#FFIV is a sequel to FFII change my mind

[roseofbaron]

Remember when I was playing Final Fantasy II? Well.... I haven’t finished it yet because I got stuck then I got busy. However, I took notes during my play-through (of what I’ve played so far) and they’ve been living in my drafts for ages. If you wanted to read my thoughts and reactions to the events of FFII (again, what I’ve played so far), they’re under the cut. :3 (Spoilers for if you haven’t played FFII yet)

hmmmmmm I like Hilda a lot

Minwu is pretty cool too. Very mysterious. I can see why he’s as esteemed a spell caster as he is. 

What’s his name.... Gideon? Yeah, he reminds me a lot of Edward right off the bat. He’s a prince too sooooo.... father?

Also, weird thing about Final Fantasy world in general... So in FFI you have to buy magic and when you buy it, it comes in these orbs that reminds me of the materia in FFVII that lets you cast magic when equipped. However, here in II, you still have to buy it, but you buy it in tomes, meaning they’re learned spells. That makes sense for the games between II and VII as spells are learned naturally with leveling up. This isn’t a theory or anything just a fascinating observation on the nuances of magic.

So, as far as I can tell, there are only two airships in this world. The first was built by Cid, a former captain of the Knights of Fynn (I think they had another name but I can’t remember rn) and the second is the Dreadnought, which the Empire modeled after Cid’s only bigger and used for destruction. When on a quest to stop the completion of the Dreadnought, the party is too late and they encounter the Dark Knight who used to be the general of Empire’s army before the incompetent Boughen replaced him (he betrayed Fynn for that position).

Anyway, the Dark Knight is very mysterious (his pfp is veiled in shadow) and he doesn’t fight the party, instead takes his leave on the Dreadnought and says “we’ll meet again.”

The Dreadnought attacks the towns that previously had not been taken over by the Empire, including Altair where the royalty of Fynn reside as well as the rebel force. (The more I talk about this the more I realize how heavily influenced by Star Wars this story line seems). Anyway, Gordon (not Gideon lol), the cowardly prince from Kashuan, is no longer there. One of the townsfolk tells the party that everyone who was outside had been killed so I’m not sure if he is dead or not. Hilda talks about him as if he simply left town. But I’m not sure.

Also Scott, Gordon’s brother, was injured and in a secret room in Fynn to recover. Well, he dies shortly after the party meets him but not before relaying some valuable information. I will say he tells Firion to tell Hilda he loves her then retracts that saying “a dead man’s confession will only hurt her.” And when Hilda later asks if he said anything Firion tells her “No, nothing.” And moves on. That one got me, it was very tragic.

What happened to GORDON!?!?!?! (Idk why I care so much since all we know of him is as an NPC, but he just seemed like he would join the party at one point and I wanted a redemption arc of him regaining his courage and believing in himself. He gave me Edward vibes and I love Edward ;-; )

Josef doesn’t feel like he belongs in my party. Either he’ll betray me, leave shortly after this tiny quest, or I’ll regret not giving him any equipment. He does remind me a bit of Yang because his punch does just as much damage as Firion’s sword, so I don’t feel too bad not giving him weapons. Only time will tell I suppose.

I’m surprised how long it’s taking to find Leon...

So I was right and wrong about Josef. He didn’t last long in the party but that’s because he sacrificed himself and got crushed by a giant boulder. Reminded me of when Yang stopped the cannons in the Tower of Zot. Parallels on parallels.

Also Borghen is a joke and Firion straight up murdered that guy in like one hit. Guess the Dark Knight is back at the reigns. I’m very interested in him, can’t you tell?

GORDON IS ALIVE!!

The princess gets captured along with Cid’s airship. I thought it was sweet how she planned to meet the party at Kashuan because she felt bad for sending them on all these errands. Reckless, but sweet.

Maria recognizes the Dark Knight’s voice..... Is Leon the Dark Knight? Why don’t that others recognize it?? Ahhhhhhhh

So Deist is the land of the dragoons. According to talk, the dragoons were all wiped out in the invasion of the Empire, however the King of Fynn believes otherwise. The way the people in Altair talk of the dragoons, they are a fearless bunch who posses the power to train Wyverns. It seems, based on Gordon’s information, that the Wyverns are few and far between, but not yet believed to be extinct. 

Also the king speaks to Minwu of an ultimate magic that can only be unsealed when the world is near destroyed. This Ultimate Tome.... perhaps could it be Meteor? Or something greater?

I immediately love Leila, whether she’s about to steal all my gil or not. Pirates are neat...

OH MAN LEILA JOINED THE PARTY!!!!

Hilda acting strange is really disturbing me for some reason... OH SHE’S A MONSTER WHAAAAAT?!?!

Also... Firion.... Really? You were going to sleep with the princess? Now’s not the time my guy. Good thing Leila’s nosey.

I always forget about Paul and then he shows up and I’m like “wow he’s so COOOL!”

Mysidia is actually a land in II, a kingdom of mages much like it is in IV. The connections are clear, Minwu is even the name of the elder in IV’s Mysidia (though his name is never mentioned in game).

Gordon and Hilda sitting on the thrones together in Fynn had me strangely emotional. 

Mysidia feels exactly the same as it does in IV. I’m very excited to explore the tower

Also the statue of a goddess under the town has me thinking. I don’t know about what, but I’m thinking

Inside Leviathan.... gross (he never fails to make sailing difficult)

I found Ricard!! That’s right... inside Leviathan. There seems to be a village down here which... ok. But he just says “new arrivals, eh?”

Also, he didn’t know the dragoons were wiped out... How tragic.

So, Minwu died using all his power to break the seal on the Ultima Tome. He was cool, wished I had more time to travel with him.

Altair, Paloom, Gatrea, and Poft were leveled by the cyclone. Unless they get rebuilt later, they are cities/towns that no longer exist (which would make sense for IV geography).

Seeing the Wyvern come to Fynn made me incredibly happy. “Wyvern and Dragoon are together once more!”

Random thoughts about the game: There’s some confusion about the numbering of the first four games in the series, but as they are numbered now is the correct order of games. II and III, initially, were never brought over to the US from Japan so, as not to confuse American players, in it’s SNES release IV was renamed Final Fantasy II. However, the II as we know it now did come before IV, which makes a lot of sense. There are a lot of the same beats in the story, though they do hit a little weird. You don’t get much development for the three characters that are with you the whole time except for some snippets here and there, the characters that travel with you don’t spend much time with you and once they leave, with the exception of Leila and Gordon, they don’t return to the party again. The death of Joseph felt sudden, especially since his character felt like an NPC from the start before suddenly joining the party. It’s tragic after the fact once you speak to the townsfolk, but in the moment it has little impact. Minwu’s death also doesn’t hit as I feel it should because the party only got a short amount of time with him at the very beginning. All this to say, the beats are there that we see in Final Fantasy IV, but as a story II can be a bit clunky. It feels like a first draft of IV and honestly, it’s kind of great. There’s a lot of improvement in the pacing of events between II and IV and that’s something to celebrate. I would like to play III as well since I haven’t and see how it compares to the others.

Interesting thing about the story line: the dragoons and the wyverns are supposedly all wiped out. However, one Wyvern remains because of a quest the party did (and Ricard is later found in Leviathan), but in some dungeons, when you open a box you get a monster, and so far I have fought two dragons. Different from wyverns, yes, but still... So there’s at least one wyvern and at least on Dragoon (maybe two because Kain is the name of the kid found in Deist.... and we all know of a certain Dragoon named Kain). I wonder if the Dragoons would train dragons if the wyverns all went extinct??

I don’t believe the Emperor is actually dead.

Yep, Dark Knight is Leon. Knew it. Also, ok, so maybe the Emperor is dead but now Leon will finish what he started? Is Leon truly the enemy??? I thought this was like a Kain being brainwashed situation.

And now Cid is dead. He said “I’ll LEND you my airship, I’ll be wanting her back...” and then he died. My goodness that cyclone wiped everything out and I’m emotional...

I knew the emperor wasn’t dead. Still don’t know what Leon’s deal is.

And Ricard sacrificed himself so the party could escape the emperor and his newly formed fortress. But is he dead....? Probably tbh 

Also Maria’s reaction to all the deaths that have happened so far is exactly how Rosa deals with all the sacrifices made in IV. 

I.... don’t know how I feel about Leon suddenly joining the party. One second he’s all “The weak need the strong to rule them” then the next he’s all somber like “more will die with the emperor in power.” Like yeah.... folks were gonna die with you in power too, what has changed Leon????

I don’t trust Leon.... but at least I still have my airship.

And alright.... The party’s in Hell now. I will say I forgot to stock up on supplies before going through the Jade Passage and now I’m in Pandaemonium and yeah... It really is hell. 

And now I’m stuck on the Emperor’s boss fight in Pandaemonium. Turns out the Blood Sword would have helped a ton but I didn’t get it when I had the chance to so.... Fun.