Hey! Welcome to my awesome Final Fantasy 2j walkthrough! This will be for the FF2 that came out on Origins, because.. well, it's different from other FF games! How? I'll explain here!

Actually, this will only be a character and level up guide, since Square decided to do something new with the level up system. So, without further ado....

Characters! - Who they are and what they're meant to do (by my standards, of course!)

Name: Firion
Gender: Male
Starting stats: 30 HP, and 5 MP. About 5 in every stat too
Personal Quote of mine: "Hey, it's Tidus! Oh wait..."
Desc.: This is your main character, and he'll go pretty much any way you want. Most guides say you should train him with a sword and shield, but I trained him with a staff and white magic. He seems to level up much faster than any character in everything except agility. Basically, what he is depends on how you want to play the game. Also, does anyone else notice that he looks like Tidus in the FMVs?

Name: Maria
Gender: Female
Starting stats: 20 HP, 5 mp. About 5 in every stat too
Personal Quote: "WTF is with her hair!?"
Desc.: Another main character, Maria specializes in Magic better than any character. Most guides say to train her in both magics and a bow, and I agree, although until you get the Ice Bow, I trained her with her fists, as they have more attack than most weapons until late in the game. She levels up very quickly with Intelligence, but keep in mind that means she'll have low strength unless you keep her away from Black magic.

Name: Guy
Gender: Male
Starting stats: 40 HP, 5 MP.
Personal Quote: "I bet he could win with his fists alone."
Desc.: Guy is the third main character and your typical musclehead. He looks scary, and if you equip him with two axes, he WILL be. His strength will be what saves your butt in big battles, although he is also adept with magic if you train him enough. I trained him with two (yes, two, fools!) axes, and with White Magic. He levels up quickly with Spirit, Strength, and getting HP. This guy rocks!

Name: Mindu
Gender: Male... I think
Starting stats: 175 HP, 105 MP
Personal Quote: "He looks like Shadi except... more cooler and he has hair!"
Desc.: Mindu is your first ally in the game and is respectfully dubbed the White Mage of the game. He has basically every white magic spell with the exception of Holy, and he's gotten them all on over level 6. He's great with a staff, so keep him with it. Don't get too comfy with him though, he leaves your party rather quickly. And when he did, I cried for days.

Name: Josef
Gender: Male
Starting stats: 235 HP, 5 MP.
Personal Quote: "Duuuurh...."
Desc.: I've got nothing to really say about this guy. He's a fighter, so keep him working with his fists. He's not good with magic, but major training may change that. He joins you in Salamando and leaves when you get out of the Snow Cavern.

Name: Gordon
Gender: I'm PRAYING he's actually a guy
Starting Stats: 64 HP, 5 MP
Personal Quote: "Oh look, they introduced FF4's ancestor..."
Desc.: If I had three words to describe Gordon... THIS GUY SUCKS! For when you get him, he has a pitiful amount of HP, and it's pretty hard to level him up. Sure, his base stats are about 25 for everything, but don't start going "Sami, what are you thinking!?!?" He sucks. That's just all there is to this guy. And what's worse? You keep him for quite a while too. It's a shame his brother had to die, but he got to live. I think he should've died so his brother's last thought would be "Wow, my brother was a freaking LOSER!!" But he does have a spear, so train him with it and hope he goes and kills himself with it later.

Name: Leila
Gender: Female
Starting stats: 150 HP, 20 MP
Personal Quote: "A pirates life is a life for me... Yo... WHOA!"
Desc.: Man, I love this chick. She absolutely rocks! She levels up quickly with everything, and will no doubt be your fastest ally. She stays with you for a long time, so you have plenty of time to train her. I keep her with a sword AND dagger simoultaneously equipped, plus she has Bolt magic at level 2. Basically, she's a backup for any job.

Name: Richard
Gender: With a name like Richard, you should know.
Starting stats: 549 HP, 5 MP
Personal Quote: "I wonder if he's bald under that helmet..."
Desc.: Well, does he LOOK like a mage to you? This guy, like Josef, is a fighter through and through. He has a sword, so stick with it. Sure, he sucks with magic, but mere attack kinda is the way to go with this game, so what's one less magician going to do?

Name: Leon
Gender: Male
Starting stats: 1098 HP, 5 MP(!?)
Personal Quote: "Oh look, it's the reject."
Desc.: Okay, can someone please tell me what's with his MP!? He has none!! Sure, he rocks with attack, but he needs magic to win too! And by the time you get him, you'll be so strong you won't need him! Oh well, you'll have to deal with him through the rest of the game once you get him. Keep him trained with a sword, even though he might be better with an axe. Oh, and give him any useless magic you get from chests. Chances are he won't use magic much. Don't feel too bad if he sucks. I didn't.

And now for the Leveling up - The way it never should've been!

So, you have your HP and MP. But what's Endurance? What the heck is Spirit!? What's the Intelligence for? Well, don't fear. That's why I made this guide. So, before we begin the leveling up, let me give a quick rundown on the status... things.

Also, as a note, sometimes if one stat rises, another will decrease. The actions you take in battle affect what raises what.

HP - Your health. This is the most important stat to raise. Without this, you're dead. Literally. This is raised by getting hit with stuff. So, in short, raise your HP by attacking yourself in battle. Sure, it's considered suicidal, but it works better than letting the monsters do it for you!

MP - Your magic. You need this to use SPELLS. Without this, both SPIRIT and INTELLIGENCE are useless. Want to level this up? Use spells in battle and waste your MP!

Attack - How much damage you do in battle. This is directly affected by whatever weapons you have on currently. You need better weapons to raise this stat.

Accuracy - How well you actually hit the enemy. This stat isn't important, because even with a high accuracy score, some weapons still don't hit their opponents well. To raise this, use your weapons.

Defense - How much damage you take. The higher this is, the less damage you'll recieve from enemies. This is affected by the armor you wear. Want more defense? Get better armor.

Evasion - How well you dodge attacks. I'm not sure how you gain this, it seems to be totally random. I guess you have to get hit more to raise it.

Magic Defense - How well you defend against magic. This is both affected by battles and by the type of armor you wear. At high enough levels, spells may even fizzle out, missing you entirely! To raise this, use magic on yourself.

All of those stats can be raised without the risk of decreasing something else. But wait, there's more stats to run by. These are the stats you need to pay most attention to, because they can and eventually will cancel each other out.

Strength - Determines what damage you do when fighting without a weapon. Raise this by attacking a lot in battle.
Cancels out - Intelligence. Ah, the pun of brawn vs. brains...

Endurance - Affects the amount of HP you get at a "level up" of HP. Raise this by being hit in battle.
Cancels out - Nothing

Spirit - Affects how well you use WHITE magic, and how quickly you recover from temporary status ailments. Raise this by using WHITE magic spells.
Cancels out - Strength.

Agility - Affects how fast you go in battle and how well you run away. This is raised randomly although rumors say that choosing FLEE in battle will help.
Cancels out - Nothing.

Intelligence - Affects how well you use BLACK magic and how much damage from magic you take. Raise this by using BLACK magic spells.
Cancels out - Endurance.

Magic - Affects how much MP you get at a "level up" for MP. Raise this by using ANY magic spell or magic spell items like Hellfire or Unicorn Horn.
Cancels out - Nothing.

Now the fun part of listing weapon levels! Yes, weapons have levels too, and each one affects how well you use that weapon and also tells you what that character is best with. For example, one character may be better with fists while another is better with daggers. Each weapons level status is indicated by a little icon of said weapon and numbers next to it. For example...

[FIST] - 1-0

That means that your FIST weapon (barehanded) is only on level 1, with 0 EXP to get to the next level. Here's a list of all weapons you can level up.

Fist
Dagger
Sword
Staff
Axe
Spear
Bow
Shield
Also, all three main characters start out on level 1 with every weapon, and have no weapons to begin with.

Now, how do you raise your stats? How will you know what you're getting? When will your weapons level up? You'll never know! You could "level up" once every battle or twice a year depending on how you play. Here are a little known tips to help you out.

Know the Switch Glitch

Yeah, sounds funny, but this is one thing that'll really help you. The way the level up system works is that it only adds experience for when you CHOOSE an option, not if you actually execute it. Say for example, you want to raise Firion's SPIRIT, but you have only 5 MP and are pretty sure you can't. Well, just make sure he has a spell that's at level 5 or less and select it. Maria's turn will come up. This is important. PRESS THE O BUTTON TO GO BACK TO FIRION'S TURN! Now choose the spell again, and when Maria's turn comes up, cancel and repeat. After about 10 times of doing this, go ahead and kill the enemies. I can guarantee you'll get SPIRIT raised at the end of the battle, and maybe even MAGIC or the chosen spell's level. Do the same with leveling up your weapons, only this time, choose to attack instead of casting a spell.

Consider your strength as well as your enemies

You want some HP, but you're stuck fighting wussy IMPS, right? Well, here's what you do. Attack yourself. Sounds suicidal, right? Well, no worries. Chances are you're far stronger than those IMPS, and remember that you have to LOSE HP in order to "level up" in HP. However, I don't recommend trying this with any enemies except IMPS and STRANGLERS. After all, this IS a bit suicidal, especially when you're first starting out.

Get double the EXP with 2 weapons

We all know Guy kicks major butt with an axe, right? Well, what can we do to ensure that he reaches maximum axe-killing potential? Why, just equip him with TWO axes! Yeah, I admit, it may get costly near Mysidia, but just think for a minute. He'll get twice as much experience in Axes with 2 of them, and he'll most probably be able to wipe all enemies out with but a blow, therefore getting you more money faster! Likewise, you can equip two weapons at a time to max out two different weapon skills (though you don't get double EXP for either equipped weapon this way.)

Why waste MP when you can use items instead?

Well, this is a valid question with an easy answer. You don't need to use your spells and waste precious MP to gain MAGIC! You just need to use an item with a spell effect! For example, let's say you equipped Maria with a HELLFIRE, you want her to be a mage, you're in a dungeon, and you need to conserve MP for Cure. You're also in a battle again a mean ICE GOLEM. What to do? USE THE FREAKIN' HELLFIRE! It'll work just as well as Fire16, maybe even better, and you'll get the MAGIC experience anyway! Even better, you'll have those 16 MP to waste on Cure! So, if you get a Slumber Stalk and decide to sell it, DON'T! DON'T DO IT, EVEN FOR YOUR LIFE! You'll never know when those little "let's level up in a lethal dungeon" urges kick in.

Running's not such a bad thing

It's rumored that running raises your Agility, and it's true. Fleeing is not very successful in this game, but it serves the purpose of making your characters faster. Select flee for the character you want to use, and combining with the switch glitch, repeat for a few times. After a while, end the fight and I can guarantee your agility will rise. However, this only really works if you have four people in a party to successfully raise three people's agility. Otherwise you're stuck raising just one guy's agility.

Be on the lookout for stat-raising items

These are often much better than normal armor, and much more expensive. And if that's not the kicker, they raise an attribute by 10 points! Holy, that's a lot of points for a stat boost! And even if they're weaker than what you're wearing, get those armors anyway! Here's a list to look for: Titan Gloves/Helm, Thief Gloves, Gold Hairpins.

And that's the basics of leveling up. After I experiment some more, I'll add on other strategies. I sure hope this helps, so happy trails on FF2j! ~ Nekogal #3