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Blue Dragon Skill Classes
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The Skills of Blue Dragon
A detailed look at the flexible skill and class system.
by Erik Brudvig
August 1, 2007 - At first glance, the battle system in Blue Dragon is pretty basic. In traditional Japanese role-playing game fashion, your squad of young heroes lines up on one side of the battlefield and takes turns pummeling the enemies on the opposite side with attacks, and magical abilities. It's entirely turn-based and may feel a bit rudimentary to gamers weaned on twitch based shooters and other intensely involved action games.
But there is an underlying skill system in Blue Dragon that is deep and flexible enough for players to add an extra level of strategy to the way they approach those turn-based fights. It's one of our favorite parts of the Blue Dragon gameplay, which is why we've decided to dedicate an entire in-depth feature to it.
If you've been following Blue Dragon at all, then you'll know that attacks in the game are performed by magical shadows rather than the main characters. Each of these shadows can be assigned to a specific skill class which, through battle, will level up independently of both the other skill classes and the character that controls it. As the class levels up, more skills become available to equip. At the beginning of the game, each shadow can only access a couple classes. As the character levels up, new classes become available which further broaden their shadow's skill set. To kick things off, we'll give a rundown of each of the nine classes.
Each class levels up individually.Class Name: Sword Master
Strengths: Well rounded offense
Typical Skills: Magic Sword, Mow Down, Absorb HP
Description: Shu's Dragon shadow begins with the Sword Master class. The main draw to this class is the Magic Sword, a skill that allows it's user to imbue attacks with black magic spells you have knowledge of. This, in conjunction with the other offensive skills in the Sword Master repertoire, makes for a broad range of attacking styles that can provide good strength against every enemy you face.
Class Name: Guardian
Strengths: Defensive tank
Typical Skills: Guard, Boost Max HP +50%, Charged Defense
Description: The Guardian class can boost your defensive capabilities to unheard of levels, but the skill set doesn't just help the owner. Total Guard allows you to protect everyone in your party. When up against tough enemies, few though they may be in Blue Dragon on the standard difficulty, a Guardian is a blessing.
Class Name: Monk
Strengths: Strength
Typical Skills: Charged Attack, Attack Amp, Repel Aura
Description: Marumaro begins with the Monk class assigned to his Saber-Tooth shadow. Selecting this class will give your attack rating a boost and make your shadow attack with the fury. Attack Amp allows you to expand the range of your attack so that it hits everyone on the field, provided you charge it up long enough. Offensive juggernauts should apply here.
Shadow classes also affect your base stats.Class Name: Assassin
Strengths: Thievery and guile
Typical Skills: Long-Range Attack, Steal, Stun Bomb
Description: Zola and her Killer Bat begin their adventure with the Assassin class. This skill set is designed around keeping your purse full and enemies off guard. Stealing items, stunning enemies on the field map to surprise them from behind, and attacking enemies in the normally protected back row are all bonuses of using this class.
Class Name: Black Magic
Strengths: Offensive spells
Typical Skills: Black Magic, Boost MP +50%
Description: Kluke's Phoenix begins with this class equipped. Aside from boosting your magic power and MP gauge, this class gives the user the ability to cast Black Magic spells. These magical attacks are based in the elements and are extremely powerful. If you need to clear out an entire squad of enemies on the double, black magic is a good place to start.
Class Name: White Magic
Strengths: Healing and item use
Typical Skills: Double Item, White Magic, Regenerate HP
Description: Jiro and his Minotaur make use of the White Magic class to kick things off. White Magic users are typical support units that can cast healing spells and get skills that improve the effects of items. With some items having offensive capabilities, the class isn't totally inept at attacking.
Class Name: Barrier Magic
Strengths: Protective magic
Typical Skills: Field Barrier, Barrier Magic, Distress Barrier
Description: The Barrier Magic class is another one that excels at protection. Typical barrier spells include those that boost defense, resist status effects, create traps for enemies and reflect magic. Barrier Magic class skills also protect the owner in a pinch and can even avoid battles altogether with the Field Barrier. This last skill can kill low level enemies without entering a fight by using MP and still provide the party with some experience.
Class Name: Support Magic
Strengths: Status Effects
Typical Skills: Support Magic, Spell Duration +50%
Description: Support Magic includes spells that can confuse, paralyze, or poison your opponents. It also boasts a few spells that can improve party members efficacy in battle. Spells that speed up your friends or boost their attack power are common.
The result of a high Generalist level.Class Name: Generalist
Strengths: Skills and accessories
Typical Skills: Accessory +, Skill +
Description: The Generalist may sound like a boring class, but it is easily the most useful in the game. Normally, you can only equip three skills to your shadow to go along with the base skill that each class has locked down. Whether you know 20 skills or 100, you can only equip three of them. As you level your Generalist class up, the Skill + skill turns from Skill +1 to 2, and then 3, and so on. Equipping this skill gives that shadow more open slots to equip skills. Right now, we have over 10 skills equipped to Shu and three bonus accessory slots. Make sure you take the time to level every shadow's Generalist class up.
As you can see, each class is fairly focused on one aspect of combat. The good news is that once you learn a skill attributed to one class, you can equip it to your shadow even after switching to a new class. Mixing and match the skills properly and you can wind up with an unstoppable force. To close out the feature, here are a few of the combinations we've found most effective.
Mow Down (Magic Sword) + Long-Range Attack (Assassin): Enemies always attack with the strongest guys in front. However, clearing out the back row first is a big plus as they usually are the ones to come at you with magic or other powerful attacks. Mow Down with Long-Range Attack will mow down everyone in the back row.
Total Guard (Guardian) + Absolute Counterattack (Monk): Total Guard will take the hit for every other teammate. Absolute Counterattack makes it so you always punch back. This guarantees you a counterattack every time the front row of enemies attacks.
Some nice Assassin skills, but without more skill slots and variety this character isn't as effective as it could be.
Double Strike (Assassin) + Absorb HP (Magic Sword): Absorb HP will give you some HP back with each attack. Doubling it is nice. Putting Absorb HP with the aforementioned Absolute Counterattack is also a nice move. Add in Absorb MP and Loot (which gives you money for each attack) and you're set.
Field Barrier (Barrier Magic) Regenerate MP (Black Magic): Field Barrier uses MP to kill low level enemies without fighting them to give you some free skill points. Regenerate MP gives you that MP back as you walk, though at a slower rate. It helps to reduce the MP drain that Field Barrier puts into effect.
Combining various skills is the way to go. You can take things one step further by equipping complementary accessories, but we'll leave it to you to figure those out.
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Sounds pretty interesting. I always like neat twists to turn based combat. This game is going to be huuuuuge! 
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08-02-2007, 12:43 AM
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