This party is one of the most useful against Chaos - the Knight and the Ninja have decent attack power, while the Black Wizard can cast Nuke.

This is one of my favorites. At the end of the Game you have the 3 best weapons, Excalabur, Masamune, and Katana, along with the catclaw (which is a pretty good weapon for a mage), along with the strong Black and White magics of the pure mages. This is the best balanced party in the game execpt for maybe F/Rm/Wm/Bm.

You can't run from gas dragons, and by the ice cave almost any class can run all the time(NES version with bugged fleeing mechanics). This party isn't that bad, but in this game for whatever reason, balance doesn't seem to make a party all that strong

I playing the NES version with this party. I just beat Bikke and so far, it's awsome.

I just don't think this party is that great. Thieves just don't hit for that much. Having a ninja late game is like having a slightly weaker fighter with less stamina.

Replace the theif with a Black belt and your in business. He costs less to maintain, has just about the same stamina, does a lot more dammage than a fighter (at least a few hundred more late game), and almost never misses. When fast is cast on a BB they do INCREDIBLE amounts of damage.

How a theif brings balance is a mystery to me. what does he add other than more ability to run away and extra low level black spells? Magic support is the mages job and when the theif is taking his time casting spells he is not attacking very well.

You need the fighter to Tank and the Mages to support.

The BB adds Major physical damage, killing enemies in one hit that would normally do a lot of damage to your party. That's balance.

Yeah, thieves got a lot more accesible on the GBA as well. With the proper weapon and Haste cast upon one, a theif can actually be a better offensive combatant than a fighter.
Or, as previously suggested, just get a black belt and point it at something.
Done.

Pros of this party are: great balance, easy to run from battles, strong physical and magical attacks, lots of magic after Class Change.

Cons of this party are: pretty expensive for all the spells and weapons and armor and potions you'll need.

"However, I contend that even a party of four Fighters or four Mages is EASILY affordable, even if you equip them with the best weapons and armor in the game at all times. Most of the time, with my favorite party of F/Th/WM/BM, I end up with millions of extra G by the end of the game. There are two parts where money is a factor in any way: Elfland, and Melmond. That's it. The stuff in Elfland is affordable after you're done leveling up, which you almost certainly need to to brave the Marsh Cave. Or you can just wait until after the Marsh Cave; you get tens of thousands of G worth of treasure from all the locked chests. In Melmond, the Steel Armor is very expensive, yes. But it's not all that necessary to get it anyways. Even without it, the Fighter has better defense than a BB of comparable level. The Iron Armor is good enough if you don't feel like saving up the G for Steel. And the Fighter gets Ice /Flame Armor shortly after Melmond in any case, which is even better than Steel Armor, and free. After that, every single weapon or piece of armor worth using is found in treasure chests, except the ProRing."

That's what Brian said on the mirror site and he's right. This a great party and anyone who says otherwise is a bad Final Fantasy player(okay, that's a bit harsh, but they're just not as good Final Fantasy players).

This party is the industry-standard. Heck it became the default party for all the subsequent remakes.

The Fighter handles the hits. The Thief can run away and serve as a second fighter. The Black Mage blasts enemies with magic. The White Mage keeps you alive.

This party has excellent balance all around and by promotion, you have two Black Magic users and two White Magic users, not to mention access to pretty much all the best equipment in the game.

There are problems with this party however. The first problem is that early on, you have only one reliable meat shield. The Thief is not always a good second-spot fighter because of its low defense and HP. The mages can't hold their own for long either. This means you will run into trouble at times and you have to be prepared for it. You can't breeze this party through any dungeon without adequate supplies and MP conservation.

In addition, paying for magic for two mages (which can get pricy) and for expensive armor for your Fighter means you'll have to do a lot of grinding for cash.

However, after promotion you will become nigh-unstoppable and well prepared for anything the game throws at you.

This is the party I use when I'm going for a quick run or occasionally a speedrun.