HCBailly plays Final Fantasy - Part 6 of 38

"You think running around in this game is going to be easy? Well, guess what? Welcome to 1987! You're gonna die, you stupid n00b!"

All maps by x_loto.

World Map

You want to know one thing in the original NES version of Final Fantasy that really sucks? You can only buy multiple copies of the same item one at a time. Every. Single. Time.

Anyway, let's head northwest of Elfland and head to the ruined castle that's there.

Northwest Castle

Map

Find the King in the throne room. He'll tell you to go south to the Cave of Marsh, and to bring the crown directly to him.

Before you do that, let's head back to Elfland.

Elfland

Map

If you have a Black Mage in your party, the Large Knife will prove useful. A Thief will benefit from a Sabre. If you have a Fighter and/or a Red Mage, get a Silver Sword.

As for armor, get the Iron Armor for the Fighter.

Get as close to 99 Heal Potions as you can. If you get the time and money to do so, max out.
Get 15 Pure Potions as well.

The magic shops in Elfland sell both Level 3 [b]and[/b] Level 4 magic spells.

For black magic, Fir2 and Lit2 are stronger versions of Fire and Lit, respectively. Hold Paralyzes an enemy. That brings us to Lok2. Unlike other versions, where it decreases enemy evade by 20 percent, it's buggy in the NES version and actually increases enemy evade by 20 percent. Fail. Slp2 is a stronger version of Slep, while Conf is a Confusion spell. Ice2 is a stronger version of Ice, and is actually pretty useful as it obviously deals more damage (and hits all enemies). Fast doubles the hit rate of melee fighters, which makes it extremely useful against bosses and worth giving to the Black Mage and/or Red Mage.

For white magic, Cur2 heals more damage than Cure and is useful for both the Red and White Mages. Heal is like Cure, but it hits everyone. (Healing spells are always good.) Hrm2 is a stronger version of Harm, and can put down those undead monsters that are likely to stun you. AFir protects against fire-based spells, and while you won't need it now, it'll prove useful later. Pure cures Poison much like the Pure Potions, while Fear causes the enemy to be more likely to run away. You could get AMut, but there's only one or two enemies in the entire game that can Mute. AIce, on the other hand, is essential as there are many enemies that have Ice-based attacks. You won't need it in the Marsh Cave, but it's definitely going to be useful later on.