My feelings on the plot for this game are hard to describe. On the one hand, it is incredibly lacklustre, things in this game happen, and there is a flowing narrative throughout, but; there is very little cause and effect. Events occur more or less out of nowhere and with no particular importance over each other. When you complete dungeons, you progress by unlocking more of the map, yet there is no narrative throughline you simply are able to access more areas. The melodies are earned often seemingly at random.
The main characters are similar, they have interesting moments, but that's about it. Lloyd is a nerd whos weak and gets picked on, but eventually overcomes this, Ana dreams of meeting the protagonist, and then she does, she joins your party, says nothing, and then confesses her love. Teddy shows up, is a brute, then somewhat gets humbled, and leaves. They have character arcs, yes, but depth? Not really at all.
However, the actual world itself is much more interesting. Firstly, for the time (and even now to an extent) I find the setting of a more modern world (at least by 1989s standards) to be refreshing. You can also freely explore this world and each area is recognisable enough to not get completely lost or feel aimless, which is an issue I feel is prominent with this game's contemporaries. The dialogue within this world is what redeems this game's incredibly weak plot for me, nothing mindblowing again, but it's charming, enough to make me actually want to talk to NPCs and progress through the game.
The soundtrack is also filled with charm, lots of unique battle music and overworld tracks that are all incredibly iconic.
The gameplay also has its jank. The controls are quite unresponsive, lots of input delay in movement and menus. And the encounter rate is ridiculous, but then again, you're gonna need it because this game is grind city (Another thing it shares with its contemporaries), even after grinding for forever you'll still often be overwhelmed. But once the grinding is over, the combat is pretty fun, you have a ton of special moves in your arsenal and each character serves a unique purpose.
The main characters are similar, they have interesting moments, but that's about it. Lloyd is a nerd whos weak and gets picked on, but eventually overcomes this, Ana dreams of meeting the protagonist, and then she does, she joins your party, says nothing, and then confesses her love. Teddy shows up, is a brute, then somewhat gets humbled, and leaves. They have character arcs, yes, but depth? Not really at all.
However, the actual world itself is much more interesting. Firstly, for the time (and even now to an extent) I find the setting of a more modern world (at least by 1989s standards) to be refreshing. You can also freely explore this world and each area is recognisable enough to not get completely lost or feel aimless, which is an issue I feel is prominent with this game's contemporaries. The dialogue within this world is what redeems this game's incredibly weak plot for me, nothing mindblowing again, but it's charming, enough to make me actually want to talk to NPCs and progress through the game.
The soundtrack is also filled with charm, lots of unique battle music and overworld tracks that are all incredibly iconic.
The gameplay also has its jank. The controls are quite unresponsive, lots of input delay in movement and menus. And the encounter rate is ridiculous, but then again, you're gonna need it because this game is grind city (Another thing it shares with its contemporaries), even after grinding for forever you'll still often be overwhelmed. But once the grinding is over, the combat is pretty fun, you have a ton of special moves in your arsenal and each character serves a unique purpose.