Final Fantasy II Solo Character Challenge Guide Copyright 2012 Kenneth B. Fletcher (aka Charpig) Contact: fletchek@umich.edu All copyrights and trademarks contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. This guide may not be posted on any other web site without the express written permission of the author. It may only be used for personal, private use and may not be used in any way to make a profit. The content of this guide may not be altered in any way, and I must be given full credit for the guide. I take no responsibility for anything that happens as a result of using my guide. Introduction The purpose of this guide is to aid the reader in performing a solo character challenge of Final Fantasy II. What this means is that the player only uses one character throughout the entire game, with the other characters not allowed to offer help of any kind. Now, if the player knows how to manipulate the stat boosting system, any character can become extremely powerful. I have anticipated this, so I devised a few extra restrictions. The idea for these restrictions came from reading Sulla's playthroughs of Final Fantasies I and V. Sulla beat both games using only a solo Monk character. Now, Final Fantasy II does not have a Job system. However, the player does have the option of fighting unarmed. The reason I wrote this guide is because every Final Fantasy has at least one challenge guide on GameFAQs, but Final Fantasy II has nothing. Without further ado, here are the rules: -You may use Firion, Maria, or Guy as your solo character. In the long run, it does not matter which one. The other characters must remain in KO status throughout the entire game. The only action they may take during battle is knocking themselves out. -You are not allowed to attack yourself in order to raise stamina and HP. The only HP and stamina boosts you may accept are ones gained from enemies beating you up. You may, however, cast a non damaging spell on yourself to raise your MP, magic stat, or the spell's level. The only exception to this rule is if you get Confused, as you obviously have no control then. -If playing an earlier version of the game (such as Origins) use of the Select Cancel glitch is banned. -You cannot equip any weapons, but you may equip shields and armor. -Regarding magic, you are allowed to use Cure spells and status remvoing spells. You may also use support magic such as Blink and Haste. However, you may not use attack magic on the enemies. This includes spells that do direct damage as well as spells that inflict statuses. This also applies to items and weapons that can be used to cast spells. Your only method of attack can be your fists! Now, you may be wondering why I allow the use of support and healing magic, when Monks cannot normally use those things. For one, some enemies have such high Defense that they cannot be damaged by physical attacks, unless a critical hit is scored. The only way to get around this is to use Berserk to increase attack power. Second, no matter how strong a Monk is, he needs to recover HP sometime. In other Final Fantasy games, such as V and Tactics, Monks have access to HP restoring and enhancement techniques. So, I think it's fair. The other thing you might be curious about is why I allow the use of shields and armor. The reason is because of the way agility works in Final Fantasy II. Low agility means low evasion, and equipping a shield improves evasion greatly. In this game, if you have low evasion, you will have a very tough time in the final dungeons. Undead enemies can drain your HP (which does a % of your max HP) and other enemies can inflict nasty statuses. I tried this challenge once with no shields. My agility barely ever increased throughout the entire game, and I had no chance to survive against certain enemies. So, to make it easier on yourself, shields are allowed. Besides, you can think of a shield as weighted training equipment for your Monk, since equipping shields lowers your attack power, especially while unarmed. If you need higher attack power, you can always remove the shield when necessary. It's entirely your choice if you want to use shields or not, but this solo challenge will be Hell if you don't! Note that I am basing this guide off of the 20th Anniversary Edition for the PSP. If you played the Dawn of Souls port for the Game Boy Advance, they are nearly identical, with the exception of the Arcane Labyrinth. So, this guide should apply even to the Dawn of Souls version. I do not cover the Arcane Labyrinth or Soul of Rebirth in this guide. General Tips -The PSP and GBA versions of this game allow you to save at any time outside of battle, and I suggest you take advantage of it. Final Fantasy II can be very rough territory, especially for a solo character. If you are playing an earlier version of the game, you will most likely not be able to save at any time. So, this challenge might still be possible, but it will be a lot more difficult. -Restore HP with Cure before resting at an inn. Most guides will tell you this but the reason is that it only costs 1 gil to restore each MP, but 2 gil to restore each HP. -Blink is very useful, especially against enemies that can inflict statuses with their regular attacks. It doesn't matter if you have 9999 HP, getting petrified means Game Over in this challenge. If you are facing a large group of enemies that can use status inflicting magic, it may be prudent to run. -If you need to raise your magic defense in order to avoid statuses, I have found the best place to be Deist Cave. The Soul enemies only cast weak attack magic that does not cause statuses. Note that casting magic on yourself does not count towards raising magic defense. Also, according to Sky Render's guide stamina and magic stats factor into magic defense %. I have observed this to be true. -If you get inflicted with a lasting ailment, wait until after battle to cure it. If you try to cure it during battle, you will most likely just get hit again! And, Esuna tends to have a bad success rate during battle. It has a perfect success rate outside of battle, though. Status restoring items also work 100% of the time. In case you don't know, Esuna needs to be at least level 5 to cure all lasting ailments. -When facing large groups of enemies (5 or more) only the first two rows of enemies can attack you directly. You can take advantage of this to attack the second row of enemies first, minimizing the number of attacks you face per round. However, back row enemies can still attack you with magic. Or, if you want to boost evasion count more quickly, always take out the front row first so more enemies can attack you per round. -Don't wear heavy armor. Often times, the best armor is none at all, but the exceptions are the Black Garb and Thief's Gloves for their agility boosts. -If you equip elemental shields, be advised that they make you weak against the opposite element that they defend against. For example, the Flame Shield is strong against ice, but weak to fire. Lightning and poison are opposite elements in this game. -Don't feel obligated to get every single chest. I like to do so because I am a completionist, but many of the chests contain useless stuff, so why bother? It cuts back on the amount of random encounters you face if you skip chests. Support Magic I devote a section to explaning some support magic. Although other guides have this info (and I credit them at the end of this guide), the in-game description of some spells is horribly vague. So, I think it is instructive to put the info here. -Blink increases your evasion count by 1 for every time you cast it. It does not affect evasion%, though. Evasion count can be increased even beyond the natural maximum of 16. It seems to be able to go up to 30 by using Blink, but only during battle, of course. -Shell functions similarly to Blink, except that it increases magic defense count rather than evasion count. -The Barrier spell reduces damage from elemental attacks and increases resistance to certain types of status effects. It can block more as its level rises. The minimum level to defend against all types of spells is level 8. -The Wall spell has a chance of blocking enemy magic that is equal to or lower than the spell's level. -The Aura spell makes you do more damage against specialized enemy types, such as undead enemies. -The Berserk spell increases your attack, but I don't know by how much. Still, a single casting of Berserk drastically increases your damage output. I think that it does indeed stack. -The Haste spell increases your attack count, but it does not increase your attack power. So, it alone is not enough to get past enemies with high def. Oh, and if an enemy uses Dispel, it removes your buffs if it hits. So, watch out for Dispel if you rely on buffs. I assume that the reader has beaten this game at least once before. Therefore, the reader should know how to progress through the game, and what passwords to say to what people. Walkthrough Note that I will refer to the solo character as simply "the solo." It saves space. Also, if I provide HP values they are most likely rounded numbers. From Altair to Gatrea I like to use Firion as my solo, as I think it's more appropriate to use the main character for this type of challenge. But, feel free to use Maria or Guy. First, go to the magic shop in Altair and buy Cure for the solo person. Unequip everyone and get into a battle. The other two characters should punch themselves out, while the solo finishes the battle. The early battles will be a bit tough, as you may frequently get ambushed, and the enemies can hit hard. However, your stamina and HP should quickly go up. Also, the unarmed skill level will rise. I suggest training near Altair until your max HP is 100 or higher. Then, go to Gatrea. Fight until you run out of MP by casting Cure, then rest at the inn. At this point, I had an unarmed skill level of 5 and around 140 HP. I also had an evasion count of 2. Note that since there is only one person for the enemies to attack, evasion count will rise quickly. From Gatrea to Paloom If you are worried that the Cure spell won't last you to Fynn, feel free to buy some Potions at the shop. Go to Fynn and get Scott's ring. Then, return to Altair and get Minwu to join. Minwu should promptly be KOd next battle. My solo was strong enough to do it in one hit. Stop by Paloom. At the magic shop there are the Blink, Protect, and Shell tomes. Buy them if you want, but the only spell I had use for was Blink. At this point, I suggest casting Blink a few times during battle, both to raise your max MP and get the spell up a few levels. Usually, I cast spells about 10 times per battle when I am training them. Before leaving Paloom, my solo had 180 HP, and both Cure and Blink were at level 3. From Paloom to Salamand I recommend having some Antidotes in case you get poisoned. You could also waltz on over to Bafsk and buy the Esuna spell. However, I would not recommend training the Esuna spell at this point. I don't recommend using the ship in Paloom or hiring Cid's airship. This is so you can get more random battles to build up your solo. At Salamand, I highly suggest getting the Teleport spell. Although a Teleport tome can be found in Semitt Falls, it is very deep inside the cave. Outside of Salamand, I trained my solo to have at least 100 MP and 250 HP. It wouldn't hurt to get Blink to at least level 5. Semitt Falls The monsters in this cave are weak, but they often attack in large groups. The damage they inflict on you will add up over time, so be ready to heal. If you run into the green flan monsters, just run from them, as you probably won't be able to hurt them. One thing to note is that the Bow attack of the Goblin Guard and Soldier enemies counts towards raising magic defense, and that will be useful. The Sergeant boss is easy to punch out, as long as your unarmed level is at least 5. If you choose to use Teleport to leave the cave, bear in mind that casting Teleport takes you to near death HP, and you still have to walk back to town. So, make sure you still have enough MP to use Cure. Bafsk Cave After giving the mythril to Tobul, proceed to Bafsk Cave. It is much shorter and less complex than Semitt Falls, so you should have no problems. Don't forget to obtain the Pass before leaving. On the way back to Altair, stop in Poft and speak with Cid to get the password Sunfire. When you return to Altair Minwu leaves the party. Every time a fourth character leaves the party, the KOd party members are revived to 1 HP, so KO them again next battle. Get the Goddess's Bell password from the king, then go to Salamand and recruit Josef. At this point, you might train your solo a bit more in preparation for the Snow Cavern. Around 500 HP is a good amount to have. Snow Cavern Get the snowcraft from Semitt Falls and go to the Snow Cavern. The biggest threat comes from the Ghouls who can paralyze you. Fortunately, paralysis rarely lasts more than two rounds. The Adamantoise boss has 60 Def, so you must have at least that much in Atk in order to reliably damage him. If your unarmed skill level is at least 6, it shouldn't be a problem. Borghen is even easier, he should go down to a single hit. After beating the Snow Cave, your solo should have around 750 HP. Before setting out for Kashuan Keep, either have the Esuna spell or a decent supply of Antidotes and Eye Drops. Kashuan Keep The Ogre Mages and Goblin Princes can cast Sleep, and it seems to last longer than other status effects. So, always take them out first. The Ogre Mages and Ghasts can cast Blind, but if your unarmed level is high it will usually not be a hindrance. Hopefully, your magic defense count will go up during this area. The Red Soul should be a very easy boss to beat. After getting the Sunfire, it is wise to rest at an inn before going to the Dreadnought. You may also choose to train on the Captains in Fynn. They are still very capable of taking you out, so be careful. 1000 HP and 150 MP is a good threshold to shoot for. If you don't want to fight any enemies on the way to the Dreadnought, just take the Chocobo near Kashuan Keep. However, the Magician enemies northwest of Fynn can drop a Berserk Tome, I would pick that up if you can. Before entering the Dreadnought, I suggest that you make a second save file, since you cannot leave until you complete the area. The Dreadnought You can either show the Pass to the guard to get in, or beat him up. Either way, don't forget to rescue Hilda before going to the engine room. This place is really irritating because the magic using enemies will try to put you to sleep. Also, they will single target your solo with their spells, doing much more damage than normal. On the plus side, it will raise your HP and stamina. I would claim the Thief's Gloves as soon as possible, as they give you +10 to agility. Going to Deist Afterwards, Gordon leaves the party. Go to Paloom and speak with Leila. You will then be attacked by eight pirates, but they are nothing. After getting the ship, you could go to the Tropical Isle, but I will hold off on that for now. If you didn't get a Berserk Tome from the Magician enemies, I suggest going back to the area where the Dreadnought was and getting one. Berserk is a very useful spell, and it shouldn't be too hard to get a tome to drop. Also, take this time to sell off equipment and tomes that you will not be using in this challenge. It will provide you with a lot of gil, enough to buy several Ethers and maybe even an Elixir. Deist Cave First, go into the cave and get the Pendant. Speak with the Wyvern back in Deist Keep and get the Egg. Before heading to the Life Spring, it is a good idea to have around 1500 HP and 200 MP, as well as decently leveled Blink and Berserk spells. Beware of the Hill Gigas enemies. If they hit you, it hurts, and they will take at least two hits to kill. Blink is your friend here. Undead enemies are also dangerous, as their drain attacks take off a percentage of your HP. That is all the more reason to evade them. At the Life Spring, you may encounter anywhere from one to four Chimeras. Either way, they are not exceptionally difficult enemies to punch through. Put the egg in the spring, and head out. Return to Altair, and get ready for the toughest fight yet! The Lamia Queen Depending on how lucky you are, the Lamia Queen (aside from the Emperor) may be that one boss for you. Her physical attacks can put you to sleep, and if she confuses you, you will easily punch yourself out! Fortunately, if you have high evasion, you will usually miss yourself. I don't know how that's even possible, but that's how evasion works in Final Fantasy II. The best way I can think of to get around this is to try to raise Magic Defense so her statuses won't affect you as much. Agility seems to rise completely at random, so good luck raising that. The good news is that it should not take many hits to kill the Lamia Queen, provided you can attack her without getting put to sleep or confused. If you manage to get a Blink spell cast, it will not only help you evade her physical attack, but it will help you avoid your own attack if you are confused. Do not cast Berserk! If you get confused, you will only do more damage to yourself! The best way I know of to raise Magic Defense is to go back to Deist Cave, and get into a fight with Yellow Soul enemies. Allow them to cast Fire V on you repeatedly, and your Magic Defense count should go straight up. It is a weak spell, so there should be little danger of dying. Also, try to boost your magic stat by casting spells, as it factors into Magic Defense %, as does the stamina stat. The silver lining here is that the Lamia Queen may drop a Ribbon, which is a very nice piece of headgear. Tropical Isle At this point, I decided to go to the Tropical Isle. It's not a difficult place to clear, and you need to get the Black Mask eventually, so you might as well get it now. If you encounter Flan enemies, you must cast Berserk to be able to penetrate their defenses. If you don't have Berserk, then run. Also, the Toad enemies can turn you into a toad, so have some Maiden's Kisses in stock. After getting the Black Mask, set out for the Coliseum. The Coliseum First, there is the fight with the Behemoth. After punching him out, you will be put in prison. Then, you will find that you are not the only one who can punch people out! The biggest danger in this place is the Specter, as it can cast Break. However, it is only a level 6 spell, and you should surely have enough magic defense to avoid it. You also have a chance of encountering Wizards, who can cast Warp. After saving Hilda, go to Fynn. Before entering Fynn Castle, be advised that this is your last chance to train on the Captains occupying Fynn. Depending on how strong your solo is, though, you might not need to. I, would, however, recommend getting several of each status restoring item. You will start facing enemies who can use Curse and Fog, the latter of which prevents you from using Esuna. By this point, you should have at least 2000 HP, maybe more than that. I would try to get magic defense count and magic defense % as high as possible. Fynn Castle Go to the throne room and beat up Gottos. This will get rid of the random encounters in the castle, but the treasure chests will still be trapped. The main enemy to beware of is the Sorcerer, who can cast Death. One of the chests has an Aura Tome, so you can start training that if you want. If you are lucky you can also get a Haste tome from the Sorcerers. Go to the basement and get the White Mask. The best part about the Brain enemies is that you can literally beat their brains out, heh heh heh. Mysidia The enemies are a bit tougher in the Mysidia area. Imps can cast Confuse XVI, Cockatrices can petrify you, and most of the other enemies are no pushovers. So, if you don't have maxed out magic defense, you better be careful. Always take out Imps first so they don't cast Blink too much. At Mysidia, go and put the White Mask on the statue, then go to the dungeon east of Mysidia and get the Crystal Rod. A chest on the first floor contains a Black Garb, which gives you a decent boost to Agility. That should make your fights a lot easier! After getting the rod, go to Leviathan. Leviathan Leviathan is very straightforward, and fortunately there are no enemies that can inflict statuses. The magic attacks of the Bolt Fish and Sea Dragon can hurt, though, so take them out quickly. Show the Crystal Rod to Ricard to get him to join, then go beat up Roundworm. Mysidia Tower This tower is long and painful, so make sure to rest before entering. You will frequently encounter Basilisks, who can petrify you. The Gigas enemies can be damaged with normal attacks if your unarmed level is 10 or higher. Even so, I recommend using Berserk to take them out quickly, as they can hurt you badly if you draw out the battle. Unfortunately for you, the stat boosting orbs at the top of the tower have no effect since your other party members are KOd. Hilariously, you can sell the Ultima Tome for a whopping 1 gil! Cyclone Get the Wyvern from Castle Fynn and go to the Cyclone. There isn't too much to mention here, but you might run into your old training buddies, the Captains. The Lamias can cast Blink, so you will want to take them out before they stack it too much. Mateus isn't very hard at all, but he might heal himself and draw out the fight. That's what Berserk is for. Note: The Emperor is unnamed in the game, but anyone who has played Dissidia knows that his name is really Mateus. So, I will refer to him by that name. Castle Palamecia After the Cyclone, go to Poft and get the Airship. Before going to Palamecia, make a second save file, since you can't leave the castle until you complete it and the enemies are very tough. Imperial Shadow by far is the most dangerous enemy, but fortunately he doesn't appear very often. Generals are mostly standard enemies, but they can hit hard and they have 2000 HP. Fortunately, they may drop some good equipment, such as the Dragon Armor. Before you go to the Jade Passage, make sure that you have a set up that gives you 99% evasion. Evasion count should no doubt be at 16, unless you've been running from a ton of battles. Get all the Elixirs and Ethers that you can afford. And, if your magic defense isn't yet maxed out, get it maxed out. If you want your unarmed skill level at 16, just put on a shield and attack an enemy with high defense. You won't do much, if any damage. Just do this for 20 or so rounds, then unequip your shield and finish the battle. This should give you some unarmed experience, even at high levels. In fact, you could even do this on the way through Jade Passage. Just make sure that you are prepared, as you do not want to go all the way to Pandaemonium just to find out that you cannot beat Mateus. Jade Passage Kill off Leon the traitor and get started. I would definitely get the Aegis Shield and Dragon Armor. The Aegis Shield gives excellent evasion, and may even allow you to put on heavy armor and still have 99% evasion. The Dragon Armor cuts elemental damage in half, very useful against the elemental dragons and Salamanders. The Hecteyes and Mega Parasites are the main reason you will need Ethers and Elixirs. They cast Osmose to drain your MP, and you cannot evade it. I would run from them, if possible. Pandaemonium Just about every enemy here can inflict one status or another, but you should not have anything to worry about with the Aegis Shield. If you've come this far with just your fists, then surely you can make the final push. I did not bother to fight the treasure chest bosses, as I have no use for the Genji armor. But, you can if you want. They aren't any tougher than the Emperor. Final Boss: Emperor Mateus If you have 99% evasion without a shield, then remove your shield so you can do much more damage. If not, keep your shield on, as you cannot afford to get hit by Mateus's physical attack. It will drain your HP, offsetting what little damage you can do to him. Cast Berserk and Haste, then attack. Mateus will often remove your buffs with Dispel, and he will cast Curse, Slow, and Blind, which are all bad news for you if they hit. His Starfall will do at least four digit damage to you, since it will be single targetted. But, as long as you don't get hit by that nasty physical attack, you can win. If you need to heal use an Elixir, as it will restore much more than a Cure spell ever could. If you win, then congratulations! You've just beaten Final Fantasy II with a solo character, using only your fists as a method of attack! My Solo's Final Stats These were my solo's stats after my most recent runthrough. Max HP: 8456 Max MP: 999 Attack: 83 (166 without a shield) Accuracy: 16 - 99% Defense: 78 Evasion: 16 - 99% Magic Defense: 16 - 99% Skill Levels: Unarmed at 16, Shield at 15, everything else at 1 Equipment: Barehanded, Aegis Shield, Ribbon, Dragon Armor, Protect Ring Base Stats Strength: 77 Stamina: 87 Spirit: 99 Agility: 42 (notice how low this is!) Intelligence: 99 Magic: 91 Spells Cure at 15, Blink and Berserk at 16, Aura at 11, Haste at 3, Esuna at 5, and Teleport at 1 Final Comments This challenge isn't terribly difficult, but it can be a test of patience. I find that using only one character doesn't require so much grinding, and as we all know, Final Fantasy II requires a lot of grinding. If you think that use of a shield makes things too easy, then by all means, don't use one. Some people may think that my solo was a bit overpowered, but with low agility it is impossible to run from battles, so I mostly had no choice but to fight! Bear in mind that for much of the game, I did not even use a shield. Anyway, I will be taking a long sabbatical from this game, so best of luck to you. Contact If you have any questions about this guide, or suggestions on how to improve it email me at the following address: fletchek@umich.edu I request that you put "Final Fantasy II Guide" or something similar as the subject line, or else I will likely ignore it. I will only entertain questions relating to the guide or the game itself. If you think I got something about the game mechanics wrong, then let me know. However, bear in mind that due to its arcane leveling system, Final Fantasy II has been the subject of many myths, so please be absolutely sure your info is correct before you tell me. I don't like to put useless speculation into my guides. Credits Square Enix, for making Final Fantasy II. GameFAQs, for accepting my guide. Sulla, whose website inspired me to do this challenge. Sky Render's guide for this game, as it explained a lot of the basic mechanics, such as how stats and skill levels rise. It helped a lot when deciding how to train my character. The Final Fantasy Wiki, for providing more specific info on the support spells. If I list an enemy's stats, they are taken directly from the in game bestiary. I thank anyone who has taken the time to read my guide.