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I have always had a theory when I kid that Sabin from 6 was a tribute or a trope tp guile from street fighter. I was born in 85 and was raised on my grandfather's arcade til the late 90s. 1991 Street fighter dropped and guile had massive popularity and in ff6 seeing sabins hair and obvious American hero trope body type seemed like an obvious tribute on top of that his moves seemed Americanized to me. Suplex is American wrestling (wwf was mega popular) blitz Is a football and military term in the U.S.. I have no idea if this is true but it was always my theory since I was kid and felt that way living and being am aware gamer since I was young.
I'm loving this series! Monks always feel like an "old reliable" choice to me. They're definitely one of my favourite physical jobs throughout the series!
EXCEPT in FF5 IT Sucks you do NOT want to master it since its COUNTER attack ability will make Endless Bahamut summons in the Mime/Free Lancer class worthless as soon as COUNTER attack triggers in those 2 jobs you will IMMEDIATELY mime the USELESS counter attack and NOT Bahamut/Gil Toss at all in FF5. That's why in FF5 NEVER master monk at all since I used 4x Mime/Free lancer party members for the last bosses.
@@veghesther3204 I think the monk in FF5 is actually underrated lol. You get some great stats for your freelancer by mastering it. I had Galuf master monk and summoner and because of just those 2 he had almost maxed out every stat very early in the game, only missing some good agility. You're right, it's not the best in every situation, but I love the abilities and stats it comes with!
The Problem with Mastering Monk in FF5 is the same reason Counter Attack Purple Counter Blue Linked to Mime and HP absorb linked to KoTR against Emerald/Ruby weapon as soon as BOTH bosses hit that party member causing the the Physical hit of Counter attack to trigger they would end up using Mimic for the WORTHLESS physical hit and NOT Knights of the round against both. So Mastering Monk in FF5 SUCKS for that same reason you'd end up having my 3x Mime users mime the useless counter attack hits in the Middle of Endless Bahamut summons/Gil toss users for the last bosses.,
Monk is one of the coolest classes in the FF-series as a whole. No matter if it's in FFVII-Remake or in Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age, it's actually really good.
I love monks because I like the idea of characters fighting with nothing but their fists, also, Tifa, Sabin and Zell are some of my favorite character personality wise
@@rexusthevaliant6311 well, I think is because the game presents him first as annoying, and he makes a huge mistake that compromises all the SeeD, but he becomes more likable later in the game, more responsible, and it's a good contrast to Squall's edginess, at least in my opinion
In worlds full of world ending magic, swords made of aspects of gods, armor made from dragons, be the guy who rips his shirt off and punches the bad guy in the mouth.
I got to thinking, didn't Zell learn how to fight from his grandpa, who was a war hero, then got additional training while at Balamb Garden. Just a tid-bit. I love the content on this channel!
The one thing you missed from XIV is that the newest update to the monk brought in design elements from Savin and Tifa! Monks can now build a gauge where it aligns its Chakras based on what martial arts form a move is associated with. Building up 3 of the same form, 1 of each form, or two-and-one to align the light and dark chakras. Then spending them to do a powerful move like Blitz!
They are always behind or just leave off vast chunks when it comes to XIV section of these videos lol. It's obvious no one on the team that makes these videos actually plays it.
In FF7R, Tifa joined with the chakra materia initially equipped. It's reminiscent to the core of the monk job in FF history, they are damage dealer first, the support is optional. Also, while she is on the frail side, her extreme movement speed, quick attacks that leave a lot of opportunities to dodge, special attacks that include jumps and backsteps and finally, quick and mobile dodging, she can very easily be turned into an evade tank by a careful player.
D&D was drawing from the series Kung Fu with David Carradine. Brian Blume (one of the guys who bought large shares of TSR early on) loved the show and was serious about implementing the class. So, it was based on Shaolin monks in pop culture. It was the players who were confused and thought that the class was based on Franciscan Friars or other such Christian monks.
Honestly that was a pretty good show if I remember correctly, haven't watched it since I was a kid though. Interesting that's where the inspiration is from
Monk in XI also has really good skill with staves. It goes fairly unused, but it's a nice callback to the previous games that allowed such. I really like how they did Monk in XI, because its traits are really well-emphasized. Its high natural Vitality and HP make it durable enough to act as a secondary tank if necessary, and Counterstance enables it to be a really strong primary tank if the foe's damage output is mostly from basic attacks. Not to mention, Subtle Blow makes it a lot more healer-friendly than most jobs. They did such a good job with it in XI.
Snow was like a cool mix between Monk and Knight class being able to draw aggro and tank damage with defensive abilities. My favorite monk is Zell tho.
Monks are easily my favorite fantasy RPG class. Something awesome about being able to beat up monsters unarmed and unarmored through personal discipline and training. Plus the qi powers too. For Final Fantasy? I can easily say Tifa is my fave FF7 character, Sabin and Yang are too cool, and FFT's Monk is one of the best jobs... If you devote yourself to gaining JP for its abilities. Which fits the theme of a monk's training devotion perfectly. And FF7MA Tifa is my spirit animal. :3
In FF7R, while it's technically not a skill innate to her, it's worth mentioning that Tifa does come pre-equipped with Chakra materia when she first joins your party, thus 'unlocking' the ability.
Correction on Deep Meditation for Monk in Final Fantasy XIV. It doesn't increase critical damage like you said in the video. It actually opens a Chakra for your Chakra gauge if you land a critical hit and once all 5 are opened, all 5 can be spent to use either Forbidden Chakra for single target or Enlightenment for line AoE damage. Chakra can also be gained when using Brotherhood when any party members strike with a critical hit.
I love how in the NES version of FF1, a monk at high level will always be the single most damaging force in the party, making you wonder why the hell you even chose a warrior
Easily my favourite job in these games, a monk/master has been a staple of my FF1 parties since I first started playing, and my FF14 character was primarily a pugilist/monk until Endwalker, where I switched to reaper (because scythes are an underrated weapon in video games damn it), there's just something overwhelmingly satisfying about punching God in the face to put them in their place
Ursula, Yang's daughter, is one of my favorite Monk character even though it was a sequel title rather then a mainline Final Fantasy with her red cheongsam dress
Warrior- I'm going to cut down thy enemy with this blade Black mage- I will cast mighty magic to strike down enemy White mage- I will use holy divine magic to purify our foes Monk- I'm going to punch the monster really hard Everyone looks at the monk in confusion.
@@alexterieur8813 mage class that shows up in 5, tactics and a few other titles. They often have 0mp elemental attacks that depend on the terrain you are fighting in.
Two things can be true at the same time. In gameplay, she's a definite White Mage (which FF Record Keeper supports) but from a lore perspective, she's extremely attuned to the Planet. She does not play as one though (Geomancers typically have a command which varies in effect based on their surroundings.).
Would like to adjust something about FFRK: The allusion to monk(and all classes in that game) isn't just limited the main class representation. Different characters are able to use different levels of abilities based on what their class is, which means there are abilities solely limited to monk types like Yda and Tifa. It's not just limited to the soul break.
@@TsuikeNovaus Tried to get back into the game, but it was tiring just getting all the characters and grinding levels. I forget Yshtola's role, but I also barely used her, like most 11 and 14 characters
@@ToHoldNothing Y'Shtola is ff14's healer, but she also got amazing witch support and now can be either a damage dealer or healer. She's pretty useful for low investment for Magicite/Dark/Argent Odin. She's still stuck being the healer when you're doing ff14 fights though. Sad to see you quit, I've been playing the game since launch year and it's the only gacha game I've played for so long.
@@TsuikeNovaus Yeah, I think I'm thinking of Yda or another Monk hybrid somewhere I tried playing it when it was still pretty new back in 2016~, but the same thing dragged my interest down, so many missions and such, it's enough for me to dedicate time for 2 mobile games as it is. It's not really gacha, there's plenty like that and I quit those much quicker. Onmyoji, at least 1 or 2 others. Though I am guilty of keeping at it with Dragon Quest Tact
I actually figured out how to get use out of Tifa's Premium Heart, I gave Her Counterattack and deathblow so she could attack normally and frequently without needing to do limit. Curiously Deathblow never missed at that point in the game...
My favorite iterations are 11 and Remake, by far. 11 because well it's 11 (happy 20th!) and that game just has bar none the most comprehensive iteration of the job system the series has ever seen. But with Remake they really went out of their way to make Tifa play like a true combo fighter and especially on the PS5 version with the 60 frames per second it is a BLAST to use her. She just does so much damage and played correctly will almost never take a hit.
Monks. Masters of martial arts and close combat skills. Throughout generations, they have been using their skills to protect people from threats and invaders.
Interesting enough that you mention that the FF Monk draws inspiration as a high Vit, High Atk DPS from the DnD monk which orginated as a jack of all trades gish cleric subclass and is NOW more of a hit and run support utitily class in DnD 5e
As far as I remember, Amarants unique Trance command was called Monk or something like that. Pretty straightforward. I would also point out that Selphie used nunchaku as weapon and had access to some unique White magic. Overall this is a great video, thank you!
Prishe should have been mentioned here for standout monks from FFXI, especially since she is a main character for Chains of Promathia. Otherwise, this was fine.
Thank you for the deep dive into one of my favorite classes. Sabin and Zell are my favorite monks. I love the input approach to their attacks. Thank you very much for the hard work you put into this video.
I have always had a theory when I kid that Sabin from 6 was a tribute or a trope tp guile from street fighter. I was born in 85 and was raised on my grandfather's arcade til the late 90s. 1991 Street fighter dropped and guile had massive popularity and in ff6 seeing sabins hair and obvious American hero trope body type seemed like an obvious tribute on top of that his moves seemed Americanized to me. Suplex is American wrestling (wwf was mega popular) blitz Is a football and military term in the U.S.. I have no idea if this is true but it was always my theory since I was kid and felt that way living and being am aware gamer since I was young.
Thank you for including the Train Body Slam from FF6. Makes me smile every time. Edit: Can I just add, my girlfriend plays games as much as me, but she hasn't played any FF games. However, she gets a kick out of seeing a frog fight a house in Remake.
I don't like playing monk (or really any melee) in FFXIV but in traditional FF games monk is one of the most fun! And especially in ff7remake, Tifa is the most fun to play FF character ever IMO
MNK is super fun in XIV. rising Phoenix, we get a hamehameha, we get a hadoken, hurricane kick, spinning bird kick and star shower. MNK is my fave melee job next to RPR. it's fast and awesome.
I do like your eloquent and sophisticated Final Fantasy Franchise videos and every to do with Square Enix Final Fantasy videos even for there 35th Anniversary this year. I do have to mention that you didn’t mention Final Fantasy X-2 & Final Fantasy XIII-2 battle roles !!!
FFX-2 does have the Berserker Dressphere that would count for this, though it does kind of combine one job into another. Berserker is featured as its own job in a lot of other FFs.
Snow is a weird one as he fights with his fists but the paradigm system sort of fits over the top of the traditional class system. Like no matter what paradigm they use they're still using the same weapons, even if their role changes.
kinda surprised there was nothing from Stranger of Paradise, but heck, great video nonetheless, it's always a lot of fun watching how these classes evolve from the NES era of concepts
Ah yes Monks my most favorite class, there is no greater weapon than the body itself! It's interesting to see how the monks have changed with every Final Fantasy game. Though honestly I want a game where Monk is the focus of the story and no I don't mean like in FF14 where there's a job quest but a story where you learn what it is to be monk acquire new skills from master monks and become a legendary monk!
I never cared for monk as a job class in any of the FF games except for one. FF Tactics. I always made Ramza into monk and mastered it. Then would branch to knight. Then put him back as monk but equip armor and boy was he unstoppable. I remember going into one fight that my brother couldn't beat and the enemy went first. Every one of them walked up to him and when they attacked he would strike first and out right kill them. I finished that fight when it started lol. The best ever.
An amusing build with the A2 Master Monk. As mentioned, poles usually have a lower attack than bare handed. In fact, even the best ones have a low attack increase. One build involved giving him the Shield bearer support ability, then equipping two of the best shields. Along with other gear, he can reach 60%+ evasion. That tankiness is more valuable than the attack as he had really good growths anyway.
Tifa is an absolute BEAST in Speedruns with her Powersoul weapon, low HP and Death Sentence is 4 times her power, you use Deathblow and thats a MASSIVE chunk of damage. if she hits. Zell is flat out broken with Armageddon Fist. FF14's Monk is fun and fast paced, and now its even easier because you only have 2 positionals to worry about now, and feels like Sabin of FF6 with the new skills and rework.
I remember when i first learned in tactics that monks could restore MP and HP to five characters, remove almost all negative status effects (with the exception of the ones the specifically required chocobo esuna) and revive a unit and it was all without a charge time, not to mention monks were one of the few characters that could use the earth element. I didn't do so on my first play through, but on my second i made one of my go-to units, who was usually a white mage with arts of war and equip heavy armor into a White mage with martial arts and equip heavy armor.
With the Master monks If you give them the shield bearer passive you can give them two shields instead of a weapon and they still hit the hardest of the classes of their race.
FFXIV: It's worth noting that Masterful Blitz was a recent addition to Monks in this game. Their original playstyle revolved around stacking Greased Lightning (increased damage and attack speed) by executing combos, but that's been scrapped and turned into a passive attack speed boost now. Second Wind is a role action, meaning it's a skill that's available to EVERY job with the DPS role, not just Monks.
Sadly my personal least favorite job in Final Fantasy, but I definitely appreciate those who love Monks. Great video and thanks for educating this non-monk at how they have developed. 😎👍
I would say that Iris is the closest thing that FFXV has to the Monk. She fights mostly barehanded and has a few nice attacks in combination with all the party members, plus with her technique Eclipse she uses her kicks. So while she is not a Monk in the traditional sense, she could have been added to the list. From what I remember from Brave Exvius, there are a lot more original characters that were mentioned in the video that are linked to the main story or to side stories that are monks. However because it's a live service game and characters are being added at least once or twice every month or so, it's not easy to feature all of them. In any case you did a good job!
Aw, I'm not entirely shocked, but it's sad they don't even speak about her seemingly as alluding to it. Maybe because she was a guest? But by that logic, if they get to Samurai, they can't mention Cor either, but they probably will
@@ToHoldNothing Well, compared to Iris Cor is certainly closer to a Samurai than she is to a Monk even on a surface level (on appearance, weapons and role in the story) so it's a bit more evident. They still did a good job nontheless, they mentioned all the major characters in the series related to the job class
@@eccofabio She's also, to be fair, more minor in terms of the story, I watched the 4 Heroes theme video recently and Cor is important in how he reflects the last heroic party that precedes Noctis' group of 4. Iris is just Gladio's sister that has puppy love for Noctis and...not a lot else I recall in terms of any important developments
@@ToHoldNothing Yes, that's true. Cor also appears more frequently both as an NPC and as a Guest later on in the game. Iris after being in the party becomes mainly an NPC. But I agree with you that she could have been at least mentioned in the video
@@eccofabio I think it's the contrast of her being almost a cutesy little sister, but Gladio taught her to fight and that could've been focused on more. My fave female character in the game
Well, as far as the NES version of FF1, Masters were intended to get more Magic Defense, but due to I'm guessing a typo during coding, a bug has it inverted to where the base Monk has higher Magic Defense gain.
the idea of Zell getting his moves from magazines suggests he was a self-taught monk, just like how most students seemed to take up their own paths in weaponry.
Kind of ironic that Sabin _needed_ a high Magic stat far more than other monks, especially since he's one of the biggest meatheads in the franchise. But I believe it was only Aura Cannon, Rising Phoenix, Chakra, Razor Gale, and Phantom Rush that worked off his Magic stat. Raging Fist and Meteor Strike worked from his Strength stat. Also, you could _technically_ deal more on a single target with a combination of Genji Glove + Master's Scroll + two Godhands (one from Earth Dragon Redux in Dragon's Den, one from the Soul Shrine), but for consistent damage, Phantom Rush was your go-to, especially since it, like all Blitzes, dealt full damage regardless of row AND ignored Magic Defense.
Kinda surprised when talking about FFBE, Lila wasn't brought up, since she was a monk who's entire damage output was based on her SPR stat, and was the first time in the game where attacks based around MAG or SPR could utilize some stuff only physical attacks could take advantage of, such as physical killers and elemental imbues, since her attacks were SPR based physical attacks. I kinda felt like it kinda tied her to the spiritual nature of some monks.
I've had so much fun with Monks over the years. With Tifa in the original FF7, I gave her heaps of Luck and Strength, and absolutely no magic materia, just ones that upped her stats, speed, and gave her as many hits and counter hits possible. By the end I never even used her limit break, as it was obsolete next to Premium Heart 's limit based damage. All I had to do was get her limit gauge to about 3/4s, then put sad on her to prevent it from going any further. This gave all her attacks 9999 damage and because I had double-cut enhanced to four hits, paired with cover materia and counter attack, she could land up to 5 hits if done after a counter attack. After making her so fast, she was hitting nonstop and finished Sephiroth off in a matter of minutes singlehandedly. In Tactics, Ramza as a Monk could finish off the last boss in a single turn. In FF7 Remake, Tifa could use time magic to speed herself up, and poured on endless damage. God I love this class. Now if only a game came out with pure hack and slash plus 3rd person shooter physics. That would allow a true Monk to shine. FF7 Remake has loads of problems in that department because they couldn't decide whether or not they wanted to be a hack and slash or turn based. So the attacks Tifa delivered would often be interrupted mid combo by a guy who should have been getting his ass kicked. When you combo someone that hard, they can't just stand there unaffected and hit you back. They should be getting knocked around.
@@driftingswordsmanzer It's sad I never 1) did a Monk only FF1 playthrough and 2) have never done a 5E Monk when honestly I could've just played Tifa or Amarant or the like (I'd be peeved if they don't cover Amarant, given he's a rare hybrid)
@@ToHoldNothing it’s never too late to do it. It’s challenging but fun. As for Amarant, I love him definitely one of my favorites with his unique job hybrid as a moninja. He gets a lot of hate from many he comes late in game, his backstory is non existent, people did his trope better…(shadow, Vincent) BUT I cant help but like the guy. If I had my way I would have his story play out through the ATE(Active Time Events) playing up on his character card of arrogance. Where he was a student of a dojo master, learning from him beating everyone in the dojo, but feeling he was stronger and didn’t need anyone. So he leaves, his story playing out the same with his meeting of zidane, and he chasing and wanting to fight him. Over time he gets letters from his master worried about him, and we see ATE of amarant master’s lessons with amarant slowly understanding what he meant all of it to accumulate to where he goes back to the dojo and a optional boss battle occurs fighting the master with some trademark abilities from other ff monks like kick, brace, suplex, dolphin blow, final heaven…ect. The battle should be one on one This is where amarant should receive his final weapon. He learns humility and acceptance of his friends and the love of his master. I’m terribly sorry it’s long and understandable if you don’t want to read. Had to get that off my chest. 🙏🏾
@@driftingswordsmanzer I liked him as a teen, though yeah, realizing now how hollow he is does make it ring pretty sad in a way. Shadow is definitely a better version, Vincent got more exposition (and had lots of fans, probably comparable to Cloud and Sephiroth) His whole background of being a bounty hunter that we learn does leave it ripe for other possibilities. I must've forgotten that character card, though I only vaguely recall them, since I didn't usually let the title screen sit around long enough for those to come up
I've always found monks like "there don't know what they want" kind of class. The games always gives them plenty of weapons, but there are meant to always fight "naked" since there only at their strongest without them. Is like the Pokémon Samurott where there learn many physical moves but its better stat is actually Special Attack. But that's just me talking after playing FF3 and FF4, which as many know monks have far away now than where there started.
It took you 36 minutes and 45 seconds to say the words "glass cannon." I was waiting for you to say that specifically this entire video. Also, Wakka is the Monk of FF10. He attacks from a distance, yes, but he still hits like a Monk and has several special Monklike techniques.
![The Evolution of Superbosses [Part 1]](/img/n.gif)
If you've been holding off on pre-ordering our upcoming book, The Legacy of the Crystal, time is running out as we will be closing pre-orders within the week: legacyofthecrystal.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
I have always had a theory when I kid that Sabin from 6 was a tribute or a trope tp guile from street fighter. I was born in 85 and was raised on my grandfather's arcade til the late 90s. 1991 Street fighter dropped and guile had massive popularity and in ff6 seeing sabins hair and obvious American hero trope body type seemed like an obvious tribute on top of that his moves seemed Americanized to me. Suplex is American wrestling (wwf was mega popular) blitz Is a football and military term in the U.S.. I have no idea if this is true but it was always my theory since I was kid and felt that way living and being am aware gamer since I was young.
Got my signed copy on pre-order 2 months ago. Hype for it
for the next vid, can we see summoner?
I am from Brazil and I love your content. However, I tried to purchase the book, but I couldn't. How can I get it?
I'm loving this series! Monks always feel like an "old reliable" choice to me. They're definitely one of my favourite physical jobs throughout the series!
Yep,I remember in some FF games there usually the ones ending the battle,Since there HIGH attack can kill nearly any enemy in one hit.
EXCEPT in FF5 IT Sucks you do NOT want to master it since its COUNTER attack ability will make Endless Bahamut summons in the Mime/Free Lancer class worthless as soon as COUNTER attack triggers in those 2 jobs you will IMMEDIATELY mime the USELESS counter attack and NOT Bahamut/Gil Toss at all in FF5.
That's why in FF5 NEVER master monk at all since I used 4x Mime/Free lancer party members for the last bosses.
@@veghesther3204 I think the monk in FF5 is actually underrated lol. You get some great stats for your freelancer by mastering it. I had Galuf master monk and summoner and because of just those 2 he had almost maxed out every stat very early in the game, only missing some good agility. You're right, it's not the best in every situation, but I love the abilities and stats it comes with!
The Problem with Mastering Monk in FF5 is the same reason Counter Attack Purple Counter Blue Linked to Mime and HP absorb linked to KoTR against Emerald/Ruby weapon as soon as BOTH bosses hit that party member causing the the Physical hit of Counter attack to trigger they would end up using Mimic for the WORTHLESS physical hit and NOT Knights of the round against both.
So Mastering Monk in FF5 SUCKS for that same reason you'd end up having my 3x Mime users mime the useless counter attack hits in the Middle of Endless Bahamut summons/Gil toss users for the last bosses.,
I get what was meant by "the job has always been a bit more grounded", but i can't stop picturing Tifa suplexing Diamond Weapon
Monk is one of the coolest classes in the FF-series as a whole. No matter if it's in FFVII-Remake or in Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age, it's actually really good.
Penelo is a great monk
I love monks because I like the idea of characters fighting with nothing but their fists, also, Tifa, Sabin and Zell are some of my favorite character personality wise
hello fellow Zelle fan, it's sad people tend to dislike him but he's awesome
@@rexusthevaliant6311 well, I think is because the game presents him first as annoying, and he makes a huge mistake that compromises all the SeeD, but he becomes more likable later in the game, more responsible, and it's a good contrast to Squall's edginess, at least in my opinion
Yeah, Sabin the train slammer
*Sabin, suplexs a ghost train* Your move, your move universe…
In worlds full of world ending magic, swords made of aspects of gods, armor made from dragons, be the guy who rips his shirt off and punches the bad guy in the mouth.
I got to thinking, didn't Zell learn how to fight from his grandpa, who was a war hero, then got additional training while at Balamb Garden. Just a tid-bit. I love the content on this channel!
Yes!! And his grandfather was also his role model and reason for joining Garden.
I made Ashe a monk/black mage in my last 12 playthrough and she was unbelievably powerful. It was a fun combination!
Currently playing XII so ill make note of this 😅
I’m playing rn I made Ponelo a red mage/ monk
The one thing you missed from XIV is that the newest update to the monk brought in design elements from Savin and Tifa! Monks can now build a gauge where it aligns its Chakras based on what martial arts form a move is associated with. Building up 3 of the same form, 1 of each form, or two-and-one to align the light and dark chakras. Then spending them to do a powerful move like Blitz!
They are always behind or just leave off vast chunks when it comes to XIV section of these videos lol. It's obvious no one on the team that makes these videos actually plays it.
To be fair it is quite the time investment...
In FF7R, Tifa joined with the chakra materia initially equipped. It's reminiscent to the core of the monk job in FF history, they are damage dealer first, the support is optional.
Also, while she is on the frail side, her extreme movement speed, quick attacks that leave a lot of opportunities to dodge, special attacks that include jumps and backsteps and finally, quick and mobile dodging, she can very easily be turned into an evade tank by a careful player.
D&D was drawing from the series Kung Fu with David Carradine. Brian Blume (one of the guys who bought large shares of TSR early on) loved the show and was serious about implementing the class. So, it was based on Shaolin monks in pop culture.
It was the players who were confused and thought that the class was based on Franciscan Friars or other such Christian monks.
Honestly that was a pretty good show if I remember correctly, haven't watched it since I was a kid though. Interesting that's where the inspiration is from
Monk in XI also has really good skill with staves. It goes fairly unused, but it's a nice callback to the previous games that allowed such. I really like how they did Monk in XI, because its traits are really well-emphasized. Its high natural Vitality and HP make it durable enough to act as a secondary tank if necessary, and Counterstance enables it to be a really strong primary tank if the foe's damage output is mostly from basic attacks. Not to mention, Subtle Blow makes it a lot more healer-friendly than most jobs.
They did such a good job with it in XI.
"Tifa lacks the internal healing aspect of the job" despite the fact she starts with the Chakra materia, which is a goddamn lifesaver on hard mode
In many ways, Remake Tifa has become the new definition of monk for the FF series.
Snow was like a cool mix between Monk and Knight class being able to draw aggro and tank damage with defensive abilities. My favorite monk is Zell tho.
Monks are easily my favorite fantasy RPG class. Something awesome about being able to beat up monsters unarmed and unarmored through personal discipline and training. Plus the qi powers too. For Final Fantasy? I can easily say Tifa is my fave FF7 character, Sabin and Yang are too cool, and FFT's Monk is one of the best jobs... If you devote yourself to gaining JP for its abilities. Which fits the theme of a monk's training devotion perfectly.
And FF7MA Tifa is my spirit animal. :3
In FF7R, while it's technically not a skill innate to her, it's worth mentioning that Tifa does come pre-equipped with Chakra materia when she first joins your party, thus 'unlocking' the ability.
No stranger of Paradise nod? They did use Pugilist and Monk as character classes, with Ash even starting as a Pugilist.
I think everyone wants to forget it exists already
Monk is one of my faves!
The idea of fighting without weapons always seems badass to me 🔥
My FFXIV guild always looks forward to these job evolution videos. Our Monk was getting antsy, waiting for his video! Can't wait to see the next one!
Correction on Deep Meditation for Monk in Final Fantasy XIV. It doesn't increase critical damage like you said in the video. It actually opens a Chakra for your Chakra gauge if you land a critical hit and once all 5 are opened, all 5 can be spent to use either Forbidden Chakra for single target or Enlightenment for line AoE damage. Chakra can also be gained when using Brotherhood when any party members strike with a critical hit.
I can’t imagine the amount work that goes into one of these videos! As always, great stuff team FFU
I love how in the NES version of FF1, a monk at high level will always be the single most damaging force in the party, making you wonder why the hell you even chose a warrior
Easily my favourite job in these games, a monk/master has been a staple of my FF1 parties since I first started playing, and my FF14 character was primarily a pugilist/monk until Endwalker, where I switched to reaper (because scythes are an underrated weapon in video games damn it), there's just something overwhelmingly satisfying about punching God in the face to put them in their place
Ursula, Yang's daughter, is one of my favorite Monk character even though it was a sequel title rather then a mainline Final Fantasy with her red cheongsam dress
She's super fast, and strong, too. Very fun to use.
As a forner long time Monk main in the golden age of FFXI, I adored this interpretation of the job. Tanking in salvage was so much fun.
Warrior- I'm going to cut down thy enemy with this blade
Black mage- I will cast mighty magic to strike down enemy
White mage- I will use holy divine magic to purify our foes
Monk- I'm going to punch the monster really hard
Everyone looks at the monk in confusion.
monk: and oh, i'm also gonna suplex a train
Monk was always a favorite of mine. Especially when it also had support utility for the team.
Aerith being a geomancer? I always thought of her being the white mage/cleric of ff7
Whats a geomancer?
@@alexterieur8813 mage class that shows up in 5, tactics and a few other titles. They often have 0mp elemental attacks that depend on the terrain you are fighting in.
Shes def a white mage not sure what they are on about lol
Two things can be true at the same time. In gameplay, she's a definite White Mage (which FF Record Keeper supports) but from a lore perspective, she's extremely attuned to the Planet. She does not play as one though (Geomancers typically have a command which varies in effect based on their surroundings.).
Would like to adjust something about FFRK:
The allusion to monk(and all classes in that game) isn't just limited the main class representation. Different characters are able to use different levels of abilities based on what their class is, which means there are abilities solely limited to monk types like Yda and Tifa. It's not just limited to the soul break.
Like Iris from 15, which I found a bit sad she was relegated mostly to Healer when I remember her badass fighting scene in the game
@@ToHoldNothing Maybe she'll get Y'shtola treatment in the future and occupy both roles.
@@TsuikeNovaus Tried to get back into the game, but it was tiring just getting all the characters and grinding levels. I forget Yshtola's role, but I also barely used her, like most 11 and 14 characters
@@ToHoldNothing Y'Shtola is ff14's healer, but she also got amazing witch support and now can be either a damage dealer or healer. She's pretty useful for low investment for Magicite/Dark/Argent Odin. She's still stuck being the healer when you're doing ff14 fights though.
Sad to see you quit, I've been playing the game since launch year and it's the only gacha game I've played for so long.
@@TsuikeNovaus Yeah, I think I'm thinking of Yda or another Monk hybrid somewhere
I tried playing it when it was still pretty new back in 2016~, but the same thing dragged my interest down, so many missions and such, it's enough for me to dedicate time for 2 mobile games as it is.
It's not really gacha, there's plenty like that and I quit those much quicker. Onmyoji, at least 1 or 2 others. Though I am guilty of keeping at it with Dragon Quest Tact
This class has all my favs, Sabin, Tifa, even Zell
Monk has always been one of my faves since they fight with their hands gotta love a good beatdown
I actually figured out how to get use out of Tifa's Premium Heart, I gave Her Counterattack and deathblow so she could attack normally and frequently without needing to do limit. Curiously Deathblow never missed at that point in the game...
Stll, no 4x attack is sad :(
Monk + Black Mage from FF XII (esp. on Ash) is one of my favorite combo of classes in FF.
My favorite iterations are 11 and Remake, by far.
11 because well it's 11 (happy 20th!) and that game just has bar none the most comprehensive iteration of the job system the series has ever seen.
But with Remake they really went out of their way to make Tifa play like a true combo fighter and especially on the PS5 version with the 60 frames per second it is a BLAST to use her.
She just does so much damage and played correctly will almost never take a hit.
Monks. Masters of martial arts and close combat skills. Throughout generations, they have been using their skills to protect people from threats and invaders.
It would be cool someday to see Tifa Lockhart from FF7R use Nunchucks or swing Cloud’s giant Buster Sword
The monk is by far my favorite class in any fantasy media and that holds true into final fantasy as well. Great video!!!🙏🏾👊🏾
Interesting enough that you mention that the FF Monk draws inspiration as a high Vit, High Atk DPS from the DnD monk which orginated as a jack of all trades gish cleric subclass and is NOW more of a hit and run support utitily class in DnD 5e
I can't wait for evolutions of scholar and summoner. They're so damn cool.
As far as I remember, Amarants unique Trance command was called Monk or something like that. Pretty straightforward.
I would also point out that Selphie used nunchaku as weapon and had access to some unique White magic.
Overall this is a great video, thank you!
Monk is my Jam. My main class in FF 11 also! Monk/ninja was unbeatable ❤️
Prishe should have been mentioned here for standout monks from FFXI, especially since she is a main character for Chains of Promathia. Otherwise, this was fine.
Thank you for the deep dive into one of my favorite classes. Sabin and Zell are my favorite monks. I love the input approach to their attacks. Thank you very much for the hard work you put into this video.
You're most welcome Colin!
I have always had a theory when I kid that Sabin from 6 was a tribute or a trope tp guile from street fighter. I was born in 85 and was raised on my grandfather's arcade til the late 90s. 1991 Street fighter dropped and guile had massive popularity and in ff6 seeing sabins hair and obvious American hero trope body type seemed like an obvious tribute on top of that his moves seemed Americanized to me. Suplex is American wrestling (wwf was mega popular) blitz Is a football and military term in the U.S.. I have no idea if this is true but it was always my theory since I was kid and felt that way living and being am aware gamer since I was young.
How often do l make jokes about chemistry? Periodically.
Finally my favorite job. Thanks for doing the gods work
Remember that time when a Monk was getting railed in front of the Italian Senate?
Thank you for including the Train Body Slam from FF6. Makes me smile every time.
Edit: Can I just add, my girlfriend plays games as much as me, but she hasn't played any FF games. However, she gets a kick out of seeing a frog fight a house in Remake.
I love these videos so much. Zell my favorite character so it’s cool hearing about him again.
I don't like playing monk (or really any melee) in FFXIV but in traditional FF games monk is one of the most fun! And especially in ff7remake, Tifa is the most fun to play FF character ever IMO
MNK is super fun in XIV. rising Phoenix, we get a hamehameha, we get a hadoken, hurricane kick, spinning bird kick and star shower. MNK is my fave melee job next to RPR. it's fast and awesome.
@@JBNagis I don't enjoy the positional meta that most melee have to play around.
Thank you, I've been asking for a long time for a video on my favorite class.
Amazing as always. Would love to see a "history of" for an 11 or 14 character. Always been curious about iroha
I do like your eloquent and sophisticated Final Fantasy Franchise videos and every to do with Square Enix Final Fantasy videos even for there 35th Anniversary this year. I do have to mention that you didn’t mention Final Fantasy X-2 & Final Fantasy XIII-2 battle roles !!!
FFX-2 does have the Berserker Dressphere that would count for this, though it does kind of combine one job into another. Berserker is featured as its own job in a lot of other FFs.
Monk was my favourite job for tactics. Tended to run one through ninja for two swords support and did double punchs
Snow is a weird one as he fights with his fists but the paradigm system sort of fits over the top of the traditional class system. Like no matter what paradigm they use they're still using the same weapons, even if their role changes.
kinda surprised there was nothing from Stranger of Paradise, but heck, great video nonetheless, it's always a lot of fun watching how these classes evolve from the NES era of concepts
so glad you picked the proper location for footage to use when talking about sabin's suplex XD
Ah yes Monks my most favorite class, there is no greater weapon than the body itself! It's interesting to see how the monks have changed with every Final Fantasy game. Though honestly I want a game where Monk is the focus of the story and no I don't mean like in FF14 where there's a job quest but a story where you learn what it is to be monk acquire new skills from master monks and become a legendary monk!
Monk in 11 also gets access to clubs and staves. They can, depending on Abyssea or Voidwatch, cover most red and blue blunt damage type triggers.
I never cared for monk as a job class in any of the FF games except for one. FF Tactics. I always made Ramza into monk and mastered it. Then would branch to knight. Then put him back as monk but equip armor and boy was he unstoppable. I remember going into one fight that my brother couldn't beat and the enemy went first. Every one of them walked up to him and when they attacked he would strike first and out right kill them. I finished that fight when it started lol. The best ever.
eight , yang , sabin, tifa, zell,amarant,riku are the best monk job character in FF series also in dissidia
The Tifa fight church fight scene in Advent Children is to this day one of my favourite fight scenes in movies.
I love how many skills Monks have. They’re fighters, but also healers.
I use the Dragon Claws myself on Sabin, specifically in the GBA game where you can get to of them and shred!
An amusing build with the A2 Master Monk. As mentioned, poles usually have a lower attack than bare handed. In fact, even the best ones have a low attack increase. One build involved giving him the Shield bearer support ability, then equipping two of the best shields. Along with other gear, he can reach 60%+ evasion. That tankiness is more valuable than the attack as he had really good growths anyway.
Tifa is an absolute BEAST in Speedruns with her Powersoul weapon, low HP and Death Sentence is 4 times her power, you use Deathblow and thats a MASSIVE chunk of damage. if she hits.
Zell is flat out broken with Armageddon Fist.
FF14's Monk is fun and fast paced, and now its even easier because you only have 2 positionals to worry about now, and feels like Sabin of FF6 with the new skills and rework.
X8. Death Sentence alone is x4, while critical is another x2.
@@superbaas8822 oh shit, i didn’t know the calculations worked like that
so adding the low hp adds how much to it?
@@TheAuron32 Doubles it. They are multiplicative, so you end up with x8 damage in total.
@@superbaas8822 jesus no wonder people risk the luck with Deathblow, that’s more powerful than i thought 😆
15:15 love to see that I'm not the only one who discovered that Ramza makes a kickass Monk.
I remember when i first learned in tactics that monks could restore MP and HP to five characters, remove almost all negative status effects (with the exception of the ones the specifically required chocobo esuna) and revive a unit and it was all without a charge time, not to mention monks were one of the few characters that could use the earth element. I didn't do so on my first play through, but on my second i made one of my go-to units, who was usually a white mage with arts of war and equip heavy armor into a White mage with martial arts and equip heavy armor.
With the Master monks If you give them the shield bearer passive you can give them two shields instead of a weapon and they still hit the hardest of the classes of their race.
FFXIV: It's worth noting that Masterful Blitz was a recent addition to Monks in this game. Their original playstyle revolved around stacking Greased Lightning (increased damage and attack speed) by executing combos, but that's been scrapped and turned into a passive attack speed boost now. Second Wind is a role action, meaning it's a skill that's available to EVERY job with the DPS role, not just Monks.
Also don't forget that Tifa has those big, massive, famous hands.
Sadly my personal least favorite job in Final Fantasy, but I definitely appreciate those who love Monks. Great video and thanks for educating this non-monk at how they have developed. 😎👍
Thanks for reminding me how much I love 'the salt flats' 😁
First time hearing it in years
In Tactics, once I got the monk job class, I didn’t care to try any other job. Maybe one of these days, I’ll go back and explore the other classes. 😅
Super excited! Thanks for your lovely work!
I would say that Iris is the closest thing that FFXV has to the Monk. She fights mostly barehanded and has a few nice attacks in combination with all the party members, plus with her technique Eclipse she uses her kicks. So while she is not a Monk in the traditional sense, she could have been added to the list.
From what I remember from Brave Exvius, there are a lot more original characters that were mentioned in the video that are linked to the main story or to side stories that are monks. However because it's a live service game and characters are being added at least once or twice every month or so, it's not easy to feature all of them. In any case you did a good job!
Aw, I'm not entirely shocked, but it's sad they don't even speak about her seemingly as alluding to it. Maybe because she was a guest? But by that logic, if they get to Samurai, they can't mention Cor either, but they probably will
@@ToHoldNothing Well, compared to Iris Cor is certainly closer to a Samurai than she is to a Monk even on a surface level (on appearance, weapons and role in the story) so it's a bit more evident. They still did a good job nontheless, they mentioned all the major characters in the series related to the job class
@@eccofabio She's also, to be fair, more minor in terms of the story, I watched the 4 Heroes theme video recently and Cor is important in how he reflects the last heroic party that precedes Noctis' group of 4. Iris is just Gladio's sister that has puppy love for Noctis and...not a lot else I recall in terms of any important developments
@@ToHoldNothing Yes, that's true. Cor also appears more frequently both as an NPC and as a Guest later on in the game. Iris after being in the party becomes mainly an NPC. But I agree with you that she could have been at least mentioned in the video
@@eccofabio I think it's the contrast of her being almost a cutesy little sister, but Gladio taught her to fight and that could've been focused on more. My fave female character in the game
Well, as far as the NES version of FF1, Masters were intended to get more Magic Defense, but due to I'm guessing a typo during coding, a bug has it inverted to where the base Monk has higher Magic Defense gain.
The clip you used when it was Rikku’s turn, though…😌
You know what's mad, is that right up until i saw your thumbnail I never made the connection that Tifa is basically a Monk.
the idea of Zell getting his moves from magazines suggests he was a self-taught monk, just like how most students seemed to take up their own paths in weaponry.
I recall giving the Monk/Black Mage Jobs to Penelo in Zodiac Age...what a beast she became!!!
Kind of ironic that Sabin _needed_ a high Magic stat far more than other monks, especially since he's one of the biggest meatheads in the franchise. But I believe it was only Aura Cannon, Rising Phoenix, Chakra, Razor Gale, and Phantom Rush that worked off his Magic stat. Raging Fist and Meteor Strike worked from his Strength stat. Also, you could _technically_ deal more on a single target with a combination of Genji Glove + Master's Scroll + two Godhands (one from Earth Dragon Redux in Dragon's Den, one from the Soul Shrine), but for consistent damage, Phantom Rush was your go-to, especially since it, like all Blitzes, dealt full damage regardless of row AND ignored Magic Defense.
Kinda surprised when talking about FFBE, Lila wasn't brought up, since she was a monk who's entire damage output was based on her SPR stat, and was the first time in the game where attacks based around MAG or SPR could utilize some stuff only physical attacks could take advantage of, such as physical killers and elemental imbues, since her attacks were SPR based physical attacks.
I kinda felt like it kinda tied her to the spiritual nature of some monks.
What perfect timing. I just starting to level up Monk in 14!
Haven't been on in awhile. But they definitely changed it...
"God Hand, whose ultimate abilty is Tornado Kick" makes me giggle more than it should.
I've had so much fun with Monks over the years. With Tifa in the original FF7, I gave her heaps of Luck and Strength, and absolutely no magic materia, just ones that upped her stats, speed, and gave her as many hits and counter hits possible. By the end I never even used her limit break, as it was obsolete next to Premium Heart 's limit based damage. All I had to do was get her limit gauge to about 3/4s, then put sad on her to prevent it from going any further. This gave all her attacks 9999 damage and because I had double-cut enhanced to four hits, paired with cover materia and counter attack, she could land up to 5 hits if done after a counter attack. After making her so fast, she was hitting nonstop and finished Sephiroth off in a matter of minutes singlehandedly.
In Tactics, Ramza as a Monk could finish off the last boss in a single turn.
In FF7 Remake, Tifa could use time magic to speed herself up, and poured on endless damage. God I love this class. Now if only a game came out with pure hack and slash plus 3rd person shooter physics. That would allow a true Monk to shine. FF7 Remake has loads of problems in that department because they couldn't decide whether or not they wanted to be a hack and slash or turn based. So the attacks Tifa delivered would often be interrupted mid combo by a guy who should have been getting his ass kicked. When you combo someone that hard, they can't just stand there unaffected and hit you back. They should be getting knocked around.
My main job (Class) and my favorite franchise ♡
Who knows what Part II will bring for Tifa's Monk kit. I suspect we'll see more of her og Limit Break skills tho.
Monk, for when you must punch your problems in the face.
Every year i always go back and play this game during Christmas season
F*ck yeah, Monks! And not the robed kind. During my birthday month too, added treat!
It’s my birthday month too and I love monks just the same. 👊🏾🙏🏾
@@driftingswordsmanzer It's sad I never 1) did a Monk only FF1 playthrough and 2) have never done a 5E Monk when honestly I could've just played Tifa or Amarant or the like (I'd be peeved if they don't cover Amarant, given he's a rare hybrid)
@@ToHoldNothing it’s never too late to do it. It’s challenging but fun. As for Amarant, I love him definitely one of my favorites with his unique job hybrid as a moninja. He gets a lot of hate from many he comes late in game, his backstory is non existent, people did his trope better…(shadow, Vincent) BUT I cant help but like the guy. If I had my way I would have his story play out through the ATE(Active Time Events) playing up on his character card of arrogance. Where he was a student of a dojo master, learning from him beating everyone in the dojo, but feeling he was stronger and didn’t need anyone. So he leaves,
his story playing out the same with his meeting of zidane, and he chasing and wanting to fight him. Over time he gets letters from his master worried about him, and we see ATE of amarant master’s lessons with amarant slowly understanding what he meant all of it to accumulate to where he goes back to the dojo and a optional boss battle occurs fighting the master with some trademark abilities from other ff monks like kick, brace, suplex, dolphin blow, final heaven…ect. The battle should be one on one This is where amarant should receive his final weapon. He learns humility and acceptance of his friends and the love of his master. I’m terribly sorry it’s long and understandable if you don’t want to read. Had to get that off my chest. 🙏🏾
@@driftingswordsmanzer I liked him as a teen, though yeah, realizing now how hollow he is does make it ring pretty sad in a way. Shadow is definitely a better version, Vincent got more exposition (and had lots of fans, probably comparable to Cloud and Sephiroth)
His whole background of being a bounty hunter that we learn does leave it ripe for other possibilities.
I must've forgotten that character card, though I only vaguely recall them, since I didn't usually let the title screen sit around long enough for those to come up
Awesome video. Love the monk class in media (usually haha)
How nice of you to show the two best nations in judo, France and Japan.
I've always found monks like "there don't know what they want" kind of class. The games always gives them plenty of weapons, but there are meant to always fight "naked" since there only at their strongest without them.
Is like the Pokémon Samurott where there learn many physical moves but its better stat is actually Special Attack.
But that's just me talking after playing FF3 and FF4, which as many know monks have far away now than where there started.
Surprise no mention of Tifa from the Dissidia series, but great video none the less!
I'm not sure why but no other game's class system is as interesting to me as the old school ff job system.
Ninja is my favorite class with dragoon being a close second but I love them all!
I am totally wrecking my way through Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions with 1 monk, 1 time mage, an orator and a knight.
Tifa is perfection. No improvements can be made.
It took you 36 minutes and 45 seconds to say the words "glass cannon." I was waiting for you to say that specifically this entire video.
Also, Wakka is the Monk of FF10. He attacks from a distance, yes, but he still hits like a Monk and has several special Monklike techniques.
9:58 - so we're not gonna talk about how the primary function of Counter is for messing up otherwise perfectly good Mimic chains