Clement Remembers Final Fantasy! (II)
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
- When an evil Emperor unleashes monsters from hell and tries to conquer the world, 4 youths will join the cause and take up arms against him.
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00:00 - Intro
02:27 - The Set Up
04:25 - Reinventing the Wheel
06:09 - Nature vs. Nurture (Combat)
14:12 - Firion's Adventure
19:52 - The Tedious Dungeons
22:15 - Guest Party Members
25:38 - The Music
27:15 - Final Fanasy Origins
30:32 - 8-Bit Storytelling
34:57 - Conclusion
#finalfantasy #finalfantasyII #finalfantasy2 #clementj64 #clement - Hry
Every time I hear Tsuyoshi Sekito's arrangements, I think I'm listening to an unreleased Brave Fencer Musashi cut.
I will never be able to unhear this now when I play the remakes of these games. If only Musashi could fit in the character name limits...
It's the same feeling I have with Yoko Shimomura, everything reminds me of Kingdom Hearts
SomecallmeJohnny glad to see u here bro love your videos
MA BOY SOMECALLMEJHONNY!!! How do you feel beating clement in sonic generations?!
I've always wondered if you thought about redoing that LP with Matt. It's my fav SGB LP.
You should have more fun with the titles like
"Clement doesn't want to remember FF2"
mechashadow yes
mechashadow How about "Clement Explains why he doesn't like Final Fantasy II"
At then end of the video: "Firion's Intelligence decreased." Oh yes, how I love it when my characters LOSE stats from battling.
Pretty sure it doesn't happen in dos version (dawn of souls for GBA which is better imo)
yeah, that bit is annoying until the GBA version, but it's actually not a big deal. first off, stats can only decrease when another stat increases and they are tied to a specific stat... and it happens less frequently.
this basically means, if you know the proper order to max stats, you never get a decrease... you also never get a meaningfull decress, if you use a fixed 'class build'. For example, I think strength decreases intelligence... but what does a monk with no spells need intelligence for anyway?
besides, since it does only happen occassionaly and not every time, you will eventually max out all the stats anyway.
They removed this "feature" in the PSP version. Stats only go up.
The keyword system pretty clearly shows the influence of the Ultima series, since it had a dialogue system based on typing out keywords to prompt specific responses.
- Lewis
"What do you mean this is number 4?!" Oh boy, here we go with the regional differences.
Yeah, I mean really, Clement...it's 2017. You don't need to explain this. It's as well-known as the whole Mario 2 story at this point.
I know it was a joke, but most people in the FF fandom know the whole bullshit going on with the naming of the FF games in different markets... mostly because video games at the time were much harder to translate from Japanese to other languages due to technological limitations and a very, VERY primitive internet making communications between the two sides harder.
@@DefinitiveDubs Explaining Mario 2's story is a youtube staple at this point, like starting off a Sonic video with "Sonic had a rocky transition into 3D"
3:33 Even Firion would groan at those bad puns. Good ol’ Clement
This is a note for anyone playing this game. To raise your agility, it's based on your evasion, so just equip shields and light armour. Then, whenever you take damage in battle, your agility has a good chance of increasing, though it's not guaranteed. Hope this helps.
32:50 Emperor: "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
I still can't believe that this game was so much groundwork for other games... not just Final Fantasy ones too.
SaGa series got it's stat progression ideas from THIS game. So consider this a prototype for a better progression system under the same "use it to get better" format.
The PSP version actually does fix some of the issues with the other versions. Yes, the exploit is gone, but weapons and spells only take longer the higher their levels are. So say you have a spell at level 1. It'll take like 3 uses to level it up. And then like 10 to level it again, and then more and more each time, so weaker spells are easier to level up. Same with weapons.
The extra campaign is actually really cool in terms of story stuff, especially if you like The Emperor as a villain. I won't spoil what it does, but it just makes The Emperor even more badass as a villain. The game has its shortcomings, and I won't say it's one of the best Final Fantasy games, but I'll play Devil's Advocate for it any day. Still, you're entitled to your opinion, you backed it up with logic and facts, and the review is still awesome...but if you're playing the version of FF3 that I think you're playing, I'm actually surprised you think so highly of it.
MLDKF interesting
MLDKF hows the gba version?
The PSP version is awesome because the extra random dungeons pretty much eliminates the need to grind on weak enemies on the same plot of land for hours.
@@kylecampbell565 It's pretty good, all things considered...
Biggest changes:
- Bestiary lists the enemy tiers so weapon leveling isn't as much of a "What do I do now" thing.
- The use it or lose it subsystem is lost. Continuously raising one stat won't drop others, though there is the overflow bug that pops up if you use a cheat or max out everything.
Shelby Herring is there any advantage to it over the psp version?
Even though the GBA/PSP/IOS versions removed the leveling bug, they actually also made it wayyyy easier to level up weapons and magic, so you really no longer have to grind like mad anymore in those versions. You can actually get through the game with minimal if any grinding if you know what you're doing. That said, there are so many mechanics that the game just does not do a good job explaining that make things much harder when you don't know about them. For example, raising agility actually necessitates you having a shield equipped, which will also greatly help your evade, which is far superior to raw defense in helping you avoid damage. But if you don't know that, and naturally assume that dual wielding is the way to go, your agility and evade suffer greatly, so you can't run, and you can't dodge. And once you run into enemies that use drain attacks that ignore defense, you're going to be hurting badly. Another "hidden" mechanic is that any armor equipped that isn't "lightweight" greatly hinders your magic casting ability. And the game doesn't hint at that, or really make it even obvious what is light and what is heavy armor. For example, the Thief Gloves despite the name I believe are considered "Heavy armor". But playing naturally, you'll probably have severely gimped magic users and never know why.
That said, if you actually know all the mechanics the game is much easier, less grindy, and much more playable in general. But nobody could be blamed for not knowing these things when even the manual doesn't explain them.
This. Btw my Maria has 5839 health, 302 mp, 73 attack, 16 unarm and shield, 16-99% accuracy, 10-99% evasion, 5-82%, (going to TRY to increase magic defense to 10 or maybe 16 and percentage to 99%) and she deals like 1500 damage lol so she's op. I'm also trying to level up Toad to 16 which is level 10 rn.
Holy Shit! Really!? Jesus fuck, no Wonder I'm Why I'm getting Fucked over by DEATH KNIGHTS in the last stages of the game!
I've played FF2 quite a few times. Here are some game-breaking tips that will significantly reduce the amount of grinding needed. It's stupid how you need to know these things to make the game any fun and I agree with Clement that this game is BAD, unless you know these things. I hope these tips are helpful! :)
*MAGIC*
-Practice your spells over the course of the game while progressing through dungeons normally instead of taking off-time to grind them. During battles you can have one character do nothing but attack (so that way you won't be stuck in a battle FOREVER) and you get a shit ton of usage on your spell.
-Most of the magic is USELESS in this game. These are the only spells I needed to beat the game (White: Cure, Heal, Life, Exit, Change, Mini / Black: Fire, Berserk, Toad, Aspil)
-If you're low on MP, use Change/Swap on a character with Aspil/Osmose to get all that MP back. Then have the swapped character use Aspil on enemies to restore MP that was lost after swapping. So you essentially have unlimited MP.
-Toad and Mini are the most reliable instant death spells and make battles go so much faster. Helps with the encounter-rate.
*USELESS SPELLS*
Note only two enemies early-game are weak to Ice. For that you only need a 2 Ice Scrolls to use as items on the 2 Turtle enemies you encounter. For Kas'ion-Dreadnought phase of the game, just give Ice to Gordon. He has good enough Intelligence to make good use of it and in my experience the enemies weak to Ice (the turtles) are pretty rare so the MP usage isn't too bad. By the time you start seeing enemies weak to Bolt, you'll have the Mage's Staff which casts pretty good lightning damage. Life has a good success rate, especially at 4+, and it instant kills undead so Holy is useless. Most damaging spells (even Flare) are pretty useless once you have Berserk (earliest point to get it is the overworld as a drop from Magicians north of Finn). Most protective spells aren't worth it except maybe Blink but I've never really needed it except with Mindu was around. Ultima's damage is based off your spell and weapon skill levels. NOT WORTH IT.
*WEAPONS & ARMOR*
-Weapons hinder your magic (I think that's a bug?), so non-damaging spells will tend to miss a lot unless you're at really high levels. Unequip your weapons in-battle if you really need a spell to work like Toad or Mini. They fix this in the GBA/PSP versions.
-Heavy Armor is bad because it lowers your Evasion. Evasion is FAR more useful than defense (ex. X-Y% = Y% chance of avoiding X number of hits from an enemy). A lot of enemies mid to late-game have draining physical attacks which ignore defense so evasion comes in handy then.
-Dual-wielding is pointless, yet so many people I've seen do it. Have a weapon and a SHIELD equipped for evasion.
-Don't be deceived by Attack power alone. Pay attention to accuracy. The Ancient and Sleep Swords are the only weapons that really have this problem though. Of course weapon skill should also be taken into account. Doesn't matter how much attack power that knife has, if you have no skill in knife then it's worthless.
-*Blood Swords dominate bosses*. They drain HP based off a % of the target's HP. On normal enemies it's useless, but on bosses you can rack up tons of damage, especially on the final boss. HOLY SHIT. There's 2 in the NES version (one in a dungeon and one at Pavel's house). In the remakes the only one is in Pavel's house. Make sure to use the Whirlwind keyword on him before going into the Tornado. This is your only chance to get it.
-If you're going to have a character who only uses physical attacks, (MAKE SURE THEY USE SWORDS). You will usually find a good sword upgrade in a dungeon or town by the time you need one, axes are the worst in my experience until the end-stretch of the game.
*BATTLE ROLES*
-As you may have noticed, stats can go down while others go up. Not always but there's a chance of it happening.
Spirit (up) = Strength (down), Strength (up) = Int (Down), Int (up) = Vitality (down).
-Because of this, it would be smart to not try and make everyone versatile like I see in so many playthroughs. I usually have one character dedicated to white magic, one to black magic, and one who only attacks with his sword. Fourth party members usually come with no magic, so just have them attack too. Not that it matters, because as established earlier most magic is USELESS.
Tbh unarm is better than swords. And I agree with you about evasion being more useful than defense. My Maria's pretty much invincible with 10-99% evasion.
HCBailly's playthrough of FF ll is similar to your suggestions.
the best way to reduce grinding in final fantasy 2 is to not play final fantasy 2
Wow, that instruction manual outright lies about how to raise agility. You have to have a high evasion percentage to raise agility. Even the developers don't know how the leveling system works.
they kinda laid it all on ONE programmer originally, so...
I actually had FUN grinding in Final Fantasy II... I played the game only once, but I found it very satisfying to grind my characters to the point I could actually beat the Captains in Fynn's streets, then I breezed through most of the game.
Soul of Rebirth mode, on the other hand, can die in a fire... if I hadn't grinded Ricard before he left the party and given him a high level Osmose, I think I would've never beaten that mode.
I loved the grinding too and I had fun wrecking those goddamn captains who were too afraid to give the toad tome which was overpowered as fuck. I fought those captains like 40 times and they still didn't give the toad tome until I got Minwu and he used Teleport IV on first attempt and got the toad tome.
I had fun with this game too! I've only played the PS1 version, but I definitely enjoyed it & I look forward to the PSP version! Hm, looks like Clement dislikes this game because of the ridiculous amount of grinding you have to do as well as the difficulty, which is something that no one mentions. So many people who have reviewed this game call it out for leveling up by hitting yourself. Not here. Just for that, I like this review.
BTW, nice pic of Arngrim!
Thanks. :)
If you're going to play the GBA or PSP version and intend to tackle the Soul of Rebirth, make sure you give Ricard an Osmose spell and grind him (and Minwu, if you can) as much as possible, because the beginning of that mode is utter hell if you don't.
I too had a lot of trouble with SoR. After hours of grinding and still not being able to beat the Ultima Weapon I said "fuck it" and just skipped straight to the final boss. Who went down surprisingly easily.
tbh the Ultima tome isn't worth it when you can just use Berserk or cheese the game with Toad. (which sadly doesn't work on the final boss) Definitely give Berserk to Minwu.
In terms of leveling, Final Fantasy 2 = Quest 64.
No, I think Quest 64's leveling system was less tedious than FF2's.
Unless you're trying to increase your stats well over what they're intended, you can just go with the story (atleast in the remakes never played on the famcon)
This is one of my favorites. I love the stat progression system, and I really don't get the hate people have for it
Same! I remember spending a good amount of time in the first forest just killing my whole team until we all had maxed out stats... it was awesome then plowing through everyone after that.
Lost it at Gareth "Ch'yeah buddy". Love these reviews Clement, can't wait till next month's.
I imagine these videos length will double, if not triple, once the stories start getting up to that Final Fantasy narrative we are all familiar with.
You were correct ^_^
I played this game as a distraction on road trips for the GBA...I loved it, and still do
Your including a Legend reference in a Final Fantasy review is pure awesome right there. ^^
Man, it's too bad a game with such a cool story ends up having some of the worst gameplay in the series. Honestly, I'm more invested in this plot just from Clement's description than all the marketing of most of the other FFs.
It's not the worst for some people. (like me) The DOS version (dawn of souls for GBA) is much better.
Doesnt this game havw a remake? Did they fix all the problems in it?
most of them...spells in the newer version dont take as long to level its not always 2 exp per spell...you gain hp randomly instead of having to lose hp...and all items cost less...and the best one you still gain stats even if you had a negative stat as in the orginal and ps1 ver if you have any neg stats even something as minor as poison you get 0 exp gains..
Well, at least the final boss is cool and the games isn't afraid to adress death.
I only played the GBA version of this, which I guess was rebalanced since I remember status items not being so expensive, but I think a trick I used there does work in any version.
Just cast Teleport on anything (including bosses). It's instant death. In fact, grinding is made sooooo easy because the first guest character you get comes with Teleport from the scratch. In fact, you can even grind the imperial soldiers in Fynn by using this.
FF1/2 for the GBA had some many quality of life improvements that trying to play the original ones is really really hard.
I thought Toad was better than Teleport. It's matter which only the final boss absorbs (note there is no immune). Not to mention you can get the Masamune (beaten by unarmed... I THINK), Aegis Shield and the Genji Equipment by playing a secret minigame which is only unlocked after getting Toad XVI. Right now my toad spell is level 9 and I'm just leveling unarmed for Firion, Maria and Guy.
Never knew about it, he. If I recall correctly (it's been years after all) I used the Bloodsword to plow through the endgame (my Firion alone could solo Pandemonium, the rest were just there for support).
Teleport being accessible sooner could be used to get the gil for toad though. Hm, maybe I need to replay Dawn of Souls.
Marcus Alexandre Leitão Guedes I played the psp version the graphics were nice but the game wasn't my cup of tea
Marcus Alexandre Leitao Guedes Toad isn't just used for Instant KO. It's also used to make your allies become toads. While that may seem a bad thing they can just attack their own allies because they will be missing most of the time (even if they hit they will only do 1 or 0 damage) gaining Strength and Weapon Experience. You can also spam the Toad spell on a Toad ally increasing the spell's experience while gaining Intelligence and MP if you've used all of your MP completely. (note it didn't cure the toad status back then so you have to use Esuna IV)
Clement, I feel your pain... every Final Fantasy port for the PS1 has obnoxious load times that makes everything worse.
I played the PSP version, which doesn't have those load times and lets you save anywhere, even inside dungeons; that's probably why I didn't mind it that much.
I really really liked this game's level up system when I played it on the PSP version. Plus a good post-game storyline, unlike The After Years. For some reason I don't mind grinding in RPGs, as long as it feels I'm becoming stronger and more proficient (and I'm watching a movie or something in the meantime)
25:27 they did lower the amount of cast needed to level spells in the gba version...
It seemed to lower in necessity the stronger the enemies you fought.
This is my 1st final fantasy game and favorite one
How it should've worked is that you get points per level up and you can assign those points to whatever stats or affinities. More customizable and more lenient
That is a great system. But I like FF 2 so.....
It's very easy to say that Final Fantasy 2 was when the franchise was still trying to find it's identity, which is understandable for a lot of franchises early on. The formula for Mario didn't solidify until SMB3, the formula for Mega Man didn't solidify until the fourth game, most of the elements Pokemon is well known for were introduced in Gen 2 and 3, and Sonic's formula was pinned down in it's second game.
Final Fantasy is no different, and even the most hardcore of Final Fantasy fans admit that the second game is one of the weaker installments, along with FF8 and FF13. As for the grinding system, Final Fantasy is _notorious_ for changing up it's system every few games or so, with FF7's Materia system being the most flexible, but at least that one had a conventional leveling system while FF2 makes you ask "What the hell was Square thinking!?"
Is it the worst FF game? No, and it does have it's defenders, but most can agree it's one of the weaker installments.
Enjoying this series of retrospectives. Looking forward to when you get to some of my favorite games in the series.
I really enjoy the story of FF2, but the leveling system really does murder it. However, something else is that there is a bonus dungeon in the later remakes. Evidently, there was also a heavenly version of the emperor as well, who gets taken down by the now dead party members, which is arguably the best thing ever.
I was inspired by this series to play through every mainline Final Fantasy game as well. Gives me a chance to play all the games I've missed, ya know? I'm about two hours into this title and I already want to drop it and move on to 3. I hope I won't miss out TOO much, but idk, it really just is not doing it for me.
The GBA version is much better. My tip is buy a sheild for the 3 party memebers and keep them on you for about 50 minutes for grinding early game.
Hold my beer: I've only played two final fantasies to completion: FF2 and FF1 (in that order). I've played, but not completed 4, 6, 9, and 13. Of all of them (heaven forgive me), FF2 is my favorite. The music, the characters, the far-too-frequent random encounters, all of it. It's very very far from perfect, but it's a work of art. Also, I played the GBA version where his name was Minwu ... not Mindu.
FF2 is like absinthe. You like it or you hate it. I like absinthe & black licorice. I also like FF2. Oh, it _definitely_ has issues, but I like them.
I remember being able to kill everything with physical attacks alone. Until emperor palamecia. Which then, i realised i needed to seriously level up my spells, because he wreaked me...
FF2 Isn't for everyone but I do think the levelling up system is quite interesting. Didn't like it at first but wow it's crazy how powerful you can get.
Bare in mind it's only PSP and Pixel Remaster I have played.
The newer Elder Scrolls games had this exp system, but it wasn't turn based so it worked.
I'm pretty sure that English translation of NES FF2 was a leaked prototype, similar to EarthBound Beginnings, so it WAS officially done by Square. No dice on a VC version unfortunately.
A part of the leveling system was used in XI as well as just leveling up traditionally but in that game it felt right where as in II it just infuriates me.
I believe that Mindu is officially named Wace Mindu. Joking side, the star wars references in this game are plentiful enough that I wouldn't be surprised.
I like FF2 but if people don't like it, then okay, it's their opinion
This.
BlueGator and from what I'm seeing the PlayStation version is more annoying than dawn of souls
Aizaku Galcia it like you like batmam vs superman and 100% of people hated it but thats your and their opinion but I think BVS is okay.
Yeah, I like it too, simple yet tragic storyline and likable characters. I normally have mixed feelings for EVERY FF game in the franchise except FF2 and 4, just because I don't like the story or because one or many characters just piss me off.
I thought 4 was alright until I played 5. 5 is in my top 2 of the Final Fantasy games I have played. I have a feeling that Clement will not care for 3 nor 5 though since they require a lot of grinding if you want to master multiple classes. I liked the job system.
I came to this channel to watch a video about final fantasy 7, my favorite game. I stayed and watched all the videos because Clement is funny. Thanks Clem. Btw I love the challenge the Devil and come back plot in this one!
I believe this was in fact the first video of his I've viewed, when it was somewhat new (his VII video hadn't yet been released.)
i never played 1,2 or 3but the level up system in this always got me intrigued.from your explanatin it seems it would benefit from being an hybrid system, with levels and pre determined stats and with every character being custumizable in what they can learn and how good they are at certain skills.
Having only played the PSP version of FF2, I can tell you that I encountered none of your major issues with the game. I never felt like a needed to grind, and the spells and weapon proficiency levels went up fairly quickly. I don't remember having troubles with items being super expensive and they added an unlimited inventory system. Moral of the story? If you're going to play this game, make sure to play the PSP version!
"This game has so much death." Just talk to one of the black knights
I'm actually a huge fan of Final Fantasy II, though I definitely get why so many people just find it frustrating. For whatever it's worth, the game is perfectly beatable with your highest weapon and spell levels at around level 6~10, even in the NES original. As well, weapon and spell proficiencies actually level up much faster versus stronger enemies. Basically, enemies have "ranks" associated with them, roughly reflecting how powerful they are. When determining how much proficiency is gained for using a spell or a weapon attack, the game compares the user's proficiency level for that action to the enemies' ranks, obviously yielding more proficiency EXP the higher the enemies' ranks and the lower the user's proficiency level. This bonus is also only applied to the first use of a physical attack or spellcast within a battle (each subsequent use only gives a measly 1 proficiency EXP), so it's actually faster to just make sure to use each spell you want to level up once per battle and then move on than to draw out individual battles to cast spells a bunch of times.
That said... the game does not tell you any of this, so it's not reasonable to expect most people to play the game knowing it, haha. Final Fantasy II is definitely a game it takes some doing to understand, and I personally found it really rewarding after achieving that understanding, but I realize a lot of people may not be interested in that sort of experience.
Loving this retrospective. :D
This is really great stuff!
Clement.... I love you, this will make my day.
From what I remember (I had the GBA Dawn of Souls release), the extra campaign has you fighting as the dead characters, stopping a holy version of the Emperor (who had split off from the devil version) who was taking over the heavenly version of Castle Pandemonium (it was just a color swapped, mirrored version).
Does the change to the battle and levelling system pay off? Not in this game from what I’ve heard, but in the long run definitely. If they had kept the formula the same each time I think these games would have faded into irrelevance very quickly.
Just discovered these videos and I’m loving them. Thank you!
The GBA version took me 17 hours to beat. All my party members were so offensively strong that the later half of the game was purely me smashing (A) over and over to win.
I was dealing like 3000 damage in the second half.
That joke at 3:10 was a real knee slapper.
I'm really happy you're finally doing this series clement!!! :D have you seen dark pixel's review of the whole series? They're really good.
I really like FF2 but it can be incredibly frustrating if you don't understand it's mechanics. Which most people won't know going in blind. I only got good at the game because I found a detailed guide explaining everything. For instance in the PS1 and FAM versions equipping heavy armor or any weapon except the staff will weaken your spells via a hidden penalty. Also shields while still having the magic penalty are fantastic for evasion. How the hell do they expect the average player to figure this stuff out?
Cool video Clement.
I actually loved FF2 when it was ported with the first onto GBA as FF1+2 Dawn of Souls. I got pretty good at getting to areas in 2 where the stronger monsters were early on so I found grinding a tad bit easier.
I do hope you keep the good work up Clement and I would love to see you tackle a really old school game from the NES era called rolling thunder if you know of it lol
There's actually a minigame starting in the PS1 version of FF2. When you're on the Snowcraft, press the X and O buttons together 22 times and you can play Concentration
I haven't seen that type of inventory system from the versions of FF2 that I've played. Also, I'm pretty sure the GBA version has better arrangements for stat grinding, which is odd because I'm pretty sure the GBA version happened before the PS port.
Well I love the dawn of souls version of FF2 but I respect your opinion. It's better, the items are cheaper and you get to play a secret minigame to get Masamune, Aegis Shield and the Genji Equipment after getting Toad XVI. (which is broken because it's instant death and works on all enemies other than the final boss and you can get it super early if you can defeat the enemy "Captain" which can be easily defeated by using Teleport IV which Minwu (or Mindu, Ming-wu whatever) already has except that it's at level 3.)
Love your pic, what is it?
Kaiser Dragon from FFVI Advance.
PikaLink91 Thanks. It's Kaiser Dragon from Final Fantasy 6 Advance.
I also didnt play ii until origins in 03
Firions a badass of a main character!!!
This is the last one left for me that I haven't played yet. Last year I went through I and V for the first time, as well as finally finishing VI, and about a month ago I found III for DS at my local GameStop for $15 so I picked it up and finished it last week. Now II is all that's left.....dammit I really don't wanna do this, but I know I will at some point, probably sooner rather than later too
Hi Clement! Long post warning!
There is a very simple tactic you can do to legitimately make this one of the smoothest and easiest FF games out there. And apart from the beginning, there's very little grinding involved. But it's counter-intuitive to what you'd think, which is why most people don't think to play like this.
1) Don't wear armor. Absolutely none! Go butt naked!
2) Okay fine, equip a shield. But that's it! And you want that shield. However, that does mean you have to equip one-handed weapons.
Seriously, that's the key to winning this game. You grow your own defense naturally by being hit so armor is pretty pointless, and the shield helps you avoid excess damage. When you wear armor, you're a sitting duck. By the time you get midway through the game, too many enemies damage based on Drain stats rather than their own strength. Or they're so strong, they pierce right through your armor. And because you're a sitting duck, you take ALL the hits. When you don't wear armor and only carry a shield, you can dodge most of the attacks per tern, so you only get hit somewhat. And you don't have to worry about HP. You'll grow naturally as you need to. Don't force it. I usually defeat the last boss easily with an average of 2000 - 2500 HP. It's very doable.
And it's very useful for avoiding stat spells cast by enemies. You can avoid a lot of Confuse and Stone spells this way. It makes those imps in Mysidia Tower a joke rather than the terror they normally are.
And grinding for Spell levels is easy depending on who you're fighting. It's based on spell level and enemy rank. I think enemies go up to rank 7. When you get to the desert, grind there. You get generic brute enemies at rank 5 and 6. You can level spells up to Level 5 and 6 VERY quickly than you would fighting goblins and bees, who are Rank 1 enemies. And because you're naked with a shield, you'll avoid most of their attacks (once you're strong enough). It's an easy and safe place. Not to mention, there's a chocobo forest nearby for when you want safe and easy passage out of there.
Also, this game REALLY makes you want to use special weapons in the game. You get the Ancient Sword really early, which weakens the enemy's defense. The Sleep Sword (or Crescent Sword) is really useful too. So those boss fights you talked about? Yeah, just use that until you can cast Curse, and then you can kill them easily. Basically, keep the cool swords they give you. They have the effects of the spells you need, but don't yet have. They're even useful at end game.
This is just personal nitpick, but I thought the encounter rate was similar to the first game. They were both excessively troublesome. They're only worse (and done intentionally so) in the empty room. But that's just me.
And then there's the GBA and PSP version that levels everything up MUCH more quickly, and there are no stat decreases. So that helps a bunch.
I don't expect you'll actually take my advise and play through the game again. But seriously, I've played the game the way most people do, and it was a bloody nightmare! I've played the game naked with a shield several times, and it's always easy! The only grinding I really have to do is getting more MP and some spell leveling, but that's workable. But yeah, I see most people go to the final boss with well over 5000 HP, and I do it safely with 2000.
They... had a good idea with the leveling system, but the execution was terrible. But, playing the way I do, I always have a good time with it.
the toad spell is also a beast. you can get it early from defeating captain. You can do it easily after getting Minwu then leveling Teleport to IV. you're right about the shield being a beast. My Maria has 99% evasion thanks to her level 16 shield. If you can get Toad to XVI you can get Masamune, Aegis Shield and the Genji Equipment.
Toad and Mini are absolutely game-breaking! I followed HC Bailly's guide (how I learned most of these tips) and for fun he absolutely abused those spells towards end game. It's funny how many of the huge and tough monsters can be instantly wiped off the screen!
Well I'm still grinding my Maria to get 99 strength and agility (72 strength and 90 agility) and Magic Defense to 10. I'm also leveling her sword skill to 16 because Masamune.
Then I salute you! I don't have the patience to level anything up max! Now to level up everything in the remakes to make Ultima work... *shudder*
lol thanks wish me luck
I had this on the PSP and let my sister borrow it and saw it again
Ahh FF II. By far my favorite 8-bit Final Fantasy (fourth or fifth favorite main series game depending on my mood) though I didn't play it unti Origins came out. I've always been fond of rebellion against evil empire stories and Saga/FF Legend II was my first Square RPG so the stat growth system brought back fond memories. I've honestly never understood why this gets so much hate.
I need to find the time to complete my RPG's. I keep starting them, but I never finish them.
Another really great video, and February is the shortest month so we'll get the next one sooner, yay 😂
It's certainly not for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed this game. The thing I like about the older Final Fantasy games that a lot of people who didn't grow up with them might not realize is that you can equip spells and weapons as items and they have awesome utility value.
The remake’s version of The Emperor’s boss theme is really underrated. I just wish it got a remix in FFXIV to lengthen it, like with Chaos and Cloud of Darkness.
Clement! Really big fan of your LP's esp. the megaman games! Super helpful guides and hilarious commentaries! Would you ever consider doing an LP for Alien Isolation? I'd be so eager to know your thoughts on the game. Thanks!
Currently playing through the Wonderswan (essentially the PlayStation release) version and the GBA version of Final Fantasy 2, and even though the exploit was removed, things do seem to level up faster in the GBA version. Also, HP increases without the need of being hit as well. So while not completely fixing the game, there are some improvements.
Still love this game. I'm replaying it in Japanese on the Wonderswan Color in normal mode (with no dash, no auto target and only globe for world map)
Gordon's sprite kinda reminds me of Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist...
7:45 makes me think of the system they introduced in the second half of Sword Art Online when the characters entered Alfhiem (however you spell it)
April 8th? Hey, my birthday!
NickonAquaMagna no one cares, seriously these "OMG! my birthday" comments are probably the 3rd most annoying comment a person can make
Geez, I didn't know I wasn't allowed to find that amusing. What, you think I want a medal or something? I just wanted to write it.
In all seriousness, though, where is this coming from? You make it out like it's this super common thing that happens everywhere, like people writing "first," but I swear I've never seen one instance of it in all my years on youtube. I'm kind of scratching my head and how my comment could've annoyed you this much.
NickonAquaMagna i envy you then, these birthday comments are quite common on let's play channels for some odd reason
+Sean Sealey
Why are you butthurt?
Sean Sealey "for some odd reason" they do it to get attention. I hate people who ask for likes and subs on their birthday. I also hate people who ask for an even/odd number of likes. I also hate people who say "1 like = good luck for 1 year 1 sub = permanent good luck for 1 year dislike = permanent bad luck for years". I also hate people who say "If I can get 100 likes my mom will give me a present". I also hate small channels who ask for shoutouts in comments. I also hate idiot people who ask for likes so that the youtuber can see the comment (then again I did this too but I wanted to help a dumbass youtuber and then this butthurt prick said I should shut the fuck up)
I like this one although I have never finished it. I started it, got lost and gave up which was about 8 years ago. I should try it again someday.
I remember playing the psp version of this game and FF1 when I was little and I got stuck on this game that I had no idea what to do, so I played FF1 a lot more. I never went back to FF2 though maybe someday in the future I will
I've powered through this game about 3 times and I agree, it's frustrating as hell. I had to resort to cheap tricks to level up and grinding is so measured that it stops being the zen-like relaxing grind that other games do.
Final Fantasy II is a game that's not for everyone. Yeah, the grinding is necessary if you want to survive and sometimes there are ways around it.
This.
Like what?
Like everything. My go-to spells to use before starting are Haste, Protect, Shell, Aura and Berserk.
Haste raises the amount of hits you can inflict on your opponent.
Protect increases physical defense depending on level.
Shell increases magical defense.
Aura increases effectiveness.
Berserk raises attack power.
There's also Curse and Curse is THE MOST useful skill to have cause you can screw your enemies this way.
Is there a way to restore mana mid-dungeon?
afraid not unless you pack a lot of Ethers.
Actually, FF1 also had monsters in a box. Kinda. At least in the PSP and GBA versions it did. If you stepped on any space adjacent to certain treasure chest's you'd face a specific encounter
Just for anyone watching now,
The pixel remaster version of this game overhauled the balance of the game. Main point is that you get a check point in every room.
7:45 - Final Fantasy II is what I often like to call Final Fantasy SaGa, because the level up system most of those games use essentially got its start here.
SBaby
Which is hilarious because I played and disliked SaGa 1 and 2 and Romancing SaGa before I played this game on gba and loved it.
Granted, I had no idea what I was doing with Romancing SaGa, and I only got SaGa 1 and 2(along with Final Fantasy Adventure LOL)because I was looking for “Final Fantasy” games after playing Final Fantasy 8, and those games were NOTHING like it.
My history with Final Fantasy is quite humorous.
See on the other hand, I loved the SaGa games (well, most of them). So that might have immediately colored my opinion of this game. But the thing is, I also loved this game because of how different it was for its time (my only gripe being that even when you max out a stat, it can degrade over time if you aren't in constant maintenance mode on it).
SBaby
I like the SaGa games now because of this game.
I just didn’t know what I was doing when I originally bought them and expected something else because of the terrible titles for the English localization of the original SaGa games.
@@ptbwf Probably because SaGa uses the events system which you might love or hate the mechanic
Anyone else think of Xenoblade's Gaur Plains when they heard the music at 26:37
The first time I played FF 2 it took me 2 -3 weeks. And now I finished it in just 2 1/2 days.
And I like this game more than the 1st, possibly the third.
3:06 "An arrow to the knee almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter."
Job classes here are gradual developments in this game which I like, but beware do not attempt to change your Black mage with Lv 6 spells into a fighter or another job type.
Ethers work best in Encounter Screens not field screens. It will usually refill a bit more than 40mp etc...
Tip: Get the Change/Swap spell and Aspil spells these spells will make the game easier.
Not too sure if the Origins version is the same as the Famicom version, but it is always recommended to Cure your party after battle in order to allow the Stat rewards to be granted.
Final Fantasy ll's map is like Dragon Quest 1's map. Gift and a Curse.
P.S. Not really important, but try coming back to Altair/Altea with Josef and Gordon as soon as you get them to get extra dialogue from Hilda.
Once you gain access to minwu.
You can defeat the ogres, adamantoises and even the captain once you gain the berserk spell from the magician.
Howdey! Glad ya found me in the midst of all these other comments.
Wow I'm glad I played the gba and PSP versions because they didn't have that limited inventory nonsense! good old 99 items at a time is the best amount of inventory space LOL!
Oh man! There are SOOO many reviews for FF2! Can't believe how many there are....and honestly, they've only convinced me to pick up the game for my old Psp!
I'll level with all of ya. FF2 is quite possibly the Hardest Final Fantasy game I've ever played! And Yet its so rewarding! Then, I've played game's Opening Segments 4 times back when I was Middle school! I'm a Long-time Final Fantasy Nerd and I loved the hell outta the series ever since my Uncle let us watch him face off against Bosses in FF4 and 6 (2 & 3 when first released). So I wasn't unfamiliar with this series. But Damn was this game a Trial! One of THEE biggest Trials I've ever had to go through when it came to a Video game!
The very fact that you are not just Required...But Forced to Level up is almost Nightmarish! It Literally takes at Least three Hours of Grinding (if not more) to get your Characters anywhere from the very Start of the game! Getting Mindu later absoulutely makes this Chore easier! But you really have to struggle and have to have a LONG TERM Grinding Plan for Each of your characters! Cause let's be Honest....your not gonna be able to Grind Everything. Weapons, Magic, Stat Levels, Its all trivial as hell! So What Decided to do was focus on spells that were Absolutely Necessary! Now mind you, I only needed Certain spells to carry my Party of Heroes from Point A to Point B. So I decided to focus on making them ALL Physical Attackers with the Best armor and gear and made sure that Curative Spells that could be used in Battles and Outside of Battles were the focus! Wrap and Teleport had gotten the same treatment, though I tended to use those for Pure emergency!
I forgot how long it took me, But think right around the time I got to Joseph, My party was able to Crush the Living Hell outta Everyone one of my Enemies! Especially since I used attacks on my own party members once I got an enemy party down to a useless single monster! Though that Greatly depended on what set of Monster(s) it was. It also helped I had a Strategy guide to tell me which rooms were fake,cause that Shit is annoying as hell! The Random encounter rates are some the Worst I've ever Seen with the Ridiculous amount of Power Enemies that fill the screen, and right now at the last stretch of the game, even though my current party is Really GOD DAMN Strong! FUCKING DEATH KNIGHTS can Kill my Party! Cause they Hit Like a Fucking Truck and Steal HP When doing SO! THAT IS SOME BULLSHIT!
RIGHT NOW, My Firion Has the Highest Cure Spell-Level and uses double Swords, Having to power to Topple just about Every enemy you can imagine, GUY is Practically the Boss Killer in the game asI made him into a Berserker who uses Axes and Maces, not only that...But he has the Highest amount of HP compared to Everyone! Maria was Probably the Hardest Character to find a Role for, but I made her into Sort of a Long-Ranged Paladin that Sat in the Back row and Chucked Healing, Revival and used Elemental Specific weapons to beat most of my Enemy parties! As for Leon. Well, I said fuck it, whatever I turn him into, it'll be better than what I'm stuck with seeing as how He was Practically shit-tier till I equipped him with two lances and Got to Work on getting his Cure Spell to stupid Levels!
But yeah, so far this game's growth Battle system has been a Pain in the ass to utilize effectively, However, once I got my party to Higher levels than what the Dungeons could challenge me with, Bosses became a Cake-walk! Behemoth Bosses were Practically nothing, Magic users, Elementally Weak enemies didn't stand a chance, and I Often went into Dungeons just Stabbing the Fuck outta anything that moved than using up Mp for Spells Unless curing them was necessary! There were times I had to change up my approach whenever it came to Monsters that stole HP like a bitch, but I managed and usually got through by the skin of my teeth! And Now i have to fight these annoying as Shit Death Knights that REKTED my party! I'm gonna fucking grind the shit outta my Heroes just to beat them once I get the Chance!
When I first started playing FF2 and NEVER wanted to touch again. I would usually go for a setup like the Warriors of Light in FF1, Firion as a Warrior, Maria as the White Mage and Guy as a Black Mage. And you're completely right on grinding your butt off to level up everything. It was one of the main reasons why I don't like FF2 mechanic system. If you don't want to level up everything by doing so many battles, you might as well look for cheat codes to skip much of the grinding and level up much faster that way. But... this is only up to you on how you want to play FF2
The DOS version (Dawn of Souls for GBA) was better. Black mages are bad tbh because all offensive spells, other than status spells are trash. The status spells I think are good are: Toad, Berserk, Curse, Fire, (you might be thinking "Bamd I thought you said ALL offensive spells are trash!", and well you ARE right! Fire IS trash. But not trash for flans) Cure, Basuna, Esuna, Life and Teleport.
I can only speak for the GBA version but I actually in enjoyed this game. Not as much as FF1 but certainly more than FF4. I like the freedom that comes with the customization and you can make the game as easy or as challenging as you want based on what you choose to focus on. I also think the story is one of the best I've seen so far because it makes me actually care about the characters and their world. When someone dies in the game it holds weight.
I enjoy playing 2 because the freedom to do almost anything you want. However that free has a rather painful lesson.
I like the freedom but it's goddamn hard to get ALL the freedom.
Final Fantasy II is fun, if you're willing to find ways to buck the linearity of the system a little bit, and if you're willing to deal with a lot of grinding. I first played the emulated translated rom of the Famicom version back in 2001 or so (I'm 4 years older than Clement? D: I feel immature...), and I used to wander off to where the harder monsters were at my point in the game, and farm them for drops, which I could sell later for loads of money. I didn't mind grinding magic and using that in place of physical attacks, since it seemed that magic was more accurate than melee for hits, and I found that Maria quickly became the MVP of the party. I leveled her magic up a lot, and she became the one who would save our asses and be the Last Man Standing many, many times. I ended up buying the Famicom cart off of eBay around 2004, and a Famicom-to-NES converter, and using a translation guide for the bestiary, I beat the game some years back on my NES. I own Dawn of Souls and the iOS version of II as well. Dawn of Souls pretty much plays like FFII easy mode. I rarely, if ever, used the exploit, BTW: I was either in Phinn Castle or the Mysidia Tower by the time I found out about it. I preferred to just use my time fending off random encounters on the map whilst exploring to grind up my magic levels, and then, I never found the need to hit my own characters to raise up my HP, anyways: I think some of the magic grinding and item farming I did leveled those up on their own. Maria had over 1000 MP on my file when I beat the game. I will agree that leveling up Esuna and Basuna (especially Basuna) is the WORST... For the early part of the game, all of the item farming I did netted me enough money to buy some Elixirs; later on, I used to go to the Coliseum and hunt down one of those mage classes in one of the random encounter rooms, since one of them (I forget which palette swap it was :P) drops Drain and Osmose, and get enough of those spell books to equip my whole party with those spells. So, yeah, if you're willing to grind up and risk a little, dipping your toes in slightly tougher waters than you should, using high-level magic more than a person who prefers melee might like (I love magic characters :P), it pays off by a lot.
Basically, if you play this game like it's a dungeon crawler like Wizardry... I hear the guy who designed the battle system in this went on to work on Square's SaGa games. Makes sense.
35:02 Because we're Sonic Heroes!
I really never got to play the first 3 Final Fantasys.
I started with IV as it came with my SNES, alongside Super Mario World and Megaman X.
Also, this is why i love Square Enix: Never keep the same gameplay, always trying something new. And it is not about just a small changes. a Final Fantasy will be drastically different than other Final Fantasy.
I'm curious if you don't like ff8 as well. I myself love FF8 the best, and I really enjoyed the FF2 system because both of those games fit my playstyle. That's what I like about Final Fantasy in general. There's something for everyone, and I haven't met anyone that liked every entry.
You released this vídeo on the FF7 20 years Birthday?
I will say, I enjoy this game far more than 8. That Draw system never was something I liked...plus you don't need to get spells up to 16 and I never did. Physical stats with berserk and haste always worked well for me.