Leveling system... brutal.

[Unbreakable Will]

Nathan Explosion would agree with me on this one folks. The leveling system is fun and quirky when you start to play this wonderful PSP remake, but later...when you actually want to take down that malevolent bastard Emperor, your skills are hopelessly too low.

So I don't have to constantly walk around monster smashing a, I use the 'Beat the :bou::bou::bou::bou: out of your characters and revive them endlessly' technique with a few Goblin monsters around the first town.

Do you personally enjoy the leveling system? What lvling tech. do you use?

[Omni-Odin]

I did happen to enjoy the leveling system. To me, it's the most practical of all systems: You want to be good at figthing, then click the fight button; black magic? Use it. But I said practical, not fun. We all see what Square did with the next battle system in FFIII(extreme overhaul anybody?). There were just too many jobs/job levs in III that I hardly found it enjoyable while playing. (V's system was better, Tactic's was the best).

But ya, I thought it was very easy to level, not so easy to want to non-stop continue to do so. But I beat the crap out of the last dungeon's bosses, so I guess I did it right. Two blood swords rule!!!

[Xaven]

I really enjoyed the leveling system when I played FFII, though I never did finish the game as I lost both the cartridge and the console! As such, I can't really comment on how the system worked late in the game, but it was fun enough to play through the middle. Once you had a strategy down, it was rather mind-numbing, I admit, to level the certain stat, but since I was playing DoS on my GBA, that was okay. GBA can sit beside you as you do something else!

I can't say I remember any technique I used besides attack self, heal self, repeat!

[~*~Celes~*~]

I find myself quite enjoying the leveling up system, tbh. It's more of a challenge, and it helps this one stand out from the others. :D

[*Laurelindo*]

I loved the system during the first hours of the game, because then you can still exit and reenter dungeons after healing everyone without too much of a hazzle.
But it gets pretty ridiculous when you're supposed to use HEAL like a hundred times to survive the endless Cursing later on - and it really gets brutal at the Mysidia Cave, where you seriously will need HEAL at LV6, otherwise you can fill the menu screen with all the Softs you want and still end up Petrify-Game Overed.

[Cyric]

I think FFII is the only game where the method of abusing the levelling system is NOT fun. The idea behind it was genius, but the implementation didn't work out very well. Take a run at Grandia, and see what a REAL battle system is like. ;) Oh and, the voice-overs at the very beginning of the game can be painful, but you get used to it as the game progresses.

[Skyblade]

Was there a change from the original, the GBA version, and the PSP version?

[qwertysaur]

it's only brutal until you learn that in FF II killing yourself is a GOOD thing.

[*Laurelindo*]

it's only brutal until you learn that in FF II killing yourself is a GOOD thing.That kinda hurts the feeling of completion IMO.
It's more fun when you actually deserve all the stat boosts you get in the game.

But of course there are moments when you pretty much have to cheat-level, for example when you desperately need HEAL at LV6 in the Mysidia Cave;
I'm not running around the world hoping to get Poisoned and Cursed and stuff like 300 times just to get it to that Level.
It would be much better if HEAL gained about 10 points or so per use, 2 points is ridiculously low for such a spell.

[Hot Shot]

The levelling system, IMO, was very good and original. It didn't find it too hard to get strong, in fact, on the PSX version there was an exploit. (It think it had been removed got taken from the GBA version, not too sure about the PSP version)

And Laurelindo, I think it's fine that Heal goes up slowly cos it is the most commonly used spell in FF II.

[*Laurelindo*]

Laurelindo, I think it's fine that Heal goes up slowly cos it is the most commonly used spell in FF II.Hm, I don't know.
It worked fine on the way to LV2, because you actually got Poisoned and Darked often enough to make it level up before the enemies started to love Curse, but it was a way too large leap to the other status magics later in the game.

I guess the game is designed so you need to fight lots of enemies in order to survive in Mysidia land, and therefore inevitably will have a good use for the spell lots of times.

[No.78]

I really don't like it. Kudos to Square for being experimental, but sadly FF2 is my least favorite FF and the level system is largely why.

[*Laurelindo*]

I really don't like it. Kudos to Square for being experimental, but sadly FF2 is my least favorite FF and the level system is largely why.It's actually quite enjoyable if you know how to use it.
For example, your HP will supposedly go up faster if you equip heavy armour, and the increases will be greater if you fight high-level enemies (in other words - tough enemies :p) - I love fighting the guards in Phin town before heading for Mysidia.
It's also a good idea to bring some Cottages with you so you can EXIT a dungeon and heal your characters, so further HP and MP increase parameters will register.

I would recommend you to level up ICE in the beginning of the game (chiefly for those Adamantines), then go for FIRE (for the Ice Cave) and BOLT and AERO after that (for the sea monsters and the Stalactites around Deist);
also make sure to level up CURE, LIFE, HEAL and FAST, this makes the game a lot easier.

[RedPouch]

I'm surprised by all the love for FF II's leveling system actually. For the longest time, it seemed like I was one of the likely 2~3 people on these forums that genuinely enjoyed it.

[Mr Twisticles]

I always struggled with leveling early on, rather than later. I would find that I'd stray too far off and end up in battles against enemies that I really shouldn't be running into!
But I agree with you, killing off atleast two of your characters so that the other two can level and vice versa is probably the best tactic there is.
It's a shame that some of the more recent Final Fantasies don't have that same amount of hard work in the leveling system.

[*Laurelindo*]

I honestly think people should stop being so obsessed with the glitch and try playing the game the way it was intended.
I've made it to Pandemonium now and the only time I even used a glitch was to level up the Heal spell quicker, and only because I couldn't find any good reason to use it and needed it at LV5 since I was about to enter the Whirlwind (where you constantly get turned to Stone).
I never used a single Save State either, the game is definitely beat-able without the glitch if you know what you're doing.

Trust me, the game is so much more fun when you feel that your stats raise naturally.
If you have problems with a dungeon, just exit, rest and re-enter, and do it until you are strong enough to make it to the boss.

I will submit a glitch-free guide for this game on Gamefaqs soon, where I will give advice on good leveling spots and strategies instead of mentioning the glitch (and the cheap Blood Sword strategy, for that matter) everywhere (because I'm honestly really tired of those kinds of guides, it's like getting the advice to use Knights of Round on Sephiroth).

[bennator]

To be honest, the leveling system is why FFII is the only Final Fantasy I haven't completed. It's original for sure, and I give Square credit there, but after I lost my progress halfway through a game, I haven't had the heart to start all over again and make it very far.

Exploiting the glitch gets around this, but it's also not very fun; it's not enjoyable to button mash select cancel over and over, and that also feels cheap.

I'm not saying it's a bad per se, but just not fun for me

[Skyblade]

I honestly think people should stop being so obsessed with the glitch and try playing the game the way it was intended.
I've made it to Pandemonium now and the only time I even used a glitch was to level up the Heal spell quicker, and only because I couldn't find any good reason to use it and needed it at LV5 since I was about to enter the Whirlwind (where you constantly get turned to Stone).
I never used a single Save State either, the game is definitely beat-able without the glitch if you know what you're doing.

Trust me, the game is so much more fun when you feel that your stats raise naturally.
If you have problems with a dungeon, just exit, rest and re-enter, and do it until you are strong enough to make it to the boss.

I will submit a glitch-free guide for this game on Gamefaqs soon, where I will give advice on good leveling spots and strategies instead of mentioning the glitch (and the cheap Blood Sword strategy, for that matter) everywhere (because I'm honestly really tired of those kinds of guides, it's like getting the advice to use Knights of Round on Sephiroth).

I have never used the glitch. I just found the gameplay completely, mind-bogglingly boring due to the poor levelling system.

The basic idea, that you use something in combat enough, it gets stronger, is a nice idea. In implementation, it turned out horrendous. Since it isn't just use of a spell or attack, but number of uses per combat, that denotes the level up, maxing spells and abilities is nearly impossible without some grinding that makes FFVIII's drawing magic to 100 seem positively fun in comparison.

[Wolf Kanno]

Its not as bad as people think, part of the issue is that people get too hung up on leveling magic and weapon skills which are the most time consuming elements in the game but oddly enough there are either easy short cuts to raising their levels or ways to get the most impact out of low levels. The other issue I've noticed which is normal for highly exploitable systems is that people feels its necessary to max out stats when really just having a 30-50 mark is more than enough to complete the game.

Weapon skills can be leveled quickly without the glitch by simply equipping the same weapon on a character twice. This works for everything but Bows and fists but bows get outclasses by duel damage weapons and the fist is more reliant on your strength stat than the weapons proficiency. You don't need to max weapons to 16, Level 5 is pretty adequate.

Stats are not as hard to raise and level up more frequently due to a number of factors. Its actually Squares inability to explain your armor's impact on leveling and stats that causes the game to be a headache.

Here's the big secret about magic. The levels are important but only if you want heavy armor. Every piece of equipment in the game has an impact on your magic stats through a hidden stat that never shows up sad to say but the logic makes it easier to decipher what equipment is good. Basically equipping your mage with swords and armor reduces the effectiveness of magic. Equipping rods and robes doesn't. The best swords and armor in the game will knock your magics power back to 1 if you are not careful. Likewise, you will be pleasantly surprised how much damage you do if you get enough of the negative armor off your mage which will make the spells low levels much more effective. The only issue I should warn you is that II has a very different idea of what is considered "mage type equips" so in the beginning you may have to have your mages nearly naked cause their are very few helms and accessories that mages can wear without compromising magic power.

Speed has a similar issue where less is more. You character will never get fast if they are equipped with heavy armor or using lances and axes. You need fast items like knives and staffs.

Basically, if you want to play the game right without exploiting the glitch, the real idea is to pre-plan the classes you want to build the characters into and then equip them properly for it. There is actually not as much room for versatility in the game as people believe there is to be, without exploiting the glitch. ;)

[Lamia]

II was an easy game, and I actually found III to be much more difficult. I think the problem people have with II is that they don't specialize their characters. Because stats go down as well as up in this game, it is important to make sure your characters aren't nerfed from being spread too thin.
I made Maria my sole caster... She took care of buffs, debuffs, healing, and magic damage... She was always casting magic so her magic power, MP, and spell levels kept up with the pace without the need to grind... Everyone else I just made into pure fighters :P Strength, HP, weapon levels... The Emperor was cake.