Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > Final Fantasy: Nerds in Paradise > Final Fantasy II > Best character set up for a newbie?

[Xurts]

Originally Bespoken by Sephiroth1999AD

Originally Bespoken by FuzZerd

I vagauly remember bows causing you to gain a lot of strength, which causes you to lose black magic power, so i just equiped her with with 2 sheilds and made her a pure black mage, (with the important cure and such). also you should probably be warned that its usually a bad idea to put people in the back row.

I don't know about that, but Bows and Shields are the weapon types with the highest penalty for Intelligence and Soul/Spirit. That's why you should never equip a mage character with a Bow or a Shield. On the other hand, Knives, Staves and Fists don't reduce Int and Soul much, so they're pretty good choices for a mage.

If I want to make Maria a mage, what do you/anyone else suggest I have her use? Canes or daggers? What about shields?

I just started playing FF2 today, so advice is appreciated.

[Hazzard]

Xurts, I think you're best of equipping Maria with a cane, and lodging her in the backrow.

I, on the other hand, equipped her with a bow and she was also my Mage, and it never affected her Intelligence or Spirit stats, maybe it's different in the GBA version? She done major damage in the backrow with a bow, and made battles a lot more easier, also I conserved a lot more of my magic than usual.

[Sephiroth1999AD]

Originally Bespoken by Hazzard

Xurts, I think you're best of equipping Maria with a cane, and lodging her in the backrow.

I, on the other hand, equipped her with a bow and she was also my Mage, and it never affected her Intelligence or Spirit stats, maybe it's different in the GBA version? She done major damage in the backrow with a bow, and made battles a lot more easier, also I conserved a lot more of my magic than usual.

You can't attack from the back row if you're using a cane. I've never seen my stats go down in the GBA version, so maybe it really is different there?

As for Maria's weapon, I used the traditional FF setting of having the white magic user equipped with a staff/cane, and the black magic user equipped with a dagger. I can't really recommend shields for mages because they seriously hurt both Intelligence and Soul/Spirit stats, at least in non-GBA versions.

[Hazzard]

Originally Bespoken by Sephiroth1999AD

Originally Bespoken by Hazzard

Xurts, I think you're best of equipping Maria with a cane, and lodging her in the backrow.

I, on the other hand, equipped her with a bow and she was also my Mage, and it never affected her Intelligence or Spirit stats, maybe it's different in the GBA version? She done major damage in the backrow with a bow, and made battles a lot more easier, also I conserved a lot more of my magic than usual.

You can't attack from the back row if you're using a cane. I've never seen my stats go down in the GBA version, so maybe it really is different there?

As for Maria's weapon, I used the traditional FF setting of having the white magic user equipped with a staff/cane, and the black magic user equipped with a dagger. I can't really recommend shields for mages because they seriously hurt both Intelligence and Soul/Spirit stats, at least in non-GBA versions.

I didn't say she attack from the backrow with a cane, but you might as well give her that or a dagger.

[Xurts]

Okay, great. She has a cane and no shield right now so that should be fine. I'm playing on a NES emulator, btw.

[tidus_rox]

I thank you all, too, as I was going to make this very thread!

[Crossblades]

Originally Bespoken by Sephiroth1999AD

You can't attack from the back row if you're using a cane. I've never seen my stats go down in the GBA version, so maybe it really is different there?

Stats don't go down in the GBA version. But it does in the NES and PS1 version

[Cyric]

Originally Bespoken by Sephiroth1999AD

Crossblades' party setup sounds good. Alternatively, you can equip Guy with Fists, which cause a lot of damage and are very inexpensive. Last time I played the game, I made Frioniel a White Mage with a staff, Maria a Black Mage with a knife/dagger and Guy a fighter with double axes. The fourth character was somewhat specialized already when you got him/her in your party. I think Leonhart had either a sword or a lance and a shield, and some low-level magic. A sword is recommended for one character, though, since Masamune and Blood Sword are really useful.

So, are you saying to have an additional Sword-user on top of Leon or just Leon alone is good?