I'm playing through all of Final Fantasy, and everyone is invited (Playing Lightning Returns now)

[FelixSH]

A long-lived peace is over.
The Emperor of Palamecia has
summoned monsters from Hell
to begin his campaign for
world conquest. A rebel army
arose in the Kingdom of Fynn
to stop the Empire. However,
Castle Fynn has fallen, and
the rebels escaped to the
town of Altair. Four youths
from Fynn, their parents
killed by the Empire, flee
from imperial forces...​

I only played one time through FF II. It was either one month after my one playthrough of FF I, or one year later, I don't remember. I think it was two years or so ago. I recently remembered, that I didn't actually play through the game on my own, but oriented myself on a LP, likely from the Something Awful LP-Archive. I like to do that with JRPGs that I play for the first time, playing through a part and than looking at the same part in the LP. Or, with older JRPGs, using them as sort-of walkthroughs, and to get hints on how to play. So I had help, which is probably the reason, why I didn't have too much trouble.

I still never grinded, and did play through the game in a way, that I would have used anyway. The main thing was probably that I knew what to expect with bosses, and being able to avoid monster closets.

This time, I will not use an LP, or a guide. I also will not hit my own guys, because that sounds really dumb and boring. I might grind a bit, if I get stuck and feel like I need some better stats, but I'll try to avoid it. If you want to give me tipps, feel free to do so, I don't mind spoilers much, at least not when it comes to gameplay. With story, though, I'd like to get no spoilers. But whatever happened can be freely discussed. If I get spoiled, I don't really mind, just try. But please don't use the spoilertags, I will click them anyway. If you really feel the need to talk about something, I'd prefer that to just happen. Again, no spoilers is my preference, but it's not a big deal if they happen.

The start of the game:

This game fells like it has more story in the first five minutes, than FF I had during it's entire game. That might be a bit mean, but it can't be too far from the truth. Instead of having random Chosen Ones, these people are explicitely said to be orphans, who lost their parents in the fight they are just fleeing from. That's technically not much more, the heroes of FF I are probably orphans too, and considering that they can change to their grown-up form, where they clearly grow, it seems implied that these are, at the start, teens. Still, these four obviously know each other. Because after waking up, Kafka called their names - Hesse, Bronte and Twain. After they were nearly killed by the soldiers of the evil empire.

Just this battle alone is a neat bit of storytelling. We start the game, and immediately are thrown into the action. But without any chance of actually doing anything. The game immediately makes it clear: We are just some random people, who got extremely lucky to still be alive.

Everything about the start of the game is really grim. Even aside from the fact that our main characters just lost their parents, and were driven away and nearly killed by demons, everyone you talk to shares some of the pain. There is Prince Gordon of Kashuan, who fled and left his kingdom and his brother behind, and is now deeply ashamed of his cowardice. There are random people, who talk about the horrible fate of Fynn, the fallen town, and how they are scared of the Empire. Paul, a legendary thief, seems pretty happy with his life, as he seems to get good money through theft from the Empire. But he still makes it clear, that he hates it deeply. The King of Fynn is heavily wounded, and lies in his bed. His daughter has to lead the rebel army for the time. I expect that she is maybe in her mid-20s, but probably not old enough to deal with a crisis of this calibre. People clearly are scared, that the Empire will extend it's reach further. And there is the danger of them completing a Dreadnought, which might mean the final defeat.

And there is, of course, the fact that the emperor doesn't use human soldiers, but summoned monsters from Hell. It's a hell of a beginning. The game just started, and it already feels like we are nearly defeated. Even the music is intense and kind of sad.

I'm not a music guy. I don't listen to much music (I prefer podcasts), and, while I like music in the background of a game, to provide some atmosphere, it is rare that I remember it, after turning of the game. The music from the castle stuck in my head. It is a really good piece, as is the music of the town.

I like princess Hilda. She has to lead a rebel army and has to organize whatever is left of her kingdom. She does have Minwu, who I assume is an old and competent advisor, but still. She still took the time to rescue Kafka, Bronte and Twain, and offered them a place to stay. And she offers the group a chance to prove themselves, without using them in something essential. They are just supposed to rescue their friend. Hilda doesn't risk much, but she might gain useful allies. It's nice, that there is an important, strong female character at this point in the game. It nearly offsets the stupid Battle Bikini that Bronte has to wear. Seriously, come on.

I'll not complain about it again, but I had to one time.

When you get back to Fynn, there is still a nice mix of story and gameplay. Unlike every single town in FF I, the third one you find here has random encounters! Towns are safe, except if they suddenly aren't. I was caught off guard by that. But it fits pretty well. The town is full of demons, so it's not surprising, that weaker monsters are here now, as well. The NPCs too, are actually really dangerous, and will kill you if you look at them funny. It's a nice subversion, to have a save haven be a place where you can actually die.

And when you finally find the pub, you actually do find out something important. Namely, that prince Scott of Kashuan, the brother of the prince who fled, is here. Except that he is dying, and can only give you some last information. Borghen, someone who Hilda seemed to have trusted, is a traitor. Scott also wants his brother to not grieve, but keep on going. And, finally, Scott loved Hilda. Ok.

I'll probably not summarize the story of the later games in this detail, but in this case, I just don't know the stories well. And after FF I, it feels so nice to have something that already feels decently complex. I do like to talk about interesting stuff in stories, so it will, as time goes on, probably be the main thing I will focus on. I will try to get more out of it than a simple summary, though.

Regarding battle, I let Kafka keep his sword and shield, got Twain a shield to go with his axe, and took Brontes bow away. I hope she will become someone, who can punch through walls. No idea if it will work, but I guess I can just level up another weapon, if it doesn't.

Also, everyone will get the Cure spell, but I will try not to level it up too much. I will also give everyone an elemental spell, as well as an infinite death spell, and level these up. But aside from that (except maybe for Osmose?), I will focus on weapons. Or trying to raise the weapon type and the black magic of that person. We'll see. I just assume, that I can correct stuff that doesn't work.

 

[Issun]

Yeah, the thing that really struck me this time through was how dark FFII's story really is, especially for a big name Famicom fantasy RPG. It makes sense that the world map theme would sound as mournful as it does (at least in the original version).

I have never played this game 100% legit. I have always had my guys smack each other around or used GG codes to just get through it, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it works when one just plays through it normally.

 

[Peklo]

Hilda's definitely among my favourite Amano designs, on her own and how she complements and contrasts with her nemesis the Emperor.

 

[FelixSH]

That is a really cool piece of artwork, thanks. Love the cape, and how she oozes competence and selfasurdness (is that a work? If not, I hope it's clear what I mean).

One thing that I forgot to mention is how much the graphics have already improved from FF I. I'm not sure how much of a technical achievement it was, to have the PCs and the monsters inside one single frame, instead of two different ones, like in FF I. But that and the improved background during the battles look really nice, after coming from the first game. And the enemies look way more detailed. Just the knights in the first battle alone look relly nice.

Also, the airship that flies over from time to time, for no appearant reason (at least for now) feels like a bit of fun, to raise the spirit a bit. It also makes this neat sound, that breaks up the sad music. I appreciate that little detail, and knowing that it I will meet the captain (who maybe isn't called Cid here) later on is pretty cool. The sense of worldbuilding is really great, if nothing else, that is something I already appreciate a lot.

 

[FelixSH]

I made it through the first dungeon! Semitt Falls, where there was Mythril, and slaves, and bosses.

Bronte with the Iron Fists startet to become a total badass, as soon as her fists reached level 2. It sounds like a machine gun, whenever she attacks, and it just destroyes everything in her path. Well, not everything, but she does more damage than Kafka with his swords, and Twain with his axe. She is also proficient at freezing monsters to death. Well, blizzard is level 2, so proficient might be an overstatement, but still.

By now, everyone has a bit over 100 HP and around 15 MP. I don't use much magic, mainly to kill puddings, but everyone has at least one elemental spell, plus cure. At least for now, just fighting and letting stats grow worked out fine. The weapon levels increase in a nice pace, which is enough to keep everyone useful. I just hope this will last.

Nothing too horrible happened, story-wise. I mean, most of the male population of Salamand was enslaved, but that is already par for the course in this game. I guess I'm already acclimated to the dark mood? I did meet Paul, the legendary thief, being captured by the Empire inside Semitt Falls. He was useful though, as he managed to get everyone to savety, including Josefs daughter. So Josef will help me now, and I remember him becoming a fourth party member. And, I think, dying.

The bestiary already feels more FF-y than in the first game. Goblins are, of course there from FF I, and they feel more FF to me than D&D (probably because I played more FF). But there are also enemies, that will reappear in every, or at least most games, like bombs (they are already jerks), the land turtle and puddings.

I love how the puddings look. They look kind of dorky and mean, and are holding an arm(?) in front of them. They are so goofy and cartoony looking. Also totally annoying - the first time, only Bronte had a black spell, and I didn't want to waste all her MP. So I hacked on them, until I got crits. I did better next time.

I also encountered the one element of FF II that I can't defend in any way: Monster Closets. I find them conceptually very weird, and together with the already high encounter rate, they are pretty obnoxious. Not too bad for now, and nothing that can't be overcome with multiple attempts at the dungeon, but they feel like padding. At least give me a treasure sometimes, instead of a monster? Oh, well.

I like how, despite this game not having classes per say, the game gives you characters to show you how you might want to create specific classes yourself. If you come from the first FF, and you want to build a White Mage yourself, you totally can! Just look at Minwu and his build, and copy that. I find that really nice, and, together with the very free-form leveling system, it should create a lot of possibilities.

I still thing that the different class combination that you can play in FF I are one of its strength. It adds to the playtime of an already relatively long NES game even more, by giving you ways to play in (sometimes very) different ways. I imagine they built on that, and just thought that the player might as well just build the characters however they want.

It is pretty hard to actually compare FF I and II. The title is there, the graphics are clearly the same, but better, and things have the same names (I at least guess they did). But elsewise? With a different artstyle, I would assume it's a completely different game, not from the same series.

The leveling system is one of the things that feels like a clear evolution. So, the first gives you some classes, and some choices (like which three of the four spells you want to use), but on the whole, you have not many decisions about your party composition. I guess even then, D&D was about creating a character in the way you wanted? Well, now you actually can. The execution might be flawed, but it's incredibly ambitious. I probably should actually try it out, and make at least one of my guys a black mage. Well, Bronte will level up her magic and her fists, so there is that.

I also like how much better the game actually looks. Inns and shops aren't weird bars anymore, they are rooms like all the other houses. I think I already talked about the battles and monster designs looking much nicer and more detailed.

Minwu is also a great ally. I know that the later ones will be more of a liability, but for now? Minwu essentially makes sure that you can't die. He is hard to kill and has a lot of MP, to cast all the White Magic that you can think of. He even has a Life-spell that is high leveled enough to work within battle. I mean, the boss in the dungeon is pretty mean, so it's good that you have someone be able to protect you from most danger, but still. I never felt actually in danger of being wiped.

Speaking of bosses, I met the Sergeant, or whatever his title is. He hit hard enough to kill Bronte in one hit, which was annoying, considering she she had the only level 2 spell. Kafka and Twain were busy casting level 1 magic and Minwu revived Bronte two times, and also healed Twain one time (who actually survived the attack). When Bronte would have finally been able to cast, the Sergeant was already dead. Lame.

I also found the very first Monster-in-a-Box! It was a Landturtle. A monster that is basically invulnerable with physical attacks, but falls to pieces through the cold. Blizzard was unfortunately only level 1 at that point, but the battle was still not much of a thing. No danger, of course, because of Minwu.

The first FF did, of course, the spiked squares, which worked similar to Monsters-in-a-Box, but I think this is a nice refinement. It makes more sense, even within the game, that the monster guards the chest, attacks you when you try to open it, and than stays dead. Well, I feel it makes more sense, it's all arbitrary anyway.

Still having fun, and I'm looking forward to destroying the Dreadnought. I liked how Cid made fun of it. He already has pride! I like it.

Oh, right, FF II has the first Cid. And he already has a personality. Not too much, because we are still early in the series, but enough.

 

[Vega]

The first time I played through this (on GBA) I think I made all of my characters naked bare handed white mages, and I probably ground by having people hit themselves. I think near the end of the game I encountered enemies who hit too hard for even my characters' calloused skin to withstand so I gave everybody two shields, which they learned to use as weapons.

My memory of doing this is hazy and I assume was on a different version than you're playing so take this recollection with a grain of salt.

 

[FelixSH]

As far as I know, the GBA and Famicom versions are quite different. But I don't know details.

Did anyone who did grinding by hitting themselves actually like this game? Either version. Just curious how much of an enjoyment killer that way of playing actually is.

 

[Felicia]

I did do the "hitting yourself to gain HP" grind, and for me, it was just a variation on the regular RPG grind. Final Fantasy II is one of my favorites in the series, so it didn't deter me much. What's really weird in the original game is that you can gain skills by selecting an action, targeting an enemy, and then cancel out of it, over and over again.

 

[Lokii]

When I first played the PSX Origins version I grinded and didn't like the game. When I played the GBA version I didn't grind and I liked it a lot. I don't think this says anything important but it's what happened.

 

[Mogri]

I'm glad this thread exists, because I'm playing Mystic Quest for the first time, and... it's actually pretty good! I'm not very far - currently I'm on my way to save the Water Crystal - but I like all the cool stuff this game is doing. Here's a list of said cool stuff that I've encountered so far:

-No random encounters, in a series that is otherwise happy to use them up until FFXII
-Weapons get stronger as you level up, and you can use those weapons to both progress in the environment and hit enemy weaknesses
-Enemies show battle damage on their sprites as you wear them down, which looks especially cool on bosses
-There are battlefields on the world map that give you useful rewards when you clear them out, like a bunch of money or exp, or unique items
-The music slaps

This is a pretty cool little game! That said, I might have to find a manual scan or something, because I've found a couple items that I don't know the functions of and there doesn't seem to be in-game item descriptions, which is weird. Specifically, I've picked up some Seeds and Refreshers; I'm guessing the latter is this game's version of ethers, but I have no idea what the first one does. Some clarification would be appreciated!

I'm way late on this, so you've probably figured out more by now, but:
- Seeds restore all of your magic charges. If you want the game to have some semblance of challenge, you might avoid using them. (Of course, there are other ways of making the game challenging...)
- Refreshers restore lowered stats, but so does ending combat. Useless.

 

[gorha]

I didn't hit myself, but I did grind a lot by casting Switch on weak enemies to deliberately lower my HP and MP, and I used the trick Fredde mentioned as well. I liked the game a lot at the time, but I don't think I'd enjoy playing it that way now.

 

[4-So]

Re: Mystic Quest

I played this again a few years ago after last playing it as a teenager and while it was still fun, I wasn't aware of how cheap the game can be in some of the final dungeons. If you're playing on emulator, don't be afraid to abuse save states. Nothing like starting a fight and both characters immediately getting turned to stone.

Outside of that nitpick, it's a swell time. Aquaria might be favorite region.

 

[YangusKhan]

Did anyone who did grinding by hitting themselves actually like this game? Either version. Just curious how much of an enjoyment killer that way of playing actually is.

When I was much younger (like, probably the first time I ever played FF2?) I did this and enjoyed it a lot... but also I never actually got very far into the game in the first place. I just enjoyed the grind for the sake of the grind at that age. But now when I've played FF2 again, I only think of this as another tool in my arsenal for playing the game. Which in practice means I might try hitting my own people if one of them starts lagging behind in HP growth compared to everyone else (because in FF Origins/original NES your HP will never go up if you don't get hit at all, whereas I think Dawn of Souls and beyond might have some natural HP growth just for fighting battles? idk if that's true but that's what I remember).

 

[Peklo]

GBA version and beyond add universal HP gains at regular intervals in addition to the usual methods of raising health values, yes. It makes it a pretty distinct play experience between the two eras, in addition to wrinkles like the targeting bug--fixed in those later versions, as far as I know--that further affect stat growth in practice.

 

[Bongo]

Remakes of FF2 also greatly reduce the effort needed to increase low stats, which also makes it so you need a total of about half the EXP to max them out overall.

Far more efficient than hitting yourself is casting on a weak enemy the spell that exchanges your current HP with that of the target.

 

[FelixSH]

GBA version and beyond add universal HP gains at regular intervals in addition to the usual methods of raising health values, yes. It makes it a pretty distinct play experience between the two eras, in addition to wrinkles like the targeting bug--fixed in those later versions, as far as I know--that further affect stat growth in practice.

That's why Kafka is never hit. I was already wondering about that.

The reason for my question was, that every time someone critizises FF II, it is mentioned that you have to hit yourself. I thought there might be a correlation there, and that it might impact the experience of the game very negatively. But I guess it is silly to expect that one thing to be the one that makes many people dislike the game so much.

I'm really curious now, if I will hit a wall with my way of playing at some point. I will report back, whenever it happens.

 

[Mogri]

Re: Mystic Quest

I played this again a few years ago after last playing it as a teenager and while it was still fun, I wasn't aware of how cheap the game can be in some of the final dungeons. If you're playing on emulator, don't be afraid to abuse save states. Nothing like starting a fight and both characters immediately getting turned to stone.

Outside of that nitpick, it's a swell time. Aquaria might be favorite region.

Mystic Quest lets you retry failed battles. It would take both poor planning and rotten luck to actually lose progress.

 

[4-So]

Mystic Quest lets you retry failed battles. It would take both poor planning and rotten luck to actually lose progress.

Does it? I don't recall but it does sound very Mystic Quest-ish.

Benjamin in Theathrythm Curtail Call was one of the highlights for me.

Shit. Now I want to play Mystic Quest. Thanks a lot, Final Fantasy Thread.

 

[gorha]

It's a shame that FF2's levelling system got meme-ified into "hitting yourself", because I think it's really clever, and that tying HP bonuses to damage taken is particularly good: getting hit in battle is now something that has a silver lining, if not something to actually look forward to!

I agree, it's really good in concept. I like the idea of character growth after defeating a monster being tied to how difficult the battle actually was, rather than how abstractly strong or valuable the developer thought it should be.

 

[Vega]

I agree, it's really good in concept. I like the idea of character growth after defeating a monster being tied to how difficult the battle actually was, rather than how abstractly strong or valuable the developer thought it should be.

Have later games implemented the idea better? Guardian Heroes gave experience points each time the player hit an enemy so level ups usually happened in the middle of a fight.

 

[Fyonn]

Have later games implemented the idea better? Guardian Heroes gave experience points each time the player hit an enemy so level ups usually happened in the middle of a fight.

The entire SaGa series are evolutions of this idea, but tend to also scale enemies up as you fight more battles (not as you gain more stats, necessarily) so that you can't ever sleep through fights safely and you're always pressured to use your best strategies for each character, more naturally specializing them. In FF2, it's not immediately obvious to all players that specialization should be prioritized despite the freeform development system.

See also: Every Elder Scrolls game, though in The Elder Scrolls, you improve your Skills with active use, which then grant your next level up after a certain number of increases, and the level ups let you increase your stats as you see fit (with varying levels of weight added based on what skills you increased since your last level up from game to game).

 

[FelixSH]

I played more of this. It got harder!

I'm not quite sure where I was, last time. I think I was supposed to go stop the Dreadnought, still with Minwu in my party. Well, we went, but were too late, and got made fun of by Borghen. Jerk. I think nothing exciting happened here, I don't remember much about the dungeon, except for the end.

But, that means horrible things happened, as the Empire now has it's superweapon, a giant, overpowered airship. They immediately used it, and rained terror on a few cities, one of them Altair, where the rebels stayed. Many people died, and the remaining few got inside the castle, out of fear. The kings health got worse, so we even lost our supreme White Mage. Prince Gordon of Kashuan, who thinks of himself as a horrible coward, went missing.

Next up was the task to find a way to actually destroy the Dreadnought, but we needed...stuff for that. Some badass flame, I'm actually not quite sure, but it is in Kashuan. Except that the only one who knows how to open the door is Gordon. But there is another way, some bell inside an ice cave near Salamand. Back there, Josef decided to help us, for freeing the people of Salamand from slavery. We got a sled (I actually had trouble finding the hidden cave, even knowing that it was near that strange rock.

The ice cave still wasn't too challenging, and I made it through in one trip. It already had some interesting treasure, like a sword with a low hit chance, which might curse the enemy. Which either reduces the attack, or lowers the defence. Because I missed with it half the time, I quickly stopped using it. The game was nice enough, to provide me with the Blizzard spell, and an Arctic Wind item, which is a one-use Blizzard spell of a high level. I also had leveled Brontes blizzard spell to level three, with a vague memory that it would be useful somewhere near the start of the game.

One of my favourite bits, at this point, was the cave with the beavers (they are beavers, right? Some cute, swimming animals). They just hang out in this cave, that is full of awful monsters, and are really nice. Twain knows the beaver-language, and found the hidden entrance to get further into the dungeon. Short, but I liked this little bit. It's just nice to find something cute and friendly, in this game full of dread and death.

Josef, by the way, was decently useful. I left him with his fists, and he was able to pull his weight. Not as good as Bronte, but he was some help. His design, too, is really cool. I like how the guest characters look in this game, and for now, we had two who were actually useful.

I mean, not for the boss, who was again nearly invulnerable to physical attacks. But the Arctic Wind and a casting of Blizzard level 3 was enough to destroy him. Thankfully, he was actually pretty strong. I immediately tried to leave, via a spell, but a "forcefield" left me stuck. Not too bad, thankfully there is a door that leads near to the entrance. Still strange, though.

The reason, of course, is that there was more story to tell here. At the exit, we were attacked by the stupid traitor Borghen. I was scared of having another boss battle, without the chance to heal up. The boss wasn't that bad, but my ressources had still gotten pretty low, especially my MP. But thankfully, Borghen was a pushover. He dead very soon (mainly to the power of FISTS). His design was pretty weird, though, he looked like a cartoon pirate. Nothing against that, just considering that this is, from a story perspective, a pretty significant fight (you finally get to kill the traitor), it is kind of anticlimactic.

And then, the first sacrafice happens. After Borghen dies, a giant rock rolls down the stairs, and Josef, badass that he is, tries to stop it, so that the rest of us can escape. I still remembered this, but it still had enough weight to it to make me sad, and appreciate the sacrifice. It just fits so well into the rest of the awful situation. People die left and right, and now it's one who was actually in my party, and faught beside us. You will be missed, Josef. And not just by me, Salamand and Princess Hilda are very sad for the loss. Considering how FF I had so little story, I can only repeat that this was quite impressive. They tried there best to make you feel how horrible the situation is, and that it just gets worse.

So, next stop was Kashuan castle, which we could open now, thanks to the bell that we found in the cave. And inside, directly after the entrence, waits Prince Gordon. He actually did decide to come here, so he could get the flame, and destroy the Dreadnought by himself, I guess. Except that he is a prince, not a warrior. The monsters were too strong for him, and honestly, I understand his point. There are some really evil things in there, already.

Gordon is the next guest character, and he is the first useless one. His stats are very low, and he has no spells. I didn't look to closely, but he doesn't seem to be specialised in much, except for a bit of training with the lance. I'm not sure if he can be even seen as in a class? Maybe it's intentional. The game makes it clear, that Gordon is not a fighter, so I guess it makes sense, that he isn't very useful. Still, knowing that he wouldn't hang around for too long, I just gave him a heal spell and a bow, and stuck him in the back row. I love his design, though. The blue, especially the cape, together with the white hair looks really neat.

Kashuan castle took me three tries. The first one ended pretty soon, as I realized that I had wasted a lot of Kafkas MP, and he was the one with the spell to exit dungeons. So, I went out and refreshed my guys.

The reason for Kafkas low MP was, that I already broke my rule of not hitting myself, at least a bit. I knew about Esuna, and saw not way of leveling it up in any way, except by spamming it for no reason. But I already didn't use the ship and the airship to reduce travel, but used the fight on my way to increase my weapon levels. So I just used it this time, to train one person in Esuna. I think that's fair, though. It feels different, from grinding, as I got at least somewhere. Might just be a feeling, but that's enough for me to justify the difference.

The main problem in Kashuan castle were the turtles, both types. I was a bit surprised to already see the Adamantoise, the boss from the last dungeon, here as a regular enemy. And it was the strongest by far. Both turtles could hit me with up to 100 damage, which is easily survivable, but not for too long. It also is very heal-intensive, and my MPs are still between 30 and 60. Together with the Ogre-Mages, who can put my party to sleep, just for fun (they could be in the same enemy group), I had one particularly hard battle, were everyone was asleep, and the turtle just wrecked me. Still survived, but it got close. That was the second time, that I needed to get out. I think I also encountered the Mines there, when opening a chest with some gold armor. Completely incapable of defeating them, before they blew up. I needed another rest.

There was also another new enemy type in here, the wererat. It isn't particularly dangerous, but it's design is just great. Their mouths are as big as their giant ears, and they just look adorable and weird. This game has some really great enemy design.

The third trip was successful, and I got to the boss. Who was kind of a jerk. I forgot it's name, but it looked like a flame with the mask of an angry dude, who was spitting out another flame. Again, nice design. The battle was kind of lame, though. In the first round, I tried to use my attack spells, only to realize that they all healed him. Which left me with physical attacks, which wasn't ideal either, as he had a lot of defense. Not as bad as the turtle, but I couldn't do more than 40 damage with one attack, and mostly it was around 10. He started with a few multi-attack spells, but seemed to have only enough MP for four or five castings. Than, he just used physical attacks.

At this point, I just realized how much of a difference it makes, that I can now actually use MP for all my spells. I hadn't used a single potion in the game, up to this point. Partly, because the game just hasn't become that hard, but mainly because the heal spell cost only 1 MP. Healing was really easy, even if I didn't do it inside a battle. I just find it interesting, considering that FF I has you buying potions all the time.

Anyway, the battle wasn't too hard, and I got a few crits in. And than, I finally found the torch that would let me carry this flame, that would make the Dreadnought explode, or something. After exiting the castle, Cid was fleeing in his airship, from the Dreadnought. So I got back to Altair, only to learn the Princess Hilda wanted to come, just to thank me. Gotta be honest, it feels like a way to damsel her. Getting out of the castle to thank one of her agents doesn't seem clever, when you are the general, and Hilda seemed, up to now, to be portraid as a capable leader. But, oh well.

That's basically it, for now. I found the Dreadnought, and took a first look, but the monsters in there seemed horribly annoying (undead creatures, who blinded and paralyzed me all the time. So I made this the stopping point, for now.

The last thing that I want to mention, is that I found the first Chocobo in FF history! There is a guy in Salamand, who gives you a clue to were to find the forest (which is just one specific tile in a big wooded area, but it is directly south from the entrance to the castle, so still easy to find. The minigame(?) you have to play, to get the Chocobo is weird - he moves around fast and randomly hides inside the grass, and you have to catch it by talking to it. The whole place feels really nice and welcoming, especially with the cheerful Chocobo music playing. It actually feels like a bit of a sanctuary from the horrible rest of the world. Like the beavers. I like the actualy animals in this game. The ones, that don't want to kill me.

The Chocobo looks really adorable, and it's just so nice to have something friendly, that makes you avoid all the battles, while riding on it. I love it's animation and the way it's drawn.

Next time, the airship will go down. And I hope the enemies afterwards are less obnoxious. Dear god, I hate undeads in these early FFs. They are the worst.

For the record, I still enjoy the game a lot, I just have other stuff to do at the moment. Just so you people know, that me slowing down has nothing to do with the game. It seems like the difficulty is increasing rather fast, but for now, everything works out fine.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Dear god, I hate undeads in these early FFs. They are the worst.

True. The undead in FF6 can be pretty annoying but nowhere near as bad as the ones from earlier in the series.

There was also another new enemy type in here, the wererat. It isn't particularly dangerous, but it's design is just great. Their mouths are as big as their giant ears, and they just look adorable and weird. This game has some really great enemy design.

Some versions of that monster sort of remind me of the Rat Fink character created by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

One of my favourite bits, at this point, was the cave with the beavers (they are beavers, right? Some cute, swimming animals). They just hang out in this cave, that is full of awful monsters, and are really nice. Twain knows the beaver-language, and found the hidden entrance to get further into the dungeon. Short, but I liked this little bit. It's just nice to find something cute and friendly, in this game full of dread and death.

Yes, I believe they are supposed to be beavers. Now why wasn't this made a recurring element of the series?

 

[FelixSH]

Maybe the beavers are proto-Moogles? I could imagine a parallel dimension, where a bunch of intelligent beavers are defending Terra.

 

[Issun]

Maybe the beavers are proto-Moogles?

Pretty sure that's exactly what they were. Also, keep an eye out for the wererats to make a reappearance four games from now.

 

[FelixSH]

And the Dreadnought is destroyed. Finally a win for the Rebells!

The trip alone was already challenging, with Landturtles and WizardOgres roaming the lands. It's also not a short trip, the Dreadnought is parked in the middle of nowhere.

The save there was really necessary, as the dungeon was a difficulty spike for me. I got surprised often, and considering that the enemies are often big groups of undead, who can paralyze by hitting you, that was bad news. When I was lucky, the enemies were just a new kind of wererat, which would paralyze instead of poison my guys. Not too strong, so they were more annoying than anything else.

More of a problem were the cat-type monsters, whose name I forgot. They hit hard (up to 100 HP) and could poison (which was the least of my problems). More importantly, I seemed to have been a bit underleveled. One of my group did between 30 and 80 damage, more skewed to the lower end. A group of four nearly destroyed me.

The other relevant monsters are the Mines, which are another bomb type monster. In case I haven't explained yet, they just hit lightly, until they get hit. Then, there is a high chance that the next attack is an explosion. Problem here was, again, that my hits weren't strong enough. Even when all four characters attacked, there was a chance taht the Mine was still alive.

I made three trips into the Dreadnought. I didn't survive the first one, but I used it to look around the ship. My MP decreased way too fast, as I needed to heal, but had no chance to increase them, as I only healed outside of battle. I need to work on that. The run ended, when I opened a box with the last new enemy here: The Hill Gigas. He has very high defense, and no magical weakness to elemental magic, like the turtles (I think, my spells aren't leveled anyway). He also hits like a truck, I was lucky, if he didn't straight up kill one with full HP.

Second try, I got the other chests without monsters, and had to get out again. When I was outside, I still had to get back to town, which in itself was pretty hard. My MP were nearly used up, but I made it.

The third trip worked out. I guess, the one or two points of strength that everyone got, plus the additional hit threw leveling up the weapon, made everyone way stronger, and especially Brontes fists did up to 200 damage again. I also was luckier with enemy groups. There weren't so many giant groups of undead.

Storywise, not much happened. Rescuing Hilda needs a detour, which makes a long dungeon even longer. That was the main problem, it just feels like it doesn't end, and it really drains your ressources. I made a save state near the chest with the Gigas, but was still way too weak. No Ice Shield for me, I guess.

The whole dungeon feels like it is intended to be hard. Which fits, considering that this is the super weapon of the Empire. We are hitting back hard, and, considering that the Dreadnought was the thing that scared everyone for the first half(?) of the game, it makes sense to make this monstrosity long and grueling.

It's also nice to see, that, while we are now capable agents of the Rebellion, we aren't much more than that. The soldiers of the Empire are everywhere on the ship, and they are still too strong for us. This, too, makes this feel like an important part of the war. It is a big thing, that we are accomplishing here.

And then, when we finally end the danger of the Dreadnought, a new player appears. A Dark Knight. He just stands there, menacingly, and Bronte recognized the voice. I'm not sure, how surprising that is, but it shouldn't be too much of a shock, when we later learn that it's our fourth starting character. But than, I would guess many players have already forgotten, that we are actually also looking for him, it hasn't been mentioned since we got our first mission.

We see how the ship explodes (very satisfying), and get a lift with Cids airship (he was in the cell with Princess Hilda). Our big, important accomplishment gets soured by a sad note. The king is nearly dead, and gives us some advice about our next step, before dying. Hilda didn't take the message well, it seems. She is in her room, laughing. I like that the game actually acknowledges this personal drama for Hilda, who was so strong up to now. But this seems to be too much for her to handle. Seems understandable. Gordon takes over her role, as leader of the Rebellion.

The next mission is to find the Dragoons. The Emperor seems to have killed them all, because he was scared of them, but I guess it can't hurt to look. Every bit of help counts. As the regular ship doesn't get us to Dragoon city, a woman hears us, and offers a ride, for free. Bronte finds that fishy, which it is, of course. And, in a callback to FF I, a very easy fight against very good looking pirates takes place. It does make more sense here, though. In the first game, we start out as some teenagers with barely any power, and easily kill nine pirates. Here, there are only six, and we are hardened warriors at this point.

Leila, the captain, offers to join us. And with that, we have a ship.

I like that we have another woman in a leadership role in this game. I have no idea if Leila will be helpful in combat, but she leads a bunch of pirates, so it is at least implied that she is a badass. She also feels a bit like a callback to a black wizard in FF I, considering that she has mastered a bit of Thunder magic. But maybe I'm reaching here, it just reminded me of the destruction of countless see creatures by thunderbolts. And she immediately reminded me of Faris, who, I'd bet, is a callback to Leila.

Anyway, that's it for now. Let me end by sharing some monster designs, that I like a lot:

The Wererat might be my favourite (aside from the Puddings, which I forgot to make a screenshot of). I love that giant mouth and the eyes, that look like the thing is crazy. Plus the giant ears, and the long, striped tail. It also looks like it has a bit of a belly? A+ design.

The Landturtle just looks nicely detailed. What draws me to it, is the detailed neck and head. There is a lot of work in there.

This thing (R. Soul) looks so goofy, I love it. It looks, like it isn't really interested in a fight, and just wants to hang out in piece. And it seems to burp. I guess it is a flame, that became selfaware, and the devil gave it a mask of himself, or something.

The pirates look so goofy and cartoony, I love them. Just look at the ridiculous arms, which are basically three balls stuck together. Or the big chin. And they all wear eyepatches. A+ design.

He looks so sad! and like his pants are slipping, and he has to hold them up. I also like that he wears some kind of cape, I guess? Or whatever that is, around his neck.

 

[Torzelbaum]

He looks so sad!

"Mongo Gigas only pawn in game of life."

 

[Mogri]

The rat and gigas designs are revisited in 6, while the spirit and turtle show back up in 4.

 

[MetManMas]

A lot of other enemies return in 4 sporting their FF2 designs as well.

 

[FelixSH]

Oh, I plan to watch out for repeated designs. Specifically with monsters, that don't appear in every FF, like the bombs do. I'm really looking forward to seeing new interpretations of old monsters, and it's nice to see the bestiary got more FF-y.

Anyway, I played some more. Last time, I stopped after having dealt a heavy blow to the Empire, by destroying their super-weapon. And it seems to have been a really good blow, there was nearly no strike back. With the momentary peace, I was supposed to get help from the Dragoons and the Wyverns. Or rather, look if any of them are still alive. And then we got a ship and a cool, new team member.

Sailing is nice. Most of the monsters aren't too dangerous, and the encounter rate is pretty low. Felt like a nice change of pace, especially after the grueling dungeon that the Dreadnought was.

In Deist, city of the Dragoons, we find only a castle in ruins. A lady and her son live there, together with the last Wyvern. First, we need a way to actually talk with the Wyvern, so we make a first, short trip into the cave behind Deist. And here, I hit a brick wall.

Remember the Hill Giant, that big jerk who guarded a treasure chest in the Dreadnought, that was way too tough for me? They appear in this cave, sometimes alone, sometimes with a second Hill Giant buddy. And there was just no way around it, one alone was too hard for me.

But thankfully, I have a ship, and decided that it was time to explore a bit. And what I found, in the middle of nowhere, was the city of Mysidia, home of the (Black) Mages. It sells a bunch of spells, though nothing interesting, like Toad or Berserk. But it had new weapons to offer. I think they sold the Wing Sword, which was a nice upgrade for Kafka. But, more importantly, I found an axe for Twain that was very effective against Giants! Thankfully, exactly what I needed.

Getting back to my ship was a bit of a problem in itself. I wasn't supposed to be here, so most monsters were really terrifying. Specifically, there were some more Horrible Birds, that could paralyze me, or turn me to stone, or something like that. No matter what I did, I always encountered a group of them on my way. At one try, it was a group of three, which was small enough for me to kill. And with that, I went back to the cave behind Deist!

With the new axe, Twain could hit the Giants for 300-400 HP, which was enough to kill them. I also decided, that I was getting hit too often, and finally decided to ditch my armor. Suddenly, they even hit less hard, most of the time. Who knew? I mean, everyone including me, but I thought I migth as well try to use armor. Not anymore. Except for Thief Gauntlets, which I also got in Mysidia, and shields.

The first dive into the cave was short, and I got an item from a fallen Dragoon, that made me able to talk with the Wyvern in Deist. It was a mother, and nearly dead. It only wanted me to put it's egg into the spring on the bottom of the cave, I think it was called the Spring of Life? Aside from the Hill Giants, nothing too bad was waiting inside the cave, and the new axe gave me clearly more power than I should have had by now. So I made it to the bottom, put the egg in there, and went back to the Wyvern. Except, it was dead. Which means, we basically failed. Or not, as we expected that there were no Dragoons left anyway.

So I made my way back to our base, Altair. In there, we learn that Princess Hilda has acted strange since she was rescued. I talked to her, which started a scene of her acting weird, wanting to talk with Kafka alone. They literally both get on the bed, but before more happens, Leyla comes in, realizing what is up. It's not Hilda, but a Lamia Queen.

I remember from my first playthrough, that I had some trouble with her. Not this time, she fell very easily. And I got VERY lucky, as she dropped a Ribbon! It's a rare drop, that you are supposed to get way later, when Lamia Queens are regular enemies. It doesn't help against status ailments here, as I understand it. But it makes the wearer resistant against magic. Which clearly showed, as Bronte, who I gave it to, was from then on the one who avoided annoying status magic.

Right after the battle, we learn that Palamecia (the Evil Empire) is holding a tournament. So, we finally make our way to the base of the enemy! But first, we change our fourth party member, as Gordon wants to help rescue his loved one. He seemed to have grown a lot, I feel. This game doesn't have too in-depth characters, but it is still nice that there are some people with an arc.

Also, we leave the leadership of the rebels in the hands of Leyla, our pirate buddy who just got here. Sure, she likely has good leadership skills, considering that her pirate crew seemed to like her.

The city itself is surrounded by mountains, and for now, not accessible. But a smaller building to the south can be entered, and inside, an arena with the Emperor in front is awaiting. We take part in the "tournament", which consists of us fighting a Behemoth. Which makes it already pretty clear, that this is a trap.

Also, first Behemoth in the series, if I'm not mistaken. I think FF I had none. Didn't make too much of an impression, though, it fell pretty easily. Partly due to Twains mighty axe.

This is, of course, the perfect opportunity to kill the Emperor. So we try, as there are no other people nearby, the Emperor is the only one watching us fight a giant beast. Except, it's not the Emperor, but the Dark Knight who watched us destroy the Dreadnought. Plus four guards, who hid behind the throne, I guess. Anyway, we get thrown into prison.

Thankfully, Paul the Master Thief comes, kills the guard and opens the cell. Which means he has finally paid us back, from back when we rescued him from the Mythril Mines. Thanks, Paul. There is a short dungeon following, but nothing too exciting. We find Hilda inside, for real this time, and she vanishes with Gordon. A bit longer, and we are out from the prison, and back in Altair again.

And there are exciting news. Hilda and Gordon decided, that with the weakend Empire and Hilda finally back on the throne, to take back Fynn. They are literally camping on the other side of the river, and tasking me with killing the demon in charge inside the castle. Honestly, not too much to talk about inside. I can be explored, but that probably can also wait for later. For now, the best thing is to go straight to the throne room, where a demon named Gottos is shocked to see us. He, too, goes down with ease. And so, Hilda is finally back on her throne, Paul has his house back, and the city with the dangerous NPCs is finally a regular city again!

Next point on the agenda, was to get Ultima, which is sealed in the tower of Mysidia. To access the tower, I need two masks, with one of them being in the basement of Fynn Castle. It's another basic dungeon with not much happening, and some easy enemies. Sorry, the dungeons are kind of samey, and it's actually hard to give me a dungeon that is acutally interesting to me. I prefer being outside, even in JRPGs. And with that, I have the first mask.

And now, I actually have to get to Mysidia. Minwu is also supposed to be there, but it seems like he is supposed to be back already. And that's where I left the game.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, destroying the Dreadnought seems to have been a heavy blow to the Empire. It seems like the Hilda we rescued from there was already the Lamia Queen, or she was at least switched out during Hildas flight, as she acts weird as soon as we are back in Altair. So the Empire just used the Queen (I guess? Her father died, so I assume she is officially taking over now) for a trap, as a desperate trick? It also didn't work out, and no further move was made by Palamecia.

And we sort of came full circle now. The game kind of started in Fynn, even though we only fled. It was the city, that was completely taken over, with nearly no nice NPCs. It was such a horrible place, with enemies that would just slaughter you. And now, finally, we were strong enough to take it back. The Rebellion got stronger, mainly thanks to our three heroes, but also thanks to people like Minwu and brave Josef, who has sacrificed himself for the cause.

DQ I and FF I, and probably all these old JRPGs, have this world, that is taken over by evil forces. But it doesn't feel too much like that. Granted, I don't remember if DQ I makes it clear, but FF I just doesn't feel that grim. The game told us that the situation was dire, but it didn't really show, or at least not effectively.

Here, the bigger emphasise on story really helps in selling the idea of the Evil Empire that must be stopped. Just that we know that it killed the parents of our heroes goes a long way, but killing Josef and bombing the rebel towns adds a lot to the atmosphere. There is so much more context for understanding that the enemy has to be stopped. And it helps, that we have an actual antagonist here from the get-go. The game told us immediately, that the Emperor of Palamecia summoned demons from Hell, so we know that there is a single person responsible for all the suffering. All these things add a lot of weight to the game. It's a simple story, but it works pretty well.