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After the surprise success of Final Fantasy, Square quickly moved forward with a sequel, and Final Fantasy II arrived on Japanese store shelves just 364 days later, on December 17, 1988. Since the original Final Fantasy wasn’t designed with a sequel in mind, Square took the opportunity to explore new directions in gameplay and story, resulting in a game that felt fresh and innovative compared to its predecessor.
A New Direction for Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy II brought back key figures from the original development team, including Hironobu Sakaguchi, artist Yoshitaka Amano, and composer Nobuo Uematsu. The game’s story opened with four young survivors fleeing their hometown of Finn, which had been attacked by the Emperor of Palamecia. Unlike the original, there was no prophecy about saving the world. The heroes of this tale evolved into specific archetypes: a humble warrior, a cautious mage, a monk, and a morally conflicted dark knight. Importantly, the characters’ classes were now tied directly to their identities, offering no opportunity to upgrade or change classes as in the first game.
A major departure from the original Final Fantasy was the removal of the traditional leveling system. Instead, Final Fantasy II introduced a more dynamic progression system. Characters leveled up individual attributes—such as hit points, strength, magic power, agility, and evasion—based on how frequently those abilities were used. This system allowed players to customize their characters’ growth more directly. For example, focusing on magic power could weaken a character’s melee abilities, forcing players to balance their strategies. However, this opened up possibilities to exploit the system by having party members attack each other to artificially boost stats in battle.
Final Fantasy II also experimented with a new questing system. Players had to memorize key terms from NPC dialogues, which would later be referenced in conversations to unlock further story progression. Though the system could be time-consuming and prone to trial and error, it added a sense of interactivity and immersion to the gameplay.
Memorable Additions to the Franchise
While many of the new mechanics introduced in Final Fantasy II didn’t carry over into future games, some iconic elements first appeared here. For the first time, players could control less than four party members, with characters like the white wizard Minwu and the pirate Leila coming and going throughout the story. Several characters even died throughout the game, raising the emotional stakes in a way that was new to the series.
The game also introduced the now-famous Chocobo, a bird-like companion that helped players travel across the map without enemy encounters. Cid, a character who would become a recurring name and face in the Final Fantasy series, made his debut here as an airship pilot. These additions—Chocobos, Cid, and airships—would become staples of the franchise moving forward.
The Rise of Final Fantasy III
After the release of Final Fantasy II, fans had to wait 16 months for the next installment, Final Fantasy III, which debuted on April 27, 1990. Once again developed by the original team, the game built on the innovations of its predecessors while introducing new systems that would continue to influence the series.
Final Fantasy III opened with four orphans from a floating island discovering the Wind Crystal, which bestowed upon them the ability to choose different job classes. Unlike previous games, where players were locked into specific classes, Final Fantasy III introduced a flexible job system. This allowed players to switch between various professions, including newcomers like the Archer, Geomancer, Viking, and Bard. Each job came with unique abilities, adding a deeper layer of customization.
One of the most notable additions was the introduction of Summoner jobs, allowing players to summon powerful creatures such as Odin, Shiva, and Ifrit. These summons would go on to become a core feature of the series. Additionally, Final Fantasy III introduced the Moogle, another iconic creature that would appear in future games. Moogles helped players manage items and played a role in the game’s story.
The story of Final Fantasy III centered around a balance between light and darkness, with the four orphaned heroes tasked with restoring equilibrium to the world. They faced a malevolent mage named Xande and a sentient entity known as the Cloud of Darkness, which threatened to consume the world.
Final Fantasy’s Growing Legacy
Although Final Fantasy III was overshadowed in North America by the release of Final Fantasy VI (renamed Final Fantasy III in the U.S.), it introduced several key elements that helped cement the series’ reputation as a leading RPG franchise. With a rich job system, summoning mechanics, and expansive world, Final Fantasy III represented the most ambitious RPG Square had made to that point.
Both Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III pushed the boundaries of what was possible in RPGs, with innovative gameplay systems, character development, and world-building. These early installments solidified Final Fantasy as a franchise capable of both reinvention and consistency, laying the groundwork for its future success as one of the most beloved and enduring RPG series in video game history.
As of July 12, 1990, the original Final Fantasy was finally released in North America, giving English-speaking gamers their first taste of the adventure that had captivated Japan. Little did they know, the franchise was only just beginning to take flight.
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