Final Fantasy II Japan is an atypical sequel, but otherwise a
typical Japanese game. Your lead character is the redesigned Fighter, with
two others following Thief type classes, and a new female character. Some
characters are Red Mage types, and there are a number of generics including
turban-clad Rebels. The Black Knights are the precursors to the Black Knight
of Final Fantasy Adventure. Before Moogles, there were Beavers.
Final Fantasy's sequel drops the experience point system in favor of the
"Boost" system, by which abilities that are used often receive "boosts".
Statistics are presumably increased with use, with power boosted by weapon
use, intelligence and M.power boosted by "black" magic usage(offensive or
damage-dealing), soul boosted by "white" magic(healing, curing), and interestingly
enough, HP and Vitality boosted after taking critical hits. Agility,
magic power, and MP are enigmas. Weapon skills and Magics accumulate points
through use, rising to the next level every time one-hundred points are
collected. Weapon level equals the maximum number of hits(like Final Fantasy,
the hits are a multiplication factor), and magic level changes the animation
and attack power/hit percentage. Flaws include slow increase which results in
a great deal of game time being spent trying to boost levels or back-tracking
after humiliating defeats and the need to go to extreme lengths to boost some
abilities(try removing armor to increase damage taken and thus raise the
chances of earning HP or Vitality Ups). Add to that a twist new to me: Using
magic may result in Power or Vitality Downs, and using weapons produces a
dreaded Intelligence Down(pushing weapons earned me two characters with
1 intelligence and it's hard to regain those lost smarts).
Taking on the over-powered, impossibly stout bosses and later, those
pervasive musclehead regular enemies(who were bosses in the previous
dungeon) forced me to develop a peculiar countermeasure. One thing I've
noticed about Japanese ports is that the abilities of some seemingly obscure
items can drastically turn the tide. Immediately after finding the Ancient
Sword, I put it to good use. I found it indispensible on a character with a
good sword arm, who could(presuming he could score a decent hit, to which end
I often left a shield behind) potentially curse the baddie in question. The
incredible drop in attack power and defense from the curse turned more than a
few arch-nemeses into mere super villains.
Some other flaws included an almost Phantasy Star-esque monotony, barely
mitigated by the slices of story begrudgingly handed out in between epic
struggles to achieve each minute objective. I also really can't stand
"sappers", those enemies who appear only to dish out massive amounts of grief
and then perish or run away. If they only take one hit to destroy, then
they're annoying, and if they take more then they can be major problems. This
game even introduces lethal combinations of powerful enemies, sappers, and
powerful sappers all together. And they invariably strike first. The
introduction of Aspl to the series also heralds the irritating sapper move
involving a lightning fast cast of Aspl level X on the party that drains an
inordinate amount of magic from each character, leaving you virtually magic
pointless. Another flaw is in item space, which would probably have been
fixed by simply keeping special items necessary to proceed separate from
regular ones, like in FFI. Instead, you cling to those out of fear that you
might arrive at a point where one of them is needed again only to find that
you've tossed it already. Items don't overlap, so that stack of 99 potions
from FFI that served as an annoying but vital source of recovery are gone.
You have to fall back on magic and keep a very limited inventory or drop
all sorts of valuable treasures. I finally gave up on saving a good set of
equipment for the mysterious fourth character you get to name(who ceased to
be a mystery long before I sold off his potential gear). Equip those extra
characters with shoddy merchandise and the cheap magics(they're the most
useful anyway) since they tend to vacate or pass on at an alarming rate.
Final Thoughts: It was a dizzying array of easy fights and insanely
difficult all-out battles. In retrospect, the most unusual thing about the
game is that you know whether or not you're going to win a battle in the
first couple of rounds. Generally, the Ancient Sword trick meant that an
enemy would go down. Midgame, a failed attempt with the Ancient Sword meant
defeat. I specialized my characters into a few weapons, and pretty much left
magic by the wayside, having my main ones up to level 5 or 6, especially Aspl,
which is a must have. My main character kept the Ancient Sword as a sidearm.
By the end, there just wasn't any way to raise the difficulty any further and
the characters could catch up. The enemies were easier, but using the Ancient
Sword made them real pushovers. The Emperor himself was basically immune to
physical and magical attacks until he tasted the Ancient Sword, but cutting
through all the other bosses was a cake walk.
Last Hints: Upping HP and MP, as well as vitality and magic power, is a simple matter
of striking your own characters with critical hits and Aspl. Chocobos make a
brief appearance in a relatively hard-to-find Chocobo forest. It looks like
the only items that must be kept are the transport items(ice sled, canoe, etc.)
and the Pendant, so the rest can be discarded at leisure. They should probably
be kept until they are used once to avoid getting stuck somewhere and the
Crystal Rod is used twice to proceed. In the last stage, my characters HPs
ranged from 2000 to 3000, primary weapon skill had to be 8, although the lead
sword-swinger had 14 in swords in order to insure hits with the Ancient Sword,
and my next best hitter had skill of 10 or 11 in the axe. The only enemies that
appear to be consistently immune to the curse of the Ancient Sword are the
giants appearing at the end of the game, and with skills above 10 your weapons
hit well enough. Magic skills of 5 or 6 targeting their weaknesses also score
a decent amount of damage and take them down quickly. Fire is effective against
Ice/Undead/Flowers, Ice against Fire, Lightning against Water, Aero against
bugs and storm enemies(or generally anyone not affected by the previous three).
Holy doesn't appear to particularly affect undead or any other type. Flare
shares the same apparent lack of effect. Ultima seems to do critical hits
often and otherwise just works as a general attack magic like Flare or Holy.
Weapons share the same strengths as magic, so it pays to bring along a good
elemental weapon as at least a backup when susceptible enemies abound. Unlike
the previous Final Fantasy, there's a very noticible effect when striking
a weakness and a drastic difference when equipping an armor that defends
against an attack. Flame and Ice shields are better against magical attacks
than against physical hits, although they do significantly boost evade
percentage. The appropriate shield will reduce certain elemental attacks by
roughly three-fourths. Also be aware that a magic that does not strike an
enemy's weakness may have a much weaker effect or actually be absorbed. Slime-
and Pudding-types always seem to have a weakness, several strengths, and one
type that they absorb. Spirits just absorb every magical attack and dish out
annoying magical attacks.
