Improved dialogues (I slightly corrected the text) and improved graphics (I tried to find the most important art and screenshots from the game).
So, the first game in the series at the time of its release became very popular unexpectedly for everyone. In the first part of the history of the series, I mentioned that at the time of the development of Final Fantasy, the developer company was on the verge of bankruptcy. And it was thanks to this game that they stayed afloat and gained some popularity. Development of the second part began almost immediately and at the helm was the same Hironobu Sakaguchi, who was promoted (see. the first part of the history of the Final Fantasy series). Further, if I talk straight away about the progress of development, spoilers for the game will not be avoided, so first let’s talk about the plot.
Plot.
The game follows four main characters: Firion, Maria, Gaius and Leon, from the kingdom of Finn.
The parents of the last three were killed during the invasion of Emperor Paramecia (a hostile state), who summoned hordes of monsters from hell, thereby seeking to enslave the entire world.
Firion, Maria and Guy are saved by Princess Hilda, who created a rebel base in the city of Altair (no, this is not in honor of the assassin). Leon has gone missing.Seeking to help the resistance forces, three young men undertake various missions against Paramecia. During the missions, they will be joined by various heroes who will help defeat the Emperor, and will also help Maria find her lost brother Leon.
Soon Hilda sends Firion, Maria and Guy to Finn to meet Prince Scott, who is hiding in a secret place in the city. After making their way through a hidden passage in the pub, the party eventually finds Scott, who is near death but can still speak. He talks about his brother Gordon, and that their Finn was defeated due to the betrayal of Count Bergen. Scott also gives the ring, and with his last breath asks to tell Hilda that he loves her. Returning to Altair, the party gives the ring to Hilda, who asks to keep it as she believes it is the ring of a brave man. Hilda also asks the party to go to Salamand in search of Mithril. Previously, Joseph, a member of the rebel group who disappeared during the mission, was sent on this mission. During the mission, Minwu, Hilda’s right-hand man, temporarily joins the party.
The party soon finds Joseph, but he http://slotstarscasino.uk/ refuses to give any information since the Palamecian Empire has kidnapped Nellie, his daughter. Bergen threatened that if it was confirmed that Joseph was working for the resistance forces, she would be killed. Having learned this, the party goes to the Semit Falls, where Nellie is being held hostage. Having freed her and received Mithril, the heroes return to Altair.
Returning to Altair, the party gives the mithril to the blacksmith Tobul, who creates mithril armor and weapons. Next, the heroes head to the city of Basque, which is under the control of Paramecia, and next to which an airship known as the Dreadnought is being built. The ship was being built under the control of a certain Dark Knight, but by the time the party arrived it was withdrawn due to the disappearance of Mithril. However, Bergen temporarily took its place, giving the resistance forces a chance to destroy the Dreadnought before its completion. However, upon reaching the ship, the party discovers that the Dark Knight had not actually left the Basque, and that the Dreadnought had already been completed. A short time later, the Dreadnought attacks Soft, Palm, Nathria and Altair, but somehow does not damage the rebel base in Altar. To resist the empire, a plan was created according to which it was necessary to use Sunfire (eng. Sun fire) from Chestnut, but before that you need to find the Goddess Bell. Joseph helps the party enter the snow cave, where they find the bell. At the exit from the cave, the party is attacked by Bergen, whom they defeat without any problems. But, despite the defeat, he manages to direct a huge boulder at the heroes. To save the others, Joseph holds back the boulder and thereby dies.
With heavy feelings, the party decides to avenge Joseph’s death, and continue on to Kashan to obtain the Sunfire. The heroes use the Goddess Bell to enter the castle, where they find Gordon, who agrees to help the party find the Torch of Aegis. Egil’s Torch, the only item that can store Sunfire. After defeating the Red Soul, the heroes finally receive Sunfire. It is soon discovered that Cid’s ship has been stolen by the Dreadnought, which has stopped. to refuel. Having made their way on board, the party frees Cid (and Hilda, who was also on the ship). Before leaving the ship, the heroes throw Sunfire into the Dreadnought’s engine, thereby destroying it once and for all.
Returning triumphantly to Altair, the heroes find the king, who is dying. With his last breath, he organizes a three-pronged attack on Finn to free him from the oppression of the Empire. According to his plan, Minwu is sent to the Missions to obtain Ultima, a powerful spell; Gordon takes command of the rebel army, which must directly attack Finn; Virion’s party must travel to the island nation of Deist to gain the support of the Dragoons. With the help of Layla, the pirate captain, the heroes reach Deist, where they discover an empty castle, in which they find a Wyvern. The beast dies, since shortly before this the empire poisoned the water in the area. Having taken the egg of the last Wyvern, the party goes to a cave located near the castle to dip the egg in a healing spring, and thereby save the unborn Wyvern, since they expect that she will soon be able to help them.
Returning to Altair empty-handed, the heroes discover that Hilda has been replaced by Queen Lamia. After defeating her, they soon learn that the real Hilda is the prize for the winner in the Colosseum. Together with Gordon, the party gets to the right place and fights the Behemoth. Even though they are victorious, the Emperor throws them into prison. With the help of a thief named Paul, they manage to unlock the dungeon. To allow Hilda and Gordon (who was also captured) to escape, the party draws the guards’ attention to themselves.
Meanwhile, the rebel army positioned itself near Finn, preparing to strike the castle. Virion, Maria, Guy and Layla fight Gottos, and thereby liberate the castle and bring an important victory to the rebels. However, Minwu, who was sent after Ultimo, has disappeared, and Gordon sends the heroes to find him, and advises them to go to the Mysidian tower. Having received the crystal rod, the party goes to the tower, but suddenly the ship is attacked by Leviathan, who swallows it. Waking up inside Leviathan, the heroes discover that Layla is missing. However, they are soon joined by dragoon Richard Highwind. Having reached the tower, the party defeats the fire, ice and thunder giants, and at the top of the tower they find Minva, who is trying to unlock access to Ultima. Having gathered his strength, he opens access to the spell, but dies in the process.
Having received the Ultima and returning to Finn, the party senses something wrong. Altair, Harry, Palm and Soft were destroyed by a mysterious force known as the Cyclone. If the heroes don’t deal with him, the world could be torn apart. To get there, Gordon suggested using a wyvern (the same one that they revived), which would help them easily get into the Cyclone.
In the end the party defeats the Emperor. After the death of the Emperor, Leon, a little previously known as the dark knight and the Emperor’s right hand, decides to become the new ruler of Paramecia. Virion and his friends go to meet him, but as soon as they arrive, the Emperor returns from Hell, more powerful than ever, to continue to rule the empire. Richard decides to delay the Emperor so that the others can escape on the wyvern, and thereby dies. After Richard’s death, the Dark Emperor builds a new fortress, Pandemonium, to begin a new empire. Meanwhile, the heroes go to Deist, where they receive Excalibur (almost the same as King Arthur’s, but only cooler). After passing the Jade Path, the party reaches Pandemonium, inside which they fight the strongest servants of the Emperor, who block the path to their master.
Having reached the top floor of Pandemonium, the Emperor attempts to destroy the rebels’ last hope. Despite his power, he still fails. After the battle, Virion and his friends return to Finn Castle, where Hilda, Gordon, Nellie, Layla and Paul are waiting for them to congratulate them on their important victory. After defeating the Emperor, everyone begins a new life. However, Leon does not want to connect his future with the others, since there were many unpleasant moments between them. Despite Maria’s protests, Virion lets his friend go and says that he will always be welcome in Finn, where he can return at any time.
This ends the main game, but the Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Portable versions include a story expansion called Soul of Rebirth. It tells the story of four party members who died protecting Virion and his friends.
Waking up in an unknown cave, Minwu tries to figure out where he is. While moving through the cave he finds Scott, Prince Chestnut, who died earlier in the game. A short time later, they meet Joseph, who has encountered a zombie version of Bergen. Already the three of them defeat him, and continue their journey, simultaneously trying to find the answer to their question about their whereabouts. They soon find Richard, who joins the heroes. Having reached the city of Mahanon, Minwu and the others realize that they have entered the afterlife. There they are surprised to find Sid, Tobul and the rest of the rebels who have rebuilt this place. The heroes decide to explore two city portals that appeared not so long ago.
The heroes go to one of the portals, which leads them to the place of Minwu’s death. Minwu successfully removes the seal as he has become stronger and can no longer die. Proceeding further, the party encounters the keeper of the Ultima spell, the Ultimate Weapon. After a long and difficult battle, the heroes still win.
After passing through the last portal, they find themselves in the Unknown Palace. Like Pandemonium, this palace is full of powerful enemies, some of whom guard the best weapons and armor in the game. Each of the four heroes has a special weapon: Stardust Rod (for Minwu), Wild Rose (for Scott), Bracers (for Joseph) and Wyvern Lance (for Richard).
After a series of battles, the heroes meet the Light Emperor, who asks them for forgiveness for all the deeds of his dark side. He says that after death from the world of the living, his soul split into two parts, one of which was overcome by Virion and his friends. The Emperor also makes it known that Minwu and the party are now in Arubboth, in a place that leads to heaven, where they can finally rest in peace. The heroes almost believed him, but suddenly they see people dear to them who ask them not to listen to the Emperor’s speeches, since his light side is as evil as his dark side. Having listened to them, they again restore the will to fight and fight with the Light Emperor. Having defeated him, the heroes (in the form of ghosts) find themselves in Finn Castle, where they witness the events that took place at the end of the main plot. This is some kind of explanation for why Virion saw them at the end of the game. The story ends with Minwu, Scott, Joseph and Richard disappearing, supposedly going to heaven, and this time for real. At this point the game is considered over.
Actually, now I think we can talk about gameplay.
Gameplay.
The game itself is a classic Japanese RPG and if someone doesn’t know what it is, then go google it, or look at the game based on South Park.
Final Fantasy II is a unique game in the Final Fantasy series because it does not have the usual levels that increase as you gain experience. Instead, experience points are distributed according to certain indicators. A lot of it depends on how the character acted. For example, if a character often uses a particular weapon, then he will be more skillful in fighting with it. In this case, physical characteristics will also increase. And those characters who often use magic will receive an increase in magic indicators. HP(life) and MP(mana) increase in the same way. Characters who received the most damage during battle will have their HP increased, and characters who used magic will receive an increase in MP.
In some versions of the game there is a bug where the level of weapons and character statistics increase, but in fact the increase does not occur. In subsequent remakes, many bugs were fixed. They also reduced the difficulty of the game.
There can be four characters in the party at the same time. Three of them are constantly on the team, while the fourth character changes regularly. Final Fantasy II was the first game in the series to offer the ability to move some heroes into the background during battle. Characters in the back row take less physical damage and can attack the enemy with a bow and arrow or magic. The enemies are located in a similar way. There can be a maximum of eight opponents on the screen. Only those enemies that are on the two rows closest to the heroes can be attacked. Having killed monsters from nearby ranks, it becomes possible to attack others.
Throughout the game, in conversations with non-player characters, the player can “learn” special words or phrases that allow him to learn more information so that he can advance through the plot. In addition, there are special items that are given by non-player characters. Some of them play a very important role in the plot.
I would also like to talk separately about how long the game was re-released. And I also decided that I will not repeat some aspects that have already been mentioned and will simply say how many times it was republished. 8 times. Of course, it could not surpass its predecessor in terms of the number of re-releases, but it, like the first part, can now be obtained in iOS and Android. It should also be noted that the game received its own novelization called Final Fantasy II Labyrinth of Nightmares, but I will talk about it when we talk about products related to the series.
It seems like there’s nothing more to say about the game, so I’ll turn to you, the readers. I want to ask how I should go through the games in the series – go through all the numbered parts first or go through the games as they were released in chronological order, because if the second option is chosen, I will have to go through the first branch in the series, and if the first, then I will go through the third part.
That’s all now. Vote in the comments, just leave them and don’t forget to correct me if I’m wrong somewhere. That’s it, I’m done.