tier spells for most of the game.  They don't have defensive buffs like Carbuncle or Golem either. Other players tend to prefer Arcanist, Time Mage, or Vampire if they really want attack spells, but say the Summoner upgrade Conjurer is still viable.  Then again, you don't get Conjurer until the end of Chapter 6, and that's a long wait.  Summoners can be okay for random encounter grinding because their spells hit groups, and the Land Turtle at Mount Fragmentum can't Reflect their spells.


Valkyrie:  For once, we have a better version of an FF5 job.  Valkyries are Dragoons with a different name and new tricks.  Crescent Moon hits all enemies for 1 BP for the strength of a regular attack, which is useful for random encounter grinding and Rusalka's clones.  Spirit Barrier can block 9999 damage attacks from bosses, and is the only way for a solo character to fight Chapter 3 Qada legitimately.  If you don't want to fight legitimately, equip the Hasten World passive on a character and give your whole party High Jump.  Congratulations!  You can now autobattle almost every boss, except Rusalka who will crash the game if you try that.  Spears are good weapons too, since you can buy Lü Bu's Spear from Norende for 8000 pg early on.


Red Mage:  Red Mage is another case where the passive skills are better than the job itself.  They don't even get "dualcast" until the sequel.  Pick up Revenge, Turn Tables, and possibly BP Recovery and move on to another job.  (Unless you really need 2 passive ability slots, since the Red Mage has Revenge as an innate skill.)

Revenge has a 25% chance of giving a character 1 BP if an attack hits them.  Anyone who's read my solo Ringabel posts knows how much I use this ability.  Turn Tables is useful for Ninjas, who can gain 1 BP after dodging an attack with Utsusemi.  Gimmick parties revolve around poisoning your own characters to gain BP from BP Recovery.

Having Level 4 White Magic allows them to cast Reflect and Dispel as needed.