Kraid's 'Quick' Guide to FFII

[Kraid]

Final Fantasy II is a game I'm asked about a lot: Mainly because I go around and tell people how to play the game in the first place.

But many people still ask me as well as play this game and struggle on how to actually play and beat it. This is a 'guide' more than a walkthrough as I feel that if you know HOW to play Final Fantasy II, you will have an easier time beating "said game."

Many people have said that Final Fantasy II is the 'hardest' and the 'Grindiest' of all the Final Fantasies. I'm writing this guide to show that it's not any where near the 'hardest' and most certainly does not require any amount of grinding.

Stats

Spoiler:

Most of the stats in Final Fantasy II are pretty obvious. Others are not so much:

Strength: Strength will increase your Attack and Hit Rate. The more you attack, the more likely you will increase your attack as well as your Hit Rate.

Agility: Governs your Evade. In short, the more you are targetted by a physical attack by an enemy, the more likely your Agility will increase. The more agility you have, the more your Evade will increase.

Vitality: Governs your HP. When you take a certain amount of damage, You have a likely chance of increasing your Vitality. The more Vitality you have, the more your HP will increase. If you have 20 Vitality and your HP increases, you will gain 20 HP per increase. So it's a 1-1 Ratio of HP increase to Vitality.

Magic Power: Same thing as Vitality but for MP.

Intelligence: Same as Strength but for Black Magic. It increase Black Magic Power + Black Magic Hit Percentage. The more times you use Black Magic, the more you'll increase Intelligence.

Soul: Word for word the same as Intelligence, just replace "Black Magic" with "White Magic".

Evade: The most important stat in the game by far. You would think this would just influence how often you can dodge enemies but it has far more useful functions than just that. It also influences your speed in a battle, how likely you're to attack first, how likely you are to run away from a battle. It also governs how likely you are to gain Agility after a battle.

Weapon

Spoiler:

Weapon Levels will increase the more you attack with a weapon. The more weapon level you have, the more hits you will do. So with a weapon level of 2, you should do 2 hits per that weapon.

Also if you attack an enemy with a higher 'rank', your weapon skill will increase far more dramatically than if you attack an enemy with a lower 'Rank.'

I believe choosing to Dual Wield will double the 'Experience' for your Weapon Levels.

Now when I choose weapons, I like to choose weapons that will always be useful.

Swords are always useful in the game.

Bow and Arrows: Useless since they're two handed.

Barehanded: Only useful later when removing equipment for removing the Evasion Penalty. Plus with a Shield you can't go barehanded anyways so don't bother.

Axes: They're useless part of the way in the middle of the game because you won't find many useful axes.

Rods/Canes: I like them for my mage, even if they're not that useful. But they'll be more useful than Axes later so I usually get a Rod/Cane user.

Knife: Useful but weak. Only give to Leila later since she'll be in your party for a long time.

Spears: Like Rods, more useful than Axes since you'll find more of them in the middle of the game.

So in my mind you want a character to use a Sword, a Spear and a Rod. I usually give Firion a Spear, Maria the Rod and Guy the Sword (I will explain later on.)

Note: Weapons in FFII FC carried Int/Soul Penalty. They still however carry Evade Penalty/Bonus.

Shield

Spoiler:

This is where it gets obscene: In Final Fantasy II, if you choose to use a Weapon and a Shield, if you attack with a weapon you will also gain 'experience' with the shield.

Shields in Final Fantasy II give Evasion. Each shield level will multiply the effectiveness of a shield the character is equipped with.

Example: A Golden Shield has an Evasion rate of 14%. If you have a Shield level of 3 + 1, you will have a chance to dodge each attack by 56%.

The best shields in the game are the Dragon and Aegis Shields, though there's only one Aegis Shield and the Dragons barely drop their shields (Though Dragons can be farmed on the top floor of Pandaemonium.) If you can't gain the Dragon Shields, the Elemental Shields will have to do.

Note: In FFII FC, Shields carry Int/Soul Penalty. They still carry Evade Bonuses.

Armour

Spoiler:

All Armour (as well as Weapons) comes with 'penalties.' Armour in FFII in all versions will induce the following penalties: Int, Soul and Evasion.

Here is a list of the Soul and Intelligence Penalties by Sco412 (Though named after the FFII FC names.) :

Spoiler:

Leather Cap: -2 INT/SOUL
Bronze Helm: -8 INT/SOUL
Mythril Helm: -8 INT/SOUL
Giant Helm: -24 INT/SOUL
Flame Helm: -26 INT/SOUL
Diamond Helm: -34 INT/SOUL
Genji Helm: -60 INT/SOUL
Gold Hairpin: -0 INT/SOUL
Headband: -2 INT/SOUL
Ribbon: -0 INT/SOUL

Clothes: -2 INT/SOUL
Leather Armor: -4 INT/SOUL
Bronze Mail: -20 INT/SOUL
Mythril Mail: -20 INT/SOUL
Golden Mail: -20 INT/SOUL
Knight's Armor: -44 INT/SOUL
Flame Mail: -58 INT/SOUL
Ice Mail: -72 INT/SOUL
Diamond Mail: -86 INT/SOUL
Dragon Mail: -50 INT/SOUL
Genji Armor: -100 INT/SOUL
Copper Plate: -1 INT/SOUL
Silver Plate: -1 INT/SOUL
Gold Plate: -1 INT/SOUL
Ruby Plate: -1 INT/SOUL
Diamond Plate: -1 INT/SOUL
Black Outfit: -1 INT/SOUL
Power Sash: -1 INT/SOUL
White Robe: -0 INT/SOUL
Black Robe: -0 INT/SOUL

Leather Gloves: -4 INT/SOUL
Bronze Gloves: -24 INT/SOUL
Mythril Gloves: -24 INT/SOUL
Thief's Gloves: -40 INT/SOUL
Giant Gloves: -60 INT/SOUL
Ice Gloves: -80 INT/SOUL
Diamond Gloves: -100 INT/SOUL
Genji Gloves: -100 INT/SOUL
Power Armlet: -2 INT/SOUL
Protect Ring: -0 INT/SOUL

On the other hand you can find the Evasion Penalties on Final Fantasy Wikia: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/L...ntasy_II_Armor

All Armour listed as 'Helms and Armor', as well as certain Gloves, are unwearable. Infact you can if you want at the beginning of Final Fantasy II remove all equipment besides weapons from you.

Do NOT put a shield on your Magic Casters in the FC version of FFII since they have a -70 Penalty on Int/Soul. I don't know if this is so much as true in the later versions but I've been told they're not in the later versions.

From the equipment shown, the best in the game seem to be All the Shields, Protect Ring, Black/White Robes, Black Garb, Power Sash, Headband, Gold Hairpin and Ribbon.

Magic

Spoiler:

Magic in FFII is affected by a certain amount of 'things.' It depends on what you're equipped with, your Int/Soul AND your Row. If you're in the back row, you gain yet another penalty which reduces the effectiveness of your Magic spells.

Also multitargetting Magic Spells not only splits the damage as well as the accuracy, it REALLY lowers the accuracy. So even though the spell against two enemies should split 50/50 between them, the Accuracy will be reduced even more so than that and so in turn the amount of hits that spell will have is also greatly reduced.

"It seems that Magic is useless then since it seems so situational."

It really isn't. Infact it's far superior to phyiscally attacking. You don't need to keep finding ways around tough enemies in order to gain the damage needed in order to kill enemies with Magic. While your Physical fighters may end up doing almost no damage to an enemy, a magic user will be able to destroy them instantly. In short, Magic is unaffected by 'Rank.'

Magic can gain more power quicker than Physically attacking can.

[Kraid]

What are "Ranks?"

Spoiler:

A "Rank" is an enemies armour rating in short. The higher the rank, the harder it is to pierce. You need a weapon with high enough strength, Curse or Berserk to be able to penetrate through tougher armours. This is why the Cursed Sword is so useful as well as the spell Curse.

It is vital to learn about ranks if you want to take on Captain's at Fynn.

Useful Spells

(* will mark my personal favourites)

Spoiler:

*Fire - Fire is more useful than Ice and Bolt early game due to the fact that most enemies early game are weak to Fire. There's a couple of enemies weak to Ice but there's no reason to train Ice up in order to beat them and very few are weak to Thunder. ALSO a Level 2 Fire Spell can Multitarget and clean the "Altair" area of enemies in one fell swoop meaning less MP spent and more money gained.

*Cure - Because it restores HP. More important, an Inn will charge you depending on how much HP and MP you have. The less HP you have, the more it charges you. Cure will allow you to remove as much of that cost as possible.

Life - Life is useful as it can ressurect a dead party member, as well as act as an instant death spell against undeads.

Exit/Warp - Exit teleports you out of a dungeon while Warp will teleport you as many floors equal to the spell level. Both can instantly kill an enemy. These are 'Matter' Elemental spells.

Swap/Change - This is one of the most abusive spells in the game if you want to grind in FFII. it is a White Magic spell that is Matter Elemental. What it does is swap your HP/MP with another enemies. Get this to Level 5/6, use on Goblins and gain absurd amount of Vit/HP/Magic Power/MP and maybe Soul while you're at it. This spell is highly abusive for grinders.

*Toad - This is a Black Magic Matter Elemental spell. It can be obtained really early on by fighting Captain's in Fynn (I've been able to obtain it as early as having Minwu in my party.) At around level 4/5, it starts being able to instant death most enemies that are short of being immuned or absorbing Matter Elemental spells. This spell has my personal recommendation.

Mini - This is the White Magic version of Toad. However it's not as useful due to the fact that Mini can only be obtained once Fynn has been liberated and so is obtained quite late into the game.

*Osmosis - This Black Magic spell drains MP. Need I say more?

*Berserk - Black Magic spell that increases the Physical Attack Power of an ally. Stacking multiples will increase the attack power of an ally further BUT they will lose accuracy. This spell, along with Fire and Toad, for me, are the best spells in the game.

Haste - Black Magic that Increases hit rate so you gain more attacks per attack. A useful but useless spell if you will as Berserk does a far better job + Masamune later can cast Haste 11 on EVERYONE for free.

Curse - Black Magic Mind Elemental Spell that reduces all the stats of the enemy. Think of it like Vit 0 in FFVIII, because it's very useful. I'd rather use the Ancient Sword however but it's there if you like it.

The best set up?

Spoiler:

When I play FFII, I sort my characters out to be a dedicated White, Black and Physical.

Guy has the highest Strength and Power, so it makes sense he goes physical. It's also useful to always have someone with a sword since Swords are the best weapons in the game. So he gains the Sword

Maria has no contest on being the Black Mage. Low Strength and Power, but high Magic Power and Intelligence.

This makes Firion the default White Mage. However he'll lack in offence so I give him the spear, which leaves Maria with the Rod/Cane.

Because of the initial equipment, all the Leather equipment is pretty bad. I don't equip my first armour until I obtain the Silver Cuirass/Plate, First Headgear until Gold Hairpin and the Thief's Gloves as my first Gloves.

Row Setup

Spoiler:

Quick mention to Rows: In the back row, magic is worse. However you'll also be barely touched in the back row and the enemies will attack everyone in front first. This is so totally not worth it to be honest as the Back Row negates all possible advantages it would have.

What to do with the fourth party member?

Spoiler:

The best advice is "It depends."

If you don't plan on doing Soul of Rebirth (SoR), strip their equipment and use it for yourself when they go to leave your party. Otherwise stick with what they're proficient at.

I'll list the exceptions.

Minwu: Try and level up as many of his white magic ASAP if you plan on doing SoR. He's a white Mage + Ultima = White Magic. Plus that Ultima does more damage depending on how much you have mastered and Minwu is the only mage you'll really ever obtain. All his skills if I recall correctly only need one casting to level up. Cast as many and the damage from Ultima will stack in SoR.

Minwu also uses Staffs as weapons.

Josef: Again, if you're doing SoR, give him some decent equips.

Leila: Leila is the main reason not to use Knives in FFII. You'll be using her more often than any other party member and so she'll be equipped with the knives you find. The times you use her will involve the hardest parts of FFII.

There's no need to level up her Thunder Spell. It's useful when you first acquire her due to the sea (and a reason not to get Thunder as well is due to Leila) but Leila will end up doing more damage with her knives later.)

Ricard: In some versions, he'll use Swords. In others, he'll use Spears. You could use Ricard as an excuse not to use Spears due to him also being as prominent as Leila, but the thing is Spears are FAR more common + The time you get Ricard you're already focusing on other things (Such as Mini.)

However Ricard for SoR has an interesting option. You could train him up in swords instead of his spears so that he can carry the Blood Sword for the MUCH HARDER Emperor of Light. Or you could equip him with some armour that gives a ton of defence but slows him down to help him through the Unknown Cave.

In short: He's a really good character to set up for SoR, mostly because he comes late into the story and can carry good weapons over.

Leon:

Leon is all rounded, but stacks slightly in the physical department. At this point you COULD make him a mage (if you wish to be sadistic and grind), or you could make him physical with either Swords or Axes.

On the FC, WSC and PSX versions, going sword would be the superior choice due to Blood Swords. Infact, on the other versions without 2 Blood Swords, you can set up Excalibur/Masamune for Leon and your other melee. Just a berserk on him and he's worth the effort.

Whatever you choose, Leon will be worth it. Depending on your character growth, he'll be either under or over your norm. I find him to have more HP than Maria and Firion when I play.

Important items and locations

Spoiler:

Fynn before Liberated - This is an important place as Captains can drop the almighty Toad. You can farm from Captains as soon as you get a high enough Fire Spell (I actually forget the level but it was after Semitt Falls with Minwu that I did this.)
Captains can also drop Fire Bows and other equipment will can be sold for a really nice price. I was pretty stinking rich once I obtained my Toad spell.

The Dreadnought - Magicians can drop the Berserk Tome. Try and get one. If you feel Instant Death is cheap, then this is the best spell in the game.

Ancient Sword - Found in the Snow Cave. It hasn't got very good accuracy but it can inflict Curse which is very useful for people trying to get past enemies with high physical defence early on.

Blood Sword - For those who want the REALLY easy way out when it comes to Pandaemonium, look no further. This sword will deal damage based on the attacking target's MAX HP. One can be found universally in all versions in Paul's House later. Otherwise the 'second' one can be found on the fourth floor in Fynn Dungeon but ONLY on the FC, WSC and PSX versions.

Excalibur - Obtained by Ricard's Wife after Ricard dies.

Masamune - Secret Room in Pandaemonium in the 'Crystal Maze' part.

Black Robe - Mysidian Tower guarded by a White Dragon. Increases Intelligence. <- Best Armour for Black Mages

White Robe - Mysidian Tower. Increases Soul. Strangely not guarded. <- Best Armour for White Mages

Power Vest - Leviathan. Useful but not as useful as Black Garb.

Black Garb - Found in Cave of Mysidia and Dreadnought. <- Best Armour for Physicals in the game.

Thief's Gloves - Dreadnought, Buyable at Mysidia. (You can easily make the trip to Mysidia once you're past the Dreadnought and are VERY worth getting.)

Power Armlet - Leviathan. Increases Attack, Accuracy and Strength.

Protection Ring - Can be dropped by Lamia Queens. One found in Jade's Passage also.

Elemental Shields - Kashuan, Fynn, Cyclone, Mysidia, Fynn Castle Basement and Leviathan. (Elemental Shields = Gold, Fire, Ice and Diamond)

Dragon Shields - Drop from Dragons.

Aegis Shield - Jade Passage

Gold Hairpin - One on Leila (UNEQUIP AND GIVE TO YOUR BLACK MAGE), One also in Cave of Mysidia and one at Pauls later on.

Twist Headband - Leviathan. Equip to your main Physical Attacker ASAP.

Ribbon - Pandaemonium, guarded by Astaroth. Also dropped by Queen Lamias and Death Riders.