Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > Final Fantasy: Nerds in Paradise > Final Fantasy II > The FFII appreciation thread

[DJZen]

A lot of people like to gripe about FFII these days. It's funny, back when the translation community first got its hands on the game, people were in love with it. Have times changed tastes? All I know is I'm getting bored of people calling it the worst FF game ever made. Part of me thinks they're just saying that to be cool. The thing that really gets me though is that it seems that people really don't understand just how long and hard the FF fan community fought just to get the game over here. Let's say a few words in the game's defense, shall we?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

It was the first FF game to feature playable characters with any kind of personality, and even though they weren't nearly as deep as those in later games, they were definitely distinctive. The first main character death in the series is still a prime competitor for the most heart-wrenching. Also, FFIV's system of adding or subtracting characters from the active party as the storyline dictated, instead of sticking you with the same ones throughout the entire game or letting you pick freely among them all, was taken from FFII.

It introduced to the series boss music, taunting subvillains, Dragon Knights, Leviathan, Cid, and for goodness's sake, chocobos. It founded the inspiration for môguri much like how Garland founded the inspiration for the Dark Knight concept. And you can't tell me Lionheart isn't a total proto-Cain.

[Del Murder]

In any set of games one of them has to be the worst. It doesn't mean it was a bad game. FFII had a lot of key elements in it that Kishi has pointed out, it helped set the tone for what would become the greatest game series ever.

As for the game itself, it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. I just can't get beyond the brutal level up system, if the game used actual experience then I think it would be a lot better. The storyline was pretty involved, and that was a pleasant surprise.

[desh]

I only played the game for about an hour. I just got Minh, I think. And I wasn't compelled to go on any further. It wasn't because of the story, I felt that the story could be really good; I just didn't like the leveling system at all, and couldn't get into it. I started playing ff3 directly afterwards, and felt that it was sort of the opposite of ff2: it had a good leveling system, but the story was somewhat lacking.

[Flying Mullet]

I agree that it is a good game, it just has so many faults. Just as others have mentioned, the level-up system is terrible. I also don't like how the world map is set up so that I can take five steps out of easy-land and get pummeled to a bloody pulp by monsters way out of my current power/skill level.

I'll give it props though. There are few RPGs like it out there and for that it makes for a fresh gaming experience.

[DJZen]

Hm, I actually like the growth system.........

*looks around suspiciously*

[Moose Knight]

You are a wise person. I too believe that this is a fine video game. THe bosses are really cool, and its difficult as far as FF games go.

This is one of my favorite games. The growth system is very good. It has a lot of bugs though, like the level up quickly trick.

The only thing I really don't like is that the world map is a globe (Good idea) but it took FOREVER to view certain places.

[DJZen]

Oh, I know what you mean. It was really cool that they actually managed to do that on the NES, but it couldn't redraw with any efficiency. However, it's much faster on playstation, and you can opt for a flat map if you like. Also, I think there's a way to get the map to scroll faster on the NES version. I could be wrong though.