Even strangers in paradise need to get jobs. On the surface Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin may look like a basic hack and slash game at cursory glance, but the reality is there's a robust job system that caters to many different types of playstyles. Jack has access to every job when it's unlocked but each of his companions is limited to what jobs they can use. Each of the supporting characters begins with one job, but access is gained to additional jobs as the player progresses through the game. You can also gain extra jobs by completing side missions on the world map. Below is a list of each supporting character and their available jobs:
- Ash: Pugilist, Monk, Berserker, Tyrant, Liberator
- Jed: Duelist, Thief, Samurai, Ninja, Assassin
- Neon: Swordfighter, Knight, Red Mage, Paladin, Void Knight
- Sophia: Mage, Black Mage, Dragoon, Breaker, Sage
Jack begins with access to Swordsman, Pugilist and Duelist. He can unlock Mage by equipping a mace and Lancer by equipping a spear. The equipped jobs gain experience points by killing enemies. Job points are awarded whenever a job gains a level and these points can be used to unlock new skills. To unlock Advanced and Expert jobs points will need to be spent. The more advanced jobs are typically locked within multiple jobs and in order to gain access to the new job it needs to be unlocked in each job, so if a player wants to be a Red Mage, they need to unlock it from Swordfighter and Mage before they can use it. Below is a list of jobs with a brief description of their default ability and what jobs they can lead to unlocking.
Basic Jobs
Swordfighter: Jack's starting job has the default ability of Interception. When activated this skill nullifies damage from blockable attacks and unleashes a counter attack. This job holds the key to unlocking Knight and Red Mage.
Unlocked by obtaining a Sword
Swordsman: The Swordsman can unleash a deadly Spinning Slash. This attack is self explanatory -- the character spins in a circle like a bladed tornado. This is useful ability when surrounded which happens rather frequently. This is a straight up fighting job and mastery of it can lead to unlocking the Berkserker, Warrior and Knight.
Unlocked by obtaining a Greatsword
Ronin: The masterless warrior can unleash the Iai-Giri. This is a slow but powerful and wide reaching slash. Ronin are historically wandering samurai without a lord, so it's only fitting that mastery of Ronin leads to unlocking the Samurai and Warrior jobs.
Unlocked by obtaining a Katana
Pugilist: This job is a fancy term for a boxer, so it makes sense that this class fits with cestus type weapons. Explosive Fist is this job's default ability, which unleashes a barrage of punches that not even Little Mac could defend against. After spending enough training the Pugilist, players will be closer to unlocking the Monk and Thief jobs.
Unlocked by obtaining Knuckles
Marauder: The Marauder is a roving axe man that is ready to take the head off any of the monsters working in Chaos's service. This special ability is Upheaval, where the axe is brought down with such a tremendous force it inflicts a status ailment that weakens the enemy. Just the term Marauder conjures up images of dangerous and cruel warriors, and mastering this job brings the player closer to using the Berserker and Dragoon.
Unlocked by obtaining an Axe
Mage: It's said one must walk before they can run, and the Mage is the rudimentary magic using job. There are a variety of spells that can be cast using the right trigger and left thumbstick, but this class is soon retired once some more specialized magic users become available. It's advisable to master this class as soon as possible as this is the first step to unlocking the White, Red and Black Mage jobs.
Unlocked by obtaining a Mace
Duelist: This is a quick class that specializes in dual wielding daggers but like the Mage is best retired earlier after some more powerful variations on that theme become unlocked. This special ability is Weak Spot, which is a quick attack that always inflicts critical damage on the enemy. The duelist also only brings the player closer to unlocking one job and that is the Thief.
Unlocked by obtaining Daggers
Lancer: The Lancer has one of the more useful special attacks. Lance Hurl is exactly what it sounds like -- the Lancer hurls the lance at the enemy. This is such a basic special attack, but it's a godsend against flying enemies. It's quicker than casting a spell and can hit for massive damage. Mastery of the Lancer helps unlock the Monk and Dragoon.
Unlocked by obtaining a Lance
Advanced Jobs
Warrior: The icon for this job is a horned helmet that conjures up thoughts of barbarians or historically inaccurate portrayals of Vikings. This job has the ability of War Cry which unleashes a mighty bellow that damages nearby enemies while granting the player gradual HP restoration. This job holds the key to unlocking the Liberator and Dark Knight jobs.
Unlocked by Ronin and Swordsman
Knight: The noble hero of medieval inspired fantasy, this job is endowed with the Blessing of Light. This causes a shockwave to blast from the Knight after a successful guard against an attack. Mastering this job will get the player closer to being able to play as the Void Knight and Paladin.
Unlocked by Swordsman and Swordfighter
Berserker: This is another class that is (thankfully) often depicted with historically inaccurate attire. No surprises here, but the default special ability for this job is Berserk which temporarily increases the player's damage output and chances of staggering the enemy while making the player less likely to be staggered. This is a great ability to help players who enjoy rushing into battle with no regard for their own personal safety. Spending enough time in the berserk frenzy can lead to unlocking the Breaker and Dark Knight jobs.
Unlocked by Marauder and Swordsman
Thief: The name implies theft, but this is like a Blue Mage in pickpocket form. The Steal ability causes the Thief to rush to swipe an instant ability from enemy, which naturally the stolen ability will vary from enemy to enemy. Mastery of the Thief will unlock two new agile jobs that are a bit redundant: Ninja and Assassin.
Unlocked by Duelist and Pugilist
Monk: Monks are powerful spiritual warriors. The Monk's special ability is Focus, which allows them to spend their MP to recover their break gauge and HP. If the Monk concentrates their Focus long enough they'll also inflect additional break damage on their enemies. Supremacy in battle must be one of the main focal points of these Monks' spirituality as the two jobs that come from mastery of the Monk are Tyrant and Assassin.
Unlocked by Pugilist and Lancer
White Mage: Since the original Final Fantasy White Mages have represented party buffs and healing. The White Mage can cast a variety of white magic spells that are great for providing powerful buffs the player and teammates, healing wounds or inflicting massive damage on the undead. Mastering the White Mage leads to unlocking the Sage and Paladin.
Unlocked by Mage
Black Mage: The dark counterpoint to the White Mage, the Black Mage is all about offensive and destructive magic. This job is particularly useful against a couple of the elemental fiends as their elemental black magic is great for exploiting their weakness. Mastery of the dark arts will pave the way to unlocking the Sage and Dark Knight.
Unlocked by Mage
Red Mage: This job is jack of all trade and master of none. It's got decent combat abilities and access to white and black magic spells, but its power always falls short of the more-specialized counterparts. The Red Mage ability is Chainspell which allows the player to cast consecutive spells. This is a useful ability, but there are limits to what spells can be chained. Mastering this hybrid class can lead to the Void Knight and Tyrant.
Unlocked by Mage and Swordfighter
Dragoon: This is another recurring job in Final Fantasy that's historically inaccurate, but we're probably better off for it. British calvary is cool and all, but it just seems more fun to jump into the sky and deliver a deadly spear strike on your enemy. Anyone who's familiar with Final Fantasy knows the Dragoon's special attack is going to be Jump, where he jumps into the air and delivers a powerful spear strike. It costs MP to use, but it's worth it to pogo a Tonberry to death. It's also an ability that's more fun to use than it should be. After jumping enough enemies to death this will unlock Breaker and Liberator.
Unlocked by Lancer and Marauder
Samurai: Now that the Ronin has found a Lord he's ready to take on new abilities as Samurai. The Samurai's default ability is Meikyo-Shisui, which when activated increases the rate of MP recovery from regular attacks and restores MP while parrying. Breaker and Ninja are the two jobs that mastering the way of Samurai unlock, which is kind of odd since one would think to be a successful Ninja they would need to be abandon the honor code that binds Samurai behavior.
Unlocked by Ronin
Expert
Dark Knight: To be honest I'm disappointed that mastering the Dark Knight doesn't unlock Paladin as a little Final Fantasy IV meta joke. To symbolize how mastering the dark blade consumes oneself the ability the Dark Knight possesses is Souleater, which when activated drains the player's HP in exchange for increased damage.
Unlocked by Berserker, Warrior and Black Mage
Paladin: The holy knight has a much less self destructive power than his dark counterpart. Holy Fang recovers HP whenever he lands a successful hit. It also deals additional holy damage based on max HP when HP is at max. This ability drains MP when active, but can be toggled to save it for more useful battles.
Unlocked by Knight and White Mage
Ninja: These warriors of the shadows have the special ability of Ninjutsu. Unlike other abilities that cost MP, Ninjutsu will unleash chosen Ninjutsu abilities such as throwing shurikens at the cost of Ninja tools. This is similar in to the Throw command used by Edge and Shadow, but instead of having to buy expensive projectiles, the Ninja tools are replenished at cubes.
Unlocked by Samurai and Thief
Assassin: No white cloaks or hidden blades here. The Assassin is an agile class that's designed to quickly take out enemies. The special attack here is Assassinate, which inflicts extra damage based on the number of marks an enemy has. Every time a critical hit lands on an enemy they gain a mark. Okay, so it's not most efficient and quickest means of dispatching an enemy, but it does speed up the process a little bit.
Unlocked by Thief and Monk
Liberator: Some job titles in these games don't make a ton of sense and Liberator is one of them. But that doesn't matter because the special ability Mighty Guard is useful. This creates an aura around the character that greatly reduces damage to them and any allies within the circle while gradually increasing HP.
Unlocked by Dragoon and Warrior
Breaker: This is a job that seems like it should be Jack's default since he tends to shatter all his enemies. This job has the special ability of Zantetsuken. This Odin-inspired attack slashes through enemies with a giant blade. Any enemy that's brought to zero HP or break status gets finished with a soul burst. There may not be a summoning class but having one of the more iconic Eidolon abilities is a nice consolation.
Unlocked by Dragoon, Samurai and Berserker
Void Knight: The Void Knight has the Runic ability which is useful when dealing with a lot of spell-casting enemies. This defense absorbs any enemy spells directed at the player. Players can use the absorbed spell energy to restore MP to themselves or release a slash attack that removes enemy buffs.
Unlocked by Knight and Red Mage
Tyrant: The word Tyrant suggests despotic warlord, but this job's default ability seems rather basic. Enchant has the Tyrant imbue their weapon with an elemental effect of their choosing. It's useful in certain parts, but some of the other jobs have more entertaining abilities.
Unlocked by Monk and Red Mage
Sage: This is the master of magic. The Sage's ability is Magic Sigil, which allows the Sage to switch between the best white and black magic spells. Successfully landing a spell will earn an emblem of the corresponding color, white spells accrue white emblems and black spells accrue black emblems. The Sage also has access to the black magic spell Ultima, though casting it requires three black and white emblems.
Unlocked by White Mage and Black Mage
Below the picture is the secret job.... don't scroll if you don't want it spoiled.
Special
Cyclic Warrior: This should be the final job that's unlocked. In order to unlock the Cyclic Warrior one needs to kill Chaos. This job is equipped with the Soul of Chaos, which unleashes one of four elemental attacks at the cost of reducing max MP.
Unlocked by killing Chaos