"Game Over" and other useful phrases

Well crap.

ARGH! I'm confused! I'll just STAB myself!
(The imps never stop casting confuse.)

I was getting a bit sick of these party wipes. Something here just wasn't working out, and so I knew I'd have to make some changes. Taking a few tips from a speed run I saw on YouTube, I decided to remove the 2nd weapon and armor from each of my characters and equip them with shields and Thief Gloves. It's made a drastic difference. I've gone from repeated game overs to being able to run from darn near anything. It's a welcome change.

I finished leveling up some magic, muscled my way through the coliseum, got thrown in jail, subsequently broken out by self titled greatest thief Paul, found the princess, sent her home with Gordon and now I'm back to cluelessly wandering around, and utterly failing to remember where I should be headed. I ended up on the Tropical Island, which isn't a necessary dungeon until later, but I figured I'd mess around until I fell asleep last night. I know the black mask is in there, and I'll need it eventually.

Time to find a decent walkthrough, I guess. I'll let you know how it goes - I'd love to manage to make decent progress this evening. With any luck I'll be done with FFII before the week is over. Definitely depending on luck, because my skills are a bit weak lately