About Parties

Choosing the right party for your game is probably the most important decision you will take. And there is no way back – once you get a party you are stuck with it for the rest of the game. Choosing the wrong party can make your life hell, but choosing a right party will let you progress through the game smoothly.

1. It has always been thought that any party with a Fighter, a Black Mage and a White Mage will do extremely well. It will, and for diversity, it is suggested that beginners take this party. However, taking any party with the threesome of Fighter, Fighter and Red Mage will also do not just well, but will most likely finish the game at a lower level.
2. Whatever party you take, make sure you have at least one white or red mage, because they are the only ones who can cast EXIT, a nice way of getting out of bad situations.
3. Below I will mention some “personal challenge” parties. Don’t take any of those if you haven’t won the game at least twice…
4. If you want a real challenge, try killing three of your party members in the first fight of the game and do the whole game with just one guy. Doing with one fighter could be quite fun, one thief is the ultimate FF1 challenge. This is what is called a “solo” party.

Rated Combinations

Fighter, Black Belt, Thief, Red Mage – 6/10

This is default party the game picks for you. It’s not too bad. The Fighter will kick ass, the black belt is a cheap (and kind of crappy) alternative to a fighter, the thief will let you run away and the red mage will both heal and attack. It is quite cheap I guess… However, this party seriously lacks magic power. The Thief will turn into somebody who is drinking potions all the time, the red mage will not be able to heal very well, the black belt sucks at the beginning of the game… I don’t suggest it.

Fighter, Fighter, White Mage, Black Mage – 10/10

One of the best parties of FF1. It is fun to play with because it is quite diversified. The fighters will attack the enemies and will also take the most hits, the white mage will be all the healing power you’ll ever need, and the black mage will be the distant firepower of the party. Very well balanced.

Fighter, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage – 10/10

This is very well balanced, as with any F/?/WM/BM party. The thief allows you to run away very easily, but he becomes a strong fighter after the class change. Fun to play with.

Fighter, Black Belt, White Mage, Black Mage – 10/10

This is my favourite. The Black Belt is just as good fighter as the Fighter (well, maybe he’s just a bit weaker in the beginning) but much cheaper to maintain. With this party you will be doing less leveling up because there is no need to get the cash to buy the black belt any weapons.

Fighter, Fighter, Red Mage, Red Mage – 8/10

Red Mages are going to be both good for attacking and Healing. This party is good at the beginning, but later in the game, not so much. The advantage over the four fighter party is that there is healing and there is the EXIT spell. But with four fighters, who need EXIT?

Black Belt, Black Belt, White Mage, Black Mage – 8/10

This is the cheaper version of F/F/WM/BM party. It is weak very early in the game, but later on it will be just as good as the F/F/WM/BM party. The advantage is that it is much cheaper, since you don’t have to buy the expensive equipment of the Fighters.

Fighter, White Mage, White Mage, Black Mage – 5/10

This is not too bad. Take this party if you like healing. However, your white mages will also take a lot of hits, so it is like they will be healing themselves! The one fighter is not quite enough to attack, but the backfire of the black mage will probably save the day.

Black Mage, Black Mage, Black Mage, White Mage – 6/10

The three balck mages will be huge killing machines, especially by the time you reach Elfland. The advantage over the four black mage party is that the white mage will be able to heal you. Not bad overall. But still, your mages will be dieing a lot during the game, which can be a pain.

Fighter, Fighter, Fighter, White Mage – 9/10

This is quite nice. The three fighters will be a good attack power and the mage will provide the very much needed healing. Take this one if you think that a black mage is just useless because of his low HP. You probably will finish the game very smoothly with this.

Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt, White Mage – 8/10

This the “cheaper version” of the above party. The three black belts will be very weak at the beginning of the game but later on they will be just as good as the fighters.

Fighter, Black Belt, Thief, White Mage – 7/10

The attack power of this party is quite good. The Black Belt will suck very early in the game, but picks up later on. The Thief will be useless until the class change. The White mage is a very needed healer, who is better than the red mage. Not too bad.

Fighter, Red Mage, Black Mage, Black Mage – 5/10

This not too bad. The red mage can be a healer in the beginning. For the first part of the game the party will do very well, but later on the Red Mage will not have the best healing powers to keep your low-HP Black Mages alive, so they will die frequently. You will finish up ending this game at a very high level.

Fighter, Fighter, Fighter, Fighter – 9/10

Fighting Forever! This party will do very well. It is a bit like an army sweeping through the enemy. When I used this party the game was quite easy to complete. The only drawback – you have to buy all that expensive equipment FOUR times! How boring…

Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt – 7/10

This is quite good. The four black belts will be real killing machines. However, they have a quite low defense. There will be no healing, so you are going to have to use heal potions. Since you will loose lots of HP, because of low defense, you will use up the heal potions. That means you will need a lot of HP, which means a lot of leveling up. Since you don’t spend any money you will not know where to put it!

Red Mage, Red Mage, Red Mage, Red Mage – 7/10

Four Red Mages means four silver swords cutting up your enemies and four cures healing at the same time. Probably the best party to have at the beginning of the game. It will be very difficult and expensive to equip these guys but if the equipement is full the game will be very easy, until the very end, where the Red Wizards will not be able to use the strongest weapons nor use the best healing spells.

Black Mage, Black Mage, Black Mage, Black Mage – 3/10

By the time you get to Elfland and get the second level spells your mages will be absolute killers. However, healing will be a problem throughout the whole game. Very early in the game it will be hard to win battle and I am not very sure that you would want to go against Chaos with 4 guys who have low HP. You will finish up leveling up a lot nad the game will be quite boring. Even after leveling up your HP will be low. Only if you are obsessed with magic. This could be a good personal challenge.

Thief, Thief, Thief, Thief – 1/10

The second worst party you can take. The thiefs attack at the beginning of the game will be very low and he has absolutely no magic. So you will be running from battles quite a lot. After class change you will get to use strong weapons and some spells, but you probably won’t get that far! For a personal challenge only!

White Mage, White Mage, White Mage, White Mage – 0/10

The worst party you can have. You will be able to heal very easily, but at the same time you won’t be able to attack, because your attack power will be so low. Undeads will be no problem, but the rest of monsters will give you soo much trouble, you’ll be dieing all the time. Don’t take this, only if you want a personal challenge.