In short, no it really isn’t’ worth grinding in the early game of Final Fantasy 6, but there are caveats to this. We do accept that there are situations in which you’ll want to take the time to indulge in some battles, the best example being the recruitment of a new character that hasn’t learned any magic spells. Further still, if you’ve been rushing through the game and just reached a new landmark, you may find your wallet a little empty when attempting to buy all of the new shiny equipment. That said, we’ve decided to break things down a little further by detailing the grinding situation by your want or need.
Grinding For Levels
Possibly the least useful type of grinding in FF6 is the type that aims to gain levels. Technically speaking you will want to level your team members as you progress, however the game is filled with party breaks that split your team, or indeed remove members entirely for extended periods, so committing fully isn’t really worthwhile until you reach the World of Ruin. Even then you’ll find that it’s not truly necessary, only really becoming a requirement when farming AP, which we detail below. Once the ‘split’ has taken place, characters will have their levels adjusted to meet those of your current team, so you need not worry about leaving characters on the bench during the first half.
Additionally, grinding for levels is technically quite a bad idea in FF6, because bigger and better Espers will offer you greater rewards for having them equipped when a level up takes place, and the best of these aren’t available until later. By all means ensure that your team members have the spells that they need, but going further than this really isn’t worthwhile.
Grinding For Gil
Something that you certainly will require throughout FF6 is Gil, and the World of Balance is no exception. With money sinks such as consumables, auction bidding, Gil Toss and just plain ol’ equipment available in new towns, you’ll constantly find yourself craving the cash. Plus, unlike quite a few other games in the series, there aren’t too many ways to maximise your gains. Still, there are some enemies that function better than others when farming Gil, like the Fossil Dragons in the desert near Kohlingen or Albrook – these drop 1,870 Gil each, however they can be tricky to take down.
Alternatively, get yourself set up with Locke and head over to somewhere like Zozo. By making him Mug / Attack them with the Thief Knife, there’s a good chance that you’ll get quite a few Relics. Hill Gigas will occasionally give you the Gigas Glove, which sells for 2,500 Gil, and the Harvester enemy can rarely give up the Dragoon Boots, which sell for 4,500 Gil! This is by far our favourite place to farm Gil in the mid portion of the World of Balance. Technically the Fossil Dragons are likely to have a quicker return, but they can apply the Undead status to your characters, requiring an expensive Holy Water to clear.
Advertisement
Grinding For AP
Generally speaking, grinding for AP isn’t really a requirement in Final Fantasy 6. Unless you’re speedrunning your way through the game, you’re going to get plenty of time to unlock the spells that you require, on the team members that you require. Plus, by the time you actually need to train multiple party members, your options will be significantly bolstered in the World of Ruin. The only real situation that we would advocate doing any of this is once you’ve recruited Relm; unlike other members she doesn’t really have a useful ability of sorts, especially when Sketch is so feeble, so you may want to consider giving her some AP to learn spells quickly.
In the World of Balance, the universally accepted best option for this is the Ghost enemy in the Phantom Forest, as noted here. The real benefit here is that the enemy gives very little in the way of EXP, but grants 3 AP alone, so you’ll be able to save most of your level ups for later when better Espers are available, yet still spend some time learning spells. Were you to find yourself a little short towards the end of the World of Balance, taking some time to grind on the Floating Continent works too. Some battles here will grant 5 AP, however they will offer a similarly scaled amount of EXP too, so min-maxers beware.
More Final Fantasy 6…
Character Tier List | Final Fantasy 6
For a game with Fourteen playable characters, Tier List-ing them actually came quite easy in Final Fantasy 6. There are a great deal of options for pretty much any play style in the game, from completionist to pure casual, and this tends to make them settle into different piles; always in the team, never in…
The 4 Characters With The Best Storylines | Final Fantasy 6
To say that Final Fantasy 6 has a good storyline is to severely undersell it, however outside of the arc that one particular jester enacts, most of it is told through the lens of its characters – your party members – as they’re whisked from one major event to another. Not all of these are…
4 Reasons Shadow Is The Best Character | Final Fantasy 6
More so than most other RPG games, Final Fantasy 6 is filled to the brim with possible party members. We’re not quite approaching Suikoden or Fire Emblem numbers here, but for a regular turn-based JRPG, especially in the FF series, it’s pretty bloated. Magic users, physical attackers and supportive members are all accounted for by…
Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Categories: Final Fantasy 6