Line #60 VideoGame/FinalFantasyII


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff2.png]]
2
3	->[-For the SNES game originally released as ''Final Fantasy II'' in North America, see ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''.-]
4
5	->''A long-lived peace...\
6	is at an end.''
7	-->-- '''Opening Lines'''
8
9	''Final Fantasy II'' is the second entry in the [[RunningGag bone-shatteringly popular]] ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, released on the [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] in 1988. The game would initially [[NoExportForYou fail to reach western shores]], though this was an error eventually rectified in the 2000s.
10
11	In the flight from the occupied city of Fynn, four orphans are ensnared by imperial troops and [[BackFromTheBrink left for dead.]] Three of the survivors are recovered by a mystic working for the [[LaResistance Wild Rose Rebellion]] and taken to a nearby stronghold. Upon being revived, the group is enlisted to -- what else? -- help stop TheEmpire from [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]]. Emperor Mateus, [[WhiteHairBlackHeart a pretty boy with megalomaniacal designs]] (hey, that [[OlderThanTheyThink sounds kind of familiar]]), has a slight advantage in this contest being that he's opened the gates of Hell to [[TheLegionsOfHell enlist an army of demons.]]
12
13	[[Creator/SquareEnix Squaresoft]] were beginning to experiment with larger, more epic storylines with a memorable supporting cast. Indeed, the heroes have personalities, names, and a dynamic with each other, unlike in the first game where they were simply cutouts. It's also the first ''FF'' to include [[GuestStarPartyMember guest characters]] who rotate out of the party at regular intervals. Three of these fellas even [[AscendedExtra got their adventure]] in the ''Dawn of Souls'' [[VideoGameRemake remake]], joined by the previously-[[WeHardlyKnewYe unplayable]] Prince Scott to round out their party of four.
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17	''Final Fantasy II'' adopted a [[StatGrinding 'learn by doing']] growth system that has since come to be more commonly associated with ''VideoGame/{{SaGa\|RPG}}''—since both were developed by Akitoshi Kawazu (the brains behind Square's more open-ended [[EasternRPG JRPGs]])—and ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': Casting magic increases your {{Mana}} pool and magical power, getting hit a lot increases your HitPoints and Defense, et cetera. Characters must also train in weapons: Josef starts out as a BareFistedMonk, but if you switch him to a lance, you'll notice he isn't hitting as hard or as frequently. However, after using it in a few battles, he'll gain proficiency and return to his level of comfort.
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19	Like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', you teach magic by buying scrolls from shops. However, unlike ''I,'' any character can learn any variety of spells, up to a maximum of 16. If you run out of space, just drop a spell from your menu. Magic tiers are back as well, although each character must level up spells (in a faint precursor to ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'') to cast their Fira/Firaga equivalents. One of the biggest blunders a player can make is failing to use their Esuna spell to remove negative status effects; if an enemy uses a level 8 status effect and your Esuna is only level 4, you may not be able to fix it during battles.
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21	One oddity is the inclusion of {{Keywords\|Conversation}} in dialog, never seen before or since in ''Final Fantasy''. It's a bit superfluous for the most part, though the ''Anniversary Edition'''s Arcane Labyrinth BonusDungeon (see below) makes more meaningful use of it.
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23	This game is where many ''FF'' staples began: Dragoons, the [[LastDiscMagic ultimate magic spell]] Ultima, the recurring character named Cid and his affinity for [[GlobalAirship Airships]],[[note]]This was {{retcon}}ned in the re-release of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', where he is mentioned as the creator of that game's airship and is involved in the game's lore.[[/note]] and too many [[MascotMook iconic creatures]] to count: Chocobos, Behemoths, Bombs, and more. Characters can also be shifted between the front and back row for the first time, as well as target any combatant with any action, or choose whether to hit one or all targets of a given affiliation with any spell. This game also introduces the iconic battle interface with two blue boxes on the lower half of the screen (as opposed to the mass of boxes in the previous game): Enemies and their quantity on the left, your party's names, HP, and MP on the right, and ability names in a pop-up box at the top; most 2D ''Final Fantasy'' games going forward use some variant of this interface (including remakes of ''Final Fantasy I'').
24
25	It initially got [[VideoGameRemake remade]] on the Platform/WonderSwan, and later the Platform/PlayStation as part of the CompilationRerelease ''Final Fantasy Origins'', which added some FMV cutscenes. The aforementioned ''Dawn of Souls'' is another dual release for the Platform/GameBoyAdvance; it came with an {{expansion\|pack}} designed [[BrutalBonusLevel with veterans in mind]]. A hi-def remake came out for the Platform/PlayStationPortable and UsefulNotes/{{iOS\|Games}}; it rolled out the Arcane Labyrinth, a set of {{bonus dungeon}}s that will appeal only to the hardcore. It also added in a new "Guard" command so you can defend yourself for half damage. In 2021, this game was remastered as a part of the ''Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster'' series, which was released on PC via Steam and mobile devices. 2023 saw the ''Pixel Remaster'' version brought over to the Platform/NintendoSwitch and Platform/PlayStation4.
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27	----
28	!!This game provides examples of:
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:A-E]]
32	* ActionGirl: Maria and Leila.
33	* AbortedArc: A major subplot is the party unsealing the bindings on the forbidden Ultima Tome which teaches you Ultima, and the Mysidian library mentions Ultima was originally crafted to destroy the risen palace of Hell, Pandaemonium. Once you acquire it, Ultima has no storyline relevance and usage of it is left entirely up to the player's discretion.
34	* AbortedDeclarationOfLove: Scott initially asks the heroes to tell Hilda he loves her, but then orders them not to, saying that she would only be pained to hear that from a dying man.
35	* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Weapon and Spell proficiency maxes at Level 16. Odds are, by the end of the game, most of your skills will be no higher than level 10, ''if'' they're commonly-used skills. Because of the AntiGrinding rank system, actually getting a skill to Level 16 practically requires either hunting down random-encounter [[BossInMookClothing Bosses in Mook Clothing]] or prolonging fights to absurd degrees.
36	* AerithAndBob: Maria, Guy, Leon, Scott, Gordon, Leila, and Ricard are all fairly ordinary names that wouldn't be too surprising to run into in real life. Firion and Minwu, however, are not.
37	* AfterlifeAvenger: Emperor Mateus managed to conquer Heaven AND Hell after splitting his soul into its purest and darkest halves and defeating the respective rulers of both realms. This achievement had effectively made him to ruler of the afterlife itself. Realizing things won't improve unless he's wiped out for good, the heroes who died and the ones left alive split up to destroy the Emperor's respective Hell and Heaven aspects to make him DeaderThanDead.
38	* AllForNothing: A large chunk of the game revolves around getting the spell, Ultima. You go through four whole dungeons just to get to Ultima's resting place, Mysidian Tower, which itself is the fifth and longest dungeon in this arc, containing DemonicSpiders, hazards you must walk through, and four bosses. And when you finally reach the end, in order to get Ultima, [[spoiler:Minwu sacrifices himself to break the seal.]] Turns out, Ultima is pretty weak (unlike in other games). Subverted in the remakes, but only if Ultima is trained until level 16.
39	* AllThereInTheManual: Although the game is story driven and has a complex plot for being made in 1988, character development is minimal, and most details about your party, their personalities, and the people they work for and fight against are derived from the novelization of the story that was published shortly after the game launched. [[NoExportForYou In Japan only, naturally.]]
40	* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs:
41	** Fynn falls to the Emperor's forces, and remains under occupation until the game's second half.
42	** Altair is among the towns obliterated by the Cyclone. Happily, Hilda and her royal court move into Fynn Castle.
43	* AlmostDeadGuy: ''Two'', in fact, at various points in the game: Prince Scott of Kashuan in Fynn near the start of the game, and [[spoiler:the last wyvern]] in Deist.
44	* AloofBigBrother: Leon to Maria.
45	* AmbiguousSituation: The reasons for Leon's betrayal and continued loyalty to the Empire. The Empire ''is'' capable of brainwashing, and Maria firmly believes Leon to be a victim of it. However, Leon remains as the Dark Knight and makes a OneWorldOrder speech even after the Emperor's temporary demise, when he presumably wouldn't be under anyone's control. It's never made clear whether his initial defection was brainwashing, conversion, some sort of [[TheStarscream Starscream]] gambit, or what, although the novel suggests the former.
46	* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Soul of Rebirth has [[spoiler:Minwu]] as the central protagonist, taking place right after [[spoiler:he dies.]]
47	* AnyoneCanDie: You gain a few party members and meet several characters over the course of the game. A ''large'' portion of these characters end up dead by endgame, including a full third of the game's playable roster. This doesn't seem to affect [[spoiler:the Emperor]] much, however.
48	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Cid has one for Minwu in Soul of Rebirth to help them figure out where they are: [[spoiler:"If this is the entrance to Hell, what are innocent little kids doing here?"]]
49	* AscendedGlitch: The Ultima spell in the original version was bugged and wouldn't power up as it's supposed to. This left it doing a measly 500 damage. Director Hironobu Sakaguchi wanted it fixed, but a programmer insisted on leaving the bug in, justifying it as Ultima being an outdated spell overshadowed by newer and improved ones, mirroring real life. Sakaguchi then tried to fix the problem himself, but the programmer [[EnforcedTrope ciphered the code's source]]. As such the bug remained. Fortunately Sakaguchi looks back at it more fondly these days.
50	* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Leon. In the ending, he leaves to parts unknown over the guilt he still has about his actions as the Dark Knight.]]
51	* AttackBackfire:
52	** This is the first game in the series with elemental absorption — attacking an ice monster with Blizzard spells will heal it, for example. Notably, this applies to status-inflicting spells, as they have their own elements.
53	** Using Drain spells or the Blood Sword against undead enemies will heal ''them'' and damage the user.
54	* AwesomeButImpractical: The Revive and Destroy spells from the PSP and [=iOS=] versions. The first will revive and completely heal everyone in the fight, including the enemies. Destroy will kill everything on the screen (including your allies), except the caster, who will be left with 1 HP.
55	* BecauseDestinySaysSo: [[spoiler:Minwu]] uses up [[CastFromHitPoints all his life energy]] to [[spoiler:break the seal on Ultima]], but is surprisingly nonchalant about his own death, saying that it's his destiny.
56	* BeefGate: The world map is mostly one giant continent, and it is possible to wander too far if you're not careful and end up being curb-stomped by high-level random encounters. Hopping off a Chocobo in the wrong area can especially screw you over. This is also problematic in early part of the game when the protagonists don't have a map yet and have to discover a safe route by relying on trials and errors.
57	* BigBad: TheEmperor, and how very bad he is.
58	* BigBadWannabe: Leon, who took control of the empire after the Emperor's death. When the party confronts him, the Emperor waltzes in to remind everyone who the ''real'' BigBad still is before an actual fight can break out.
59	* BigGood: Princess Hilda.
60	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Emperor is defeated and the world is saved, but much of the world has been devasted by the Cyclone, Leon leaves the group in order to find atonement for his crimes as the Black Knight, and the remaining heroes grimly acknowledge that they can never truly return to a normal life after having experienced [[WarIsHell the horrors of war]].]]
61	* BonusDungeon:
62	** Soul of Rebirth, added in the GBA remake, is a bonus quest unlocked after the FinalBoss is defeated.
63	** The Arcane Labyrinth and Arcane Sanctuary, added in the PSP version, only need to be visited in order to obtain the various ultimate weapons in the main storyline.
64	* BlackMagicianGirl: While any of the party members can be made into Black Mages, Maria's starting stats are best suited for the role.
65	* BlindIdiotTranslation: An [[https://lparchive.org/Final-Fantasy-II-(by-Mega64)/ English translation]] was actually produced for a North American NES release that never happened. Which is just as well, considering that the resulting translation, just to start with, consistently spelled "pirates" as "piretes," turned Beelzebub into "Beelzlbl," and had the boss Gottos shriek "Rebellions!" when confronted by the rebels.
66	* BraggingRightsReward: The Revive and Destroy tomes can only be gotten by completing the entire Arcane Labyrinth sequence (and defeating SuperBoss Deumion, in case of the latter), which can't be done until you've done everything except beating the game's final boss. You can only pick one of the two tomes, and each one is an AwesomeButImpractical spell.
67	* {{Brainwashing}}: If you visit Bafsk before you make contact with Josef and obtain the Mythril, none of the townspeople will be able to talk to you. You ''can'' talk to the Dark Knight in the town square, but he tells you to get back to work. Afterwards, Borghen takes over and the townspeople implore you to stop the Dreadnought while saying that they feel like they were in a trance.
68	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Maria believes [[spoiler:Leon]] to be this, but after the party [[spoiler:kills the Emperor the first time]], he doesn't turn back. Instead, he hops on the throne himself and tries to set himself up as the new Emperor. [[spoiler:He does turn back when the party goes to confront him and the Emperor returns, though.]]
69	* BrutalBonusLevel:
70	** Soul of Rebirth is a short postgame bonus campaign starring four of the major characters who don't survive the main story. However, two of them [[spoiler:(Minwu and Josef)]] are playable early in the game and [[SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear retain whatever equipment, skills, and stats they were given before they leave]], rendering them underdeveloped and easy to kill if you did not take the extra time to LevelGrind them. Even if Ricard has end-game stats and/or is tricked out with potent equipment like the Blood Sword, it still doesn't make Soul of Rebirth all that much less difficult.
71	** The Arcane Labyrinth, while much more merciful than the Labyrinth of Time, still have some annoying floors, like Palamecia, which is full of {{Trap Door}}s that teleport you back to the start.
72	* ClimaxBoss: The Emperor appears to be the final boss, [[spoiler:and he is,]] but [[spoiler:there's still two more dungeons after the first fight with him]].
73	* ContinuityNod: Asking Gordon about mythril will have him note that Scott had a prized sword made of the material. Guess what Scott's default weapon in Soul of Rebirth is.
74	* ContractualBossImmunity: Played with. Different bosses have different resistances, but many don't resist the Matter element, which includes several instant-death spells. The only ones it doesn't really work on are the [[spoiler:Dark and Light Emperors, and Zombie Borghen]], the last of which is technically vulnerable to the spells but has high enough magic defense stats to ensure that the spells have pretty much zero chance of hitting him, and the other two of which are flat-out immune. In the Famicom version it's possible to take out the [[spoiler:Dark Emperor]] with Matter spells by exploiting a glitch, but it takes longer than just killing him with the Blood Sword, and said glitch is removed from later versions.
75	* CrutchCharacter: Minwu. Although his stats are very high when you first recruit him, they're mostly geared towards support, and [[GuestStarPartyMember he doesn't stick around that long]], anyway. When you play as him in Soul of Rebirth, the "early-game" is designed around his power level as a baseline, narrowing the power gulf between him and his own companions. Interestingly, this can easily end up ''inverted'' if you grind your main three characters a lot, giving them at least twice as much HP as the fourth character when they join, and nigh-invariably higher spell proficiencies.
76	* DarkerAndEdgier: ...than the first game, ''big time.'' The first game features a group of four young adventurers who already know how to fight from the beginning when they are assigned with proper equipment and allowed to learn some magic, and will grow stronger with experience. Meanwhile, this game features a group of war orphans who wield battle gears despite having very low starting skills and learn magic from scratch. Also, a full third of this game's playable cast wind up dead by the end of the game, joined by the countless [=NPCs=] populating the towns and cities the Emperor wipes clean off the map by the end. That the game ''opens'' with a HopelessBossFight is very apt in setting the tone.
77	* DeaderThanDead: [[spoiler: Both the Emperor and Borghen are re-fought in hell's castle Pandaemonium after their first deaths, the former in a demon form (though not classified as undead), having raised Pandaemonium himself after his return, and the latter in zombie form, having been inside Pandaemonium when it was summoned. Both are re-killed, presumably erasing them from existence. Further implied if you go by Soul of Rebirth which says the Emperor's soul was split in two, and his [[LightIsNotGood light half]], who took over Heaven, is killed as well.]]
78	* DegradedBoss: Quite literally ''every'' mandatory boss who isn't a named story character reappears as a standard enemy later on. Even Gottos, the imperial commander at Fynn Castle, inexplicably ends up with clones of himself overrunning later dungeons.
79	* DevelopersForesight:
80	** Averted in the original Famicom version. You can try to defeat the Black Knights in the beginning with cheats so you can obtain absurd amount of money and if you're lucky, some item drops as well. The game will continue normally after that.
81	** Played straight in the remake versions. If you defeat the Black Knights in the beginning by using third party resources, the game will know that you cheated and sends you back to the title screen.
82	** In all version, talking to Princess Hilda with different {{Guest Star Party Member}}s will have her say different things. Having Minwu in the party will have Hilda say that she trusts Minwu to help Firion and friends complete their missions; if Josef is in your party, she says that she is pleased to have him assist the rebels in finding the Goddess Bell, while having Gordon in the party before obtaining Sunfire will make her chew out Gordon for suddenly disappearing and blame him for [[spoiler:Josef's death]] in Snow Cavern.
83	* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler: Played with and subverted. You confront and kill the Emperor in a [[AntiClimaxBoss disappointingly underwhelming]] boss fight. Everyone begins to celebrate, when the Emperor's [[TheDragon Dark Knight]] [[DragonTheirFeet reappears]] to [[DragonAscendant take the reins of the empire]]. Our heroes go to Castle Palamecia to confront him, but as soon as they do, [[BackFromTheDead guess who's back...]]]]
84	* DiscOneFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:The Cyclone]] and later [[spoiler:Castle Palamecia]].
85	* DiscOneNuke: There are all sorts of ways to go about getting one of these before the first dungeon. A few of the simplest approaches:
86	** Unarmed attacks. Their attack power rises with each level, and unarmed power scales faster than weapon upgrades early on. Their effectiveness falters later on, when shields become much more useful and vital to survival.
87	** Grind until you can defeat the Captains roaming the streets of Fynn. They don't disappear when beaten and they drop Curse and Toad Tomes, as well as Flame Bows and Golden Armor, all of which aren't normally available until quite a bit later, as well as a fair bit of money. The Toad spell, in contrast to its normal usage, is only a ForcedTransformation when used on your party members, while against enemies it functions as a OneHitKill. Only a few enemies are resistant to it and almost nothing is immune, not even most bosses, so with a few levels in it, that spell and the gear from the Captains can carry you through the whole game.
88	** After the first few {{Fetch Quest}}s, [[GuestStarPartyMember Minwu]] joins, and he has the Teleport spell. In addition to its traditional use of escaping dungeons, this is also a OneHitKill against almost anything, and with a little grinding it can work just as well as toad mentioned above. Of course, Minwu won't stay with you for long, so to make use of this you'll have to either use him on the Captains mentioned above or...
89	** Reach Mysidia. The land route is inhabited by some of the most dangerous monsters in the overworld, or you can reach it as soon as you get a ship. The shops in Mysidia have the best purchasable gear in the game, giving you a large step up.
90	** In all versions of the game starting with the [=PS1=] release, there is a Concentration minigame that can be accessed while riding the Snowcraft, by holding one button (either "Accept" or "Cancel"), and hitting the other a certain number of times. Normally, the prizes aren't really worth too much of your time (up to 40,000 gil and a varying-per-platform disposable prize for no mistakes). However, by leveling up Toad to L.16, you change the game and the prizes. For 0 mistakes, no matter the version, you get the Masamune, the most powerful sword in the game.
91	* DoomedHometown: Played straight, but later inverted. Fynn falls to the Empire in the opening cutscene, and the heroes spend approximately half the game fighting to liberate it. They eventually succeed, but [[spoiler:the rebel stronghold of Altair is destroyed in the wake of the Emperor's Cyclone.]] The Emperor is an equal-opportunity maniac: In fact, nearly every goddamn city in the game ''except'' the player's hometown [[spoiler:is wiped out by either the Cyclone or the Dreadnought.]] There will be much rebuilding to come in the story's aftermath.
92	* DownerBeginning: The protagonists ''narrowly'' escape the razing of the kingdom of Fynn in the wake of the Palamecian army, only to be immediately ambushed in a HopelessBossFight. It clearly sets the [[DarkerAndEdgier tone]] for this game.
93	* DualWielding: Everyone can do this with any weapon, save for bows. It can even be done with shields, sacrificing the ability to attack for increased Evasion.
94	* DumbMuscle: Guy is one of the most pronounced examples in ''Final Fantasy'' history. He's ''barely'' capable of speech (except with animals because it's [[AllThereInTheManual All There In The]] [[NoExportForYou Japan-exclusive]] [[AllThereInTheManual Novelization]] that he's a WildChild.) Then again, it might just be a language barrier, rather than outright stupidity—he (along with everyone else) ''can'' use magic, after all.
95	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: A considerable amount, which is certainly saying something when the game in question belongs to a series practically ''known'' for soft-reinventing itself with every installment.
96	** This entry in the series was ''enormously'' experimental - character advancement worked differently, conversations worked differently, plot progression worked differently, you get the idea. Very few of the mechanical changes carried on to future titles, though some of the ideas later branched off into the ''VideoGame/RomancingSaga'' series.
97	** Chocobo's Theme is shorter in this game, the full version of the song only appearing from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' onwards.
98	** Ricard, the first dragoon, can't use the "Jump" command.
99	** The spell Ultima makes its first appearance in the series. However, it is a white magic spell instead of black magic.
100	* EmptyRoomPsych: LOTS. You ''will'' grow to hate random doors in walls. And they all have ridiculously high encounter rates and place you away from their entrance--you're lucky to get out of them without at least one random battle. Adding insult to injury, some of what look like doors to yet more empty rooms turn out to actually contain valuable treasure or lead further into the dungeon. These rooms are excellent places for grinding in the remake versions, however.
101	* EverybodysDeadDave: When the Cyclone strikes, [[spoiler:a good number of the towns on the map are utterly destroyed. After things like the Dreadnought, you could still go in to buy potions and hear the shellshocked survivors say that their friends and family were killed. Not so here--there is simply a grey patch of ruins on the map that you cannot enter, because no one has survived. The only places spared are Fynn and far distant towns like Salamand]].
102	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Emperor is only ever referred to in the game (and in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'') by his title. His actual name, Mateus, only appears in the Japanese novelization of the game.
103	* EvilLaugh: Minor villain Borghen has one, though for some reason in the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance and PSP [[VideoGameRemake remakes]] it sounds like the gobbling of a male turkey (odd, considering what was pulled off with Kefka in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' on older hardware). This might be intentional, since while Kefka was an AxCrazy OmnicidalManiac with the power to back it up, Borghen is a SmallNameBigEgo villain with little real power whose "boss fight" is a complete joke.
104	* EvilSorcerer: The Emperor.
105	* EvolvingAttack: Weapon and spell skill levels. Weapons get more hits (with unarmed attacks doing more damage), while spells get stronger and have flashier animations.
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:F-R]]
109	* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Leon after his disappearance]].
110	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Even if the party somehow wins the first battle the game continues as though they lost. In the remakes, it [[NoFairCheating returns to the title screen]] instead.
111	* FakeDifficulty: In very high amounts in the beginning of both regular or Soul of Rebirth:
112	** During the original's beginnings, you may face enemies that are a lot stronger than you by chance and you could either perish or defeat the opposing battle with very low HP and MP. This is taken worse when the cost of inns in the game depend on your HP, MP, and status effects, so items are a cheaper alternative at this point in the game.
113	** Around the midpoint of the game, you'll encounter enemies whose normal attacks can inflict status ailments, including Confusion, Sleep, and Paralyze. Against such enemies your best option is to try and run immediately, or else they will chainstun your party for turns on end and there is little you can do but watch as they slowly kill you. Later on you'll encounter enemies whose attacks can inflict Petrify and Death, too.
114	** Soul of Rebirth is no joke either, especially when you being that quest with just 2 underleveled characters. You are very likely to run from all your battles (if even allowed) until you retrieve the other 2 characters and reach a "town" to reassemble your team and equipment. The better way to minimize trouble is to overly level those characters before completing the main game.
115	* FissionMailed: The first battle is extremely one-sided, and ends with the entire party being beaten... then revived in a nearby castle, which kickstarts the plot.
116	* FragileSpeedster: Equipping light armor and a shield turns a character into one of these. With high Agility and 99% evasion, most enemies can't hit the character even if they get a turn, but any physical attack that bypasses evasion may be a one-hit kill.
117	* FromBadToWorse: Any time you think things are looking up, you're only setting yourself up to be proven wrong. The game is pretty much an escalation of the Emperor one-upping every move you make against him and destroying a couple towns or killing an important ally in the process.
118	* FunnelCloudJourney: After the destruction of his airship, the Emperor summons a cyclone with a castle riding on top of it to destroy every city that stands against him. You need to summon a hiryuu/wyvern to fly into the tornado and reach his castle.
119	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: As in many ''Final Fantasy'' games, there are plenty of deaths, and no amount of Life spells will bring them back. This is also the last game to actually call defeated characters "dead" instead of "KO", so it's even more obvious. This is especially egregious when [[spoiler:the king dies while being treated by Minwu,]] despite earlier having saved the main characters from their near-deaths in the first battle and ''knowing the Life spell as a party member''.
120	** [[DeathByDespair It's not the body that was dying…]]
121	* GameMod: The [[http://jeffludwig.com/finalfantasy/download.php Mod of Balance]] for the GBA ''Dawn of Souls'' version. While it mainly overhauls ''I'', does include some rebalancing for ''II'' to "'unbreak' the character development mechanics" (weapon/melee skills rank slower, magic ranks faster, stats grow more "naturally" and don't need as much grinding), weapons/armor/spells were rebalanced, enemies and bosses got reworked a bit, and the timing for obtaining certain spells was tweaked.
122	* GlobalAirship: The first to be owned by someone named "Cid".
123	* AGodAmI: The Emperor.
124	* GuestStarPartyMember: The fourth party slot is largely dedicated to the temporary allies who join up with the heroes over the course of the story. The Soul of Rebirth epilogue lets you play with the ones that die during the game.
125	* GuideDangIt:
126	** Adding to the difficulty of the weird leveling system, the game never tells you several important things, making it seem even harder. Although it was removed in the remakes, the Famicom version gives almost every piece of equipment a spellcasting penalty, in the vein of D&D. The penalty for non-damage spells makes them nearly useless if your mage isn't stark naked, at least until you find some mage robes in a late dungeon.
127	** Obtaining the Revive Tome in the 20th Anniversary release requires you to find Deumion before the guards on the "Guardian" floor of the Arcane Labyrinth. You can't simply walk to his home though, even if you know which one it is, you have to speak to the guards, then you have to follow them through town via the back alleys, heading them off several times. The trick is that only a certain path to try and head them off will succeed, fail and they make it to Deumion instantly. And contrary to the hint given, no you do not take the shortest path, in fact some of the paths you take are closer to the longest path. In the final segment, the guards walk straight to Deumion's house, and in a manner that defies all logic, you have to head up and trace Deumion's steps through an alley and south to his home in order to beat them there, just following them again has them get there first, but somehow taking the long way around gets you there first.
128	** The world map in this game is one big continent with few small islands. Accidentally wandering off too far will result in getting ambushed by high-level monsters and unless you have done some rigorous StatGrinding and possessing [[GameBreaker rare weapons/spells]], you won't be able to walk out alive. While there are vague hints from some [[{{NPC}} NPCs]] which you may have talked to or not, nothing in this game tells you about which place is safe to go and which place is not safe other than first-hand experience of [[CurbStompBattle crushing defeat]] during random encounters. This becomes problematic in the early part of the adventure when your party don't have a map yet and don't know where to go to advance the storyline. Read BeefGate trope above for further explanation.
129	* HardLevelsEasyBosses: While most of the dungeons are punishingly difficult thanks to their lack of save points, item chests being few and far between, and random encounter rates that can be extremely high, most of the actual bosses can be obliterated in just a few turns once you get your hands on some powered-up Matter elemental spells and/or the Blood Sword.
130	* HeelFaceTurn:
131	** Leila accepts the party's offer to join the Rebellion after they [[ZeroEffortBoss deal with her pirates.]]
132	** [[spoiler:Leon, after the Emperor returns from Hell.]]
133	* HeroesFightBarehanded: You can focus on the barehanded fight and obtain good results.
134	* HeroesPreferSwords: Although any character can equip and train with any weapon, Firion starts off with a sword and his InfinityPlusOneSword in the PSP version is the sword Ragnarok. [[spoiler:Scott]] in ''Soul of Rebirth'' specializes in swords.
135	* HeroicSacrifice: Enough for [[spoiler:an entire second party]]:
136	** [[spoiler:Scott holds off the Imperial forces attacking Fynn, and is mortally wounded as a result.]]
137	** [[spoiler:Josef holds back a boulder loosed by Borghen to allow Firion, Maria, and Guy to escape.]]
138	** [[spoiler:Minwu gives his life to break the seal on the Ultima magic.]]
139	** [[spoiler:Ricard pulls a YouShallNotPass on the risen-from-Hell Emperor to allow the others to escape.]]
140	* HopelessBossFight: The Black Knights at the beginning are too powerful for the player characters to defeat. It is possible to win if you use cheat devices, though. While the Famicom version allows you to continue as if you had lost (albeit with whatever items and money you got from the battle), the remakes send you straight back to the title screen.
141	* HulkSpeak: Guy; justified because he was raised by animals and later on adopted by humans.
142	* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: It's a safe bet that "Pandaemonium" isn't a health spa.
143	* IconOfRebellion: The Wild Rose of the Wild Rose Rebellion.
144	* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Not in game, but [[AllThereInTheManual an official Amano illustration featured in the novelization]] [[http://www.schala-kitty.net/entropy/ffii-IHaveYouNow.jpg is this all over]].
145	* ImposedHandicapTraining: Can be Invoked by the player in combat. Your party members are fully capable of attacking or casting offensive spells on each other, which can be used to increase their stats as per the game's StatGrinding system. In short, your party gains experience by switching the fight from "kill the goblins" to "kill the goblins while the party's fighter takes swings at you and the mage steals away your mana".
146	* InconsistentSpelling:
147	** Frioniel was changed to Firion in the English translation for name-space restrictions; Leonhart to Leon for the same reason. Guy was named Gus in the PSX translation, but then renamed to Guy for the GBA. Same goes for Minwu (renamed "Mindu" in the PSX version).
148	** Mr. Highwind is a particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}} example. He was called Edward in the translation of the prototype English version for the NES, Gareth in the PSX translation, and Ricard on the GBA and PSP versions. The latter is the most faithful to his original Japanese name, Richard, but the strict six-letter limit for party member names required it be trimmed down to a variation of the name, instead. In ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'', his name on the Player Icons of him is translated faithfully as "Richard", in all the name's seven-letter glory.
149	** Thunder and Blizzard in the original were changed to Lit-x and Ice-x respectively, where 'x' is the spell's level. In the Origins version, a certain White Magic was named 'Life'. In the European version of the GBA port, this became Raise.
150	* InfinityMinusOneSword: The Excalibur, as well as the strongest weapons of each non-sword weapon type.
151	* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Masamune. The GBA version gives each of the characters in ''Soul of Rebirth'' their own exclusive ultimate weapon (save for Josef, who instead gets an exclusive piece of armor) and the PSP version gives every character in the main game a unique ultimate weapon from the BonusDungeon.
152	* InterfaceSpoiler: There is a cape east of Mysidia that is about a quarter of the length of the world map, but is completely empty. Guess where the Jade Passage opens up at the end of the game?
153	* KansasCityShuffle: When they go to rescue [[spoiler:the real princess]], the Emperor turns out to have [[spoiler:faked an entire gladiatorial match just to set a trap for them]]. And the original airship? Turns out it wasn't his only idea for an aerial super weapon, or even the most dangerous. His friggin' castle has a booby trap on its top floor that drops down several floors, apparently just so it's impossible for anyone to land on his roof and assassinate him with a sneak attack.
154	* KeywordsConversation: The game is the only entry in the series to use these.
155	* KickedUpstairs: [[spoiler:The Emperor gets killed by the heroes... he can't do any harm dead, right? Well, actually, you kicked him upstairs to becoming the ruler of the entire afterlife (since the Emperor's soul split into two for some reason and ruled Heaven and Hell, respectively).]]
156	* TheLegionsOfHell: According to the opening, the monsters roaming the land were summoned from the underworld by the Emperor, to help him in [[TakeOverTheWorld Taking Over The World.]]
157	* LevelMapDisplay: Pressing a combination of buttons on the OverworldNotToScale displays its zoomed-out version.
158	* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:The Light Emperor]].
159	* LoveableRogue:
160	** Leila. She tries to hold you up when you first meet her, but once she [[DefeatMeansFriendship joins the team]], she apparently loses her every villainous desire and proves herself to be a trustworthy ally. She even briefly leads the rebel army while [[spoiler:Princess Hilda is imprisoned and Prince Gordon joins the heroes to rescue her.]]
161	** Paul is this as well; while an admitted thief, he claims to only steal from the Empire and helps you out a few times in your quest.
162	* MageTower: The Mysidian Tower, where the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity +1 Spell]] Ultima is sealed away.
163	* MagicKnight: A possible way to build your characters. In the older versions, physical and magical stats would sometimes lower when using the other, though there is a net gain. The remakes remove lowering stats, making this much easier.
164	* MagikarpPower:
165	** Status-affecting spells. At low levels, they're likely to miss entirely. Once you level them up a bit, they can greatly improve your stats or devastate enemies.
166	** Gordon. He starts with the lowest HP of any GuestStarPartyMember, but his high base stats allow him to catch up quickly and fit any role the player wishes to build him in.
167	** Even in versions of the game where it works properly, Ultima is this. The spell calculates its damage based on ''every'' single spell and weapon skill level the caster has and not just its own, giving it a spectacularly high damage ceiling... but also making it weaker than average if you didn't go around LevelGrinding your spellcaster's entire arsenal.
168	* MeaningfulName: Borghen's name likely comes from the blatantly corrupt [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Borgia House of Borgia]].
169	* TheMedic: Minwu. He joins your party with excellent magic attributes and has nearly every White Magic spell learned and at high levels.
170	* MetalSlime: Iron Giants appear only rarely on one specific floor of the final dungeon, and they have a habit of running away as their [=HP=] starts to run low. If you do manage to bring one down, though, there's a good chance you'll be rewarded with additional copies of the game's otherwise-unique [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity Plus]] or [[InfinityMinusOneSword Minus One Gear]] for your trouble.
171	* MightyGlacier: Guy starts with the highest power and the most HP but the lowest agility of the main characters.
172	* {{Mordor}}: Palamecia lies nestled in an impenetrable mountain range surrounded by the largest desert in the world.
173	* MuggingTheMonster: Leila first meets your party when she gets nine of her crew to attack you. After a rather effortless battle, she wisely switches sides.
174	* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: [[spoiler:The Emperor]] again. [[spoiler:It's very possible his plan was to ''let himself'' be killed by the heroes when he's in the Cyclone, since after his death, he takes over the entire afterlife and comes back stronger.]]
175	* MythologyGag: You need to defeat a group of pirates in order to get the captain to give you their ship. There’s also a familiar looking multi-headed dragon boss to fight in Pandaemonium.
176	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: If you have not read the manual, Guy, who speaks only a few times in the entire game, will suddenly and conveniently reveal his ability to speak beaver at a critical juncture.
177	* NonstandardGameOver: What reportedly happens in remakes if you beat the EliteMook HopelessBossFight in the opening sequence. It's not a GameOver per se, but it does take you back to the title screen as a Game Over would, instead of continuing the game.
178	* NorthIsColdSouthIsHot: Played straight. The world map has a vast snowfield stretching on the northern part, while the southern part has two deserts and a tropical island.
179	* NotBloodSiblings: [[AllThereInTheManual Additional information]] states that Firion is Maria and Leon's adoptive brother. This works out well for Maria, since canonically she's in love with him, and the novel makes them an OfficialCouple.
180	* NotTheIntendedUse:
181	** Using the Swap spell to turn you into a statistical PhysicalGod. Its intended use was likely for emergency HP/MP refill purposes.
182	** Due to the way character advancement work in this game, it is possible (and in fact recommendable) to have each character start each battle early on with 2 shields, and just run around slaying hornets and goblins. The reason for this is that when you have shields in both hands, the characters cannot attack, but they will grow proficient with shields ''really fast''. Later on in the game, when shields are practically necessary for survival, it pays off to have increased this skill early on.
183	** It is possible to raise Esuna and Basuna proficiency level quickly by using them on your party and enemies alike in midst of battles even when no one suffers any ailment status, as this game counts every usage of magic, including the "missed" ones. Low proficiency of Esuna magic can only heal Poison and Darkness, while decent proficiency of Esuna magic can heal Amnesia and Curse, and higher proficiency of Esuna magic can heal more severe ailment status such as Toad and Stone. Likewise with Basuna which cures temporary status ailment, on high proficiency it can heal Paralysis and even Confusion.
184	* OddballInTheSeries: Compared to other ''Final Fantasy'' titles, ''Final Fantasy II'' is among the most experimental and a good number of the new elements it introduces haven't seen hardly any in subsequent games:
185	** Getting stronger uses a "learn/grow by doing" system where getting stronger with specific weapons or spells requires using them over and over. Instead of getting stronger versions of spells with different names (Fire, Fira, and Firaga for example), you'd power up a single spell up to sixteen levels. Likewise, raising your stats also requires grinding, such as getting hit (foe or friend) to raise your HP. Other games would stick to the traditional leveling and gear system, though the Job system introduced in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' could be considered an evolution of ''II's'' leveling system.
186	** The overworld leans more towards WideOpenSandbox where you can almost go anywhere at the risk of running into a BeefGate if you're not careful.
187	** Keywords would be highlighted when talking to certain [=NPCs=] and you could learn them to ask a different NPC about them if they knew about the subject.
188	** Ultima, despite being touted as the ultimate destructive magic, is actually extremely weak, even if you level it up (subverted in the remakes). Ultima would live up to its name in future titles.
189	** The majority of the settlements get completely wrecked by the BigBad and they don't start recovering until after his demise. No other ''Final Fantasy'' pulls off the same kind of destruction that affects the gameplay, though some certainly come close.
190	* OlderIsBetter: In the Famicom version, this is actually averted with Ultima, the legendary ancient magic, which turns out to be useless when you finally get it. This was originally a bug, but the lead programmer refused to fix it specifically because he liked the idea of averting this trope and felt it made more sense for the ancient magic to be completely obsolete. Even in later versions, Ultima is... impractical, to say the least.
191	* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:Emperor Mateus goes from wanting to rule the world in life to wanting to destroy it after coming back from Hell.]]
192	* OminousFloatingCastle:
193	** The Cyclone is a flying fortress which generates an artificial tornado around itself.
194	** Once [[spoiler:the Emperor returns from Hell, the imperial palace]] is transmogrified into Pandaemonium.
195	* OneTimeDungeon: The ''Dreadnought'', the Cyclone, and Palamecia castle cannot be re-entered after the party exits them.
196	* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler: The Emperor]], twice if you count ''Soul of Rebirth''.
197	* {{Pirates}}: Leila and her crew. Granted, the fight against them is one of the easiest in the game, so they're probably not very good pirates, but at least they're nice enough to join up with you and let you use their ship after you beat them. (Leila herself seems to be the spiritual predecessor to another purple-haired female pirate captain, Faris of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''.)
198	* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling:
199	** Just to the south of Altair, the city you start in, is a peninsula that features enemies normally found across the water,[[note]]Albeit not in the 2021 ''Pixel Remaster'' version, in which this spot has the same encounters as the rest of the area surrounding Altair[[/note]] which can be fought to increase party members' stats to a greater degree than with the enemies normally found in the area. However, once you get the canoe, you can walk anywhere in the game world, where there are plenty of extremely powerful enemies to pummel, in contrast to how the original "Peninsula of Power" from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' was one of a kind.
200	** While trying to fight the captains in imperial-occupied Fynn, there is an exercise in futility when you first arrive, once you return with Minwu (and thus a backrow caster with access to hundreds of castings of area Life), beating them becomes trivial as long as you keep reviving your teammates. Thus, you have a region of high-level, instantly-respawning enemies with good loot just a hop, skip, and a canoe ride away from a convenient city. Since Minwu (temporarily) joins the party just after the first visit to Fynn, this technique can easily produce a DiskOneNuke.
201	* PercentDamageAttack: The Blood Sword drains 1/16 of the target's max HP per hit. This can also be used against you by certain enemies whose basic physical attacks have Blood Sword-like properties. As well, the Sap spell is an interesting example of this being applied to a ManaBurn ability, dividing the target's MP based on the caster's Sap proficiency level.
202	* PermanentlyMissableContent:
203	** Keyword "Ultima Tome" [[AdaptationNameChange (or Ultima Scroll)]] can only be obtained by talking to Prince Gordon after the party reclaim Fynn and then learn about the keyword "Mysidia" from Princess Hilda. Obtaining the keyword "Ultima Tome", while not mandatory, will make the adventure much easier because the player can ask various [=NPCs=] about it and can even look for information about it at Mysidia library. Remember that once the party successfully obtain the White Mask from Castle Fynn's secret basement, the party will lose the chance to get the keyword.
204	** Treasure chests in certain areas (namely Dreadnought, Leviathan, Cyclone, and Castle Palamecia) that were left unopened will be lost because once you finish what you have to do there, you can never visit those places again.
205	** Desert monsters "Land Ray" [[AdaptationNameChange (or Sand Ray)]] and "Antlion" in the original game, Platform/PlayStation remake, and Dawn of Souls version can only be fought on World Map random encounters around the BeefGate desert area near Colosseum and Palamecia castle. If the party completes Ultima Tome quest before defeating at least one Land Ray and one Antlion, the Emperor will call upon Cyclone which rearranges most of the World Map monsters' placement; Land Ray will disappear completely from the game while Antlion will be replaced by Scissorjaws.
206	** "Phorusrhacos" monster in the original game, Platform/PlayStation remake, and Dawn of Souls version can only be fought on World Map random encounters around the BeefGate northern area of Fynn. If the party completes Ultima Tome quest before defeating at least one Phorusrhacos, the Emperor will call upon Cyclone which rearranges most of the World Map monsters' placement and Phorusracos will disappear completely from the game, leaving one empty space in the player's bestiary files. Averted in the Anniversary Version, where Phorusrhacos can be encountered again if the player choose to take Arcane Labyrinth challenge.
207	** Undead monster "Skull" [[AdaptationNameChange (or Death Mask)]] in the original game, Platform/PlayStation remake, and Dawn of Souls version can only be fought on random encounters in Palamecia Castle. After the party completes Palamecia Castle quest, [[spoiler:the revived Demon Emperor]] will destroy the whole castle, making it unvisitable. If the party fail to defeat at least one Skull while still inside the castle, the player will have no other chance to fight them again, leaving one empty space in the player's bestiary files. Averted in the Anniversary Version, where Skull can be encountered again if the player choose to take Arcane Labyrinth challenge.
208	* PlotlineDeath:
209	** No less than three player characters bite it during the course of the game - [[spoiler:Josef is the first to go, getting crushed to death by a boulder after the party takes care of Borghen. Next is Minwu, who has to sacrifice all his life energy to give the party access to Ultima. Finally, Ricard sticks around Palamecia Castle for a few fatal minutes in order to allow the party time to escape while the resurrected Emperor is busy tearing the place apart.]]
210	** [[spoiler:Cid]] perishes from his wounds after [[spoiler:his airship]] is clipped by the Cyclone. It's the first ([[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI but by no means]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII the last]]) time his namesake has died in ''Final Fantasy''.
211	** In the GBA remake, the ''Soul of Rebirth'' mode has you play as those three characters, plus [[spoiler:Scott]] to take out a strange being who's taken over the afterlife. [[spoiler:Cid]]'s soul also appears in this realm.
212	* PostEndGameContent: Beating the game unlocks Soul of Rebirth, and also access to the Arcane Labyrinth in the [=PSP=] version.
213	* PowerUpLetdown: A bestiary example; Pit Fiend is supposed to be a stronger PaletteSwap of Imp, with the former having higher HP and MP than the latter. Pit Fiend has powerful offensive spells such as Fire XVI and Stun XVI which can cause trouble to the player, but it cannot cast Confusion like its weaker counterpart. As elemental-based spells are much easier to defend against compared to mind-based spells, the player's party would be strong enough to resist Pit Fiend at the point they reach Jade's Passage.
214	* PublicDomainSoundtrack: [[Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky Tchaikovsky]]'s Swan Lake begins playing during a particularly dramatic sequence.
215	** After [[spoiler:the first defeat of the Emperor]], the entire kingdom dances to Johann Strauss' (ironically titled) ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser-Walzer Emperor Waltz]]''.
216	* PyrrhicVictory: By the time the party finally defeats the Emperor for good, [[spoiler: half the game's towns have been reduced to wreckage you can't even enter anymore, and at least half the world's population is killed, including a full third of the playable characters]]. It may be a victory, but at one hell of a cost.
217	* RareCandy: The orbs at the top of Mysidia Tower increase a specific stat on a random party member by 10 points.
218	* RecurringBoss: Phrekyos can be fought as many times as the player wants, and must be fought several times throughout the game to get all characters' ultimate weapons. Phrekyos' stats and abilities depend on the number of main story Key Terms the party has learnt.
219	* RetroactiveLegacy:
220	** Originally, the dragoon Kain from ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV FFIV]]'' shared Ricard Highwind's surname as a CallBack. The GBA remake of ''II'' brings things full-circle by giving the little boy who survived the poisoning of their homeland Deist the name Kain.
221	** And one of the game manuals to ''IV'' (''[[AllThereInTheManual Final Fantasy IV Settei Shiryou Hen]]'', [[http://www.sceneryrecalled.com/trans/ff4comp.htm for those curious]]) says that the person who left the Deathbringer sword with King Fabul was named Leon, and that after the events of the game, Leon renounced his status as a Dark Knight and became a priest, an obvious parallel to Cecil's own atonement quest (and eventual class change to a Paladin).
222	* ReviveKillsZombie: The first ''Final Fantasy'' game to utilize it.
223	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething:
224	** Fynn has Princess Hilda who leads the Wild Rose rebellion force as the strategist and gives various tips to Firion's party. The King of Fynn also counts as this, as he was the original leader of Wild Rose rebellion force before he got injured by an imperial archer and was replaced by Hilda.
225	** Kashuan has Prince Scott who got severely wounded by imperial soldiers and was forced to hide in the secret room of Fynn's bar, and eventually succumbs to his Owound after talking to Firion's party. There is also Prince Gordon who teams up with Firion's party on several occasions, and despite his flaws, he is proven to be [[CulturedBadass pretty knowledgeable about Ultima, something Hilda doesn't know]].
226	[[/folder]]
227
228	[[folder:S-Z]]
229	* SceneryDissonance: Type 1. Hell looks like a pink and green crystalline palace.
230	* ScratchDamage: Averted. It is entirely possible for attacks to do zero damage if the target's Defense is high enough.
231	* SealedEvilInACan: The portal to Hell was closed in the distant past using Ultima, until [[spoiler:the Emperor]] somehow breaks the seal and brings Pandaemonium back into the world.
232	* SeeYouInHell: When Borghen triggers a boulder trap in his final moments, he says "I'll be waiting for you in Hell!" [[spoiler: The trope becomes quite literal when you do, in fact, see Borghen again in Hell. He even challenges you to a rematch, although he's still not an especially dangerous combatant.]]
233	* SequenceBreaking: The dungeons can only be visited in the order the game lets you due to such locations being inaccessible until you acquire the next {{MacGuffin}} or a new mode of transportation. The ''towns'' however, can be visited in any order you like because right as you start the game you're free to wander the world as you wish. {{Beef Gate}}s will hamper your efforts, but if you don't mind grinding for both battle proficiency and money (and testing your party's luck), you can head to Mysidia the second you leave Altair. Shops in Mysidia sell some of the best magic tomes, gears and weapons in the game. Obtaining some of those magic tomes and learning it as soon as possible will make later part of the game more tolerable.
234	* ShmuckBait: Your first major destination has Empire soldiers raiding a town as you search for Leon. All the soldiers going around can be talked to like anyone else -- at which point you're put into a battle that, at that point of the game short of extreme overgrinding, is going to wipe you out. You've got to entirely ignore and not bump into them.
235	* ShoutOut:
236	** In the re-release, Cid's tiny airship is gobbled up by the Dreadnought in another homage to Square's favorite film, ''Film/ANewHope''.
237	** This game has the series’ first appearance of the [[Literature/BlackDestroyer Coeurl]] as an enemy type.
238	** After Firion and his allies defeat the Lamia Queen, he has this to say to Leila.
239	-->'''Firion:''' Leila...just how much of that did you see?
240	-->'''Leila:''' [[Series/TheBradyBunch Enough to know ye shouldn't be lettin' yer guard down around fetching young ladies, I'd say]].
241	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The story falls pretty close into cynicism, although Firion, Maria, and Guy are 100% dedicated to [[LaResistance the cause]]. They overcome the Emperor's oppression and save the world... [[spoiler: what's left of it, anyway.]]
242	* SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear: Every fourth party member who leaves your party permanently will take their weapons and armor with them forever. This actually serves a purpose in ''[[BonusDungeon Soul of Rebirth]]'', though, where three of your four player characters were playable in the main game, so it'll be easier if you left good equipment on them. However, you're out of luck if one of your party members leaves without dying, since you won't be using them in ''Soul of Rebirth''.
243	* SoProudOfYou: [[spoiler:In the ''Soul of Rebirth'' ending, the deceased party expresses this towards the main party and their loved ones.]]
244	-->'''Minwu:''' If anyone can change our legacy of violence, they can.
245	* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Played with. You can freely roam the map, but if you visit the locations in sequential order, the enemies' ranks rise by 1 or 2 every few areas. About halfway through the game, the random encounters all get replaced to compete with your newfound power. Sometimes justified by how important the area is to the Emperor or, occasionally, a third party.
246	* SpecialAbilityShield: in this game engine, shields work by increasing the wielder's evasion rate. But this has the side-effect of characters becoming faster when equipping shields.
247	* {{Stripperiffic}}:
248	** Maria wears half a shirt with a metal cup covering one breast, being the first heroine in a long line of these in the series. Her appearance in the Origins and PSP FMV cutscene shows her wearing a completely different outfit with more to it.
249	** Not to be outdone, Guy wears a chestplate that bares his midriff and what can only be described as [[UnderwearOfPower bikini briefs]] in his artwork. Most versions of the game have him wearing modest green clothing, but in the PSP version, his battle sprite is faithful to his artwork.
250	* StatGrinding: One of the first games to do this.
251	* {{Superboss}}: A sort of primitive example, crossed with MetalSlime and BossInMookClothing, in the form of the Iron Giants in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. Like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI the first game]]'s [=WarMECH=] enemy, Iron Giants are rare, but powerful, encounters who only show up in one specific room. Remakes add more modern examples in the forms of Phrekyos and [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential Deumion]].
252	* SuspendSave: Added to the handheld ports and ''Final Fantasy Origins''.
253	* TakingYouWithMe: Borghen springs a boulder trap just before his death to kill the heroes, [[spoiler:succeeding in killing Josef]].
254	%%zce* TechnicolorDeath
255	* ThematicSequelLogoChange: The game's original logo was written in italics in purple and light blue, with golden edges. The letters vaguely look like a dragon. As with the first game, when it was redone for the 20th anniversary, the standard font was added along with a drawing of The Emperor (the antagonist of the game) in pink.
256	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Ricard tells the Emperor that he "might have some trouble slaying the last of the Dragoons." The Emperor's response? [[spoiler: He ''blows up the entire castle'' that they're standing in. Admittedly, he needed to do that anyway to raise Pandaemonium in its place, but it just goes to show that the Emperor doesn't screw around any more in undeath than in life.]]
257	* ThisIsntHeaven: Inverted. In ''Soul of Rebirth'', [[spoiler:Cid]] is the first to realize that the setting isn't Hell.
258	* ThroneRoomThrowdown: In the GBA and PSP remakes only, the FinalBoss of both the main game and ''Soul of Rebirth'' are seated on a crystal throne before and during the fight, fitting for [[spoiler:the Emperor of Hell and Heaven respectively.]] Averted for the original Famicom release, in which the final boss is fought in a featureless void.
259	* UnbuiltTrope:
260	** Between its [[NintendoHard unreasonable difficulty level]] and brutal death count, this 1988 game takes the usually cheerful standard 90s JRPG story of LaResistance out to fight TheEmpire and makes it as gritty as the NES allows for. Your plucky orphans are traumatized young adults who have nowhere else to go, no idea what they're doing, and admit it, while the other resistance members insult your characters for it. The heroes win many important victories against the Empire, but once TheEmperor gets his hands on the Cyclone, he [[YouCantThwartStageOne devastates much of the world before the heroes can stop him]], unlike other main antagonists, who might be thwarted before they do any significant damage. Even at the end of the game, Maria fails to reunite with her brother, and Firion, rather than trying to stop Leon from leaving, says the war has changed him, although he holds out hope for Leon's return. This was the first ''Final Fantasy'' game that had a proper plot and defined characters.
261	** Note also that the ''Final Fantasy'' gender roles appear subversive here, with a male White Mage (who's even given a plot about sacrificing himself to unseal a spell that would be later associated with romantic heroines like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aerith]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Yuna]]), and Maria, a warrior with the kind of subplot about her evil brother that would later be exclusively associated with {{Mangst}}y male heroes like Cecil and Basch - but only because the gender roles hadn't been written yet.
262	** Mechanically, this is one of the first games with "[[StatGrinding improve by doing]]" system. So how do you improve your HP? By hitting each other.
263	** Everyone knows you're supposed to TalkToEveryone in a JRPG. Not so much in ''FFII'', where most early areas are populated by genuinely dangerous guard enemies who will slaughter you for talking to them.
264	* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:Leila]] mysteriously disappears in the middle of the sea when the ship is swallowed by the Leviathan, then reappears in Altair's Castle with no explanation.
265	* UselessUsefulSpell:
266	** The Ultima spell. Intended to gain power based on ''all'' of its caster's spell levels rather than just its own, the implementation of this scaling is bugged and non-functional in the original Famicom versions. The spell still manages to be decent enough if leveled up, but it's hardly worth it so late in the game. Remakes fix the bug that disabled Ultima's intended power scaling mechanics, but it still requires a lot of high-level spells and some time grinding up its own level for it to catch up with the other spells you'll likely have honed by that point.
267	** The Fear spell, which usage is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin to frighten enemies into fleeing from battles]] so you won't have to risk your lives. While this looks good on paper, unfortunately, Boss monsters are immune against this spell. This spell also tends to miss '''a lot of times''' before you properly level it up, and even if the spell does its job, fleeing enemies don't give you any money, item drop, or even experiences (since technically you never beat them in a battle), meaning your magician uses their MP for nothing.
268	* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:Pandaemonium]], after not one but ''two'' Disc One Final Dungeons, and a grueling cave you have to slog through in order to reach the dungeon itself.
269	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential:
270	** Grinding your characters faster by forcing them into attacking themselves.
271	** In the Anniversary Edition, you can fight and kill Deumion, the non-villainous guardian of the Arcane Labyrinth, for the Destroy Tome (not long after befriending him and restoring his faith in humanity).
272	* ViolationOfCommonSense: Due to how each stat is leveled (through use), you get some very gimmicky ways of leveling up certain ones.
273	** HP is most easily leveled by either repeatedly ''hitting yourself'', or by using Swap to knock your HP down to low levels, and then healing yourself back up.
274	** Similarly, MP is leveled with use, so the easiest way to increase MP is to use Sap on yourself over and over again to get it to low levels, finish the battle to register the leveling, and then sleep at an inn to restore it all for cheap.
275	** Shield can be easily leveled by equipping two shields on everyone, going into an encounter and tanking hit after hit, and then winning the battle with some low level magic.
276	* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Firion averts it by being the hero. Mateus plays it straight by being the villain, though he's more platinum-blond than white or silver.
277	* WholePlotReference: To ''Franchise/StarWars'', especially ''Film/ANewHope''. [[spoiler:Princess Hilda = Princess Leia, Dreadnaught and Cyclone = Death Star, Dark Knight / Leon = Vader / Anakin, The Emperor = The Emperor, Empire = Empire, Rebels = Rebels. Rebels being chased and overtaken by TheEmpire at the start of the game? Check. The heroes seeking the aid of a pilot with a form of fast transportation? Check. A party member making a HeroicSacrifice (and being completely calm and accepting of it) to motivate the heroes to fight on? Check. A huge doomsday weapon that threatens the world/galaxy? Check. A family member of the heroes becoming TheDragon to the BigBad? Check. Said Dragon having a HeelRealization near the end? Check. The BigBad himself being the Emperor? Check. The BigBad having plans for a ''second'' doomsday weapon? Check.]]
278	* WhiteMage: This game bucks the trend somewhat with Minwu, who is one of the rare males in FF history to canonically be a White Mage.
279	* WildChild: Guy. According to the AllThereInTheManual backstory, this is the official explanation for his being able to talk with animals, as well as his somewhat lacking grammar.
280	* WombLevel: Leviathan. Apparently his first appearance before he shows up as a summon in later FF games, he's a ''dungeon'' in this one, and you're walking around in his guts.
281	* WorthlessTreasureTwist: A [[https://www.siliconera.com/2014/10/20/final-fantasys-first-ultima-spell-useless/ story regarding Ultima]] suggests one programmer [[AscendedGlitch chose not to fix the bug]] that made it nearly useless in the original Famicon version (and even ''prevented others'' from fixing it) because he thought it was funny that an ancient technique would logically be unimpressive compared to spells developed later on.
282	* YouBastard: Choosing to kill Deumion in the latter remakes does not cast you in a positive light.
283	* YouRebelScum: "Rebel curs!" is the last thing you will hear before a brutal ass-whooping.
284	* YouShallNotPass: [[spoiler:Ricard]] gets to do this in Palamecia Castle, when he [[spoiler:takes on the resurrected Emperor, who's now wielding the powers of Hell, to buy the rest of your party time to escape]].
285	* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: At one point in the game, Princess Hilda, the leader of the rebel force, gets kidnapped. You have to sneak onto the Empire's warship, where she's being held, and break her out. It turns out that [[spoiler:the Hilda you rescued isn't the real princess, but a Lamia Queen disguised as her, sent by the Emperor as part of a plot to kill you. Said plot involves the Lamia Queen, as Hilda, getting Firion alone and ''trying to seduce him''. And although he's [[AboveTheInfluence flustered at first]], he almost falls for it. The only thing that saves him is Leila kicking the door in at the last minute, right as the Lamia Queen turns into her actual monstrous form, so the party can team up to kill her]].
286	[[/folder]]
287	----
288	-->''"[[YouRebelScum Rebel curs!]]"''\
289	[[AC:The party was defeated.]]

Context VideoGame / FinalFantasyII