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LTTP: Final Fantasy II | Fear and Loathing in Palamecia
- Thread starter styl_oh
- Start date
Definitely give IV another shake. As someone who somehow managed to get through the PS1 version of it, the DS game left a bad impression on me as well.
It's a legend. I can't bring myself to hate Final Fantasy II. Its incredulous nature alone makes it more interesting to me than its NES brethren.
Oh no doubt about it. My disdain for it is completely personal.
When I first got it, I did not care for the augment system at all. What I wasn't aware of was how necessary it was to progression. I got all the way to...I think the Giant of Babil until I realized my party was too weak stat wise to continue, because I didn't even tough augments. I dropped the game afterward.
I still have it sitting on my shelf and may go back to it at some point and start over, but I'd rather revisit the game through FFIV Complete on my Vita.
Hmm...not super familiar with the Origins version (other than it's based on the Wonderswan remake), but here's what I can tell you:
- Keep Shields on for Evasion gains; Evasion & AGI only go up if enemies actively target you with Physical attacks. I woudn't worry about trying to go out of your way to level it up. Just keep Shields on and keep going through the game.
- Pretty sure Stat Losses are still in Origins, so you may wanna be mindful of that. (i.e. if your STR goes up, your INT may go down, etc.)
- Keep a wide spread of Elemental Magic available; some enemies have extremely high Defense and Magic can usually cut them down to size.
- Likewise, some Support Spells can be VERY useful later on (Berserk and Haste notably).
- Vast majority of Status Spells (Stun, Break, Death, Stop, etc.) are useless unless they're leveled up...and even then, you can probably whack enemies to death faster.
- The exceptions to this are Toad, Teleport, and Warp since they have actual uses.
- You seem to have figured this out, but different armor types have different Weight assigned to them; Higher Weight will slow a character down in battle.
- "Armor" is usually pretty heavy, "Curiass/Plate" is a bit lighter, and Cloth-like armor (Robes, etc.) are the lightest.
The DS remake is by far the hardest in the series. I love IV but I tapped out of that one real early due to the number of times my characters got 1-shot by field-trash monsters and knowing it would only get worse from there on.
Yup. It's legit very hard.
The first half isn't too bad, but the second half basically requires you've been paying attention to the Augment system or you're in for a very bad time.
That said, some of the Endgame encounters often feel like straight-up BS. (Especially Red Dragons which can instantly murk 4/5 of your Party with Thermal Rays.)
Underrated as hell Boss Theme
Below is probably my favorite rendition of the song though it's not the wonderswan original but I prefer how this sounds compared to the WSC original. Though both this arrangement and the original both have some FF prelude motifs worked in which sadly is lost in the above arrangements that are used from Origins/GBA/PSP/Smartphone, onwards.
Below is probably my favorite rendition of the song though it's not the wonderswan original but I prefer how this sounds compared to the WSC original. Though both this arrangement and the original both have some FF prelude motifs worked in which sadly is lost in the above arrangements that are used from Origins/GBA/PSP/Smartphone, onwards.
ff2 ost is awesome rebel army theme the goat
also the main theme is great
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Great info, thank you! Yeah, I have shields on all the time, except when Maria is using a bow in the back (which makes me think I'll be switching her back and forth the whole game--she's almost always in the front actually, with a lance, because her HP was simply too low and not getting any higher).
Everyone's agility seems fine; Guy's is still the lowest at a mere 7 (compared to, say, Maria's 27), and I'm doing the Kas'ion castle, but so far he also has the highest HP and can take it. I'm assuming it's the fifty tons of mythril armour I put on him, so maybe later I'll have everyone wearing light(ish) armour.
As for Warp, I was wondering how in the hell I'd even level that up if I just used it for getting out of a dungeon, but I guess in battle it's kind of also the 'X-Zone' of this game. (Is Warp separate from Teleport?) And thanks for telling me about Toad, I probably would have skipped that.
And I learned the hard way about magic: those turtles you virtually can't hit with anything but ice.
Sorry for going on but finally: yeah the stat drops are there, though they make sense I think if we're playing by classical archetypes. I don't mind Maria's STR going down in favour of INT because she's a mage. Firion, allegedly my white mage, is a tricky case because he, at least right now, is both casting a fair few support spells as well as fighting with a sword on the frontlines, so his stats are swinging around all the time. Maybe it'll work itself out. I heard someone say not to make a 'Red Mage' in this game, but he's starting to look like one.
Warp and Teleport act as insta-kill spells in-battle. It's a little goofy since all of these Status spells have different properties (Body, Mind, Matter).
However...the game doesn't spell out what spells have which properties (though the Bestiary does tell you what monsters are weak/resist/immune to).
Admittedly, Warp is less useful than Teleport since it only boots you back a floor, but it also boots you back more Floors as you level it up.
As for Toad...
it's just used to access a secret version of the Snowcraft Minigame if you level it up to 16. Lets you get way better prizes like Endgame gear.
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I haven't been updating this thread as much as I progress because, as with the first game, at a certain point I'm not really sure what I can say; my impressions solidify and typing 'I went to a town, experienced plot sequence, and was sent to another dungeon' would get a bit redundant.
That said, I rescued PrincessLeia Hilda! Her doppleganger turning into a snake in the bedroom (if that sounds loaded with subtext, that's because it is; Firion, you absolute cad!) was pretty crazy. Caught me off guard.
I had a major speedbump at Deist though: the giants came back with a vengeance, and in greater num... as normal enemies. Thankfully I now have a nearly foolproof method of dealing with them, until the next impossible obstacle comes my way. Which may well be the wizards that recently cast every spell in the game on my characters resulting in a toad-ridden game over. I'll be back to murder those bastards tomorrow morning. (And re-rescue Hilda, because I guess she's not rescued if I died promptly on my way out of jail.)
I find the difficulty in this game almost, but not quite, just right. There's almost always something--usually just one thing--that throws a gear in my plans. Often this comes in the form of tough love--I really should have levelled that spell a bit more, eh*. In a sense, with this game being so malleable, I think that it'd be almost impossible to advise someone in general on how to go about things. You'd quite literally have to look at their stats, the gear choices they've made and perhaps especially their spells. That kind of game, in turn, would be pretty hard to balance.
every time you close your
*SHIELD!!!!!!!!!!! (lies) curseBLINK!!!!e!y!e!s!!!
that ancie nt swo rd from ba ck whe n yeah I bet you forgot YEAH YOU FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT DIDN'T YOU WELL IT WAS THERE FOR A REASON Y
your BL I ND!!!!! eyes black with sleep deprived. crescent s ok shut up e.e. cummings and on with the show--
I actually felt real bad when the last dragon died. Also, 'use the egg on the pond', yeah I'm playing an RPG alright.
Also, there's something about this game that reminds me of FFIV, and it's not just the Star Wars thing. I can't remember what, maybe some stray line of dialogue... is IV a loose sequel? Is there some connection?
That said, I rescued Princess
I had a major speedbump at Deist though: the giants came back with a vengeance, and in greater num... as normal enemies. Thankfully I now have a nearly foolproof method of dealing with them, until the next impossible obstacle comes my way. Which may well be the wizards that recently cast every spell in the game on my characters resulting in a toad-ridden game over. I'll be back to murder those bastards tomorrow morning. (And re-rescue Hilda, because I guess she's not rescued if I died promptly on my way out of jail.)
I find the difficulty in this game almost, but not quite, just right. There's almost always something--usually just one thing--that throws a gear in my plans. Often this comes in the form of tough love--I really should have levelled that spell a bit more, eh*. In a sense, with this game being so malleable, I think that it'd be almost impossible to advise someone in general on how to go about things. You'd quite literally have to look at their stats, the gear choices they've made and perhaps especially their spells. That kind of game, in turn, would be pretty hard to balance.
every time you close your
*SHIELD!!!!!!!!!!! (lies) curseBLINK!!!!e!y!e!s!!!
that ancie nt swo rd from ba ck whe n yeah I bet you forgot YEAH YOU FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT DIDN'T YOU WELL IT WAS THERE FOR A REASON Y
your BL I ND!!!!! eyes black with sleep deprived. crescent s ok shut up e.e. cummings and on with the show--
I actually felt real bad when the last dragon died. Also, 'use the egg on the pond', yeah I'm playing an RPG alright.
Also, there's something about this game that reminds me of FFIV, and it's not just the Star Wars thing. I can't remember what, maybe some stray line of dialogue... is IV a loose sequel? Is there some connection?
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Well, I did Mysidia tower in one run... I didn't think that would happen. I essentially experienced the sunk cost fallacy via this tower.
Go until I beat the first boss -> well, I could warp out now, then it'd be easier on the way up, but I may as well get that treasure in the next floor-> well, this boss seems similar, so I'll just kill this one -> well, this is yet another elemental giant so let's just kill him then I'm 100% for sure pinkie promise going to bed -> well, the guide says this is the last boss here, so I may as well beat him then turn it off -> [1am] well, there's only two floors left and I'm not warping out at this point, it's all or nothing... and what if my Vita runs out of battery in my sleep... I MUST FINISH THIS
And so I did.
Now, a lot of people seem to have trouble with that tower. It's the imps. You can find 8xIMP at a time who could, theoretically, cast level 16 Muddle on everyone, causing your entire party to kill itself.
But like, they weren't a problem, and I'm almost wondering why. Did a lot of players abuse the HP bug while neglecting to build Agility? I know one streamer famously thought he'd be fine with ridiculous numbers of HP--thousands right off the bat--and the game became unbeatable, because starting, from what I can tell, about halfway through, this particular game isn't about getting hit and taking it--it's about not getting hit at all. Ever.
Point is, one imp confused me once, and since I also hadn't power-levelled my strength or weapons, I wasn't even good enough to take myself out. They have extraordinarily low health, and even at this point I think your party should be fast enough to take two turns, thus blasting those imps to oblivion in 2x4 chunks, before the ball even drops, as it were.
I hope none of that sounded elitist. I followed a guide so I could get a handle on these stats, which are invisible. I could more or less name two or three real flaws with this game, and one of them is undoubtedly not telling you about the penalties--always use a shield, don't wear heavy armour, maybe explain about EVADE#-EVASION% period&c.
Speaking of, despite having read said guides, I still don't fully understand EVASION%--I know I have 99 of it on a couple characters and it doesn't go up like a normal stat, which I think means I have 99; I tested that by unequipping gear. And yet it's preceded by another number that does go up, but very, very slowly and I suppose randomly. Every other stat gets quite high, but this one sticks around at 4 or 3 with a percentage attached. It seems to be working though, so I won't question the dark magics of its formulae. I can't imagine a real power-leveller trying to max every stat in this game though, jiminy xmas...
Onto... somewhere!
Go until I beat the first boss -> well, I could warp out now, then it'd be easier on the way up, but I may as well get that treasure in the next floor-> well, this boss seems similar, so I'll just kill this one -> well, this is yet another elemental giant so let's just kill him then I'm 100% for sure pinkie promise going to bed -> well, the guide says this is the last boss here, so I may as well beat him then turn it off -> [1am] well, there's only two floors left and I'm not warping out at this point, it's all or nothing... and what if my Vita runs out of battery in my sleep... I MUST FINISH THIS
And so I did.
Now, a lot of people seem to have trouble with that tower. It's the imps. You can find 8xIMP at a time who could, theoretically, cast level 16 Muddle on everyone, causing your entire party to kill itself.
But like, they weren't a problem, and I'm almost wondering why. Did a lot of players abuse the HP bug while neglecting to build Agility? I know one streamer famously thought he'd be fine with ridiculous numbers of HP--thousands right off the bat--and the game became unbeatable, because starting, from what I can tell, about halfway through, this particular game isn't about getting hit and taking it--it's about not getting hit at all. Ever.
Point is, one imp confused me once, and since I also hadn't power-levelled my strength or weapons, I wasn't even good enough to take myself out. They have extraordinarily low health, and even at this point I think your party should be fast enough to take two turns, thus blasting those imps to oblivion in 2x4 chunks, before the ball even drops, as it were.
I hope none of that sounded elitist. I followed a guide so I could get a handle on these stats, which are invisible. I could more or less name two or three real flaws with this game, and one of them is undoubtedly not telling you about the penalties--always use a shield, don't wear heavy armour, maybe explain about EVADE#-EVASION% period&c.
Speaking of, despite having read said guides, I still don't fully understand EVASION%--I know I have 99 of it on a couple characters and it doesn't go up like a normal stat, which I think means I have 99; I tested that by unequipping gear. And yet it's preceded by another number that does go up, but very, very slowly and I suppose randomly. Every other stat gets quite high, but this one sticks around at 4 or 3 with a percentage attached. It seems to be working though, so I won't question the dark magics of its formulae. I can't imagine a real power-leveller trying to max every stat in this game though, jiminy xmas...
Onto... somewhere!
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You know, the way Cid dies in this game is remarkably similar to the way he dies* in FF6. Hurled around the world in a cyclone, body not working like it should anymore, dies in bed in someone else's house.
*Should die. Can die.
*Should die. Can die.
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My fucking Holy Lance disintegrated the first time I used it as an item. THE Holy Lance I should say, the only one, the best of its kind... I'm the type of person who just might reload after that, because Maria was to be my spear-brandishing black mage mistress of death... but I'm 7 fucking floors into literal Hell, with probably 10 more to go, not stopping now*!
*until my inevitable demise
*until my inevitable demise
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not quite that honor would go to Warmech in FFI in the Sky Fortress
There's some similar stuff like the Dragoons and Mysidia, but beyond that...there's nothing really tying them together.
Then again, they went and made a nod to IV in later versions by naming the Dragoon kid Kain, so take that as you will.
Oof. Yeah...they didn't fix that in Origins I guess. In that version and the OG game, Weapons that had an effect when used as an Item were instantly destroyed upon usage.
They went and changed that in later versions to where that doesn't happen.
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Actually, the other weapons didn't break... googling it, apparently it was a Holy Lance thing. I've been using my Masamune for Hastex12 (lol) and the Rune Axe can do Fog...
Anyhow, I'm on the 10th floor of Pandaemonium and honestly... it started a little tough but I swear to god the encounters get easier as you go up. That or my skills just increased that much. It's honestly gotten to boring 'hold A to win' territory.
Anyway, time to kill the king!
seeya later sportsfans
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I helped write one of the first English guides to the game, back when the ROM was originally dumped.... with the whole 'attacking your own party members' and 'select a spell then cancel it to grind spell levels' bit.
I kinda like 2, though a lot of it is nostalgia... as said before I helped with one of the first English guides and also helped beta the Neo Demiforce translation. I enjoy the dark, foreboding tone of the game... the character deaths... the loopy, intense music (the boss battle song is awesome)... the crushing challenge at points. Although 3 is by far the best game out of NES Era FF (and doesn't nearly get the amount of love it deserves), I think 2 gets a bit of unnecessary hate. It's certainly very clunky but as said above the atmosphere is unparalleled in Famicom-era RPGs.
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Holy shit! You've been around. Which I think I noticed in one of my previous threads.
The Fight Clubbing of your own party doesn't seem necessary, but in retrospect, I could see doing the select/cancel just to give yourself more variety of useful spells; they level so slowly I really only had about 4 I stuck with in the end (minus the obvious Cure and such). By the time I got things like Holy I was virtually in an endless run of final dungeons and didn't really feel like grinding em out. Perhaps in that way the PSP remake would have its merits, with the faster levelling and all.
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Finally, we have him in our grasp! The man who sunk Final Fantasy 2! The true final boss... TIESTO
Just kidding of course, that honestly sounds like groundbreaking work
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lmao
lmaoooooooo
Tiesto cannot undo what he has wrought. Taste the ban! (mods you know what to do)
Yeah Final Fantasy II have some bad design choices.. but it gets so much undeserved bashing.
I love FFII and specially the world map theme, it's one of the best I've ever heard.
I love FFII and specially the world map theme, it's one of the best I've ever heard.
Did the GBA and PSP releases of FF2 rebalance the gameplay similarly to the rereleases of FF1 on these systems? I played FF1 and 2 through the PS1 remakes, which had QoL improvements on the gameplay side of things, while keeping the difficulty and challenge quite high. In the case of FF2, the game was so hard that I had to power level inbetween every single dungeon, which quickly became tedious and boring. Were it not for my teenage years where I didn't have any responsibility, I would have dropped the game. FF1's difficulty, on the other hand, was well-balanced, and I quite enjoyed my playthrough of it.
I didn't play FF2 again after that, but I did play through FF1 again on GBA and PSP. These rereleases of the game made the gameplay pretty much braindead, which was a huge disappointment, as the PSP remake is such a looker. Just gorgeous artwork everywhere, and the best rendition of the game's soundtrack yet.
I'm curious to know from anyone here if they were ever in a position to compare the PS1 remake of FF2 to its following rereleases on GBA/PSP. Was the gameplay rebalanced, and if yes, is it better or worse, in your opinion, to the PS1 remake?
I didn't play FF2 again after that, but I did play through FF1 again on GBA and PSP. These rereleases of the game made the gameplay pretty much braindead, which was a huge disappointment, as the PSP remake is such a looker. Just gorgeous artwork everywhere, and the best rendition of the game's soundtrack yet.
I'm curious to know from anyone here if they were ever in a position to compare the PS1 remake of FF2 to its following rereleases on GBA/PSP. Was the gameplay rebalanced, and if yes, is it better or worse, in your opinion, to the PS1 remake?
They definitely smoothed out stat progression so you don't have to commit yourself to grinding for them as much from the GBA port onwards, you can still get cosmic amounts of HP for the beginning of the game and even sequence break and head to mysidia first thing in the game once you grind a bit at the start and enjoy the perks of all their end game-ish shops, if you really wanted to do all that cray stuff.
if you spend like maybe 3-5mins grinding your HP stat and then proceed with the start of the game it should play out smoother compared to the FF Origins release if you were to do the exact same thing there. Evasion is a god tier stat and this is the only FF where you can dual wield shields and have godlike evade for your mages but they wont get the MAG stat bonuses from weapons but it you can grind for more MAG if you want to offset that or otherwise take the stat hit for increased sturdiness for the mages since most physical attacks in this game are accompanied by status ailments from various trash mobs but again there are spells you can grind lvls for to get access to screen wipe nukes (teleport spell can instakill if leveled properly on top of its dungeon utility)
Build variety here is one of my faves, and while there are guest characters there is a additional scenario available post game that features them and the stats and builds and gear they were left with, the PSP release also features another post game dungeon for the main cast to tackle as well. So the newer ports offer more content to tackle with whatever builds you happen to make on your journey.
GBA port added either post game/side super bosses and PSP/Mobile/Steam ports kept those additions and added more endgame content and bosses on top of it. This goes for FF1 and FF2
if you spend like maybe 3-5mins grinding your HP stat and then proceed with the start of the game it should play out smoother compared to the FF Origins release if you were to do the exact same thing there. Evasion is a god tier stat and this is the only FF where you can dual wield shields and have godlike evade for your mages but they wont get the MAG stat bonuses from weapons but it you can grind for more MAG if you want to offset that or otherwise take the stat hit for increased sturdiness for the mages since most physical attacks in this game are accompanied by status ailments from various trash mobs but again there are spells you can grind lvls for to get access to screen wipe nukes (teleport spell can instakill if leveled properly on top of its dungeon utility)
Build variety here is one of my faves, and while there are guest characters there is a additional scenario available post game that features them and the stats and builds and gear they were left with, the PSP release also features another post game dungeon for the main cast to tackle as well. So the newer ports offer more content to tackle with whatever builds you happen to make on your journey.
GBA port added either post game/side super bosses and PSP/Mobile/Steam ports kept those additions and added more endgame content and bosses on top of it. This goes for FF1 and FF2
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Oh wow, I'm so glad this gem of a thread got bumped. What an amazing read! Props to styl_oh for the entertainment. Cracked up more times than I count reading through it all. And I'm really glad you gave this game a fair chance and noticed the TES similarities. When you view it as it's own thing like that, rather than expecting a typical FF experience, it really is a good game for its time, and while it's hard to resist punching yourself in the face every now and again it's certainly far from a requirement.
And now that I've read the comments recommending FF3 so highly, I'm off to Google the best way of playing that game in 2021...
And now that I've read the comments recommending FF3 so highly, I'm off to Google the best way of playing that game in 2021...
Yea my first playthrough I thought it was annoying but for Kashuan Keep I think it works well as that is meant to be in ruins and then it clicked (many years and a few replays later) that it kind of reinforces how desolate this world is on the brink of collapse under Imperial conquest and rule (though of course its more that its still a NES game but I like it when a game's limitations can reinforce an idea it's trying to convey by my view at least).
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Oh, thank you so much! And to be honest, FF3 was my next game, and, uh... suffice to say, after a few promising open hours and what I imagined would be a long-running, promising thread as well... it, or at least the DS/PSP/Etc remake, was by far my least favourite of the first three (or any FF I've played). I felt I had to cleanse my soul with some more Dragon Quest.
Whatever else can be said about Final Fantasy II, it gave eventual birth to the greatest FF vocal arrangement of all-time:
Gosh, I miss Risa Ohki.
Gosh, I miss Risa Ohki.
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for ff1, the NES and PS1 (on original mode) are the most faithful. that also means the most difficult, but it retains the original D&D-derived mechanics (pay for a spell book, you can only learn a few spells per spell level and can only cast them a few times before resting) whereas the GBA remake and onward are based on the PS1 'easy mode' and change it to MP like other FFs (so you could have 99 MP and cast mad spells).
basically turns it into a different game. NES and PS1 are basically the original/real FF1 (PS1 has bug fixes and SNES-esque graphics), PSP has higher res graphics if you just want to blow through it and see what it's like.
for 2 I know less but i think the remakes didn't 'gut it' as much, as in that weird levelling system is still there... i've heard recommendations for the PSP version of 2... maybe somebody could chime in and help you more
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i highly recommend this article by the excellent nadia oxford
The Best Version of Every Final Fantasy Game
The Final Fantasy series is one of the Great Ancients of the RPG genre. There are a lot of games, and more confusingly, even a single Final Fantasy game can ...
www.usgamer.net
PS1 if u want difficulty GBA if you want a slightly easier game. Main quest is much easier but the side dungeons with super bosses can be pretty challenging if you do them as you unlock them as they're unlocked as you make your way beating the 4 elemental fiends.
As someone who enjoyed FF1 ( I replay it and FF2 annually) I actually went out of my way to look for mods for it my absolute favorite way to play FF1 is using the Mod of Balance difficulty patch but later patch versions redid job balancing by removing the class upgrade and adding new jobs. All 12 of which you select before you begin your adventure, the jobs appear glitched when selecting them but appear appropriately with their edits once you begin the game proper. I'll just copy-paste from the readme that's included:
EDIT: I recall he mentioned in a earlier patch readme he couldn't get Magic resist to code properly without linking it to Luck so those two stats now rise in tandem hence why it's described in such a way for the Rogue class description.
On top of the job system being reworked the modder adjusted a lot of mechanics under the hood, elemental weakness and such are more prominent, status ailments are more common, gear is rebalanced and not everyone can equip everything unless its their gimmick like Knight so making a balanced party increases your chances of making use of the various gear you come across. As well as uncapping HP and MP stat ceilings. The biggest change is the Dawn of Souls dungeons being made less tedious but still very dangerous so the encounter rates were lowered but the enemies can actually kill you if you take them lightly, though he did up the encounter rate in lava rooms since a old trick to avoid encounters in those rooms was to walk on the lava and while that still works you gotta top yourself off and have the resources to do so when you begin to trek on solid ground or you're liable to get sniped.
Essentially the mod rebalances the game with the assumption that you now have a modern MP system in place as opposed to the vanilla port where bonus content was added along with the MP system but the difficulty was not scaled up with that in mind. It is by far my favorite way to play FF1. As a bonus he even does a pass over FF2 and rebalances it so the stat growths are smoothed out even more to make it less tedious to lvl stats. He also adjusted spells and even relocated some of them most notably Haste can no longer be bought but must be found. you can still create a classic line up but you simply have to decide if you want your Knight or Rogue to remain in their class or if you want them to begin the game in their prestige classes.
The same modder also has a patch I use on my FFV GBA replays, FFV patch TLDR: assignable actions from jobs now are accompanied by stat bonuses like equip sword or shield would give bonuses to STR and Stamina just for equipping them and you can remove the Fight and Item commands for even more slots to customize, jobs were also rebalanced with the added customization in mind and the game was made more challenging to accommodate player freedom but it's not a brutal difficulty patch. Quoted are some of the changes but essentially the game is opened up earlier in terms of customization.
His mods are available from his website (his website also has detailed change notes to various item changes as well as full spellbook lists for each magic using class and the like) which is where I downloaded them originally but chrome is showing it as insecure connection now for full disclosure. But I recently re-downloaded them from Romhacking.net so if anyone reads this post and is interested in revisiting FF1 & 2 Dawn of Souls or FF5 GBA ports with a modded twist I heartily recommend these patches they were difficult but not overbearingly so. Just make sure you use the proper primary hand for weapon equips in FF2 as there is a shield bug he couldn't exactly get rid of that resulted in 0 dmg swings if a shield was held in that character's dominant hand. The one thing I'm uncertain of is how viable a mono job team would fare in the modded FF1 environment but I imagine it would be a hell of a ride if it's even possible. This particular modder has a number of mods for various Might and Magic and Wizardry installments as well but I have not tried them as I didn't grow up with them like I did FF.
EDIT: FFV mod I have not completed as I lost my save file and haven't gone back to it since but I made it at about the halfway mark and I found it enjoyable.
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Well, everyone mostly answered the FF1 question, so I'll just stick to answering for FF2.
The NES/Famicom version is a neat little relic, but it's got bugs and some very annoying stuff like limited Inventory (by the end of the game, nearly half of your Inventory for items is locked to Key Items that you get rid of) and some spells don't seem to function properly. The PS1 version is prolly a nice middle ground as it fixes some of the Famicom version's bugs, adds some nice QoL (like Auto-Targetting), and still retains some things from the original like Stat Drops.
The GBA version (and remakes/ports onward) make things a lot easier by removing the Stat Drops and giving you periodic HP increases every so many battles. The Inventory cap is removed (thank god) and there's a few other fixes to some things. The PSP version is largely the same as the GBA version except it looks prettier and they added some more bonus dungeons/fights. The Mobile versions are based off the PSP version, IIRC.
So if you want something pretty close to the original Famicom game, then go PS1 (Origins), otherwise any of the other versions after that are fine.