Firion from Final Fantasy II as portrayed in Dissidia.

So, February is Final Fantasy II month for our year-long 2013 Final Fantasy Playthrough Marathon!

I am utterly ignorant of this game except that it stars Firion, the dude (?) with a dead bird turban on his head. I’ve been taken aback by the candy red sword he brandishes on the Amano cover art. I noticed he also rocks a Swiss Armor Weaponry outfit on his Dissidia Trading Arts Figure figure. (At left, bad official photo. See this better fan photo gallery for close-ups.)

This is the only time I’ve ever seen a fantasy game character portrayed with all his weapons not hidden in an invisible Bag of Holding. It reminds me of a family trip when I was aged four, told I could only bring whatever toys I could carry, and turned myself into a Shambling Mound of Stuffed Animals by roping them all together into a tyke-sized tent that I wore like an aegis. So I’m wondering how Amano Dude fights with all his weapons strapped on. Wouldn’t he trip over the trident?

Which brings me to the one other thing I’ve learned about this game from the comments on Lassarina’s pre-game post: that the leveling is insane, and that you have to become proficient in individual weapons by hitting yourself with them. Or something. (Or, rather, that your proficiency with anything from weapons to spells to stats increases the more you use each thing.)

Once again, I’ll be playing the iOS version of this game, which is a port of the remastered FFII seen in “Final Fantasy Origins” (PSX), “Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls” (GBA) and Final Fantasy II (PSP). I have no gamer pride and feel no need to subject myself to the original, harder version of this game.

I have no particular expectations other than the fact that it’s early Final Fantasy, so I’m looking forward to nostalgia (and the first bona-fide chocobo and Cid). I confess that I’m dreading the infamous game mechanics in this one. Which means I’m totally going to overdo it on grinding.