Final Fantasy II (NES) Playthrough [1 of 2]

[@NintendoComplete]

Ignore the haters. Final Fantasy II is an excellent 8-bit JRPG.

[@Dorian_Scott]

I dunno man, those trap rooms with ridiculously high encounter rates in most dungeons DO hold it back.

[@osskeet]

It’s not haters. Legit gamers just don’t like this game. It’s one of the worst games in the franchise.

[@bigduke5902]

Had this come to the states, this would've fit right in with the Zelda, Mario, and Metroid 2s as examples of a weird new idea built within a beloved original. Sequels like that helped make gamers of a certain age more open minded. Unfortunately most people want every "franchise" to just be Mega Man. Look what happens today when anyone tries anything new.

[@ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΣΒΟΥΛΓΑΡΑΚΗΣ-κ6μ]

Maybe not memorable of an entry like Final Fantasy 4-6, is still worth the time.

[@EpsilonBlue-c7b]

This is one I couldn't get into. I started new games in 3 different versions, but couldn't be bothered to continue past a couple hours worth.

[@Pergasus]

Oh, man, you like Final Fantasy II, as well, dude? Awesome! It's always a pleasure to see someone talk positively about this game!

[@b6oy1004]

This game’s overworld music is definitely one of my favourite tracks from an 8-bit game; I can’t help but wonder if how it makes you feel walking around the world at the end of the game with almost all of the towns reduced to piles of rubble was a partial inspiration for the back half of FF6

[@johnle6543]

Didn't expect the original Final Fantasy 2. People really hate on it, but once you figured it out it's pretty easy.

[@millstonelite5497]

I first played this game on a flip phone years ago, it also came with the first one as well. It had pretty good graphics, for just a flip phone.

[@MobiusRie-6122]

I played final fantasy 2 english nes emulator online on computer in the childhood for the first time and never done before. My dad introduced Final Fantasy 7 to me so I'm fan of FF series then I'm going back through 1 to 10 but anyways. I sunk whopping 500+ hours into ff series and brings me good memories and joy of my dad.

[@JenMistress]

My mum was the first one to show dad and I Emulators for the computer, and the Final Fantasy games was among the first ones she showed us. That and Zelda anyways. But I remember how long of a game those FF games are, so nearly 12 hours for 1 of 2, yeah, sounds about right. 😉 Anyways, thank you for this, and bringing back good memories of her.

[@CreeperJ44]

Your mom sounds awesome

[@biancaarmstrong5097]

Even though Final Fantasy 2 is the dubbed the worst of the series, never forget this game is what brought these for us: Ultima Spell Chocobos An actual story Main characters that have actual names The MP(Magic Points) But I understand why many people hate this game, especially the NES version, cause the level up system doesn't exist in this game. But this game what help inspired the SaGa series.

[@bigduke5902]

The Nintendo Complete guy is right about a lack of nostalgia damning this game. It was released in a time of great experimentation in the industry when sequels usually tried to be more than the expansion packs they would become around the PS3 era. Mega Man was way ahead of his time.

[@Sharpester-m4o]

​@bigduke5902 With Mario 2, Zelda 2, and Simon's Quest. They are more notable for sequels in the NES era, going in a completely different direction than the original games in their respective franchises.

[@DigiPen92]

Good thing that I played Final Fantasy II on the Pixel Remaster. I definitely wondered why the developers had to give Firion the Warrior Sprite in the NES version since they did gave him a complete design that isn't taken from Warrior of Light's. Also @NintendoComplete, can you do a video covering the Japanese version of Super Ninja Boy? I just saw Nintendo had put out Super Ninja Boy on the SNES NSO App and I did noticed that the Japanese version had a lot of differences in the North American version like Overworld Map Layout for example.

[@bigduke5902]

I knew I could count on you to be fair to this game. Once the internet decides a fatwa there's simply no undoing it.

[@mariusamber3237]

Those who like the SaGa games will likely enjoy this one a good deal. I've always liked the focus on the story in this game; in hindsight, it also introduced a lot of new ideas that would stay in FF until today. It may not be my favourite Final Fantasy (never liked the gameplay that much), but I do appreciate what they were going for, especially as far as story goes.

[@JamesLauricia7]

Great game, one of the best.

[@VahanNisanian]

The NES trilogy continues, with intriguing storytelling, a different (though flawed) gameplay, the introduction of the Chocobos, and an always exceptional score by Nobou Uematsu.

[@NintendoComplete]

The first time we see Cid, too.

[@tylermercado1445]

Things can progress a bit faster if those dark knights at the start of the game get the first strike. If they do, they’ll already take down everyone except Maria, then strike her down after having her choose an action.

[@therealseanw.stewart2071]

Ah, yes. The ever-misunderstood Final Fantasy II. An innovative twist on the level-up formula, as well as few other tricks of this game's own, few of which were seen again in the series for good reason. However, the somewhat more unconventional HP and weapon leveling would be revisited and expanded upon in the SaGa series. This game also introduced a more involved narrative with actual speaking protagonists this time (instead of the silent four heroes of the original), paving the way for the stellar storytelling found in later FFs as well, complete with interesting plot twists and tragic character sacrifices. II is low-key one of the most important early games in the series for that reason. As of this writing, I'm finishing up X for the first time. It's also been a while since I've really gotten into a Final Fantasy since I beat IX over eight years ago now. You've picked a good time to upload this.

[@brandonsteele2826]

I appreciated how they tried something different for leveling up. Before this game, I always wondered why games had xp and they didn't try something like this. I guess using xp just works most of the time. I wish more games tried leveling systems like this though. Chrono cross is another title that doesn't have xp..

[@NintendoComplete]

FFX was the last one that I really liked. The later games don't really feel like FF to me.

[@ash36230]

It is not a bad Final Fantasy, but the mechanics of levelling do take some getting used to

[@MbRetroGamer]

very good fnal fantasy II nes , top 😀👍

[@thewhitelodgery]

What was going around the 4 hour mark where the battles were just bouncing back and forth between character actions?

[@NintendoComplete]

Picking an action counts toward that skills experience, even if you cancel it. I didn't do it much, though, because it felt cheesy to use it.

[@thewhitelodgery]

@@NintendoComplete Ahh, neat. At first I thought you were grinding and multitasking lol

[@joejunior5991]

This game despite it stats base level up system influence SaGa series which become Square Enix flagship RPG during 8 to 32 bits era (NES, Gameboy SNES and PSX)

[@CreeperJ44]

Check out the pixel remasters sometime. I think you would enjoy them.

[@bigguy31ish]

How ironic, you're doing a upload of this game and I justed started playing it XD. I Actually liked FF2 as well. I played the PSP version around 4/5 years ago! I got in the sudden mood to. finally play the nes trilogy for the first time as I NEVER played those versions and as major FF fan, why not? , .FF1 nes. was actually really fun! . .definitely had to follow guide few times, and it does had alot of bugs . .but I handled it fairly fine. FF2 nes .. .I can definitely tell how experimental it is . .I didn't mind the leveling system.. but the nes veesion of it fekt horrible to me. there's a chance where you get stat deduction . .which I absolutely didn't like. psp versions wasant like that!, you're required to basically exploit the attack/cancel glitch to get a guarantee stat boost or spend 10 minutes to get a stat or level up* I really tried to play it normally but i ended up so underleveled and stuff got way to harder than it has to be. so I ended up using Restored Patch and . .it felt so much better, makes it entirely more playable for me. and you get wep exp for all weps too, without using spefific weapon!, if i needed to grind or expliot glitches, I would play the original patch* .but restored patch made it so bearable for me atm. . .I can't say i dislike the nes version but I'm unsure if im overly fond of it due to these major issues c9mpired to ff1 nes:/, I still enjoy. FF2 though. regardless❤

[@NintendoComplete]

I can see that. This one has a lot of mechanics that take a whole lot of experimentation to figure out, like how important your agility stat is, and how important the shields are for building it. The remakes do a nice job of streamlining things.

[@AnUserWhoIsCulturedForFun]

No offense but I prefer the GBA remake

[@HappyRatKaiser]

A lot of the negativity for this game stems from weird misunderstandings that have been chiseled by early internet game reviewers onto the minds of folks who've either never played it, or have but followed those reviewers advice without ever trying to learn the game for themselves. The fact is, a lot of the stuff people were told to do is utterly unnecessary and just makes the game a boring, stupid, mess of a grind. You don't need to hit yourself, you don't need 9999 HP, you don't need skills or spells at 16. You don't need to grind captains for early game money. You don't need to go to Mysidia early. Really the only thing that's arguably necessary is that you understand that Evasion is the best defense stat, and you'll need to stay lightly armored (and ideally equip a shield on everyone) if you want to build it. Think of it as "training your dudes to dodge before you encase them in armor." Even things like the penalty to magic from gear, and the chance of stats lowering isn't a big deal. Magic can be plenty effective even with gear equipped, and the chance of a stat lowering is just that -- a chance. It's something like a 25% chance of the opposing stat lowering upon the increase of the other. In other words, your prospective Red Mage who regularly both attacks and casts spells will still come out well ahead in both stats by the end of the game. Compared to FF1, and really compared to almost any other JRPG of the '80s, FF2 is perhaps the least grindy JRPG of the period. In this way, it's very much like the SaGa titles it would be spun off into, where a good party comp and a bit of strategy and game knowledge could carry you through, little to no grind necessary. It's really a shame we didn't get this title in west upon release, because I think its reputation would've been much different had more kids grown up with it, and hell... maybe we would've gotten the Romancing SaGa games localized for the SNES, as well! What could have been. Regardless, it's nice to see a playthrough of this game by someone who likes and appreciates it, and actually knows how to play it beyond just exploiting the hell out of it and making the rest of the playthrough a complete bore! Kudos!

[@JFJD]

0:20 I’m guessing that would have been caught on the second pass, I hope?

[@NintendoComplete]

I'm sure. The translation is really rough, but it's more than good enough to play the game and to get what's going on.

[@magdcs]

My name is J Hater and I'm tired of people saying to ignore my family. Yes we are Haters, but we are good people. 😢😢

[@NintendoComplete]

Ooh, does the J stand for Jovial? Or Jississippi?

[@magdcs]

@@NintendoComplete my dad's name is Plain. I'm Just. 🤣 🤣

[@NintendoComplete]

​@@magdcsLove it 😂

[@stephenmanuel9860]

Are you related to Playa?

[@magdcs]

@stephenmanuel9860 cousin on my mom's side. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

[@harrisonho8934]

Huh, this is the one FF game out of the original 6 that I haven't played yet. I have the PR collection of PS4, so I hope to get to this one at some point. I have played the other 5 games and enjoyed all of them (FF1 on PS1, GBA, PSP, PS4/FF3 FC, PSP, PS4/FF4 SNES, PS4/FF5 GBA/FF6 SNES).

[@johanbothun9953]

The PlayStation version, yes, that’s a perfectly fine game. The Pixel Remaster is also good. The original? I had to write it off completely. I’m perfectly fine with the NES versions of I & III, those were the first versions of those I played and they work fine. II’s problems are less from its innovations and more from it being a total slog. My last attempt to play this version ended at the Dreadnought when I got ambushed by magic users - every single spell animation, from every single enemy, on every single character…and then you get the fun of healing all of that one spell use by one spell use on every character using the clunky menus. It just feels bad, there’s something off about it. The rereleases improved on it by implementing the streamlined menuing that was introduced in the 90s. It desperately needed that whereas the other two NES games were fine on their own (buying 99 potions in FFI notwithstanding.) I’d also disagree about FFI being more of a grind. You do some before the marsh cave but after that you can just go along fighting on your way. You definitely don’t need to do stuff like hit yourself in FFII, not at all, but expending magic isn’t really fun even if you only really need a handful of spells (and building spells like Esuna and Basuna reveals the problem of the game’s development system - you’re better off just using items.)

[@NintendoComplete]

The thing that I found really useful in avoiding the grind in this game was the swap spell. You can ramp your HP/MP up really quickly in just a few battles with it. Limiting the spells you level up to just a handful helps, too. I've always found that once I had Cure, Toad, and Beserk, I never really needed to level up much else.

[@spoonshiro]

I like the story and the grim mood of the game and the music is pretty awesome but it is not a fun game to play...

[@avalonjustin]

Hi, all the English translated versions of this game I've played cause character's stats to go past 99 and get messed up. Is your patched version like this?

[@NintendoComplete]

I dunno, but this isn't patched with a fan translation. It's a prototype from Square themselves.

[@Limowreck207]

Is final fantasy 2 on SNES as well?

[@elvinobiakalusi7505]

idk if you're talking about this game or ff4

[@Limowreck207]

I don't know if they were numbered differently in usa and Japan. I thought final fantasy 2 was on SNES

[@elvinobiakalusi7505]

​@ nah, it never was. they called 4 II when it was first released in america

[@NintendoComplete]

​@@Limowreck207US FF2 is JP FF4.

[@Limowreck207]

Thanks guys! I never played part 2 then wow.

[@vespersten6039]

Still looking for ninja game but not little ninja brother, gaiden, or shuriken jump, but it has 2 player mode set in japan and have ghost if the player get possesed player cant attack and need to go to priest

[@fahriakalin5936]

final fantasy 2: finallier fantasier

[@NintendoComplete]

Double your fantasy, double your fun. And you get a Yoko Ono album thrown in as a bonus.

[@Rokabur]

Uh, there are plenty of NES games I like despite having NO nostalgia for them. People don't like FF2 for its garbage leveling system.

[@Dorian_Scott]

Easily the WORST installment in the classic series. I recommend avoiding this one like the plague.

[@genyakozlov1316]

2, 8, and 15 are legit my favourite in the series. Fans just have awful taste, except 6 where they are right it's good, but not 7 or 9.

[@bigduke5902]

This game has value, though, for the permission fans of the series give themselves to agree on something. Without Final Fantasy II, the "worst" Final Fantasy would always just be the newest.

[@Rokabur]

​@@genyakozlov13168 is just as garbage with its junction system.

[@stephenmanuel9860]

Your opinion has been noted! Thanks for posting.