No comprehensive review of these lesser-known FFV projects exists, so this document brings them together for comparison and contrast. Access to all is provided.
Ranked from most changes to least
“Strategic Battle” offers 3 custom Ability choices for all Jobs and shuffles the Abilities radically between them. It also removes 5 Abilities, changes how 5 others work, and creates 4 brand new ones.
These changes are so extensive that I feel the affected Jobs ought to be renamed in order to highlight them!
The four new Abilities are interesting yet were not given new names by the hack author— I’ve humbly provided some possibilities in this review, and posted an Addendum to add them to the hack. Both the reshuffling of 18 Abilities + the 4 new and 5 changed Abilites really overhaul the FFV Job system and add strategic depth, as advertised.
| Ability erased | New Ability does this… | Proposed name for New Ability | | --- | --- | --- | | Mantra | Add 1 to level in battle. Stackable | Uplift | | Observe | Gain Armor and Shell statuses | Secure | | Analyze | Gain Wall and Haste statuses. Wall is temporary | Bright | | Slash | Damage equals Max HP - HP | Strike | | HP +10% | | | | HP +20% | | | | MP +10% | | | | SwdSlap | | | | Escape | | |
<aside> ☝
Find these changes in a patch here.
</aside>
Five Abilities were changed in “Strategic Battle”.
| Kick | Deals 150 HP damage to all targets, always hits except for special statuses like Image. |
|---|---|
| Flirt | Buffed: sets “Charm” status on the target unless it’s immune. |
| Learned by Thief instead of Dancer. | |
| DrgnSwd/Lance | Nerfed: Drains MP from target; no longer drains HP. |
| Learned by Geomancer instead of Dragoon. | |
| Revive | Buffed: ALL Wounded heroes are revived with 25% of Max HP. |
| X-Fight/Rapid | Deals a normal attack to target 1 to 4 times. Affected by row, Magic Sword, and can cause critical hits. |
| (Basically 1-4 “Fight” attacks, versus the original X-Attack which was fixed damage and unmodified by most battle effects.) |
Also, Abilities are discounted a bit to compensate for how nothing is available until unlocked.
Jobs and their Abilities in FFV: Strategic Battle || New || Changed || Shuffled
| Changes? | Job / ABP | Ability 1 | Ability 2 | Ability 3 | Ability 4 | Ability 5 | Ability 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ONE | Knight | ||||||
| 450 | Cover | ||||||
| 25 | !Guard | ||||||
| 50 | Eq. Armor | ||||||
| 75 | Eq. Sword | ||||||
| 100 | Dbl Grip | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| MANY | Monk | ||||||
| 300 | Brawl | ||||||
| 10 | Barrier | ||||||
| 20 | !Hide | ||||||
| 30 | !Kick | ||||||
| 40 | !Drink | ||||||
| 100 | !Uplift | ||||||
| 100 | |||||||
| ONE | Thief | ||||||
| 325 | !Steal | ||||||
| 25 | !Smoke | ||||||
| 25 | Caution | ||||||
| 50 | !Flirt | ||||||
| 50 | Agility | ||||||
| 75 | !Capture | ||||||
| 100 | |||||||
| TWO | Dragoon | ||||||
| 300 | Eq. Spears | ||||||
| 50 | !Jump | ||||||
| 50 | !Strike | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| MANY | Ninja | ||||||
| 350 | Preemptive | ||||||
| 50 | !Throw | ||||||
| 100 | 2 handed | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| MANY | Samurai | ||||||
| 350 | Eq. Katanas | ||||||
| 25 | Eq. Shield | ||||||
| 50 | Evade | ||||||
| 75 | !Image | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| TWO | Berserker | ||||||
| 325 | Berserk | ||||||
| 50 | Eq. Axes | ||||||
| 75 | Counter | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| ONE | Hunter | ||||||
| 400 | !Aim | ||||||
| 25 | Eq. Bows | ||||||
| 75 | !Build Up | ||||||
| 100 | !X-Fight | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| ONE | M. Knight | ||||||
| 420 | !Sword 1 | ||||||
| 20 | !Sword 2 | ||||||
| 40 | !Sword 3 | ||||||
| 60 | !Sword 4 | ||||||
| 80 | !Sword 5 | ||||||
| 100 | !Sword 6 | ||||||
| 120 | |||||||
| White M. | |||||||
| 315 | !White 1 | ||||||
| 15 | !White 2 | ||||||
| 30 | !White 3 | ||||||
| 45 | !White 4 | ||||||
| 60 | !White 5 | ||||||
| 75 | !White 6 | ||||||
| 90 | |||||||
| Black M. | |||||||
| 315 | !Black 1 | ||||||
| 15 | !Black 2 | ||||||
| 30 | !Black 3 | ||||||
| 45 | !Black 4 | ||||||
| 60 | !Black 5 | ||||||
| 75 | !Black 6 | ||||||
| 90 | |||||||
| ONE | Time M. | ||||||
| 315 | !Time 1 | ||||||
| 15 | !Time 2 | ||||||
| 30 | !Time 3 | ||||||
| 45 | !Time 4 | ||||||
| 60 | !Time 5 | ||||||
| 75 | !Time 6 | ||||||
| 90 | |||||||
| ONE | Summoner | ||||||
| 420 | !Conjure | ||||||
| 20 | !Summon 1 | ||||||
| 40 | !Summon 2 | ||||||
| 60 | !Summon 3 | ||||||
| 80 | !Summon 4 | ||||||
| 100 | !Summon 5 | ||||||
| 120 | |||||||
| TWO | Blue M. | ||||||
| 300 | Learn | ||||||
| 25 | !Blue | ||||||
| 75 | !Control | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| Red M. | |||||||
| 300 | !Red 1 | ||||||
| 30 | !Red 2 | ||||||
| 60 | !Red 3 | ||||||
| 90 | !X-Magic | ||||||
| 120 | |||||||
| TWO | Mediator | ||||||
| 350 | !Tame | ||||||
| 25 | !Catch | ||||||
| 50 | Eq. Whips | ||||||
| 75 | !Secure | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| MANY | Chemist | ||||||
| 350 | Medicine | ||||||
| 25 | Eq. Rods | ||||||
| 25 | !Bright | ||||||
| 100 | !Mix | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| MANY | Geomancer | ||||||
| 300 | Pitfall | ||||||
| 25 | !Terrain | ||||||
| 75 | !DrgnSwd | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| MANY | Bard | ||||||
| 300 | Eq. Harps | ||||||
| 25 | !Animals | ||||||
| 25 | !Sing | ||||||
| 50 | !Pray | ||||||
| 100 | !Revive | ||||||
| 100 | |||||||
| MANY | Dancer | ||||||
| 350 | !Dance | ||||||
| 50 | Eq. Ribbon | ||||||
| 100 | !Gil Toss | ||||||
| 200 | |||||||
| MANY | Mimic | ||||||
| 300 | Hp 30% | ||||||
| 50 | Mp 30% | ||||||
| 50 | !Mimic | ||||||
| 200 |
As mentioned above this chart, an interesting design change in FF5:SB is to offer no Abilities up front.
Magic Jobs need to learn their 1st level spells, and every level thereafter! Mages slowly become more powerful in this mod, versus the original FFV giving them full access to their magic school.