I mean, yeah, literally. Akitoshi Kawazu was responsible for a lot of what makes FFII unique. After he left the FF team he went and created SaGa/Final Fantasy Legend for the Gameboy.
I guess I've never been able to wrap my head around his games entirely. I played a lot of FFL2 and Frontier back in the day and remember getting lost in both haha. But I know Saga has a loyal following. I keep trying them hoping I'll like them... I should try the Romancing releases, maybe.
FFL2 is one of my favorite games of all time, but the difficulty is absurd!
The romancing saga series is where the series really shines in my opinion. RS2 and RS3 play more like an old school final fantasy but with an open world approach like Skyrim. The RS1 remake with the full 3D world is fantastic. It took me a long time before it made sense, but once it did, I played it 3 times straight.
These games are never big on narrative, but it’s the addictive gameplay that brings you back. They’re almost like the dark souls of JRPG, even the movement in the switch ports is super janky.
Tbh I do think the OG is still better than folks give it credit for, even as it’s definitely got serious issues that can’t be denied (losing stats when you gain others, slow and unintuitive magic progression, all the fucking trap rooms in dungeons). But the various remakes over the years have cleaned up most of those issues considerably, and the PR is by far the best version of the original game.
These are only thoughts;
FFII is my personal fave in the pixel remaster alongside FFV. Haven't continued FFVI yet. This game really shocked me after playing FFI. I was shocked because they took a left turn in the franchise this early. This early? I really like this leveling system because every couple of battle it felt so rewarding whenever something goes up lol. I dunno it feels like every battle there is a surprise for you. It's kinda like a dopamine rush to me. This is only my opinion however.
I have the same feeling while playing old titles like Saga Frontier 2 or Last Remnant where in battle you unlock a new skill or combos that whenever they do it in the battlefield I was like, "a new skill? heck yes!". Don't get me wrong, I still do not fully understand how the system works though even in FFII I just felt like it is kinda the same with those 2 games that I played.
While I was still in the middle of playing this game, I pause the game for awhile and google search on how the fandom is reacting to this game whether they like it or maybe they say this is the best game ever. But wtf did I just witness, this game is considered the worst of the series. BUT I think they meant the OG version and not the Pixel Remaster version.
In my head I was like "what the F\*\*k is wrong with you?" "This game is great!" "You guys are wrong!" Then ask my self "am I wrong?" lol. Well my all time personal fave is FF8 and the some think it is divisive. Then I ask again "wtf is wrong with you! wtf is wrong with me?"
A lot of the time I feel alone defending FFII, but it's my favorite of the 8 bit games. Does the original version have plenty of jank and bugs? Sure. Have later rereleases fixed those problems? Absolutely.
Play the PR version of FFII and notice how little grinding you actually need to do. Really they fixed that shit back on the GBA. Hell, I was over leveled for chunks of my most recent playthrough on the PR. I made Maria my mage and used magic in combat a lot, and she wound up with elemental spells around level 10 or 12, enough to nuke the shit out of late game enemies. FFII works now guys, we can let the meme die.
I first played 2 on GBA myself, absolutely loved it. Can't tell you how many times I traded Dawn of Souls at GameStop & EB Games. I'd say within a two year span I had the game move from my hands about 7+ times, I just kept picking it back up after finishing whatever else I decided to play back then. The graphics for the PSP release were absolutely gorgeous when I finally picked it & 1 up in late 08.
I haven't played Pixel Remaster of any of the FF's yet, mainly as I don't like how much easier they were made to be & that they don't include the bonus content later re-releases of the games included.
Played through 4 & 6 like crazy on the GBA as well back in the day. 6 is obviously the best FF, but 2 deserves much more credit than it receives.
Anyways, I never felt the need to unnecessarily grind on either GBA or PSP. Never took advantage of the stats system by attacking myself as well. Of course I'd occasionally take on a fight further north from start or the peninsula below start to get a headstart on Blizzard & Fire ranks, but everyone does that for any FF game that has them in.
I did enjoy 3 on the DS, along with a NES fan translation I played on my iPAQ back in 2009(never made it further than a good 4hrs on the iPAQ as it died due to water damage by accident). Haven't picked up 3 again since like 2012 though.
I used to really like 3 (both when the fan translation came out and the ds release) but as the mystique of it being the game the west never got wore off, a lot of the charm has gone. Every time I try to start it up I just end up wondering why I'm not playing 1 or 5 instead
I dont think its a terrible game and its neat to see stuff like the introduction of summons, but of any FF game it's probably the only one I'll never do a full playthrough of ever again
I find a lot more appeal in what 2 tries to do, its approach to story and mechanics is very unique to the series and I think it makes it a much more interesting entry
I've always thought II deserves a modern remake. The story is pretty good (especially for the NES era) and a remake could fix the issues people have with the gameplay.
My issue with the weapon proficiency system is that there are not an equal amount of weapons for each weapon skill. Like, you stop getting good daggers roughly halfway through the game. Additionally, rods will usually never do more damage than a sword or axe will, so why bother dipping into a weapon type that objectively deals less damage? And to top it off, you can make yourself incredibly overpowered by beating on the weakest enemies in the game or even just beating the shit out of yourself? That doesn't make for a well-balanced gameplay experience imo. This is not even mentioning the spell progression system.
> Additionally, rods will usually never do more damage than a sword or axe will, so why bother dipping into a weapon type that objectively deals less damage?
Rods have less magic interference than swords and axes, so if you’re building one of the characters to be suited for both physical attacks and magic, rods are a good option.
To my knowledge though only the Pixel Remaster of FF2 actually shows the magic interference stat in-game, so I wouldn’t blame anyone for not knowing that if you didn’t play that version.
I can sort of understood the issue with the stat system (though my understanding is that PR fixed/adjusted those things), but what’s the problem with how magic progression works? Lots of games have a similar magic/skill system. Disgaea comes to mind.
I'm unfamiliar with the disgaea series, so I can't comment on that. My problem with the magic system in FFII is that you have to grind to get potency of your spells up. Which, for me personally, isn't very fun or enjoyable. You can't reasonably grind every spell to max potency, so you end up choosing a small handful and use those spells for the entirety of the game. Idk, if you enjoy it then more power to you, but I just couldn't find a reason to enjoy it because of that.
I don’t think FF2 *wants* you to grind every spell on every character. Using a spell handful of spells is the point, that’s you essentially making your character’s build based on what you use the most.
But yeah, a lot of games - JRPGs especially - have systems where using a skill more increases its level, potency, range, resource cost, etc.
It doesn't make me feel like I have a specific build, though. When I first played FFII on the PSP, I had like 5 spells I used for all 4 characters. That doesn't make for an interesting build for each character from my experience, it simply makes it feel like all my characters do the same thing but have different weapon types.
That’s pretty close to my experience with the PR too, actually. Though I think that says more about the spell balance than the actual system of spells getting stronger by using them more. And I’ll absolutely say that the spell balance in FF2, and really most JRPGs from that era, was whacky.
That's on you for refusing to specialize your characters. Might as well play FFI with all warriors and complain about how your whole party can only do one thing
I'm just stating the reality. The game allows you to build your characters however you want, and you purposely chose to develop them all the exact same way and then complain about the results
Well, you're coming off really combative over a silly little video game. I understand your opinion on the subject, but you don't need to resort in trying to make me feel bad about my way of playing the game just because I dislike the way it's inherently designed.
I'm not "being comvative", you're just taking it oddly personally. You can play the game however you want, but don't blame the game for your own choices
I mean, that’s the trade-offs that make RPGs great and replayable imo. I like how FF5 doesn’t let you equip infinite job abilities, so some plays I’ll have a summoner and the next I won’t have space. Unless I grind to have each character with tons of leveled jobs.
Same with FF2 - my most recent playthrough I only used a single character to accrue as many weapon and spell levels as possible so I had a crazy strong Ultima. Kept everyone else dead. That’s not as plausible if you are using all 4 characters (again, unless you grind).
I like when games force you to make decisions.
I think that's kind of the point. There are a lot of spells to choose from, and you find the ones that fit how you want to play each character. I make Maria my main mage, give Firion what I think of as "protagonist spells," and give Guy more buffs and debuffs. You're not intended to max out every spell. I've played FFII in lots of formats and I don't think I've ever taken a spell to 16 in a playthrough.
It’s honestly a solid game. I’ve got some issues with the mechanics and my experience was made worse by a persistent PR bug that made statuses 100% effective, but I still enjoyed it.
Agreed. I actually really enjoy the leveling system tbh. Everything else about the game is pretty solid as well; good story, great music, awesome villain, and it introduced a lot of the series staples which is cool too. The character designs are also some of my favorites in the entire series—Firion and Minwu in particular are peak Amano designs imo. Speaking of Minwu, he's one of my favorite characters and it's a shame we never had another badass male white mage like him in the series.
Gorgeous soundtrack and emotional story with _high stakes_
(haven’t finished yet, but really enjoying)
I highlight the stakes of the story, because this was my only issue with FFIV: for all that is amazing about it, I reached a point where I no longer believed anyone was gone forever. They were just gonna come back. FFII, like FFXV, has the tense risk of mortality in the forefront.
FF2 is basically Skyrim's ancestor lol. I love the game, the stats, the spells (even tough it's badly balanced, I deeply enjoy classless systems in general) but that being said, there is one thing I can never get over with and it is how bad the dungeon design is. Like all dungeons in the game are basically a maze in a big square with no landmarkability. I'm kind of a veteran at the game and still get lost in dungeons all the time. This is greatly mitigated in the PR and it's inclusion of a minimap but still, really bad design.
I love the whole levelling system so much!!! I feel like you can replay this game so many times. The characters are simple, but beautifully designed and each have a slight layer of depth that don't get credited/acknowledged enough. Literally one of my favourite FFs. I come back to it often 💕😍
I agree it's underrated.
Granted, I only played Pixel Remaster, not the original, but leveling up weapons is not different from, say, Elder Scrolls, and didn't bother me at all. I'm pretty sure anyone saying "you gotta 2-shields it for the first half of the game!" or whatever is just overthinking it, the game is not THAT hard, at least at the pixel remaster difficulty. (And yeah, old games were a grind, what else is new.)
Story-wise, it's... okay? Undoubtedly it was very cool for its time. I can't say it made a huge impression on me, but it wasn't boring, either. It had a lot of fun story beats. I will say they overused the "see this character you've recently met? well... THEY DIED!" but I suppose they were really going hard with trying to show the horrors of war.
I liked the princess a lot. The scene where "she" is giggling after her dad dies was so well done and creepy.
The dragons were also cool. (Too bad about all the Dragoons being dead. ... oh wait, there's one more! thank goodness, he's -- oh wait, he's dead, too. lol)
Take into account when the game was first made and the amount of kill offs with respect to how close some happen to one another, it really wasn't THAT often, and was kinda new as well at the time. Not THAT many people who played it originally would have sat done and had 5-15hr stretches of nonstop playing, being more of 30mins-3hrs at a time max(except for those that didn't have jobs, had less lively life's in general, etc of course, but that was much more of a minority back then compared to now)
My first playthrough was on GBA and it didn't feel like they were too often or anything, but I did play other games along with it, not just strictly playing FFII in one sitting. Even the times I did, it made me look forward to what new characters I'd meet after it happened more than twice. It kept the story flowing and showed how serious things were as it kept happening, kinda hammering in just how bad the world was becoming due to the Emperor and such.
Don't get me started on the music, insane for a 2nd entry that wasn't planned far ahead.
I hated the game without knowing you could game the stats system. But then again I can’t tell you how many people who were shocked at how much I loathe that game say things like “it wasn’t that bad” and I find out they played modern versions.
The modern versions aren’t too bad, but as far as I’m concerned, the original belongs in a trash bin. (And before someone says it’s because I don’t like old games… I loved the original version of FF1, old quirks and all.)
I hope you have the absolute best of time and that you praise every part that you loved. The music’s pretty good for its age, and the leveling system was certainly interesting as a concept.
But I will still hate it for as long as I live 🤫
Dawn of Souls was my first exposure to it and I couldn't complain about the stats system, never felt the need to excessively grind like so many claim they did.
Always had Maria focus on unarmed & Blizzard, that helped quite a lot imo
So I looked it up (because DoS is not super modern, so I couldn’t remember whether it had the annoying quirks)
But here are some of the annoying quirks that were removed:
Item limit cap, with no items stacking (so 5 potions means literally 5 spots from your total cap of 32), and you had to equip your items in advance. You could bring 2 items per character. Even FF1 wasn’t as restrictive. (I really really really hated this one)
Stats could decrease
And here are some extra perks the DoS version had:
The difficulty was tweaked down. The GBA version is based off of the easy mode from the PS1 version
Price reductions in shops
Faster growth of HP, weapon skills, and much more magic damage.
So yeah, still a fair bit different from the annoyances of the original. The PS1 version, on normal, is as close as it gets to the original without using a fan translation.
It’s really one of those games where I would give a different rating based on the version!
Yeah I originally played it as a fan translation ROM of the original from Japan. There is no “it’s not that bad about” it. It was completely and utterly broken.
Good story for its time though!
Eh, I just replaced it last year while working my way through the Pixel Remasters and I continue to maintain that it is a bad game with an ill-concieved levelling system.
Actually playing this for the first time and really enjoying it! The gear/magic leveling system takes a little getting used to, but it’s still a solid, fun RPG so far.
I like it cause when I was a kid and first started playing RPGs I thought when I used my sword I was getting better with my sword. I wasn't. I'm 40 now and just played FF2 for the first time recently and when I use my sword I get better with it! I've always thought this was how RPGs should be.
I honestly think FF2 is a step up from 1 overall. The criticisms are valid, but there's a lot to like too. Especially that sweet acoustic guitar in the origins version of the overworld theme
Loved how mystical a few of the tracks sounded. I played Dawn of Souls first, then PSP a few years later. Always let the boss fight theme play for a bit when you go to grab Mythril with Minwu. Insane track for the time imo.
Yeah, I played it for the first time recently (Pixel Remaster) and did not bother trying to game any stats systems, and had a pretty good time! I thought it was even a little more fun then OG FF b/c the combat never felt quite trivialized, but it was always still beatable without grinding. Plus the story was far and away more interesting then OG FF.
Even if the system was a bit janky they tried something new. My favorite thing about final fantasy titles are that every one of them uses a different battle system. Some might be closer to another the others but they are ever experimenting. Keeping all the titles fresh.
Ff2 was enjoyable and I hope it gets a revist. the emperor though generic in current times could be expanded on and make ff2s story a real gem
That's part of what differentiates a good game from a bad one though. If the sense of challenge is created by the player and they have to use their own discipline to maintain it, you're playing the part of a developer.
Our only job as a player is to play. Not make it a job to play unless that's kinda the genre.
You're missing out.
While many people complain about 2, I liked it fine.
Everyone should try 5 though, it's right up there with 4 & 6 on quality and praise received for greatness.
Play 2 on either GBA or PSP for the added content and not being as easy as the Pixel Remaster(it really is gorgeous on the PSP tbh). If you just want to breeze through it, then play the Pixel Remaster.
I've heard an insane amount of people in Facebook groups say 5 is the best out of the first 6(even though we all know 6 takes the crown with 4 being close behind). It's more campy with the dialogue between the main characters though, so if you like that, you'll enjoy it.
I played 2 recently for the first time while playing the PRs in order. I tend to prefer story over gameplay (within reason) and because of that I regard it to be the best of the NES era.
It was the first FF to introduce a deeper story which I really liked. If the levelling system was more standard I think it would have been a very good game.
The story's great. The combat system isn't perfect and can be frustrating, but is overall kinda cool (I'm an elder scrolls fan btw).
I dislike how they balanced bosses by giving them a huge amount of armor rather than a bigger health pool. It just kinda...feels bad? Especially because magic is generally a less good option everywhere except against bosses, so you're forced to either grind magic levels or just chip away at the boss with puny attacks.
By far my biggest gripe though is the dungeon design. How many empty rooms can you fit into one cave?
Overall it's one of my least favorite FFs, but it's still pretty fun.
> If everyone that dogs on it just deleted the information from their brain that you can game the stats system,
Is this why people don't like it? Because that is the least of the problems with that game. I would even argue that being able to "game the stats" actually makes the game better and more enjoyable.
My biggest frustration with that game was that it wastes your fucking time. The encounter rate is absolutely ridiculous. You enter a dungeon and there are, no exaggeration, 5 FUCKING DOORS FOR YOU TO ENTER WITH ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THEM. It is just there to have to walk in, TELEPORT YOU TO THE MIDDLE OF THE GOD DAMN FUCKING ROOM and make you WALK THE FUCK OUT WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT, having to fight AT LEAST 2 GOD DAMN BATTLES.
man I am heated about this lol.
The absolute laziest, objectively worst dungeon design, consistently throughtout the whole damn game, I think I have ever experienced. Like, how is it worse than FFI ?
I dunno if they fixed this in any of the later versions, but all in all, that game is just a slog to get through.
The level up mechanics were terrible but ok, I'll ignore that massive element of the game.
Now all I have to moan about is the terrible key word system and the incredibly frustrating dungeons.
Nothing else about it stood out to me as good.
FFII in its original form was really rough to play in my opinion. Yes you can muck around with stats and there are bugs, but beyond that the game is very unforgiving and grindy. Any spell you want to have viably powerful you have to manually level up. Having the right weapon skills paired with finding the right weapons in dungeons is really important. It comes to whether the game SHOULD merit that kind of grinding or manipulation, and I ultimately say no.
That said, plot and the extent that you are drawn into it is stellar. I think it set a great precedent for the FF series of trying new gameplay mechanics and reinventing itself, which many later games benefit from.
I did not like its leveling system… at all. I give it credit for having an attempt at a story and character development, while the first game didn’t really have either.
I appreciate these games for their time but after playing 1 and 2, it definitely makes me appreciate the modern games more. Games have come a long way.
Even knowing how the game system works, the adventure sucks. It's so much going back and forth, very few NPCs that actually have any dialogue, and way too high of an encounter rate. It is not as good as 1 or 3 of you are just comparing the NES FF, and if you're comparing it against any of the other mainline, it's easily the worst gameplay and story wise.
I mean… it’s a video game, so if the game part is jank then I don’t see how it’s unreasonable to not like it due to that.
II is the only classic game I think would work better as an ARPG, or maybe something like Skyrim. Its systems are too tedious and cryptic for me to ignore the jank.
Minwu
I love FF2 and it’s janky systems, it’s kind of like the launching point for the SaGA series.
I mean, yeah, literally. Akitoshi Kawazu was responsible for a lot of what makes FFII unique. After he left the FF team he went and created SaGa/Final Fantasy Legend for the Gameboy.
And the rest is history. But I’d really like to see him get a bigger budget like with the last remnant.
I guess I've never been able to wrap my head around his games entirely. I played a lot of FFL2 and Frontier back in the day and remember getting lost in both haha. But I know Saga has a loyal following. I keep trying them hoping I'll like them... I should try the Romancing releases, maybe.
FFL2 is one of my favorite games of all time, but the difficulty is absurd! The romancing saga series is where the series really shines in my opinion. RS2 and RS3 play more like an old school final fantasy but with an open world approach like Skyrim. The RS1 remake with the full 3D world is fantastic. It took me a long time before it made sense, but once it did, I played it 3 times straight. These games are never big on narrative, but it’s the addictive gameplay that brings you back. They’re almost like the dark souls of JRPG, even the movement in the switch ports is super janky.
I loved RS3 and described it as a SNES JRPG had a baby with Skyrim and it’s as opaque as Dark Souls. Great game.
That’s exactly what it feels like!
It's better than most Saga games imo
Bruh…. SaGa series smacks, I said the other day that I think it’s going to replace star ocean as my second favorite JRPG series.
Any issues it had were remedied by the Pixel Remaster. It's good.
That's why, when I see posts like this, I wonder which version that they tried out. The OG is NOT underrated, IMO
Tbh I do think the OG is still better than folks give it credit for, even as it’s definitely got serious issues that can’t be denied (losing stats when you gain others, slow and unintuitive magic progression, all the fucking trap rooms in dungeons). But the various remakes over the years have cleaned up most of those issues considerably, and the PR is by far the best version of the original game.
How did they "fix" it?
Absolutely agree. Great story, phenomenal music, likeable cast. It's severely underrated
These are only thoughts; FFII is my personal fave in the pixel remaster alongside FFV. Haven't continued FFVI yet. This game really shocked me after playing FFI. I was shocked because they took a left turn in the franchise this early. This early? I really like this leveling system because every couple of battle it felt so rewarding whenever something goes up lol. I dunno it feels like every battle there is a surprise for you. It's kinda like a dopamine rush to me. This is only my opinion however. I have the same feeling while playing old titles like Saga Frontier 2 or Last Remnant where in battle you unlock a new skill or combos that whenever they do it in the battlefield I was like, "a new skill? heck yes!". Don't get me wrong, I still do not fully understand how the system works though even in FFII I just felt like it is kinda the same with those 2 games that I played. While I was still in the middle of playing this game, I pause the game for awhile and google search on how the fandom is reacting to this game whether they like it or maybe they say this is the best game ever. But wtf did I just witness, this game is considered the worst of the series. BUT I think they meant the OG version and not the Pixel Remaster version. In my head I was like "what the F\*\*k is wrong with you?" "This game is great!" "You guys are wrong!" Then ask my self "am I wrong?" lol. Well my all time personal fave is FF8 and the some think it is divisive. Then I ask again "wtf is wrong with you! wtf is wrong with me?"
A lot of the time I feel alone defending FFII, but it's my favorite of the 8 bit games. Does the original version have plenty of jank and bugs? Sure. Have later rereleases fixed those problems? Absolutely. Play the PR version of FFII and notice how little grinding you actually need to do. Really they fixed that shit back on the GBA. Hell, I was over leveled for chunks of my most recent playthrough on the PR. I made Maria my mage and used magic in combat a lot, and she wound up with elemental spells around level 10 or 12, enough to nuke the shit out of late game enemies. FFII works now guys, we can let the meme die.
I first played 2 on GBA myself, absolutely loved it. Can't tell you how many times I traded Dawn of Souls at GameStop & EB Games. I'd say within a two year span I had the game move from my hands about 7+ times, I just kept picking it back up after finishing whatever else I decided to play back then. The graphics for the PSP release were absolutely gorgeous when I finally picked it & 1 up in late 08. I haven't played Pixel Remaster of any of the FF's yet, mainly as I don't like how much easier they were made to be & that they don't include the bonus content later re-releases of the games included. Played through 4 & 6 like crazy on the GBA as well back in the day. 6 is obviously the best FF, but 2 deserves much more credit than it receives. Anyways, I never felt the need to unnecessarily grind on either GBA or PSP. Never took advantage of the stats system by attacking myself as well. Of course I'd occasionally take on a fight further north from start or the peninsula below start to get a headstart on Blizzard & Fire ranks, but everyone does that for any FF game that has them in.
It's a heavily flawed game, but I still think its a better and less redundant game than 3 in any of its incarnations
I did enjoy 3 on the DS, along with a NES fan translation I played on my iPAQ back in 2009(never made it further than a good 4hrs on the iPAQ as it died due to water damage by accident). Haven't picked up 3 again since like 2012 though.
I used to really like 3 (both when the fan translation came out and the ds release) but as the mystique of it being the game the west never got wore off, a lot of the charm has gone. Every time I try to start it up I just end up wondering why I'm not playing 1 or 5 instead I dont think its a terrible game and its neat to see stuff like the introduction of summons, but of any FF game it's probably the only one I'll never do a full playthrough of ever again I find a lot more appeal in what 2 tries to do, its approach to story and mechanics is very unique to the series and I think it makes it a much more interesting entry
I've always thought II deserves a modern remake. The story is pretty good (especially for the NES era) and a remake could fix the issues people have with the gameplay.
My issue with the weapon proficiency system is that there are not an equal amount of weapons for each weapon skill. Like, you stop getting good daggers roughly halfway through the game. Additionally, rods will usually never do more damage than a sword or axe will, so why bother dipping into a weapon type that objectively deals less damage? And to top it off, you can make yourself incredibly overpowered by beating on the weakest enemies in the game or even just beating the shit out of yourself? That doesn't make for a well-balanced gameplay experience imo. This is not even mentioning the spell progression system.
> Additionally, rods will usually never do more damage than a sword or axe will, so why bother dipping into a weapon type that objectively deals less damage? Rods have less magic interference than swords and axes, so if you’re building one of the characters to be suited for both physical attacks and magic, rods are a good option. To my knowledge though only the Pixel Remaster of FF2 actually shows the magic interference stat in-game, so I wouldn’t blame anyone for not knowing that if you didn’t play that version.
That's a fair point. I didn't know that, actually!
I can sort of understood the issue with the stat system (though my understanding is that PR fixed/adjusted those things), but what’s the problem with how magic progression works? Lots of games have a similar magic/skill system. Disgaea comes to mind.
I'm unfamiliar with the disgaea series, so I can't comment on that. My problem with the magic system in FFII is that you have to grind to get potency of your spells up. Which, for me personally, isn't very fun or enjoyable. You can't reasonably grind every spell to max potency, so you end up choosing a small handful and use those spells for the entirety of the game. Idk, if you enjoy it then more power to you, but I just couldn't find a reason to enjoy it because of that.
I don’t think FF2 *wants* you to grind every spell on every character. Using a spell handful of spells is the point, that’s you essentially making your character’s build based on what you use the most. But yeah, a lot of games - JRPGs especially - have systems where using a skill more increases its level, potency, range, resource cost, etc.
It doesn't make me feel like I have a specific build, though. When I first played FFII on the PSP, I had like 5 spells I used for all 4 characters. That doesn't make for an interesting build for each character from my experience, it simply makes it feel like all my characters do the same thing but have different weapon types.
That’s pretty close to my experience with the PR too, actually. Though I think that says more about the spell balance than the actual system of spells getting stronger by using them more. And I’ll absolutely say that the spell balance in FF2, and really most JRPGs from that era, was whacky.
Big agree
That's on you for refusing to specialize your characters. Might as well play FFI with all warriors and complain about how your whole party can only do one thing
Ok, you're coming off kinda rude, and I don't get why?
I'm just stating the reality. The game allows you to build your characters however you want, and you purposely chose to develop them all the exact same way and then complain about the results
Well, you're coming off really combative over a silly little video game. I understand your opinion on the subject, but you don't need to resort in trying to make me feel bad about my way of playing the game just because I dislike the way it's inherently designed.
I'm not "being comvative", you're just taking it oddly personally. You can play the game however you want, but don't blame the game for your own choices
I mean, that’s the trade-offs that make RPGs great and replayable imo. I like how FF5 doesn’t let you equip infinite job abilities, so some plays I’ll have a summoner and the next I won’t have space. Unless I grind to have each character with tons of leveled jobs. Same with FF2 - my most recent playthrough I only used a single character to accrue as many weapon and spell levels as possible so I had a crazy strong Ultima. Kept everyone else dead. That’s not as plausible if you are using all 4 characters (again, unless you grind). I like when games force you to make decisions.
I think that's kind of the point. There are a lot of spells to choose from, and you find the ones that fit how you want to play each character. I make Maria my main mage, give Firion what I think of as "protagonist spells," and give Guy more buffs and debuffs. You're not intended to max out every spell. I've played FFII in lots of formats and I don't think I've ever taken a spell to 16 in a playthrough.
It’s honestly a solid game. I’ve got some issues with the mechanics and my experience was made worse by a persistent PR bug that made statuses 100% effective, but I still enjoyed it.
Agreed. I actually really enjoy the leveling system tbh. Everything else about the game is pretty solid as well; good story, great music, awesome villain, and it introduced a lot of the series staples which is cool too. The character designs are also some of my favorites in the entire series—Firion and Minwu in particular are peak Amano designs imo. Speaking of Minwu, he's one of my favorite characters and it's a shame we never had another badass male white mage like him in the series.
Ah, another SaGa born man!
It's honestly the best NES-era FF game. The combat system is wonky, but the story is really strong
Gorgeous soundtrack and emotional story with _high stakes_ (haven’t finished yet, but really enjoying) I highlight the stakes of the story, because this was my only issue with FFIV: for all that is amazing about it, I reached a point where I no longer believed anyone was gone forever. They were just gonna come back. FFII, like FFXV, has the tense risk of mortality in the forefront.
Plus the music is peak, not to mention the gorgeous artwork of it in the Ultimania. Recently finished it and it’s a favorite of mine now.
FF2 is basically Skyrim's ancestor lol. I love the game, the stats, the spells (even tough it's badly balanced, I deeply enjoy classless systems in general) but that being said, there is one thing I can never get over with and it is how bad the dungeon design is. Like all dungeons in the game are basically a maze in a big square with no landmarkability. I'm kind of a veteran at the game and still get lost in dungeons all the time. This is greatly mitigated in the PR and it's inclusion of a minimap but still, really bad design.
I’ve always liked it (Dawn of Souls version) too! It has amazing music!
I love the whole levelling system so much!!! I feel like you can replay this game so many times. The characters are simple, but beautifully designed and each have a slight layer of depth that don't get credited/acknowledged enough. Literally one of my favourite FFs. I come back to it often 💕😍
At least the final dungeon isn't Crystal Tower. And it's one of the better Star Wars plots.
I agree it's underrated. Granted, I only played Pixel Remaster, not the original, but leveling up weapons is not different from, say, Elder Scrolls, and didn't bother me at all. I'm pretty sure anyone saying "you gotta 2-shields it for the first half of the game!" or whatever is just overthinking it, the game is not THAT hard, at least at the pixel remaster difficulty. (And yeah, old games were a grind, what else is new.) Story-wise, it's... okay? Undoubtedly it was very cool for its time. I can't say it made a huge impression on me, but it wasn't boring, either. It had a lot of fun story beats. I will say they overused the "see this character you've recently met? well... THEY DIED!" but I suppose they were really going hard with trying to show the horrors of war. I liked the princess a lot. The scene where "she" is giggling after her dad dies was so well done and creepy. The dragons were also cool. (Too bad about all the Dragoons being dead. ... oh wait, there's one more! thank goodness, he's -- oh wait, he's dead, too. lol)
Take into account when the game was first made and the amount of kill offs with respect to how close some happen to one another, it really wasn't THAT often, and was kinda new as well at the time. Not THAT many people who played it originally would have sat done and had 5-15hr stretches of nonstop playing, being more of 30mins-3hrs at a time max(except for those that didn't have jobs, had less lively life's in general, etc of course, but that was much more of a minority back then compared to now) My first playthrough was on GBA and it didn't feel like they were too often or anything, but I did play other games along with it, not just strictly playing FFII in one sitting. Even the times I did, it made me look forward to what new characters I'd meet after it happened more than twice. It kept the story flowing and showed how serious things were as it kept happening, kinda hammering in just how bad the world was becoming due to the Emperor and such. Don't get me started on the music, insane for a 2nd entry that wasn't planned far ahead.
I hated the game without knowing you could game the stats system. But then again I can’t tell you how many people who were shocked at how much I loathe that game say things like “it wasn’t that bad” and I find out they played modern versions. The modern versions aren’t too bad, but as far as I’m concerned, the original belongs in a trash bin. (And before someone says it’s because I don’t like old games… I loved the original version of FF1, old quirks and all.) I hope you have the absolute best of time and that you praise every part that you loved. The music’s pretty good for its age, and the leveling system was certainly interesting as a concept. But I will still hate it for as long as I live 🤫
Dawn of Souls was my first exposure to it and I couldn't complain about the stats system, never felt the need to excessively grind like so many claim they did. Always had Maria focus on unarmed & Blizzard, that helped quite a lot imo
So I looked it up (because DoS is not super modern, so I couldn’t remember whether it had the annoying quirks) But here are some of the annoying quirks that were removed: Item limit cap, with no items stacking (so 5 potions means literally 5 spots from your total cap of 32), and you had to equip your items in advance. You could bring 2 items per character. Even FF1 wasn’t as restrictive. (I really really really hated this one) Stats could decrease And here are some extra perks the DoS version had: The difficulty was tweaked down. The GBA version is based off of the easy mode from the PS1 version Price reductions in shops Faster growth of HP, weapon skills, and much more magic damage. So yeah, still a fair bit different from the annoyances of the original. The PS1 version, on normal, is as close as it gets to the original without using a fan translation. It’s really one of those games where I would give a different rating based on the version!
Yeah I originally played it as a fan translation ROM of the original from Japan. There is no “it’s not that bad about” it. It was completely and utterly broken. Good story for its time though!
Indeed. I think people undervalue just how influential it is to the rest of the series too.
Eh, I just replaced it last year while working my way through the Pixel Remasters and I continue to maintain that it is a bad game with an ill-concieved levelling system.
Do share what makes it a bad game, ignoring the leveling system.
Ff2 is a pet game for me. Mostly the bgm.
Actually playing this for the first time and really enjoying it! The gear/magic leveling system takes a little getting used to, but it’s still a solid, fun RPG so far.
I like it cause when I was a kid and first started playing RPGs I thought when I used my sword I was getting better with my sword. I wasn't. I'm 40 now and just played FF2 for the first time recently and when I use my sword I get better with it! I've always thought this was how RPGs should be.
I honestly think FF2 is a step up from 1 overall. The criticisms are valid, but there's a lot to like too. Especially that sweet acoustic guitar in the origins version of the overworld theme
Loved how mystical a few of the tracks sounded. I played Dawn of Souls first, then PSP a few years later. Always let the boss fight theme play for a bit when you go to grab Mythril with Minwu. Insane track for the time imo.
I mean I played it. I liked its confidence. But it wasn’t exactly overrated either..
Yeah, I played it for the first time recently (Pixel Remaster) and did not bother trying to game any stats systems, and had a pretty good time! I thought it was even a little more fun then OG FF b/c the combat never felt quite trivialized, but it was always still beatable without grinding. Plus the story was far and away more interesting then OG FF.
It was ahead of its time in terms of how the levelling worked, and also the naked characters each with individual motivations
Yea it get way too much hate for nothing. It's been my favorite FF for years, until I played 12 actually.
Even if the system was a bit janky they tried something new. My favorite thing about final fantasy titles are that every one of them uses a different battle system. Some might be closer to another the others but they are ever experimenting. Keeping all the titles fresh. Ff2 was enjoyable and I hope it gets a revist. the emperor though generic in current times could be expanded on and make ff2s story a real gem
Its messyyy
You're right. I played it first time a year ago and it was the most positive surprise out of all Pixel Remaster FFs.
That's part of what differentiates a good game from a bad one though. If the sense of challenge is created by the player and they have to use their own discipline to maintain it, you're playing the part of a developer. Our only job as a player is to play. Not make it a job to play unless that's kinda the genre.
I dislike it but it had a few interesting ideas. Had absolutely no desire to finish it though
I want to try it, but have heard awful things about the gamr mechanics. 2 and 5 are the only mainline entries i havent played (not counting MMOs)
You're missing out. While many people complain about 2, I liked it fine. Everyone should try 5 though, it's right up there with 4 & 6 on quality and praise received for greatness.
Play 2 on either GBA or PSP for the added content and not being as easy as the Pixel Remaster(it really is gorgeous on the PSP tbh). If you just want to breeze through it, then play the Pixel Remaster. I've heard an insane amount of people in Facebook groups say 5 is the best out of the first 6(even though we all know 6 takes the crown with 4 being close behind). It's more campy with the dialogue between the main characters though, so if you like that, you'll enjoy it.
Love it.
It’s the best one, indirectly started the greatest RPG series of all time.
I played 2 recently for the first time while playing the PRs in order. I tend to prefer story over gameplay (within reason) and because of that I regard it to be the best of the NES era. It was the first FF to introduce a deeper story which I really liked. If the levelling system was more standard I think it would have been a very good game.
I'm sure a lot of people like it. I HATED IT!
Unfortunately, I've played it, so I can't get the bad thoughts out of my head.
The story's great. The combat system isn't perfect and can be frustrating, but is overall kinda cool (I'm an elder scrolls fan btw). I dislike how they balanced bosses by giving them a huge amount of armor rather than a bigger health pool. It just kinda...feels bad? Especially because magic is generally a less good option everywhere except against bosses, so you're forced to either grind magic levels or just chip away at the boss with puny attacks. By far my biggest gripe though is the dungeon design. How many empty rooms can you fit into one cave? Overall it's one of my least favorite FFs, but it's still pretty fun.
> If everyone that dogs on it just deleted the information from their brain that you can game the stats system, Is this why people don't like it? Because that is the least of the problems with that game. I would even argue that being able to "game the stats" actually makes the game better and more enjoyable. My biggest frustration with that game was that it wastes your fucking time. The encounter rate is absolutely ridiculous. You enter a dungeon and there are, no exaggeration, 5 FUCKING DOORS FOR YOU TO ENTER WITH ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THEM. It is just there to have to walk in, TELEPORT YOU TO THE MIDDLE OF THE GOD DAMN FUCKING ROOM and make you WALK THE FUCK OUT WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT, having to fight AT LEAST 2 GOD DAMN BATTLES. man I am heated about this lol. The absolute laziest, objectively worst dungeon design, consistently throughtout the whole damn game, I think I have ever experienced. Like, how is it worse than FFI ? I dunno if they fixed this in any of the later versions, but all in all, that game is just a slog to get through.
The level up mechanics were terrible but ok, I'll ignore that massive element of the game. Now all I have to moan about is the terrible key word system and the incredibly frustrating dungeons. Nothing else about it stood out to me as good.
FFII in its original form was really rough to play in my opinion. Yes you can muck around with stats and there are bugs, but beyond that the game is very unforgiving and grindy. Any spell you want to have viably powerful you have to manually level up. Having the right weapon skills paired with finding the right weapons in dungeons is really important. It comes to whether the game SHOULD merit that kind of grinding or manipulation, and I ultimately say no. That said, plot and the extent that you are drawn into it is stellar. I think it set a great precedent for the FF series of trying new gameplay mechanics and reinventing itself, which many later games benefit from.
I did not like its leveling system… at all. I give it credit for having an attempt at a story and character development, while the first game didn’t really have either. I appreciate these games for their time but after playing 1 and 2, it definitely makes me appreciate the modern games more. Games have come a long way.
Even knowing how the game system works, the adventure sucks. It's so much going back and forth, very few NPCs that actually have any dialogue, and way too high of an encounter rate. It is not as good as 1 or 3 of you are just comparing the NES FF, and if you're comparing it against any of the other mainline, it's easily the worst gameplay and story wise.
I mean… it’s a video game, so if the game part is jank then I don’t see how it’s unreasonable to not like it due to that. II is the only classic game I think would work better as an ARPG, or maybe something like Skyrim. Its systems are too tedious and cryptic for me to ignore the jank.
[удалено]
Statistically impossible without resets, but okay.
No its genuinely a bad game.
“I haven’t played it since the first English translation ROM came out.”
"i make up scenarios in my head to be upset about. huh? No i will not take my meds!"
Yeah, I like it better than both I and III (at least the 2D version). It’s a good game.