Games - Chemist

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The Chemist is a character class (or job) found in Square Enix's Final Fantasy
series. It is sometimes referred to as the Alchemist class, especially in more recent titles such as Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

Highly proficient in the use of items, Chemists are generally rather weak attackers with below-average defense; as such, they function best as support units, using special abilities such as "Mix" to cure party members and relieve status ailments. When using the Mix command, Chemists combine two items from the player's inventory to produce a certain effect, be it an elementally-based attack on the enemy party or powerful restorative magic designed to help allies. While many of the Chemist's Mix formulas can be easily predicted (e.g., mixing two potions will produce a more effective potion; mixing two grenades will create a stronger explosion), a decent quantity of formulas must be discovered through trial and error and innovative combination of materials. Likewise, despite the fact that several Chemist mixtures produce effects similar to those of purchasable items, other classes' skills, or magic spells, there are some extremely powerful attacks that can only be performed by means of alchemy. This feature encourages players to seek out new items and experiment with them in battle.

Series History

Final Fantasy V introduced the Chemist as an available character class. Chemists in this title wield knives and staves and are rather ineffective fighters. Noteworthy Chemist abilities include an increased potency with items, the power to combine materials (Mix), and the ability to "drink" special potions in combat. This creates one of the more noteable bugs in the game, a mix combo of madins kiss and holy water will cast multiple stats effects ranging from berserk to haste because the game adds them all at once, forgetting to check and apply immunity to berserk, because outside effects (such as in-battle speech and Gilgamesh getting x-zoned away) are treated as actions by the enemy and will cause them to be skipped. Since berserk forces use of the "fight" command, this enables the player to: defeat Gilgamesh before he falls, prevent Exdeath from transforming (beware that some versions will freeze upon his first form's defeat this way, and others will skip to the cut screen).

In Final Fantasy Tactics, the Chemist is the default job class for magically-inclined characters and forms the basis for jobs such as Wizard and Priest. Chemists have the power to toss items across the battlefield and provide invaluable support early on in the game. They remain relatively weak attackers, but do have the ability to equip powerful guns. Chemists in this title do not possess the trademark Mix command.

The character of Rikku in Final Fantasy X has skills resembling those of a Chemist, as her Overdrive, Mix, is essentially a more in-depth version of the Final Fantasy V item combination system.

Final Fantasy X-2 includes an Alchemist "dressphere" (character class) combining many of the classic Chemist traits. The Alchemist in this title uses the Mix command to create a wide variety of effects in battle, but also wields a firearm capable of damaging enemy units. An interesting addition to this class is the "Stash" command, which allows the Alchemist to use items not currently in the player's inventory; this ability makes the Alchemist one of the preferred characters during late stages of the adventure.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance also boasts the Alchemist class; however, Alchemists in this game wield powerful attack magic and the class is limited to the Nu Mou race. They also have the "Item"-command by default, so the class has basically one extra command to use.

Despite the lack of Chemist-type characters in other "Final Fantasy" titles, many of the Chemist's traits appear throughout the series. Final Fantasy VII features a "W-Item" materia allowing for the use of multiple items in one turn, Final Fantasy VIII allows players to refine various spells and materials from items, and Final Fantasy IX includes several Chemist-derived character support abilities. Final Fantasy XI features an alchemy guild through which a player can create items.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Chemist (character class) ]

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