Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles mostly rules. While I’m bummed at the lack of content exclusive to the 2007 PSP iteration of this originally-PS1 all-timer, fans have already addressed that to an impressive extent for the recent remake’s PC version by adding The War of the Lions’ Job Classes.
The hard-working FFT modding community is at it again, revamping protagonist Ramza Beoulve’s own custom class into something far more compelling.
The Noble Mercenary Heretic
There’s something to be said for Final Fantasy Tactics’ conventional approach to Ramza’s Job Class. He’s naught but a squire when he abandons the knightly Order of the Southern Sky in pursuit of his own brave path forward, so it stands to reason that he’d keep that most generic of generic Job titles with the “Squire” class. All the way in the fourth and final chapter – although, to be fair, Chapter 4 is like more like two-fifths of the game – he takes the mantle of “Gallant Knight” instead.
I like that, and I like that Ramza gets several unique abilities befitting a natural leader on the battlefield. But, truth be told, the lack of spiffy sword skills really sets him back, and keeping the Squire class’ ability pool with only a handful of Beoulve-tier skills to show for it kind of underwhelms. Many fans have agreed on this front for literal decades, as older versions of Final Fantasy Tactics have been modded to alter this state; The Ivalice Chronicles now has its first contender.
“This mod gives Ramza’s squire class unique job names throughout the course of the game. Additionally, upon becoming a Heretic, Ramza will also gain access to Gaffgarion’s fell sword abilities.” -Serbagz
The modder Serbagz added this “Heretic Ramza” tweak to Nexus Mods earlier this month, and its most recent update was November 17. They note that it was “really just a small mod I made myself for my TIC playthroughs,” but there are “many different versions” in case folks find Heretic Ramza’s standard version overly simplistic.
In its basic form, the mod does as follows:
- In Chapter 1, Ramza’s Squire class is renamed Noble.
- In Chapters 2 and 3, the Squire class is renamed Mercenary.
- Finally, for Chapter 4, it’s renamed Heretic, and Ramza gains the Fell Knight’s Shadowblade and Duskblade techniques.
There are three alternative takes:
- Heretic Ramza – Ark Knight Edition changes things up so that Ramza gets Zalbaag’s Ark Knight abilities instead.
- Heretic Ramza – Dark Knight Edition gives him the full set of Dark Knight sword skills, and requires the aforementioned Dark Night and Onion Knight mod.
- Heretic Ramza – Sword Saint Edition is the ultimate winner, as it provides “an expanded version of Orlandeau’s Swordplay.” Put plainly, then, it gives Ramza everything that Orlandeau had, which is… every sword skill, plus the Princess/Cleric abilities.
All versions of the Heretic mod ramp up the strength of Ramza’s Ultima attack, which is pretty goshdarn appreciated. Do bear in mind, the Sword Saint Edition does unfortunately have some technical hiccups right now, but hopefully those get fixed in due time.
