Bravely Default leveling up question

For those experts in Bravely Default, I have one question;

I am 20 hours into the game, basically playing with monks, thiefs, hunters, white and black mages.

My Bow attacks are great, but now that I want to level up other classes I cant because they are too weak.

The thing I don't understand is that why bow attacks are so powerful when the attack number might be 120 and sword or axes attack can be 160 or more but in battle deal less damage than the supposedly "weaker" bow.

Does it has to do with the job level? Because I am level 9 as thief or hunter but level 3 as knight and I dont know if this is what is making the difference.

Im having a hard time leveling up valkyries and in general sword or axes classes.

Please advice.

There are a few variables there. If a weapon's aptitude rank is S for a certain class, it'll do more damage with that class than with a class that has a lower ranking. One way to get around this is to equip the Lore support ability to raise the aptitude to S for any class (i.e. equip Sword Lore for swords).

But you might already know that.

The bow is unique because it requires both hands to use. If you use the Two-Handed support ability and leave one hand unequipped, you'll do way more damage with a sword or axe or whatever.

I don't think your job level affects your base stats, but I could be wrong.

Unless you have access to the Ninja class, never dual wield weapons. always have a weapon in one hand, shield in the other. Also, remember that speed is important; it determines how many hits you get on an enemy when physically attacking. Lastly, check the weapon aptitudes. Valkyries are superb with spears, but awful with rods. There will be a letter near a weapon when you equip it. the higher the rank, the better you will be with that weapon. Basically, I would just stick with whatever the class was really good with, as I could maximize damage that way.

Great! makes a lot of sense, this is my first JRPG I believe since the PS1 (aside from persona 4 Golden) era and sometimes I think Im playing FF Tactics.

This is great info, thanks!