Newcomer Tips and Hidden Mechanics

[OskarXCI]

If it's your first time playing Final Fantasy II or you are replaying the game with the Pixel Remaster, here are some things that are easily missed and/or the game doesn't tell you about.

- The game has a hidden weight stat that affects magic potency. Every piece of armour and every weapon type has some degree of weight to them. Dedicated magic users should use light armour or mage type armour. Removing your weapon mid battle will also help.

- The tomes used to teach magic to characters can be used as items in battle. Most will cast a Rank VIII spell. Some will be Rank IV or VI.

- Magic and weapon types can only level up once per battle. The EXP gauge will stop at 100% until you finish the battle, even if you attacked or used a spell enough for it gain 2 or more levels. It will then start from 0% again. Don't prolong your battles for too long or else you will be wasting your time.

- Stat ups only proc once per battle. If you, for example, use the tactic of attacking your own party members to increase their HP and other stats, the stat increase will be the same whether you were attacked 2 times or 10 times. Getting hit more will improve the chance, yes, but the amount of stats gained will be the same.

[VanishingClimax]

i beat 10, 13, 1, and 15 but FFII has me a bit confused. Can you explain more on those last two?

[GrandMajora]

Another tip / exploit, is that you don't even have to commit to an action to gain EXP for it. You can target somebody for an attack, then cancel out of the attack and it will still count!

[OskarXCI]

Originally posted by VanishingClimax:

i beat 10, 13, 1, and 15 but FFII has me a bit confused. Can you explain more on those last two?

Final Fantasy II don't have any traditional character levels. Each individual stat, spell and weapon type improve separately and on how often they are used. Want a stronger Fire spell?Use the Fire spell to level it up.

Same goes for stats like HP and MP. Want more of it? Lose HP from attacks and use enough magic in battles and the cap will increase.

No other FF game would use this character progression system again. It would live on through the SaGa series which share the same creator with the designer of FFII. The first SaGa came out the year after FFII.

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Another tip / exploit, is that you don't even have to commit to an action to gain EXP for it. You can target somebody for an attack, then cancel out of the attack and it will still count!

That only worked in the original NES version and has been fixed since the WonderSwan Color version, more than 20 years go.

[VanishingClimax]

Thanks for clarifying. Much appreciated