What about creating an ACTUAL Dark Knight?

[Ultimatecalibur]

Found my old explanation of the "road of DRK's identity":

I think in order to make DRK "feel like a DRK", we have to explore the identity of DRK.

It was first playable in FF3, but most of the NA audience never played 3. So really, our first exposure was FF4, in the form of Cecil. Cecil as a Dark Knight could use the ability "Darkness" which cost HP, but did damage to all enemies. He had high HP and Def and could use swords and shields and heavy armor.

It didn't appear again until FFX-2 as a dressphere. There, it also had Darkness (aoe) and Charon (single target version of Darkness), and Arcana. It also had proof against most if not all status ailments. It still had high HP and Def.

It next appeared in FFXI as a DPS class. It lost a lot of it's identity here, as it was basically turned into a hybrid caster/melee. Could use black magic and stat-absorb spells, had access to early Stun and could gain TP really fast. Also lots of Draining abilities.

It appeared in FF: Tactics PSP version (war of the lions), and there it focused on HP/MP drain.

You have a few things out of order here.

Dark Knight's 3rd appearance was in FFT(PS) (1997) as Gafgarion's exclusive job with 2 special attacks that dealt Dark element damage and recovered either HP or MP.

XI (2002) and the Advanced Job Dark Knight was released before X-2 (2003) and its Dark Knight.

[Mahoukenshi]

You have a few things out of order here.

Dark Knight's 3rd appearance was in FFT(PS) (1997) as Gafgarion's exclusive job with 2 special attacks that dealt Dark element damage and recovered either HP or MP.

XI (2002) and the Advanced Job Dark Knight was released before X-2 (2003) and its Dark Knight.

There was also the the FF3 remake for Nintendo 3DS, where IIRC Dark Knight was only(?) a mid-tier job in the grand scale of things and had also the all-enemy hp-draining skill. It was recommended to use them with Bards for synergy during the parts the combo was valid.

[Reynhart]

There was also the the FF3 remake for Nintendo 3DS, where IIRC Dark Knight was only(?) a mid-tier job in the grand scale of things and had also the all-enemy hp-draining skill. It was recommended to use them with Bards for synergy during the parts the combo was valid.

In FF III, the only uniqueness of DRK was to be able to use Katanas...that prevent monsters from multiplying.