Final Fantasy II/Gameplay

Character stats

Base stats

Stat	Description	How to increase
Hit Points (HP)	Your hit points reflect the quantity of damage a character can receive before dying. Having a greater number of hit points will allow you to survive longer in battle before you are in need of healing.	Losing hit points will often cause a character's maximum hit points to rise. The more hit points you lose in a single battle, the greater the chance that your maximum hit points will increase.
Magic Points (MP)	The number of magic points a character possesses determines how many spells they may cast before they require rest or a drink of Ether to restore magic power. More powerful spells often require more magic points to cast.	Using up your magic points in battle will increase the chance that a character's maximum magic points will increase. The more magic points you use up, the more likely it is that they will increase. Using magic points outside of battle does not count.
Strength (STR)	Strength measures a character's physical power. Higher strength ratings allow a hero to do more with each hit. Weapons can be equipped to supplement natural strength (see ATK), or a character can fight barehanded.	Successfully striking enemies with a hand-to-hand weapon, or with your fists, will slowly increase the likelihood that your strength will increase.
Agility (AGL)	Agility is the level of physical dexterity that character has. High agility pushes a character higher up in the attacking order and makes it easier for them to evade an attack, or successfully escape a fight.	There is a chance that a character's agility will increase every time he or she successfully evades an attack. Equipping shields increases the likelihood of evading attacks.
Intelligence (INT)	Intelligence determines the power of Black magic) spells. The higher the intelligence of the caster, the more potent and effective the black magic spells will be.	Casting black magic will increase the chances that a caster's intelligence will increase. Those chances are determined more by the power of the targets than the spell cast.
Spirit (SOUL)	Spirit (or Soul) determines the effectiveness of White magic) spells. The more spirit a caster has, the greater the effect of healing spells will be, or the greater chance of success a status curing spell will have.	Casting white magic will increase the chances that a caster's spirit will increase. This must be done in battle; casting white magic outside of battle will have no effect on spirit.
Stamina or Vitality (VIT)	The more stamina, or vitality, that a character possesses, the greater amount their maximum hit points will increase, whenever the opportunity arises.	Getting struck in battle will increase the chance that a character's stamina will increase. Unlike Hit Points, it's the frequency with which someone is hit, and not the amount of damage they take, which determines this chance.
Magic or Magic Power (M.PWR)	Similar in essence to stamina, but with respect to magic points as opposed to hit points. The higher this stat is, the more magic a character will gain on increase.	Like intelligence and spirit, you must frequently cast spells in battle in order to improve this stat.
Attack	Attack is a character's strength modified by whatever weapon they have equipped, as well as by the character's level of proficiency with a weapon. Attack determines the amount of damage a character can inflict on enemies with a particular weapon.	Increasing your strength stat, equipping more powerful weapons, and increasing your proficiency in a given weapon class all increase your attack power.
Accuracy (Hit%)	Accuracy determines how often an attack will successfully hit as well as the maximum number of hits per round that a character can get in. It is given in the form of xx-yy where xx is the number of attempted strikes you will make in a single turn, and yy is the chance that you have of hitting an enemy with each strike. That chance does not take into account an enemy's own ability to evade attacks.	Having higher strength and agility will increase accuracy, as well as improving your proficiency with the class of weapon you are wielding.
Defense (DEF)	The higher one's defense, the less damage they will take from physical attacks. This stat does not apply to damage received from magical attacks. It is determined solely by what body armor, shields, headgear, and gloves are equipped.	Defense is primarily increased by equipping better quality pieces of armor.
Evasion (EVAD)	Evade reduces the chance of an enemy physical attack successfully hitting the character. It is given in the form of xx-yy where xx is the number of attempted strikes you can potentially evade in a single turn, and yy is the chance that you have of evading those attacks. The actual probability of a hit connecting is determined by attacker's accuracy - target's evasion. All armor reduces evasion, with heavier equipment further reducing it.	Agility is the main driver behind your level of evasion. However, equipping shields is particularly helpful in improving your chance to evade attacks.
Magic Defense (MDEF)	Like evasion, magic defense is a measurement of how successful a character will be at avoiding the effects of spells that are cast at them. Once again, it is listed in the form of xx-yy where xx is the number of magic spells you can potentially avoid in a single turn, and yy is the chance that you have of avoiding the effects of those spells.	Getting targeted in battle by magic spells is the only way to increase magic power. Of all the stats, this can be the most difficult to improve intentionally.

Character improvement

Improving the strength and abilities of the characters in this game isn't as straightforward as in the more mainstream Final Fantasy video games. There are no experience points in this game, but when you fight enemies and satisfy any of the conditions below, you will gain points in that attribute.

• Physical attributes:
  • Strength and accuracy are raised by attacking with weapons
  • Endurance and max HP are raised by losing HP by taking damage in combat
  • Agility and evasion are raised by being a target of a physical attack
• Magic attributes:
  • Magic and max MP are raised by casting spells, or losing MP
  • Spirit is raised by using white magic
  • Intelligence is raised by using black magic
  • Magic Defense is raised by being the target of spells and special abilities

In the NES and PS1 versions, when an attribute increases several times, another one will decrease.

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

Abusing the leveling system (Famicom/PSX only)

In Final Fantasy II, there are legitimate ways of increasing the level of your stats. However, in the Famicom and PlayStation versions of the game, there are also a few bugs which can be exploited to increase the likelihood that a stat increase will occur. The following are a list of actions that you can take to increase stats which may be unintuitive or unintentional.

Swap spell

Here's a great spell and it's available early in the game. Use it on a weak enemy and defeat it and 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 status. You can do this with magic as well to raise attributes associated with this as well, but there's an easier way. This was fixed in later versions of the video game.

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. This was fixed in later versions of the video game.

Formation

• Formation is the order in which characters line up, and the chances of a character being targeted is determined by their position. The lead character will be targeted the most often, so it should be a character with high defense and endurance. Weaker characters should be put in the rear. Note that moving a character further back does not reduce the amount of damage taken or increase evasion, it only reduces the chance that an enemy will target them.

Battle

• Attack: This is pretty obvious. Characters attack enemies with the weapon they have equipped. Characters without weapons will attack with their bare hands.
• Magic: Characters can use spells that have been purchased from a magic shop. Select a spell and a target (if applicable) for the spell.
• Items: Uses items in battle. Some items can't be used unless you have the Battle Support option enabled in the System Menu. Spells that can be cast from equipment can be cast by using the equipment like a normal item. At the top of the item menu, press up to select an equipped item.
• Equip: Allows characters to change their equipment in battle. Multiple pieces can be switched in one round and changing equipment does not forfeit the character's turn.
• Flee: The character that chooses this command will attempt to run away. If he succeeds, the whole party will escape. If he fails they cannot attack during that round.

Status ailments

Sleep	Effect: Affected character falls asleep and can no longer act. Causes: Sleep1, Sleep2, physical attacks from mummies Recovery: Chance of recovery during each turn in battle or the end of the battle. Additionally, in DoS and AE, using a remedy will awaken a sleeping character. Note: Not a concern. Few enemies cause sleep, either through magic or a special attack.
Darkness	Effect: Affected character's Accuracy is reduced. Causes: Fog, physical attacks from Shadows Recovery: The spell Lamp or the end of the battle. Additionally, in DoS and AE, using the eye drop or a remedy cure darkness. Note: Meaningless. Not rare, but not really common. If even a character is affected, chances are you won't notice a difference in how much damage they can do. Since attacks involve multiple hits instead of a single blow, even with reduced accuracy characters will most likely get several hits in.
Mute	Effect: Affected character can no longer use magic. Causes: Silence Recovery: The spell Vox or the end of the battle. Additionally, in DoS and AE, using an echo grass or a remedy will cure mute. Note: Not a concern. About as uncommon as darkness, though it does have a noticeable affect since all magic is locked out. Unless you are using all magic users, a low level run through, or are severely injured, chances are even if all characters are muted it won't matter since your fighters will end the battle soon anyway.
Paralysis	Effect: Affected character can no longer act. Causes: Bind, Stun, physical attacks from various enemies including most undead, special attacks such as Gaze and Mindblast. Recovery: Chance of recovery during each turn in battle, or the end of the battle. Additionally, in DoS and AE, using a remedy will restore a paralyzed character. Note: More of an annoyance than a threat. Similar to, but much more common than, sleep. You will encounter a lot of enemies that can paralyze though most are weak enough that you'll recover before you get killed. The biggest threat are Mindflayers which can paralyze the entire party at once.
Poison	Effect: Gradually reduces the affected character's HP until cured. Causes: Physical attacks from countless enemies including most spiders, snakes, centipedes, flans, ochus, golems, scorpions, nagas, were-creatures, and Wyverns. Recovery: The spell Poisona or an Antidote. Note: The most annoying aliment in the game. The most common aliment as well, especially in and around the Marsh Cave. While the damaged caused per round isn't huge, you do have to cure this immediately after a battle since you will take damage every step. Always carry as many antidotes as you can.
Petrification	Effect: Character is turned to stone and cannot act until cured. Causes: Break, physical attacks from cockatrices, special attacks from Medusa types. Recovery: The spell Stona or a Gold Needle. Note: A huge threat. Not only is a petrified character unable to act, but they are as good as dead. If the battle ends before they are fixed they will not gain experience, if all characters are petrified the game is over, and petrified characters cannot have their HP restored at an inn or by Cure spells. Add to that the fact that most enemies that can cause petrification tend to attack in large groups, and this will be more of a concern than being killed.
KO	Effect: Character is dead and cannot act until cured. Causes: Losing all of your HP, instant-death Black magic, and some physical attacks (such as from Mindflayers) Recovery: The spell(s) Life1 and Life2 or revival at a Sanctuary. Additionally, in DoS and AE, using a phoenix down will revive a character. Note: Learn Life as soon as possible and keep your HP up at all times. Otherwise the only way to revive them is to go back to town and pay a healer.

Transportation

Ship	Location: Pravoka Once you defeat Bikke the pirate in Pravoka, he will surrender his ship to you. The ship can only sail in deep water, so it cannot enter rivers. You can only get on or get off of the ship at docks or river mouths (once you have the canoe). You will be attacked by various ocean enemies such as Sharks and Sahagins while sailing. There are only docks on the southern continent.
Canoe	Location: Crescent Lake Once the Lich is defeated one of the sages at Crescent Lake will give you a canoe. The canoe can only travel on rivers or lakes. You can switch directly from the ship to the canoe to a river by docking the ship at the river's mouth. While on a river you will be attacked by some of the strongest enemies in the game such as crocodiles, piranhas, ochus and hydras.
Airship	Location: Lykion Desert To get the airship you have to take the Levistone from the Ice Cavern to the Lykion Desert. The airship can fly anywhere but it can only land on open plains. The airship is the only way to get to the northern continents, but since the airship cannot land in forests or deserts you will still be limited to where you can land. You will not encounter any enemies while flying.