Row

From Final Fantasy Wiki

Row refers to whether a character in battle is either in the back row or the front row. This effects the character's performance in battle. A character can either be in the front row or the back row. To date, most Final Fantasy games allow the player to change the rows of a party member freely. Party members can switch rows in battle, but switch back after the battle has ended. However, this is not the case in the NES/Famicom release of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II.

Being in the front row will allow characters to deal increased damage to enemies, but they will receive increased damage from enemies too. This would be best for characters with high HP and Defense, such as the Warrior or Paladin Classes. Being in the back row will mean characters inflict less damage, but receive less damage from enemies too. This would be best for characters with low HP and Defense, like White Mages or Summoners.

Monsters can also be in the back or front row, depending on the placement of their allies. They will experience the same increases/decreases to damage as the player's characters do, although killing the enemy's allies typically eliminates row altogether.

Typically, there are exceptions to the above rules. Magic of any kind almost universally is unaffected by row, with the exception of spells that activate based on row, such as R. Polarity in Final Fantasy VI that switches a player's row. Most games also have "long-range" weapons that inflict normal damage regardless of row. Bows, throwing items like Boomerangs and Stars, and Guns usually ignore row, along with other specialized weapons.

Some games also allow an ability known as Long Range or Reach that gives the equipped character the same power as if they were using a long-ranged weapon. This power was enhanced in Final Fantasy VII with enemies that were not in the back row, but were physically too far away for normal attacks to hit, requiring the Long Range Materia or a character with a long-ranged weapon to hit.