Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles reigns supreme. While I'm bummed about the lack of content exclusive to the 2007 PSP iteration of this originally PS1 all-timer, fans have already taken it up to an impressive extent for the latest remake's PC version by adding The War of the Lions' Job Classes.
The hard-working FFT modding community is at it again, turning protagonist Ramza Beoulve's own custom class into something much more compelling.
The noble mercenary heretic
There's something to be said for Final Fantasy Tactics' conventional approach to Ramza's job class. He is nothing more than a squire as he abandons the chivalrous Order of the Southern Sky in pursuit of his own brave path forward, so it stands to reason that he would retain the most generic of generic job titles with the class of 'Squire'. All the way through the fourth and final chapter – though to be fair Chapter 4 is 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. Honestly though, the lack of spiffy swordsmanship really sets him back, and keeping the Squire class ability pool with only a handful of Beoulve level 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 modified to change this state; Ivalice Chronicles now has its first challenger.
“This mod gives Ramza's squire class unique job titles throughout the game. Also, when he becomes a heretic, Ramza will also gain access to Gaffgarion's trap sword abilities.” -Serbagz
Modder Serbagz added this “Heretic Ramza” tweak to Nexus Mods earlier this month, and its last update was on November 17th. They note that it was “really just a little mod I made myself for my TIC playthroughs”, but there are “many different versions” in case people find the standard version of Heretic Ramza too simplistic.
In its basic form, the mod does the following:
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In Chapter 1, Ramza's Squire class is renamed Noble.
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In Chapters 2 and 3, the Squire class is renamed Mercenary.
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Finally, for Chapter 4, it is renamed Heretic, and Ramza gains the Fell Knight's Shadowblade and Duskblade techniques.
There are three options:
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Heretic Ramza – Ark Knight Edition changes things so that Ramza gets Zalbaag's Ark Knight abilities instead.
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Heretic Ramza – Dark Knight Edition gives him the full set of Dark Knight sword skills and requires the aforementioned Dark Night and Onion Knight mods.
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Heretic Ramza – Sword Saint Edition is the ultimate winner, as it provides “an expanded version of Orlandeau's Swordplay.” So simply put, it gives Ramza everything Orlandeau had, which is… every sword skill, plus the princess/priest abilities.
All versions of the Heretic mod increase the power of Ramza's Ultima attack, which is pretty damn appreciated. Keep in mind that Sword Saint Edition unfortunately has some technical issues at the moment, but hopefully they will be fixed in good time.
