God, what a game. I can't imagine how mind-blown people must've been playing this game at launch, the production values are nuts. I was an N64 kid so I didn't get to experience it until way later, but regardless this game still left an impression. The pre-rendered backgrounds are so mesmerizing to look at, Mr. Uematsu's soundtrack slaps so hard I'm pretty sure he committed fifteen war crimes in the process of composing it, and the gameplay (regardless of my following issues with it) is still very fun.

Two things hold this game back for my personal enjoyment however: the translation and the materia system. The former is obvious; this game's script is ROUGH - Typos, slurs, missing plot points, the whole shebang really, it's a mess. It's hard to read what emotions characters are sometimes trying to convey and that's a huge issue when the game's story is character-driven. Final Fantasy VIII and IX fared way better in that regard, thankfully.

Secondly there's the materia system. I can see the appeal of it but I've always enjoyed the characters having fixed roles in battle over being blank slates to be filled by the players. It's still a neat system that encourages experimentation and is probably a power gamer's wet dream, but it doesn't really resonate with me.

Played this on both PS1 and Switch. I greatly prefer playing it on the Switch mainly for sleep mode. Playing RPGs in shorter bursts does wonders for me.