Summary
One of the most exciting aspects of many RPGs is the way battles develop, requiring players to customize strategies that fit their preferred style. That’s why many games in the genre boast incredible class systems, allowing players to personalize characters in various ways, adapting each party member to fulfill a different role.
The best class systems in RPGs are those that offer players a wide variety of options when building their characters, ensuring flexibility and balance for the challenges ahead. This freedom is also crucial for creating unique strategies, enhancing gameplay depth and allowing each player’s party to be truly one-of-a-kind.
While maintaining the same mechanics and philosophy as Atlus’Personaseries,Metaphor: ReFantazioalso takes the opportunity to change quite a few things. For instance, it’s now possible to have more freedom in customizing the story’s companions, allowing each to be assigned a new class.
This is achievedthrough the Archetypes mechanic, which partly functions like summons but grants new attributes and abilities to each of the available party characters. Players can thus create different builds and compositions throughout the dungeons ofMetaphor: ReFantazio, enabling them to experiment with various ways to face the game’s enemies.
Dragon Age: Originsis widely recognized as one ofthe RPGs with the best class systems, offering three main options for the protagonist, each with diverse and unique specializations that adapt to different gameplay styles. This depth allows players to meticulously customize their characters, catering to both newcomers and veterans of the genre, ensuring an engaging experience at every moment.
Moreover, choosing a class that matches each player’s style is important because combat inDragon Age: Originscombines real-time systems with pauses. While attacks occur, players need to understand what their character can or cannot do to determine the best moment to pause. The options are also intriguing, each offering unique mechanics that help differentiate each of the characters.
One of the most remarkable aspects of many games in theDragon Questfranchise is the depth of their class systems, andDragon Quest 3presents one of the best examples of this. The game allows you to recruit companions and choose from various classes for each, such as Warrior, Mage, and Priest, adapting theteam for different strategies and challenges.
One of the most remarkable aspects of many games in this franchise is the depth of their class systems, andDragon Quest 3presents the best example of this. The game allows you to recruit companions and choose from various classes for each, such as Warrior, Mage, and Priest, adapting the team for different strategies and challenges.
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealthretains the irreverent spirit of theYakuzaseries,presenting a class system that satirizes the RPG genre. Inspired by real-world professions, the jobs range from musicians to security guards, offering creative and absurd abilities. This unique approach blends humor and strategy, enriching the gameplay with comedic and effective options.
By adapting everyday jobs into an RPG context, the game transforms party customization into an experience that is, at the very least, entertaining. Each class brings abilities that borrow common skills from various different RPGs but adapts them to a modern context, making the animations and mechanics amusing. In this way, the mix of satire and mechanics gives the title incredible charm.
A direct sequel to the first game,Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfiretakes players ona story that strays a bit from the typical high medieval fantasy setting, introducing pirates and naval battles. However, one of the game’s strong points remains its robust class system.
Here, players have access to class options that many are already familiar with, such as fighters, rogues, or wizards, but it’s the subclasses within each category that makePillars of Eternity 2so unique. Players have at least four options in each one (with some having even more), and combined with the game’s progression, this always allows for creating different characters in each new run.
Having a well-crafted class system has always been a tradition inFire Emblemgames, andThree Housesseized the opportunity to try something new. Thus, the various characters that can be recruited for the team can be equipped with any possible class option, something that wasn’t so common in the series until then.
However, characters still havegreater affinity for certain classes, meaning the effort required for some combinations is higher, and some options are exclusive to certain genders. At the same time, the possibilities for party compositions transform the game, allowing for various ways to adapt to future combat encounters.
Dragon’s Dogmastands outfor its highly flexible class system, offering nine distinct vocations, both basic and advanced, that players can choose and switch between at any time. This diversity allows for the creation of personalized strategies, adapting to different playstyles and challenges, ensuring a unique and engaging experience in every battle.
Furthermore, the integration of vocations with Pawns — AI-controlled allies — expands the possibilities during battles even more. Players can combine different classes for themselves and their companions, promoting synergy that encourages experimentation to see what works and what doesn’t, making this system a shining example of RPGs with excellent class systems.
One achievement of Owlcat Games withPathfinder: Wrath of The Righteouswas creating one of the best character class systems among isometric RPGs, mainly by allowing level progression up to level 20. This grants players access to incredibly powerful spells and other abilities.
Customization is another strong point of the game, as almost every level gained requires players to choose something or learn a new skill. Thus, while characters participate in a war against hordes of demons, there’s always something new to use, keeping the gameplay fresh at all times.
Dungeons & Dragonsis a major reference among TTRPGs, allowing players to create different characters with various classes and races.Baldur’s Gate 3, which is a direct video game adaptation of this system (5th edition, specifically), also implements the mechanics in an amazing way. Players have great freedom when customizing the protagonist, being able to choose from various options to shape the character freely.
Fortunately,this freedom also extends to the companions. Although they have classes already defined by lore, players can ignore this and make changes to adapt the companions to the party composition. This greatly increases the possibilities, as customization is no longer limited to just the protagonist, allowing players to use their full creativity to create their idealD&Dparty.
Final Fantasyis one of the franchises known for applying job systems in its games, withFinal Fantasy Tacticsbeing the one that best executed this idea. Here, there is a certain progression between the game’s different classes, where achieving levels in one unlocks the possibility for the character to access a new one.
Moreover, abilities can be inherited between classes, allowing fans to customize builds in various ways. Thanks to this well-executed mechanic, it’s possible to have incredibly powerful characters by the end of the game. All these well-implemented elements makeFinal Fantasy Tacticsthe most incredible class systems ever produced.
