Level

Level is the measure of how far a character has progressed in their personal growth potential. Gaining levels is the way for the player characters to advance throughout most of the Final Fantasy games. The characters advance in levels by gaining Experience Points. Both enemies and player characters have a level, but most times the opponents' level is fixed.

Gaining levels may heighten stats, unlock new Magic and enable the use of new items. The party's level may also influence the enemy's stats. The typical highest level is 99 for players, but 100+ for bosses and enemies. In Final Fantasy VIII this limit goes up to 100, but can be as low as 41 in Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.

It is considered a challenge to attempt a "No Leveling Up Game", whereupon the player tries to complete the game without the player characters having gained a single level.

Levels are also widely used to measure an enemy's strength in the series, and some games allow enemies to level up in the middle of battle as well.

Final Fantasy
The level system in the original Final Fantasy is the system's prototype used in many future installments. Maximum level is 50. Character class dictates the stat growth gained from level ups. In the 20th anniversary edition the level can go to 99. Characters' levels were originally meant to determine the success rate of fleeing from battles, but in the NES version this is glitched.

Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy II is unique in the series for not utilizing experience-based levels; each character develops depending on what that character does during battle, e.g., characters who use a particular weapon become adept at wielding a weapon of that type, as well as gaining in physical strength; characters who frequently cast a particular magic learn more potent versions of that spell, as well as gain magic power. HP and MP, similarly, increase depending on need: a character who ends a battle with only a small amount of remaining health might earn an increase in maximum hit points.

The system is associated with numerous issues, such as that it encourages the players to hit their own characters in order to finish battles in low health. There is also a glitch that lets the player level up weapons and spells by repeatedly cancelling actions.

Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy III's level up system is based on the first game's system, though being more refined. Characters can use different jobs and gain levels and stat growth within those jobs. The max level is 99.

Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy IV employs a traditional level up system, where the characters also learn new skills as they gain higher levels.

Final Fantasy V
The job system makes a return in Final Fantasy V, but this time is separate from the character levels: characters and jobs have separate levels, e.g. a character can be on level 38, but his job may be on level 5. Characters boost their base stats by leveling up, and gain new abilities as their job levels up. The Mix skill, Dragon Power, raises a character's level by 20.

Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI has a traditional leveling up system, where characters gain EXP from battles. Terra and Celes gain new magic when reaching certain level thresholds. The characters can equip Magicite to boost their stats while leveling up.

The Advance version has a glitch that lets the player reset the characters' levels.

Final Fantasy VII
In Final Fantasy VII, unlike in most games, characters will also gain EXP from boss battles. In the final battles Bizarro and Safer∙Sephiroth have more HP if more members of the player party are on level 99. Apart from the player characters, Materia can also be leveled up and unlocks new abilities while doing so.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-


Zack gains levels through the Digital Mind Wave reel: as the reel rolls to 777, Zack will gain a level. The maximum level being 99. It appears random, but in fact, isn't. The game has a hidden value in the game data that works the same way as gaining Experience Points in the rest of the series, and the reel will gain a chance to spin to 777, once Zack has killed enough enemies to enable it. Zack can also level up his Materia to a max level of 5, at which point the Materia become mastered.

Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII is the first game in the series where the maximum level for character and enemy growth is 100 instead of 99. The game is different in many other aspects as well: instead of the EXP required for a level up gradually growing, the requirement is set at the fixed value of 1000 EXP for a level up, but the amount of EXP enemies give after battle varies, depending on their level in comparison to the player party's. The enemies' level is normally not fixed, and depends on the active party members' current levels, according to the following formula:
 * $$Base\,level = floor[average\,level\,of\,active\,party]$$ $$Level\,diff = floor[Base\,level / 5]$$ $$Enemy\,level = Base\,level \pm Level\,diff$$

Normal enemies will never have levels between the two values given by the formula; however, bosses have level caps, which are used to limit their levels if the value resulting from the formula is too high. Furthermore, in certain locations in the game, enemies' levels are subject to specific conditions:
 * The Fire Cavern has enemy levels fixed at 5.
 * The Lunatic Pandora (with Squall) has enemy levels fixed at 1.
 * The Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell have enemy levels fixed at 100.
 * The Deep Sea Research Center uses the normal formula, but then adds 15 levels.
 * In the PlayStation version of the game, Omega Weapon is always level 100.
 * In Ultimecia Castle, enemy levels are completely random.

If any characters in the current party successfully attack and are not KO'd prior to escaping from battle, they will still receive a small amount of EXP based on how many times they attacked. This amount is so small it is not a suitable "quick leveling" method, plus the player's SeeD rank will decrease when escaping from battles.

Guardian Forces also gain levels, and certain Guardian Force abilities cannot be used until the said Guardian Force has reached level 100. Guardian Forces share the EXP the player characters earn from battles, but it is distributed evenly between the GFs the character has junctioned. Different GFs require a varying amount of EXP for a level up; e.g. Siren requires only 200 EXP for a level up, whereas Eden requires the full 1000.

Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy IX uses a traditional level up system and boosts the party's stats. As bosses do not give EXP, it is possible to attempt a no leveling up challenge and finish the game at level 1. Abilities and magic are gained by equipping armor, weapons and accessories, and gaining enough AP to master them.

Final Fantasy X
Characters and enemies aren't shown to be on a specific level in Final Fantasy X, and their strength is measured in stats only. However, gaining EXP from battles advances the characters through the Sphere Grid by giving them sphere levels. The EXP required for gaining sphere levels increases the further a character has progressed through the grid, up to a maximum of 22,000.

''Final Fantasy X-2
The traditional leveling up system makes a comeback in Final Fantasy X-2, with characters gaining levels based on the EXP they earn in battles. Levels will not carry over when using the game's New Game Plus feature. The maximum level is 99.

Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XI deviates from the traditional level-up system by having levels tied to each class, rather than the whole character. Each class receives their own experience tally, and can be individually leveled up to the maximum level (as of September 2011, the level cap is 95).

Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XII employs a more or less traditional level up system, with characters progressing through levels by gaining EXP from enemies. The Zodiac Job System version of the game has a couple of New Game Plus features that allows the player to attempt a new playthrough with either all characters starting on level 90, or all characters on level 1, with unable to gain levels.

The exact equation describing EXP and level is:


 * $$Exp = 0.1*Lv^4 + 4.2*Lv^3 + 6.1*Lv^2 + 1.4*Lv - 11.4$$

Final Fantasy XIII
In Final Fantasy XIII the characters' roles gain levels by advancing through the tiers in the Crystarium, meaning that it is the character's "role" or "job" that gains level, not the character itself. The level gain is capped, and new tiers in the Crystarium are opened by progressing through the storyline. Role levels make the role more powerful when the character is using it and grant more powerful role bonuses.

More traditional leveling system is seen in the characters' weapons and accessories, whose stats the player can advance by giving them EXP through the various components gained from battles and bought from shops. Mechanical components give more EXP, but organic components add a multiplier to the weapons' EXP intake, giving the chance to as much as triple the received EXP. Every weapon and accessory has its own growth potential and maximum level. After a piece of equipment has reached its maximum level, it is often possible to use a catalyst component to transform it into a new item, usually a more powerful version of the original, at the cost of the new item starting back at its base with no EXP.

The enemies in Final Fantasy XIII have fixed levels, but unlike in other games in the series, it is not an indication of the enemy's strength, and the levels vary widely. The only things the enemy's level determine are whether the enemy is immune to Random: Instant Chain or not (enemies above level 49 are immune) and the rate of TP recovery after battle.

Final Fantasy XIV
In Final Fantasy XIV, a character's progress is measured in two ways. Physical levels represent one's actual physical development, while class ranks measure how adept one is with various arms and tools.

Physical Levels
Characters gain physical levels by accumulating a certain amount of experience points, at which time they will be awarded attribute and elemental resistance points that can be allotted as desired, the former to increase statistics such as Strength and Dexterity, and the latter to increase resistance to fire, ice, and other elements. Any points allocated in such a manner may be redistributed after a certain amount of time has elapsed.

Class Ranks
Class ranks are gained by accumulating skill points from various endeavors, such as combat or crafting. As a character’s Class ranks increases, they will learn new actions, such as abilities and weapon skills.

Final Fantasy Type-0
Screenshots show that characters will have levels in this upcoming installment of the Final Fantasy Series.

Final Fantasy Tactics
As each human character develops, they gain experience, which will increase their overall level. Characters also gain Job Points (JP), which allow them to level up within a job until they have mastered it.

The character's level is determined with an experience system where every 100 experience you gain grants a level up. Each successful action grants EXP based on the target's level. If the target is the same level as the user, 10 EXP is granted. For each level difference 1 EXP is added or removed. For example, if a level 50 character successfully attacked a level 60 character, they would gain 20 EXP. The stat boosts for leveling up depend on what job you are when you level up. The maximum level is 100. The abilities Accrue EXP and EXP Boost can be equipped to gain more EXP.

The job level is determined with a JP (Job Points) system. JP is gained the same way as experiences, with successful actions. However, instead of trying to gain 100 JP to level a job up, it depends on the specific job, and leveling up takes a higher amount of JP at each level. The Maximum for each job is 8. The abilities Accrue JP and JP Boost can be equipped to gain more JP.

As a character gains more experience in various jobs, they gain access to other, more advanced or specialized jobs. Some jobs, like Calculator and Mime, require invested time and experience in several jobs, and require mastery of others to be truly effective. Once learned, skills and job-specific commands can be used even after a character switches jobs, though a penalty may be applied.

See also List of Final Fantasy Tactics Jobs for a full list of each job and how much JP they take to master.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
Only Benjamin can level up. Phoebe, Kaeli, Tristam, and Reuben are at fixed levels and do not gain experience, although allies who leave and return later are at a higher level. Also, due to the fixed number of enemies in the game, Benjamin cannot exceed Level 41.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
The player characters level up by gaining EXP from battles. The maximum level is 99. The Salve-Maker's Level Serum increases the party's level by one for the duration of the battle.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
In Dissidia, characters gain experience from performing HP attacks in-battle, the higher the character and the opponents bravery levels, the more experience is gained. Most equipment and abilities are not available to be equipped until a character reaches a certain level. The maximum level is 100.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
The leveling method in Dissidia 012 is the same as it's predecessor.