This week, a realization struck me quite literally in the middle of the night (I’ve been having off-and-on insomnia issues) that caused me to think long and hard about the reasons I continue having trouble with the early Final Fantasy titles (specifically this one—II—at which I’m still dedicatedly hacking away).

To bring this into context, let me describe the incident which led up to my epiphany. I mentioned last week that I was now officially further along in FFII than I had ever been before, and that as a result, I was heading into brand-new content that I hadn’t seen before. My first major foray into this content was a dungeon which, as the guide I’ve been following informed me, wasn’t mandatory at this particular part of the adventure; it should have been well within reach ability-wise, and could help with leveling characters, gaining new equipment, and otherwise preparing me a bit better for the trials that lay ahead, but story-wise, it wasn’t a place that I needed to go to until much later. I thought it might be a good test to see if my party was able to hang with the crowd in this slightly higher-level area, so I set off in my newly obtained ship, consulted my maps, and found the tiny island in the middle of nowhere where the dungeon was located. Continue reading →

I mentioned last week that Final Fantasy II was the stumbling block which caused me to quit my last attempt at a Final Fantasy series playthrough. What I don’t believe I’ve mentioned, however, is that it’s actually the only game in the series (barring, of course, the MMO titles) that I’ve never finished. As of now, that’s still the case; I did put quite a bit more time into it this week than I did last, but as far as I can tell, I’m still nowhere near the end. However, I did manage to break through the barrier that stumped me before, meaning that I’m now in the only real new Final Fantasy content I’m likely to see in this entire project.

I should be excited about this, and I am…sort of. Mostly, though, I’m still a bit paranoid, which has made me question whether these types of games are really “meant” for me anymore. Or, I suppose, if they’re meant for anyone. Continue reading →

I’m going to be honest with you guys: I haven’t played a whole lot of Final Fantasy II this week. This is mainly because I bought Ni No Kuni, which is glorious (and which I will likely ramble on about at length in the next DorkCast). And Final Fantasy II…. Well, remember how I said it’s not my favorite? Yeah, still true.

I have made some progress, however. At the time of last week’s update, I had put about four hours into Final Fantasy II after finishing the first one, but my story progress had been virtually nil, as most of my time had been spent in full-on running-around-in-tiny-circles-bashing-my-own-party-in-the-face mode. Now, although I haven’t gone very far time-wise, I have at least gone through my first dungeon, which was a relatively easy ride. I suppose I shouldn’t be terribly surprised at this, but my past history with II has made me a little paranoid. Continue reading →

This week, I reached the first major milestone in my year-long journey: I completed the first game in the series, the original Final Fantasy. Immediately afterwards, I began Final Fantasy II, and before I go any further into describing that, I’d like to make a clarification for those who maybe aren’t as versed in (read as “obsessed with”) the series as I am.

Many people have played a game called Final Fantasy II. These were not, however, all the same game. In 1988, one version was released solely in Japan for the Famicom. This Final Fantasy II was the actual second game in the series, and is the one I’ve been playing this week (and therefore the one I’ll be referring to throughout these entries). It wasn’t released in North America or Europe until 2003, as part of the Origins collection for PlayStation; this is the version I’m currently playing.

The other, however, is the one which was probably played by more people, and the one which many people probably still think of when the name Final Fantasy II is brought up. This was released in 1991 for the SNES, and was actually the fourth game in the series, so in Japan (as well as in subsequent re-releases on the PlayStation, GBA, DS, and so forth), it was Final Fantasy IV, and everywhere else, it was Final Fantasy II (“to avoid confusion,” otherwise known as “Square thinks Westerners are dumb”).

That’s perfectly clear, right? Of course it is. Continue reading →

It’s not exactly a secret that many JRPGs, from the very old to the very new, are based on systems originated in tabletop roleplaying games, most notably Dungeons and Dragons. The Final Fantasy series is no exception here, and it’s in these first couple of games that those systems are the most apparent. You may not be able to actually see the dice rolls, and the equipment isn’t as clearly labeled as in, say, Baldur’s Gate, but there are still some pretty obvious similarities present. I’ve always sort of had in the back of my head that individual battles were inspired by D&D in this way (stats affecting whether/how hard characters are hit, random encounter tables determining enemies, loot, and experience, and so forth), but I hadn’t really considered the effect of some of the larger overarching themes until this week. Continue reading →