Since many statistics, such as weapon and magic spell proficiency, were based on how many times a particular command was used in battle, a little patience meant it was possible to quickly advance in proficiencies in the space of a single battle round. At any point before the command for the final character in the lineup was issued, the player could return to the previous character to reissue a command. This was possible because the game's turn-based battle system gave the player the opportunity to input commands for all four party members at once. HP and MP increase depending on depletion: a character who ends a battle in critical health may earn an increase in their maximum amount of hit points, and a character who expends the majority of their magic points during a single battle may increase their maximum amount of magic points.Ī character's level of proficiency with each of the seven weapon types, as well as shields, can be viewed on the status screen.Ī handful of bugs related to this advancement system were present in the release version, the most notable being the ability to cancel a previously issued command and still gain the stat-increasing benefits of having performed the action. Similarly, characters who frequently cast a particular magic spell will learn to cast more powerful versions of it, as well as increasing their magical power. For example, characters who frequently use a particular type of weapon ( sword, bow, axe, etc.) will become more adept at wielding weapons of that type, while also increasing their physical strength. Instead of earning experience points or an analogue from battles, each participant's stats develop organically depending on what actions they take during the battle.
#DARK CLOUD 2 PC PORT SERIES#
Battles are fought in the same traditional turn-based style as in the first installment, with expanded combat options for both player and enemy characters.įinal Fantasy II is relatively unique in the Final Fantasy series for not using a singular experience value to manage each character's growth. For example, a character who frequently casts Magic would have their magic proficiency increase faster, while a character who frequently takes damage would have their maximum HP increase. The protagonist, Firion, along with his allies Maria and Guy, join the Wild Rose Rebellion to fight them, and meet many allies along the way to try to stop the Emperor and save the world.įinal Fantasy II eliminates the leveling system from the previous game, focusing on the playable characters' individual stats, which increase according to how much they are used or required.
The game centers on a conflict by the Palamecian Empire, whose Emperor Mateus is using hellspawn to try to conquer the world. Its story is unrelated to the original Final Fantasy, and its gameplay is a major departure from the previous title for eliminating the traditional experience-based progression system.
It was notable for being one of the first story-intensive RPGs released for console systems, and introducing many series staples, including chocobos and a character named Cid. It was directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, with Yoshitaka Amano designing the characters and Nobuo Uematsu composing the score. It was released in December 1988 for the Family Computer exclusively in Japan, but was later re-released worldwide for the PlayStation, the Game Boy Advance, the PlayStation Portable, iOS, Android, and other platforms. For the game originally released as Final Fantasy II in North America, see Final Fantasy IVįinal Fantasy II is the second installment in the Final Fantasy series, developed and published by Squaresoft.