Final Fantasy II: Dawn of Souls (Part I)
... is at an end.
The emperor of Palamecia has called forth monsters from the underworld...
...and has begun his campaign for world conquest.
A rebel army arose in the Kingdom of Fynn to thwart the emperor's plans.
But the rebels' castle fell to an all-out assault by the empire.
Left with little choice, the rebels withdrew to the remote town of Altair.
Four youths from Fynn also found themselves fleeing the imperial forces.
They had lost their parents at the hands of the empire.
But their escape wasn't over...
The game gives you control starting in a battle with 4 Black Knights. You can't win, of course, so just let them kill you.
Our main character wakes up and re-unites with two of his friends, but the third is missing. They ask Princess Hilda to let them join the rebel army but she says no.
One feature which isn't in any other Final Fantasy game (as far as I know) is having to learn certain key words in order to get information out of various npc's. Most are related only to a specific plot event but this one will see a bit of use through the game.
Immediately after telling us we can't join the rebel army and that it is too dangerous to go back to Flynn, the princess is like "nvm go there anyway and rescue some prisoners" so I guess we'll be doing that.
The interesting thing about Final Fantasy II is that the characters are completely blank slates. They do all have slightly different starting stats, but essentially you can give them any weapon, any armour, any spells, and raise their stats any way you want.
Firion starts with a Broadsword and Buckler equipped, which I'm going to give to Maria, then I'm going to give Maria's Bow to Guy and buy two daggers for Firion. Just cuz that's what I feel like doing. Characters gain proficiency with weapons over time (up to level 99) doing more damage with weapons they've become skilled with, so it's best not to switch things around too much.
You will notice there is no experience or character levels; instead, each character's stats will increase over time as they fight many battles. The more the character gets hit by attacks, the more their defense, stamina, and hp are likely to increase. The more they attack with a weapon, the more likely their strength will increase. The more they use black or white magic the more their intelligence or spirit, as well as magic and mp will increase. You can manipulate this over time by having characters attack each other and use spells on your team instead of enemies, though for now the stats will be too low for them to last very long.
In any case, you can find a Potion in a chest in the rebel hideout, then leave Altair and head north to Gatrea. There isn't much of interest here, but you can heal before continuing north to Flynn. Hug the shore of the lake here, if you stray too far away you can encounter very strong enemies that will kill you in one shot and there's really no geographical markers for where these monsters start appearing. Fun, right? Also note that you can hold the B button and press Select to view the map when on the overworld (since there are no helpful talking brooms to tell you this like there was in Final Fantasy I).
It sure is. But they'll actually leave you alone, as long as you don't speak to them. If you do you'll end up in a battle you absolutely can't win (the enemy deals 400-500 damage per hit). Many of the buildings in Flynn are blocked off by soldiers, and those that aren't are empty anyway. Make your way around to the Pub in the bottom-right of town and talk to the bartender. Use the "Wild Rose" password on him and he'll reveal a secret passage. Downstairs you can get three Potions, then talk to the guy laying down in bed.
He gives us several messages to pass on, them promptly dies. Guess he'll never know if we actually pass them on then, right?
Back in Altair, show the ring to Hilda and she'll instruct you to take Minwu with you. Talk to him to have him join your party and get the Canoe as well. You'll notice that Minwu is stocked to the brim with white magic - most of these really won't have any use to you right now. He's a very temporary party member so you really don't have to worry about raising his stats or anything.
Go north across the water and east a short distance to the next town; Paloom. Buy whatever new weapons, equipment and magic you want/can afford and then leave again. Head north around some mountains to find yet another town. this time it's Salamand. Again, buy whatever you want/need and then go into the northeastern house.
Ask him about Mythril, but he won't share what he knows. Instead he asks us to go rescue some Salamand townsfolk from a cave nearby. The cave is to the west and then sail back east along the river.
Once inside, go all the way left to find a chest with 200 gil. Go back and down and when the path splits continue down, the other way is a dead end. At the south end go right for another chest, this one with 400 gil. Go all the way left and down the stairs.
On the next floor go up, and the path with split in three. Go northwest first and open the chest there for the Eye Drops. East of there is another chest with a Potion. Go south from there and follow the path to the right for a chest with a Hi-Potion. North of here you'll see four doors - the first three rooms are empty and have a very high random encounter yet (you'll start in the middle of the room), but the left-most door has stairs down to the next floor.
Go all the way south to find another chest with 200 gil. Left of here is another chest with 250 gil across a bridge, but ignore the other bridge going down. North of this chest are three more doors - again, the far-left one is the one you want. Talk to Paul here (the guy with the red cape) and everyone will just get up and leave. Fancy that. Go right and down the stairs.
Go straight p for a chest with a Fire Tome, then go right for a three-way split. Both right and down go nowhere and we came from the left so go up and around and down more stairs. Go across the bridge and then northeast to find a chest with a Teleport Tome guarded by a Land Turtle (it is weak to ice). Then go back across the bridge and northwest. Again, go into the left room and talk to the figure there.
The Sergeant can deal more damage than you're probably accustomed to at this point, but with Minwu along you have little to fear. Since it is an armored foe, magic works well, but the boss has no particular weakness.
Since this is the first boss I'll wrap up part 1 here. See you in part 2.
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