/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ /ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ /ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ\ |ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ| | ______/ | ______/ | ___ | |____ ____| | / | / |__/ / / | | | \ | \ / / | | | F ŻŻ| | F ŻŻ| / 2 / | J | | __| | __| / / | | | / | / / / ____ | | | | | | / / \ \_| | | | | | | ŻŻŻŻŻ| \ | \______/ \______/ |__________| \_______| -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Fantasy 2j Leveling Up and Other Useful Tips and Tricks Guide By David J. Rivera Version 1.10 2003 Final Fantasy 2j is copyright 1988 Square(c) This FAQ is copyright CyberPlanet Industries Consumer Affairs Dept. OnionKid2002 http://www.geocities.com/cyberpirate88/ timekeeper2021@fastmail.fm -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents i. Introduction I Leveling a. Honest method b. Beating the stuffing out of your characters c. Senseless waste of MP d. Selecting/Canceling II Leveling Part 2 a. Mystida b. Change Trick c. Optimal leveling III Tips and Tricks a. Gil Management i. Inns ii. Equipment buying iii. Early Mystidan Enemies iv. Dungeons v. Mages vi. Captains vii. Ships and Airships b. The fourth character c. Notable spells and equipment d. Chocobo IV Credits -------------------------------------------------------------------------- i. Introduction Hello all! This is my second FAQ. FF2j is quite a great game. Although it never made it to the US or for that matter anywhere out of Japan, all the reviews for the most part state the game SUX! Not true. What they mainly complain about is the leveling system and the battles. First off, if you follow any of the advice in this guide, you will find the leveling easier and even fun in certain cases. As for battles, this is a NES GAME! Blazing speed on such an old system is unheard of. Ineffective hits allow more strategy than just holding down a key. The music is great. If anything it is too short. But yes, selecting/canceling magic is annoying but hey you're not really supposed to do that. Of course errors in battle are another story. I might put spoilers unknowingly in this guide. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I Leveling a. Honest Method As I have come to believe, Nasir (programmer of FF1, 2, and 3) originally implemented the leveling system as follows: The more you get hurt not on purpose, the more HP you gain. The more MP required to kill a foe, the more MP you get. The more and more you use a certain magic, the higher in level it becomes. The more and more you use a certain weapon class, the better you use that weapon. Of course Vitality, Power, Magic Power, Shield Level, Soul, Intelligence, etc. are raised in similar ways. Unfortunately, there are two problems with this: 1. The way this game is set up, if you don't cheat or get the stuffing beat out of you in every battle, you'll never beat it. 2. A bug in the programming allows commands to be counted toward the progression of most stats (Select/Cancel). But, if you do decide to venture out into the world with your starting stats and let them raise as you battle normally, don't expect to be beat the game fast. Doing so will be a big waste of time better spent "cheating". But I salute you and you're bravery. Don't read on if you want to just follow the Honest Method. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- b. Beating the stuffing out of your characters The more damage you take within battle without getting killed, the more damage you are able to take. In other words, the more HP you lose, the more HP and Vitality you receive. Of course, enemies don't need to damage you only; you can inflict yourself with near-fatal blows. I've found that you need to lose more than half your max HP in order to gain HP and Vitality bonuses. To be on the safe side, get your characters into their "low-HP" Positions. Only attempt this method of gaining Health near an Inn or with the Cure spell. Only attempt it against weak enemies such as Goblin or Hornet. Against such easy enemies, losing excess health to the point of death is not a threat. These enemies do however flee quite often which is very aggravating. An interesting note: If you accidentally have one of your characters kill himself, they will remain standing but act as if they were dead for one round. They might even do the victory dance and walk off screen. *note: Running away or being inflicted with statuses will not result in ANY bonuses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- c. Senseless Waste of MP The more MP used during battle, the more MP gained there after. Again, you do not have to actually use that much magic strategically; you can senselessly use cure on non-undead foes, cure your own perfectly healed guys, life the living, fire yourself, etc. For best results, use up all your MP. Then again, losing half is only necessary. If you plan on wasting it all, stay close to an Inn and only fight weaklings like Goblin and Hornet. *note: Running away or being inflicted with statuses will not result in ANY bonuses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- d. Selecting/Canceling The more and more you use swing around your weapon, the more adapt you become with that particular weapon class. Or more specifically, the more xHits you get. The more and more you use a particular magic the better you become at casting that magic. Or more specifically, the more accurate and stronger the magic becomes. The formula for weapon skill gains is: Number of times selected - current skill level + enemy strength factor + 1 It takes 100 pts to reach the next level. Pts is displayed next to your current skill level in the stats screen. Enemy strength level ranges from 1 to about 7. Before the Ice Cavern, the groups of enemies have a strength factor of one. After that, it varies greatly. Enemies that mainly appear in groups of one (Hill Gigas) have the higher strength levels. To select and cancel and gain weapon skill or shield skill, equip the character you want with the weapon class you want to increase in their correct hand (Everyone but Layla and Lionheart are right-handed) and the shield in the other hand. Then select FIGHT, select a target and when it moves on to the next character, press B and repeat however many times you need to. I always select/cancel 5 more times than I need to make sure. You may only advance one level at a time. You may have something in your other hand other than a shield and it will level up as well. If you have 3 characters, only the first two may do this; if you have four, only three may do this. *note: Running away or being inflicted with statuses will not result in ANY bonuses. The formula for magic skill gains is: Number of times selected - current spell level + enemy strength factor + 3 It takes again 100 pts reach the next level. Selecting/Canceling is much more frustrating than before, seeing as you must enter the magic menu, choose a magic, choose a target, then repeat. I still always do it 5 more times than necessary to make sure. Turning off the music helps and so does a little FPS boost if you are running an emulator. You may only advance one level at a time. Only the first 2/3 characters or 3/4 may do this. *note: Running away or being inflicted with statuses will not result in ANY bonuses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- II Leveling Part 2 a. Mystida You are only supposed to visit the Magical town of Mystida after the retaking of Phin by the rebels. But it is accessible via two areas early on. The first way to access this place and the only way if you haven't gotten Layla yet, is to head West over the bridge by Gatea, then head south a long while. Head directly south. Mystida is a village with the sprites of a group of houses. A canoe is required. The second way, and the wiser, is to wait until you get Layla. Then with your ship, sail to the peninsula south of Altea. Head west until you find a ring of mountains. Head to the south of the ring of mountains and head directly south. On land, head right of the mountain trail, southwest into the marshes and finally to Mystida. Now, the land around and leading to Mystida is filled with near impossible to INSANELY powerful beasts. To conquer these wrenched monsters you can either become uber using the methods in Leveling Part 1 or by doing this: 1. Depending on where you want to start from, make a save file there. 2. Walk several steps; save. 3. Walk several more steps and if you get into a battle, reset. 4. Load up and repeat until you get to Mystida, Note that this works anywhere but is only useful in crossing the desert to Arena or getting to Mystida early, Now, why in all of the world would I want to get to Mystida? Well, it has to do with the shops here. Here is the list: Item||Price Fire 400 Bolt 400 Ice 400 Cure 400 Blink 400 Safe 400 Shell 400 Life 1500 Anti 1500 Warp 1500 Exit 1500 Fear 800 Peep 800 Heal 800 Mute 800 Barrier 8000 Wall 8000 Change 8000 Holy 20000 Ice Shield 5000 Knight Armor 5000 Thief Gauntlet 1000 Giant Gauntlet 2000 Power Stave 8000 Flame Spear 15000 Ogre Axe 15000 Ice Bow 5000 Yes, there is that much magic. Of all the items, I suggest only getting: Change Ice Shield Knight Armor Thief and Giant Gauntlets Ogre Axe Ice Bow And of course the elemental spells and cure, life, and exit if you didn't get them already. Also in Mystida is a mysterious bookcase that gives you stories of certain passwords. I won't tell which house it's in nor what it says only because that's half the fun. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- b. Change Trick One of the magic books available in Mystida is the book of change. It has two uses: lowering the HP of bosses and leveling. What change does is swap HP and MP of the caster and target. It only works on one target at a time. If you have lower HP than that of a boss, use it for that. If you use it on a target with less HP/MP than you, you gain HP and MP bonuses. Change works on all levels 1-16 but doesn't work on all enemies/bosses. Even though the spell works on level one, you will see more ineffective strikes and waste more time than if you level it up. I suggest anything over level 5. Of course, I'm so lazy, I only have mine on level 2! *note: Running away or being inflicted with statuses will not result in ANY bonuses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- c. Optimal Leveling Requirements: Three or Four characters each with Change5 or higher Enemies around Altea and Gatea like Goblin. Several thousand Gil. 1. Get into a battle with a Goblin, Hornet, et cetera. 2. The character with the lowest HP casts Change5 on the Goblin, Hornet, et cetera. 3. Win the battle. The character wins HP and MP bonuses as well as others in some cases 4. Get into another battle. 5. The character with the second lowest HP casts Change5 on the character with the lowest HP. 6. Win the battle. The character wins HP and MP bonuses as well as others in some cases. But most importantly, the first character has some HP and MP. 7. Get into another battle. 8. The character with the third highest/highest HP (with three characters only) casts Change5 on the second lowest HP character. 9. Win the battle. The character wins HP and MP bonuses as well as others in some cases. But most importantly, the first two characters have some HP and MP. 10. **Only with four characters; otherwise skip to step 13** Get into another battle. 11. The character with the highest HP casts Change5 on the third highest HP character. 12. Win the battle. The character gets bonuses, but most importantly, three characters have some HP and MP. 13. Repeat for as long as possible. Now, you may ask, "Why don't I just do this in one battle?" Well there are several reasons. First, many enemies in the areas around Altea and Gatea flee. The battle wouldn't last long enough. Second, you may run out of MP and need to visit an Inn. Third, you may get statuses which don't reward you with any bonuses. Remember to save in-between battles just in case. This is the fastest method of leveling up. *note: Running away or being inflicted with statuses will not result in ANY bonuses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- III Tips and Tricks a. Gil Management As SQUARE's foreshadowing in this game is blatantly obvious, I won't doubt you've found the game's starting Gil of 400 insufficient. This is a sign for things to come. The first time I was playing this game, I constantly found myself out of gil. Whether for inns or for potions I never had enough money. But this last time, and as this FAQ is being written I am in the middle of, I found several ways to save gil and be able to buy the sun and moon and still have enough money to blow in Las Vegas! i. Inns There is no doubt in my mind that you will need to visit an Inn. Here's a method to save time and gil: Upon entering the Inn of your choice, use cure on all of your characters until they are all at maximum HP. Then pay the innkeeper. This way, you will save money seeing as the price for Inns has to do with your current HP/MP out of your maximum HP/MP. It costs 1 gil per MP. HP is Max HP-Current HP divided by four. Also, it will increase the strength of your cure spell ii. Equipment Buying Why of course you'll be buying equipment! But you don't have to buy everything as it becomes available to you. My advice is to only buy stuff as you need it. Don't buy inferior equipment. If you are unsure of how good your current equip. is compared to the "new" stuff, either refer to an FAQ or just save, buy the new stuff, and if it isn't satisfactory, reset. A lot of good equipment is found in dungeons. Make sure not to buy anything until it's absolutely necessary to do so. Keep these ideas in mind and you will save money. iii. Early Mystidian Enemies In order to get a lot of money early on, I always fight Mystidian enemies. Of course you don't actually have to be in the area of Mystida to encounter such enemies. If you travel DIRECTLY south of Altea until you can no longer go and walk left and right, you will fight very tough monsters. The majority of beasts here are found near Mystida but I have found Behemoths here. The trick is to save on this peninsula and then reset whenever you find enemies that are too tough. If you are on the weak side, only fight Bombs, Mines, Puddings (only with high fire magic), and Mallows (With high bolt magic). But if you are strong enough, fight all who oppose your uber-ness. The rewards are quite valuable, if you don't get the near or over 1000 gil. iv. Dungeons One tip: get everything. I don't care if you have to kill millions of beasts with your bare hands, get everything in a dungeon. If it doesn't live up to your standards, sell it! If this doesn't raise your income, nothing will. Another area of this tip is to go through an entire dungeon again if the boss gives good items. Who needs that extra 1000 gil when an armor of invincibility is available? If the dungeon is non-renter able, then you should definitely get everything. v. Mages These are great enemies. Easy to encounter. Wondrous gifts. And even their palette swaps (wizards, sorcerers) are great. But I specifically am going to mention Mages because of their easy beat-ability and the fact that they are easy to locate. Below are it's stats: 80 HP 30 MP Rewards: 50 gil Magic Stave Fire Book Thunder Book Aero Book Break Book Berserk Book All of these books are worth a pretty penny if you sell them and some are useful to learn. vi. Captians These are the most reliable sources of gil until you re-take Phin. In case you don't know, Captains are the guys in Phin and the Warship before Phin is re-taken and the Warship is destroyed. And since the Warship is no where near an Inn or a shop to sell the stuff you get, I suggest the Captians in Phin. Captains are not a walk in the park. They are designed to keep you out of Phin and drive you mad in the Warship. Most walkthroughs will tell you to not talk to these guys. I will say fight them. All you need is at least a weapon of moderate power leveled to level 5 or 6 and a lot of HP. Stats of Captains: 750 HP 30 MP Rewards: 200 gil 300 gil Flame Bow Gold Armor Curse Book Toad Book Captains NEVER die. Except they do leave when Phin is re-taken. You can fight Captains until the NES completely disintegrates. All the rewards are sure to please. vii. Ships and Airships Don't take them. It's that simple. All locations that can be paid to take you somewhere are easily reached on foot for free. Only use the ships and airships when you get them during the storyline for free. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- b. The Fourth Character Upon your quest to ultimately destroy the Emperor, you will find many souls who will join you on your journey. Below are the characters and my opinions of them. Character:::::::::Opinion::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Minh::::::::::::::Minh, the white mage of the rebels makes an adequate ::::::::::::::::::member of your party just don't buy him much if ::::::::::::::::::anything. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Josef:::::::::::::Josef, the man from Salamando comes ready equipped with ::::::::::::::::::his fists; it's all you'll need. He doesn't stay on ::::::::::::::::::your team for very long; don't buy him anything. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Gordon::::::::::::Ha! Kill him and leave him dead. Rob his dead body ::::::::::::::::::blind and throw him in a river. Seriously though, don't ::::::::::::::::::bother leveling him or buying him anything. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Layla:::::::::::::Finally a GOOD character. I recommend leveling her and ::::::::::::::::::buying her somedecent equipment. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Richard:::::::::::I'm on the fence about the last dragoon. While he is ::::::::::::::::::not as worthwhile as Layla in terms of how long you keep ::::::::::::::::::him, he is still a worthy ally. I say buy Richard a ::::::::::::::::::few spells and use your old equipment you would ::::::::::::::::::otherwise sell for him. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Lionheart:::::::::Being the final fourth character, I would suppose you ::::::::::::::::::must use Lionheart to the fullest. While it may be your ::::::::::::::::::choice to leave him dead or use him, I will suggest you ::::::::::::::::::buy him a payload of spells and get optimal equipment ::::::::::::::::::for a swords and shield man. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- c. Notable Spells and Equipment In this section, I will list spells and equipment upgrades that I feel are worth pointing out. This, hopefully, will help you choose which spell to buy and which not to and if upgrading to that sword or shield is worth it. If you don't see it listed here, it probably isn't worth the gil. However, if you think it is, e-mail me (timekeeper2021@fastmail.fm) with why you think so. Spells -------- 1) The 3 Elements (Fire, Ice, and Bolt) While I may not be a huge fan of these magic spells, they are very helpful against adamant foes like the Puddings, Mallows, and Jellies. It helps to level these spells around level 5. 2) Cure Buy it. EXTREMELY useful and as long as you level it as your characters' HP rise, it will prove its worth. Get it to level 16. 3) Heal Also useful. It is much better to have one Heal spell at least at level 5 than all the items in the whole game. 4) Life Of course this will be useful. Out of battle, Life1 will do but in battle a higher level is required. Try at least level 5 or be ready to spend several turns wasting MP. 5) Exit Much better than Warp but it does take a toll on the user's HP. Just make sure to cure that character after using it, that's all. A high level isn't required. 6) Change As mentioned before in "the Change trick", change is useful for leveling but also for a quick cure and lowering a Boss's HP/MP. Level 5 or more will do. 7) Berserk Somewhat worthwhile and that's why I'm mentioning it. While it's not as great as Haste, it does temporarily raise the Power stat and can really help in a tight spot. Any level you see fit will do, really. 8) Haste It raises your X Hit's; extremely useful. Level it to the moon! 9) Drain/Aspil Used against Undeads, it has the same effect as wasting HP/MP respectively. 10) Flare I'm not one for attack magic (reason that Holy and Ultima aren't here) but if you must use attack magic, Flare is the one to use. The higher the level, the more the damage. Equipment ----------- 1) Broad Sword, Axe, Bow, Leather Equipment While it may be a pain to have to gather up enough gil to buy EVERYONE a ton of equipment, it is most definitely worth it. Just battle a whole lot early on and you'll find enough dough. 2) Everything up to the Mythril If you find the starting equipment sufficient up until you give the Mythril to Tobul, keep it. Really, the stuff from Broad Sword to Mythril Sword isn't worth it. 3) Mythril Ok this will be the last time you must buy a whole bunch of equipment. From here on in, most of the good equipment will be found in dungeons. Buy every last bit of Mythril stuff you need. 4) Mystidia As soon as you get the ship, go to Mystidia. Forget all the crap in between, get some really powerful weapons and armor ahead of time. The stuff here along with what you get in dungeons will last you until the Whirlwind. No joke. 5) Whirlwind, Jade, and Paramekia Just pick up all the treasure in these dungeons and you'll be with the game's progression into harder enemies. 6) Pandemonium Get the Genji gear and the Masamune from their respective captors. Be sure also to find some Iron Giants for extra Genji equipment and Excaliburs. They are rarely found in Pandemonium but are on the last few floors of the Hell Castle. 7) Blood Swords The seemingly useless Blood Swords are both found in Phin. The first in Phin's basement, the second in Paul's house. They are weak as anything but are EXTREMELY useful against undead foes and the bosses Asteroth and the Final Boss as well. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- d. Chocobo The chocobo is one of the most definable things in a Final Fantasy and it all started here. To reach the chocobo, travel directly south of Kashoun's entrance. Upon entering the forest, find the chocobo and talk to him. A dialogue will pop up saying "Found a Chocobo". Press B and exit the forest. Press A on him on the world map and ride around faster and without the threat of monsters. This guy is especially useful in crossing the desert near arena and going to the Warship. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV Credits Alex Jackson- For the formulas in getting bonuses Skylark- For his monster list of FF2J and all the other FF games. AgriasOaks (Red Scarlet)- For being such a great inspiration. If you know something I don't or you want to comment, e-mail me at timekeeper2021@fastmail.fm. Copyright Cyber Planet Industries 2003 Consumer Affairs Dept. OnionKid2002 David J. Rivera Timekeeper2021@fastmail.fm http://geocities.com/cyberpirate88/