So I was bored...
I know.. but I might as well give this a go.. especially since noone's given me inspiration for new topics. I might as well digress on some of this stuff (excluding monster magic since the majority are battle/monster specific)... So here we go...
Black Magic
Level 1 elementals and Chocobo
They are fine IMO... but compare this vs the Chocobo spell...
For 40% more MP (which comes to 2MP), you get to deal more damage than exposing an elemental weakness (2x only though) and be more boss-worthy (see Octomammoth).. but Chocobo can't be split (if someone were to hack in a Big Chocobo vision, please do that for my amusement
)
Level 2 elementals and Bio
They are terrible... especially when you compare against Bio...
For 33% more MP (5MP or so), you can cast an insta-spell that always deals 2x more damage (unless the elemental is exposing an elemental weakness of 2x or more, but that's meh in most cases) plus HP leak (which isn't special, but it's a cool bonus). It's hard to argue the math here.. especially in Palom's case, it's always 6 levels away.
Level 3 elementals vs...
These are spells that are tough to compare.. the closest thing that's comparable is Quake, but Quake is learned a number of levels later, it tends to be a lot more reliable as a split spell.. since the split factor is not in play. The bulk of these become obsolete too quickly, especially when splitting damage is in play. Fortunately the only redemption is being slightly stronger than a elemental summon when there are 3 targets or less. The spells could use a boost though...
Piggy
Too unreliable... the only thing that redeems it is the Change Rod.
Toad
It's Size but much more vicious. One wonders why this is relatively easy to learn for Rydia.. yet Piggy, the inferior status spell is learned much later.. (opposite is true for Palom)...
Warp
I wished Square did keep this as a death spell.. as long as it had a Piggy-like hit rate (very low). It would've worked out IMO. It does take a while to learn this for Rydia (it's like in the upper 10s for her...) I forget how long it takes Palom to learn this...
Psych/Drain
I think FF4ET had the right idea... to buff the spell up to a reasonable base.. but how much? I don't know. Let me put it this way.. it should be possible to drain enough MP to match her maxMP (assuming the target has 0 magic defense).. that's how powerful it "should be"... Drain probably should be 50% to 100% more damage than that, but I'd be weary of overpoweredness. The elemental property though is a useless property but will probably balance out in the end...
Poison
Most irrelevent spell. It currently serves to be the best Monster Summoner patience timer. If the spell were had damage dealt between the level 1 and level 2 elementals, maybe it would have a greater longevity..
Sleep
It's underused for some reason, but that's probably because it's primarily level based and the magic stat limits the sleep time...
Stop
The whole Hourglass thing is kinda strange... as you get a limited number of Silver Ones.. and the Copper Ones are a multitargeted Stop... the Golden Ones are simply rare... anyways I think the spell is fine as is.. I guess
Stone/Break
Shouldn't this cost more MP as a multitargetable insta-kill spell? It puts Cockatrice to shame sometimes...
Weak
Maybe it should have a lower hit rate, but that gets traded to be a multitargetable spell...
Doom/Death
Making this multitargetable should make this a good way of overshadowing Warp... otherwise it's too mediocre a spell.
Flare
This spell is a tad too strong to be insta-hit spell, but then again, it's not a great spell against extremely high magic defense monsters.. I guess it's fine.. but perhaps maybe an MP adjustment would be fair.
Meteor
It takes too long, and it's too depressing. Cut the spell time in half... probably be slightly longer than Bahamut would be the best change for this spell alone.
White Magic
Cure spells
They are relatively balanced... Cure2/Cura tends to be significantly better than Fire1 (see Tellah when it matters) for Zombie killing.. and Cure3/Curaga is better than Fire2... but that's about it. Also outside healing totally favors Cure1 by design...
Life spells
I guess it's worth what you pay for..
Float
It's useful so it's there
Esuna
My only peeve is that FF4A's version is stupid (removing Berserk)... and HP leak is not removed (why is it added to Dispel of all magic?)
Haste
Not impactful enough... but that's relative to how the ATB works... especially when the 2nd one is very unimpactful. The worst part is that it's not multitargetable...
Slow
Probably too impactful by design... a few variations of this spell may be more beneficial.
Protect/Shell
Relatively non-impactful spells... needs a boost..
Blink
Fine as is, but maybe it needs a 2nd version (a multitargetable version)...
Charm
Fine as is, but could use a second version too (a multitargetable version)
Peep
I wonder if this could be improved to show "extra weakness and drain elementals".. but most importantly.. the level of the enemy...
Sight
It truly needs to do something in battle... either inflicts blind or cure blind (the former sounds better).
Hold
I'm inclined to think there should be a 2nd version of the spell that is multitargetable, but that would be called Sleep...
Silence
Fine as is for what it does.. too bad it's only for preventing regular spells.
Dispel
It doesn't remove enough to be as useful it could be.. and I don't understand why HP Leak is included here... plus monsters don't usually cast Berserk as part of their battle sequence (it's used as a counter primarily)
Reflect
It needs to be multitargetable, but cost more MP for that tradeoff...
Holy
HP Leak is a gimmick considering the target has to be weak vs Holy elemental to take advantage of it. This spell looks awful compared to Flare... needs a spell power boost with a small tweak to spell time...
More spells to digress with later...
We have EVEN MORE themes now, but some old ones are gone...