Bishop Staff For White Mage?

I noticed in the Japanese, the Iron Rod seems to called Bishop Staff. This seems intended as the White Mage's 2nd weapon. I always found it odd the White Mage was stuck with his first weapon all the way until after getting the Mystic Key. This is a bug in my opinion. The Iron Rod should be equippable by the White Mage.

I agree. Not much difference between an Iron Hammer and an Iron Staff, there's no reason the WM shouldn't be able to equip it. The limitation on WM weapons likely came from D&D in which Clerics can't use bladed weapons, only blunt ones, so the staff definitely fits and should be equippable.

Looking at the translation, it's the "Shakujo": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khakkhara

Not much of a cleric thing in my opinion, definitely fits the eastern monk style of the Blackbelt more than a White Mage.

Not sure if the White Mage class being unable to use the Iron Staff weapon is technically a bug, but I can say the Iron Staff would definitely see a lot more use during typical playthroughs of this game if White Mages were able to use it. Since an Iron Staff costs the same amount as an Iron Nunchaku, most players would probably purchase the latter for their Black Belts if they are going to purchase any weapon for them in Elfland; likewise, Fighters (the only other class which can equip the Iron Staff prior to class change) have various other weapon options which will make typical players unlikely to purchase an Iron Staff for them...

--Jay

In the online dictionary I typically use, both bishop's staff and khakkhara are given as possible translations. I think in both cases it's a spiritual figure who uses it, but the nuance definitely seems different for the khakkhara in what type of spiritual figure uses it.

I was unfamiliar with the term khakkhara, but after reading the link above, I think I'm convinced that it's the intended meaning. According to the entry, the khakkhara is a weapon associated with warrior monks. That seems consistent enough with its usage in this game to suggest it's what they were going for.

Well it does seem to be an Oriental and Indian weapon. But still, why restrict WM from using it? And was it intended as the WM 2nd weapon? Because he is stuck with the Iron Hammer from Coneria until after you raid the Elfland treasury. That's a really long time to be stuck with the same weapon while all other classes get new ones. The Iron Rod fits right where a 2nd weapon should go for the WM. I am calling bug on this one.

The English translation on the GBA version calls it the Crosier, which is a bishop's staff. In the hack I made for the GBA version I gave it to the WM/WW exclusively. Also made it do extra damage to undead.

Rabite, do you use other names on other sites? Because I think I've seen a hack that does exactly that.

FreshFeeling posted...

Rabite, do you use other names on other sites? Because I think I've seen a hack that does exactly that.

Nope. I have a bunch of hacks on RHDN to fix some "bugs" (more accurately poorly planned things) on the GBA version. Ludmeister and Maeson are the two big hacks out right now. Both are VERY recommended by me and take very different approaches to the game. Coincidentally I gave feedback to both people, but that's besides the point. Maeson's hack makes the Crosier do extra damage to evil while Ludmeister's gives it extra damage against undead. My own hasn't been released yet as I'm very lazy and have yet to get sufficient feedback for me to be willing to put it out in any major release. Though I do still have a ton of ideas left that have yet to be implemented, so there's that too (fits under lazy).

I must have been thinking of one of those. I was recently looking at the readme and other docs for the Maeson hack because I’m doing something with FF2: DoS. Maeson’s notes are the first place I’ve seen really any documentation of FF2 on GBA.