Final Fantasy II [GBA] Playthrough #01, Imperial Invasion; Altair and Gatrea: Mission to Fynn
6Welcome to my playthrough of Final Fantasy II on the Nintendo GameBoy Advance! This game is part of the Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls compilation.
Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls [GBA] Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIZ8kn0xML26DGsa4ukfh7pAIrFGnF12d
Final Fantasy II takes a very different tack on character advancement than the original game. In battle, a character's stats and competencies may (or may not) advance based on the actions they took and the type of damage they took. I don't feel that it was implemented very well here, but it was adapted to later games, such as Final Fantasy XI and Skyrim. I do not intend to "power-level" characters' stats in this playthrough. The power-leveling techniques that I've seen seem too game-breaking.
Note that this game is the "real" Final Fantasy II, which was originally developed for the Famicom in Japan but not released in the West until the Final Fantasy Origins compilation for the Sony PlayStation. What we originally got as Final Fantasy II for the Super NES was really Final Fantasy IV.
This version has a couple of key enhancements over the original Famicom release. One is a stacking inventory. The Famicom release had a limited, non-stacking inventory, not unlike Phantasy Star or Super Mario RPG. This version also has a postgame that employs four characters that meet their end during the main storyline.
In this video, we start the game (time 0:35). I go with the default names of Firion, Maria, Guy, and Leon. According to the intro scene, the Emperor of the Palamecian Empire is out to conquer the world with hellish powers. They overrun the Kingdom of Fynn. We catch up with our party members, who get rocked by some Imperial forces.
The youths' leader, Firion, is treated by Princess Hilda and Minwu, the white wizard, at a base in a faraway town (time 2:47). After they leave, Firion gets up. He leaves the room and finds two of his friends, Maria and Guy, but Leon is not with them. They head to the throne room and meet Hilda and Minwu. Unfortunately, Hilda denies their request to join the rebel army. However, she does invite them to live in Altair and teaches them the rebels' password, Wild Rose. The party must learn the term Wild Rose, which they can use to get information from people in the game. When they ask the princess about the White Rose, she advises them to address Minwu.
They talk to Minwu (time 7:48). He advises them to head to Fynn. When they ask about the White Rose, he gives some additional information, including about sanctuaries, which can be used to revive fallen characters.
Afterwards, they talk with the people in the rebel base. The Rebel Army theme is pretty good. Naturally, the folks in the base will have a lot of information. One old man speaks of the town of Gatrea to the north. In the room where Firion was revived, there are people with tutorial information. The king of Fynn is also here, but he is critically wounded.
In the west of the base's entrance hall, a chest contains a Potion (time 21:38).
The party heads out to explore the town of Altair (time 22:08). One important person is Paul, a thief with a high opinion of his capabilities. Note that the cost of the inn depends on how much HP and MP the party has to restore.
North of the rebel base, the party finds Gordon, formerly prince of Kashuan (time 23:14). Poor fellow.
A good place to visit is the spell shop, which has Cure, Fire, Thunder, and Blizzard tomes for sale. I plan to make Firion and Maria my primary magic-users. I will have them use swords while Guy fights bare-handed. Bare-handed fighting seems to work very well early in the game.
The party leaves town (time 26:06). Now, it is time to head north towards Fynn. After crossing the bridge to the north, they follow the river. Whatever you do, don't go too far west. This is one of the most open-world Final Fantasy games, but the enemies to the west are murderous at this point.
To the north, they find the village of Gatrea (time 27:22). Fynn is across the lake to the north. One fellow in town speaks of the pub on the outskirts in Fynn. It seems the pub's barkeep didn't make it out. Maybe the party should check on the barkeep.
Next time, the party will head north to Fynn to check on the barkeep.
Thanks for watching!
This video is part of my Final Fantasy II playthrough. I am playing the version of the game released in the Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls compilation for the Nintendo GameBoy Advance in 2004. All characters, story, music, artwork, and other components of this game are the property of their respective owners.
Played and recorded in BizHawk version 2.2.2. Produced with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.
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