So I'm going to play through the original Final Fantasy

>>4019937
>Will I need a strategy guide to get through it considering its age
If you're used to hand holding I guess you could have problems. But do try to think for yourself. NPCs will give you hints about where to go next, and new areas become explorable in a probably obvious order most of the time. Nothing is very obscure in Final Fantasy, unlike some other games from the time. What not to expect: cutscenes outright telling you 'go to spooky place, get thing'.

As for grinding... I dunno about you being 'supposed to grind', but you're not likely to need to grind more than once in the game, around Elfland and the Marsh Cave. Even then, it's more about learning to control your resources in dungeons than it is gaining experience points.

Always keep a stock of 99 potions

>>4019937
Don't grind at the beginning. You'll end up wasting all your gold in the first town.

If you're new to JRPGs from this era, you might need a guide from time to time. The NPCs can be vague, and you're meant to explore. That can be daunting if you aren't used to it.

>>4020032
and 99 pures

if youre having a hard time with a boss youre probaly just unlucky. it is literally faster to reload a save and go through the dungeon and hope for more crits in the fight. keep your highest def chars in the top row (swap if they get low hp) NEVER HEAL IN BATTLE. also never focus on a single target, spread your damage, also half the shit in the game doesnt work. things like weapons might not do as they suggest, magic spells are static damage (regardless how high your int is), and some do nothing

Since it's your first time through, I recommend at least one Warrior and one Red Mage in your party.

Avoid Black Belts. They're either worthless (if you don't know what you're doing) or stupidly OP (if you do know what you're doing).

Get scans of the manual, it contained a walkthrough for the earlier parts of the game.

>>4019937
Keep in mind that if you play the NES version that there are tons of bugs and almost none of them work in the player's favor. (i.e. spells that do nothing, spells that do the opposite, weapons without their extra effects, etc.)

>>4020702
If OP is willing to apply a patch, there are mods that fix just about everything glitch wise. And there are some that make the game play a little more bearable (Just being able to buy more then one item at a time is a god send.)

File: 1487111968522.jpg (97KB, 540x729px) Image search: [Google]

97KB, 540x729px

>>4022749
>emulating

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11KB, 226x223px

>>4022960

If he wasnt emulating, he'd be pricing you out of carts, ballbag.

eye strain from the flickering when you cast spells .

>>4019937
An unfortunate reality of FF1 is that you're going to have to grind a lot.

General Tips:
Your party setup will dictate how annoying, and how grindy your playthrough is.
Thief is terrible, and only gets barely passable after Job Change.
Monk starts off weak, but becomes a powerhouse later on.

Fighters are consistently powerful. My advice is take 2 or 3 of them.

Red Mage is strong but expensive early on, but won't get access to the best magic.

White mage is deceptively useful. Taking one is not bad.

Black Mage is powerful against AoE, which will help with early grinding at the Penninsula of Power, but kind of tapers off later since fighters and blackbelts can routinely out damage them after a certain point.

My advice: Probably do 2 fighter 2 redmage. This gives you access to FAST and decent killing power and support early on. Or you can do Fighter Fighter White Black which is a more specialized party but behaves similarly to 2fighter2 redmage. Thieves are garbage and should be avoided.

Figure out where the penninsula of power is and abuse it to level up and getmoney early on.

A guide, and map especially will be incredibly useful, even for just general knowledge.

It's grindy, so prepare to grind a lot.

I beat it for the first time about 6 months ago and it took just under 18 hours, at least 8 of that was purely spent grinding.

>>4020032
>>4020058
This is good advice

http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1631/

Patch and play. Shit's not all broken anymore. Also no you don't need to grind that much if at all. If you must, you'll also be able to spot monsters/locations that will be efficient pretty quickly. Use-Magic items are your friends.

>>4019937
Don't get discouraged at the marsh cave, it's brutal and will kill you from poisoning.
And Make sure to have either a red or white mage in the party

>>4022960
You're aware that you can play patched roms on a console easily using a flashcart, right?

>>4019937
other people have covered things fairly well. most of the time progression is straightforward, but it really pays to talk to NPCs and remember important clues (ie stuff people want).

as for difficulty, it doesn't hold your hand and it can be taxing at times. alot depends on your party composition.

the fighter is a tank with consistently strong damage output. he should always be in row 1 unless you want to handicap yourself.

the white mage is situational, but a dedicated support character is very worthwhile, and she can destroy the undead with HARM. if nothing else, her hammer is more effective than the black mage's dagger. almost every effective party has her in row 4.

the monk/blackbelt starts off slow, but keeps getting better with levels until he becomes a powerhouse. once you get to around elfland you should unequip nunchucks for the rest of the game. also take off wooden armor, although the bb SHOULD wear bracelets/ribbons/rings (since these provide defense without reducing evade). around level 12 he'll start really paying dividends, and it only gets better from there. bb also has the advantage of being inexpensive, unlike fighters who need equipment and mages who need spells. I like to put bb in rank 3 unless I have 2 white/black mages already. he's like artillery: strong on offense, lacking in defense.

the red mage is the jack of all trades. he has decent coverage of black magic (all fire/ice/lit spells) along with a lesser extent of white magic. however, he gets spell charges slower and can't learn level 8 spells. he has decent melee offense/defense, but none of f/bb's power. he starts off strong, but hits a plateau in the lategame. I like to put him on rank 2.

black mage: squishy but can nuke enemies. in the original game, some of his instakills and debuffs are glitched and don't work properly. more spell charges than red mage and NUKE, the strongest offensive spell in the game.

continued

>>4023923

thief: nope. he's dead weight until the class upgrade, when he becomes useful and versatile as a ninja. however, most players don't see the investment as being worth it.

so like I said, depending on how you mix and match the characters strengths and weaknesses, the game can play very differently.

best parties:
fighter/redmage/blackbelt/whitemage: well balanced and versatile, I beat the game with this not too long ago. the redmage will power you through the beginning, and as he falls off the blackbelt takes over. keeping the blackbelt safe in rank 3 is quite useful. also, the redmage should specialize in black magic.

fighter/fighter/blackbelt/whitemage?: any party with 2 fighters is overpowered. more than 2 is redundant, you should use a blackbelt instead. then either whitemage for support/harm, or maybe redmage.

fighter/redmage/whitemage/blackmage: the magic users party. fighter as tank is vital for making this work. you'll get lots of magic power with this combo along with decent balance.

fighter/blackbelt/whitemage/blackmage: the instruction book recommends this for beginners. well balanced, but it's straightforward and not very creative.

avoid BALLS TO THE WALL meme jokes or all melee parties in general. they can't deal with undead, and it's more fun to use magic sometimes than just mashing attack. all mage parties are also very unbalanced and will make the early game too difficult.

>>4019937
use fighter/thief/black mage/red mage. the only proper party

>>4020058
Just want to say, I don't think I've ever used 99 pures over an entire game, let alone needing 99 at once. So that money would be better spent on weapons and spells.

20 or so should be more than enough for any particular dungeon. Also keep in mind you're very unlikely to need them at all until after the second town.

>>4023968
The problem with Thief is that even as a Ninja, he's barely passable.

Out damaged by Knights and Masters. Out tanked by Knights. Less gear options than Knights, and their black magic is basically worthless besides Fast, which you could've already had with a Red Mage or Black mage. Red Wizards are weaker, but have so much more utility through the whole game that it's better than a Thief/Ninja.

The Thief/Ninja is -objectively- the worst class in FF1. There is no reason ot take them besides wanting a challenge.

>>4024019
this is true, and I agree.

Red Wizards are useful throughout the game, and even at endgame you can use them for item casts.

also, I should mention how ranks work. each rank has a chance of taking hits from enemies; they are as follows:
1. 4/8 (50%)
2. 2/8 (25%)
3. 1/8 (12.5%)
4. 1/8 (12.5%)

so 3 and 4 are interchangeable.

the idea is to keep stronger characters closer to the front line, so fighter/tank is always on rank 1. for rank 2, either a second fighter, redmage, blackbelt (if he can't fit lower), or a thief (if you enjoy punishment). ranks 3 and 4 are for black/white mages, and the blackbelt if he fits.

>>4024019
ninjas are good when temper/TMPR works properly, but they're definitely trash in the vanilla game

Thieves are good when Luck, Temper and Haste work
So literally any version that isn't the NES vanilla version, the thief is amazing as most spells the red wizard can't learn aren't very strong. And the Ninja out tanks and dps' the Red Wizard

Best team I've found is
Fighter
Monk
Thief
Red or white Mage

>>4024192
even if thieves/ninjas work properly, you're still investing in a nerfed character until the class change. under no circumstances is the thief "amazing".

>Fighter
>Thief
>Monk
>Red or white Mage

ftfy. not a bad setup, but you want the monk/bb lower if possible. I believe thief has better defense.