FF2 leveling for noobs

This is some info I got from the GameSpot forum. Here is the link: http://forums.gamespot.com/gamespot...18572109&page=0

In case you are too lazy to copy and paste the link into your bar, I put the info in this thread:

Allright, I'm still in Altair (very begging of the game) and all my players (including minwu) have 2000 hp, 100 mp (except minwu who has 400) level 9-10 weapons, level 15 shields, and toad at 13. Here's how:

1. Start the game and equip everyone with two shields (all three characters). Start fighting the local hornets and goblins by "attacking". Let them run away eventually. Your shields will level at an ungodly rate. You wont believe it. Now everyone should be about level 12 shields.

2. Now give everyone one weapon and one buckler (shield) (except maria, give er a bow and put her on the front line too) Now spend every battle attacking one another until HP raises are decent. Shouldn't take too long. With the money go but 2 fire, 2 thunder and 2 blizzard (have 2 cure also). Equip everyone how you feel.

3. Go get minwu (spoilers) get the ring in Fynn, talk to Hilda about it.

4. With minwu attack one another around altair, but use Minwu's teleport on every creature. Get it to level 4.

5. Go to Fynn (SAVE before each battle now). Fight a captain, use teleport. You will get fire bows, golden armor, curse tomes and toad tomes. Equip them as you get them.

6. Maria should attack for about 200-300 with a fire bow if you got her bow up earlier (she should be on the front line taking damage).

7. Continually fight captains. Use every Minwu spell! They are pretty much a single casting from leveling up. Use toad on yourself every round and ensuna it with Minwu every round (double level up) Always cure with 1 or two characters to get that up after the battle(mine are all level 10).

8. Use minwu's sap to level up MP, use magic when you feel like it. If you need MP, take the canoe across the lake from Fynn to Gatrea and use the Inn. Don't worry about the cost you're getting 300-450 gil for every captain killed.

Use common sense, level up what you want. Have fun, I'm breezing through the game.

Common sense, yes............

Equipping armor or shields on anyone cripples their soul & intelligence, and usually their evasion too ;)

DJZen: I thought equipping shields would boost your evasion.

/Ifrit/: Those hints are quite effective, though it takes forever to level up that way, unless you're playing FF2 DoS.

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth1999AD

/Ifrit/: Those hints are quite effective, though it takes forever to level up that way, unless you're playing FF2 DoS.

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Since it refernces MP, I would assume it mean DoS.

Also, yes, those are some nie little hints. But I'll stick to doing things the old fashion way, like apple pie. :D

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Originally Posted by DJZen

Equipping armor or shields on anyone cripples their soul & intelligence, and usually their evasion too ;)

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In my experience the level of a magic is much more important than your soul or intelligence levels, with the exception of status inducing spells, which I tend to avoid using usually. Besides my soul + int usually go up quite a bit regardless whilst playing.

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Originally Posted by Dark_Paladin_Cecil

Since it refernces MP, I would assume it mean DoS.

Also, yes, those are some nie little hints. But I'll stick to doing things the old fashion way, like apple pie. :D

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FF2 has always had MP, even in the Famicon version. Apple pie? :p

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth1999AD

DJZen: I thought equipping shields would boost your evasion.

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Shields raise evasion minimally (the best shield raises it by 10, the worst raises it by 4), but armor turns you into a walking target. The Genji Armor ALONE reduces it by 79. Intelligence and Spirit get affected much more. ALL shields have an int/spirit penalty of 70, the Diamond Helmet has a penalty of 34, and the Ice Armor has a penalty of 72. If you're trying to make a character a mage, you're better off giving them crappy equipment.

I just wanted to add that even if you're not a n00b you may use these leveling up techniques as well.

leveling Minh's(sorry i'm old school) warp takes way too long imho. I follow the same techniques you said, except the shield one, but take it one step further. I usually go to semite falls and get the warp book there so I can cancel trick it to a decent lvl (dont say the cancel trick is cheating, if they didnt want it in there they would've gotten rid of it in newer versions)

another strategy i used to use was to go north of Phin and kill Sorcerers to get Beserk tomes and stuff like that. they're 5000 a piece. then try to get down to mysidia and get swaps and weapons and armor that are godly at that point of the game.

I just deequipped frioniel of all his equipment, and the only stats that changed went down, instead of up.

Is the 'omg soul and intelligence dies!' a DoS thing then? I did it with guy and maria also and had similar results. They've got stuff like ice and flame shields, diamond armor.

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth1999AD

FF2 has always had MP, even in the Famicon version. Apple pie? :p

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:eek: :smash: :laughing:

Crap, been talking DoS FF1 too much. :mad:

the tips are okay but is there an easy way to get my HP and attack up early in the game :) :confused:

Yeah, attack each other to low hit points.

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Originally Posted by rubah

I just deequipped frioniel of all his equipment, and the only stats that changed went down, instead of up.

Is the 'omg soul and intelligence dies!' a DoS thing then? I did it with guy and maria also and had similar results. They've got stuff like ice and flame shields, diamond armor.

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The information I'm basing this on is from the Famicom version's code. The stat changes probably don't apply until battle or something. Or who knows, maybe the bytes are in the code but they were never gotten to work. Or something equally ridiculous. Nasir may have been a very good programmer, but he sure knew how to leave tons of sloppy code lying around. For example, in FFI (for NES/FC) Intelligence seems to not do anything at all. I have yet to hear a real explanation of what this stat does by someone who's hacked the game to pieces. Soul/Int and Agi penalties may work the same way. For all I know, NONE of the bytes attached to weapons and armor work properly, all I can say is what it appears they were meant to do.

Also, if you want me to give you the specific attributes of any weapon or armor, just say so and I'll gladly give it.

well i ak on my way to the mythril cavern but the monsters keep killing me. what should i do ? almost all my people have 100 HP and lvl 3 stuff. but they are hard any tips that are easy to understand plaese give them to me thank you.Also is they a chatroom here or is it only a fourm. :tongue: :) :p :D one more thing how do yall get those pictures on yalls thing when you reply they are all so cool i want one.

Well, can't help with the FFII stuff really, but as for the others, well, this is a forum, for the chat room, click the Chat button at the top of the page (next to Stats) and follw the instructions. As for having a Signature (that's what it's called), go to your User CP (again, at the top of the page), then click Edit Signature on the left hand side. You can type something in the box, then click Save Signature and BAM! There ya go. For images, you must find an image on the web you like (images you made must be somewhere on the web, like Photobucket), then right click it and click Properties (near the bottom of the Pop Down Menu). Highlight the Address (URL), Copy and Paste to your Edit Signature box, then place [img] at the front of the address and [/img] at the end, that should do it.

The quickest and easiest way I found to bring up your hit points is to eliminate every enemy but one, and then attack yourself. When you're sick of that, kill off the last enemy. Now go to the menu and select someone with the Cure spell. Opt to use it on everyone at once, and fill up your party's HP. That will level up your Cure faster as well.

Of course, if you don't use your magic during a battle, you won't earn more MP, so probably best to Cure during the battle as well.

the best way to gain HP and MP is to cancel trick your change/swap magic to at least lvl 4 for everyone. Then after like an hour or two you'll have characters with like 2000+HP and lots of MP. The best way to get swap magic, imho, is to go north of Phin and fight sorcerers. They tend to drop Berserk books and other expensive magics. Berserk will yield 5000 Gil. Try to get a bunch of them, you need them to cover the costs of swap. The hard part is getting to Mysidia and back. If you're playing DoS or Origins, you need lots of Cures, Life spells, running and well..... luck. If you're emulating the original, use the save state/cure trick to avoid battles. To save you the trip down there, I'd say get your ass to the Chocobo Forest, but good luck getting back. This is the quickest way to gain both HP and MP but depending on your versaion of FF2 and your luck, it might be the hardest.

Or you could just beat up your party members like god intended.

Yes, what ever doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

yes, beating up your characters builds there HP, but it's not an efficient way to build your MP. You could beat them jup with your spells, but it becomes increasingly harder to reach the point where you've used enough MP to raise your MP

Actually, a REALLY quick way is to cast ANTI/Sap/Whatever it was called in Origins (Faze?). It directly reduces the amount of MP of the target. Kinda worthless for monsters. It's almost like it was made specifically to use on your own party. I'm suprised more people don't think of that.

okay dragonfir how do i get more hp of the swap trick could you explain it to me if so it would really help i almost got to the cave i think but i didn't get that white mage on my team i will try

you wanna cancel trick your swap magic to lvl 4 or so. cast it on a weak enemy such as a hornet. if the spell works it will switch your life total and MP with their's so it will put your HP at 6 and MP at 0 then just kill the monster and your stats will go up

then you're stuck without any mp.

of course that's easily remedied with a quick stop at the inn, but *still* it's the idea of the matter.

exactly you just do it within a few steps of altea or gatea

Long story short, there's a billion and one ways to do anything in this game, but they all involve doing something you don't want to do.

okay i just got the canoe and that mage dude he is good but i ran into ghost and died forgot to save :cry: just need help lvling my HP without the swap and attack yourself because it takes to long any other way :confused:

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Originally Posted by DJZen

Long story short, there's a billion and one ways to do anything in this game, but they all involve doing something you don't want to do.

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That is the greatest quote about Final Fantasy II that has ever been said. :D

The title of this thread is horribly misleading. NOTHING about FFII is for noobs. It's the most convoluted stat system I've ever seen. You have to have a PhD in astro-physics just to get the jist of it. Giving yourself more HP isn't necessarily going to make the game easier for you. I had a game where all my characters exceeded 3000 HP before going to the Warship, and none of 'em managed to get halfway through without dying. @.@

yeah, caus magic and weapon skill is very important as well as building defense. first time I played FF2 I used the change trick, but unfortunately even at lvl 5 change it didnt work well because no one had a decent magic stat. (I think it's Spirit that effects that spell)

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Originally Posted by Dragonfire

yeah, caus magic and weapon skill is very important as well as building defense. first time I played FF2 I used the change trick, but unfortunately even at lvl 5 change it didnt work well because no one had a decent magic stat. (I think it's Spirit that effects that spell)

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Yes, it's white magic so its accuracy is affected by Soul/Spirit. However, you can't build up defense in this game. The only way to increase defense is to equip stronger armor, which in turn hurts your evasion, intelligence, and spirit. The Stamina/Vitality stat only affects how much HP you gain. Weird, eh?

I found a little training spot on the peninsula south of Altair. At the very edge, you actually encounter monsters from the Mysidia(sp?) area. Just make sure to make it back the the Altair Inn after every battle, and use magic because your attacks will be useless. Also, it's alot easier if you have Minwu with you if you try it, as he has high Cure levels and can heal you easily. After escaping from the Dreadnaught, however, it looses it extremety(is that even a word?) since they're all easier.

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The title of this thread is horribly misleading. NOTHING about FFII is for noobs. It's the most convoluted stat system I've ever seen. You have to have a PhD in astro-physics just to get the jist of it. Giving yourself more HP isn't necessarily going to make the game easier for you. I had a game where all my characters exceeded 3000 HP before going to the Warship, and none of 'em managed to get halfway through without dying. @.@

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That's the best part. I dislike easy games. If I don't end up yelling various obscenities at the screen at least once, it's not worth playing. :p

Just wait 'till you see my Expert Version hack :P

I enjoy the hack away stradegie I did it to guy and hes awesome.
But why is it that when I used teleport my unit dropped to 29 HP?
I didn't put the t0ime behind the stradegie my units only have 500 to 1300 and I just got out of the 3rd dung.
How do you get on warship

Hoo boy.... Strong Bad would have a field day with grammar like that...

First of all, Teleport deducts HP because it gets you out of a dungeon. It's sort of a "balance" put in place to make you think twice about using that spell.

Second, you get on the warship with the pass. It's in the Bofsk cave.

I couldn't find the warship.
See period, period!

Its funny with all the editing of FF1 they did to balance and modernize it (other than providing maps) FF2 seems to have been untouched (or if it was they haven't learned anything).

I swear Ive tried going in every direction looking for enemies that I can fight after the hornet/goblins/leghumpers (or whatever it was)

You think they would provide at least one direction without some uberfied atomic were-ant of hideous death insta-burninating your whole party... If it wasn't for this I think the system would be pretty cool.

The weapon part doesn't seem so bad for the time being, I just deequipped all my weapons to get one that you dont have to pay or search for upgrades in damage. But as for defense it seems if you don't want to use one of the cheap modes of leveling everything either kills you or never gets a whack in. I hate games like this that you can't play in a way thats fun. It doesnt bother me that its not realistic to beat yourselves up, or not roleplay, it bothers me that its just freaking lame.

What is cool about FF2 is that you can change a unit in a heartbeat. In 1 you can't make a wm to a melle class that does damage exept to undead foes. While in FF2 there is no such word as job class.

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Originally Posted by kriminal99

I swear Ive tried going in every direction looking for enemies that I can fight after the hornet/goblins/leghumpers (or whatever it was)

You think they would provide at least one direction without some uberfied atomic were-ant of hideous death insta-burninating your whole party... If it wasn't for this I think the system would be pretty cool.

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Snowmen and Sprinters can be found in the Poft region. Apparently you didn't try every direction. :tongue:

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Originally Posted by Fireblade13

I couldn't find the warship.

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It could only be in one of two places. If it's not in Bofsk or north of Fynn, you're not supposed to be there yet.

Thanks I have DOS and I'm now going after 1 because 2 lost its shine

I have a hint that is ok but it really helps dumb people who dont like games where you dont get levels.............................................................................................. .... When you first start when you have to go to fynn remove the bow from maria take to sheild from Firon and sell them to get simple equipment,get 3 axes equip them to each character,if you have enough gil get fire blizzard and cure..equip and said.....

Frion-Fire
Maria-cure
Guy(hahhahhahahha..funny name)-blizzard

when you go on your treke to fynn go around alitar and fight some gobs and hornets use the spells to boost your intel and spirt and MP then after you get your spells to level 5 start fighting with weapons and dont focus on one type of magic(boring) and when you have to get the ultima tome in Mysidian tower give it to maria and focus on that one spell and power it up to level 10.


p.s. How do you get into the castle.....i unable to land on top

You have to be like a little above wear it LOOKS like you should be to land.

I hated thatX.x;

What! I mean just south of altair are these uber flans just west of phin are uber mines. There is no place to fight guys just below your level. This is why they have the no Exp. part is so you can blast away at you own units and get serious training for these bosses that are very difficult to beet. The 0 damge is extremely annoying when fighting these bosses. Also if you didn't read a guide or this is your first time playing you could lose all of your best equipment to minwu because you thought you have him forever. I also really dislike how difficult it is to get MP I have like 33 and I'm at the warship. Maybe if they had just put up some blocks like in FF1. You shouldn't be able to walk to Palmecia without knowing that the monsters there can murder you if you don't have enough agility to run.