Games

JRPGs With Dynamic Job Switching Systems

Published

1 minute ago

November 21, 2024

Christoph Rediske

Key Takeaways

Final Fantasy 14 offers a streamlined class-changing system with individual XP tracking for a rewarding experience.
Disgaea 1 utilizes unique class-building mechanics that retain stats when switching classes for increased power.
Octopath Traveler 2 introduces subclasses for unique party member customization, prioritizing job-subjob synergy.

A JRPG is defined by its party mechanics. Whether players are looking to get into a title for its story or even just for its sheer difficulty, what defines good gameplay in most JRPGs is how the player can compose or utilize a party of characters with disparate skills, bringing them together in a way that makes the party the player’s own. This can be done in various ways, from personable and individual characters in a party to more generic but highly customizable party members.

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But as time passes, the more modern JRPG titles are constantly looking for ways to innovate and advance the field of party composition. That makes it sound a little clinical but put simply, more games are asking how to keep party-making interesting, and more games are coming to the conclusion that a more fluid and dynamic job system is the way to do it. These JRPGs have dynamic job-switching mechanics that let players experiment with a variety of builds.

1 Final Fantasy 14

Switching Classes Is Streamlined And Rewarding

Systems

Final Fantasy 14 has a system for class changing that lets players experiment with builds – but individually tracked XP among classes means that they never lose progress when changing over to an unfamiliar class.

The system for swapping classes over and experiencing a new side to one’s character is relatively streamlined and indicative of the place FF14 wants to occupy in the MMO scene of being a more welcoming title for beginners. Simply reaching a certain level in each class is enough to let players swap to a new one – with all their experience and skills intact.

2 Disgaea 1

A Class Swapping System That Utilizes The Game’s Strengths

Systems

Developer(s): Nippon Ichi Software

Famed for being the amazing first entry in a series that lets players become incredibly overpowered, Disgaea 1 has some incredibly interesting and unique class-building mechanics that work in tandem with its core philosophy of getting stats as high as they’ll go.

Players get a certain level of proficiency with their equipped class and, when they choose to start at level 1 with a new one, they’ll keep a certain percentage of their stats based on how proficient they were with the first class, helping players reach higher and higher levels of power as they shift through classes.

3 Octopath Traveler 2

Subclasses Provide Unique Customization

Released: February 24, 2023

Octopath Traveler 2 has an incredibly unique way of providing job-switching opportunities to characters whose identities are very much ingrained in one of the eight major classes available for play. Subclasses let players change up the secondary characteristics of each party member on the fly.

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Each character uniquely synergizes with a certain sub-job, but depending on what build the player is looking for each character to fill, certain sub-jobs will be prioritized over others. Finding the perfect combination of job and sub-job is part of what makes this game so special.

4 Bravely Default 2

Changing Jobs Is An Integral Part Of The Game

Systems

Released: February 26, 2021
Developer: Claytechworks

There is an incredibly interesting mechanic at play with the jobs in Bravely Default 2 that gives players the chance to customize and change up their characters well beyond the constraints of any single class and its skills.

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As jobs track their experience individually, sticking with a job for a while after gaining its asterisk lets players see more of what it has to offer and unlock more of its skills – but changing jobs frequently means players will have a better understanding of their ideal role for each of the protagonists to fill.

5 Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake

A Classic JRPG With Interesting Class Mechanics

Released: November 14, 2024

The newly released Dragon Quest 3 remake has brought with it all the classic Dragon Quest jobs plus one – and rewards players who can balance dedicating time to a job with changing it up every now and then.

Players can utilize the skills or spells learned in one job when swapping over to another, granting steadily increasing utility over time that goes an incredibly long way in personalizing each party member. The unique sage job perhaps represents the pinnacle of this dynamic job-switching experience, only available as a reward for characters that have met certain requirements.

6 Harvestella

Swap Between Jobs Quickly And Easily

Systems

Released: November 4, 2022
Developer(s): Live Wire

This often overlooked farming simulator from Square Enix has an emphasis on combat that can make it quite difficult at times, but one of the most rewarding things about it is how it functions alongside its job system.

Players can swap between a handful of the overall jobs they’ve learned at any time, using the skills from each job instantly after switching. Swapping jobs does have a cool down, so it becomes a very tactical experience of knowing precisely when to swap to cover a new elemental weakness or resistance in an enemy.

7 Labyrinth Of Refrain: Coven Of Dusk

A Unique Dungeon Crawler JRPG

Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS Vita, Switch
Released: June 23, 2016
Developer(s): Nippon Ichi Software
Genre(s): JRPG, Strategy

This glitzy, often chaotic dungeon crawler JRPG has an incredibly unique take on party mechanics. Instead of building a party of simple, generic adventurers, the party has a more unique label as a group of puppets, under the control of the witchy protagonist and her descent into darker and darker dungeons.

The job switching in this game rewards hard work and risk-taking in equal measure. Changing classes puts puppets back to level 1, but if they’ve gained enough experience in their original class, they’ll take some skills with them to this new job.

8 Dragon’s Dogma 2

Swapping Vocations Is A Core Feature

Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t have much permanency when it comes to its jobs, purely because players will often be swapping out half of their party for newer, stronger pawns. These pawns might have the same jobs now and then, but often players will experience entirely new vocation synergies based on the roles of their new secondary pawns.

Players can upgrade, hybridize, or swap out their vocation for any of the starting ones or newer ones as they become unlocked, but carrying over passives from older jobs to new ones makes for an incredibly intricate and dynamic class-swapping experience.