Leveling Up vs Equipment & Abilities

[HighwindPilot]

Do you think leveling up in this game is that important in this game? Or do you think power lies more in how you equip the characters?

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I always have a tendency to grind at the start of this game, but I never keep it up because it never seems to force me to. The reason for this is that the power or effectiveness of my characters seems to depend more on how I equip them or what abilities they learn.

IIRC, I was vastly under-leveled when I faced the bosses as a kid. And so on my replay now, I'm not stressing the grind any more than what I (unfortunately) have already.

What do you guys think? Is leveling up that important in this game? Or is it more about the other factors like synthesis, equipment, and abilities?

 

[DarkClaymore]

Probably leveling up more important.

I always equiped some random (and usually weak) weapons/cloths just in order to master some new abilities. And I hardly really used most of those abilities.
Even some abilities which I thought will be useful, turned out being either too costy or simply useless.
I am just that kind of player which tries to learn all abilities, whatever they are useful or not.

So since I haven't used many of the abilities and my equipment wasn't the best I can afford, I geuss I was relying mostly on my level. I can't say I really did much extra leveling, but I think I did some. Simply because I was avoiding battles in FFVIII and ended up being beaten by the final boss something like 4 times.
It'll be a lesson for the rest of my life...

 

[Sora_lion_heart]

Learn Vs Level

I've always had a stragedy when it comes to leveling up in FF games. If you can afford all the new equipment in towns, your ready to continue. Also I say that keeping on old equipment to learn abilities is a must. Not so much as leveling up (you'll do that as you learn skills).

 

[Volbia]

You dont need to level much, your stats barely go up from leveling (they actually go up more from equipping things that raise stats) ie +7 strength on zidane. if you level him up 98 times it will increase your strength a total of around 46. this works for the other stats as well. so you do not need to level up much at all unless you have good equipment on and intend to boost particular stats.

also I always have the habit of making sure I get every single skill before going to the next item. most of the skills are useless but you never know when you might need them.

 

[fizzman12]

Both, but abilities and equipment are more important. You need to level up to get your abilities maxed but you need equipment to get the abilities in the first place. And as you level up, so do your stats. So it's your choice.

 

[Lord Behemoth]

FF 9 I believe is the one FF where lvls matter the most...
First of all because of HP.
HP is very important and u dont have it very much trough the game.
Example in ff 7 and 8 u can have 9999 hp easly early in game.
So Its not the same to fight, lets say, Kuja on lvl 50 or lvl 90...

As for the equipment, they are always needed of course.
Except add-ons, there is not such a big difference with Ribbon or without it...

 

[.Mosh]

FF 9 I believe is the one FF where lvls matter the most...
First of all because of HP.
HP is very important and u dont have it very much trough the game.
Example in ff 7 and 8 u can have 9999 hp easly early in game.
So Its not the same to fight, lets say, Kuja on lvl 50 or lvl 90...

As for the equipment, they are always needed of course.
Except add-ons, there is not such a big difference with Ribbon or without it...

I personally agree with what lord behemoth has just said, in terms of FF9 it does require HP a lot more then FF7 or FF8, as when you reach like level 90 with zidane he has like 6000Hp which may not seem much at all. So it is slightly important to level up but to be honest FF9 doesn't often challenge you when it comes down to bosses etc until towards the end you could easily complete it around 67 ish easy as long as you had the right equipment.

FF7 on the other hand which I am playing through at the moment on PSP I only level up i.e. Train when it comes to a boss I physically can't beat, then I train if I beat it, I continue you on till it happens again.

 

[Che]

Abilities matter the most. Leveling gets your magic stones up to distribute, but in the case of boss battles, the former.

This game is status ailment heavy. The only time things become challenging is when you're wasting rounds trying to heal 3 to 4 ailments at a time.

The best way to approach this game is learn everything at that point when an item is acquired. Some items take a bit more time to get all the AP and at the same time your characters grind some levels in.