Talk:List of jobs in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Ultima attacks

I really do not think the recently added information about Ultima attacks is at all necessary for this article. It's more gamefaqs-y than encyclopedic, imho. Thoughts? -RaCha'ar 18:21, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Game-guidiness

This article is wildly too game-guidy. I'm not sure exactly how it could be fixed, either - perhaps this article would work better at wikibooks?KrytenKoro 04:48, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

I do agree. I would have thought this a gaming guide, what with all the description of how-tos and whatnots. I really don't how to deal with this either. Bluerです。 ^なにか? 05:12, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

There's no out of universe information. I say merge it. Kariteh 08:55, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

The page was at its GameFAQ-iest when each job had a separate article- that was horrendous, with every single skill listed and someone's personal points of view on every skill. I have to say, it's a lot better now than then.

If it's still too guideish, let me edit the small Sage section as a test for de-guidifying. I'll do my best, and then we can discuss. Is that okay? ShiraShira 15:08, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

I confess to being frustrated with the article's being labeled as "game-guidy." When I wrote it, merging in lots of excess nonsense from the extant separate job class articles, I went out of my way to make sure that it was written in a "just the facts, ma'am" way. While it's certainly gotten more than a little crufted up since my initial rendering, and I can see where some complaints about it being "how to" might come from, I don't see it as being irretrievably flawed - why say "merge it" without giving it a chance at redemption? I patterned it after Final Fantasy XI character classes, another article I worked on extensively in the interest of keeping the classes from having separate articles - and another article whose independence I've argued for because the way the jobs function in the game are so different from other FF games. Ditto for FFTA - real time strategy conventions are different from MMORPG conventions are different from standard RPG conventions.

Now I'm the first to admit that, having been the original author of this article, I am shamelessly biased. But, as Shira says, this is already a consolidation of articles that were merged; I'm afraid that if we lose this, the FFTA article will start collecting all the cruft and lint this one has had. I would appreciate being given the chance to improve this first before it gets swept into the dustbin. If it's truly irretrievable, then I'm fine with letting it go. -RaCha'ar 18:36, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Who's saying to get rid of it? I see one "merge it", but I suggested (and if I understand correctly, Bluerfn agrees) that it would work best at Wikibooks - it's really not a wikipedia-type of article. If the jobs had more of a presence in the game (to clarify - more plottiness as opposed to their gameplay value only), then they would fit on their own page, as they are now. But they don't - I think it would work best to mention somewhere on the FFTA page that there are n-many jobs, and maybe say how some of them are common ones to the series (Mages, Thief), and then have a link to the wikibooks page of this.KrytenKoro 00:31, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Though, it really is quite guidy. This is a good example:

"Fighter

To assume the mantle of the Fighter job, a Human character must learn 2 Soldier abilities. Fighters are offensively powerful, with a wide array of special attack abilities that allow them to deal massive damage up close or at a short range. Their support abilities allow them to either counterattack a physical attack (only if they actually take damage from said attack) for 1.5 times their normal damage (Bonecrusher) or to avoid all damage from a physical attack (does not apply to abilities like Rush), then counter(Strikeback). Doublehand allows a character to use a one-handed weapon with two hands for additional damage."

or this:
"Hunter

To become a Hunter, a Human character must learn 2 Archer abilities. Hunters are skilled in ranged attacks with a similar range to the archer and possess the skill Sonic Boom an area attack. Hunters are the only job that can Capture weakened monsters which are transported to the player's Monster Bank in the town Cyril. When a monster is captured you are given the monster's Soul which are used by the Nu Mou Morphers.

For each race, there is one job with access to an ability wrought from Ultima magic which can deal massive damage to one enemy unit (3x normal damage for 60 MP). The Hunter is said job of the Humans, bearing the Ultima Shot ability."

It reaches the height of its guidiness at the end, in the "special character jobs" section. To be fair, though - Expert and Monster are technically also jobs, though they are unavailable to the player. At the least, the "classes" such as Totema or Biskmatar should be included on the wikibooks page.KrytenKoro 00:33, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Example of New Section

May I be so bold as to offer the revised Sage and Alchemist articles as de-guidified pilots? ShiraShira 15:12, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I like that you referenced Ezel - that's more the kind of thing the article should be about, instead of details like how many abilities have to be learned.

I think it would be most appropriate if one ability was named per section, their strongest or signature move, if one exists, and the rest be more general, to avoid cruftiness (such as "Sage's can use a variety of magical spells, such as black magic or support spells. They can also use white magic such as Raise." I think that's what you have, though).

Could we also mention any "characters" who belonged to that class (characters being those who have a determined name, not a random one. Like Dark Knight Grissom was a Paladin, etc.)KrytenKoro 04:54, 25 April 2007 (UTC)