I think I enjoyed this game much more than most, there’s a chance that I’m wrong but I thought people say Final Fantasy 2 is one of the worst but enjoyed it.
The story was a significant step up from Final Fantasy 1 with an actual plot and structure. Nothing crazy robust but more than FF 1 and enough to give me an idea of the world and characters. Story moments would happen in the midst of playing like cutscenes in dungeons which makes dungeons more memorable. Then the conversations are more plentiful and engaging with all the whole asking and learning about key phrases, plus characters are just better written. The rebellion plot and antagonist all were well presented, I felt like the bad guys had a presence and I could understand why they needed to be stopped. The game also didn’t pull punches on killing characters which I think added to the weight of the rebellion we are apart of. It also introduced the Dragoons and some other Final Fantasy mainstays like chocbos so seeing their first appearances tickled my fancy.
As for the gameplay it’s almost identical to the first game but with a new leveling system. Essentially the more you use a weapon the more proficient you become with it, so there’s no hard classes anymore and characters can do just about anything as long as you level them properly. I can’t claim to know if this is a good system because I honestly played with XP modifiers on so all of my characters were overpowered but I like the idea of it and it encouraged me to experiment more. Although I can see how it might be restrictive with not being able to use certain weapons that are technically better than what you have just because you didn’t level it. Everything else is just about the same as FF1, the only real change being what I touched upon with the story being more reactive in the dungeons and world maps. I will say the novelty of getting the transportation items wore off in this game because I expected it but I did like enjoy how at the start you need to charter ships and boats. All in all Final Fantasy 2 just felt like a step forward for the series and I have no huge complaints. Oh also the Rebellion theme music was awesome. Okay…I’m done.
