HOLYYYYYYYYYY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT. This game is somehow even better than FF3! Ok lets start with this games many positives. Level ups are even quicker in this game than in previous games while still making a quite large difference in the power of your character between levels. The story is insane just for it being the first FF game with a REAL story. The previous games all attempted stories but this is the first one with an ACTUAL story. Characters, Motivations, Betrayal it's all here and makes for an insanely entertaining and gripping story especially in comparison to FF1,2 and 3. This game was also the introduction of the active time battle system which ditches the more traditional turn based system for a system that combines turn based actions with real time elements such as when the enemy attacks. I feel that this system works incredibly well in this game. Even though i initially thought it was too chaotic at the start of the game, I grew to enjoy the system and especially the improvements made in other areas. The world is even bigger than in previous games while still being more densely packed with content. In FF1 you would often have several minutes of walking between locations especially with random encounters included. This game opts often to shorten the distance required to get from location to location which is refreshing. Another massive thing that I love about this game is how non-existent grinding is. As long as you fight every random encounter you will be very ready for the final boss. This game's pacing overall is immaculate there is practically never a dull moment in the game and its also a bit shorter than other FF games. My completion time for this game was 3 hours shorter than FF3 but It felt like there was even more things going on than in that game. With all of that said I have to unfortunately talk about the one bad point in this game... the final boss. Not only is it way too easy (I literally beat it while forgetting phoenix downs and having 3/5ths of my party dead near the start) the character who ends up being the final boss gets very little setup. He basically shows up in the last hour of the game and is like "Yo guys im here now" and It really reduces the impact of the final boss. Personally no matter how cliche it would've been i really feel like Golbez would've been better as a final boss. He is set up the entire game as this formidable unbeatable foe yet you never get to fight him proper. Every "fight" with him is a cutscene where you all get your ass beat. It would've been immensely gratifying to kick his ass in a final boss battle. In conclusion, if the story of the NES era games really doesn't do it for you than i can actually recommend this game as a starting point. It's an absolutely unforgettable experience and an insane improvement over the previous games.