I think the Red Mages may be a sort of combination of the spellcasting fighter classes of D&D (rangers and paladins and sorta bards), since they can also wear armor and use weaponry (at least in the version of FF3 we're playing right now).
A lot of these AD&D concepts filtered out to other Japanese franchises, I notice, like Suikoden, and I wonder if they came straight from D&D or via the FF franchise. Not sure about the order!
Remember that there were actual straight-from-TSR D&D videogames that came out for the Commodore 64 (and probably some other machines) in the late 1980s/early 1990s, inspired by Temple of Apshai etc. Also! One of the first (if not the first) dungeon-delving games I ever played was an online multiplayer version of Moria (=0moria on PLATO, which I first got onto ca 1981), that actually gave you the impression of navigating down tunnels, etc. Monsters did not appear in the hallway, but their icons appeared on-screen while you fought them. 100 levels down, one fought Asmodeus. D&D and its adaptation into videogames has a long history that I would love for someone to write about. :)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2013-01-07 02:50 pm (UTC)A lot of these AD&D concepts filtered out to other Japanese franchises, I notice, like Suikoden, and I wonder if they came straight from D&D or via the FF franchise. Not sure about the order!
Remember that there were actual straight-from-TSR D&D videogames that came out for the Commodore 64 (and probably some other machines) in the late 1980s/early 1990s, inspired by Temple of Apshai etc. Also! One of the first (if not the first) dungeon-delving games I ever played was an online multiplayer version of Moria (=0moria on PLATO, which I first got onto ca 1981), that actually gave you the impression of navigating down tunnels, etc. Monsters did not appear in the hallway, but their icons appeared on-screen while you fought them. 100 levels down, one fought Asmodeus. D&D and its adaptation into videogames has a long history that I would love for someone to write about. :)