"Zelda 1 with experience points" seemed like it could make for a pretty fun game, and there's definitely glimmers of that here. The world map is big, but relatively memorable... there are some interesting story beats spread throughout, and the music isn't too bad either. It's really the dungeons themselves that make the game 3-4 hours longer than it should be.
Aside from that one ice-themed dungeon that had the sliding tiles, so many of them are utterly forgettable. Screens upon screens of enemies that I eventually just don't feel like wanting to fight.
Zelda 1's combat kept things interesting by forcing you to get upclose to enemies, sometimes behind them. This risk-based gameplay was tough, but very deliberate in its intent, and most importantly, was fast-paced and smooth to play.
Final Fantasy Adventure's idea of combat is to make you constantly head into the sluggish inventory system to swap out your weapons depending on which enemy is weak to what. A good chunk of your weapons have fairly good range, so there's no need for risk, and every enemy moves at a choppy 5 frames per second compared to your smooth movement. Sometimes, it's difficult to even tell if you landed a hit, the feedback on that is poor and unsatisfying.
Every now and then, you get a puzzle, and for my baby brain that struggles with those, Adventure's puzzles were actually pretty alright. I had a few "ah-ha" moments with these, and I've somehow found them to be the best part of the game. There's something here. Whenever you're not fighting, you can feel something special in this game. It's just a shame that the combat is such a major part of it, when it's too awkward, slow and clunky to deserve that much spotlight.
Aside from that one ice-themed dungeon that had the sliding tiles, so many of them are utterly forgettable. Screens upon screens of enemies that I eventually just don't feel like wanting to fight.
Zelda 1's combat kept things interesting by forcing you to get upclose to enemies, sometimes behind them. This risk-based gameplay was tough, but very deliberate in its intent, and most importantly, was fast-paced and smooth to play.
Final Fantasy Adventure's idea of combat is to make you constantly head into the sluggish inventory system to swap out your weapons depending on which enemy is weak to what. A good chunk of your weapons have fairly good range, so there's no need for risk, and every enemy moves at a choppy 5 frames per second compared to your smooth movement. Sometimes, it's difficult to even tell if you landed a hit, the feedback on that is poor and unsatisfying.
Every now and then, you get a puzzle, and for my baby brain that struggles with those, Adventure's puzzles were actually pretty alright. I had a few "ah-ha" moments with these, and I've somehow found them to be the best part of the game. There's something here. Whenever you're not fighting, you can feel something special in this game. It's just a shame that the combat is such a major part of it, when it's too awkward, slow and clunky to deserve that much spotlight.