The Arcane Labyrinth is a set of dungeons featured in the 20th Anniversary, iOS, and Android versions of Final Fantasy II. It does not appear in Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster. It consists of four areas: three dungeons featuring a set of player-generated floors and a static floor at the end containing only a boss, and a fourth area that gets unlocked after completing the other three, where the player may fight bosses and obtain rewards in return. While they act collectively as a bonus dungeon, the labyrinths can be entered and completed at any time, and, due to their mechanics, must be traversed several times to get the most out of the rewards.
Story[]
The origins of the three labyrinths are unknown, but long ago, they were used to seal away Destroy, the ultimate magic. The Guardian of the Destroy Tome, Deumion, awaits at the High Altar of the Arcane Sanctuary, where the Destroy Tome is kept. Various floors contain travelers who hint that they entered the labyrinths to try and find a way to reach Deumion and discover the power he guards, but their attempts failed. The labyrinths alter space and time to create their floors, directly recreating events that occurred in the ancient past in the case of the four Key Terms related to Deumion, and bringing together characters and monsters from throughout the game on their floors.
Labyrinth locations[]
There are three Arcane Labyrinths: the Northwest Quarter is located west of Salamand, the Northeast Quarter is located north of Bafsk, and the Southern Keep is located northwest of Kashuan. The Arcane Sanctuary, which is the fourth area, is located just north of Poft.
Traversing[]
When the player enters any of the three labyrinths, two Black Mages offer them advice. One hints about combinations of words that create beneficial effects, and the other, if told a Key Term, will tell how much good fortune he senses in the word for each of the current party members. In all three labyrinths, the player cannot use teleporting spells, and cannot save.
Each of the three labyrinths features a flame: when the player approaches it and tells it a Key Term, a portal will appear that warps them to the labyrinth's first floor, the appearance of which is preset and varies according to the Key Term used. Almost all floors have some sort of challenge, and as a reward, the player will receive a new Key Term, or a hint for the challenge of another floor. All floors also contain a flame where the player can use another Key Term to create the next floor, which will again change depending on the Key Term. If the player refuses to tell the flame a Key Term, they can choose to warp out of the labyrinth instead, but will have to start it all over if they decide to reenter it. Each Key Term can only be used once per labyrinth. The Northwest Quarter has four floors, the Northeast Quarter has seven floors, and the Southern Keep has ten floors.
After traversing all floors within a labyrinth, the player must use one final Key Term to create one more floor, where a flame summons a boss enemy for them to fight. Each labyrinth has its own boss, which is determined by the amount of main story Key Terms the player has learned during their adventure. Depending on whether the player has learned fewer than 7, between 7 and 12, or more than 12, respectively, the Northwest Quarter will have either Wild Horn, Behemoth, or Tiamat, the Northeast Quarter will have either Ghost, Roundworm, or Beelzebub, and the Southern Keep will have either Red Soul, Wood Golem, or Black Dragon.
When the player completes a labyrinth, it becomes inaccessible for the time being, and a flame will light on a torch in the Arcane Sanctuary, corresponding to the position of the completed labyrinth relative to the sanctuary on the world map. When all three labyrinths are completed, the door down to the High Altar will be unsealed. At the High Altar, Deumion will summon Phrekyos to fight the party, and when it is defeated, he will ask them what they seek. The player must tell Deumion a Key Term that, depending on which Key Terms were used in the three labyrinths, will earn them a reward from him: either an Elixir, a character's exclusive ultimate weapon, or one of two new spells. The sanctuary will reset once the player leaves after receiving their reward from Deumion, and the labyrinths will become available again. To reenter the sanctuary and get a new reward, the player must complete all three labyrinths again.
At the end of the game, the Key Term Jade Passage unlocks Oblivion, the first in a sequence of four Key Terms—Oblivion, Hope, Destruction, and Guardian—which tell the backstory of Deumion. When Deumion is next reached, telling him the Key Term Destruction will prompt a battle with Deumion himself, with the unique Destroy Tome as the reward. If the player instead tells him the Key Term Hope and then gives him the Light of Hope, received on the Guardian floor, he will give them the unique Revive Tome. Once one of the two tomes is received, the player can never receive the other. They can, however, still battle Phrekyos as many times as they like (assuming they complete the three labyrinths for each try) and obtain whatever ultimate weapons they are still missing.
Key Terms and floors[]
There are 45 possible floors in the Arcane Labyrinth, but no more than 21 can be chosen in each run. On floors with a challenge, the challenge is almost always optional, so the player can choose to head straight to the portal to the next floor if they have already received the reward.
With the exceptions of the four Key Terms directly related to Deumion, Key Terms are divided into four categories that relate to each other. The quality of treasure and the enemy encounter rate of the current floor changes depending on both its Key Term and the Key Term of the previous floor. If the current floor has a Key Term that belongs to the same category as that of the previous floor, it will have good treasure and a low encounter rate. If, however, both Key Terms belong to different categories, it will have either bad treasure and a high encounter rate, or normal treasure and a normal encounter rate, depending on the particular pair of categories. The first floor always has normal treasure and a normal encounter rate, as does any floor played directly after a "No Category" floor.
| Floor Type | Life and Nature | Matter and Materials | Magic and Spirits | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Life and Nature | Good treasure Low Encounter rate |
Bad treasure High Encounter rate |
Normal treasure Normal Encounter rate |
Bad treasure High Encounter rate |
| Matter and Materials | Bad treasure High Encounter rate |
Good treasure Low Encounter rate |
Bad treasure High Encounter rate |
Normal treasure Normal Encounter rate |
| Magic and Spirits | Normal treasure Normal Encounter rate |
Bad treasure High Encounter rate |
Good treasure Low Encounter rate |
Bad treasure High Encounter rate |
| Locations | Bad treasure High Encounter rate |
Normal treasure Normal Encounter rate |
Bad treasure High Encounter rate |
Good treasure Low Encounter rate |
In addition, there are five combinations of Key Terms that offer a floor with good treasure and no random encounters. These are handy, since, in each case, there is one Key Term that offers a difficult floor. The two Key Terms in these combinations do not necessarily belong to the same category. All five combinations work both ways, meaning that there are ten floors that can be visited without random encounters. The combinations are:
| Combinations | |
|---|---|
| Dragoons | Wyverns |
| Sunfire | Fire |
| Wizard | Sorcery |
| Dreadnought | Palamecia |
| Candelabra | Darkness |
Floors[]
The following is a list of the Arcane Labyrinth's possible floors, ordered by the category that the Key Terms belong to.
| Life and Nature | Matter and Materials | Magic and Spirits | Locations | No Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Compatibility[]
The 45 Key Terms all have a compatibility score with each of the nine playable characters, with a score ranging from 0 to 5. Each time a floor is entered, the compatibility scores of the Key Term used to generate that floor will be added to a running sum for every character, even those not in the party. The final ultimate weapon reward after defeating Phrekyos is determined by whoever has the highest sum after completing all 21 floors.
The last Key Term used to open the boss room for each labyrinth and the key word given to Deumion after beating Phrekyos do not affect the running sums of the compatibility scores and have no bearing on the ultimate weapon rewarded. The order in which the Key Terms were used will also not affect the final outcome.
The following table shows the compatibility score of each Key Term for each character, under the dialogue line of what the compatibility-checking Black Mage says at the start of each labyrinth. Key Terms not listed for a character correspond to the Black Mage saying the phrase "does not bode well for you...", and they have a score of 0 for that character.
| Character | Weapon | "might bring you good fortune." (1) | "would seem rather promising for you." (2) | "portends quite well for you indeed!" (3) | "appears most auspicious for you!" (4) | "is filled with superb prosperity for you!" (5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firion | Ragnarok | Sorcery | Giants | Utopia | Destruction | Hope |
| Chronicles | Iron Bars | Jade Passage | Guardian | |||
| Miasma | Mask | Oblivion | ||||
| Authority | Greed | Cyclone | ||||
| Palacemia | ||||||
| Dreadnought | ||||||
| Maria | Artemis Bow | Utopia | Oasis | Ultima Tome | Mysidia | Mercy |
| Jade Passage | Ekmet Teloess | Tundra | Sorcery | |||
| Destruction | Giants | Chronicles | ||||
| Cauldron | Iron Bars | Miasma | ||||
| Woodlands | ||||||
| Desert | ||||||
| Guy | Gigantaxe | Ekmet Teloess | Mysidia | Sorcery | Miasma | Giants |
| Ultima Tome | Mercy | Chronicles | Iron Bars | |||
| Tundra | Jade Passage | Utopia | ||||
| Hope | Destruction | |||||
| Guardian | ||||||
| Oblivion | ||||||
| Minwu | Staff of Light | Wind | Tracking | Dreadnought | Wild Rose | Wizard |
| Candelabra | Mythril | Airship | Mirror | |||
| Sunfire | Aquifer | |||||
| Cave | ||||||
| Josef | Dragon Claws | Dreadnought | Wizard | Aquifer | Tracking | Mythril |
| Airship | Mirror | Cave | Wind | |||
| Wild Rose | Candelabra | |||||
| Sunfire | ||||||
| Gordon | Gungnir | Aquifer | Tracking | Wind | Sunfire | Goddess's Bell |
| Cave | Mythril | Candelabra | Dense Fog | |||
| Wyverns | Darkness | |||||
| Dragoons | Thundercloud | |||||
| Leila | Dancing Dagger | Thundercloud | Soul | Cauldron | Desert | Oasis |
| Wyverns | Fire | Woodlands | Ekmet Teloess | |||
| Dragoons | Mysidia | Ultima Tome | ||||
| Sorcery | Mercy | Tundra | ||||
| Ricard | Abel's Lance | Wind | Goddess's Bell | Darkness | Wyverns | Dragoons |
| Candelabra | Dense Fog | Thundercloud | Soul | |||
| Sunfire | Woodlands | Fire | ||||
| Oasis | Desert | Cauldron | ||||
| Ekmet Teloess | ||||||
| Ultima Tome | ||||||
| Leon | Longinus | Destruction | Oblivion | Mask | Authority | Palacemia |
| Hope | Cyclone | Greed | Dreadnought | |||
| Guardian | Wizard | Airship | ||||
| Aquifer | Mirror | Wild Rose | ||||
| Cave | ||||||
| Tracking |
If two or more characters are tied, the character who wins is determined by whoever is earliest in the following order:
- Firion, Minwu, Josef, Gordon, Leila, Maria, Guy, Leon, Ricard
If the ultimate weapon for a character has already been received, and they have the highest compatibility sum (or won the tiebreaker) on a subsequent run, defeating Phrekyos will reward an Elixir.
Musical themes[]
"Tower of the Magi", "The Imperial Army", "Dungeon", "Ancient Castle", "The Revived Emperor" and "Revivification" all play on various floors of the Arcane Labyrinth.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
Arcane is a synonym for esoteric. It refers to various secret philosophical and religious doctrines and traditions.