Final Fantasy 1 spells are some of the most powerful attacks in the game. This is the game that saved Squaresoft from studio closure and, with it, created a legendary franchise that we’ve all come to love. This game introduces several core gameplay elements that we’ve become familiar with; things such as party members, encounters, item usage, Cid, and spells were all introduced with this game. I’ve recently taken a journey in this game to finish it for the first time when Final Fantasy got ported to mobile devices and took time to discover just some of the incredible spells this game has to offer.
This version is the PS1 remake so this will be the version I’ll be covering as the NES version is rather buggy.
Final Fantasy 1 Spells: White Magic
Final Fantasy 1’s white magic largely focuses on healing, buffing, and removing status conditions. White magic is also used to increase elemental resistance and resist effects like death. White magic contains some of the best spells in the game, including mass healing spells like Healaga (HEL3 in the NES), making it a great option for healing. It heals an average of around 250 points per use, which is just under half the health of my black wizard, and it can sustain the party until the next use.
Other great spells you have are ones that are defensive. With Protera you can boost the defense of your entire party. Spells like NulBlaze and NulFrost reduce elemental damage by half. NulAll is the best resistance magic to use as it reduces all spell damage by half, although NulDeath is a good one too as it resists death effects.
Offensively, white magic doesn’t hold back. Against undead a white mage or wizard is unsurpassed. Daija (HRM4 on NES) is the best spell to use on a mass of undead. It’s only usable on undead, but this game is full of undead enemies for you to make full use of this spell. One of the best offensive spells in the game is Holy. This spell will defeat most enemies with one use and it hits all enemies on screen. Make sure you have the 40,000 gil to pick this spell up!
Final Fantasy 1 Spells: Black Magic
Black magic in Final Fantasy is primarily used for offense with a hint of debuffing enemies. With the ability to deal with massive amounts of damage to all enemies, you won’t be short on options to use. Black magic also has instant kill options that have lower accuracy but can be good options when you come face-to-face with 9 enemies.
Options for instant death include spells like Warp, Quake, and Scourage can affect all enemies, except bosses, and quickly end the fight. While these spells aren’t consistent, the feeling you get when one of these works makes up for the lack of consistency. Black magic also has instant kill options that only affect 1 enemy at a time, but you should also expect the same level of consistency.
Black Wizards have more consistent options for dealing damage with Firaga, Thundaga, and Blizzara being able to hit every single enemy for a decent amount of damage. While these spells will not deal as much damage to a single target as a knight or blackbelt, on a greater number of enemies you can easily surpass the damage you can do with 1 spell. The best option you can use is Flare as the game’s most damaging spell.
Flare deals non-elemental damage to all enemies and can average around 525 points of damage per target. Since this damage isn’t elemental, boss resistance to elemental damage won’t affect your damage output. In late-game boss fights my black wizard’s only job was to cast this spell. This spell is a really useful endgame spell as some of the fights can get tough.
One of the least talked about utilities of black magic is the ability to buff your party. With haste, you can increase the number of times other characters can hit at a time, greatly increasing their damage output. You also have an option called Temper that raises the attack by 14 points. This spell was bugged in the NES version but works in the remake versions.
Overview
Both white and black magic in Final Fantasy are essential for a play-through. The good news is that with the remakes the way the spells are used is changed. In the NES version, you only had so many casts of a specific spell level, much like spell slots for a wizard in DnD. In the remake, it was changed to use MP instead. It feels like in this version casting spells is more welcomed as you have more uses.
This game can be difficult, more difficult than most sequels in the series. Being able to use more spells is a great feature. I remember playing the virtual console version of this game and making it to the point where you have to impress Bahamut in order to get a class upgrade. That trial Bahamut gives you in the NES version is so unforgiving that I didn’t touch the game for years until it came out on mobile.
I hope this little guide helped you out! It was nice to play this game again and finally beat it to capture footage for this piece. I have a love for these older games, such as the Age of Decline for the Zelda games. You should also come with me as we explore the glitches in the original Legend of Zelda! I also have other great content you should check out as well!
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