The real Final Fantasy II

[Anonymous No.5153302]

Not to be confused with the US SNES FFII.

Is it actually worth playing or is it as bad as people say it is?

[Anonymous No.5153308]

>>5153302
Play it yourself and decide for yourself. It's one of my favorite games in the series, but others can't stand it. Thinking for yourself is always great though.

[Anonymous No.5153313]

it gives you a lot of freedom to develop your characters but punishes you if you don't specialize
if you know what you're doing, it's easy as shit
if you don't, it's a living nightmare

most people put all three characters in the front, give them weapons in both hands and every magic they can and end up with thre really shitty red mages

the monster rooms and rotating 4th character is annoying but I enjoyed the game

[Anonymous No.5153323]

>>5153313
I think it's best to decide early on how you want your three mains to develop and then have them just focus on that. One of the things I like about FF 2 is that if you want a decent black mage you will be having them cast magic constantly. Unlike a lot of rpgs where a mage character often gets stuck just attacking or defending half the time to save MP for bosses.

[Anonymous No.5153324]

>>5153308
>Thinking for yourself is always great though.
Agree and thanks.
I will try it.

[Anonymous No.5153326]

Just don't play the FC version. It's been re-released to hell and back so pick one of those.

[Anonymous No.5153338]

>>5153308
This. It frankly has a lot of great features that were never seen in the series since, but it is also flawed. Decide yourself. It's frankly my favorite of the nes-snes era. Even above 6.

[Anonymous No.5153340]

>>5153323
this will sound autistic but what I like about the game is the moment when I get to the end, open the menu and look at my character's stats and know that it was through my actions in battle that they got so powerful
it feels satisfying, especially compared to FFs where your strength comes from jobs hidden away in magical crystals, espers, materia, guardian forces etc.
it feels like these characters earned their strength

[Anonymous No.5153341]

>>5153302
Only the PSP version is worth playing.

[Anonymous No.5153350]

>>5153340
I agree. It's one of the FFs I've played all the way through a few times now partly for that feeling and making an almost whole new party each time. There are so many spells to level up you can't ever do everything so it's fun to try different things.

[Anonymous No.5153381]

>>5153338
good taste m8

[Anonymous No.5153391]

I like it but I like the weird games. FF2 is best described as 8-bit Morrowind. With how leveling works and a keyword system. You might be best to read on how to best play it since if you don't play it exactly right you can fuck yourself over. Also get a map of the dungeons because they are complete bullshit in how they are designed.

[Anonymous No.5153418]

Sadly, the NES era games are usually overlooked because they don't feature as much eye candy characters and story as later entries.

In my opinion, FF2 excels at these features:
- It has a very open world and character development. You can set up the party at your pleasure, and even decide to ignore the main quest and explore the world. However, it is not really a game designed to ignore the plot.

- It is the first and probably more serious attempt at an actual story. FFIV comes close, but it just features too many comic relief for my tastes, and it only gets worse as square releases new FFs.

- The characters felt more human, not the usual monk-king, ninja-prince, etc that usually plagues FF. It has no issues killing quest related characters without the expected drama that the series ensures whenever an important character dies.

The game actually introduced some elements that are now staple of FF.

[Anonymous No.5153423]

>>5153323
I would agree, but I'm not a fan of each spell having its own level/exp. You don't need to cast stuff like Esuna or Protect in every battle, but you have to if you want them to be worth anything.
The SaGa games handled it better by grouping spells into various schools for the sake of leveling. That way you can still specialize your mage without being stuck casting useless shit all the time.

[Anonymous No.5153430]

this is the one FF that could benefit from some modding
for example, a mod preventing characters from targeting each other with attacks and offensive spells, or one that ties spell levels to your stats so they don't start at level 1 (if your intelligence is 99 a new black magic spell would automatically start at level 16)

I think those two would significantly improve the game

[Anonymous No.5153432]

>>5153423
I like it though I see where you're coming from. Part of the issue could bevthe sheer amount of white magic spells in the game. I would keep it as is but have xp "bleed" over to similar skills. So casting Shell would mostly just level Shell, but give a small boost to Barrier and Protect for example.

[Anonymous No.5153439]

>>5153430
It'd be nice if the guest characters joined with better builds too. No more of that "dual-wielding frontliner with 0 evasion" bullshit.

I swear every one of those shitters was designed to be as useless as possible.

[Anonymous No.5153658]

>>5153313
>most people put all three characters in the front, give them weapons in both hands
This doesn't work in the original NES version, since you'll only ever do damage with a single weapon. Having one weapon in each hand will give you experience points with the other weapon, but won't increase your damage. This makes it much more more appealing to use shields even if you don't get the actual importance of this.

[Anonymous No.5153682]

>>5153658
>This doesn't work in the original NES version
yeah but how many people knew this? all they knew is they could equip both hands with weapons, so they did
but yeah, shields and evasion are overpowered

[Anonymous No.5153689]

>>5153430
Cap HP at 999.

[Anonymous No.5153978]

>>5153423
The SaGa games came after FFII, it's easy to say they were more refined when FFII is a very rough blueprint for their formula.
The big mistake of spells in FFII was having abysmal spell growth rate, though to be completely honest it's really not worth it to level anything past 3 or 4 at best, not to mention that stuff like Cure will naturally level past that too since you'll cast it so much outside of battle.

FFII has a lot of design flaws, but it's still the most daring entry in the series when it comes to mechanical design and set the standards for everything to come after it when it came to narrative too, not to mention the introduction of so many recurring things, from monsters to characters.
Moreover, it was also the big turning point for Squaresoft in general, after II the original FF team disbanded with all key members going their separate ways and making their separate stuff, though Sakaguchi's "faction" remained at the helm of the company, it's a very important and interesting game in more ways than one, it's a shame it got memed into oblivion in the west.

[Anonymous No.5154010]

>>5153302
It's fucking tedious.

[Anonymous No.5154432]

>>5153418
>It is the first and probably more serious attempt at an actual story.
>FFIV comes close, but it just features too many comic relief for my tastes
> and it only gets worse as square releases new FFs.
Absolutely agree, this is why i can never get into the new final fantasy's.

Good post.

[Anonymous No.5154441]

>>5153682
I assume they'd notice they weren't doing any more damage?

[Anonymous No.5154448]

Dungeon design is awful. Character advancement is easily broken to create extremely OP or extremely weak characters. Shit ton of bugs. Ok story, graphics, and music.

If you're judging it by NES standards, it's probably above average. If you're judging it on an absolute scale, it's not very good.

[Anonymous No.5154505]

>>5153978
>after II the original FF team disbanded with all key members going their separate ways and making their separate stuff

Which members and what games?

[Anonymous No.5154508]

Played it and hated it. Not a fan ot the gameplay and the characters are just...boring. 1&3 actually feel like they're your adventures.

[Anonymous No.5154510]

It's pretty gnarly. They tried to do some new stuff, and there wasn't really a "formula" for FF yet, so a lot of it was one-and-done features that they never brought back.

[Anonymous No.5154630]

>>5154505
Sakaguchi, Tanaka, Kawazu and Ishii.
Sakaguchi, and to a degree Tanaka, chose to stick to FF, but Kawazu and Ishii left the team to create their own IPs, SaGa and Seiken Densetsu/Mana respectively, though Kawazu and Ishii worked very closely together since they were already good friends at the time, much like Sakaguchi and Tanaka, it was basically a Catholic/Protestant schism if you want to make a joke about it.

Still, both Kawazu and Ishii helped with FF sometimes, Ishii was around to help with FFIII as object designer and he was a major designer and director for FFXI, Kawazu created the Crystal Chronicle series and was also the one they called to salvage the sinking FFXII ship when Matsuno resigned mid development, not to mention he was the one who handled the FF/FFII remakes for Wonderswan/PS1, AKA the only remakes you should play since they're the only ones that play like the originals.

[Anonymous No.5154632]

>>5153302
steam when?

[Anonymous No.5154654]

You're better off playing the SaGa series, which pretty much polished and expanded upon all the gameplay concepts from FFII.

[Anonymous No.5154678]

>>5154632
Emulate
>>5154654
Saga games have no story.

[Anonymous No.5154695]

>>5154678
>emulate
steam when?

[Anonymous No.5154696]

>>5154508
I like 3 a lot, but not as much as 2. Very little love for 1 though.

>>5154654
There's also the option to play both.

[Anonymous No.5154697]

>>5154695
>bloated version that would look ugly anyway vs the very original experience on whatever device you choose.
What a hard choice.

[Anonymous No.5154705]

>>5154697
exacly, it's an easy choice

steam when?

[Anonymous No.5154712]

>>5153302
Best character growth system coupled with the absolute best OST of the series.
The World Map music is 10/10 to set the mood, regular battle theme is great and the dialogue for its time was also really developed.
I feel the game not being a standard setting for the future titles was a lost opportunity.

[Anonymous No.5154715]

>>5154705
Not him, but why is paying for something you have to play through Steam better than playing the same thing for free and can easily be played on virtually any device you own?

[Anonymous No.5154723]

>>5154715
Looks like he is a brainlet who doesn't know how to emulate.

[Anonymous No.5154760]

>>5154715
>paying for something you have to play through Steam
you answered your own question right there anon

>>5154723
i only emulate nintendo and sony exclusives

[Anonymous No.5154787]

>>5154712
I hate to beat a dead drum but
>beat up your own party for stat growth
>expect not to be exploited
Come on bro, don't think for a minute that there's any hokey "honor" in not doing this. Having this option was a terrible design choice. I agree that the OST is powerful though.

[Anonymous No.5154819]

>>5154760
Did I? Is it the paying for it or the playing it on Steam that's the virtue?

[Anonymous No.5154889]

>>5154787
I see it as a filter for stupid people. A dim witted or immature gamer looks at that, sees it's exploitable so they instantly take advantage of it without thought.

After a few minutes of self bashing, they can defeat the powerful enemies roaming other parts of the map, and then they roll into Mystidia and buy crazy powerful equipment and spells. Then they try going back to follow the story, get bored one-shotting everything in sight and declare the game sucks.

On the other hand, someone with forethought and self control looks at the exploit and realizes that breaking a game makes it pointless to play. So they ignore that aspect and level their characters as normal and they get to experience a very fun adventure where their party slowly grows and earns more skills growing into eventual bad asses.

Of course anyone can choose to play how they want, but it's hard not to chuckle at the folks who complain that being able to hit your own characters ruins the game.

[Anonymous No.5154918]

>>5154787
people think they're really smart for getting obscene ammounts of HP early by hitting themselves, but undead (not to mention the Emperor) deal percentage based attacks that can potentially OHKO a character
lot of people ragequit this way

the real best stat in the game is evasion

[Anonymous No.5154923]

>>5154819
having games on steam is subjectively comfier

[Anonymous No.5154938]

>>5154923
Ahh rock on then. I assumed it was paying for it actually. I don't use Steam a ton and perfer to play it portable anyways so just diff'rent strokes.

[Anonymous No.5155191]

I've only played the GBA port a decade ago and kind of hated it, but reading through this thread and seeing all the love it's getting has given me a new appreciation for the game, because I realized a lot of the reasons being posted are stuff I love in games, too. I just wish a lot of the gameplay mechanics were implemented better. I've never had a reason to be interested in or play the Romancing Salsa games, but now I do.
Thanks, anons.

[Anonymous No.5155319]

>>5154678
>Saga games have no story.

SaGa 3 and SaGa Fromtier 2.

[Anonymous No.5155353]

>>5154678
>Saga games have no story.
SaGa games unironically have more story and lore to them than FF games.
Of course to people who think story equates to the number of cutscenes in a game this might be a bit strange.
>>5154712
>I feel the game not being a standard setting for the future titles was a lost opportunity.
The game did set the standard for future titles though, just not FF.

[Anonymous No.5155370]

>>5155353
I don't give a fuck about lore.
Lore= shit that you read and doesn't affect the game at all. Also, you seem to confuse more with better. What RS has is a collection of unrelated quests like the ones that plagues open world games.

[Anonymous No.5155374]

>>5155370
>>5155370
>I don't give a fuck about lore.
So you don't give a fuck about stories either.
>What RS has is a collection of unrelated quests
What unrelated quests exactly?
The game reminds you all the time that everything that happens in the world is tied to Saruin's return, again, this might be hard to understand for somebody who can't follow some narrative thread outside of cutscenes directed for kindergarten kids, but that doesn't mean the games don't have story.
This isn't different in RS2/RS3 either, outside of maybe one or two quests which are actually completely unrelated to the big plot, 90% of it is tied to the main story, if you can't read between the lines it's your problem.

[Anonymous No.5155905]

>>5154938
>>5154923
>>5154819
As someone who has no problem emulating and doesn't own any of the FFs on Steam, I want FFI and II on Steam simply to complete the whole package. They're the only mainlines missing from the store. It would also be nice to have non-shit versions of V and VI on Steam, but that's a different story.

[Anonymous No.5156191]

It had interesting ideas that were completely broken. I remember getting to the final boss and simply being unable to hurt him because of how damage/defense was calculated (this was a recurring issue to me). You could bypass this with magic, but then you ran into the problem that it took literal days to level your spells.

Good effort at introducing a story to the game though, and overall it laid a lot of foundation for later games. It was also arguably the most Amano aestethic of the games, which was great.

[Anonymous No.5156195]

>>5156191
>I remember getting to the final boss and simply being unable to hurt him
most people use the blood sword
spamming haste and berserk also works against anything

[Anonymous No.5156276]

>>5156191
>You could bypass this with magic, but then you ran into the problem that it took literal days to level your spells.
You can just use Berserk, which boosts your attack into the stratosphere even if you don't bother leveling it. Barserk is one of the most powerful spells in the entire game.

[Anonymous No.5156317]

>>5155905
i would like to buy them on steam but i'm delaying since i can't buy ff1, lol.

[Anonymous No.5156340]

Having only played FF2 and one of the Gameboy games (forgot which sorry) what game would you say I should try out in this series? I know Romance SaGa was just released on Switch but don't know if it's a good starting point.

[Anonymous No.5156481]

>>5156340
Just try whichever one is accessible to you. I'd only say to shy away from Unlimited SaGa, SaGa Fronter 2 and maybe Minstrel Song as the latter might have you see the other games as a step down in general. If you don't care or think that won't happen to you then by all means just start with Minstrel Song.

RS2 (the Switch one) is a fine starting point though, just remember that you're expected to die and continue on with one of your hero's descendants (you'll understand when you play). RS3 is also great, but for now we only have a not-very-good fantranslation and there's no doubt an English release coming sometime next year.

There's also the remakes of the GB ones on the DS: SaGa 2 (FF Legends 2) and SaGa 3 (FF Legends 3).

[Anonymous No.5156484]

>>5156481
Alright I'll check that one out. Any tips on playing it with SaGa game being really weird in how everything works.

[Anonymous No.5156489]

>>5153430
>>5153439
>>5153689
I wish I could mod all of the FF games.
I'm not interested in fucking with the story or anything like that, but the mechanics give me a fucking rage boner that could only be mitigated if I had the option of fixing that shit.

I would even try to make the mechanics mesh with the story, instead of existing in some kind of completely unrelated parallel universe where you can chuck planets at people for no reason.

[Anonymous No.5156497]

>>5156484
Talk to people, don't grind, don't ignore classes (each town has their own set) and early on you generally just want to unlock as much of the map as you can, so again, talk to people and pick up on their hints.

There's these scout type characters in every town that explain a lot and continue to as the game goes on and your Event Rank goes up, so check in with them every so often. Your Event Rank (ER) determines what quests are playable and a bunch of other stuff. I think it's the more battles you fight, the more it goes up along with some other stuff that pushes it up. You may have a quest only accessible between ER 5 and 7 for example. You can go full autist and monitor it like crazy but I got through the game just fine without bothering with it.

Just go brave and have fun. If you want a more structured beginning, picking someone like Albert or Claudia would be better for your first playthrough. Use a guide and look things up if you have to, it IS kind of a game you have to learn to play, just don't "follow" the walkthrough.

[Anonymous No.5156882]

>>5156276

I played FFII in my early teens I think, when the PS1 remaster came out in EU...I guess technically speaking I still got the save?

For some reason, I didn't realize a lot of the particulars of the system. Which is funny, because I played through FF1 just fine.

[Anonymous No.5157969]

>>5156481
Different anon, since I don't have a switch, what game would you recommend starting with, and are there specific games I should play or miss, or eventually get around to all of them?

[Anonymous No.5158079]

>>5153302
I think it says a lot that I played it all the way to completion three years ago and yet remember literally nothing about it

[Anonymous No.5158089]

>>5158079
That certainly says a lot about you.

[Anonymous No.5158091]

>>5158089
It's not a good game, anon. I'm sorry

[Anonymous No.5158136]

>>5158091
Says you, but you have the memory of a goldfish.

[Anonymous No.5158245]

>>5157969
RS2 is on everything except the XBONE, so you can get it on something other than the Switch.

[Anonymous No.5158807]

>>5153302
I quite liked FF2, I remember getting to the overworld and finding the music very fitting for the world I was in, it was one of my favourite aspects of the game. It has interesting ideas but they either don't work in practice or are just confusing.

The level up system just streamlined my characters in Warrior, Archer and Monk. I wasn't even trying, it just happened and it was an accident, even though I liked the idea of levellling up certain aspects depending on how much you used them, if it was thought out well it would've been cool.

To me it was a big jump from FF1, I enjoyed the story and the characters, more weapons and abilities to use. It only suffers from a questionable level up system, the empty rooms in dungeons that waste your time, and a stupidly overpowered final boss that you can only really beat with the Blood Sword.

[Anonymous No.5160014]

>>5153418
Best post itt.

[Anonymous No.5160339]

>>5158136
It's unrememberable as fuck.
I'm sorry for your shit taste though

[Anonymous No.5160379]

Deserving of its poor reputation. The leveling system isn't fun, the story and characters aren't good (no matter what anyone here says), and the world isn't interesting. I think every classic (up to X) Final Fantasy has something going for it, except this one. Not really anything to see here.

[Anonymous No.5160452]

>>5160339
>>5160379

The game certainly has issues, having played it not too long ago I can attest to that. But there is so much potential especially given the time of it's release and development.
It has decent character development, interesting, if unbalanced, mechanics and a few great tracks. It also introduced a lot of the elements that we associate with the series and that alone should give it some credit.

I wish they did a proper remake of the game, or maybe something in lines of a re-imagining of it. Having the systems take advantage of modern conventions and borrowing elements and mechanics from other FF games would make it something great.

[Anonymous No.5160475]

>>5160452
It can be argued that future releases would do that. Every FF revolves around a rebel army fighting against an evil empire, with its characters having to deal with their past or fears.

[Anonymous No.5160512]

>>5160475
>Every FF revolves around a rebel army fighting against an evil empire

Not Final Fantasy I.

[Anonymous No.5160513]

Historically interesting, but not good. If you are already deep into the genre it's worth checking out.

[Anonymous No.5160549]

>>5158807
>and a stupidly overpowered final boss that you can only really beat with the Blood Sword.
Emps is a tough fight for a final boss given the series' average but he's plenty beatable without the blood swords as long as you have Blink, Berserk and Haste and at least level 4, it's going to be an uphill battle compared to the rest of the game though, that's for sure.

[Anonymous No.5160631]

>>5153302
The gba port is great. I played it earlier this year. Didnt even once have to stop and grind, because the power scale was perfect. Only advice you need is to use buffs properly or get fucked.

[Anonymous No.5160639]

>>5160512
Or 10

[Anonymous No.5160737]

>>5153313
>grooming Maria to be white mage
>keeps getting attacked
>ends up turning into the biggest beefcake ever
okay.tiff

[Anonymous No.5160956]

>>5160737
Might just be me, but I think there may be a reason why people like to put points in to stats instead of relying on absolute rng

[Anonymous No.5160978]

>>5160549
Emperor will rape you through the eye socket if you don't go into the fight without shields and high proficiency. Dual-wielding is awesome but all the endgame bosses do drain damage which scales directly with your maximum hitpoints, and because HP grows so fast (especially in the GBA version) it outstrips your healing no problem.

[Anonymous No.5160992]

It's the worst out of the 8 bit FFs

[Anonymous No.5160994]

>>5153302
It's a pretty nice game, just see general tips around the web for making your party. If you liked it, check the SaGa franchise.

[Anonymous No.5161434]

I beat this game again again a little while ago, first time was about 13 years ago on ps1.

This time I actually enjoyed it a lot, now that I knew how the game worked, I strated it again to play the new post game content.

Back in origins I cheesed emperor with the blood sword, this time I gave it a go with my rather shitty Jack of all trades party and found my healing spells could not keep up, so I gave my "cleric" dual healing staffs and that did the trick, I was healing for over 3k per atack. That taken care of I Just alternated flare/holy and buffing with my other three characters. Última did jack shit because while I May explore and sequence break I never grind and you get that spell too late.

Some tips for OP.
Blink FTW, save often and on separate files, make the most of minwu when you have him, When fighting trash mobs use magic since You don't get weapon levels for killing those anyway. Try not to heal unless on critical health so You get natural Hp boosts without having to go out of your way and whack your own team. Pick a weapon type and stick with it, same with magic schools.

Playing SaGa/FFL 2 right now and the walk speed in this game is killing me, feels like playing pokemon or worse. Charming games, not easy not Hard, but engaging. Rather barebones on the story departament but Charming. My only gripes so far are the walk speed and the fact that items/skills have no descriptions.

[Anonymous No.5161482]

>>5160956
Except that it's not absolute RNG, the chances are affected by the actions performed. Though I think a hidden stat EXP system would behoove the system much more.

[Anonymous No.5161486]

>>5160956
Except that it's not absolute RNG, the chances are affected by the actions performed. Though I think a hidden stat EXP system would behoove the system much more.

>>5160978
No it won't the Emperor is easy if you have any forethought. He's easy, all you need to have is Decent Evasion, Berserk and Haste at level five which you should have by the time you're at the Tornado.
Also casting Cure on a character that isn't You're black mage will ensure that it's at least at level 10 by the time you're at Pandemonium.

[Anonymous No.5161495]

>>5161434
>This time I actually enjoyed it a lot, now that I knew how the game worked, I strated it again to play the new post game content.
This is pretty much my experience with the game. I first played it on the dawn of souls versions when I was around 13-14. I was still somewhat new to JRPGs but I managed to slog my way through the game somehow completely blind. On repeat playthroughs actually understanding the game it's a lot more enjoyable but it is still one of my least favorite final fantasy games, most of the fun comes from just being able to break the game and become extremely OP early on through abusing shields for evasion and other methods.

I also have a very similar experience with FF8 which was my first FF and 2nd JRPG after SMRPG. My first playthrough which I actually gave up on at the lunatic pandora I made it through most of the game just spamming summons with hilariously bad junctions. For the longest time it was my least favorite FF. Came back years later after finishing a bunch of other FF games and ended up really liking the game after I learned the intricacies of it.

[Anonymous No.5161824]

>>5160549
>>5161486
honestly you could just use berserk/haste as tomes instead of grinding them up as spells, it's not like you need those buffs for any other fight in the game

[Anonymous No.5161834]

>>5153302
I liked it on the GBA. It's easier but I think it gave it the right amount of difficulty since there are still enemies that can kill your party in one hit. Quick saves were a big help.
I liked the story and the villain I still think is the most powerful Final Fantasy antagonist ever. I liked Firion and I want to see more of him in crossovers,

[Anonymous No.5161928]

>>5161824
Fair Enough, but I think you don't actually gain bonuses from INT when using a tome so the effect doesn't layer nearly as well.

[Anonymous No.5162169]

>>5161928
Tomes still have party wide effects so you could just restrict their use to your fighters and not lose much in term of growth for casters by letting them cast the spells instead of using tomes.

[Anonymous No.5162186]

>>5161834
the Emperor really was underrated. Proto-Kefka in terms of destruction dealt.

Hell, FF2's story is underappreciated in general. It's obviously not refined, but it's their first go at this narrative and the game is surprisingly competent at having an appropriately somber mood throughout the whole thing.

[Anonymous No.5162578]

>>5162169
You don't need the tomes if you have a caster...

Because of the exponential curve of EXP needed for weapon and magic levels the game all but caps all development at level 10 for weapons, and the dedicated caster will only be behind by 2 levels at that point. The best set up is Cleric, Wizard, Fighter, Fighter. Stacking Haste and Berserk breaks any STR bonuses so having two characters on white and black support won't hurt DPS by much at all, in fact having a berserk/haste support increases DPS even if the support never attacks since the damage of others goes from 800x3 to 2000~3000x3 per turn.

[Anonymous No.5162680]

>decide I should try and beat this game another time
>just finished Semitt
>Have Firion using cure and protect in battle
>not even one little spirit level
Just a little annoying really

[Anonymous No.5162829]

>>5162578
>You don't need the tomes if you have a caster...
What if you don't want to have a dedicated caster?

[Anonymous No.5163179]

>>5161834
Didn't GBA switch magic over to MP?
I vastly preferred the D&D-esque spells per rest system. I wish FF hadn't started using the generic mana system after a while.

[Anonymous No.5163225]

>>5163179
nope, FFII was the first FF to have MP

[Anonymous No.5163305]

>>5162829
The last bosses in the game are an endurance run, if you don't have a decent healer or 4000+ HP it'll get messy.

Because of the way that spells work in FF2 a dedicated mage is a must for multitargeted buffs and even single targeted ones will benefit greatly. the two most important spells are Berserk and Haste. Berserk, like Protect, stacks, increasing it's effect.

Berserk has a power of 5+INT/4. Haste increases the number of hits, essentially acting as weapon levels, a Haste is overwritten by a more powerful version if cast again and as such doesn't stack. Both have an accuracy of 50+INT, which is divided by two when multitargeted.

So if you have a non-dedicated mage your INT will be around 40 and buffs will be level 4~5 at endgame, so ~5 layers at 90% or 45% hit, that's an average of 4 layers per single cast. Berserk giving +15 attack per layer so +60 per casting. Increasing damage by +240 more damage when single cast.

With a dedicated mage you'll have 90 INT and Level 10 buffs at endgame, so 10 layers at 140% or 70% hit, that's an average of 10 or 7 layers per single cast. Berserk giving +27 attack per layer so +270 or +189 per casting. Increasing damage by +2700 more damage when single cast and by +1323 when multicast.

The proof is there, having a dedicated black mage will boost your attack more in one multicast than a party of non-dedicated mages can. Then you can stack the Berserk castings while the other party attacks.

[Anonymous No.5163557]

>>5163225
>>5163179
III uses the Vanacian system at least. Also technically you could argue VIII uses a twist on the system.

[Anonymous No.5163589]

>>5162829
Then just use the blood sword like everyone else.
>>5163305
As long as you have berserk at all you'll be good. Most of the Emperor's moveset is worthless, the main challenge of the fight is finding a way to kill him that won't take ten years.

[Anonymous No.5165025]

So I've started playing through II recently on nes and finally got to the final 2 dungeons but I'm having a tough time getting through them. I think my party is at an okay level. Any tips? Or should I just restart on the gba remake instead?

[Anonymous No.5165028]

>>5153302
It's pretty good; anyone who says it's bad is a fag who probably liked Faggot Fantasy VII.

[Anonymous No.5165029]

>>5165025
Should've focused on evasion and never be hit by a physical attack again
use blink if you have to (I hope you have someone with blink)
there's a shop behind a waterfall where you can buy berserk tomes, do so if you have none

[Anonymous No.5165107]

>>5165025
Post your team and it's stats. "Okay levels" isn't really a thing in FF2, it's individual stats that matter..