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 some games, this limit goes up to 100, but can be as low as 41 in others.

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.

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.

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.

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 LV38, but his job may be on LV5. Characters boost their base stats by levelling up, and gain new abilities as their job levels up.

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 levelling up.

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 LV99. Apart from the player characters, Materia can also be levelled 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. 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.

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 party's current level. Bosses have level caps, and in certain areas, such as Fire Cavern and Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell, the enemies' level is fixed. Guardian Forces also gain levels, and certain Guardian Force abilities cannot be used until the said Guardian Force has reached LV100. 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 levelling up challenge and finish the game on level 1.

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.

''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.

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 LV90, or all characters on LV1, with unable to gain levels.

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. Enemies have also been shown to have fixed levels. Role levels make the role more powerful when the character is using it and grant more powerful role bonuses.

More traditional leveling up 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 their own growth potential and have varying max levels. After a piece of equipment has reached its maximum level, it is often possible to use a transformer catalyst to turn it into another item, usually a more powerful version of the original.

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