Magic (term)

Magic spells can have offensive, restorative or indirect effects on the target. Offensive and restorative usually affect the HP and/or MP of the target based on their magic resistance, and possibly their resistance to a given element. Indirect effect spells are spells that cause and cure status effects, affect speed of an opponent, modify a target's statistics, raise or dispel magical barriers and various other results depending on the game. By default, offensive and negative indirect spells target enemies, while restorative and supportive indirect spells target party members, although in some games, it is possible to cast restorative spells against the enemy, or cast offensive spells against a party member for strategic purposes.

Spells can also be divided into elemental spells and non-elemental spells. Elemental magic is associated with a particular element of nature, such as Fire, Ice, Lightning, Water, Wind, and Earth. The number and names of the elemental spells vary from game to game. Sometimes two other elements, Holy and Dark are added. Non-elemental spells are not associated with an element. Examples include spells that affect the status of the target.

Each magic caster possesses a level of magic power, which affects the damage of a given spell. Characters with higher magic power will deal more damage than the same spell cast by someone with a lower magic power. Certain characters can have affinities to an element: for example, a Fire magic spell from a fire-based character will cause more damage than a wind-based character casting it. Each target possesses magic resistance, which lessens the effect of magic spells. In addition to the magic resistance of the target, certain targets have a different resistance (positive or negative) to certain elementals: they may receive more damage than usual from spells associated with that elemental (usually 200% damage) or less (usually 50%); they may nullify the damage (0%) or absorb it (usually 100% of the damage is converted to health gain). Non-elemental magic damage depends only on magic resistance.

In many games, only certain job categories can cast certain spells. For example, a White Mage can cast white spells, while a Black Mage can cast black spells. In some games, there is also a Red Mage that can cast spells from the Black and White magic. Usually a Red Mage cannot learn the highest spells, and often is not as powerful at casting spells from either class as its typical user.

Spell levels
In most Final Fantasy games, certain types of magic are divided into various power levels. As the player progresses through the game, successively more powerful versions of basic spells become available. The series has developed a naming convention to identify second, third, and fourth level magic spells, which appends a specific suffix to the name of the first level spell, with possible minor variations in the root word. The suffixes are -ra for the second level; -ga for the third, and -ja for the fourth. For example, the name of the second level version of Thunder is named Thundara and the third is Thundaga. Likewise, the second and third levels of Fire become Fira and Firaga, respectively, and Blizzard becomes Blizzara and Blizzaga.

The fourth level suffix (-ja) is infrequently used; few games in the series feature magic spells with four power levels, the Cure spell being the only example in more recent titles. Other examples are the Dia and Heal spells. In the few times they are used, elemental spells such as Thundaja are extremely powerful.

The one exception to this rule is Final Fantasy II, which used a vastly different magic system from other games in the series. Spell names in Final Fantasy II were given in katakana, and rather than appending one of the above suffixes to signify a more powerful version of a spell, a simple numerical modifier was added to the end of the name. Each spell in Final Fantasy II could be raised to level 16. For example, if the spell Thunder were leveled up to level 16, it would be called Thunder 16. Enemy spells, however, used Latin number suffixes, such as 'XVI' for level 16.

In earlier English localizations of the Final Fantasy series, those prior to Final Fantasy VIII, translators decided not to use the above suffixes, using a simple numerical modifier instead. In other words, Firaga would become Fire 3. Thunder was shortened to Lit or Bolt, and Thundara would be denoted as Lit2 or Bolt2.

In Final Fantasy XI, spells tiers are distinguished from each other by Roman numerals (e.g., Thunder, Thunder II, Cure, Cure II). Fourth level spells (such as Cure IV and Thunder IV) are equivalent to the -ja suffix found in previous Final Fantasy games.

White Magic
White magic is usually curative, enhancing or holy magic. Typical White Magic spells are: Cure; Life and the ultimate white magic spell of Holy

Black Magic
Black magic is mainly offensive, often harnessing elemental powers of fire, ice, and lightning. Black Magic spells often exist to inflict instant death as well. Typical Black Magic spells include: Fire; Thunder and the ultimate black magic spell of Ultima

Time and Space Magic
Time and Space magic alters the reality around a character. Typical Time and Space magic spells are: Slow, Haste, Warp and Demi

Blue Magic
Blue magic (sometimes known as Blu Magic) consists of spells and abilities learned from enemy characters and monsters. Common examples include spells based on a target's level, White Wind, Aqua Rake, and Condemned.