got to the final crystal, wiped, thought i just saved but lost 2 hours of leveling. Think im ready to move on..... since im so close ill come back to finish it out. overall, plot started strong then got really stupid and half baked. have to remind yourself that this kind of story was first of its kind and adjust your expectations accordingly. played on gba. ill re review when the credits roll... eventually

Edit: Stopped pouting about losing my progress and got back on the grind. Later arc was fun and the most rewarding section of the game by far. The difficulty was just the right amount, it really made you work for that final bit and it made it much more satisfying when you finish. The final dungeon was my favorite by far. The amount of xp and rewards you get while fighting some of the toughest fights in the game really made me feel my parties growth and had me rooting for them during the grueling, long, defeating battle. Once that last hp goes down on zeromus, i havent felt that much dopamine in a game in a long time! and that ending section was a great touch. overall, the plot was servicable, much better if you play 1-3 before this one and/or realize how groundbreaking it was at the time. Great experience, and since i played the gba version i might consider grinding out that extra dungeon in order to defeat the superboss

In terms of gameplay, atb was a great addition to turn based combat and i see why it stuck around. enemy variety was amazing although it kind of irked me how many enemies made magic completely useless against them. Made rydia (who was already a burden due to her health) useless for way more fights than she needed to be. needed more elemental weaknesses to exploit considering the vast amount of spells you get. Ui and menu navigation was definitely a product of its time. Questing was OK, never got lost but also didnt really feel the need to explore much.

As this marks the beginning of my final fantasy journey, it was a fun experience and im excited to see how the series evolves from here