While a great throwback to the NES Era of video game, Final Fantasy simply fails to live up to its predecessor Stranger of Paradise, keeping in mind its shortcomings and lack of content this game should've been a DLC bonus for Stranger of Paradise rather than its own standalone title.

Final Fantasy is a total step down in everything, even the combat, and story which was greatly shocking to me as I found those aspects of the original to be phenomenal.
Gone are the complexities of the soul shield system, and in exchange, we have a watered-down job system with a tiring and exhausting turn-based combat system which is a complete insult to everything Stranger of Paradise was.

The story is a complete rehash of Stranger of Paradise with plot points removed, despite the fact this is a sequel which greatly upsets me as the story was one of the best aspects of the original game and a follow up had a lot of potential, yet the execs over at Square care not for artistic integrity but trying to make a quick buck cashing on a massively popular IP which makes it safe to assume that Stranger of Paradise was a lightning in a bottle that they will never be able to capture again.

The contrast between the first half of this game and the second half is really fuckin weird lmao. like levels 3 and 4 is like specters and vampires and other cool gothic shit while level 1 and 2 has you shooting defenseless naked humans chained up on torture gear while somber piano music plays like, what? huh?
also if you are like me and don't know how to set up mame but you want to play this then you are in luck because the internet archive has this available to play in your browser! https://archive.org/details/arcade_chiller
it's a fun lil 20 minute light gun shooter and it's cool to see something so graphic on 8 bit hardware lol

try as one might, you can never truly avoid your own mortality, even if the pills and the treatments help. i don't think that makes any pursuit in life inherently pointless, though. every action we take leaves one wet print on the floor, and the janitor can never hope to completely clear it up. maybe the first ending is the only one, maybe we come back and find the place how we left it, but you never truly know the answer to that question until you stop running away from death and gain the confidence to brand 'memento mori' on a part of your skin that you find yourself looking at in the slow moments, as you get just one second to breathe and think about how you got here, anyways.

And I'll do my duty — I know
Somehow I'll find a way
But a thing of beauty
Will never fade away
And I'll do my duty

samurai - never fade away