Final Fantasy II

About This Game

Gameplay

Final Fantasy II features gameplay similar to that of its predecessor, Final Fantasy. The player can freely roam an overworld containing several towns and dungeons. A menu-based system allows the player to outfit each character with equipment and up to two—often disposable—items for battle. Magic spells are assigned to the character from the item menu, and certain spells, such as "Cure" can be used outside of battle. The player can also save their progress on the overworld. Weapons, armor, items, and magic spells can be purchased at shops, and townspeople provide useful information for the player's progression through the game. One new feature is the "Word Memory" system: when in conversation with non-player characters (NPCs), the player can "ask" about and "memorize" special keywords or phrases, which can later be repeated to other NPCs to gain more information or unlock new actions. Similarly, there exist a handful of special items that can be shown to NPCs during conversation or used on certain objects, which have the same effect.

History

Production of Final Fantasy II began after the success of the original Final Fantasy, with its developer and publisher Square having increased the number of copies manufactured to fund a sequel. According to Akitoshi Kawazu, after the first game's release there was a wish to do something different. The game's staff expanded a little compared to the first game, but it was still a relatively small team of around ten people. Series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi was director, and Kawazu co-designed with Hiromichi Tanaka and Koichi Ishii, The producer was Masafumi Miyamoto, founder and former president of Square. Programmer Nasir Gebelli returned from the first game.