Back in the day I could never get into Final Fantasy II. I tried when I was a young lad with an emulator, consuming every 16-bit and 8-bit JRPG imaginable including ones that had been fan translated. I tried again when Final Fantasy I and II were ported to the GBA. I just had to accept that maybe Final Fantasy II is the only game in the series that is not for me. It's certainly a black sheep strange stat growth system that would find a home within the SaGa series.
But then, over the past few years I became SaGa-pilled and learned to love the randomness. So I finally gave Final Fantasy II a proper shot with the new Pixel Remaster and, well, I still think it's the weakest mainline game but it's still worth playing!
It's ambitious in a way I can respect, with its keyword system being reminiscent of PC RPGs. And its story was obviously influential for later games in the series, since after all the infatuation with Star Wars started here, among many other reoccurring elements. As a historical piece I found a lot to appreciate about its simple narrative.
Unfortunately the gameplay gets to be a bit tedious! Thankfully these days I have embraced the auto-battle function. Without it I would never have finished it. Boss fights are interesting enough but in going through dungeons there's not much of interest in the random battles. After a few hours resource management isn't an issue at all due to all the money you earn + spells being dirt cheap to cast. It's not the worst thing as the game only took me about 15 hours to complete, but thank goodness for auto-battle all the same.
I'm glad I finally beat it and while I have warmed up to it, it's still my least favorite Final Fantasy. But hey, it just goes to show that even the worst of the lot still has plenty of redeeming qualities.
But then, over the past few years I became SaGa-pilled and learned to love the randomness. So I finally gave Final Fantasy II a proper shot with the new Pixel Remaster and, well, I still think it's the weakest mainline game but it's still worth playing!
It's ambitious in a way I can respect, with its keyword system being reminiscent of PC RPGs. And its story was obviously influential for later games in the series, since after all the infatuation with Star Wars started here, among many other reoccurring elements. As a historical piece I found a lot to appreciate about its simple narrative.
Unfortunately the gameplay gets to be a bit tedious! Thankfully these days I have embraced the auto-battle function. Without it I would never have finished it. Boss fights are interesting enough but in going through dungeons there's not much of interest in the random battles. After a few hours resource management isn't an issue at all due to all the money you earn + spells being dirt cheap to cast. It's not the worst thing as the game only took me about 15 hours to complete, but thank goodness for auto-battle all the same.
I'm glad I finally beat it and while I have warmed up to it, it's still my least favorite Final Fantasy. But hey, it just goes to show that even the worst of the lot still has plenty of redeeming qualities.