FFFFFF FFFFFF  2222          +--------------------------------+

F      F      2    2         |     Unofficial Walkthrough     |

FFFF   FFFF       2     `    |        by Brian Pacula         |

F      F         2      j    |      <bpacula@value.net>       |

F      F        2       j    |     aka Murasame on DALnet     |

F      F      222222    j    +--------------------------------+

                     jjj   

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==  Version 1.1, November 18, 1997  ===========================

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Final Fantasy II is an obscure, often-maligned Famicom title

that doesn't have much of a following in the USA compared to

the other Japanese Final Fantasies. Currently the only 

document circulating on the internet that pertains to it is

the story synopsis written by Zimeon Lundstrom, which does

not contain much game play information. Although much of the

game is similar to previous FF titles, there are some very

important differences.



A. Leveling up. There are no levels in FF2j! You build stats

with a more balanced, customizable system. In a nutshell, you

get what you use. Use magic to build magic power, use weapons

to build physical strength. Win a battle after taking severe

HP losses, and you'll gain more HP afterwards. Same goes for

MP. Weapons and spells have a "counter" associated with them

which you can view on the status and magic menu screens, 

respectively. Usage makes the counter increase, and when it

rolls over at 100, you gain a new level of proficiency in that

weapon/spell. Knowing how the system works makes it very easy

to advance your party -- you can attack your own characters

to easily gain HP bonuses near the start of the game.



B. Show & tell. Whenever you talk to an important character

(or even a few important inanimate objects) a Show/Learn/Item

menu will appear. "Show" tells the person a password, "Learn"

allows you to acquire any keywords that person might be 

teaching, and "Item" shows or gives one of your inventory 

items to the person. Use these commands often, when you can,

to see what different characters might have to say.



C. Your parties, yourselves. For most of the game, your party

will consist of three static characters (whose names default

to Lionel, Maria, and Guy) and one temporary character (who 

is often either much stronger or much weaker than the rest of

your party). 



D. Item wrangling. You have a VERY small inventory space in

this game. Keep a close eye on it, and make sure you have an

empty space when you need to get a new key item. Also, the

"Item" command in battle only lets you use items you've 

specifically equipped beforehand. Plan ahead.



E. How to cheat. Now that you know how magic and weapon 

levels are gained, you may be thinking that it sounds pretty

tedious. Well, there's a way to cheat if youre into that 

sort of thing. When youre in a battle, selecting an attack

or spell, and a target, the cancelling, increments the 

appropriate skill counter EVEN if you don't use that weapon

or spell at all during the actual battle. Unethical, yes, 

but who wouldn't want to toast Imps and Hornets with Fire 18

or 9th level axe blows only an hour or two into the game? 



F. Enter the Chocobo. It all started here. Chocobos don't 

figure as strongly into the game as they do in later Final

Fantasy games, but they make their debut appearance here. If

you head due south of Kashuon, you'll find the hidden 

Chocobo Forest. Talk to the erratically-moving bird and it

will be waiting for you when you exit the clearing. You can

ride around on it without fear of enemy attack, but if you

dismount, the Chocobo flies back home.



And with that, on with the walkthrough...



---



1. You'll begin the game in the midst of a battle with four

horsemen, which you will lose. Badly. Three of your party

members will awaken in the castle of Althea. Talk to the queen

to get your first password.



2. Chop up the weak monsters outside of town to earn gil and

build your stats. Weapon and magic strength is increased by

repeated usage, HP and MP go up when you run low on them during

battle. If you want to cheat a little and build HP fast, attack

your own party members.



3. When you're ready, head northwest to the castle Phin. Do NOT

talk to any of the knights in town, unless you want to be 

brutally slain. Head for the pub, give the password to the

bartender, and talk to Scott, in the hidden room. He is dying,

but gives you a ring before kicking off.



4. Traipse back to Althea. Show the ring to the queen, and 

learn a new password. Give it to Minh, the white mage in the

throne room, and he'll join your party.



5. Along with Minh, you'll get a canoe. Now would be a good 

time to do some level-building. West of Phin you'll find Ogres

and Ogre Mages who relinquish lots of gil, and knights and 

mages that drop spell books (Berserk has a GREAT resale value)

and items. Take it slow until you're powerful enough to handle

the larger enemy groups, then start raking in the cash and XP.



6. Take the canoe across the lake to the northeast of Althea

to reach Palm. Talk to the pirate at the town entrance to 

arrange for a ferry to Poft. In the Poft Pub, you can find Cid

and his assistant. Cid won't be helpful at the moment, but his

assistant will give you airship rides to Salamand, Bafusk, the

Semite Waterfall, or Kashuon for a fee.



7. From Poft, walk northwest to Salamand. All the men here have

been taken to the Cave of Semite Waterfall to mine for Mithril.

Buy new equipment and spells if you can, and head south (you'll

need to go west first, and loop back) to the cave.



8. The cave is laid out fairly simply. At certain points you

will have a choice of doors to go through; one will lead to the

rest of the cave and one will lead to a dead-end with an enemy

waiting. Halfway through you'll find the hapless miners, talk

to Paul the ninja (who you may have met earlier, in Althea) to

send them home. A little further in you'll find Mithril, which

is guarded by a strong knight (use magic to penetrate his 

armor) and the Warp spell, guarded by a turtle creature (Ice

spells to severe damage against this kind of enemy). Use the 

Warp spell to exit the cave, otherwise you'll have to backtrack

all the way out.



9. With Salamand back to normal, return to Althea and give the

Mithril to the blacksmith in the weapon shop. Stock up on 

Mithril weapons and armor, then go back to see the Queen again.



10. Return to Poft via the ferry. Head east to Bafusk and give

the password to the knight in the southwest part of town. Enter

the secret passage.



11. Once through the relatively simple cave, you'll see the 

Great Battleship take off and head west. Re-enter the cave and

head east to warp out.



12. Talk to Cid, in the Poft Pub, the queen, the king, and Minh

(who leaves your party when you return to Althea) to get two

new keywords.



13. Return to Salamand and talk to Josef. He'll join your party

(but unfortunately doesn't have any of Minh's cool spells).



14. Return to the Semite waterfall cave. Near the strange blue

stone is a secret passage that leads to the Ice Sled.



15. With the Ice Sled, you can cross the snow field above 

Salamand and enter the Ice Cave.



16. Make your way through the cave until you come to a chamber

full of brown moogle-like creatures. There's a secret passage

on the right wall. Past it you'll find the Goddess Bell, the

Adamanti turtle (which is easily defeated with Ice magic), and

a door that loops back to the exit. When you try to leave the

cave, however, one of the empire's more foppish lackeys will

waylay you. Kill him, and leave the cave. Josef will die saving

your party from a booby trap.



17. Walk or take the airship express to Kashuon, which is south

of Bafusk. Use the Goddess Bell to open the door, and talk to

Gordon. He'll join you. Ascend the castle to find the Eagle

Torch, which is guarded by a fire demon. All magic heals the 

creature, so defeat it with your weapons. Return to the first 

floor and use the torch on the flame burning in the castle 

courtyard.



18. Return to Althea. You should see the Great Battleship fly 

overhead in pursuit of Cid. It seems the queen has been 

kidnapped and held in the Battleship, which is parked far, far

north of Phin.



19. This would be a good time to level up some. Trek far north

of Phin to find the Battleship, which is a large, sprawling 

complex full of nasty creatures. Having more than one character

who can cast Heal will be useful. Give the knight who guards

the entrance the Pass you got in Bafusk, but don't talk to any

of the others. The staircase in the middle of the first floor 

leads to a powerful sword (Sleep Sword?) guarded by a blue 

knight. Walk through the wall to reach it. The north door leads

to the cell Cid and the queen are in, go ahead and free them, 

then backtrack to the winding south path. There's four treasure

chests on the third floor, the third one has a shield that's 

guarded by a VERY powerful giant (not worth the trouble to kill

him, far as I'm concerned), the rest have good weapons. Head to

the next floor and find a path around all the knights to get to

the door. Walk north to the engine, and set the bomb (which you

should have in your inventory). Bye bye, Battleship.



20. Head back to Althea and talk to Minh, the king, and Gordon

to learn two new keywords. Go to Palm and talk to the female 

pirate, she'll join your party after you beat up her friends 

(an easy task). She has a ship you can use, sail it south to 

reach the city of Dist, east of Bafusk.



21. Talk to the two residents of Dist and their pet dragon, 

then loot the castle for all it's worth.



22. Head north of Dist to the cave. Take the stairs due east,

then search the skeletal remains to get the Medallion. Leave

the cave and return to Dist. You can get some powerful armor

in the cave if you take time to search.



23. Back in Dist, show your prize to the dragon to get the

Dragon Egg.



24. Go back to the cave, and take the southeast stairs to 

(eventually) reach the underground lake. Kill the Chimera that

guards it and use the Dragon Egg in the water.



25. Return to Althea and visit the queen in the bedroom. Just

when things start to get interesting, she turns into Medusa.

Smack that bitch up and Gordon will rejoin your party.



26. South of Kashuon, past a treacherous desert, you'll find

the battle arena where the real queen is held prisoner. Enter

and approach the emperor to encounter the first actual boss in

the game, Behemoth. He's not especially tough. After the 

battle, you'll be dropped through a trapdoor to the dungeons

underneath. After Paul the ninja frees you, go up one floor 

via the northeast room (there's an elixir to be found in this

area, don't miss it), then free the queen from her cell and 

Gordon will leave with her. Exit the arena.



27. Return to Althea for a quick pit stop. Hey, where'd

everybody go?



28. They went to an encampment outside Phin, that's where. Go

there and talk to Gordon and the queen.



29. Take a short hike to the castle of Phin. You'll bump into 

Layla, the pirate, pretty quickly, and she'll rejoin your 

party. Head up to the throne room. You can ignore all the 

treasure chests for now. Dethrone the King of Phin (he fights

like Behemoth, and shouldn't be anything to worry about) and

you'll have reclaimed Phin for the resistance! This means all

the monsters are gone, so go back and get all the treasures in

the castle after talking to Gordon and the queen. You should

learn four new keywords.



30. More good news! The city of Phin is no longer guarded by

those green knights. Check out the shops for some nice new

equipment. You'll need it, because your next stop is the

catacombs of Phin. Search the northeast corner of the Phin

throne room and use the last keyword you got from talking to

the queen. Walk through the wall and head down to the depths

of Phin. This is a VERY long dungeon, but luckily the enemies

aren't too bad. Some of them can sap your MP, though, so you

might want to keep an Ether or two packed. There's a few 

valuable items to be found here, so keep an eye out for 

treasure chests. At the bottom you'll find the White Mask,

yours for the taking. North of it is a warp that takes you

outside the castle.



31. It stands to reason that if you have a White Mask, there 

must be a Black Mask somewhere, assuming you follow standard

RPG logic. In the middle of the sea south of Althea you'll

find a tiny island with a cave, your next destination.



32. The middle levels of the island cave are a bit mazelike,

but the weak enemies won't get in the way of your exploring.

If you find the hidden forest where the Shyguy-like denizens

of the cave live, look for one who sells items. Elsewhere in

the cave, be sure to pick up a copy or two of the Aero spell. 

The Black Mask is guarded by a Triceratops. Kill it, take the 

mask, the warp out as you did in Phin.



33. Now to Mysidia, which took me an embarrassingly long time

to find. It's nestled in by a mountain ridge near a lake, all

of which is southwest of Althea, or east of the battle arena,

depending on how you look at it. Before you get down to 

business here, buy Holy and any other magics you need at the

huge magic shop, and check out the weapon store. Once you've

finished your shopping spree, go down the stairs in the south

end of town and use the White Mask on the statue.



34. East of Mysidia, inside a circular formation of mountains,

is the Cave of Mysidia. Use the Black Mask on the clone on the

first floor and it will leave so you can enter the rest of the

dungeon. It's laid out similarly to the catacombs of Phin, so

proceed with caution. Some powerful magics are scattered 

through the dungeon, and you'll need to keep an eye out for

secret passages. Behind a door at a dead-end, you'll find the

Crystal Rod.



35. Now that you have the coveted rod, you can enter the Tower

of Mysidia, right? Well, sail to the crescent bay where the 

Tower is located and your ship will capsize.



36. You'll wake up inside Leviathan, with Layla nowhere to be

seen. Fortunately, this beast's digestive system makes for a 

shorter and more linear dungeon than what you've been trekking

through recently, and there's lots of good treasure to get. 

Halfway through, you'll encounter a makeshift village made by

previous victims of Leviathan. Show the Crystal Rod to the 

Dragoon blocking your passage, and he'll join you. After that

it's a short walk to reclaim your ship, but you'll have to 

defeat the Green Worm to get it. This thing can hit for about

700 points of damage, but it's slow, and doesn't have much HP,

so if you hit hard and cure when needed it shouldn't be much 

of a problem. 



37. Now that you've escaped, you can sail through Leviathan's

channel anytime you like, so go back to Mysidia to stock up on

items or level up if you need to. When you're ready, enter the

tower. The floors aren't big, but they're convoluted, and 

there's a lot of good weapons and armor to be found. On the 

third floor you'll face the Flame Giant, who of course is very

weak against Ice magic and shouldn't pose much of a threat. 

Conversely, on the fifth floor, you have to fight the Frost 

Giant, and I'm sure you can figure out what his weakness is.

On the seventh floor, the considerably nastier Storm Giant is

your enemy. He hits a lot harder than his brothers, and his

weakness is to Aero magic (you DID get a few Aero spell books

in the Black Mask cave, didn't you?). Make sure you pick up

Flare on the next floor. On floor nine you can get some good

armor, but it's guarded by a VERY strong Frost Dragon. Pass on

the armor if you aren't up for the fight. Minh and Ultima 

await you on the tenth floor.



38. After the Ultima orbs warp you out of the tower, you'll 

find that the world has changed. The overworld enemies are a

lot stronger, and both Althea and Gate have been destroyed by

a strange tornado hovering outside Phin. Trouble's abrewin'.



39. Head up to the enigmatic mirror in the castle of Phin and

use the Medallion. Remember the dragon's egg? It hatches!



40. Walk up to the tornado outside Phin and the dragon will 

fly you inside. The twisting path of the tornado is short, 

but convuluted, and while there's lots of good weapons and

armor to be found, there's also nasty enemies like medusae 

and cockatrices and even Juiblex. The Green Dragon near the

top guards a useful attack item. When you finally face the

(rather fey) Emperor of Baramekia, you'll have to hack 

through two phalanxes of horsemen before you can finally

battle the Emperor and his guards (more horsemen and a 

Golem). It shouldn't be a difficult fight.



41. The Baramekia-is-dead celebration at Phin is broken up

with the news that your long-lost friend Lionheart (remember

the fourth character in the opening battle?) has claimed the

throne of the Emperor. Your only recourse is to travel to 

his fortress and beat some sense into him, but how can you

get there? Go to Paul's house in Phin (doesn't it suck that

Paul never joins your party? I wanted a ninja, dangit) and

you'll find Cid, who bequeaths his airship to you, then dies.

Woohoo, problem solved!



42. Go back to Poft and take the airship.



43. You can explore the world to your heart's content now, 

but your destination is the Castle of Baramekia, which you've

already seen: it's the citadel overlooking the battle arena.

Position the shadow of your airship over the tower and land 

it to enter. This is another long, sprawling complex, with

powerful equipment to reward your efforts, but the enemies 

are even more unforgiving here. Grab what you can, and head

to the throne room where Lionheart is. He doesn't fight you,

luckily, but the slain Emperor returns from beyond the pale

to reclaim his throne. Richard sacrifices his life so you can

escape, with Lionheart, from the Emperor.



44. Back in Phin (don't worry, your airship is parked right

outside), a remorseful Lionheart joins your party. Finally,

you have a permanent fourth ally. Gird his loins with magic 

and equipment, then head out of Phin.



45. Fly back to Dist and talk to Richard's widow. Give her

the keyword "Dragoon" and you'll get the very powerful 

Excalibur sword.



46. There's only one thing left to do. Find the Emperor and

lay waste to the sorry undead bastard. You can't enter Castle

Baramekia via the airship anymore, but there's a back door. 

On the penninsula far east of Mysidia, a strange portal has

opened up. Go inside to make your way to Baramekia.



47. The enemies inside the Jade Portal are bigger, tougher,

and meaner than anything you've faced so far. Stock up on as

many healing and recovery items as you can afford before you

make your approach. Note that you can use Warp magic to exit

the portal, so don't feel as though you need to tackle the

entire realm in one journey. There's a fair amount of items

to find, but there's lots of dead ends and traps as well, so 

be careful. On the second floor, the Storm Dragon guards an 

extremely powerful dagger. Use Aero magic against it.



48. Jade is divided into different zones. After you beat (or

avoid) the Storm Dragon, the door to the northeast leads you

to the Waterfall. Walk under the falls to get to the left

side. The treasure chest in the cul-de-sac contains the Rune

Axe, but it's guarded by Megabehemoth. Pound him with your 

best attacks and you'll walk away with a great weapon.



49. In the northeast corner of the next zone, the Red Dragon

guards a powerful bow. Take him down with Ice magic if you 

want. There's also a powerful spear in a small chamber in the

northwest corner of the room. The exit is to the southeast.



50. In the next zone, you'll find a small dead-end room that

warps you to the castle Pandemonium. Make your way through 

the relatively brief expanse of castle til you reach a chamber

lined with doors. 



51. The rightmost door leads you to some good armor, which is

guarded by Beelzebub. He's not terribly powerful, so if you're

in reasonably good health you should be able to take him out.

Keep an eye out for secret passages in this area.



52. The second door from the left leads to a helmet protected

by Tiamat. If you've made it this far, you should be able to

survive her mass elemental attacks and destroy her.



53. The leftmost door will take you to a gauntlet guarded by

the exceedingly weak Blue Mage. Put a sword through his head 

and take the prize. Make your way to the upper-right corner of

this area and walk through the wall to the right of the single

pillar. In the unguarded chest is the ultimate weapon, the

Masamune. Take it.



54. The third door from the left leads to another helmet. The 

Dark Angel that defends it is NOT going to die easy. Keep your 

health up, since it can hit for 2000+ damage, and pray it uses 

magic instead of physical attacks or death spells. Past the 

treasure is the warp to the next part of the castle. 



55. The next part is easy, just walk clockwise to reach the

warp.



56. This is another small area. Head northeast to the warp.



57. Getting close, now...walk past the statues and to the warp

in the southwest corner.



58. This is it. Walk north a short way to meet with Emperor

Baramekia for the last time. He can cast Meteo, hits for about

2500 damage, and has extremely strong defenses. Give everybody

Elixirs for healing, arm yourself to the teeth with your best

weapons and spells, and kill him. Good luck!



---



Thus concludes the FF2j Unofficial Walkthrough. Please feel 

free to email me at bpacula@value.net with any questions or

suggestions you have.



Thanks to Lars Eighner, Michael Thibodeau, FAMICOM, Mike Yost,

Tomo1657, C. L. Moon, SoM2Freak, and Luke Drelick for their 

assorted help and contributions.



(c)1997 Brian Pacula