Part 1: Beep Boop I am Your Protagonist

Let's get this party started! See, it's a joke because of the dual meaning.
















Ten years ago...














ugh glrrf

Wake up, son!

Dad it's like 4 in the morning. What's going on?






GAH WHAT oh, sorry. *yawn*

Listen! Whatever you do, whatever happens, don't lose this.





Aw. Does this mean you're leaving again?





I love you, Son. Don't ever forget that.










Present day...





Mornin', mom!

Hello, sweetie! How'd you sleep?

Pretty good. Um. Look...

Mm?




Well...





...

I'm sorry. Am I in trouble?

*sniff*

Mom! Don't cry!

You're not in trouble, sweetie. You're all grown up now. I knew this day would come.

Er... I'm the same height I always was.

It may seem that way, but you're almost an adult now.

Seriously, I haven't changed size in like ten years. It's kind of weird. Don't you think it's weird?

Don't talk back to mommy, sweetheart. Now go get ready for school.

'kay!







...and that's the story of the Worst Christmas Party in History.

wooooooooooooow

There's the bell. Class dismissed! Don't forget to study Chapters 12 and 13 in Monster Biology! They'll be a quiz tomorrow.

*groan*





Mr. Butte. A word?

_{(Oh crap.)} Hi, Mr. S! Did I do something wrong?

I hear you're thinking of leaving town. Going to look for your father, eh?

Yeah. Pretty stupid, huh?

Indeed. You can't go out there all by yourself. It's suicide.

I'm sorry.

Not to worry, we all make mistakes. Now, run along and fetch your party.

Huh?

Your classmates. You got an A in Party Dynamics last year, Mr. Butte. I'm sure you know how many of them to pick.

You're serious?

Of course I am. Remember your lessons on balance and resource maintenance, and I'm sure you'll be fine.

Okay, let's ignore how weird it is you're not trying to stop me. Why would the other kids help? They don't even like me.

They don't? Whyever not?

...








I look different from them.

Mr. Butte! I'm surprised at you. How many times have I told you the color of one's skin doesn't matter?

I am literally made of metal.

Pish posh. Now, run along and find some party members! There's a good lad.





This can only end in tears.




And so, Roy checks around town for allies.







Hi! Wanna help me find my dad?

SORRY GOTTA WASH MY FISH LOOK AT THE TIME WELL BYE







Hell no.

Aw.







Roy!

Hey, Zero!

Want to come over to my house later? I bought a couple decks of "Collecting: The Gaming." We can run superblind double sealed tournaments!

Oh man oh man oh man. That tournament format sounds awesome. How does it work?

I dunno! I just made it up!

Hey, Zero. Can I ask you something?

Sure!

Well... I was thinking of going out to find my dad, and...

Omigosh, Roy. It's really dangerous out there.

I know! That's why I need some friends to go with me.

I dunnoooooo, I don't think mom would like it very much...

Can we ask her?

I guess. I hope she doesn't get mad, though. You know all those statues in our garden?

Yeah?

They're not statues.







Absolutely not.

aw c'mon mooooooooom

I mean it! It's dangerous out there.

I'm sixteen! I'm old enough to leave the city!

The outside world could kill you! You could get a paper cut and die from gangrene! You could stub your toe!

Mrs. Sigma? I don't want to be rude or anything, but your entire garden is full of people you've personally petrified.

You're lucky you're reflective, young man.

Probably.

But, you raise a good point. No matter how much I shelter poor Zero, someone may still bring an Aegis into the house and use my reflection against him. I can't keep him safe anymore.

Really?

Yes. Which is why your friend here is going to do it for me, or I'm going to add his mother to my garden.

You are seriously the most terrifying person I've ever met.




Meanwhile...





Sara! Time for prayers!

Can't I skip it? Just this once?

Sure!

Wow! Really?

That is, if you don't mind being eaten by the Hat.

N...not the Hat!

Yes, the Hat! It swoops down out of the sky at night and gobbles up naughty children like you!

Noooooooooo

If only you'd pray to Our Lady of the Sacred Saw, she'd keep the Hat away! It's too bad a certain little girl won't do it.

I'm sorry mom! I'll be good!

Glad to hear it. And don't forget to drink your gasoline before bed. It builds strong bones!









We're asking Heather?

Look, everyone else turned us down. We need four people, and we don't have a lot of options left.

It's not like I mind, dude. I just don't think she'll do it.

Well, let's ask her mom first. That might help.

I hear she's a total fox.





Hi, Mrs. DiMarco!

Why, hello, Roy! What brings you and your friends here?

Well, I was thinking... y'know, if Heather's around, and she doesn't mind...

Like, what are you doing here?

Oh my goodness, this is precious! Heather, this young man has come to ask for a date!

...I have?

*cough*

I mean, I have!

Ew?

And where were you thinking of taking her?

I dunno. North Cave?

!

Omigod, I'd love to! Let's go!

Really? Well, okay then!

<sub>Psst. Sweetheart.

What?





A little behind the ears goes a long way.</sub>

...





Hi, Heather! I didn't think you'd want to—

Save it. Just get me out of here.

What?

Uh, hello? This little town's too small for someone like me. I need to see the world if I'm going to be a star!

Well, at least it's a yes. We just need one more now.

Look! Isn't that the freaky home-schooled weirdo?

Hey, Sara's nice! She's just a little ... sheltered.

And anyway, she's only the only person in town we haven't pestered, so...





Hi! We're leaving town to find my dad. I was wondering if—

Sara Chainsaw Blackendecker! You get back here and finish the rest of this petrol!

Oh my Saw please take me with you

Well, at least that explains why you always smell like gasoline.







Alright, looks like we're ready.

I'm scared!

Everything will be okay. Our Lady will watch over and protect us.

Aw. That's kind of sweet!

She will eviscerate any who dare harm us and wear their entrails as a warning. Amen.

That's less sweet.

Let's get going before I change my mind about this.

If you're already having second thoughts, then...





Mr. S!

Hello, children. I couldn't possibly leave you to such a task with a clear conscience.

Are you going to help us?

For a little while—just to make sure you can handle yourselves.





Alright, then...





Let's go!




Welcome to Final Fantasy Legend 2! Now that we've got backstory out of the way, let's go over the basic mechanics.





Layout's changed a bit from FFL, but the basics are all there. Most are obvious, save for MAGI (which we'll get to later) and Memo. Memo is actually kind of neat, as it allows you to review what your characters have learned about the backstory.





Granted, it's not always useful, but it's still a nice touch.

You'll also notice there's a slot reserved for guest characters! This is new to FFL2. At times, an extra character will choose to ride along with your party. They'll usually be more powerful than your guys and will serve as their protector. You have full control over their actions, both in and out of combat. And, if you hit B on the main map, you can ask them for advice!





It's not always useful, either, but sometimes a reminder is helpful. Feel free to check back with them on occassion. The advice does change depending on certain triggers, and they're not always obvious.

Trivia for FFL players: Mr. S' sprite is actually the Slime sprite from the original SaGa. As far as I can remember, it's the only time this particular sprite appears. It's kind of a nifty callback.







Alright, deep breath. Here we go!








Aaah! It's huge! Heather, do something!

Gag me. I am not touching that thing.

Oh no! I dropped my weapon! Help!

Is this punishment? Did I do something wrong again?!





Children, please. You must keep calm and work together if you're to survive.



...ah. I neglected to mention the whole digesting-other-living-creatures thing, didn't I.

I am suddenly so glad I've never gotten detention.




Mr. S is bonkers powerful for this point in the game. He comes with Dissolve (a high level drain attack), Flame (crowd control), and a really good Cure ability. He's there to keep your retarded ass from getting killed in the first dungeon while you figure out where everything is and how it works. You can even spend some time levelling up with him, if you so choose.

Most of the levelling up in SaGa is handled by getting into fights and taking appropriate actions---attack with heavy swords to build strength, with light swords or bows to build agility, etc. We'll get into weapon types later on. The important thing is that you have to actually do something in combat to increase a stat. Note that selecting an attack is enough to trigger a level-up check; you don't necessarily have to hit that attack successfully, or even try it at all.













Neato. What's in here?










Shields are as useless here as they were in FFL1. Using one boosts your guy's defense for a turn and has them sit there like an idiot waiting to get clobbered in the head. There's not even a guarantee someone will hit them, which means you've wasted both an item use and a turn. However, in a shocking twist, there's actually a way to put them to good use...










*ka-thunk*

Ack! Getitoff getitoff getitoffameeee

Fascinating. It appears the shield has attached itself to your chest via some sort of magnet.

Didn't you teach us that magnets don't affect bronze?

Don't interrupt, Mr. Sigma.

Well... I mean, it doesn't hurt, and it'll help protect me, so it's not so bad. Kind of freaky, though.

There is no freakiness in the world. It is all part of Our Lady's divine plan, hallelujah, amen.

You are seriously creeping me out.




Yep, shields boost robot defense! I guarantee you I will never (purposefully) use a shield in combat. But, one of the SaGa's most useless items can finally do some real good. Did I mention robots own? Because robots own.










I can't take them all by myself! Remember your training!

I got the one on the left!





AAAAAH

Why do you have a gun?! Children shouldn't have guns!

I can't help it! It's part of my arm!




Roy comes equipped with a Colt right out of the gate. As in, a Colt 45. Forget swords, he will straight up cap your ass.

Guns are a weapons family that operate independent of stats—i.e. its damage output is always within the same range and isn't affected by strength, agility, et al. On the plus side, this also means a gun can potentially do way more damage than a melee weapon in the hands of the same character. As we'll see later, this becomes exceptionally useful when you pick up heavy ordinance. For now, though, the Colt is a solid weapon that will carry us quite a ways.

One downside: It's harder to connect with guns than comparable melee weapons. However, increasing agility will eventually reduce that effect to negligible levels.

The rest of the cave is pretty uneventful. It's a lesson in proper crowd control: Use Mr. S' Fire ability on groups and Dissolve on single targets. They'll probably never get a chance to do anything, but keep selecting attacks for your guys so they can have a shot at levelling. Eventually, you'll come across...













What are we supposed to do with this junk?

How about equipping the bow?

Uh, how about no?

What about you, Sara? Do you want to try it?

I do not need a bow. The Saw protects me.

If no one else wants them, I have an idea. If I push this hand against them... *thunk* *kachunk*





Look at me! I'm a swiss army knife!




The hammer and bow are pretty useless as normal treasure; they're starting tier weapons. (If you need extra weapon uses with Mr. S in your party, turn off the game right now. Vidya games are clearly not your strong suit, and you don't want to end up hurting yourself.) Instead of just dumping them into the rubbish bin, give them to the robot. Each equipped weapon brings stat bonuses with it, and they stack if you equip more of the same type. Your robot isn't going to gain any abilities on its own, so keeping all available slots full, even with trash weapons, is enormously helpful. If you get better weapons later, just replace the trash weapons. No one is going to weep for a hammer that's been reduced to 12 uses.

After that, a short jog down the corridor, and...







Excuse me! Can we squeeze through here real quick?








Gonna take that as a no.




The BabyWyrm is a fairly big shock after everything you've just been through. Even with Mr. S in the party, you have to pfffffffffffffff hahahahaha nope can't do it.









Seriously, one Dissolve and he's dead. It's the second most hilariously one-sided boss fight in RPG history, eclipsed only by, you guessed it, a boss in the original Final Fantasy Legend. Even better, if you ask Mr. S for advice afterwards:









Well somebody seems pretty pleased with themselves!







At this point, I'm kind of wondering why you aren't looking for my dad instead of me.

I don't get summers off since we moved to year-round schooling.

Fair enough.

Sooo. What was that junk about Magi?

Mr. Butte. Do you have the gem your father left you?

Yeah. I keep it on this necklace. Why?

Would you peer into it, please?

Okay...








Woah!

Indeed. Your jewel is known as the Eye of Isis. It is a magi—one of the 77 fragments of the Statue of Isis. Each fragment is imbued with its own unique power. I believe your father set out to find the rest.

Why? Did he want its power for himself?

No—he wouldn't have left you the Eye otherwise. I believe he's attempting to keep them out of the wrong hands. I suspect his disappearance means those hands are closer than we'd like.

That sounds a lot scarier than just trying to find Roy's dad...

It is—but this is the path you've chosen. Keep each other safe, children. The fate of Roy's father is up to you.





Mr. S? I have one last question, if it's okay...

Certainly!

What does the "S" stand for?

Sanchez.

Totally did not see that coming.





Looks like we're on our own now. Let's go find dad!

We are all finding dad, in our own way. In'sawllah.

Seriously, she's starting to weird me out now.




Next Time: Kickin' Ass, Takin' Magi