Finally played through the game in Japanese and I really liked it a lot. The writing, especially in the earlier parts, is full of personality, and the plot really moves along extremely quickly.
I still really like the battle system; again, fast and generally easy to operate, with the only really clunky bit (using equipment as items - which turns out to be key to making the game much easier) being largely alleviated by intelligent use of the macro system.
Overall if there's a weakness, it's that in general it's quite short and easy, especially if you know what you're doing. When I first played it in the 90s it was very much my first JRPG and, combined with not having the manual to hand, I ended up mostly grinding my way through any problems. This time around, knowing what does what, it's actually a pretty standard fight and heal type system. Dungeons I remember being massive slogs actually go by extremely smoothly, buffs make boss encounters much more manageable, and good use of some of the equipment as items massively reduces the amount of magic and skills you need to deploy in the field.
In the end though the whole package comes together so well, in spite of the fact it's nearly 30 years old at this point. It's not super long but there's loads of variety. The script's lively, the story is constantly moving forward and the cut-in graphics do such a good job of raising the presentation you could add an intro animation and some CD music and you'd have a damn good Mega CD game. Essential.
I still really like the battle system; again, fast and generally easy to operate, with the only really clunky bit (using equipment as items - which turns out to be key to making the game much easier) being largely alleviated by intelligent use of the macro system.
Overall if there's a weakness, it's that in general it's quite short and easy, especially if you know what you're doing. When I first played it in the 90s it was very much my first JRPG and, combined with not having the manual to hand, I ended up mostly grinding my way through any problems. This time around, knowing what does what, it's actually a pretty standard fight and heal type system. Dungeons I remember being massive slogs actually go by extremely smoothly, buffs make boss encounters much more manageable, and good use of some of the equipment as items massively reduces the amount of magic and skills you need to deploy in the field.
In the end though the whole package comes together so well, in spite of the fact it's nearly 30 years old at this point. It's not super long but there's loads of variety. The script's lively, the story is constantly moving forward and the cut-in graphics do such a good job of raising the presentation you could add an intro animation and some CD music and you'd have a damn good Mega CD game. Essential.