Final Fantasy IV Perfectionist's Guide Version 1.6 By CronoLV99 05-17-01 This Guide is for the following games: Final Fantasy 4 (SFamicom- Japan) Final Fantasy 2 US (SNES) Final Fantasy Collection (PSX- Japan) Final Fantasy Chronicles (coming soon to PSX) The purpose of this guide is 2-fold. In Final Fantasy IV (2), there are five natural statistics: Strength, Agility, Stamina, Wisdom, and Will. First, these stats influence every character's attack power, defense, and magic power. I will discuss how. Second, there is a method I've found that can max out most of these through a time-consuming method. I'll share that, too. This is not a walkthrough for the entire game; this only covers the best ways to make use of your characters' stats. Contents Section 1. Updates Section 2. Natural stats and their influences Section 3. Max out your characters Section 4. Strange Info Section 5. Rare items Section 6. Game genie codes Section 1. Updates Version 1.6 Added in a tip about HP bonuses, added ‘Ribbon’ and ‘proring’ to list of won items, added to list of sites hosting this FAQ, listed all games with FF4 in it, added call spells. 5-17-01 Version 1.5 Formatted the whole piece to make it meet submission requirements for certain sites. 04-18-01 Version 1.4 Updated section 3 with Lord Leandreus's help, added Medusa Sword note. Added another game genie code and a few things here and there. 10-24-00 Version 1.3 Added Rare Item list (thanks Lord Leandreus), added Game genie code 9-26-00 Version 1.2 Redid format to make it more pleasing to the eye. 9-5-00. Version 1.1 Made section 4. Included level 70 stats for Cecil, Kain, and Rosa. Added copyright date. Version 1.0 This is the first version, so everything's new. The updates I will be submitting soon include level-up types for Rydia, Rosa, and Edge, as well as level 70 stats for characters. Section 2: The natural stats and their influences On the status screen, you see this below the character's name, class, and hp/mp: Str. ATTX...att Att% Agil. DEFX...def Def% Vit. MDEFX...m.def Mdef% Wis. Will Str.= Strength (primarily attack power) Agil.= Agility (affects all multipliers) Vit.= Vitality (affects defense power) Wis.= Wisdom (affects black magic power) Will= Will (affects white magic power) ATTX= attack multiplier Att= attack power Att%= attack percent (hit rate) DEFX= defense multiplier Def= defense power Def%= defense percent (dodge rate) MDEFX= magic defense multiplier M.def= magic defense power M.def%= magic defense percent (dodge magic rate) Now, here is how the stats (strength through will) affect the attack power through magic defense percent: Strength- Every 4 points of strength gives 1 attack power (exception Yang) Every 8 points of strength gives 1 attack multiplier Agility- Every 8 points of agility gives 1 defense multiplier Every 16 points of agility gives 1 attack multiplier Every 32 points of agility gives 1 magic defense multiplier Vitality- Every 2 points of vitality gives 1 defense power Wisdom and Will- Add values for wisdom and will together. Every 8 points of wisdom + will gives 1 magic defense percent Every 32 points of wisdom + will gives 1 magic defense multiplier Levels of Experience- Every 4 (beginning at level 4) level-ups gives 1 attack percent Every 4 (beginning with level 4) level-ups gives 1 attack point Every 16 (beginning with level 16) level-ups gives 1 defense multiplier ONLY if shield equipped All values are always rounded down in the case of fractions. Thus, if you add wisdom and will together and get 35, 35/8= 4.375, and the game will register 4 for a magic defense percent without armor. Notes: The bonuses are simultaneous in nature. Thus if you get an agility to 32, you will gain 1 defense multiplier (every 8 agility), 1 attack multiplier (every 16 agility), and one magic defense multiplier (every 32 agility) all at once. If you get 32 agility at level 48, you would also get an attack point and percent (every 4 level-ups) and another defense multiplier (every 16 level-ups) all at once. There is no stat that affects defense percent. All characters have a base rate of 30%. Armor can increase or decrease this. Items like metal armor drop it to zero, whereas robes and lighter pieces can increase it. The glass helmet and adamant armor increases it to 99%. Shields are the only way a character wearing armor, a helmet, and a gauntlet can dodge an attack. You'll notice Cid usually gets hit since his Hammer takes two hands...no shield. There is no stat that affects magic power defense. The value is only the sum of the armors' values. Attack percent is 50% for all characters at level 1. Weapons can add to this value. Every four levels of experience also increases this. All characters begin with 1 attack multiplier and 0 defense and magic defense multipliers. So the max attack multiplier can be 19 with a 96 strength and 96 agility. This being said, a level 99 character with no items equipped and 99 for all stats will look like: Str. 99 19X...48 74% Agil. 99 12X...49 30% Vit. 99 9X...0 24% Wis. 99 Will. 99 Armor that gives bonuses such as strength and agility will have these stats factored into the calculations. For example, if you equip a crystal ring which gives a bonus of 5 to agility, and this pushes your agility from 91 to 96, you will gain the attack, defense, and magic defense multipliers. If you remove the ring, you will lose these bonuses. If you follow how the calculations work, you'll realize that there is no difference between a strength of 96 and 99, an agility of 96 and 99, and a stamina of 98 and 99. Is this true? Yes, it is. The stats listed above would be identical if your strength and agility were 96 and stamina of 98. Wisdom and will are slightly different since they are added together. If you had a will of 99 and a wisdom of 5, you would get a 13 magic defense percent. (104/8=13)However, if one of these is at 99, the highest the other can get before it stops giving you bonuses would be 93. So there would be no need to get the second to 99. This all being said, is there any reason to get a stat such as agility to 99? Not really. It just looks nice. I've noticed there are some excellent damage calculations for FF4 in Bsiron's walkthrough at www.gamefaqs.com (FF2 US section) for those interested. Section 3: Max out your characters, no need for game genie. This next set of information is by my own finding back in 1992. Lord Leandreus has helped me to rediscover some of the information. If you reproduce this or any other part of my FAQ, please give me and Lord Leandreus credit for this. Now, before I begin, I want to warn you that this will test your patience. This info is probably most helpful to those that absolutely have to have the best characters possible. Such as myself. So, you have a level 99 team about to fight in the Lunar Palace, right? Think your team is unstoppable? That they are the best team ever created? They may be, but unless you follow the next section's advice, chances are they are not. Have you ever noticed that when you're leveling up, sometimes your stats go down? Frustrating? Annoying? I was annoyed too, and after one such level I got angry and reset the game. When I got the level again, my stats increased! So the bottom line from this is: After level 70 (beginning with level 71) you can reset the game at times when you level up in order to get better stats. You have 29 opportunities to do this. Here are the final five characters' stats at level 70: Cecil (with crystal equipment, thus strength and will bonuses) Str: 99 Agil: 41 Vit: 85 Wis: 36 Will: 68 Kain (with dragoon equipment, thus no stat bonuses) Str: 73 Agil: 48 Vit: 63 Wis: 12 Will: 39 Rosa (not equipped) Str: 48 Agil: 32 Vit: 42 Wis: 22 Will: 71 Rydia (not equipped) Str: 36 Agil: 33 Vit: 34 Wis: 63 Will: 54 Edge (not equipped) Str: 59 Agil: 54 Vit: 47 Wis: 34 Will: 25 There are a number of pre-determined level-ups for each character, all of them different. For example (not a complete list): Cecil can gain +2 strength, 2 agility, 2 vitality, 2 will +1 in all stats +1 in all stats except wisdom +1 in all stats except will Kain can gain +2 strength, 2 vitality, 2 wisdom, 2 will +1 strength, 1 vitality, 1 will +1 strength, 1 agility, 1 vitality +3 strength, 3 agility, 3 will +2 agility, 2 vitality -1 all stats -1 agility and will Rydia can gain +3 strength, 3 agility, 3 wisdom, 3 will +2 strength, 2 vitality, 2 wisdom, 2 will -1 strength, wisdom, will -1 strength, agility, will -1 strength, vitality, will +1 all +3 wisdom, 3 will Rosa can gain +1 in all stats among others Edge can gain -1strength, agility, wisdom +1 agl +1 str +1 str, agl, wis +1 str, vit +2 str, vit +3 agl, wis What does the above mean? It means if you have Kain about to gain a level, you should save the game. Get the level. If your stats do not decrease, you will get one of the above level types. (There are additional types not listed.) Wait for the type that you want (reset the levels you don't want), then save the game and fight until Kain or someone else is ready to level up. Remember, this works for level 71 and above. The stats are identical for all characters every game up to level 70. Doing this, these are the best stats I can create without resorting to game genie. CECIL equipped with all Crystal weapons and armor: Str: 99 Agil: 96 Vit: 99 Wis: 38 Will: 99 Got 26 level-ups of 2 str, agil, vit, will Got 3 level ups of 1 to all stats KAIN equipped with all Dragoon weapons and armor: Str: 99 Agil: 96 Vit: 89 Wis: 38 Will: 99 Got 16 level-ups of 3 str, agil, will 13 level-ups of 2 str, vit, wis, will NOTE: If you want vitality at 99 and don't care about wisdom and will, do this for Kain. It will mean your magic defense percent will suffer greatly, since your will will be 70 and your wisdom will be 16. However, Kain doesn't use magic so it's your preference. Kain equipped with all Dragoon weapons and armor: Got 9 levels +3 str, agil, and will Got 18 levels +2 agl and vit Got 2 levels +2 str, vit, wis, will EDGE equipped with Masamune and Murasame, crystal ring, Ninja suit, and Genji Helm: Str: 96 Agil: 99 (94 without ring) Vit: 84 Wis: 78 Will: 20 RYDIA equipped with Dragon whip, ProRing, Ribbon, and Sorceror's Robe: Str: 99 Agil: 99 Vit: 70 Wis: 99 Will: 99 Got 8 level-ups of 2 str, vit, wis, will Got 21 level-ups of 3 str, agil, wis, will NOTE: If you want Rydia with an extra defense point: Got 9 level-ups of 2 str, vit, wis, will Got 20 level-ups of 3 str, agil, wis, will But you must equip the Dragon Whip to get agility above 96. This will give Rydia with: Str: 99 Agil: 98 (natural 93) Vit: 72 Wis: 99 Will: 99 ROSA equipped with Silence Staff, Ribbon, ProRing, and Heroine Robe: Str: 96 Agil: 72 Vit: 97 Wis: 32 Will: 99 Got 29 +1 all Notes: I have found Rydia to benefit most from this. She has 99 in the four major stats (96 without the whip in strength and agility) and has maxed out multipliers. She has a 19X attack, 12X defense, and 9X magic defense multipliers. If you do the trick where she can equip a shield (thanks to Edge's steal technique), she'll have an 18X defense multiplier! I have found Rosa to be the weakest character of the final 5. I try to get everyone to have at least a 96 agility to get the most out of the multipliers, but Rosa's best level seems to be a +1 in everything. Kind of sad. You may take into consideration the bonuses from weapons. For example, the dragon whip gives Rydia +5 strength, agility and vitality while decreasing wisdom and will. If you know she will have the whip forever and you are sure you never want to give her another weapon, you only have to raise strength and agility to 91. The whip will then boost them to 96 and give the bonuses to the multipliers. And this means the levels you saved by not raising the stats to 96 can be spent on raising vitality some more. I find it's easiest to kill off 3 members and roam around in the Lunar subterranian area with only 2 people. I always begin with Cecil and Kain. This way, when one character is about to gain a level, chances are the other will not be getting one anytime soon. That way, you won't be overjoyed when Kain gains the level you've been waiting for only for you to discover that Cecil's stats went down (simply unacceptable for the perfectionist). Then, when Cecil and Kain are at level 99 and simply too powerful for anything to kill, slay one of them and revive one of the remaining 3 people. Then you only have 1 person gaining levels at a time. Cecil or Kain alone at level 99 can fight any enemy in the final dungeon (the one with Behemoths, EvilMasks, and Red Dragons). Have your other person in the back row parrying until he/she is at a high enough level to attack. After a while, you'll be able to kill EvilMasks with only 2 people before they can even cast an attack spell. Run from EvilMasks when you first begin, though. When using 2 characters, have them both with Ribbons and Prorings. It'll make things easier. Remember what stats you had before you get the level-up. I've had to reset a few times simply because I got a level and couldn't remember what the prior stats were. Didn't want to risk getting a bad level. There is no limit to how many times you can gain a particular level. If you wanted to get 29 levels of +3 str, agil, wis, and will to Rydia, so be it. There's no need to since stats max out at 99, but you could if you really wanted to. Furthermore, it may take many tries to gain the particular level you want. You may have to reset 10 or 20 times (or more) to get that one level type. Other times, you'll get it first thing. If you do have a game genie or have incredible luck, adamant armor gives +15 to all 5 stats! If all of your characters have adamant armors, you can save a lot of time by not gaining levels you ordinarily would, and focusing on the weaker stats. In other words, you could get Cecil and Kain to have wisdoms far higher than the ones I listed above, and Rydia should be able to have 99 for every stat except vigor, which would be around 95. A guide to characters with adamant armor will be included here soon. The HP increases in this game are random as well. A true perfectionist would want their HP to be as high as possible as well as having perfect stats. Unfortunately, it would be almost impossible for someone to have the patience to continue resetting level-ups until an HP bonus was high and simultaneously getting the level-up you wanted. Blair from GameFAQs mentioned that the HP increases are random even before level 70, so if you wanted to take the time out to reset every single level- up a character gets trying to raise the max HP before level 70, that is one way to significantly increase a character’s hit points. In addition, Rosa and Rydia’s MP bonuses may be manipulated in the same fashion. Summary: Get a character to level 70. Save the game right before they reach level 71. Go out, fight a battle, and gain that level. If it's an acceptable level to you, keep it and fight until you're about to gain another level. If it's unacceptable, reset and get the level again. Keep resetting until you get the level you want. Section 4: Strange Info Ever wondered what some of the other characters are like at high levels? Well, here's some insight. No game genie used! Yang at level 99 (2 Catclaws, Gaia Helm, Karate Suit, Silver ring) HP 6000. (Never went higher) Str: 99 19X...224 99% Agil: 96 12X...60 36% Vit: 99 3X...9 9% Wis: 11 Will: 3 Tellah at level 79 (Charm Rod, - Helm, Karate Suit, Silver ring) HP 1849. MP 90. Str: 4 3X...35 69% Agil: 35 4X...17 37% Vit: 10 3X...11 19% Wis: 41 Will: 36 Section 5: Rare Item Information The info presented here allows you the freedom to customize your characters even more. For example, if you know Rydia will use the whip as her final weapon, why bother to get her agility up to 96 when you can raise it to 91 then give her the whip? This will free her up to gain levels that raise other stats instead of gaining agility levels. So use the info from this guide in order to customize the characters even further. This is especially helpful if you use the game genie and give your team lots of adamant armors. (I'll include maxing out your team with the help of game genie in a later version.) Note: A lot of this info is from Lord Leandreus Weapons Weapons note- The hit rate is added on to your character's attack percent. The attack power may seem higher when you equip an item, if so, this may be due to the strength bonus of an item. Along the same lines, if a weapon gives you vitality, you'll see an increase in your defense power, too. Same applies to armor with stat bonuses. Artemis Bow- 69 attack power. 20%hit rate, +10 str, agl and vit, -10 wis, will. Get from Kary (moon goddess). Note- remember to give right-handed people bows in their left hand. Dragon Whip- Won from blue dragons. Attack: 55 Att%: 25% Paralyzes Enemies, strong versus Dragons. +5 Strength, Agility, Vitality, -5 Wisdom Will. Dragoon Spear- Won from Red Dragons. Attack: 99 attack power, 30% hit rate, effective against dragon type creatures. No stat bonuses. Lilith Rod- 13 attack power, -40%hit rate, drains hp, psych when used as item, +5 wis. Get from lilith on Mt. Ordeals. Medusa Sword- 77 attack power, 16% hit rate, petrifies enemies (at least it's supposed to do so, but I hit enemies with it and appears a msg:"turned into stone?" and nothing happens, didn't check in jap version). Get from medusas, but I heard you can get or even steal from those black lizards in the underground but never got it. NOTE: shale019@hotmail.com mentions that if you use the Medusa sword 3 times on an enemy, it will turn them to stone. Rune Axe- 100 attack power, 10% hit rate. Strong vs. Magic users. Won from Red Giants. No stat bonuses. Silence Staff- 52 attack power, 10%hit rate, mutes target, mute when used as item, +10 will. Get from the conjurer at land of phantom beasts(summoned monsters), you can get too from weaker versions of this enemy. Best attack power staff, but the life staff gives +15will. Masamune- 65 Attack Power, 99% hit rate, +3 agility. Murasame- 55 Attack Power, 99% hit rate, +5 str, vit, wisdom, -5 agil and will. Armor Adamant armor- 100 defense power, +99 def rate, 20 def mag, +15 all stats! Get a pink tail from Pink Puffs. Very hard to find, you can see why. Use a game genie to get this one. Cursed Ring- 0 def, -10%def rate, -15 all stats. Get from skelton type or d.fossil. Crystal Ring- 20 defense power, +5 def rate, 12 def mag, +5 agl. Won from Red Dragons. Note- For some reason, when equipped with this, my team takes more damage from element-based spells. I never use crystal rings, I prefer protect rings despite less defense and agility. Glass helm- 30 defense power, 99%defence rate. Won from EvilMasks. No magic defense, no stat bonuses. Prorings- Won from Fatal Eyes. Ribbon- Won from Warlocks Zeus Gauntlet- 10 defense power, -10%def rate, 0mag def, +10 strength and vitality. Get from skeltons at Eblan cave. Spells for Rydia Imp- Can be won from various imps. I personally have won it from imps at the beginning of the game and trickers at the end of the game. Bomb- Can be won from various bomb-like enemies. I temd to get it on the moon’s surface against Balloons and Grenades. Mage- Can be won from Mages. The only mages I know of are in the Dark Elf’s cave. Cocatrice (FF4 only)- Can be won from cocatrices. It does not appear in a FF2 US version unless you use a game genie. Section 6: Game Genie Codes The only helpful game genie code for a perfectionist is the Gunslinger's Code. For American Easytype (FF2): 00CE-6D69 For Japanese Hardtype (FF4): 00CF-A469 When this code is in use, put a worthless item (rubyring, e.g.) into the very first slot in the item list. Have some potions (cures) in the slot to the right. Select a potion and use it on the middle character in a five-person team. You'll notice after using it, the item in the first position became something else. Repeat using the potions until you get a good item. This is the best way to get five adamant armors for your team if you don't mind using game genie. Some emulators make use of game genie codes. An additional game genie code I have not yet tested is an experience- boosting code. It was suggested by Bob the Almighty from gamefaqs. It has been tested by others and for them it works. For Japanese Hardtype (FF4): 7E35-9363 End guide. All info was derived from mad gaming by CronoLV99. Some rare items info provided by Lord Leandreus. Copyright 2000. If you reproduce any of this, please give me, Crono, credit. Thanks to www.RPGamer.com for posting this FAQ. Thanks to www.GameFAQs.com for posting this FAQ. Thanks to www.gamedirectory.f2s.com for posting this FAQ. Others may with prior consent by me, Crono LV99. Correspondence: CronoLV99@aol.com Lord Leandreus: leandreu@terra.com.br