I went into this game expecting to have quite a bad time, given its reputation. Instead I had probably one of the most polarizing experiences I've had with a video game maybe ever. I feel really torn, because there's a lot of heart in it. A lot of genuinely creative ideas, especially for a game so old. But most of them kind of suck. And even some of the stuff that isn't so creative sucks. I think I liked it better than Final Fantasy 1 at least, because this strives to go far beyond what the original game accomplished. It's just that it fails most of its attempts.

To give an idea of what's holding me back from liking this game all that much, here's a list of game mechanics in this one that make me want to barf. Keep in mind, I played the GBA version, part of the Dawn of Souls collection, which from all accounts seems to be a large improvement over the original title. Allegedly.

• The number of steps to your next "random" encounter is calculated upon finishing a battle and then saved to your file. This means if you get a random encounter 5 steps after saving the game, resetting the game will still result in an encounter after taking 5 steps. This is really gross, what the hell? I assume it was done to keep from needing to calculate whether an encounter happens every step you take, but it got annoying very quickly because there's so many encounters, even in boss rooms.
• Shield use governs your Evasion stat. (???)
• Using the Teleport spell to leave a dungeon reduces the user to critical HP levels. Literally why is this a thing? At first I thought it was a glitch, but no, this is fully intended.
• In order to get a chance (not even guaranteed) to raise your mage's MP stat, you need to use large amounts of MP in a single battle. This means if your characters are strong, you will not gain any MP because battles will not last long enough unless you grind for it. For example, my MP stopped increasing around 5 hours before the end of the game. I just never got an increase to the stat afterwards because I didn't need to cast spells enough per battle.
• You get the airship, allowing you to avoid overworld enemy encounters right before you go to fight the final boss. I just... why? It's worthless this late in the game.
• The other method of avoiding encounters in the overworld is by riding a Chocobo. There is ONE in the entire game. It lives in a remote part of the game world and as soon as you get off of it to do anything at all, like enter a town, it leaves and runs back to its home, meaning you need to trek on foot all the way back there if you want to use it again. There is zero point in having this in the game, other than the introduction of the franchise's staple bird species.

These combined with the fairly obtuse, but not outright bad stat gain system served to drag down my experience in a massive way. I felt like I kept stumbling across new ways the devs decided to screw me over with confusing design decisions.

That said, there was also a lot to like in this game. Here are some highlights.

• The story and pacing is not only incredibly good for its time, but also stands pretty strong to this day. I was consistently impressed with the way the plot unfolded to the player. Though you could argue it's made up of a long string of MacGuffins, each felt natural in the way it was introduced.
• The main characters have identities! Massive improvement over the original entry. It adds so much to a game when the characters have backstories and personalities rather than being blank slates.
• Rather nice spritework. I think the first game may have the upper hand in this regard when looking at the Dawn of Souls version, but I still found the enemy sprites to inspire a few oohs and aahs from me throughout my playthrough, particularly the bosses.
• The concept of having your fourth character rotate between various side characters as you go through the story was really cool! I've never quite seen something like it before. It could have been a bit more player-friendly, as you can lose items that were equipped to characters when they leave if you aren't expecting it, but very neat nonetheless.

So with all this I'm left unsure how to rate my experience but just give the game a 3/5. It seems only fair. Would I ever play it again? No, I would not. Would I recommend it to someone else? Hahaha, not a chance. But I can't help but appreciate it for what it tried to accomplish, even if it missed the mark most of the time. It's a feat for a game that's nearly 34 years old now to throw mechanical curveballs that catch me off guard. Especially in a genre as mechanically stagnant as the JRPG.