RPG Playthrough Rules and Final Fantasy II

 Is it weird I like my blog better now that most of my posts are about comic books and video games than when it was my attempt at being philosophical? 

Anyway, I need to write this morning to vent the emotion of sending my youngest child off to her first day of kindergarten. Do not misinterpret that, I am pleased as punch and a proud papa for my baby to be growing and learning the way a kid should. There is a weird mix of anxiousness and excitement this morning while she is off enjoying her first half day at her new school. Since I do not want to helicopter parent or over analyze my life or hers I thought I might come home and settle into my morning routine. 

I ate a bowl of Cheerios. I ran through my daily quests on MtG Arena. My current mono white angel/cleric deck feels pretty stompy. Having missed Kaldheim's launch I am not deeply versed in the cards. Figured out today that Bound in Gold is amazing. Dealing with a pesky planeswalker? Play Bound in Gold. Now Lolth cannot activate her loyalty abilities. Bawahaha! The power of a better Pacifism. The funny part is that I dropped Bound in Gold in a whim to get rid of extra artifact/ enchantment removal that felt like it wasn't getting utilized. Tweaking, it isn't just for drug users anymore. 

Apologies. Dad jokes are a self defense mechanism. 

Being the nerd that I am, I normally log into work about an hour early every day. Most mornings that leaves me about two and a half to three hours of time to grind away until switching into work mode. I spend some of that time developing my novel, listening to music, and grinding away at video games. I also occasionally prep for the podcast or write blogs as I am doing now. I finished all my weekly podcast prep yesterday and cannot verify art and lists until tomorrow. It feels nice to be ahead of tasks, but it leaves me a bit idle. 

I have been filling those idle hours with Final Fantasy II. Before I dive deeper into Final Fantasy II musings let me share some interesting Final Fantasy II history. The original Final Fantasy released in the US in 1987. If I have my timeline right, I laid my hands on it for the first time in 1990 when Dwight introduced me to it in 6th grade. I was hooked and can link some of my more interesting moments in life to Final Fantasy. 

Final Fantasy II however would not make an appearance in my life until well after the release of the Playstation 2. The reason for this is twofold. First, Final Fantasy was not released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States. Despite releasing in Japan in 1988 for the Famicom, US players would not see (the real) FFII until 2002 when it was released for PSone as half of the Final Fantasy Origins disc. 

The reason I can date my introduction to FFII to after the release of the PS2 is that I was a late adopter of Sony consoles. The night Pam and I broke up, I bought a PSone and a stack of games from Walmart including Final Fantasy Origins. It was a remastered version of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II which made graphic and gameplay improvements to make these games a more seamless experience to their SNES generation counterparts. 

At this point I figured out that what I had called Final Fantasy II (as it was released in the States for SNES) was actually Final Fantasy IV. Also, what I thought was Final Fantasy III was actually Final Fantasy VI. This was a jarring realization. Up was down. Black was white. Dogs and cats were living together in harmony. In my Square Enix disillusionment I finally jumped on the Sony bandwagon and lost myself in Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX all of which were massive departures from their 2D counterparts. 

Final Fantasy II got mostly lost in the shuffle until I was moving to Germany. My PSPgo would allow me an extremely portable way to game that was not limited to region specific console issues. I finally put in Final Fantasy II playtime in 2007- 2008, but I honestly do not recall most of it. I remember doing a bunch of God of War replays along with adopting the idea that I wanted to write for a living with about the same conviction that I had as a middle and high school aged kid who wanted to be a professional artist. That is to say, I wanted my natural talent (as if I had any at all) to be so profound that I could bypass all forms of education and training and jump straight to professional success. 

Needless to say, I did not get myself published as a writer or artist. I did get a general sense that Final Fantasy II was a much more complex game than the original entry on the NES. At the time I mistakenly blamed that on the updated version of the game I had access to 20 years after its original release. The original FF was masterful in its simple but satisfying game play. 

Final Fantasy II, at that time, felt like being dropped into the deep end of the pool without knowing how to swim. Characters do not have clearly defined party roles. Leveling is skill usage based rather than experience points based. The plot is also more mature and dark compared to the first entry. It can be a jarring experience. 

I am not sure how 7 to 11 year-old David would have reacted to Final Fantasy II if it had made its way in a timely fashion to the US. Twenty-seven year old David played with it for a few hours and opted to tag back into the light hearted antics of Kratos and his wacky patricide based adventures. I cheated myself a bit. 

With the 2021 Pixel Perfect releases of Final Fantasy I -VI I am correcting my mistake and playing the Final Fantasy games through as yet another remaster. I have to say that this is my first time playing Final Fantasy on the PC. I expected to hate it, but the simple controls are amazing. I am a bit scared of when I get to FFVI and have to attempt Sabin's blitzes on the keyboard, but we shall see what happens 4 games from now. FFII feels right at home on my laptop screen. The remaster has it showing off vibrant color for every enemy and NPC death along the way. 

With thirty years of RPG experience under my belt, I can really appreciate that FFII tried to make a more rich gaming experience. The storyline feels like a fantasy take on the Rebellion vs. the Empire but I am certain when it was written pre 1988 that felt extremely fresh. It compares a bit to Skyrim in that way. The skill based system similarly harkens to Skyrim or rather I can say that other skill based RPG systems can owe their origins to FFII. All of the characters can cast magic and wield any weapons and armor at the start of the game. If you want to create a Firion that only casts Black Magic, it is entirely possible to make that happen. Just focus on gathering Black Magic tomes, use them to Teach Firion Spells, and then use them almost exclusively in battle. 

Spells and Weapon skills level up in a similar fashion. The more you use a type of spell or type of weapon the more your skill will grow. Fire will eventually become Fire II, Fire III, and so on. The downside of this compared to FF and later entries in the series is that as your spell ramps up so too does the mana cost. Fire IV costs 4 mana. For a fire weak enemy Fire II might be an effective kill. In the original Final Fantasy or any of the sequels you have the option of casting the lower level spell. In Final Fantasy II you do not. Fire is the spell and your proficiency with it determines the mana cost and effective damage. That is pretty great until you are running low of MP. 

I actually like this system on the initial play through. When I come to a new area where my enemies have a new weakness I have to learn and adapt new tactics in order to continue to advance in the game. For a good portion of the first 10 to 15 hours of the game it is entirely possible to grind out your physical attacks to the point that almost nothing is a challenge to your core party (Firion, Maria, and Guy for those of you who do not know.) If you continue down this path you will hit a juncture in the game where physical damage resistant enemies will become unbeatable. Nothing is more eye opening that having a Firion that does 1000+ points of damage with each hand when equipped with a weapon than the big 0 popping up repeatedly while trying to kill a Black Flan. 

The game subtly encourages grinding. Dwight and I developed Final Fantasy playthrough rules years ago that I have been adding to on my own ever since. These rules have helped me in most RPGs over the years but present a particularly interesting play for FF games. Here are the rules.

No Strategy Guides - The first time you play through a (Final Fantasy) game you should try to complete it without consulting any outside help. You figure the game out yourself. This gives a bit of built in replayability for the future when you can grind out a perfect walk through following a strat guide. This is more fun when you have a player and a navigator to share the game experience. Yes, kids, this is how we worked out single player games back in the day. 

Grind it Out - Every time you come to a new place, walk around getting into random encounters until you can buy every spell, weapon, and armor from the town. The more you grind the more ahead of the enemy curve you get.  This makes the original Final Fantasy game a leisurely breeze of a playthrough. FFII makes it a bit more challenging when you need weapon or magic specific skills caught up... and always grind up that rotating 4th party member!

Death before Dishonor - Square Enix may have included Flee as an option for combat, but never, ever use it unless the story forces you to (this happens in later games.) By battling every enemy to the death you can keep your party skilled and leveled up appropriately. You also will not cheat your way to a party that cannot complete a boss fight or advance the story. Running away is bad!

Save Frequently- If you follow Death before Dishonor then you will inevitably party wipe. I have had at least 4 TPKs so far playing through FFII. That is alright. I saved just before I went into the dungeon. I saved when I teleported out, when I walked back to town, when I reupped my potion inventory, and when I walked back, and when I went back into the dungeon. As sub rule of Save Frequently is use 3 rotating save slots. That way when you totally goof and are stuck in the game you can back up in time a slot or even two and correct course. 

Talk to Everyone/ Open Everything - Final Fantasy games are elaborate narratives. Like any good RPG the plot is advanced by finding clues along the way to the larger story unfolding. Talk to everyone and everything. Yes. That bat that says,"Kee-Kee," might be important. Pay attention to what people say. Press against every surface. Open every door and every treasure chest. This is the spirit of exploration and adventure and is the heart of digital RPGs. To be fair, anything a DM takes the time to describe is probably relevant on the table top as well. 

These rules have lived in my head for years. With rare exception they really enrich RPGs. I will say that the whole Death before Dishonor thing gets kind of painful when a game forces you to run away from a fight. The first fight in Final Fantasy II is a similar thing. These four kids (the main three I already mentioned plus Leon) are up against a group of Black Knights. The Players gets to watch as each member of the group is cut down. It isn't my favorite game opening, but it beats meeting in a tavern or starting arrested. 

The most annoying thing about Final Fantasy II thus far though are the many different variant of status ailments. A typical FF game might see you poisoned, turned to stone, confused, or asleep. Final Fantasy II has both venom and poison. I am sure other RPGs do as well, but normally they don't have two different requirements for curing them. FF II has Fog which causes the PC to forget how to cast Magic. Not awesome when surrounded by Flan. You cure it with a Mallet. The imagery of one character bashing the other on the head with a small, blunt hammer is pleasant. I totally see Guy asking Firion," Remember Cure Now." after smashing him over the head with a Mallet. Don't even get me started on Esuna and Basuna which work independent of one another. 

Paralyze and Stone can easily lead to a TPK around the coliseum and after. You learn to respect the Antlion and Cockatrice as truly fearsome monsters. It also feels great when your party begins to get strong enough to survive them regularly. All that grinding just to spend 40k Gil on a stack of Gold Needles and another 40k Gil on a stack of Mallets.... but you should. This is a game where carrying a full boat of everything except Cottages, Elixirs, and Phoenix Downs is completely the right course. Trust me. Finishing that fight with everyone turned to stone except Maria feels pretty ok when you have the Golden Needles so she doesn't have to race back to Mysidia alone with her Ice Bow and pray. 

For the record she did make it that time. 

I also like the story for Final Fantasy II. People die. War is hell. The Emperor is a dick. I think most real and fictional people with the title of Emperor probably are. Guy may be a little off with his stilted speech, but the trade off is he can talk to badgers. What is not to love about that? Playing this game I really respect that Square Enix made the jump from character classes to real characters with dialog and personalities. When Firion is being seduced by a Lamia complete with her jumping in bed and propositioning him impatiently the player is a little taken aback... or at least I was. That is what makes the game beautiful. 

I will say that my hesitation about Final Fantasy II is that I don't know that I am as engaged with the story as I am with the characters. Three (Four) orphan kids out to topple the evil empire should be more compelling than restoring light and balance to the crystals of Final Fantasy I, but somehow the sort of errand like nature of all of the missions in II makes me feel like if I were Firion I might have broken off from the Rebels. Sure, when the Dreadnaught bombs Altair and the other rebel cities to smithereens I was a bit more ready to topple the Empire, but I still feel like too much of a spec ops soldier in many ways. I bet things get a lot more personal after Mysidia. 

I took out Behemoth in one round.

I also feel like FFII is taking me quite a few more hours to complete than the original. Granted, I think I have played through FF at least a dozen times over the years. There just seems to be more game play in II. I am sort of tired of writing about it and am ready to get back to it!