Final Fantasy II/Gameplay

Characters
He is adopted by Leon's parents as a child and grows up with Leon and Maria as part of their family. They lose their parents when the imperial army of Palamecia attacks the kingdom of Fynn. Firion decides to avenge their deaths by joining the rebel movement against the empire.
 * Firion

He possesses enormous discipline and physical strength. Despite appearances, he is very gentle and occasionally naive. He is also capable of communicating with animals.
 * Gus

She worries constantly about her brother Leon when he disappears. Even so, she remains steadfast in her fight against the empire.
 * Maria

He is Maria's brother, and Firion's adopted brother and best friend. Leon loses his parents when the empire attacks Fynn. He escapes with Firion, Maria, and Gus, but imperial soldiers soon catch up to them and attack. He has been missing ever since.
 * Leon

Leveling Basics
Leveling in this game isn't as straightforward as in the more mainstream FF games. There is no EXP in this game but when you fight enemies and satisfy any of the conditions below, you will gain points in that stat.


 * Strength is raised by attacking physically
 * Endurance is raised by losing HP by taking damage in combat
 * Spirit is raised by using white magic
 * Intelligence is raised by using black magic
 * Magic is raised by casting spells, or losing MP
 * Accuracy is raised by attacking with weapons
 * Evasion is raised by being a target of a physical attack
 * Agility is raised by being a target of a physical attack
 * Magic Defense is raised by being the target of spells and special abilities

When a stat increases several times, another stat will decrease.


 * When Strength increases, Intelligence decreases
 * When Intelligence increases, Endurance decreases
 * When Spirit increases, Strength decreases

Abusing the Leveling System
Ok, you've played the game for awhile and you've probably decided that it's pretty tough to raise your stats quick enough to not get bored. There ARE ways to raise your stats quicker, a few of them unintentional I would think, and others that are legitimate. If you're a straight-laced by-the-book type of person you'll probably want to ignore this part.


 * Swap Spell: Here's a great spell and it's available early in the game. Use it on a weak enemy and defeat it. You'll gain quite a bit.


 * Attacking Party Members: An unintentional but quick and dirty way to raise certain stats. This will raise the beaten up character's HP. Simply attack your other party members until they are in critical. You do this with magic as well to raise stats associated with this as well but there's an easier way.


 * Select/Cancel: Another unintentional cheat but excellent for raising your weapon level. Select a target, confirm, and then cancel when the next character's turn comes around. You can also do this for magic.

Magic Basics

 * Discard: Spells that cannot be discarded are darkened in the menu.


 * Use: Use psx: Neutral Dpad to select a caster, a spell, and a target if applicable. Press psx: X to confirm each selection. Note that not all spells can be used via the Magic menu.


 * Drop: If you want to drop a spell, select it with psx: Neutral Dpad and press psx: X, then select the "Discard" command and press psx: X to confirm.


 * Learning Magic: You can purchase spell scrolls from magic shops or find them in treasure chests. Use them in the "Items" menu to learn magic spells. Every character can learn up to sixteen spells at a time. If their spells slots are full and they want to learn another spell, they must first drop a spell via the "Discard" command.