99 or Bust!

[Wolf Kanno]

How many FF games have you actually maxed out the characters levels/stats. Do you always do this or did it once for fun? Do you feel high levels make the game more fun or boring. Which games were easier to do this and which ones are the hardest?

[Rez09]

You know, I think I've tried maxing out levels/stats in most FF games, and there are very few I'll ever bother to do it a second time in -- it takes a lot of time, especially in the earlier titles, and rarely offers any rewards. Generally the opposite, really, as it trivializes whatever else you have left to do in the game. At this point the only games I still max my levels in are FF6 and 7, the former for reasons I still don't understand, and the latter usually as a side effect of mastering Materia, which I do for . . . reasons I still don't understand. ._.

I am a person of perpetual badhabits.

[Ayen]

None. I level up to beat the bosses, nothing more.

[Colonel Angus]

Solo Red Mage/Wizard run in FF. It's insanely easy to do on the GBA version.

[Formalhaut]

Depends on the game. God help anyone attempting to max everyone in FFX - that is a chore in and of itself, involving the defeat of several, several high-end bosses repeatedly to get them to drop spheres. There's a reason why I could never bring myself to defeat Penance or the Dark Aeons. You have to spend so much time training beforehand.

[Saber]

Yes I try to max all the stats. It's an achievement knowing my characters are top notch around the world. The only one I haven't is Final Fantasy II.

Most notable starts off with FFIV. After level 65 or something each character can level up in 3 or more different ways. Stats go up or go down. However there is a certain chance you get good stats. It's best to save and level up one at a time resetting when you didn't get the desired stats.

With Final Fantasy VI you have to do a low level challenge until you get certain espers. It helps to spend time on the veldt to learn all the spells so you can vanish/doom enemies. It takes a long time and personally it is my most consuming Final Fantasy to max stat cause of all the characters.

Final Fantasy VII is also time consuming due to you have to morph thousands of enemies in the underwater sunken ship. I tend to level up my materia during this as by the time I've mastered 8 KOTR my characters are usually all maxed.

Final Fantasy VIII is easy if you got speedy fingers and a lot of time. You can buy tents, turn them into mega potions and sell the potions for $. After that it's about buying items and turning them into stat ups. The only thing I've never did was Luck and Evade maybe I lacked speed too but idk.

Final Fantasy IX has a couple items where you can earn extra stats at level up. This has to be done in a low level challenge as the stat increase is so small you want to do it a lot on each character.

Final Fantasy X is easier to do cause by the time you max out the sphere grid unlocking all nodes your stats are almost maxed out already. You don't really need to grind a lot of spheres unless you want to max HP/MP.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the most beneficial as it makes a lot of boss battles seem like jokes. Big nodes on the characters crystarium determines stat boosts. Commander and sabator level up strength. Ravager and Synergist as well as sabator levels up magic. And Medic, Sentinel, and Synergist levels up HP. Some jobs level up two things depending on odd level or even levels. Like Sabator would level up strength on a even level while if sabator is on a odd level it levels up magic.

I do aim to have the best characters. ;P

[VeloZer0]

I used to always max out my characters. Then playing Disidia broke me of that habit....

[Fynn]

The only FF game that really required that I do that was Bravely Default. I really felt it made sense there, as the game was designed in such a way that reaching that level was not only easy to do, but the final battles actually basically required you to be that level. in most FFs, you only really need to be like 60 by the end, so there really isn't any point in grinding that far, IMO.

[Formalhaut]

The only FF game that really required that I do that was Bravely Default. I really felt it made sense there, as the game was designed in such a way that reaching that level was not only easy to do, but the final battles actually basically required you to be that level. in most FFs, you only really need to be like 60 by the end, so there really isn't any point in grinding that far, IMO.

The Piggyback FFX-2 guide that I have (I'm nostalgic about paper guides, you see) recommended being level 45 for the final battles. FORTY-FIVE. I was level forty-five at chapter three, at least, let alone the end of chapter five.

I do appreciate games that use the full suite of levels available. It does sometimes seem that past level 50-60, the upper levels are really just filler to grind to level 99 to get to superboss territory.

[Fynn]

That's exactly what I mean. There's always this big space where you're too strong for the final boss to be challenging and still way too weak for the superbosses :p It really takes away all the joy of the grind. That's what I loved about Bravely Default and the MegaTen series.

Also, FFXIII was terrible about this. To the point that I couldn't even grind if I wanted to. What the fuck is the deal with the last part of the Crystarium unlocking after I beat the final boss? I wanted to grind a whole chapter ago and now I JUST WANNA BE DONE WITH THIS THANK YOU!!!

[Karifean]

Really most of the extra levels after somewhere in the 50-60 range are mostly just bonus. You don't even need to go that high for any superbosses, like, ever. Except for FFX maybe, but I can't even confidently say you do in that game because no one ever even bothers to TRY beating the superbosses at lower stats.

But yeah, FF V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X-2, XII, none of those required anything beyond Level 60 for anything. I still grind to 99 because it's fun though.

@Fynn To be fair you can still grind without having unlocked the final crystarium stage. Nothing stopping you from amassing CP.

[Fynn]

But what is the point of amassing CP when I can't spend unless I spend them on roles I don't care about for that particular character?

[Karifean]

But what is the point of amassing CP when I can't spend unless I spend them on roles I don't care about for that particular character?

Using them once you can?

[Fynn]

After the game is over. So I can beat Orphan again but spam Flare this time around. Wooo :eep:

[Wolf Kanno]

I tend to like DQ and BoF dealing with this because not only does grinding past level 50 become a nightmarish chore but a good 70% of the levels past that point are empty levels with no benefits for reaching it, discouraging the player from wasting their time on arbitrary levels.

VII and VIII are the only games I've ever reached maxed levels on (not bothering with stats because it's kind of pointless in both games) and I've done it once for VI (never doing that again) and IV DS (Easier to accomplish thanks to the insane drop rate) but I've never really bothered with other FFs. None this is helped by the fact that you can beat most of the games in the 30-60 range depending on the title.

[Raistlin]

I've only gotten to level 99 in FFVII and FFXII (and never with max stats). I tend to naturally grind in most RPGs that I enjoy, but I don't go overboard and certainly don't care about maxing out. I don't level just for the sake of leveling; I have to have some other interest in the game to keep me occupied (e.g., items, mastering materia, quests, etc.).

I tend to dislike leveling in FF games, though FFXII is a notable exception.

[Formalhaut]

I've only gotten to level 99 in FFVII and FFXII (and never with max stats). I tend to naturally grind in most RPGs that I enjoy, but I don't go overboard and certainly don't care about maxing out. I don't level just for the sake of leveling; I have to have some other interest in the game to keep me occupied (e.g., items, mastering materia, quests, etc.).

I tend to dislike leveling in FF games, though FFXII is a notable exception.

It isn't that bad in FFXII. Heck you can easily get to the 90s before the Waterway on account of Dustia being so easy to kill so early on.

[Shiva95]

My main team in FFVI was level 99. I also got Serah and Noel max out before the final boss in FFXIII-2. For the others, my levels were high, but not 99.

[Pumpkin]

No, not really. Came close in VII though because they kind of throw levels at you in that game. I was in the 70's without trying

[Ayen]

No, not really. Came close in VII though because they kind of throw levels at you in that game. I was in the 70's without trying

Seriously?

I can't believe I took the time to level up by three before each boss fight...

[theundeadhero]

NES FFI, so maxed at 50, which was easy to do, and FFIV SNES version while grinding for pink slimes in the last dungeon. That took forever and didn't pay off in the end, no drop.

[Rin Heartilly]

I'm a completionist, the game doesn't feel complete to me if I'm not max level by the end of it. The only FF games I didn't max out my levels were 1, 2, 5, 13-3, 7CC....I think that's about it lol

[Raistlin]

I tend to dislike leveling in FF games, though FFXII is a notable exception.

It isn't that bad in FFXII. Heck you can easily get to the 90s before the Waterway on account of Dustia being so easy to kill so early on.

I think you may have misread what I posted. FFXII is the exception to my dislike of leveling/grinding in FF games, though I've never abused the Dustia method.