Experimentation in resistance and fantasy
When you create a unique property that is successful, the first thing people tend think of these days are sequels, a continuation of sorts. The general idea tends to be take what made the original great, add in a new story and build up the foundation the game has set up with more things to do and more to experience. As my friend pointed out though, sequels around this time were more experimental than you would think. The original Zelda was followed up by Zelda 2, Castlevania followed by Castlevania II and so forth, even Dragon Quest II had its own spin and improvements on the formula the first game set out to create. The original Final Fantasy was a very basic yet enjoyable RPG and was considered a success for Square. Final Fantasy II did not rest on their laurels and created a very unique sequel that kinda scrapped what made the first one great with a gameplay system I felt added nothing nor satisfying customization to the experience albeit with an interesting concept for the world and narrative.
The story of II tells a more ambitious narrative with as soon as editing the names of the main four characters, you are immediately thrust into a battle you cannot win. Starting out as four adopted siblings with no power to wield, barely brought back to death by the resistance. It's a tale of smaller powers trying to overcome the impossible, the classic underdog story. The story mostly has you joining this said resistance, going on missions trying to piece together what's left of the world in order for maybe a chance to fight back against the Empire. The most interesting facet of story telling in the game I feel is the rotating fourth party member through what is essentially most of the entire game, you encounter different people from around the world and they play a role in furthering your goals and pay a price but it gets exhausting when it happens just to give you a fresh slate again. The main cast have their quirks but considering the time, it's par for the course. I like the different perspectives but I think from a gameplay perspective, it's one of the most annoying things about this game.
Upon usually building for sequels, you usually don't shake up the entire formula in the growth of your characters which I feel is an extremely important. I have to preface that I really do respect Square for trying something completely different when you have a golden goose, it takes a lot of guts to shake things up. There is no traditional leveling system here but a more "the more you do it, the better you get" in the simplest of terms. Stats are raised by specific actions like taking a lot of health damage raises your health points or constantly attacking physically raises your strength and so forth. Proficiency with weapons are raised here with use and allow any character to use any weapon. You essentially have the freedom to make any character you want given within the means of the game. My main problem is that the progression never felt satisfying through the entire game at all, you will notice the stats grow within time but it never feels like you really are getting stronger at all. The general encounters aren't that fun either and the dungeon design is really awful here. The rotating fourth party member while good from a storytelling perspective really annoyed me with how often you get a new party member with worse stats than your main three and realize it's not worth building them up due to them eventually leaving again. In reality, you had three slates instead of a usual four while finally getting a permanent one at the end of the game but by then, it'll be way too late to be of any use. Around the halfway point, I was pleading with myself to be finished with this experience as even the encounters didn't feel rewarding or even fun, it began to feel tedious because at that point, the party was already set in stone.
Most of the music in Final Fantasy II gets a bit repetitive but there are definitely some great hits here especially the final dungeon theme being a huge standout. The design of the enemies are great here as well and the main party designs are pretty unique especially Guy, who is just this buff dude that speaks beaver.
I genuinely wanted to like Final Fantasy II, the prospect of an open ended growth system might invoke some creativity in how I can handle certain situations in the game and figuring out builds might be fun for me but it just left me bored and frustrated when some bosses only take magic damage leaving two of my physical build ideas as useless. The growth of power in this game felt so piecemeal that it never felt like getting a decent meal every level up but just a small candy every now and then more often, you will eventually get full eating this way but it's never satisfying compared to an actual meal. I can understand why people like this game and I don't want to sound too dismissive of that considering I do think the story and narrative are by far the most interesting things about the game but it's barely enough even at all, the characters too if done right and not hamper the gameplay that it made me check out.
When you create a unique property that is successful, the first thing people tend think of these days are sequels, a continuation of sorts. The general idea tends to be take what made the original great, add in a new story and build up the foundation the game has set up with more things to do and more to experience. As my friend pointed out though, sequels around this time were more experimental than you would think. The original Zelda was followed up by Zelda 2, Castlevania followed by Castlevania II and so forth, even Dragon Quest II had its own spin and improvements on the formula the first game set out to create. The original Final Fantasy was a very basic yet enjoyable RPG and was considered a success for Square. Final Fantasy II did not rest on their laurels and created a very unique sequel that kinda scrapped what made the first one great with a gameplay system I felt added nothing nor satisfying customization to the experience albeit with an interesting concept for the world and narrative.
The story of II tells a more ambitious narrative with as soon as editing the names of the main four characters, you are immediately thrust into a battle you cannot win. Starting out as four adopted siblings with no power to wield, barely brought back to death by the resistance. It's a tale of smaller powers trying to overcome the impossible, the classic underdog story. The story mostly has you joining this said resistance, going on missions trying to piece together what's left of the world in order for maybe a chance to fight back against the Empire. The most interesting facet of story telling in the game I feel is the rotating fourth party member through what is essentially most of the entire game, you encounter different people from around the world and they play a role in furthering your goals and pay a price but it gets exhausting when it happens just to give you a fresh slate again. The main cast have their quirks but considering the time, it's par for the course. I like the different perspectives but I think from a gameplay perspective, it's one of the most annoying things about this game.
Upon usually building for sequels, you usually don't shake up the entire formula in the growth of your characters which I feel is an extremely important. I have to preface that I really do respect Square for trying something completely different when you have a golden goose, it takes a lot of guts to shake things up. There is no traditional leveling system here but a more "the more you do it, the better you get" in the simplest of terms. Stats are raised by specific actions like taking a lot of health damage raises your health points or constantly attacking physically raises your strength and so forth. Proficiency with weapons are raised here with use and allow any character to use any weapon. You essentially have the freedom to make any character you want given within the means of the game. My main problem is that the progression never felt satisfying through the entire game at all, you will notice the stats grow within time but it never feels like you really are getting stronger at all. The general encounters aren't that fun either and the dungeon design is really awful here. The rotating fourth party member while good from a storytelling perspective really annoyed me with how often you get a new party member with worse stats than your main three and realize it's not worth building them up due to them eventually leaving again. In reality, you had three slates instead of a usual four while finally getting a permanent one at the end of the game but by then, it'll be way too late to be of any use. Around the halfway point, I was pleading with myself to be finished with this experience as even the encounters didn't feel rewarding or even fun, it began to feel tedious because at that point, the party was already set in stone.
Most of the music in Final Fantasy II gets a bit repetitive but there are definitely some great hits here especially the final dungeon theme being a huge standout. The design of the enemies are great here as well and the main party designs are pretty unique especially Guy, who is just this buff dude that speaks beaver.
I genuinely wanted to like Final Fantasy II, the prospect of an open ended growth system might invoke some creativity in how I can handle certain situations in the game and figuring out builds might be fun for me but it just left me bored and frustrated when some bosses only take magic damage leaving two of my physical build ideas as useless. The growth of power in this game felt so piecemeal that it never felt like getting a decent meal every level up but just a small candy every now and then more often, you will eventually get full eating this way but it's never satisfying compared to an actual meal. I can understand why people like this game and I don't want to sound too dismissive of that considering I do think the story and narrative are by far the most interesting things about the game but it's barely enough even at all, the characters too if done right and not hamper the gameplay that it made me check out.