Final Fantasy II

.

Final Fantasy II

Title

Final Fantasy II

Developer

Square

Publisher

Square

Director

Hironobu Sakaguchi

Producer

Masafumi Miyamoto

Artists

Yoshitaka Amano

Writers

Kenji Terada

Composer

Nobuo Uematsu

Series

Final Fantasy

Platforms

Family Computer

Release

December 17, 1988

Genres

turn based role-playing

Mode

single-player

Final Fantasy II is a turn based role-playing game by Square. It is the second installment of the Final Fantasy series and was directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi.

Synopsis

THE BIRTH OF A GENERATION

A long-lived pease is at an end. The emperor of Palamecia has called forth monsters from the underworld and begun his campaign for world conquest.

A rebel army arose in the Kingdom of Fynn to thwart the emperor's plans. But the rebels' castle fell to an all-out assault by the empire. Left with little choice, the rebels withdrew to the remote towan of Altair.

Four youths from Fynn also found themselves fleeing the imperial forces. They had lost their parents at the hand of the empire. But their escape wasn't over...

— GBA Box description of Final Fantasy II (translated)

Setting

The world consists of multiple kingdoms, including the Palamecian Empire and the kingdom of Fynn. The Palamecian Empire has begun a ruthless expansion, conquering and destroying it's neighbours. A rebellion is formed against the Empire, with it's headquarters being at Fynn Castle.

The destruction of Fynn Castle is the games beginning.

Story

Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon are attacked by Palamecian Black knight soldiers and are left for dead . While Firion, Maria and Guy are rescued by Princess Hilda, Leon remains behind. Princess Hilda has established a rebel army and Firion, Maria and Guy want to join, but Hilda refuses since they are too young and inexperienced. The three friends then decide to search for their friend Leon who remained behind, but instead they find Prince Scott of Kashuan, who turns out to be the fiancé of Princess Hilda. He tells them that a former general of Kashuan, Borghen, betrayed the rebellion and joined the imperials. The group notifies Hilda, who then allows them to join the rebels and asks them to find mythril. They find it in the north, where villagers are forced to work in nearby mines. They free them and kill Borghen, the traitor, and retrieve mythril.

For their next task they are sent out to stop the built od the Dreadnought, but they are too late; the airships takes of upon their arrival. They retrieve the Sunfire, a weapon strong enough to destroy the Dreadnought, but they witness how it kidnaps another airship with Princess Hilda on board. The friends rescue Hilda and then blow up the Dreadnought. Before leaving, Maria recognises that one of the Black Knight soldiers is their friend Leon.

The friends are then tasked to seek out the Dragoons of Deist, thoug they are seemingly extinct. Upon arriving in Deist, they find a mother and her son, they learn that all but one Dragoons are dead - killed by an imperial poison. They place the last wyvern egg in a cavern and return to the rebel base. There they find out that the Hilda they rescues is a lamia in disguise. They slay the imposter and rescue the real Hilda before successfully reclaiming Fynn from imperial forces.

They travel west where they rejoin forces with the last remaining Dragoon. When returning to the rebel base, they realise that many towns have been destroyed by a cyclone summoned by the emperor. The freshly hatched wyvern brings them into the castle within the cyclone and kill the emperor. But a Fynn soldier appears, telling them that Leon has taken over the empire's throne and is planning to erase the rebels and their army.

The friends then travel to Palamecia to confront Leon. There, the former Emperor appears in the throne room as a demon, revealing he has become the ruler of hell. He wants to destroy not only the rebel army, but the entire world. After a noble sacrifice the friends and Leon escape on the wyvern, before the Emperor turns the castle into Pandaemonium, the capital of Hell. Leon agrees to help sealing the emperor away. The party travels to the Jade Passage and find a way inside Pandaemonium, where they defeat the emperor.

In the additional Dawns of Souls scenario, the spirits of Minwu, Scott, Ricard and Josef arrive in Arubboth, the palace of Heaven and the twin of Pandaemonium. Within, a light version of the Emperor resides, who split from the Emperor after Firion killed him. He offers them immortality but visions from their loved ones shows them the light version is as evil as his dark counterpart. The party then defeats the light Emperor.

References in Final Fantasy XIV

General

• Firion's Outfit is the Veteran Rank 2 reward (subscribed for 240 days)

Legacy

• The servers Kashuan and Palamecia are references to their respective kingdom and empire.

A Realm Reborn

• The password "wild rose" was used by Minfilia to identify and recognize those aligned with the Scions. Princess Hilda used the same term.
• The Battle Theme 1.x Orchestrion Roll is a remix of the battle theme of Final Fantasy II.
• The Dreadnaught is one of the Final Fantasy II's Empires airships.

Heavensward

• The Wind-up Firion is a reference to the protagonist Firion.
• The Wild Rose Barding is inspired by the protagonist Firion.

Shadowbringer

• The Giant Beaver in Il Mheg is a reference.

Endwalker

• The Pandaemonium raid series have several references:
  • The fortress that was used by Emperor Mateus as he was revived was called Pandaemonium
  • The "dark version" of Lahabrea that is fought in the Abyssos: The Eighth Circle and in Abyssos: The Eighth Circle (Savage) is a similar constellation as in Final Fantasy II, as the dark version of the Emperor is fought within Pandaemonium
  • After defeating Hephaistos, Pandaemonium rises within the Aitiascope on the Source. This also happens in Final Fantasy II when defeating the Emperor.
  • Anabaseios: The Ninth Circle is a reference to the final levels of Final Fantasy II's Pandaemonium becoming more crystalline.
  • The Boss in Anabaseios: The Tenth Circle is a reference to the boss encounter Beelzebub in Final Fantasy II's Pandaemonium
  • Themis in Anabaseios: The Eleventh Circle is a reference to the boss Astaroth in Final Fantasy II's Pandaemonium. Their idle stances are similar as well.
  • The angelic from of Athena in Anabaseios: The Twelfth Circle is a reference to the light half of the emperor sent to heaven in the Dawns of Souls scenario for Final Fantasy II.

Images

• 
  Back of the SNES box of Final Fantasy II (translated)
• 
  Cover on Steam
• 
  Full artwork of the Cover on Steam and PSP Version