In my project to play through the original six Final Fantasy games (the Pixel Remaster versions, so not the "real" versions, I suppose) it's been kind of enlightening to see how the series started and has developed.
The first game, of course, as I've said before, is almost a "proof of concept." You start the game with a full party you'll have for the entirety, and the four characters don't really have any personality - just four plucky heroes show up with crystals to fix the world. You fight monsters and gain XP, and as you gain XP, you level up, with various stats going up based on the class you're playing. Evidently, it's best to "upgrade" your class by completing the quest for Bahamut as soon as you can, because this improves the rate at which your stats improve with each level.
Now, I'd always been aware that Final Fantasy games tend to reinvent themselves with each entry. Even if there are lots of familiar aesthetics and overall structures to combat (at least in early days,) you go from equipping Magicite in VI to using Materia in VII, and then something called the "Junction" system in VIII that I haven't really wrapped by head around (I haven't played any version of that).
What I hadn't really realized was that this reinvention happened from the very start - II's leveling system works very differently than the first game's.
Indeed, one of the common distinctions between RPG styles is the "class based" and "skill based" system. In a class-based RPG, you pick a character class when you start, and that basically shapes the way that your character progresses. There might be choices to make, and in something like D&D, you can multiclass, but the classes are basically a full kit of capabilities that you can feel pretty confident you'll have access to as you level up.
In skill-based RPG systems, there's far more granular control over how the character develops. And you can mix and match skills to your heart's content. The price you pay is that this often blurs the lines between classes. If everyone can pick up the same fire spells, your Lavamancer isn't going to be all that different from your Dragon Knight.
Still, the best of these games can make these choices feel like big ones. I'm a big fan of Elden Ring, and that's a game where even my Intelligence and a bit of Strength character feels very distinct from my Dexterity/Intelligence character. That's due in large part, I think, to how the different weapons and spells in that game can feel very different.
It's a little backwards to think of Final Fantasy II's leveling system as being "like Elder Scrolls" given that the first Elder Scrolls game came out six years after Final Fantasy II, but in terms of my experience, I played my first Elder Scrolls game about 18 years ago (it was Oblivion) and am just getting to know this one.
Indeed, I think Elder Scrolls is the better comparison than Elden Ring and its Souls-like predecessors, because unlike Elden Ring, in both Elder Scrolls and Final Fantasy II, you only level up a skill by using it.
This can actually introduce some frustrations, and I think the clearest is that of Esuna.
Esuna is a classic FF spell that clears status effects. In Rebirth, you get this from a "Cleansing Materia" that starts out only with "Poisona," which, you guessed it, clears Poison (ironically, the "Poison Materia" that actually lets you inflict poison on foes lets you get the Bio, Bioa, and Bioga spells, which do what you'd probably guess a spell called Poison would do). After you've leveled up that Materia, it unlocks the Esuna spell, which clears basically all status debuffs.
Esuna exists in Final Fantasy II, as well as an alternate version called Basuna - the former clears effects that will persist beyond the battle in which they are inflicted, while the latter clears those that will naturally clear up after a fight is over. In other words, Esuna is probably the more important spell to have.
In II, you can find tomes to teach your characters spells - they can learn up to 16 spells, but there aren't like "higher level" versions of these tomes. The spells level up when you cast them enough times So, Fire becomes Fire II, Fire III, Fire IV, etc. (and in the pixel remaster at least, the visuals get upgraded at certain levels). For damage spells and healing spells and buffs and such, it's all pretty reasonable - you deal more damage the higher level the spell is. The spells actually also get more expensive the higher level they are, but casting spells will also increase your total MP, so it doesn't seem to be too punishing to get any spells particularly high.
It does, however, make leveling up a new spell quite difficult - I got Holy for one of my characters, and it's just pathetic compared to her Fire spells. There might be some other mechanics I don't totally understand (I don't know if Black and White magic have different stats associated with them - instead I just have one character who seems to be the best at all magic).
But when it comes to Esuna... boy.
Because Esuna's use is not numerical, the only way it grows stronger is that it becomes capable of curing more and more serious ailments. Now, you can level up some spells outside of combat - Cure, the main healing spell (the only healing spell?) will improve even if used between fights, but I think you can only cast it when a character it's targeting is below their max health. That's a pretty common situation, though, so it's fine.
Esuna, when cast out of combat, can only be cast on a character with a status ailment. And only one that it can, at its current level, cure.
Are you seeing the problem?
See, I was playing earlier today and Guy, one of the three permanent party members (at least so far, but I'm pretty far into the game) got petrified. I had Gold Needles if I needed them, but I wanted to get Maria's Esuna spell powerful enough to cure it.
And it was like level 1.
So, pretty much the only way I could do this was to do so in battle. Esuna would "Miss" when it hit Guy, but behind the scenes, the little progress tracker would tick forward and gradually get Esuna closer to leveling up. Outside of combat, I couldn't cast the spell on him because it wasn't powerful enough to clear the debuff.
Very, very slowly, fighting Black Flans and Red Jellies or whatever they were called, killing all but one to have it drain my party's HP as slowly as I could, I'd cast this spell over and over to no avail, hoping that when I decided I'd done it enough, I'd see the spell level up on the victory screen.
I had to get the spell to level 6 - with an understanding that I think even my most-used spells will probably be around 10 when I finish the game.
This is... this is not a great way to do things.
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