[Note: classes are serious business in RPGS. The mage can go by many other names/variations i.e. medic, healer, etc etc but let's class it as "magic user" in this. Also note that this is based on my experience of games and there are OF COURSE, countless and countless games I haven't played with all various other types of magic and users. This is very general, but I'd love to learn more so throw comments at me!]
This is the first part of my little series of articles on YOUR BASIC RPG CLASS CHARACTERS. I wasn't really thinking about posting something like this, until I got into a little argument with Vanille in Final Fantasy 13 (it was very one sided,) which basically went along the lines of "VANILLE STOP HEALING YOURSELF HEAL ME FIRST IF I DIE, WE ALL DIE." So, despite Vanille's downfalls as a medic, let's celebrate the mage! I will be discussing some of the different types of mages I've come across and what I like about them/why they are great and should definitely have a place on your team. BRAWN, MOVE OVER.
Offensive Mage
Depending on the game, magic users tend to be very important and also very awesome in most RPGS.
I've learnt through gaming that most games like systems and rules - which is great, because I love learning them. In class/job based RPGS, you thus tend to have abilities limited to certain jobs. Your soldier may be able to use some simple magic, but it's going to be your mage that does the real damage. In games that let you choose your own jobs, thus, it makes sense for you to have your character with the highest magic power be your mage.
And games like you to have to strategise and carefully form your party. That's a whole part of the fun of them really - carefully thinking through who you will need to defeat this boss. High physical defense but weak magic defense? That's where your mage comes in.
Magic also (usually - again, this is all presumption) is element based, meaning it can come in many forms. Whilst this is fun because it gives you a whole range of moves to choose from, it also allows you to be tactical in fighting your enemy: what are they weak against? What will deal the most magic? Games have always been about strategy, and magic is especially great because it opens up whole new realms of strategy that physical combat can't often give.
And you will undoubtedly at some point face an enemy who can barely be touched by physical moves. STAND ASIDE LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THE OFFENSIVE MAGE IS HERE.
Status-Dealing Mages
A lot of the times, these will be clumped in as either offensive ('black') or defensive ('white') mages. Final Fantasy: Tactics had their 'green' mage as the status inflicter. These mages (or these moves,) are used to protect your team, or destroy the enemy through status effects.
I never really used to use them before (oh, naive young me,) preferring to finish off battles quickly and mostly with an all-out offense. Particularly difficult battles, however, can definitely be made easier if you're clever with your defensive and offensive statuses.
Defensive statuses can be amazing against tough enemies - ESPECIALLY when you can use them several times and boost your defenses up to ridiculously amazing. Offensive statuses, however, are often looked past because at the end of the day, they take up round time and often it's easy to get into the mentality that you should may as well just keep attacking head on with big damage, as opposed to little draining damage. However, little draining damage, as you probably know when you've been inflicted with it yourself, is a complete and utter pain! Successfully casting a poison, sleep or slow on your enemy will just make the battle so much easier for you.
Final Fantasy XIII (I KNOW, I keep banging on about Final Fantasy but this is basically 70% of my thoughts on a day to day basis) ramped up the status mage by having two roles: SYNERGIST and SABOTEUR. Syn boosts the party/protects the party, whilst Sab casts nasty magic to slowly drain and well, sabotage, the enemy. Whilst it is a bit of a pain having the roles separate, I've also found it incredibly useful to have a sab/syn team, as it tends to make it much easier to get those bosses with ridiculously high def/hp but also strong attack.
So, status based mages perhaps aren't as effective in everyday ~ random encounters ~, but use them properly and save them for the sluggish matches and they will become at least 40% easier, probably.
Healing Mages
And perhaps the biggest one to celebrate - the blessed medic. Anyone who's faced any overpowered bosses with ridiculous attacks that take out 90% of your HP in one go know to worship the medic. If it weren't for them throwing constant cures/heals etc at you, you would have been knocked out a long time ago.
The only sad thing for medics is that - well - they essentially have only a supporting role. Sure, it's super important and a lot of the time you can't do without it, but for pure mages who can literally only do white/healing magic, you imagine it would be...well... a little boring. Systems that allow you to switch out and change your party in battle handle this well, but when a battle isn't particularly difficult, the healing mage often just sits back.
I NEVER understood why Atoli of .Hack//GU: Rebirth wanted to be a magic and follow my dumb ass around healing me.
Naturally, the best compromise is a general mage who can perform black and white magic, and a system that allows you to prioritise healing when it's needed (whether you choose it yourself in turn-based or set conditions that allow this.) A lot of games do allow all characters to use not just healing spells, but all spells. This is really the best case scenario, even though limitations on how many moves/attacks you're allowed to have may make it very difficult for you to make a decision!
Unfortunately, for some other games, this is just TOO GREAT and puts way too much power in one character. FF compromised by creating the 'red mage' class - a mage who could perform both types of magic but was limited to only performing low level magic. Super useful early on in the game, but given that you'll find a need for high level curing spells later on, it's always worth investing heavily in a good white mage.
The original medic
So what have we learned from this summary? Mages are very cool.
Not only that, but they are an integral part of any RPG, and many systems would fall apart without them. Furthermore, there is SO MUCH potential with mages and magic in games and so much more out there than my measly observations on a few games. Go forth and explore!
What's your favourite system of magic?
What kind of magic do you like using most?
What's the best mage class/who is the best mage in a game you've come across?
What game has used magic the most innovatively?
Shoot!
Love,
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