Difficulty level

A game's difficulty level refers to a game's challenge level allowing players to choose a level best suited to their level of skill or play-style. Giving the player option to change the game's difficulty level is a rare occurrence in the Final Fantasy series, and has mainly appeared as an extra in re-released versions of games.

Other things similar to a difficulty level is the introduction of an Expert level Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X PAL, HD Remaster, and International Versions, and the different New Game Plus modes in Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System. Some Final Fantasy XIV fights have a normal and "hard" version, the normal version being the only required for storyline purposes. Notably, the original North American release of Final Fantasy IV was made easier than the Japanese version, and is often referred to as the Easy Type version.

Final Fantasy
The Origins version of the original Final Fantasy features an Easy and Normal mode. In Easy mode shop prices are cheaper, experience levels are gained more quickly, and stats are increased more rapidly. After the player has completed a save, they can save their progress, and load that same save when starting a new save. In doing this all bestiary and Collections info is kept.

This means the player will not have to face enemies again that they did in a previous Easy playthrough if they wish to play a Normal playthrough. A number of images in the Photo Gallery can only become available after completing the game on Normal mode.

Final Fantasy II
The Final Fantasy Origins version of Final Fantasy II features an Easy and Normal mode. The Normal version of the game presents itself more similarly to the NES version of the game, removing features such as Sprint. It is not possible to start a Normal playthrough until an Easy playthrough has been completed.

Final Fantasy IV
The iOS and Android versions will allow the player to change the game's difficulty level. This is because these versions are based on the Nintendo DS remake that is known for being harder than the original Final Fantasy IV.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Hard play mode was added to the game's international releases, and this mode is absent in the original Japanese version of the game. In Hard mode, the enemies have greatly increased stats, but otherwise the game plays the same as in Normal mode.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
"Easy Mode" exists in the original Japanese release of the game, but was replaced by an "Extra Hard Mode" (also known as as "Super Hard Mode") in North American and European releases after the player finished the game once in either Normal or Hard difficulty. In the Extra Hard Mode, players can unlock numerous extras, such as 40 extra missions, character models, a music player, and an artwork gallery, and the player is attacked by enemies even while accessing their menu. Successfully completing the game on the Extra Hard difficulty setting unlocks the Extra Hard + difficulty setting.

The higher difficult settings feature stronger enemies in much greater numbers.

Final Fantasy XIII
New Easy Mode was added to the release of Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 in Japan. This mode was later made available for PlayStation 3 players as well in form of a patch released for the Japanese gamers, which adds the tweaks made to the North American and PAL versions, as well as the Easy Mode. The 2014 Steam rerelease of the game includes an option to switch between the battle difficulties.

Players can set the game difficulty level from the config any time when they are playing; the default difficulty is Normal. In Easy Mode, players deal more damage to staggered enemies, enemies have reduced HP, making battles end faster. The Doom counter gives more time and drop rates for normal items are increased. Enemies are still as strong as in Normal Mode. One drawback of using Easy Mode is that rare drops from enemies have a much lower chance to occur, even with a Connoisseur's Catalog equipped.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Easy Mode and Normal Mode comes included as default as opposed to its predecessor. The player can switch between the modes at any time.

Easy Mode reduces all forms of damage to the party, including Blood Damage. It also gradually heals blood damage over time. In this mode, however, items are less potent, and it is impossible to get an item drop boost from obtaining 5 stars in a battle.

Normal Mode increases damage the party takes, and blood damage is much higher. Items and item drops work normally, however.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
There are three difficulty settings in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII: Easy, Normal, and Hard. When the player starts playing the game for the first time, they can choose between Normal and Easy. Hard difficulty is unlocked after the player completes the game for the first time by defeating the final storyline boss. The difficulty level may only be adjusted at the beginning of a playthrough.

Final Fantasy XIV
The difficulty of Guildleves can be adjusted from 0 to 5. The player(s) will obtain more EXP for choosing higher difficulties.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
At the start of the game, the player can choose between Normal Mode and Hard Mode, and the difficulty cannot be changed once selected.

In Hard Mode, enemies deal more damage, making bosses more difficult to defeat. The foes' AI is also smarter, and they often take the chance to gang up on weaker party members. Hard Mode does not necessarily yield extra benefits, and is mostly used more for a challenge. However, some missions are affected significantly, for example the Missions "An Earnest Multitude" and "An Earnest Desire" that cannot be completed without dispatching, are impossible to beat unless the dispatched members are at tremendously high levels of minimum 50 and 77 respectively, despite their relatively low rank of mid 20s.

Similarly, several missions that one could opt to dispatch despite outleveling the requirements, may easily end up in failure due to the larger threshold needed, and thus forcing the player to engage in some of them personally, or level grind.

Final Fantasy Type-0
In Final Fantasy Type-0, the player can replay completed missions from a Mission List on two difficulty levels, "Hard Mode", where enemy levels are increased by 30, and "Impossible Mode" , where enemy levels are increased by 50. A mission must be cleared on Hard Mode before unlocking Impossible Mode, and only one party member is allowed for a mission on Impossible Mode.

Completing missions on these difficulty levels will yield greater rewards, such as new magic, Eidolons, or equipment. These difficulty levels can only be accessed from the Mission List; missions played in the main game retain the original enemy levels.

The HD remake has four difficulty modes allowing players to customize their game experience, as the original version had received feedback from Japanese players on being too hard. Players can choose between Cadet (easy), Officer (normal), and Agito (hard, enemies +LV30). The Finis difficulty level (very hard, enemies +LV50) is unlocked after completing the game once. The player first chooses the difficulty level at the title screen, and the difficulty can also be changed mid-playthrough, albeit not mid-mission.

Clearing all missions on the Mission List in Impossible/Finis mode will unlock l'Cie Mode.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
The game features three distinct difficult levels, being Normal, Hard, and Very Hard modes, but are accessed differently via modes. In Story Mode on the first playthrough, the player will be forced to play on Normal difficulty, but upon finishing the game and saving their cleared data, and then selecting and loading that save data, the player will be able to play Story Mode from the beginning on Hard Mode. After finishing Hard Mode, the player will be forced to play Very Hard mode.

In Multiplayer Mode, the player must clear all areas in storyline order on Normal difficulty first, and upon finishing Crystal Temple on Normal, they will have access to Hard Mode at the Valley of Heroes. After completing all areas for the second time, Very Hard will be available for Valley of Heroes and the player will once again have to clear all areas to access Very Hard for them. Of note, each difficulty for each area has a different level requirement, and if the player is not in a sufficient level range for that area, they cannot enter the dungeon on that difficulty.

Depending on the difficulty mode the player is playing on, enemies will have different stats and different item drops, as well as dungeons giving different items in chests. However, there is no difference in items in Hard and Very Hard modes, and only the difficulty of the enemies change. Also, only certain pieces of equipment in both modes are available in Hard mode only, as they will never appear in Normal mode in either mode. Of note, completely finishing the game on Hard mode will unlock the Victory Clothes in the equipment shop in Rebena Te Ra.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
As with Ring of Fates, the player is forced to play through the game on Normal mode, and after clearing the game and saving after the final boss, they will be able to replay the game from the start on Hard Mode or Normal Mode by selecting it via Start+ from the menu.

After completing the game on Hard Mode, Very Hard Mode will be unlocked to be played. As with Ring of Fates as well, depending on the difficulty selected enemies are stronger, items are different, and some items are only available on Hard mode.

Bravely Default
There are three difficulty levels to choose from: Easy, Medium and Hard, which determine the enemies' stats and AI behavior. To further tweak the difficulty, it is also possible to modify the rate of random encounters or disable them altogether, as well as disable Exp and JP gains at the end of battles, and even set destination markers to appear or not. All of these settings can be adjusted at any time in the game (except mid-battle and cutscenes) in the Difficulty section of the Config menu.

For enemies the stat changes are as so: Aim and Evade do change between difficulty levels but are not calculated by multiplying the Normal value. Evade remains the same between Normal and Hard, and Easy is either the same as Normal or one less based on an unknown factor. Similarly Aim does not wildly differ between difficulties, having only a few points in between.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
The player can set the computer opponent's strength in Story Mode as "Normal", "Strong" or "Moderate". This setting only affects the AI of the opponent, and does not affect bonuses awarded to the player during the game, and this setting can be changed at any time via the Options menu.

Also available is the option to reduce player character levels. This can yield additional KP bonuses in Story Mode from Scenario 013 onwards.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
The game has three difficulty levels: "Basic", "Expert" and "Ultimate". The number and speed of notes increases in every difficulty level. The difficulty levels have also been available in the game's demos.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper
All dungeons in Realm Dungeons are divided in Classic and Elite difficulty levels. Classic difficulty dungeons have normal difficulty enemies, and beating these dungeons proceeds through the Realm Dungeons. Mastering a Classic dificulty dungeon, which required scoring 83.(3)% of the dungeon's medals, unlocks this dungeon's Elite version where enemies have higher stats. On both difficulties bosses have a variety of Target Scores which are also the part of the medal awarding system. While the most common Target Score is not getting a single character KOed during the entire fight, some may require bring a specific character to battle and not getting them KOed, exploiting elemental and ailment weaknesses, or defeating an enemy before they use a certain attack. Many Challenge Events, specifically single-track events, have Elite difficulty dungeons.