Final Fantasy II (1988)

Many of the problems can be circumvented by preperation and logical thinking.

Password system? Just try to find the right word or key item for the situation. Leveling system? Exploit the shit out of it. Final boss? You gotta figure out for yourself, but he's beatable even when undergeared or underleveled. Trap rooms? Try to find the door or stairs that stand out most to even prevent the trap room from happening.

What I didn't like was having to sail and hire an airship before being able to roam freely, due to map layout. However frustrating this is, it is rewarding once I had it.

Too bad it has a forgettable soundtrack, still solid though.

All in all I had a good time with this one and I encourage people to give this game a second chance. Especially with the Pixel Remaster.

Preliminary: Welp, I definitely see the nostalgia I felt the first time I played this. The beginning menu sounds are like FF9 and the later Final Fantasys and I love it. I love the intro music, but uh, the battle music is just okay. I really love using fan translated games now, they're always translated in a way that is more enjoyable to read than usual localizations (not to mention, this was one of those missed FFs for the NES in NA). Nice, I wake up on a 5 pointed star haha. Great first town song and I like how a lot of niceties are added here compared to, say, DQ1 and 2, like just opening the chest instead of a bunch of menus. The NPCs are actually somewhat entertaining to talk to, the music is great, and it just looks vibrant.

Day 1

I am absolutely loving this so far. The equipping process isn't as convoluted as many early RPGs, this first town song is nice to listen to and reminds me of what I envisioned for my RPG Maker games back in the day, I like how easy it was to move "Mother" (as I called her lol) to the back row, and time to train! I liked how you train what you use the first time, tho I know many others don't like that. Here goes nothing.

The world map looks... remarkably like the first FF haha. I'm feeling like I just played that now that I'm out here :-p Good World Map jingle too. The plot so far actually has a more meaningful vibe to it, as much as the first FF attempted to, this feels like it has a real exigency, and this mysterious dramatic world map jingle matches it. I remember there being some trick to early leveling that made the last playthrough very enjoyable, something about a bridge and getting your HP or def up super high? I think I'm just going to play it normally tho this time, just grinding like usual :-p The way you sort of level up the many different options in the menu reminds me of later FF things like the eh, I can't remember what it's called but something you would "equip" basically in the menu in FF9 or was it 8? And that had you level it up. I always loved setting my goals for grinds as leveling those up more than my actual levels :-p

I was all excited cuz I can just press and hold the button to go through battles but then realized that they didn't update it so that you don't attack nothing if the enemy died :( Still like the first one! So lame. And jeez, my guide says to get to level 4 sword, shield, and bow before moving on from first town.... this is taking a long time. And only one of my characters is getting hit so only his health is going up heh. Hmmm. Ohhh and I remember, they allow you to target yourselves with attacks as a possible way to train too. Hmm, much to explore here.

Day 2

Ahhhh so there might not have been a bridge, instead I think what I did was use two exploits: click attack, then cancel, still counts as a use of a weapon! and attacking your own party members. I don't consider the latter an exploit, it clearly was intended imo. Tho I do consider the former an exploit, it denies you gold, so it's not like it takes away the game: you still gotta mostly grind, but when just want the next weapon level up, use it! Okay, this seems more doable now, let's get those weapons to level 4 much quicker this way. If I'm being honest, I actually like how the leveling system allows for potential quirks and exploits like that, when you analyze it and find ways to do it. And I'm still absolutely loving the music too. Yay!

Even tho it adds extra steps in a text adventure way, I do like the ASK/LEARN function and how it's implemented. I found myself actually doing optional dialog. I feel like menu selections, in shops and the menus and combats, are so fast compared to other RPGs of this time. I love that. Brutal that Exit/Teleport/Warp whatever you wanna call it drains your HP lol, makes sense tho. Welp, I gotta wrap up for the night but I'm certainly in the full RPG fervor. I got sucked into OSRS bossing earlier, but I think the rest of this week will be all about FF2! Yay! Healthy hooking haha. Oddly two of my characters' HPs still haven't gone up lol, one in the back row makes sense but the other... It's like the enemies always target the brute guy. Which is fine until it isn't. And I'm too strong to target my own characters cuz I grinded weapons a bunch hm.. What to do.

Early Game

I realized I probly shouldn't do these long games day by day. Woopsie. Meant to do that from the start. Anywho, I would've preferred that stats also had what weapons do, where you count up to next level instead of somewhat randomized based on if you used the stat? Like, I'm still okay with the using-to-level-it aspect most people bemoan, but I'd like it to be clearly building up, not a seemingly random chance (?). The problem of just too many enemies in normal encounters is happening more and more. Like, make the challenge difficult enemies. Not 8 all in one screen lol. But that was very common for this era of RPGs.

There surrrre issss a lot of back and forth at the start of the game... And I do love the world map and town music, and am okay with how much they are reused lol. Not a huge fan of the Snow Cavern or battle music, but not bad either. The victory jingle tho <3 Such a classic.

Of course the time I stock up on so many Antidotes and thus mess up my inventory management, I don't need nearly as many as in the first FF and other JRPGs from this era :-p Ugh so this red soul boss hits everyone cuz it uses magic... and my backrow character still has 20 hp so she always dies lol. Okay, I see why people got frustrated with this game.... So yea I put her in the front row... she takes damage... and yet no level up for my HP. This is lame. I see what people mean. It would be good if whenever you used something, it leveled it up. Instead it seems chance-based? I don't know but I need a break.

Ok ok I calmed down. Based on my Googling you can't heal up (I was training one of my characters' Spirit/Cure by healing her up at the end yada ayda, which was why it wasn't working). Okay. Still frustrating but this is better haha. (It also seems you need to get your health below half? I dunno this is kinda ridiculous). Wow yea this Red Soul boss just sucks. Like others have mentioned, you feel overpowered except against certain OP enemies and bosses. Ohhhh bahaha I was still in the back row with my other enemies smh. Ugh!!!!!

I was so close to dropping the game during that, but then realized at least the row part was my fault (still an awful boss for a game where you can't really level up stats until they are used... and we didn't have much Magic used on us yet nor enemies that can hit the back row...) and so loaded from last save etc ugh. But then this Chocobo scene spurred me back up :-p

I'm not going to lie... I'm really not enjoying this game. I think what I did differently last time was, I must've trained up HP super early in the game before leveling my weapons.

Alright, I've calmed down. It's the next day. Let's reevaluate. I was mostly frustrated at the Balloons but clearly I should focus all my attacks on one at a time (you mean... encouraged to just press and hold a button?! Yay lol). I should then after clearing the Dreadnought, go get the Life spell. Can't believe I forgot that. Finally, I should test a new theory: if I attack my own characters yes they die. But if I use Life that should leave them with just 1 health or so. Then can be right by Salamand to use Inn. Will that still help them get HP? Let's hope so. Cuz this HP training ain't it. And then I could do something similar using Esuna or something for MP. We shall see. Yes! Thank goodness! This method works. Let's get my HP to a good amount and then get back to the game. BAM. Now how to do something like that with MP? Maybe Sap used on party members?

Mwahahaha I love when methods I conceive (tho I'm sure these were actually available online somewhere lol) work! Ok I might be going overboard but my plan is to get all my main 3 characters' HP to 200 with this method. I don't care. I'm sick of dying randomly after feeling OP against most enemies lol. Welp I'm back at the Dreadnought now with 200ish HP and the backrow character has 100ish MP. Let's hope I'm not too OP now lol. Oh this game.

Mid Game

Even with that leveling situation figured out, I keep debating whether to drop the game. Finding Deist was harder than I remembered haha. But also little things like the status effects people have mentioned and whatnot. I dunno, but I do keep pushing on. So that says something.

Omg! My guide says to get to "at least 400 hp" ?!?!?! I'm only at the Diest Caves... I was proud of my 200 lol.... Imma train but Imma ignore that insanely high requirement. I caved and wound up doing 400 hp for all the main characters but that burned me out :-p

The walls you can walk through are tacky and the nonstop switching out of the 4th character gets old. And how many times I have had to return to the rebel hideout... And my inventory is getting really full from all these key items! Why do I still need the Pendant that allowed me to talk to the Wyvern lol (oh nvm I wound up using it later... but the Black/White Mask etc.)

Lol this dramatic build up to Ultima. And it's cool that they have attack items, you don't see that in many RPGs from this time, but the inventory is too small to really make them realistic...

I can't believe I used to like this game so much. Several ugly places (like the Black Mask/Tropical Island Cave, I know it's to block our vision but meh). So many enemies seem super easy then I get a swarm of 2 Doom Petals, 2 Cockatrices, and a Specter or something. Stone, instant KO, Hold all in the first turn lol.

Omg I'm about to head into the Mysidia Tower and my guide says to get everyone's health over 2000.... I'm at about 400-500.... But now it mentions the Tricks section where using Change/Swap on a Goblin increases your HP, MP, etc. all each battle.... That's gonna be a game changer. With a grind like that, once I'm done, I'm considering this late game.

Late Game

Lol I'm getting concerned the guide meant to say a different amount. I'm doing the Swap technique to raise health to 2000 (just 1700 for backrow woman) but along the way now my MP keeps going up so it says 9B5 lol. Woops. I hope I'm not OP now

(Since Richard the Dragoon doesn't have Swap I've just been having him attack himself). Me all excited for Flare and Ultima and theyr'e both at Level 1 lol. Oooo I got the Genji Gloves from the Dragon that was protecting the Black Robe chest in Mysidia Tower! I assume that's a somewhat rare drop and a good piece of equipment! (yep 5% chance to drop! And last night I got 2 rare drops from the OSRS boss. I must have good RNG rn I should do an OSRS master scroll rn :-p )

Lol I love the waltzing after you defeat the Emperor. But surprise! It's not the real ending! The character I named Michael (name of my husband) who I thought would be part of the party is now declaring himself Emperor! Gasp! He was the Dark Knight the whole time?! Lol.

Darn I was hoping Richard was a permanent character. I really built him up. And we have his Wyvern to ride now too! I was getting into the RPG hook/groove but now guide recommends 4000+ HP for the final dungeon! But I wanted to finish it toniggggght. No way I'm getting 5000. I'll settle with 3000 and finishing it tomorrow I guess heh.

Despite having played this years and years ago, I still remember the Yoichi Bow being exciting :-p Great last dungeon tune. Welp here goes nothing at last.

Great final boss tune too! Well, pretty good. Annnd that was a quick fight thanks to the Blood Sword... wish I hadn't wasted my time with all that HP. I def needed some for the minibosses for the treasures along the way but not for the final boss

Wow kinda sad with Leonhardt/the Dark Knight brother just dipping at the end lol. Wait... seriously... Final Fantasy 1 had a beautiful Ending screen.. and all we get are credits and a crystal.......... This was a disappointing journey all around

Look: 7/10 Other than the initial excitement of returning to the early FF world and the Chocobo, just run of the mill.

Sound: 8/10 Some real bangers in here. As mentioned, the world map and town tunes, but also Diest Castle and the jingle when you ride the Chocobo and more :-p

Play: 7.5/10 I can't deny my love for the RPG "hook", which I definitely had waves of with this, and I love that this system allowed for exploits. I like that concept of players figuring out weird quirks to exploit in a leveling system. But I can't deny that several times I felt ready to drop the game. I'm nervous for FF3 too, this chronology project sure has provided me with a new perspective on what to expect from late 80s games. I now know they are capable of plenty.

Feel: 8.5/10 I love that it includes rare drops for enemies, I love the establishment of several FF tropes, great music, and a game I once absolutely loved. In fact, last time I played it, I had it among my top FFs ever! I think I used an exploit early, so we shall see how future replays go. But I don't like that it'd require me to do something like that for me to enjoy it. Again, maybe it's the chronology project providing the context of the game, and I better see why most people find it one of the worst FFs.

Attachment: 9/10 I mean, I already did replay it haha. And to the end despite my reservations. And I can't deny the RPG hook each time. Annnnd it established many tropes I'm attached to. So, as frustrating as it may be, let's be honest... I'll be doing another playthrough within a decade haha. And may love it more that time now that I will, hopefully, remember to use an exploit early ;)

Overall: 8/10

Played this game in the Pixel Remaster version.

So, Final Fantasy 2, released one year after 1, in 1988. The game starts off right of the bat with a rigorous change in the leveling system. Where 1 has semi-fixed roles for each character and you have character levels, 2 let's you fully customize each character. There are no character levels, but weapon skills (e.g. swords, axes, etc) level up when you use said weapons, and the same goes for spells. Doing this you also level up other stats, for example HP when you take damage, Mana when you use spells etc.

In essence this system sounds great, but in practice it's nothing but an annoyance. If you decide pretty far in the game thaty you want to change your character roles, they have to relearn everything and there is some grinding to do. Nothing major but a hindrance nonetheless. This goes even more for the several guest characters that join you now and then; Bar one of them, they are always underleveled in their skills and if you want to change their role, there comes the grinding again.

The story is a bit more coherent than in FF1, albeit for the first 90% of the game it's almost a carbon copy of the Star Wars storyline. Having said this, the flow of the game often feels like loose sand, and you're hopping around to locations you've already been to, just to fetch a password or do some other trivial task, one particular location in the game has you going there on 9(!) separate visits. This doesn't do good to the flow of the game, and frankly feels a bit annoying at times.

The Pixel Remaster version of the game once again adds several boosts that can eb enabled, along modernized version of the music. The PR music in this one was alright, but didn't feel as good as the FF1 PR, apart frome one track which was very amazing:

It's not a bad game all in all, and i would give it 2,5 stars if possible (just under the FF1 PR in overall enjoyment).

Tulipa sitä sitten pelattua pixel remaster pahamaineisesta Final Fantasy II:stakin. En kadu valintaani, mutta en myöskään suoranaisesti suosittele samaa.

Final Fantasy II on jännä osa saagaa. Siinä on paljon samaa kuin muissakin osissa: loistavat musiikit, kepeää seikkailun tuntua ja hienoja hirviödesigneja. Se toi myös paljon uutta ja sarjalle nykyään tunnusmerkillistä piirrettä mukaan. Pelissä on muun muassa chocobot, Cid-hahmo ja vahvempi fokus tarinalla ja sen hahmoilla. Hyvin kotoisaa meininkiä sarjaan tutustuneille. Vaikkakin kunnianhimoisempia kuin sarjan ensimmäisessä osassa, tarina ja hahmot ovat kyllä melko yksiulotteista huttua. Annetaan hieman anteeksi kompuroivalle vanhukselle.

Kotoisuuden ja mieluisten uudistusten lisäksi Final Fantasy II on myös ensimmäinen esimerkki Squaren pakottavasta tarpeesta kokeilla (vaihtelevalla menestyksellä) jotain uutta pelimekaniikkaa sarjan joka osassa. Tällä kertaa ensimmäisen pelin levelipohjainen hahmonkehitys laitettiin romukoppaan ja korvattiin systeemillä, jossa statsit kehittyvät sitä mukaa, kun niitä käyttää. Paperilla fiksun kuuloinen homma, käytännössä työläs ja melko yksitoikkoinen. Jotta iskuvoima kehittyy, sinun pitää käyttää perusiskua niin strena ja aseleveli kasvaa. Jotta taiat kehittyy, tulee näitä nakella taistelussa, niin taikastatsit ja taikojen omat levelit kehittyy. Jotta HP kehittyy, sinun pitää ottaa damagea matsissa. Jotta hahmoista tulee tasapainoisia, tulee tehdä paljon hommaa. Ja kun peli vähän väliä vaihtaa partyn neljännen hahmon täysin ummikkoon mätisäkkiin, on savottaa vielä enemmän. Pixel remaster tosin tarjoaa useampaa apua tähän sellaisia mieliville: HP nousee pelkästään tappeluita voittamalla, joten hölmöimpiä itsensä telomisia elkkujen kerryttämiseksi ei tarvita, ja mukana on säädöt statsien kertymisen kertoimille.

Vaikka tiedostin systeemin ongelmat, itse jokseenkin haksahdin grindaamaan pelissä aivan liikaakin, minkä takia hahmoista tuli käsittämättömän vahvoja suurimmaksi osaksi peliä. Osa loppareista suli jo hahmojeni hentoihin näpäytyksiin. Syytän lomaa ja lentomatkustamista tästä virtuaalisesta punttikaudesta. Oli tyyydyttävää laitella auto-battlea päälle trreenattaville kyvyille ja katsella miten numerot kasvaa. Satunnaistaisteluiden järjettömän määrän takia taisteluihin alkoi lopussa väsyä aika pahastikin, mutta omapa on häpeäni, kun kartan satunnaistappeluiden pois kytkemistä. Ylipäätään pelin loppupuolella luolastot pitenevät aika kolossaalisiin mittoihin, mikä on omiaan väsymyksen lisäämiseksi. Ihan hienoja miljöitä kuitenkin pelin finaalin tienoilla.

On helppo nähdä, miten Final Fantasy II on rusautellut – etenkin alkuperäisessä asussaan – ihmisten rusinoita. Työläs ja alussa hyvin vaihtelevasti haastava peli ei varmana tarjoa makoisaa ensipuraisua, eikä pelissä loppuun pelattunakaan mitään suoranaisesti pakollista nähtävää ole. On paljon palkitsevampaakin pelattavaa tarjolla, ihan jo Final Fantasy -sarjassa. Retropelien ja FF:ien faneille siinä on kuitenkin ihan kohtuu hauskaa nähtävää, ja Pixel Remaster tarjoaa taas kerran hyvät puitteet tähän muinaisuuteen tutustumiselle.

Unlike its predecessor, Final Fantasy II was totally unfamiliar territory to me. I only knew it as one of the few "black sheep" entries of the series, with an odd leveling system that differed greatly from what came before. My mind connected it to other NES sequels such as Zelda II or Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, games that some (Mainly me) may say have not aged as gracefully as the titles they are sequels to.

Perhaps that was true of the game's original incarnation, without the quality of life updates that the Pixel Remaster brings to the table. Many things about the game felt like they would be impossible to endure without the conveniences of this remaster. The dungeons come replete with an endless amount of dead-ends and a frustratingly high random encounter rate. Unlike the first game, the world map has almost no barriers, happily allowing you to accidentally wander into a high level zone to get demolished by its enemies.

But much like in my experience with the first game, the ability to turn off random encounters at the tap of a button easily let me escape these frustrating situations, greatly improving the experience. Convenient maps make exploring the game's many labyrinths into a trivial task. There are also multiple adjustments to the game's inventory, combat and leveling systems that, on paper, have made it into a much smoother experience.

Final Fantasy II takes the mold of the original game and carves out a distinctly different experience using the same general ingredients. You still roam through a world map, battle enemies in random encounters and visit many towns and dungeons. I largely attribute the distinctiveness to two things: the leveling system and the story.

First, the leveling system. While you still control a party of four characters, they no longer have predetermined classes that you gain levels into, and instead they start as blank slates that gain skill points for each stat based on usage, Skyrim style. Using a specific weapon makes you more proficient at its weapon class, using a specific spell powers up that specific spell type, getting hit by enemies levels up your HP, and so on. The system is pretty interesting, and it offers a degree of freedom to shape your characters' growth as you please. At the same time, it felt too easy to exploit the system and turn each character into a deadly jack of all trades. Just as with the first game, I found the difficulty to be pretty easy, with the only real difficulty coming from later encounters with enemies that dish out devastating status effects.

The second departure from the first game, and arguably the biggest strength of Final Fantasy II, is its story and music. While the first game relied on a simplistic narrative that got by on pure charm, Final Fantasy II is deeper and darker--at least by 1988 standards. The game takes place in a world devastated by war and under the oppressive rule of the evil Palamecian Empire. You take command a trio of youths orphaned by the war, each with their own distinct personalities, who join a rebel faction intent on challenging the Empire. You are joined by a rotating cast of characters who accompany you as the fourth hero, each giving you a specific build molded after their particular character archetype.

While it may not have the narrative complexity of some of the games that would follow it, it doesn't need to. Final Fantasy II gets by and then some with its evocative atmosphere. The solemn music, hopeless situations and great dialogue all create a mood that kept me glued to the game from start to finish. The overworld theme in particular is amazing, and I loved just hanging out in the world map, taking in the ambiance.

The vibes alone make me like this game a little more than the first. It's far from perfect--future Final Fantasy games would have more interesting plots and tighter gameplay. Not to mention that if I was playing the original version of the game, I think I'd probably like this much less. But in this form, it's easier to see how Final Fantasy II was ahead of its time, and remains an impressive step forward for the franchise.

This game fights back against reductive elements in its contemporary RPG's by demanding character investment. It incentivizes specialization, builds up emotional set pieces, and provides ample arm room for character development. To accomplish this, it surgeons out many of the comforts associated with the genre and video games as a whole.

Despite the time demand, the game is still physically small: limited art assets, explorable zones, and gameplay variety. It expends these resources to give life to multiple character arcs. It also stretches its unique skill system to encompass a dozen playable characters.

Minwu is a highlight. FF2 exists to develop Minwu. He is the game's best example of the skill specialization or scope, character focused storytelling, and well-directed cutscenes. FF2 justifies displaying him in the credits as a protagonist alongside the four you can name.

Everything has a cost, however. Dungeon design is recycled and does not transcend a cubicle maze. There are no creative reflections of actual environments or even non-square rooms. Skills are so modular that only Minwu has a 'play-style'. The game's only special reward, the Ultima spell, is useless for its time cost. The Plot and World are linear, with an Evil Emperor whose simplicity feels disconnecting and towns and dungeons that lack side quests or traversal options that unlock even a single thing.

The game excised its own reward structure and burned it for fuel so that you may be only a half-step more invested in the characters. It projects itself as a game where grinding and efficiency are not the focus, but pushes late game stat inflation so hard that the final arcs border on unplayable. The prospect of returning to it makes me deeply uncomfortable.

Final Fantasy 2 vastly improved in storytelling and character when compared to the first game. The game had a more interesting, unique plot, and the characters allowed for far more emotional investment. The mechanics, however, were far worse. At times, the leveling system felt as if it was punishing me for doing well and rewarding me for doing poorly. The fourth team member was poorly scaled and only ever served as a punching bag to enemies. Overall though, I found Final Fantasy 2 to be a slightly better experience due to the story being the more important aspect of my enjoyment of video games. That being said, in my opinion, the first two games of the series are really only worth playing from a historical perspective, and playing one of the two is enough for that.

2.00/2.00

Full Review: https://watchreadgame.com/final-fantasy-2/

This is a lot like FF1, but instead of generic characters defined simply by job classes, you get SNES Final Fantasy-style named characters who take part in an overarching storyline. And for an NES-era game, Square really went some places with the story, from horny snake princesses to a final battle in the bowels of Hell.

Unfortunately, a lot of the positive stuff gets completely overshadowed by the seemingly experimental leveling system. Instead of predefined numbered levels with scripted stat increases, each stat is improved by using it. You get more HP & stamina by taking hits, your intelligence increases when you use magic, etc. This leads to some wonky grinding, like stabbing your own teammates to try and gain them HP. And the system really seems to fall apart when it comes to magic. Whenever you learn a spell, it's at Level 1. Near the endgame, you get supposedly powerful spells, but you actually need to cast them dozens & hundreds of times in random battles before they're at an appropriate level to actually be useful.

The GBA remake did an excellent job revamping the graphics -- and especially the music. Even though these songs are sequenced computer music & not recorded, you actually hear fretting sounds in songs with string instruments. It's bonkers how much effort they put into the music.

I actually enjoyed this game a lot more than I thought I would, though it's hard to know how much of that is from the original NES design or the effort from the GBA remake. I did dip my toes into the Souls of Rebirth expansion, but after my party getting repeatedly one-shotted by random enemies, I decided that I wasn't going to deal with the grinding (and as far as I could tell, totally required save-scumming) needed to finish it.

For the longest time, when someone in the Americas referred to Final Fantasy II, they were referring to the SNES game that was actually Final Fantasy IV. The game I am going to throw us back to is not that one, but rather the actual Final Fantasy II, that was originally released on the Famicom in Japan and had to wait over a decade before we got an official translated version.

My first experience with Final Fantasy II was with a fan translated hacked ROM. I never got past the opening battle in the game because I didn’t realize that you were supposed to die and thus, I kept resetting the ROM and trying again until I quit. Mind you, I have also done this with the original Silent Hill. Anyway, eventually I would get the game through an official release on the original Playstation as part of the Final Fantasy Origins bundle. I played the original but only gave II a cursory pass over time and again.

This year, I finally decided I was going to delve in to it hardcore. And I did. For about 11 hours. I’m done now. I did not finish it but the game has frustrated me to the point that I have quit the game without a shred of regret.

How can someone that actively enjoys the slogging grind of the original Final Fantasy fall off another ancient gaming experience in the same vein so fast?

Let me tell you the ways.

For whatever reason, Final Fantasy II chose to completely change everything about the previous game from its core. As a long time Final Fantasy fan, this comes as no surprise. Almost every Final Fantasy is different in some way from its predecessor and each time they do this, it is a huge risk. As a business you don’t want to alienate your fans with your iterative entry. This strategy has been hit or miss for Square over the years and has made the series ranking a hugely divisive conversation, albeit a fun one.

However, in my mind Final Fantasy II is a huge miss.

Gone is the traditional leveling system, where fighting enemies grants you experience which eventually will allow your party to level up and become stronger warriors. Final Fantasy II utilizes a usage leveling system. For a more modern reference think of something like The Elder Scrolls where the more you utilize a skill the better you get at it. This isn’t bad in theory but Final Fantasy II applies it to everything. To have your hit points upgrade you need to be attacked and consistently loose HP. This creates a huge early game slog where you need to attack yourself to gain the damage experience to get more HP.

That’s right, the strategy to upgrade your HP in the early game is to attack yourself. That is stupid.

And if you don’t do it, you will be under-powered to face off against the dungeon bosses that are significantly stronger than the standard dungeon enemy fodder. So… no win either way.

This leveling system does gave an interesting give and take mechanic though. The more magic that is utilized by a party member the more MP they will gain but the weaker they will be in the physical attack category. And likewise for the reverse. It is an interesting balancing system that doesn’t allow you to overpower all your characters in all the skills. Provided of course you had the time and patience to do it.

Each skill has its own leveling mechanic, so using a sword levels up sword fighting but a great sword fighter with a spear will be less effective because their spear level will be a 1. I don’t inherently have a problem with this type of system but it just doesn’t feel thought out. For instance, as a magic user the more you use a spell the stronger that spell gets but each time a spell levels up, so does the amount of MP that it costs to cast it. So you could go from a battle where you were spending 3 MP for a Cure spell to the next battle it eating 4 MP and draining your already depleted MP even faster.

Some of this would be alleviated by having an inventory system that allowed you to stack potions but in Final Fantasy II that is another no go. Now the party has a set amount of individual slots to store their gear, treasure, story items, and consumables. So one potion takes up the same amount of space as a piece of armor or a story item that you can’t discard. It is kind of infuriating and I’m sure there are those that love both the leveling system and the inventory but I’m not it. It just makes me really frustrated.

That frustration is a huge sore point for me as Final Fantasy II obviously attempts to be more ambitious in its narrative (as in it actually has one) and I am interested in seeing where it goes. But I just can’t bring myself to spend any more time in a game that is actively frustrating me to the point I am not having any fun playing it. There are too many good games to waste on ones that aren’t bringing you something fulfilling.

(Please note, this is not a review of the version that was released on PSP in 2007)

In many ways, I can see why this entry isn't considered to be one of the series' best, however, it's clear that this game is an important step in the progression of Final Fantasy, not in game play mechanics per se, but in story telling. Unlike its predecessor, whereupon your quest and characters are straight forward, Final Fantasy II introduces written characters for the very first time. Even though none of the cast will make my top favourite list, having characters with actual back story and development really helps sell the story and makes you care more for the quest that you're on. The underdog story against the empire is a familiar tale that is a lot more interesting in future instalments but I appreciate Final Fantasy II's efforts as without them Square soft may never have emphasised story in later games.

In terms of gameplay, the mechanics and systems in play are possibly my least favourite in the series. The fun turn-based combat you know and love is here but the growth based progression system is an interesting choice, but one that is ultimately flawed. Gone are character levels, instead each stat increases independently the more you use it. For instance, in order to increase your strength then you need to attack more, to increase your defence then the party member needs to take a certain amount of damage. This system is interesting but ultimately flawed and encourages players to grind more than ever before. For instance, to improve your stats, nothing is stopping you attacking your own party members. Spells also improve the more you use them. However, this discourages you from utilising new spells later in the game. For example, throughout my quest I mainly used fire, blizzard and thunder with each character so by the final act these spells were relatively strong. Holy and Ultima are notoriously known in the series for being powerful spells but when you get them near the end of the game they are lvl 1 and incredibly weak. To get the most out of them you need to stop and grind. This seems redundant and undermines the importance of Ultima, in particular, as this spell is a major plot point throughout the game. In a way, you could argue that this progression system is ahead of its time. Isn't this the same system that has been adopted by Bethesda's western RPGS. For instance, in Skyrim your ability to use a two handed weapon increases the more you use that type of weapon. However, I feel like this system works more naturally in western RPGS. For Final Fantasy, on the other hand, it encourages farming and grinding that grow tedious after a while.

Taken in a vacuum this game is very enjoyable, but Final Fantasy veterans discovering this title for the first time may feel there is something missing from this game compared to later entries. Nevertheless, it's an important building block in the series and Final Fantasy's first foray into more developed story-telling.

P.S. This game introduces Cid and Chocobos, so what's not to love?

I guess I should start the review with strange fact that I didn't hate this game, not even a little bit. In fact I really enjoyed it. An opinion that's VERY unusual apparently. There are strange gameplay decisions and it's cliched at times, but that's part of the evolution of progression. The franchise wouldn't have become what it is today without this entry's involvement in the lineup. This game's story is hands down a better entry to the franchise than it's other NES siblings and the gameplay is different, sure, but that helped set the game apart from its predecessor - which is something I appreciate in RPGs. To be honest, I feel most of the hate directed at this game is due in part that it wasn't a direct clone of the previous title, and because in the west we didn't officially see a release for this game until mid 2003 with the Origins version. By that time most RPG players were comfortable with the experience system. And if there's one thing that people seem to hate, it's radical change.

Unlike most RPG's of the time this game progresses via a stat system. Meaning that instead of having points automatically doled out to your party members and then dispersed among attributes as the developers saw fit, you had to earn them strategically. If you wanted to gain strength, you had to use weapons; if you wanted to level up a spell, you had to cast it. Sounds great to me - except it wasn't. There was much to desired about the fact that it took 100 uses with a weapon or spell to gain a level. No matter how high the level to boot. Something about having to do the same amount of work to jump from level 1-2 and 16-17 is a little bit annoying. Also in order to gain maximum health, you needed to take hits. So if you were lucky enough (or in this case - unlucky enough) to finish battle harm free, your hit points stayed static. This took the need to grind to severe extremes. And the programmers knew it. To compensate, the random encounter rate is through the roof. Easily much higher than the first game. This threw many players off immediately. Personally, the stat system didn't hinder me as much as I thought it would. Is it game breaking? Absolutely! But does it actually ruin the game? I guess that depends on your patience.

It is painfully apparent that this game was rushed for release though. It was released just one year after the original Final Fantasy, but by then fans were already clamoring for a sequel. There are so many bugs it's hard to count. One that is particularly frustrating is the fact that the spell Ultima, which plays a part in the story - is practically worthless. It was supposed to grow in strength relative to your casters other spell levels. Unfortunately, maximum damage with Ultima is 500, even if all the castors spell levels are maxed out. I can't tell you how frustrating that is considering the amount of grinding it takes to level up. That is 1000 uses to reach level 10 (per spell) to put things in perspective. Not to mention a handful of spells don't work at all. And those are just a couple examples. The fact that the game was clearly not ready for release is far more frustrating to me than the games stat leveling system. Luckily, the storyline is interesting enough to keep the player invested.

The game opens with the party's escape from an attack on their town by the evil Palamecian empire. They are rescued by a rebel faction led by a princess whose kingdom was victim to a similar attack. They immediately learn they are likely the only survivors and have lost one of their friends in the escape. And so it goes, your party decides to find their friend and destroy the empire that leveled their home. The plot is more somber than the its older sibling's plot, but for me had more meaning. It made the ups and downs of the story that much more satisfying, even when they were painfully obvious. It is more than apparent that the story was a key player in this game, instead of the backseat passenger it can so often become. I can't praise this decision enough. Gameplay is important in RPGs, but if I don't care about the characters, I will often loose patience with the inevitable tedious aspects that are in every game. I don't know about you, but I have never played a perfect game.

Graphics were moderately improved from the first game, but definitely look better in the more recent ports. I appreciate sprite work, but I am also not blind. The music is incredible. Nobuo Uematsu is truly a genius. I can't praise his work enough. Seriously. But again I can't deny that the remastered tracks are friendlier on the ears.

All in all the game is pretty good. I have to admit though, unless your a glutton for punishment like I seem to be; pick up a newer version. The bugs have pretty much all been fixed, the difficulty has been tamed down, and will likely be more affordable and easier to locate. Not to mention they include a free extra scenario after you've beaten the game. Proving once again DLC is the needless scourge of games.