/vr/ - Retro Games

I was looking through the switch snes library and I saw it had the first 2 Breath of fire games. I played the gba port of 1 a lot and enjoyed it so I'm giving 2 a shot. I just beat this thing in a well shortly after getting Stein so im probably gonna do a little grinding before I move forward. Is there any big mechanics that I should be using or paying attention to that I should be using? rpgs from this era tend to not have many ways to learn what stats or commands do outside of trial and error, or would that just be in the manual?

>>8523438
first pic is the entrance to a dungeon that ends in a boss fight that constantly peppers your party with breath or quake attacks that does a ton of damage relative to the level you're bound to fight it at, and party-wide heals aren't a thing yet.

second pic is an optional area that ends in a surprise boss fight. How you answer the questions before entering decides how much HP is sapped from your party before the fight begins. Said boss hits fast and hard, and again: no party-wide heal. Ending the boss battle quickly is the only recourse. A clever player would wait until after getting the frog character, giving access to another optional area nearby to get the main protag a new devastating attack (that he can only use once per battle). And even then you'd be lucky to win without losing a party member.