It's easy to see why this game became such a sensation upon release. The bones of what makes a great JRPG are all there, and the Akira Toriyama designs are wonderful.
But in the grand scheme of the NES library this was very much a rough draft. The story is kind of inconsequential and the game really just boils down to "grind here for experience and gold in order to move to the next area where you'll do the same thing".
Within a year the first Final Fantasy was released that introduced real quest lines and a world that was full of discovery, plus a new level of strategy with the player deciding the party composition and things like elemental weaknesses.
So is it a must play? I think everyone should probably at least experience it somehow to see what is widely considered the grandfather of JRPGs. But I don't think it's necessary to grind your way through the whole game. There just isn't enough substance to sustain it the whole way through.
But in the grand scheme of the NES library this was very much a rough draft. The story is kind of inconsequential and the game really just boils down to "grind here for experience and gold in order to move to the next area where you'll do the same thing".
Within a year the first Final Fantasy was released that introduced real quest lines and a world that was full of discovery, plus a new level of strategy with the player deciding the party composition and things like elemental weaknesses.
So is it a must play? I think everyone should probably at least experience it somehow to see what is widely considered the grandfather of JRPGs. But I don't think it's necessary to grind your way through the whole game. There just isn't enough substance to sustain it the whole way through.