Whew Missidia Cave was a long one. The encounter rate is getting a little bit tiring and is apparently even worse on the famicom. Firion and Guy are both hitting pretty hard now with the upgrades this week but Mariaās spells still feel a little weak. Idk if AOE spells just kind of stink in this game or if I should be focusing more on one damaging spell vs leveling them all sort of equally. Holy feels kind of underwhelming at lvl 6 so far but the animation is pretty. Maybe Iām wasting my time on Holy and should just wait for Flare.
My memory is starting to blur a bit but Iām pretty sure this is the worst dungeon in the game as far as Iām concerned.
I also think my black mageās main job in the end game was casting haste and berserk on my fighters.
This has been my strategy for boss fights but isnt as fun as nuking 6 guys in a normal encounter (not like my AOE magic is doing that anyway lol)
All the Famicom FFs have issues with balancing casters and fighters IMO, usually to the castersā detriment. I think their niche is meant to be in AOEing large groups of weaker enemies and occasionally exploiting elemental weaknesses, but it leaves them with nothing to do in boss fights. In FF3 the casters start strong and end strong, but spend a huge chunk in the middle being uncompetitive with what melee fighters are able to do.
In FF2 I did the same thing as you and constantly tried to keep my various damaging spells at the same level, but TBH it was a lot of micromanagement for not much benefit. If I ever played FF2 again I would probably try to skate by with just one or two elements, but I will never play FF2 again. I taught the buff spells to my melee fighters so they were self-sufficient, and Maria would just pivot to being a healer in boss fights.
At least FF2 had a plethora of useful support spells (blink, shell and protect are nice too). So far itās the most buff-oriented FF, if you decide to lean into it.
Another FF2 quirk Iāve heard is that Mini and Toad are basically instakill spells. So thatās another direction you could take your mages. I never really explored all the options in the game because the prospect of leveling up a new spell was so daunting.
Oh yeah I read that too. I never liked relying on coin flip spells instead of reliable damage though. Plus Iām fairly sure it wouldnāt help against most bosses.
Might be a fun build for a replay though, but like you I donāt intend to repay FF2 any time soonā¦