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Final Fantasy II

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For information regarding the game originally released in North America as Final Fantasy II on the Super NES, see Final Fantasy IV.
Final Fantasy II
Developer(s)Square
TOSE (WSC, PS, GBA, PSP)
Publisher(s)Square/Square Enix
Designer(s)Hironobu Sakaguchi
Akitoshi Kawazu
Artist(s)Yoshitaka Amano
Writer(s)Akitoshi Kawazu
Kenji Terada
Composer(s)Nobuo Uematsu
SeriesFinal Fantasy
Platform(s)Famicom, WonderSwan Color, PlayStation, mobile phones, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable, Virtual Console
Release
December 17, 1988
  • NES
    WonderSwan Color
    PlayStation
    Mobile phones
    Game Boy Advance
    PlayStation Portable
    Virtual Console
Genre(s)Console role-playing game
Mode(s)Single-player

Template:Nihongo title is a fantasy console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) in 1988 for the Nintendo Family Computer as the second installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game has received numerous enhanced remakes for the WonderSwan Color, the Sony PlayStation, Japanese mobile phones, the Game Boy Advance, and the PlayStation Portable. Only the PlayStation, Game Boy, and PlayStation Portable versions have been released outside of Japan. As neither this game nor Final Fantasy III had been released outside of Japan, Final Fantasy IV was originally released in North America as Final Fantasy II, so as not to confuse players. The most recent release of the game is a release of the original version of the game for the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on June 16, 2009.

The game's story centers on four youths whose parents were killed during an army invasion by the empire of Palamecia. Three of the four main characters join a rebellion against the empire, embarking on missions to gain new magic and weapons, destroy enemy superweapons, and rescue leading members of the resistance. After defeating the empire and the Emperor, the trio discovers that the fourth youth, now a dark knight, has taken the place of the previous emperor and is preparing to attack the rebellion. Upon confronting him, the Emperor reappears as a demon, the "Dark Emperor", and prepares to attempt to destroy the world; the four characters agree to join forces to defeat him. They proceed to do so in his demonic castle. The Game Boy Advance remake adds a bonus story after the game is completed, following several side characters who died during the game as they attempt to defeat an alternate version of the Emperor, the "Light Emperor".

Final Fantasy II introduced many elements that would later become staples of the Final Fantasy franchise, including chocobos and the recurring character Cid. It also eliminated the traditional experience point leveling system of the prior and later games in the series, using instead a system where the characters' statistics increase according to how they are used or acquired. Despite being a sequel to Final Fantasy I, the game includes no characters or locations from the first game, the first video game sequel to do so. Final Fantasy II received little attention at the time from non-Japanese reviewers, though its remakes have garnered favorable reviews.

Gameplay

Final Fantasy II features gameplay similar to that of its predecessor, Final Fantasy. The player can freely roam an overworld containing several towns and dungeons. A menu-based system allows the player to outfit each character with equipment and up to two—often disposable—items for battle. Magic spells are assigned to the character from the item menu, and certain spells, such as "Cure", can be used outside of battle.[1] The player can also save their progress on the overworld. Weapons, armor, items, and magic spells can be purchased at shops, and townspeople provide useful information for the player's progression through the game. One new feature is the "Word Memory" system: when in conversation with non-player characters (NPCs), the player can "ask" about and "memorize" special keywords or phrases, which can later be repeated to other NPCs to gain more information or unlock new actions. Similarly, there exist a handful of special items that can be shown to NPCs during conversation or used on certain objects, which have the same effect.[2] Characters and monsters are no longer separated into separate windows in the battle screen as they were in Final Fantasy I, and players can see their current and total hit points below the battle. Players can also fight with less than four characters in their party, which was not possible in the first game. Final Fantasy II introduced the chocobo, the signature Final Fantasy mascot, which lets characters ride to a location at great speed without being attacked by enemies. The recurring character Cid was also introduced in II; a character of the same name has appeared in every main-series game since.[3]

The ill-fated opening battle in the Famicom version

On the overworld and within dungeons, random encounters with enemies can be fought to improve each character's attributes.[4] Unlike the original Final Fantasy, players could not upgrade their characters' classes. The game is also one of the few games in the series to not use experience-based levels. Instead, each character participating in battle develops depending on what actions they take. For instance, characters who use a particular type of weapon frequently will become more adept at wielding a weapon of that type, and will also increase in physical strength and accuracy. Attributes include hit points, magic points, magic power, stamina, strength, spirit, agility, intelligence, and evasion. Players can also increase their ability to wield certain types of weapon, and repeated use in combat causes the ability to level up.[3][4] Hit points (HP) and magic points (MP) increase with their use; a character who takes a heavy amount of damage in a battle might earn an increase in maximum HP, while a character who uses a lot of MP during battle might increase their maximum MP.[4] This experience system had several unintended consequences that allowed characters to gain much more experience than intended, such as players having their characters attack each other and repeatedly cast spells, thus causing their HP and abilities to grow extensively.[3] Final Fantasy II uses the same turn-based battle system seen in the original Final Fantasy, with battle parties consisting of up to four characters at a time. The game introduces a "back row" in battle, within which characters or enemies are immune to most physical attacks, but can be harmed with bows and magical attacks.[1]

Plot

Characters

Yoshitaka Amano's artwork of the main characters Leon, Firion, Maria, and Guy

Final Fantasy II features four playable characters as well as several secondary characters who are only briefly controlled by the player. Primary characters include Firion (Frioniel in the Japanese release), a resident of the country of Fynn; Maria, a soft-spoken archer and dedicated enemy of the Empire; Guy (Gus in the remake for the PlayStation), a simple monk who communicates with animals; and Leon (Leonhart in the Japanese release), a conflicted dark knight who is missing for most of the game.[3][5] Five playable characters temporarily join the party to assist Firion, Maria, and Guy in their missions for the rebellion. These are Gordon, the prince of Kas'ion and a member of the rebellion, Josef, a villager in the town of Salamand, Leila, a pirate, Minwu (Mindu in the PlayStation remake), who is a white mage with the rebellion, and Ricard Highwind (Gareth in the remake, but Ricard again in the later Dawn of Souls remake), who is the first dragoon to appear in the series.[3]

While Final Fantasy was mostly focused on gameplay, Hironobu Sakaguchi decided for the second installment to put more emphasis on character development. Care was taken to make the characters feel like real human beings, able to experience various emotions that the player could similarly feel, such as sadness or happiness.[6] Final Fantasy II was also the first console game in which playable characters could die as part of the normal storyline. Music composer Nobuo Uematsu was initially opposed to the creation of these death scenes, but eventually agreed with Sakaguchi's ideas. In terms of gameplay, once a guest character would die in a scripted event, the player would have no means to revive them or recover their equipment and weapons.[6]

Firion and Mateus (the Emperor of Palamecia) are the respective hero and villain representing Final Fantasy II in Dissidia: Final Fantasy, a fighting game featuring characters from across the series. Firion is voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa in the Japanese version and by Johnny Yong Bosch in the English version; Mateus is voiced by Kenyuu Horiuchi in the Japanese version and Christopher Corey Smith in the English version. In the PlayStation's opening FMV of Final Fantasy II, Firion is also voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa, while Maria is played by Noriko Shitaya, Guy by Kenta Miyake, and Leon by Takayuki Yamaguchi. Final Fantasy II features and airship pilot named Cid; each Final Fantasy game in the series after II features a character named Cid as well.[3]

Story

Final Fantasy II begins as Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon are attacked by Palamecian soldiers and left for dead. Firion, Maria, and Guy are rescued by Princess Hilda, who has established a rebel base in the town of Altair after her kingdom of Fynn was invaded by the Emperor. Hilda denies their request to join the rebel army because they are too young and inexperienced. The three set off for Fynn in search of Leon; there they find a dying Prince Scott of Kashuan, Hilda's fiancé, who informs them that a former knight of Fynn, Borghen, betrayed the rebellion and became a General in the Imperial army. The party returns to Altair to inform Hilda. She allows the group to join the rebellion and asks them to journey north to find mythril, a metal which could be used to create powerful weapons. The party makes its way north to the occupied village of Salamand, saves the villagers forced to work in the nearby mines, and retrieves the mythril.

For their next mission, The party is sent to the city of Bafsk to prevent the construction of a large airship known as the Dreadnought; however, it takes off just as they arrive. After retrieving the Sunfire, a weapon which can blow up the Dreadnought, they watch helplessly as an airship with Hilda on board is captured by the Dreadnought. When the Dreadnought is put down to stock up on supplies, the party rescues Hilda and throws the Sunfire into the airship's engine. Before escaping from the explosion, the party encounters a dark knight whom Maria recognizes as Leon.

On his deathbed, the King of Fynn tasks the party to seek the help of the seemingly extinct dragoons of Deist. In Deist, the party finds only a mother with her son, learning that all but one of the Dragoons are dead, partly as a result of Imperial poison. After placing an egg of the last wyvern in a cavern, the party returns to Altair and rescues Hilda from the Empire a second time, before successfully reclaiming Fynn from the Imperial forces. They then travel west in search of a powerful magic item, joining forces with the last surviving dragoon on the way. The party returns to Fynn and sees that many towns have been destroyed by a cyclone summoned by the Emperor. The party calls upon the newly born last wyvern to take them to a castle inside the cyclone, where they confront and kill the Emperor. Back at Fynn, everyone celebrates the Empire's defeat, but a mortally wounded Fynn soldier arrives and reveals that Leon has taken the throne and plans to destroy the Rebels with the Imperial army.

The party enters the castle of Palamecia and confronts Leon. However, the Emperor reappears in the throne room in a new demonic form, revealing he returned from Hell with the intention of destroying the entire world and its inhabitants. The party and Leon escape Palamecia Castle with the wyvern, while the place crumbles and is replaced with the palace of Hell, Pandaemonium. Leon agrees to help the group seal the Emperor away. The party travels to the Jade Passage, an underground passage to the underworld, and finds the portal to Pandaemonium, where they finally defeat the Dark Emperor.

The Dawn of Souls remake of the game for the Game Boy Advance includes an additional mission that takes place after the game, called "Soul of Rebirth". The story of the bonus mission follows several characters who died during the story of the game as they travel through alternate versions of several locations in the game and defeat another version of the Emperor, the Light Emperor.

Development

A second installment of Final Fantasy was not planned in advance, and only materialized after the first game's widespread popularity. The game was released one day less than a year after the first game came out. While Hironobu Sakaguchi remained in overall charge of the project, co-designer Akitoshi Kawazu took a more active role in the game's development, and made several key decisions such as more of an emphasis on character than the previous game, and the revamped stat system. As the first Final Fantasy game was not plotted to have a sequel, Square took the game in a new direction, and became the first sequel in video games to feature none of the previous game's characters or locations.[3] Using the development experience gained from the first installment, which focused more on fitting story ideas into their new gameplay system and game world, the team fully crafted Final Fantasy II's story first. The gameplay was then built around the story.[7] The experience system was designed to be a more realistic advancement system than that of the first game. Several members of the original staff from the first game reprised their jobs for Final Fantasy II. Nobuo Uematsu composed the music for the game as he had for the first game, while Yoshitaka Amano was again the concept artist.[3]

The music for Final Fantasy II was later arranged by Tsuyoshi Sekito for the WonderSwan Color, PlayStation, and Game Boy Advance remakes. Although the two soundtracks were composed separately, the soundtrack to II has only been released as a combined album with the soundtrack to Final Fantasy I. They were first released as All Sounds of Final Fantasy I•II in 1989, which was then republished in 1994.[8] An arranged album of music from the two soundtracks titled Symphonic Suite Final Fantasy was also released in 1989, while Final Fantasy & Final Fantasy II Original Soundtrack, a combined soundtrack album for the PlayStation versions of the games, was released in 2002 and re-released in 2004.[9][10] The music of Final Fantasy II has also appeared in various official concerts and live albums, such as 20020220 music from FINAL FANTASY, a live recording of an orchestra performing music from the series including several pieces from the games.[11] Additionally, several songs from the game were performed as part of a medley by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra for the Distant Worlds - Music from Final Fantasy concert tour,[12] while a different medley of songs from the game were performed by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in the Tour de Japon: Music from Final Fantasy concert series.[13]

Versions and re-releases

Unreleased English version

File:Final Fantasy II English prototype.png
Screenshot from the unreleased English prototype

Following the successful release of the original Final Fantasy by Nintendo in 1990, Square Soft, Square's North American subsidiary, began work on an English language localization of Final Fantasy II. It was to be called Final Fantasy II: Dark Shadow Over Palakia. Assigned to the project was Kaoru Moriyama, whose later work included script translations for Final Fantasy IV and Secret of Mana (known as Seiken Densetsu 2 in Japan). Although a beta version was produced, and the game was advertised in several Square Soft trade publications, the long development time, the age of the original Japanese game and the arrival of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the NES's successor console, led Square Soft to cancel work on the Final Fantasy II localization in favor of the recently released Final Fantasy IV (which, to avoid confusing North American players, was retitled Final Fantasy II to reflect the jump in releases).[3][14]

Although a prototype cartridge of the NES Final Fantasy II was produced (with the subtitle Dark Shadow over Palakia), the project was, by Moriyama's own admission, still far from complete. He said that "We had so very limited memory capacity we could use for each game, and it was never really "translating" but chopping up the information and cramming them back in... [Additionally] our boss had no understanding in putting in extra work for the English version at that time".[14] In 2003, when the game was finally released to English-speaking audiences as part of Final Fantasy Origins, it was released with a brand new translation under the supervision of Akira Kashiwagi. A fan translation of the game was also created prior to the release of Origins, and makes use of an original translation as the existence of the prototype cartridge was not common knowledge at the time.[14]

Re-releases

Main article: Final Fantasy I and II (compilations)

In addition to its original NES release, Final Fantasy II has been re-released as a compilation package with Final Fantasy I titled Final Fantasy I•II on the NES in 1994, on the WonderSwan Color by itself in 2001, and both singularly and as part of a collection with Final Fantasy I for the PlayStation in 2002. It was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 as part of Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls, for mobile phones in 2004 and 2006 by itself, and on the PlayStation Portable in 2007. Its most recent release has been for the Japanese Wii Virtual Console on June 16, 2009.[15]

The Final Fantasy I•II collection included the original game with only minor changes. The WonderSwan Color version of the game was a launch title for the system, and was later included as a bundle with a special Final Fantasy II edition of the console.[16][17] It included a complete graphical update including larger character sprites, redone music by Tsuyoshi Sekito, and full graphical backgrounds in battle mode.[18] The PlayStation remake featured even more graphical updates over the WonderSwan version, and the soundtrack was again remixed by Tsuyoshi Sekito to a higher quality to use the audio capabilities of the PlayStation and composed a few new tracks to be used in the new cutscenes. It was published both individually (in Japan only) and alongside Final Fantasy I in a collection entitled Final Fantasy Origins (or Final Fantasy I+II Premium Collection in Japan); this was the first release of the game outside of Japan.[19] This release was the first time the game was released outside of Japan.[3]

Final Fantasy II was again released in a new format in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance as part of Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. The primary change for this version was the addition of a bonus storyline entitled Soul of Rebirth accessible to the player after completing the game.[20] In 2004 and 2006, Square Enix released a version of Final Fantasy II for three Japanese mobile phone networks.[21] To celebrate the Final Fantasy series' 20th anniversary, the game was released in Japan for the PlayStation Portable in 2007.[22] The remake features improved graphics, the cutscenes and soundtrack from Final Fantasy Origins, and the bonus quest and dungeons from Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. It additionally includes two new dungeons in which more character-specific equipment can be found, alongside powerful enemies and a new boss.[23] The release for the Japanese Wii Virtual Console on June 16, 2009 is the most recent release; this version is identical to the original NES release, incorporating none of the updates of the later versions.[15]

Reception and legacy

As of March 31, 2003, the game, including all re-releases at the time, had shipped 1.28 million copies worldwide, with 1.08 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 200,000 abroad.[24] Despite having only been released in June of that year, as of September 2007 the PlayStation Portable version had shipped 90,000 copies in Japan and 70,000 in North America.[25] Despite these high sales, the game had sold the least copies of any out of the first ten main Final Fantasy series as of March 31, 2003.[24]

The original release of the game was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon #199 by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the game 4 out of 5 stars, praising the difficulty and length of the game. He also applauded the story, which he compared favorably to those of novels and movies rather than the simplistic plots found in many contemporary video games; this led him to become "more attached to my party in Final Fantasy II than in any other computer game I’ve played".[26] He attributed this to the fact that characters joined and left the party due to their own motivations, making them feel more real, though he noted that the characterizations were still thin. Petersen was dismissive of the graphics, calling them inferior to other NES games, but was highly praising of the game's music.[26]

The game's re-releases have been more heavily reviewed; GameSpot noted the Dawn of Souls' mostly outdated graphics but praised its length and bonus content.[27] IGN noted the great improvement in the translation of the story and the adding of later Final Fantasy features, such as being able to save anywhere in the overworld map without a tent or cabin.[28] The Dawn of Souls release was called the "Game of the Month" for March 2004 on the Game Boy at IGN.[29] The dialogue system was thought to be time consuming and stilted, but was still a milestone for interactivity. The story was considered to be much more involved and deep than the first Final Fantasy, as it involved romance and also had characters die. The game's plot was thought by reviewers to mirror elements of Star Wars: A New Hope in its use of an orphan joining a rebellion against an empire that was building a massive ship, with a captive princess inside.[3] GameSpy praised the addition of the ability to save the game at any time, calling the feature crucial for a game on a handheld game console, but in contrast to GameSpot praised the graphics, saying that while primitive, they were "well-suited" to the Game Boy Advance.[30]

The PSP version met average reviews. GameSpot called the level up system "chaotic" and noted that unlike previous versions, this was shipped without a version of Final Fantasy I. IGN also complained about the gameplay, saying, "If you're the type of player who puts a higher emphasis on more satisfying gameplay experiences, however, then FF2 definitely isn't the upgrade it appears to be." Both sources praised the graphics, however.[31][32] GameSpy, however, while echoing similar complaints about the "quirky and sometimes confusing" leveling system and praises for the graphics, also applauded the supposed decrease in difficulty of the game, which in the reviewers opinion eliminated the necessity to abuse the leveling system in order to progress in the game as the player did in the original game.[33]

In April 1989, the game was novelized by its original scenario writer Kenji Terada under the title Final Fantasy II: Tsū Muma no Meikyū (literally "The Labyrinth of Nightmare"). It was published in Japan exclusively by Kadokawa Shoten.[34]

References

  1. ^ a b Final Fantasy Origins instruction manual. Square Enix. 2003. p. 17. SLUS-05141.
  2. ^ Final Fantasy Origins instruction manual. Square Enix. 2003. pp. 15, 22. SLUS-05141.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Final Fantasy Retrospective: Part II". GameTrailers. 2007-07-23. Retrieved 2008-04-16.
  4. ^ a b c Final Fantasy Origins instruction manual. Square Enix. 2003. p. 22. SLUS-05141.
  5. ^ Final Fantasy Origins instruction manual. Square Enix. 2003. p. 15. SLUS-05141.
  6. ^ a b DeWoody, Lucas (2005-08-12). "The Fantasy Begins- History of Square Vol. 2". Advanced Media Network. Advanced Media. p. 2. Retrieved 2007-07-07. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  7. ^ Kent, Steven (2001). "The Mainstream and All Its Perils". Ultimate History of Video Games. Three Rivers Press. pp. 541–542. ISBN 0761536434.
  8. ^ Gann, Patrick; Schweitzer, Ben. "All Sounds of Final Fantasy I - II". RPGFan. Retrieved 2008-07-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Gann, Patrick. "Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite". RPGFan. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  10. ^ "Final Fantasy I • II Original Soundtrack". RPGFan. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  11. ^ "20020220 - Music from FINAL FANTASY". RPGFan. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
  12. ^ "Distant Worlds - Music from Final Fantasy - Album Information". Square Enix Music Online. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  13. ^ "Album Information - Tour de Japon: Music from Final Fantasy DVD". Square Enix Music Online. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  14. ^ a b c Collette, Chris. "Spotlight: Final Fantasy II". LostLevels.org. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
  15. ^ a b "VC ファイナルファンタジーII" (in Japanese). Nintendo. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
  16. ^ Harris, Craig (2000-09-08). "Final Fantasy Goes WonderSwan Color". IGN. Retrieved 2006-09-03.
  17. ^ Wonderswan Gamer (2006-01-19). "Final Fantasy II Boxset". Wonderswan Gaming. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  18. ^ fastbill1. "Final Fantasy II". PortableReview.com. Archived from the original on 2007-12-25. Retrieved 2006-09-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ Triche, Stephen (2002). "Final Fantasy Origins". gamevortex.com. Retrieved 2006-03-08.
  20. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2004-07-02). "Final Fantasy Pushed Back". IGN. Retrieved 2006-09-03.
  21. ^ "Final Fantasy mobile". Square Enix. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
  22. ^ "Final Fantasy for PSP". Famitsu. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
  23. ^ "Square-Enix to remake FF I and II for anniversary". IGN. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
  24. ^ a b "Titles of game software with worldwide shipments exceeding 1 million copies" (PDF). Square Enix. 2004-02-09. p. 27. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
  25. ^ "FY2007 First-Half Period Results Briefing Session" (PDF). Square-Enix.com. 2007-11-19. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  26. ^ a b Petersen, Sandy (November 1993). "Eye of the Monitor". Dragon (199): 56–64.
  27. ^ Massimilla, Bethany (2004-11-29). "Final Fantasy 1 & 2:Dawn of Souls". GameSpot. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
  28. ^ Dunham, Jeremy (2004-11-30). "Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls". IGN. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
  29. ^ IGN Staff (2004-11-30). "GBA Game of the Month: November 2004". IGN. Retrieved 2006-09-03.
  30. ^ Vassar, Darryl (2004-12-01). "Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls". GameSpy. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
  31. ^ VanOrd, Kevin (2007-08-03). "Final Fantasy II Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  32. ^ Dunham, Jeremy (2007-07-26). "Final Fantasy II Review". IGN. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  33. ^ Graziani, Gabe (2007-07-26). "Final Fantasy II". GameSpy. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
  34. ^ Yahoo! Japan staff (N/A). "ファイナルファンタジー2 夢魔の迷宮". Yahoo! Japan: Books. Retrieved 2007-09-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |work= (help)
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