Category Archives: Final Fantasy Marathon

Final Fantasy Marathon: Freelancin’ Ain’t Easy – Final Fantasy III #2

As yet bereft of the iconic Jobs that would go on to define this particular installment in the Final Fantasy series, our heroes are tasked with seeking out a naughty old Djinn.

It’s not a quest they can really walk away from, either; a significant number of people in the vicinity have been turned into ghosts by this malevolent dark power — and of course, no-one but a bunch of freelancin’ kids could possibly go and sort out the whole problem.

While it’s a daunting challenge at first, it doesn’t take long for our heroes to build up their confidence at fighting — and before you know it they’re toppling their first significant challenge, proving themselves worthy of the title “Warriors of Light”.

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Final Fantasy Marathon: A New Adventure – Final Fantasy III #1

It’s time for a whole new Final Fantasy — this time the third installment in its PSP incarnation, itself based off the Nintendo DS remake by Matrix Software.

I was all set to start recording these on actual hardware (PlayStation TV in the case of the PSP titles) but regrettably I discovered that Square Enix of Europe has been… less than fastidious in keeping their back catalogue updated with PSTV support, so we’re emulating again, I’m afraid — and we will be when FFIV rolls around, too, since that doesn’t work here in Europe either!

Ah well. It’s the game itself that matters, and Final Fantasy III is certainly an interesting and important installment in the series, so let’s get started on a whole new journey. And don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube to stay up to date with the Final Fantasy Marathon and all my other series!

Final Fantasy Marathon: True End – Final Fantasy II #23

This is it! We’re beating Final Fantasy II today! Well, okay, we’ve already done that, technically, but today our gruelling journey through postgame story Soul of Rebirth finally comes to an end!

It’s been a challenge, for sure, and a real test of how well you know how to manipulate Final Fantasy II’s progression mechanics. And I won’t lie, at times it’s been extremely frustrating. But finally reaching that conclusion and knowing it was my own hard graft that took that party from being a pile of useless twats to Emperor-toppling badasses… it felt kinda good.

Final Fantasy III coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy the video below and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Final Fantasy Marathon: The Great Escape – Final Fantasy II #22

Did you know that the Teleport spell does not work in the Unknown Palace? I did not.

As such, I took Minwu and company deep into said dungeon “just to see how far we could get” and then decided that we’d turn back when I ran out of Ethers. Unfortunately things turned out to not be quite that simple. At all.

Enjoy the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Final Fantasy Marathon: High-Intensity Stat Training – Final Fantasy II #21

Sometimes, you know you’re just not up to the job. And you know that you have two choices at that point: give up, or work hard to overcome the obstacles in your path.

Minwu and company decide to take the latter path. Interestingly enough, they manage to take down Ultima Weapon with relatively little difficulty, but as soon as they set foot in the strange inverted form of Pandaemonium, they get their arses kicked again.

Clearly some training is in order. And in Final Fantasy II land, I’m sure you know what that means. Let’s get it over with!

Final Fantasy Marathon: Give Me Strength – Final Fantasy II #20

It isn’t easy being dead, as Minwu, Scott, Josef and Ricard have been discovering in their afterlife adventures.

I’d heard before starting that the Soul of Rebirth postgame scenario could be a bit grindy if you hadn’t prepared the characters beforehand in the main game… but, well, I didn’t prepare the characters beforehand in the main game, so guess what we have to get cracking with?

Still, it’s interesting to be challenged by this game again — particularly with a new lineup of characters that I’m having to figure out the best way to make use of.

Final Fantasy Marathon: Soul of Rebirth – Final Fantasy II #19

With Final Fantasy II down for the count, it’s time to move on… to Final Fantasy II’s postgame story, originally added in the Game Boy Advance version.

Soul of Rebirth, as it is called, casts you in the role of all the characters who died in the main narrative, and invites you to check out what they’re getting up to in the afterlife. And, indeed, to discover that one can still get one’s ass well and truly kicked even if one is already dead.

Soul of Rebirth is hard. But we’re not giving up, no siree — we’re seeing this thing through to its conclusion, however long it takes!

Final Fantasy Marathon: Pandaemonium – Final Fantasy II #18

Today, we beat Final Fantasy II once and for all! Well, apart from the Soul of Rebirth story added in the GBA version, of course, but we’ll deal with that when we come to it.

We have a couple of significant obstacles in our path though: the Jade Passage and Pandaemonium dungeons! The latter in particular is quite easy to get lost in, as I find out to my great cost… but it does at least have some rather tasty treasure to enjoy if you happen to stumble across it.

Pack a lunch, sit down and enjoy, as we take the fight to the Emperor and attempt to save the world from invasion by Hell itself!

Final Fantasy Marathon: Give Me My Ragnarok – Final Fantasy II #17

Our quest is nearly at an end! Today’s challenge is finishing off the Arcane Labyrinth and proving to Deumion once and for all that we are worthy of wielding the legendary weapons he guards.

If I wanted to, I could go back and do the whole thing again in the hope of getting legendary weapons for some of the other characters… but I won’t subject you to that right now. Especially not since Maria and Guy are both using staves rather than the bow and axe that Deumion would provide for them!

Next time, we’re on track to beat the game… after a few mishaps, of course…

Final Fantasy Marathon: The Arcane Labyrinth, Part 2 – Final Fantasy II #16

Today we continue Final Fantasy II’s endgame with the second part of the Arcane Labyrinth challenge — the goal: Firion’s ultimate weapon, the Ragnarok sword.

Each keep of the Arcane Labyrinth has a different number of floors. The first has 5, the second 7 and the third 10 — nowhere quite as sprawling as Final Fantasy’s Lifespring Grotto and Whisperwind Cove here, thankfully!

Today, we take on the 7-floor keep, steamrolling through the floors we previously completed before running into a Giant-sized roadblock…