Best job system in an RPG?

[Ichirou]

I've recently been playing games that have had variations on the whole "job system" idea, and I have been wondering which RPG (or strat. RPG) you guys think does it best?  For me, so far no RPG has surpassed Final Fantasy V in how the whole job situation is handled.  There are clear benefits to switching between jobs, you aren't restricted to using the skills you earn in one job in just that particular job, attaining new jobs is fun and logical, etc.  There are some games that have very simplistic job systems (like Vandal~Hearts, Tales of the World) but still manage to be fun.  Then there are others that totally suck because there really is no difference between any of the characters other than physical appearance, and that really drains the fun out of it (Vandal~Hearts II, though I give that game props for having the hero's childhood friends grow up to be a hooker and her pimp, lol).

[Eduardo24]

In before DnD?  Does that qualify?

Honestly, the job systems in most JRPGs are terrible to me.  They give you like 40 classes that you can swap whenever you like (instead of being permanent) and thats terrible, at least to me.  Your character is left with absolutely no identity because he or she is a jack of all trades.

[Ichirou]

That's sort of the point of a job system, IMO!  Being able to swap back and forth is awesome.  A nice little touch in FFV is that all the characters' appearance change depending on their job.  Tales of the World handles it a bit different, in that they can wear different equipment depending on their job, plus their fighting stance changes too.

[Eduardo24]

Meh. Played FFV up to the point you beath Xdeath in his castle and then you go back to your original world.  But the game wasnt over and I assumed that some lame plot twist was going to happen to revive the bastard so I just stopped playing.

[brawndolicious]

KOTOR

[Error2k4]

as far as JRPGs go I liked FF5 job system the most.

[Fresh Prince]

In before DnD?  Does that qualify?

Honestly, the job systems in most JRPGs are terrible to me.  They give you like 40 classes that you can swap whenever you like (instead of being permanent) and thats terrible, at least to me.  Your character is left with absolutely no identity because he or she is a jack of all trades.

What he said.

[tiesto]

FF5 is definitely my favorite, I love the amount of customization you can do on your characters, it seems to be reasonably balanced (aside from the Samurai/Gil Toss command), and it allows you to be fairly creative in the ways you take down certain bosses.

[Mupepe]

FFV or FFT

[BlueTsunami]

FFT for the awesome

Oodles of abilities, cool looking too

[Eduardo24]

This thread is a few days old, but I need to ask you something Ichirou.  If you like FF5´s system because you can be a jack of all trades (dumb), why do you hate FF7`s materia system?  Their goal is the same, even though it doesn´t have Classes (or Jobs as this games call them for some reason).  Anybody  could argue FF5 system is a mess and FF7`s is actually easier to understand and use.

[Ichirou]

Anyone could argue that, yes...but they would lose that argument because FF7 sucks.

[Himu]

lmao @ KOTOR. KOTOR doesn't have a job system.

Baldurs Gate 2. There is no contest.

[recursivelyenumerable]

This thread is a few days old, but I need to ask you something Ichirou.  If you like FF5´s system because you can be a jack of all trades (dumb), why do you hate FF7`s materia system?  Their goal is the same, even though it doesn´t have Classes (or Jobs as this games call them for some reason).

Swapping classes isn't the same as being a "jack of all trades".  For most of V each character has one primary class with just one ability from another class allowed.  And abilities learned accrue to the character, not to the job/materia as in VII, so you can gradually build a different set of available abilities for each character.

[Vizzys]

the best job system is the lack of one

FF7 materia system is perfection

[Prost]

i loved the materia system and the jobs in ffv and fft, enjoy it all baby!