Like in the classic Wizardry games, you have two rows in your party. The back row is only susceptable to ranged, magic, and some special attacks, while the front row takes the brunt of the damage. There are four front row classes: the defensive knight, the tough but not particularly accurate damage-dealing warrior, the more fragile ninja who specializes in killing single targets, and the more fragile samurai who can damage large groups of opponents. In the back is the ranger who specializes in taking down single opponents, the wizard, the priest, and the dancer, who is the only class that can use melee weapons at range and can use multiple consumable items each round. You can go without any of these, since the dancer can be as effective a healer as the priest, though this certainly costs more in terms of gold. Each class gains skills as they level up. Skills can be active, passive, a weapon proficiency, or the ability to use multiple spells. Each time you switch classes with a character you can "equip" skills from the former class. Each character starts with two slots, and gains an additional each time they reach level 13 in any class. The only downside to switching classes is that you start your new class at half of your old classes's level and class level determines hit and dodge chance to a great degree, as well as what level spells you can cast. This makes for a very interesting system that gives character development a lot of depth, allowing you to build all kinds of unusual characters (including ones that are pretty useless.)
Like I don't have enough games to play right now.
