I like how with Nintendo handhelds I’m pretty sure that if you left your device and some kind of apocalypse struck and it would be discovered by future civilizations 2000 years later, I’m pretty sure the battery would still be at least half full, whereas with Sony handhelds you leave it on sleep mode at full charge and go grab a drink from the fridge, maybe pet your cat and talk to your dad a bit, and when you’re back the forces of entropy have already consumed it all and you need to grab your charger
Well, it’s Friday evening, which means I’m back in action! Going into the Whispereind Cove now. Gonna attempt Liegspring Grotto after that and try to beat Shinryu first. I hope I’ll be able to take on Omega after that. Fingers crossed!
I spent an hour today wandering about aimlessly talking to all the NPCs hoping for a morsel of guidance. Classic jRPG goodness. Managed to get myself into Marsh Cave and find the crown, and then defeat the dark elf dude.
Now time for more aimless wandering until I figure out what to do with the Crystal Eye.
I'd probably hate this more if I hadn't very recently played DQ 1 and 2.
So I’m done with Whisperwind Cove and I got myself an Ultima Weapon \o/ My levels aren’t still kinda low for Omega though, so I’ve decided to actually try the Labyrinth of Time before attempting Lifespring Grotto again. We’ll see how that goes tomorrow!
So I just lost over an hour of progress because you can’t save in the Labyrinth of Time. And I was nearly done with it too! But since I’ve already done this content in the past and am feeling angry, I’ve decided I’m going to ditch the rest of the side content and just move on to II
This hasn’t been mentioned yet but I really love the remixes Nobuo Uematsu made for the PSX release of this game. It’s great that we have more than one battle theme but in general, these new arrangements are some of his best work. I think the final dungeon is a standout among the series as I feel final dungeon themes are usually written differently
I got super deep into the Earthgift Shrine not realising it was an optional dungeon. I saved it outside the battle with Cerberus. I kept almost losing and resetting the emulator and was very concerned that I was trapped on that floor forever, unable to beat any of the bosses.
I eventually just let myself die and thankfully was kicked out to the entrance. I think i will leave that for a while longer.
Anyway i recently got the airship and have now been flying about aimlessly. Jobs levelled up! A robot in a cave told me to find a sky fortress or something and fight Tiamat. No sign of where that is. Maybe I'll just power through Mt Gulg.
The optional bosses in the dungeons generally require more strategy than the main game, which is pretty effortless in this version. I recommend focusing on beefing up your fighters instead of casting spells on them.
The worst part about the extra dungeons are you must clear them multiple times if you want to get everything. Earthgift Shrine 4 times, and twice each for Hellfire Chasm and Lifespring Grotto.
Ok so I’m on my way to Semmitt Falls now. Minwu is in my party and he’s really great. The biggest problem right now is money, however. Everything is very expensive, I haven’t managed to buy every spell I wanted and I can’t keep my armor up to date either. Debating on whether I should buy anything other than clothes on Maria since she’s my Mage.
Whatever the case, every time I replay it I’m just shocked at how much I love FFII. The character growth system in its most updated form is very smooth and intuitive and allows for plenty of customization. I also just love how bleak this game feels compared to the first, and this is really evident in the incredible soundtrack, arranged by Tsuyoshi Sekito this time around.
As for my plans for the side content, I’m not really sure what to do. I definitely want to do Soul of Rebirth, which is why I’m using the Swap trick on Minwu to boost his HP and MP to high heaven. The downside is that makes resting at the in cost a lot of money. And now they’ve also added the Arcane Labyrinths which... idk Soul of Rebirth felt very appropriate for FFII, adding more story on top of the old one, but I don’t feel extra dungeons would add anything worthwhile to FFII? Unlike I’d remake, FFII actually remains a little challenging so it’s not like I’m craving an optional boss stronger than the Emperor.