Final Fantasy Legend II Part #6

Part 6: (Re)Boot Camp

Alright, Heather. You're trained as a fighter, so we'll follow your lead on this one.

Great! First, we need Zero and Sara to pick a weapon. You guys are totally wimps, so you'll want something that'll hit fast to make up for it.

Hey!

Nah, she's right. I could get into a fight with a ball of lint and lose.

That's the spirit!

Okay, show us what you're made of!

Got it! Time for a little arrow up in this piece!

Wow. Really?

My bad.

Ugh. Now you try, Sara.

How's that? Did I do it? Is that how it's done?

We've got a lot of work to do.

I know what I said about grinding, but it's also been a while since I've played FFL2, and I forgot how character growth works. I need to correct it before we can move on.

Humans and mutants in FFL2 don't get experience points and have to use certain weapons to raise stats. Growth isn't guaranteed; rather, using a certain type of weapon makes you a candidate for an increase after the fight. Generally speaking, the same stat a weapon uses as its damage modifier is the same stat it'll raise. Note this does not hold for hybrid weapons, like whips. I cannot possibly express how irritating it is to equip a strength weapon and get agility points from it. They're handy utility weapons, and I'd really like Zero to have one, but oh well.

Anyway, all five statistics are given below, along with examples of what weapons might raise them. It isn't exhaustive, but it should give you a good idea.

Strength. Hammers, axes, or broadswords. Sword icons aren't differentiated on the equipment screen like in FFL1, so it's hard to tell broadswords and light swords apart. The trick is to watch their attack in combat. A big clunky sword that swings in an arc is a broadsword.
Agility. Light swords (i.e. rapiers, katanas) and martial arts. You can tell a light sword because it looks like a pirate sword doing a quick downwards cut.
Defense. You can't train defense. Just strap on more/better armor.
Mana. Mutant abilities and spellbooks raise mana. I'm reasonably sure mana-based weapons like psi weapons, staves, and wands will, too. Mana is a necessary stat to make your spellboks not suck, and mutant abilities are pretty rad as far as crowd control goes. Mana is also used to resist spell damage. This becomes more and more of a big deal as you go along.
Hit Points. Be alive when you win a fight. That's all there is to it. You don't have to be hit; you don't even have to take an action.

What this means is, you want to use as many different types of weapons as you can to maximize your chances of levelling up. Attacking repeatedly with the same weapon won't raise your chances further; once you've used it, you're locked in. You can level multiple stats in one fight if you get lucky enough, so keep spreading those attacks around.

One final note: To make up for their natural abilities, mutants level up significantly slower than humans. This, plus their limited inventory slots, puts them at a noticiable disadvantage. If they pop the right abilities, though, it's all worth it. Trust me.

Okay. Let's try something simpler.

Good. I'm starting to get a little worried back here.

I need those back, dude. They aren't cheap.

We'll have to give you some training wheels. First, I kill a monster!

BLARGH GLAARRRR ahem. Now, you guys pretend he's still there.

...seriously?

Totally! Just, like, visualize.

Okay...

Perfect.

But I didn't do anything!

Exactly.

How is this supposed to help us? And why isn't Roy training? He's just sitting there!

Huh what? Sorry, I was just enjoying this delicious iced coffee.

...

So delicious.

Facing multiple parties is fantastic when you're trying to level. You see, FFL2 uses the old-school RPG targeting method. Once the order is given, your guy is going to swing at that target come hell or high water. If they're not there anymore, it leads to them "doing nothing," i.e. wasting a turn.

But! There are two important factors in play here.

Doing nothing doesn't consume a weapon use.
More importantly, it still counts as trying to use that weapon.

Great! Now try it on a live target.

Sara!

Sorry! Reflex.

With all this in mind, it's possible to get levelling down to a science. If it's a single enemy/group, stopper your powerful guys with shields and let the weaker members use their weapons. After that, you dispose of what's left however you like—preferably with magic, so you can get a shot at increasing mana as well.

When the multi-group fights come up, focus all your weapons on one group so you can get wasted turns. Then, have your fighters raise shields and mop up the rest with whatever magic/abilities you have handy. Obviously, you want to split spells between groups for maximum coverage. (Although, now that I think about it, you can probably waste a turn on magic and get the stat boost, too.)

If we do it right, Heather clobbers a monster for a shot at a strength upgrade, Zero and Sara flail inanely with weapons for an agility upgrade, and then they burn everything to the ground for a chance at mana. Do this consistently, and you should notice stats rising at a much faster clip. Plus, you'll preserve weapon uses! Two for one!

Roy, meanwhile, does not give one single solitary fuck about any of this because his stats are purely equipment based.

Later...

Behind you!

Got him!

See? They're better already!

What? Oh, we're done here. Great! Let's get back to the tower and rescue my dad!

Holy cow, is that an issue of Nintendo Power?

Maybe?

After tower fights and training, we've got a pretty hefty chunk of cash saved up. We splurge for silver armor, because you always buy armor first. Always. Roy gets to two-fist silver gauntlets because he's awesome like that; robots aren't limited to the one-item-per-armor-type rule. We also buy refills for our basic weapons, a good chunk of X-Potions, and a little something extra for Heather and Zero. We'll get to that in due time.

Alright, we're back.

And badder than ever!

Less bad, actually.

Like, bad, or bad?

Bad.

Oh.

You guys are way better at this than before!

Thanks!

Yeah! That Ashura jerk isn't gonna know what hit him.

Neither will this guy.

That reminds me, Heather.

Yeah?

You're good with swords and axes, but what would you do if all your weapons broke? Wouldn't you be helpless?

No way. I'd just do this

gnnnnnnnnnn *thud*

Did... did you just kick him in the junk?

Sure did!

That seems kind of unfair, Heather.

First rule of combat: First person to fight dirty totally wins.

While we were in town, we picked up some martial arts! This is Kick, the next tier up from Punch. It has 20 less uses than Punch right out of the box, making it infinitely more useful.

Martial arts in SaGa are a bit weird. Firstly, they increase agility, so they're a perfect fit for keeping Heather's stats well-rounded. Secondly, as the number of uses decreases, the amount of damage they do increases. It is my completely unscientific opinion that it jump tiers in increments of ten. I know this is true, because it's on the internet, and they don't allow things that aren't true to be put on internet.

There's another nifty feature about martial arts, but I'll hold off on that until much later. Nobody spoil anything!

Sup!

Nada.

Cool, cool. Have to kill you now, though.

Gotta do what you gotta do.

Word.

Woodman is a mini-boss for the tower. He's a golemn-type that's actually not all that powerful, but he's out of place for this zone, which makes him a nice surprise.

(Pictured: Exactly what you expected to happen)

Dad! I'm here! We came to get you out!

Oh. Um.

No problem! We heard a spy got caught, so we came to free him. I thought it was my dad, though.

...

It's alright. I came here to defeat Ashura, but, well, you saw what happened to me!

You kids look like you can handle yourselves in a fight.

What do you guys think?

He seems pretty dope. I vote yes.

Totally on board.

Guess it's settled. This is your party, son, so lead the way.

Ha ha! That sounds like something my dad would say.

...

Twist ending: We came to bust Roy's dad out of prison, but we found this guy instead! I'm not really sure who he's supposed to be, but let's take a look at his stats...

Mask is ridiculously overpowered for this part of the game. He's also noticiably lacking in equipment. If you hit B, you can ask him whatupwitdat.

So what brings you to Ashura's Tower, Mask?

Everything. And I won't rest until I get it back.

Omigod that is soooo cool. We'll do whatever we can to help!

Finally. My quest comes to an end.

What, that's it? We walked upstairs! It took, like, a minute at most!

And yet, it felt like ages.

Well, now that you've got your stuff back, wanna kill Ashura with us anyway?

Ehn, why not. It's not like I have anywhere else to be.

Here's Mask at full power. Yes, that's a hammer and bronze armor. The armor is terrible. If you have the foresight to bring an extra set of silver armor and a decent sword with you, you can make life a lot easier on yourself through this next part. I, however, consider that cheating, since there's no reason to do that unless you knew what was coming.

And anyway, that's a ridiculous expense for what amounts to a throwaway character.

Also, you would think his hammer would be a handicap against these monsters.

_{Aweeeeeesoooooome~}

You would think wrong. 35 strength goes a long way towards closing any equipment gaps.

I'm glad we were able to help you, Mask. Sorry about the earlier mix-up.

Hey, I understand. I have family of my own.

Really?

Yeah. Wife and kid. My son's a terrific boy. You remind me of him, actually.

Thanks!

...

We're getting into the restricted areas of the tower now. Ashura'll keep his elite guard's gear up here. Keep an eye out for treasure chests.

Like reminding a fish to breathe water, duder.

What the heck are these?

Steroids.

They seem kinda dangerous to just have lying around.

That's because they are. A lot of adventurers swear by them, but I don't trust them. You can get hooked pretty easi—

GIMME *chug*

I'm sure it'll be okay. Besides, we need all the help we can get.

Hey, guys! Whatcha talking about?

Nothing. Here, drink this.

Okay!

Coooooooool.

Amongst other items, we find our first stat potions. These things are a godsend. Unlike magi, any effects they have are permanent, and a single point of stats can make a surprising amount of difference. Use these immediately on whomever makes sense (so long as they're human or mutant!). I like to specialize my characters with certain themes; my philosophy is, if you spend time evening everyone's stats out, you get a party that's kind of meh at everything and has very little charm to boot. I'm sure there's a million people out there who can prove how wrong and/or dumb I am, though.

We also pick up some extra silver armor and a Battle sword. The Battle sword is a step up from longswords and a SaGa staple for journeymen fighters. It replaces Heather's long sword, giving her no less than three attacks in her arsenal. Our bloodthirsty yuppie princess is growing up so fast.

We gave Roy the silver shield, by the way. And while I'm in the neighborhood...

Yup. He's halfway to Mask's stats already. Roy's dad would be proud of him—wherever he is.

Pretty good haul!

I Wonder why they put all that stuff in one room, though?

Oh. I guess that makes sense.

No sweat. We pound him with spells, Heather stabs him with her new sword, and we're done.

Wait!

So much for that plan.

See? Aren't you glad you did all that training?

Hi!

Shut up, Zero.

So glad you could make it! It saves me the trouble of bringing you here.

Yeah, yeah. Everything we've done is part of your plan, you're the puppet master, blah-dee-blah. Admit it. You didn't expect us to show up.

Oh, I'll admit something. But it's not that.

...body!

Micronized?!

Nothing, really... except using my scientists' new shrink ray to take back what's mine!

...her the power to heal and extended her life. You simpletons thought her power came from the gods, but I knew the truth.

You're going to kill Ki just so you can get a few more magi? That is totally vile.

Oh, it's not just that. Her death will demoralize your world. Without her calming influence and healing, people will grow restless and turn on each other—and I'll be right there, providing them with the means. With your world's gold and Ki's magi, I'll expand my empire across all of Reality. I'll kill two birds with one stone! I'll even take...

Forget everything you've done up until this point, that was Babby's First Adventure. It's time to put on the big boy pants.

Ashura is our first real, honest-to-goodness boss, and he will be a rude awakening if you just bumbled your way up here.

No, not that one. (Though not too far off.)

Ashura's got massive physical attacks that can one-shot most characters, high defense, and complete immunity to magic. Know what else he has?

Stay strong, everyone! He can't, like, kill all of us at once!

Yeeeeeaaaah, about that.

Ha! Didn't feel a thing.

AAAAAAAA

Should you be on fire? That doesn't seem right.

Yup! It's our first hostile area effect spell!

Given Ashura's mana, Flame can easily take half a character's HP off in one go. I didn't mention this earlier, but Defense is completely bypassed for spells. If your Mana isn't up to snuff, you're going to get completely trucked by magic/abilities. Having higher Mana will take the sting out of it, but it's still not fun patching up four characters instead of one. There's armor you can equip to help with that, but it's not available right now. Ergo, ow.

Sara, of course, takes no damage because she has a fire magi equipped. If we had the foresight to equip Roy with a fire magi, we would cruise to victory here, because, well...

Alright, enough playing around. Let's start with you, metalface.

*plink*

...

Do what now?

...do I really need to say it at this point?

He's distracted! Sara! Now's your chance!

Got it!

How's that? Did I do it right?

Zero, please tell me you have something better.

No sweat. Check this out.

*roar*

Boom goes the dynamite!

One of the items we picked up in Tower City was a psi knife. In FFL1, the Psi Knife was a high level magic weapon you didn't get direct access to until the latter half of the game. Here, it's available in the second world. Between this and equipment prices, it seems the world of SaGa's undergone a bit of inflation.

The psi knife is neat because it uses mana as both its modifier stat and resistance check. Ashura's mana rating is pretty impressive, and Zero is still pushing 100 damage.

Unfortunately, it raises mana instead of strength or agility, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, slapping one of these on a character is a great way to pump up their mana without totally killing their damage output. Psi knives are relatively cheap compared to spellbooks, so use this to your advantage.

We got 'em on the ropes!

I'm helping!

Fools! You think you can match my power? I am invincible! I am a god!

No. You're not.

You're just a goblin with delusions of grandeur.

We manage take out Ashura in just two rounds—which is good, because if he starts spamming Flame, we won't make it to three. Get used to this. Boss fights in SaGa are ugly. Your goal is shovel out as much damage as you can, as fast as possible, and hope they don't get enough time to return the favor.

And Ashura's the easy one. It's all downhill from here, folks.