Gamer Corner Guides

Back in Altair

Cid drops you off just outside of Altair, then leaves to resume his transportation business in Poft. Rest at the inn and sell off any excess items you've obtained, then head into the rebel headquarters. Several people will mention that the king's condition is worsening, even though the princess has been helping to care for him. Gordon will leave the party when you enter the king's chambers, so remove any important gear you've given him. He will rejoin later (in the exact state and with the same equipment) so this is less urgent than it was for previous Characters who left.

The king requests that Gordon command the rebel army while Minwu seek to unseal for the forbidden magic. Your party is asked to seek out the dragoons of Castle Deist. Speak to Gordon back in the throne room to learn the [Dragoons] Keyword. Ask him about [Dragoons] and he'll tell you that only they can understand the language of [Wyverns]. The old man in the room will tell you that Deist Island can be found off the eastern sea. Of course, you don't currently have a ship. One other thing to note is that if you visit Hilda in her room, south of the king's, she is certainly acting oddly.

A Ship in Paloom

With no other leads as to where to find a ship, you may as well start by checking the port towns of Paloom and Poft. Fortunately, your problem is solved quite quickly by a woman, Leila, offering a ride to Deist Island near the entrance to Paloom. Even your party smells a trap, but you have no choice but to go along anyway and spring it. Board the ship outside of town (the one along the coast, not the ferry in the town docks), and you will end up having to defend yourself against eight Pirates. Reminiscent of a similar fight in FFI, this is a very easy battle against weak foes. Once you win, Leila will join the party and you'll permanently gain control of her ship.

Leila is an interesting Character, theoretically equipped to be a lightly armored fighter/mage. Unfortunately, due to the high magic penalty of swords (not to mention bows), that doesn't actually work very well. She's also dual-wielding (note that her left hand is dominant), which also doesn't really work. (The off-hand weapon will have an attack animation, but no attack is actually made with it.) She has high Agility and a decent Evasion Level, so you'll probably want to stick with relatively light armor. The Main Gauche from the Dreadnought will boost her Evasion even more due to her knife skill level. You could continue dual-wielding, moving the Main Gauche to her main (left) hand to take advantage of its power while training her sword skill, but with a shield you can raise her Evasion high enough to equip some heavier armor without much loss.

Leila also starts with Thunder at level 2. The magic penalty from her weapons will blunt its usefulness against Monsters who aren't weak to Lightning, but you'll find plenty of those on the Ocean, so you'll have plenty of opportunity to use the Spell if you want. You can even forego a shield, have Leila use only a knife (or two), and make her a decent caster with light armor. Her Gold Hairpin works well in this setup, though it's also a powerful piece to give to a mage. It offers a lot of Defense and Magic Defense with a very small Magic Penalty, but perhaps its best benefit is a +10 Agility bonus, which if nothing else will help back row mages gain Agility after battles. Keep in mind that bonuses to the same stat do not stack, so you won't get +20 Agility if you equip a Gold Hairpin and Thief's Gloves to the same Character.

Sailing the Ocean

With the ship, you now have more freedom than you've had before. Practically speaking, there are only two newly accessible areas—Deist Island and the Tropical Island—but the ability to move quickly around the map will speed up the game considerably. Note that once you strike out well away from home, inns are hard to come by on the Ocean, so it pays to have some Cottages available.

Unfortunately, FFII's odd World Map makes sailing trickier than it might otherwise be. Deist Island is actually not too far west of Altair, but you can't sail that way. All the towns you've been to so far are along a central inner sea, and you won't find anything new within it. You'll need to sail south and east to find a path between two landmasses. From that strait, you'll be in the outer sea. You can find the Tropical Island southwest of here, while Deist Island lies to the southeast. Make liberal use of the B-Select button combo to bring up the World Map so you don't get lost.

Ocean Encounters feature only four different Monsters, one of which (the Helldiver) you've seen before. Buccaneers are relatively easy to kill, though their double attack is powerful enough to cause worry. They appear in large groups, have no Elemental weaknesses, and tend to drop a good deal of gil. The other Ocean Monsters, the Killer Fish and Sea Snake, are vulnerable to both Lightning and the Trident found in the Dreadnought. Groups of Killer Fish can be taken down with a mid-level Thunder Spell, but aren't a significant enough threat that you need to spend MP on them. Sea Snakes, on the other hand, are very tough. They have a lot of Defense and HP, and their three attacks deal a lot of damage and inflict Poison. A single mid-level Thunder can take one out, but in large groups there's no easy way to take them all out quickly.