Requirements
The First Onion Knight: Beat the game with only maxed-out Maria.
Character screenshots
The First Onion Knight: Beat the game with only maxed-out Maria.
Character screenshots
Random comments
This is probably my least favorite Final Fantasy because I don’t like the leveling system. That being said, the leveling system is a pretty innovative idea (especially for its time) and if you only have 1 character, building that 1 character up can be pretty fun.
The first time I beat this game (I didn’t record screenshots for that playthrough), I built up all three of the permanent characters and completely neglected magic. They were still able to pulverize their way through the entire game and kick the final boss’s ass with ease. So, when I replayed it with the intent of making a perfect game save, I decided to kill off all the characters except for one and see if I could beat the game with just 1 character.
Answer: very yes.
The beginning of the game was a little hard. Maria starts with 20 HP and low-ass stats. But after a few battles she had mastered shields, which is easily accomplished by going into battle with 2 shields equipped and attacking repeatedly. After that point, no enemy was able to hit her physically. Her evasion slowly went up over time and I never equipped her with heavy armor, so she dodged every single last physical attack in the game from then on.
From there, I slowly leveled up everything else and the game never caught up to her. She single-handedly slaughtered her way through Pandaemonium and kicked the Emperor’s ass in two turns. Just for fun, I revived the other three party members and made sure they survived the battle. They did, because the Emperor didn’t get much of a chance to do anything before getting a Blood Sword to the face and the rest of him blown up by a fully-powered Ultima spell.
By the way, if you’re wondering why Firion and Guy have stats, well, the game automatically revives them at key points throughout the plot. I usually entered battle after that to level up Maria and figured the enemies would just kill Firion and Guy off. Maria killed the enemies so quickly Firion and Guy managed to survive a few battles and level up some stats before I got tired of that and just had them bludgeon themselves to death.
Finally, I don’t know why Maria’s shield bar is full while the rest are empty. 16 is the maximum level, so 16 with a full bar is the same as 16 with an empty bar. For some reason, shield continued to gain experience while nothing else did, even swords, with Maria using the Masamune to slice her way through the Jade Passage and Pandaemonium.
Character award: Maria
Maria is the first female Final Fantasy protagonist, although some will argue that the White Mage from the first game was female. Honestly, I could never tell, so the distinction goes to Maria. Personality-wise, the characters of this game are kind of blank, so I can't really comment there.
Villain rating: okay
I actually like the villain being the leader of the evil empire. It's refreshing after fighting demons and megalomaniacs. Of course, the Emperor then conquers Hell, so after that it's classic Final Fantasy fare.
Gameplay rating
Like Final Fantasy I, the gameplay was great.
Difficulty rating
If you spend time leveling your stats/skills, the game becomes an absolute joke. I suppose if you didn't spend time training, the game could be hard.
Storyline rating: okay
There's nothing too special about the storyline, but it's not bad either.
Quote award
“Who…are…you…?” – the Emperor
…after Maria kicked his ass in two rounds.
Overpowered award
I was going to give it to the Blood Sword, but honestly, the Blood Sword is only overpowered against the last boss, and the last boss isn't exactly hard. I'll give the award to the Osmose spell instead. A fully-powered Osmose spell (level 16, backed by 99 Intelligence) will usually siphon 100% of the enemy's MP to the caster, up to and including the last boss. This means that the later enemies in the game, which rely on magic to pose a challenge, become pushovers, especially when you remember that in my game, Maria was immune to physical damage because she dodged everything.
Final boss: the Emperor, who bafflingly managed to take over Hell despite being pathetically weak
This is probably my least favorite Final Fantasy because I don’t like the leveling system. That being said, the leveling system is a pretty innovative idea (especially for its time) and if you only have 1 character, building that 1 character up can be pretty fun.
The first time I beat this game (I didn’t record screenshots for that playthrough), I built up all three of the permanent characters and completely neglected magic. They were still able to pulverize their way through the entire game and kick the final boss’s ass with ease. So, when I replayed it with the intent of making a perfect game save, I decided to kill off all the characters except for one and see if I could beat the game with just 1 character.
Answer: very yes.
The beginning of the game was a little hard. Maria starts with 20 HP and low-ass stats. But after a few battles she had mastered shields, which is easily accomplished by going into battle with 2 shields equipped and attacking repeatedly. After that point, no enemy was able to hit her physically. Her evasion slowly went up over time and I never equipped her with heavy armor, so she dodged every single last physical attack in the game from then on.
From there, I slowly leveled up everything else and the game never caught up to her. She single-handedly slaughtered her way through Pandaemonium and kicked the Emperor’s ass in two turns. Just for fun, I revived the other three party members and made sure they survived the battle. They did, because the Emperor didn’t get much of a chance to do anything before getting a Blood Sword to the face and the rest of him blown up by a fully-powered Ultima spell.
By the way, if you’re wondering why Firion and Guy have stats, well, the game automatically revives them at key points throughout the plot. I usually entered battle after that to level up Maria and figured the enemies would just kill Firion and Guy off. Maria killed the enemies so quickly Firion and Guy managed to survive a few battles and level up some stats before I got tired of that and just had them bludgeon themselves to death.
Finally, I don’t know why Maria’s shield bar is full while the rest are empty. 16 is the maximum level, so 16 with a full bar is the same as 16 with an empty bar. For some reason, shield continued to gain experience while nothing else did, even swords, with Maria using the Masamune to slice her way through the Jade Passage and Pandaemonium.
Character award: Maria
Maria is the first female Final Fantasy protagonist, although some will argue that the White Mage from the first game was female. Honestly, I could never tell, so the distinction goes to Maria. Personality-wise, the characters of this game are kind of blank, so I can't really comment there.
Villain rating: okay
I actually like the villain being the leader of the evil empire. It's refreshing after fighting demons and megalomaniacs. Of course, the Emperor then conquers Hell, so after that it's classic Final Fantasy fare.
Gameplay rating
Like Final Fantasy I, the gameplay was great.
Difficulty rating
If you spend time leveling your stats/skills, the game becomes an absolute joke. I suppose if you didn't spend time training, the game could be hard.
Storyline rating: okay
There's nothing too special about the storyline, but it's not bad either.
Quote award
“Who…are…you…?” – the Emperor
…after Maria kicked his ass in two rounds.
Overpowered award
I was going to give it to the Blood Sword, but honestly, the Blood Sword is only overpowered against the last boss, and the last boss isn't exactly hard. I'll give the award to the Osmose spell instead. A fully-powered Osmose spell (level 16, backed by 99 Intelligence) will usually siphon 100% of the enemy's MP to the caster, up to and including the last boss. This means that the later enemies in the game, which rely on magic to pose a challenge, become pushovers, especially when you remember that in my game, Maria was immune to physical damage because she dodged everything.
Final boss: the Emperor, who bafflingly managed to take over Hell despite being pathetically weak