FUCKING RESPOND TO MY THREAD AND ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT VIDEOGAMES FOR ONCE IN YOUR GODDAMN LIVES

I condemn your thread to the Anon Babbleleakest depths

what the hell is wrong with you retards? how are you THIS antsy about somebody asking to give an indepth perspective on a game they like or know? wtf??? just talk about fucking videogames, it cannot be that fucking hard. youre telling me to go play videogames, while im asking for ones specifically to play, stupid.

Bravely Default (not FF, but VERY FF adjacent) might be worth checking out.

Actually talk about video games

Nice

E33 thread 473859

Pass

Kill yourself essayfag

is this really it? the one? the only one, got recommended that one last time i tried this too, dont really know what to expect, all im familar with about it, is that its sort of chibi? guess i can check it out

If you can’t decide what to play on your own you aren’t worth the time

Why does this op get uniquely angry replies this feels like a fairly harmless thread

But more so with realizing the potential of synergistic systems to solve problems presented by encounters, through building and preparing items acquired and facilitate advantages (first strike) at an INCREDIBLY basic level I think this is what expedition 33 fulfills.

Play etrian odyssey. Or siralim if you want true team building autism

Anon Babble has historically hated spoon-feeding and this is no different.

idk, have you tried 7th Stand User?
Some of those battles have interesting solutions depending on your stand

is there a Final Fantasy game who's combat is centered around solving problems with synergies, and understanding of underlying systems

I'd tell you to play Final Fantasy Brave Exvius if it wasn't EoS'd a while ago

But is there a Final Fantasy game who's combat is centered around solving problems with synergies, and understanding of underlying systems? And if so, which one?

I enjoyed playing FF10 as efficiently as I could. Making the most of every turn, utilizing all characters to their fullest, preventing incoming damage, manipulating the turn order, that sort of thing.

My pet peeve in FF and RPGs is the fucking "heal up after every fight" routine, and in FFX I can often minimize it.

You'll never find a game that will satisfy you like E33. It's the BBC of vidya.

French game shill

Muh BBC

Checks out

Final Fantasy 10 is what you are looking for OP.
Fuck all these other faggots in this thread

I enjoyed playing FF10 as efficiently as I could. Making the most of every turn, utilizing all characters to their fullest, preventing incoming damage, manipulating the turn order, that sort of thing.

youre fucking retarded. ff10 is the diametric opposite of what i was talking about. you dont solve problems in ff10, you find solutions, it probably sounds similar to your retarded ass, but its not.
dont even get me started on how dogshit the sphere grid system as and how fucking long it takes to actually get anything useful, and besides that how poorly they synergize not just with other characters but even with themselves. i see games like ff10 and understand why e33 is so overrated, if ff10 was ever considered a peak of anything then its no wonder e33 doing things that to me should seem to obvious and basic, gets so much praise. i still cant tell if i enjoy e33 because its simply not a horribly shallow jrpg experience or if its actually good.

now as for the actual criticism of ff10 i only need to say one things: weaknesses.
if youre not retarded this completely destroys the shitty game

but if you need to be fucking spoonfed like a retard. ff10 late game can be summarized as "find out how many abilities the game arbitrarily restricts you from using to any effect because the boss is immune to everything but 1 or 2 status effects, while the boss dowses you with every single status effect in the book, hahaha arent i so clever? this is sooooo strategic bro, just trial and error until you figure out the super specific narrow way in which youre allowed to beat the boss haha were so clever

and yes i beat ff10. ALL of it 50 fucking hours of my life wasted. so dont try and pull some "you didnt play the game" bullshit. i have proof.

but if you need to be fucking spoonfed like a retard

Wait a minute isn't that the point of your thread? To be spoonfed like a retard?

FF1-4 are Attack Spam simulators. 5 has the job system and allows you to get creative and make cool combos but is easily broken and not challenging at all. 6 has some leeway on character building but every character mostly has a role they fill with their special commands. 7 lets you do anything with anyone other than fiddle with their Limits. 8 is skip. 9 and 10 let you customize to a degree but each character basically has a role they play. 12 lets you do anything with anyone and everything after that is kusoge.

because he sounds like a fag and his shit's all retarded

tldr

Bravely Default has a large amount of difficult fights that make you engage with its job system, and the jobs themselves feel good and varied, but the difficult fights are largely optional.

You radiate mental illness

but the difficult fights are largely optional.

man, i hated hunting for optional content in e33 to find any stimulating encounter. because jrpgs tend to suck at traversal and level design, so its just a lot of walking either in an open field from point a to b, or down a hallway with zero enviromental interaction or complex level design beyond "go down branching path for lumina"

there any final fantasy game with non optional boss fight that engage you with synergistic systems?

Radiates e33 shill threads to me. Jerk it off and put down everything that is offered as an alternative while also specifying he wants a FF game. Why would you ask for the COD of JRPGs if you were just looking for a game?

Actual videogame discussion thread? Not a narrative emboldening one?

I would say Bravely Default has that too, it just doesn't really push you outside of the optional fights. The optional fights are so tough people would likely drop the game if they were mandatory, so it's easy to see why they are optional, and they're not a chore to get to either. The only thing that might make them a chore is random encounters on the way, but the game lets you manually set the random encounter rate, including setting it to zero so it ends up not being a problem.

Also, it's not Final Fantasy, but Etrian Odyssey is a very mechanically-driven RPG with good dungeon design and characterbuilding, and it also tends to have a good difficulty level, so you could try that too. Same for SMT but I think SMT is usually easier to break.

Also, it's not Final Fantasy, but Etrian Odyssey is a very mechanically-driven RPG with good dungeon design and characterbuilding

this one sounds interesting i guess if it isnt just good combat but also good level design so that if i happen to not like the combat maybe the level design will keep me going. thanks, will check it out. in the meantime ill wait for more suggestions hopefully

use that time to write essays begging to be spoonfed to find games you want to play instead, retard

No, now fuck off

TALK ABOUT VIDEOGAMES FOR ONCE

Why'd you post an image of a bunch of movies then?

I brought up EO first reply to me nigger

It's one of the peaks of the genre. Final Fantasy V, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, and the Etrian Odyssey series are also worth looking at.

yeah but you didnt say much specifically aboht it that was compelling, i basicay needed the other guy as corroboration to support your recc

No FFXIII seires fans here...? Specifically Lightning Returns? The game is literally just team building and is literally centered around filling in roles to make a balanced team since its all auto battle.

Recc threads are against the rules.

Probably because the games shit

Wow, only 5 of the games in your pic are even any good.

you probably want kiseki, specifically sky SC is like that.

Same with Opera Omnia on both counts

which?

Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy Tactics

Do you retards just seriously never talk to people with opposing or challenging opinions? FFX already got demolished in this thread.

You should play DRPGs like Etrian Odyssey and Legend of Grimrock

But more so with realizing the potential of synergistic systems to solve problems presented by encounters, through building and preparing items acquired and facilitate advantages (first strike) at an INCREDIBLY basic level I think this is what expedition 33 fulfills.

yep. DRPG. you want a linear survival game

OP, I am begging you on my hands and knees to stop using so many comma splices and sentence fragments in your posts.

Why should I care about your opinion?

FFags are the most delusional people on Anon Babble

Crystal Project is probably the best FFV successor around class synergies. It has no story at all though if that matters.

mentions E33 without bitching about it

Essayfag actually enjoyed a game? I don't believe it.

I dont care whether you care or not. Youre a subhuman retard. A fish is incapable of caring about my opinion and yet ill still wonder if they ever just consider the fact for once that maybe their fish friends who disappear after noticing conveniently dangling bait, ever question whether they should go for it or not.

Anybodh who is a real full fledged human being and cares about understanding the world in all its possible expressions, will seek out alternative perspectives and engage with differing considerations.

Expedition 33 is just that kino.

dragon quest 11 with harder monsters turned on.

You clearly care quite a bit.

Oh, no, you misunderstand fool. I had to cut out my criticism of E33 to shorten my OP so that retards could actually have a chance at reading something. Since Anon Babble on average has the stamina to read of a 6 year old.

I will make a more indepth thread about e33 later. It will probably be 2 threads, one for story and one for gameplay.

I will make a more indepth thread about e33 later.

Please don't.

no one cares faggot

My bad, I should've known better than to assume you had any taste.

No, thats Zeldatards. But i understand why you say that with how often I see random FF10 glaze threads. Or retards coping that actually FF10 is totally not LINEAR LIKE FF13 because well actually, did you know that a line actually goes one way? So if you go backwards on a line, its like youre moving non linearly and actually progressing disorderly.

VIII has the junction system which is somewhat similar to equipping luminas. It's also one of the games the director mentioned as being an inspiration for E33. It also has the best soundtrack in the FF series.

Okay but what does that have to do with synergies and problem solving. I already said I dont need something exactly like e33 anyway.

He tends to like games specifically for people who don’t like games.

Dark Souls is literally his favourite game tho

Anon Babble on average has the stamina to read of a 6 year old.

You’re not a good writer.

Ever since expedition 33, I've become somewhat intrigued by the idea of JRPGs

don't start playing them, not for your sake, but for ours, thanks

Dark souls is specifically for people who don’t like video games yes

I never claimed I was retard. But its a fucking shitty videogame board. I dont need to be a good writer. Besides. Nobody ever gives any actual pointed criticism of the problem with my writing anyway so its a superficial complaint that more than likely comes from a place of arbitrary hate

Claiming it is the fault of others that no one wants to read your shit is, in effect, claiming there is nothing bad about your writing. You are easily worse than chatgpt, except instead of fake smarm your shit drips with pretension.

Anyway hoping for anymore suggestions. Bonus points if your JRPG actually has good or interesting level design aswell.

I've learned that what I like best about them doesnt actually have anything per se to do with real time mechanics. But more so with realizing the potential of synergistic systems to solve problems presented by encounters, through building and preparing items acquired and facilitate advantages

berated-bert.github.io/siralim-planner/
Play Siralim Ultimate. Or, if you want a cute little roguelike, play Path of Achra. Or, if you want to play a non-gacha mobile game, play Buriedbornes (2 is better, but some people prefer 1). These are all "build" type games where the core gameplay is about creating a synergistic build or team and there are multiple avenues to success. Siralim Ultimate has nearly infinite different avenues to success. Path of Achra is about discovering different synergies between different builds. Buriedbornes is about creating a build and completing dungeons to help facilitate crazier builds.

at an INCREDIBLY basic level I think this is what expedition 33 fulfills.

Nope. E33 is literally just "equip the +damage pictos" and "equip the weapon that benefits the character's gimmick". There is no true build variety. Like, sure pictos exist to facilitate a playstyle where you get hit by every attack on purpose and you do not engage with the parry system, but WHY would you choose to purposely play the game like a retard or a gaming journo?

is there a Final Fantasy game who's combat is centered around solving problems with synergies, and understanding of underlying systems?

Not really, no. 99% of JRPGs devolve into executing the exact same maximum damage strategy on every character in the exact same way using the exact same equipment, exactly like E33. There *is* more variety in FF though. Like, FFXII, you do want to do things in addition to just dealing a lot of damage. Actually, the Parry system in E33 significantly limits build variety because you can avoid all damage and status conditions essentially do not exist.

FF13 technically fits the bill but is so miserable in practice it's difficult to recommend and has little to no redeeming qualities.

Really I would say Final Fantasy as a whole succeeded because even in its very first incarnation, when it was barely removed from being a trademark-friendly D&D simulator, it removed a lot of the more oppressive elements of RPG systems to be a breezy, lightweight adventure, much like its contemporary Dragon Quest. The early designers of primordial JRPGs were inspired by PC RPGs like Ultima and tabletop games that were popular in Japan in the 70s and 80s. Dragon Quest 1 for example isn't too far off from an Ultima game besides better graphics.
By the SNES and the dawn of the 3D age, Square decided to leverage their experience and popularity into making sure Final Fantasy always had the best production values. So it isn't going to have say, the tactical depth of SMT or even have as much shit going on as Pokemon.

There's systems, especially the job system that's been in play since FF1, but you could also pretty much just bruteforce everything through leveling.

The closest to answer your question would probably be maybe 4 since outside of the GBA version you're pretty much locked to a definitive final group for the last stretch of the game so you have to know how all these characters work. And 6 since the final dungeon makes you use everyone in your party.
9's characters are also pretty rigidly defined compared to say, the freewheeling versatility of FF7's playable characters and in the middle part of the game there's a noteworthy section where you have to split your party and one team will have to go into a dungeon that blocks all magic while the remaining team has their own dungeon to deal with.

Whatever you do, DONT play ff13, it's got a couple is dedicated schizos who pretend to love it, but it's even further beyond shit
Irredeemable

Ignore anyone saying FFXIII has build variety. It does not. Like the other guy said, there seems to be a schizo who blindly recommends it no matter what.

What you do in FFXIII is, instead of controlling the battle itself per se, you more control the "flow" of battle by switching, on the fly, to different "loadouts" while the game more or less plays itself.

Nope. E33 is literally just "equip the +damage pictos" and "equip the weapon that benefits the character's gimmick".

I do agree its too simple. I could post the criticism i cut out of it, so that people stop thinking im glorifying e33, half the reason im even asking for another game is because as much as i enjoyed e33 it left me unsatisfied.

There is no true build variety.

See, i agree with this and disagree with this. Because i disagree on different grounds. I reject the entire idea that "options" and "variety" is even inherently valuable, as i gave an example with bg3 of how you can technically have a bajillion options and yet still feel restricted. yes there needs to be enough "openness" for the solution to the problem to not be immediately obvious but i dont inherently value build options.
expedition 33 objectively has many different builds...but id argue that the game is so uncomplicated that for the most part you are just trying to maximize damage, whether that means stacking sciels fortell to 7 by spamming card weaver twice every turn. or that means stacking sciels fortell up less, but using fortunes fury after card weaver to double another teammates damage.

and you do not engage with the parry system

i did the opposite, i basically went all in on engaging with the parry system a lot of my sciel shenanigans wouldn't work without banking on gettibg extra ap through perilous parry to spam cast foretell stacks. So id argue the game is pretty decent about getting you to engage with all its systems, its flaw is that, its systems just arent that interesting after a while (and also fundamentally flawed for other reasons i wont get to) aswell as the fact that the systems are so easy to break that you can effectively kill enemies before ever even needing to parry.

Like, FFXII, you do want to do things in addition to just dealing a lot of damage.

Hm, is it 12 i gotta play then?

FF13 technically fits the bill but is so miserable in practice it's difficult to recommend and has little to no redeeming qualities.

I thought so, but I already tried FF13 and admittedly got bored with it.

Ive heard good things about its sequels' gameplay, what about those?

ive played 4, and 6, but didnt get that impression with them. i mean they have their gimmicks, but i consider ff10 the ultimate gimmicky ff that actually does sort of make you use everything you got, but inspite of that, is still flawed for reasons similar to my problem with bg3.

>and you do not engage with the parry system

i did the opposite

Right, cuz that's the correct and only true way to play. That was my point in bringing up the pictos that are clearly designed for you to get hit by everything on purpose.

Hm, is it 12 i gotta play then?

I think of all the games, XII might have the most build variety in that you kinda want characters to be able to do different things. There are "job" type games, like III and V, and V does have a very small amount of "build variety", but you could just as easily make every character exactly the same (like you do in E33), whereas I feel you will suffer more if you do that in XII. Just going from memory, and I haven't played some of these games in many years, I think XII is the one that would punish you the most for building every character exactly the same.

I still, above all else, recommend Siralim Ultimate for builds. It's the most autistic "build variety" game I've ever played. Just look at the build planner that I linked. And if you want a quick little build variety game, check out Path of Achra.

Or, now that I think about it, you could try out Time Break Chronicles. That's another "build" type game and it's based on the SNES era Final Fantasy games. It has about 100 different characters that each are unique. They each have 2 personal "relics" that do different things, and each character has 4 relic slots. Completing a character's "quests" (which is like, do [x] thing with character, usually complimenting their kit) unlocks their relic to be infinitely used with any other character, and there are a lot of synergies between character relics when put onto different characters.

And I haven't played Astlibra, but I've heard it's another really good "build" type game. It's like a SotN style side scroller action game though.

That was my point in bringing up the pictos that are clearly designed for you to get hit by everything on purpose.

But i didn't get hit. I played on the highest difficulty, and besides you can lower your health on a number of characters without getting hit, thats what im talking about regarding synergy, everythings feeds into eachother thoughtfully aslong as youre willing to think up away to solve the problem of risk vs reward. Thats why even though all builds are virtually the same as youre all just maximizing damage, it feels rewarding and great to find the pictos that gives you shields when you go below 50% health for instance. Or the one that reduces damage receieved.

And I haven't played Astlibra, but I've heard it's another really good "build" type game. It's like a SotN style side scroller action game though.

Oh shit really? Ive had this in my wishlist for a while but its always talked about on Anon Babble like its some retarded coomer game. Nobody is ever able to actually describe why its good.

I still, above all else, recommend Siralim Ultimate for builds. It's the most autistic "build variety" game I've ever played.

See i dont know if im a "build" guy so much as a problem solving guy. But ill check it out.

But i didn't get hit.

Right. I know. Because the correct way to play the game is to Parry. Which makes the pictos dedicated to getting hit kinda useless. I think we're having some misunderstanding here so I'm just gonna drop it.

Oh shit really? Ive had this in my wishlist for a while but its always talked about on Anon Babble like its some retarded coomer game.

I mean, I haven't played it, so I can't say for sure, but every time I've seen it shilled, it's as an autistic "build" type game where you're always getting new toys to play with. On the topic of "coomer" games though, I avoided Nier Automata for years because all anyone on Anon Babble talked about was 2B's ass so I thought that's all the game was, but I'm very glad that I ended up playing it because it's not actually a coomer game.

See i dont know if im a "build" guy so much as a problem solving guy

I view "build" games as "problem solving" personally. There are always certain type of enemies or something that you need to "solve" for in your build. Siralim Ultimate is particularly good at this. (You) have nearly infinite build variety, but so does the enemy. On higher difficulties, the enemies will randomly combine into things that you find out just completely fuck the team you built, so you have to go back to the drawing board if you want to shore up the new weakness you just discovered. It's a lot of building, testing, finding weaknesses, reiterating, etc. There's also like an almost "boss rush" type challenge in the more "endgame" part where you fight the "Gods" that each have their own gimmick. The goal is to beat each boss while using each different class in the game.

The spreadsheet I posted here: was hours and hours of build planning and testing, and I was able to arrive at one single team that was able to beat every single boss's different gimmicks while using every single different class in the game. That's the kind of problems you can solve in Siralim.

Wow decent thread

FFXIII gets too much hate it applies

Final Fantasy has always had a problems stabilizing its image. It's been using Cloud as its mascot for too long.

recommended game

didn't realize it was essay fag somehow

Now going to see longwinded bullshit about EO

at least it will be funny to see him filtered

Had you lurked more, maybe you would've recognized him.

and I was able to arrive at one single team that was able to beat every single boss's different gimmicks while using every single different class in the game. That's the kind of problems you can solve in Siralim.

Hm that sounds kind of like the Pokemon challeges tier prep and building he does for his Pokemon Kaizo runs, I dont know that im ready for THAT level of high level prep. But it definitely sounds like an interesting game. Is there any game where I can better ease into problem solving? I dont want to get overwhelmed, after all I just came off of E33's simplicity.

I ain't reading all that shit, especially not in that condescending tone with random CAP LOCKS words.

Jack's game mogs all OP.

How far are you in siralim? I got bored as shit in the 200s turn 0 killing or getting killed by everything. Also Astlibra is superb I have no idea where anyone would get the idea it's a coomer game.

Hm that sounds kind of like the Pokemon challeges tier prep and building he does for his Pokemon Kaizo runs

I mean, Siralim is kinda like Pokemon. You know how Pokemon have Abilities? There are like 1000+ creatures in Siralim that each have their own unique Ability. Then you can fuse these together to create one creature with 2 Abilties. Then you can equip them with a weapon, and the weapon has a gem slot that can be any Ability from any creature (well, like 90% of the creatures; some are "special"), but also weapon gems have their own separate pool of Abilities that are only capable of being put onto a weapon, and there are hundreds of these weapon-specific Abilities just like there are 1000+ unique creature Abilities. Then, there are 1000+ spells that you can equip to your creatures, and there is a macro system so that you can uniquely "program" each of your creatures in incredibly autistic ways so that they will always do what you want them to do.

I dont know that im ready for THAT level of high level prep

I dont want to get overwhelmed, after all I just came off of E33's simplicity.

I dunno. Path of Achra is really simple but possibly too simple. I think Time Break Chronicles, which I mentioned earlier, is easy enough, but that might not be enough of a "problem solving" game. You could try FFXII. The mobile game Buriedbornes that I mentioned is also good, but it might be too obtuse.

I mean, if you're looking for FF, I guess I'd recommend XII for what you might be looking for.

It takes literally 100 hours to get to that point. It takes 30 hours to even get hard if you have an ok build

RESPOND TO ME PLEASE TALK ABOUT VIDEO GAME

so expedition 33...

Fuck off and use one of the pre-existing threads thank you

Unfortunately despite the slower pace that most JRPGs have most of them don't actually have much demand for players to use their brain at all. FF in particular generally isn't known as being that difficult.

Trails series can be okay at the highest difficulty. Each entry tends to have an overly dominant strategy that trivializes much of it but these take different lengths of time to come online.

Library of Ruina is turn based but I'm not sure I'd call it a JRPG. You defeat enemies and in doing so can inherit their stats and abilities to use on your own characters in order to take on tougher foes and get ever stronger. This means (if you use the no grind mod) you basically only ever have to do each fight once and they are closer to puzzles since you don't level up or anything of the sort.

How far are you in siralim?

Uhh... 1025. I really liked the autistic complexity you can create with teams in this game. I haven't really sat down and played it in a couple years, but I grinded it pretty hardcore at release and then again maybe like 6-12 months later.

I got bored as shit in the 200s turn 0 killing or getting killed by everything.

Yeah, I can definitely see that. If you aren't dead set on making sure that your team getting killed by everything is an impossibility, or if you dislike the prospect of creating a new team when you get bored or have "finished" your previous team, or if you have no desire to complete all the challenges or unlock all the Anointments, you could get bored easily. I did eventually get bored unlocking all the Anointments, but that's because there weren't really any others that I wanted to have that I didn't already get.

The game really suffers from not having a tome style auto explore. Playing more than 5 floors hurts my hands. I bought it during the creature collection fest and dumped 60 hours in 2 weeks. 2.0 is in beta now if you care. I foolishly didn't just start on it for whatever reason

Library of Ruina is turn based but I'm not sure I'd call it a JRPG

yeah because it is a KRPG

2.0 is in beta now if you care.

I saw, and I do care, but I have a few games in the queue before going back to Siralim. I might not get around to 2.0 until it's out of beta. Plus, I think it might be a bit of a bummer if I find a new combination that I really like and it gets nerfed or something. I've been lucky so far in that the stuff I like generally got buffed rather than nerfed, but you never know. I had one team that was centered around dying and getting revived a million (15) times with that one relic that revives you if you are burning, and they eventually nerfed that to 3 revives only (understandable) and I had to ditch the team.

Plus, I think it might be a bit of a bummer if I find a new combination that I really like and it gets nerfed or something

from what I read they didn't touch shit as far as builds are concerned. Just added something like 200 creatures and re-balanced how you get shit for the most part and some new content

Play Fuga Melodies of Steel trilogy

nic-

furfag game

yiff in hell

Leave

Your loss, gameplay is pure kino and sequels further add depth

Final Fantasy doesn't have any synergy, every character can do everything and usually all you do is heal and use your strongest attack.

The two best JRPG systems ever made :
Grandia 2 : it's all about timing your attacks to cancel the enemy moves and shut them down
Octopath Traveler : it's full synergy, exactly what you are asking for

Several games use similar systems but these are the ones that perfected it.

Grandia

Octopath Traveler

well 1/2 is better than most people

ff14s expansions until dawntrail have the best story in any ff game.
You can ignore the MMO aspect and play it solo.

Putting multiple games in your OP

Your thread was doomed from the start. If you want to talk about games, talk about ONE game. Not multiple franchises, not multiple sequels, not multiple spinoffs, not remake+original game. ONE game. Count it, 1...the end. This site can't handle anything having more than the number 1.

Fuck off retard.

is there a Final Fantasy game who's combat is centered around solving problems

No retard. Fuck off.

Grandia 2 : it's all about timing your attacks to cancel the enemy moves and shut them down

Please don't invite retards like OP to our fanbase.

Another baby that discovered video games with Expedition 33. Unironically play Final Fantasy 13 and fuck off.

FF3 (NES version) requires you to switch jobs to get past certain enemy/boss gimmicks.
For example, dragoon to jump and avoid oneshot attacks from bird demon or black knight to get past a cave of monsters that split into two if you hit them with anything but a black blade.

If you want an FF that allows you to minmax and optimize your characters into one man armies, look no further than FF5. It perfected the job system formula.
6 and 7 are good too, but they prioritize story over mechanics a bit.

The closest FFs to what you're looking for is 3 and 5. Personally I would just play Octopath Traveler 1+2 instead if you like synergy building.