The opening to FFI is one of the best openings a video game has ever had. The music complements the texts to make something that graphics could only subtract from.
Did you play the Dawn of Souls version? That one does something very interesting with all the dead party members.
My thoughts below:
Passwords
They seem to have been inspired by how the player could type whatever they wanted to say into Ultima games, but while the open-ended nature of Ultima's passwords let players skip ahead if they knew what they were doing or gather information, FFII's passwords were really just keys with more steps. It wasn't a bad system, and I think they could've improved it if they kept it.
Leveling
The problem I had with leveling was that it made magic such a chore. Most of the time, characters will be fighting and taking damage, so they get good at fighting and taking damage easily, but the player has to go out of their way to train up a wizard, and the benefits aren't all that great, especially when it comes to:
Ultima
Ultima might be the worst case of story and gameplay integration I've seen in an RPG. The story hypes up Ultima. Characters die over Ultima. It's an ancient super-spell that everyone believes is completely instrumental in defeating David Bowie, yet when the player gets it, it's weak. Even if they go out of their way to make Ultima as useful as possible, it's going to be surpassed by using two swords.
Magic
The first game borrowed a lot from Dungeons & Dragons, and the second took the ability to cast spells at higher levels from Dungeons & Dragons as well. In Dungeons and Dragons, there are spell levels and spell slots, but some spells can be cast with a higher spell slot to increase properties like damage and range.
Story and Characters
This is the first time Final Fantasy tells a true Final Fantasy story with drama, named characters with fixed personalities, doomed party members, and a flamboyant supervillain. It's a little annoying how there are so many doomed party members, and future installments will tone down the death to keep it impactful for when it does happen. 1 character dying is a tragedy; several dying is an inconvenience.
The game reverts to nameless characters in the next installment, probably because Dragon Quest III was a huge inspiration for the class system, but the pattern established by II would be set in stone from IV onwards.
The story, while simple, does try to be more than the story from I. It covers themes of sacrifice and corruption, and those themes will continue to show up in the series. The story isn't as ambitious as future installments and not as good, but the attempt set the direction for future stories to follow.
As always I appreciate your through thoughts in reply to my post! I think I mentioned before that I’m playing the Pixel Remasters because its the most accessible version to me. Unfortunately they do not have the additional content from the Dawn of Souls version. I’m going to have to look and see how that changes things although I don’t think I’ll really have the change to go play it myself.
Keywords:
Your commentary on Ultima makes sense. I think there’s definitely something there they could have expanded on but I’m not entirely surprised they dropped it all together.
Leveling/Ultima/Magic:
All of this I completely agree with. Ultima to me I think embodies the idea that sometimes legends don’t live up to the hype. Which unfortunately I don’t think they were going for. I kept a save file around the time I got ultima and I’d be curious to see how it stacks once you level it up. However as you mentioned leveling magic might be one of the biggest chores in this game.
As someone that’s played a lot of D&D I definitely clocked that thats how they were going about it. Although FFIs system felt more akin to that just because you had the choice to cast spells at a higher level. I just wish you had that choice overall but thats such a minor nitpick for me.
Story:
Again you nailed it on the character death stuff. That was definitely the biggest problem I had with the story. Otherwise I think it was pretty solid for what it was! Even without all the context I think I can see the roots being laid down for future FF games here.
Thanks for the review. I'm at the tail end of the game (I think so, at least; I'm looking for the Ultima spell), and while it is clunky at times and the encounter rate is really high, I don't think it's as bad as people say it is. That is, the Pixel Remaster isn't. I'm not sure how much the Remaster changed, but while I'm doing a bit of grinding here and there for kicks, I'm not doing anywhere near what I probably would have done for the original game. I think it's pretty fun for a retro game on the NES, which didn't have much space to make a massive game. But you're right: it's not bad, but it's not great either.
It’s so crazy because I think every single argument I’ve seen against FFII is really fair and I can’t fault anyone for not really enjoying it- but I think the bar is so high that while FFII could be the worst FF game it’s definitely far away from the worst game I’ve ever played. I liked it enough and definitely think I’ll come back to 100% it
I finished FFII in a marathon session last night, and I mostly agree. I had a lot of fun playing the game, but except for the final boss, I found it way too easy (in the Pixel Remaster). It seems like a fun game to grind in, especially leveling up spells and Leon (who comes into the party so very much underpowered). I don't think the game deserves as much criticism as it gets, but among the first ten Final Fantasy games it probably is fills the last or penultimate slot. But there are other Final Fantasy games (FFXIII-2, Type-0) that are definitely less enjoyable. Playing FFII and III has made me want to write an article about how to enjoy these NES games in their own right, which I hope to write up this week. We'll see how much time I get to do so!
I completely agree. For what it’s worth when I’m talking about it being the worst im talking in the scope of main series numbered games (no X-2s or type 0s). The pixel remaster probably does lift a lot of the load people felt in the original game but it’s not terrible. I do agree about the final boss. I felt way over leveled for him and there were periods where I turned encounters off just so I would feel like I was appropriately leveled. I do wish the 4th party member scaled that’s probably the most annoying part of all of it
I find it difficult to compare games like FFII and FFXVI. I really didn't like the end of XVI, and that made me feel pretty negative about the rest of the game. I don't think that II had any similar problems, but is it better than XVI? Then there's FFXII, which I didn't finish because I didn't like the battle system. Does that mean it's worse than II, which was just kinda okay? I don't know. It's hard to judge. I look forward to your thoughts as you continue your project.
Interesting take! I think for me I’m mostly just going to rank them based on how much I enjoy them or rather how much fun I had playing them. I guess we’ll see how this whole thing shapes up! Thank you for following along.
Just binge read all three articles. I’ve wanted to do this for years. Very curious to see what you’ll think!
I’ve had a very similar experience to you: grew up on ffx and kh, tried xiii but couldn’t get into it. Liked xv but the director overthought it and didn’t play test it enough. The main difference is that I have played iv and thoroughly enjoyed it. I tried ii but struggled to get into it so soon after the superior iv, so it was nice to hear your thoughts having only played ffi !
I also tried ffvi a few years ago and was enjoying it but sadly never finished it. I’m a little ashamed to say I’ve never played through VII 🤦♂️ it took me years to get a hold of a copy and by the time I did, I had small children and no time for a massive rpg. I’m hoping they’ll enjoy playing it with me when they’re older (hopefully my ps2 will still work by then!)
Thanks for reading along! I hope you enjoy my thoughts as I get farther into the series.
It’s really cool to see people share the same experience as me. It feels like everyone grew up with these games but me so it’s nice to find people that are sharing the same feelings!
I feel like the FF games are so accessible now so it might actually be easier to play along as they get older. They’ve rerelease them on every system including steam. It seems like they also go on sale frequently too. I just grabbed 7 and 10 in anticipation for getting farther along in this project. I think those two games cost me maybe 14 bucks? 1-6 as the pixel remasters were on sale recently for like 25 ish. So overall not bad for tons of hours of entertainment!
I can hear that menu screen :D
One thing I totally haven’t touched on in these posts is the music but man does Final Fantasy have some of the absolute best music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaV1RKovRgg
The opening to FFI is one of the best openings a video game has ever had. The music complements the texts to make something that graphics could only subtract from.
Did you play the Dawn of Souls version? That one does something very interesting with all the dead party members.
My thoughts below:
Passwords
They seem to have been inspired by how the player could type whatever they wanted to say into Ultima games, but while the open-ended nature of Ultima's passwords let players skip ahead if they knew what they were doing or gather information, FFII's passwords were really just keys with more steps. It wasn't a bad system, and I think they could've improved it if they kept it.
Leveling
The problem I had with leveling was that it made magic such a chore. Most of the time, characters will be fighting and taking damage, so they get good at fighting and taking damage easily, but the player has to go out of their way to train up a wizard, and the benefits aren't all that great, especially when it comes to:
Ultima
Ultima might be the worst case of story and gameplay integration I've seen in an RPG. The story hypes up Ultima. Characters die over Ultima. It's an ancient super-spell that everyone believes is completely instrumental in defeating David Bowie, yet when the player gets it, it's weak. Even if they go out of their way to make Ultima as useful as possible, it's going to be surpassed by using two swords.
Magic
The first game borrowed a lot from Dungeons & Dragons, and the second took the ability to cast spells at higher levels from Dungeons & Dragons as well. In Dungeons and Dragons, there are spell levels and spell slots, but some spells can be cast with a higher spell slot to increase properties like damage and range.
Story and Characters
This is the first time Final Fantasy tells a true Final Fantasy story with drama, named characters with fixed personalities, doomed party members, and a flamboyant supervillain. It's a little annoying how there are so many doomed party members, and future installments will tone down the death to keep it impactful for when it does happen. 1 character dying is a tragedy; several dying is an inconvenience.
The game reverts to nameless characters in the next installment, probably because Dragon Quest III was a huge inspiration for the class system, but the pattern established by II would be set in stone from IV onwards.
The story, while simple, does try to be more than the story from I. It covers themes of sacrifice and corruption, and those themes will continue to show up in the series. The story isn't as ambitious as future installments and not as good, but the attempt set the direction for future stories to follow.
As always I appreciate your through thoughts in reply to my post! I think I mentioned before that I’m playing the Pixel Remasters because its the most accessible version to me. Unfortunately they do not have the additional content from the Dawn of Souls version. I’m going to have to look and see how that changes things although I don’t think I’ll really have the change to go play it myself.
Keywords:
Your commentary on Ultima makes sense. I think there’s definitely something there they could have expanded on but I’m not entirely surprised they dropped it all together.
Leveling/Ultima/Magic:
All of this I completely agree with. Ultima to me I think embodies the idea that sometimes legends don’t live up to the hype. Which unfortunately I don’t think they were going for. I kept a save file around the time I got ultima and I’d be curious to see how it stacks once you level it up. However as you mentioned leveling magic might be one of the biggest chores in this game.
As someone that’s played a lot of D&D I definitely clocked that thats how they were going about it. Although FFIs system felt more akin to that just because you had the choice to cast spells at a higher level. I just wish you had that choice overall but thats such a minor nitpick for me.
Story:
Again you nailed it on the character death stuff. That was definitely the biggest problem I had with the story. Otherwise I think it was pretty solid for what it was! Even without all the context I think I can see the roots being laid down for future FF games here.
Thanks for the review. I'm at the tail end of the game (I think so, at least; I'm looking for the Ultima spell), and while it is clunky at times and the encounter rate is really high, I don't think it's as bad as people say it is. That is, the Pixel Remaster isn't. I'm not sure how much the Remaster changed, but while I'm doing a bit of grinding here and there for kicks, I'm not doing anywhere near what I probably would have done for the original game. I think it's pretty fun for a retro game on the NES, which didn't have much space to make a massive game. But you're right: it's not bad, but it's not great either.
It’s so crazy because I think every single argument I’ve seen against FFII is really fair and I can’t fault anyone for not really enjoying it- but I think the bar is so high that while FFII could be the worst FF game it’s definitely far away from the worst game I’ve ever played. I liked it enough and definitely think I’ll come back to 100% it
I think of it like Dragon Quest II. It's not bad; it just suffers a lot by being compared to what comes after it.
I finished FFII in a marathon session last night, and I mostly agree. I had a lot of fun playing the game, but except for the final boss, I found it way too easy (in the Pixel Remaster). It seems like a fun game to grind in, especially leveling up spells and Leon (who comes into the party so very much underpowered). I don't think the game deserves as much criticism as it gets, but among the first ten Final Fantasy games it probably is fills the last or penultimate slot. But there are other Final Fantasy games (FFXIII-2, Type-0) that are definitely less enjoyable. Playing FFII and III has made me want to write an article about how to enjoy these NES games in their own right, which I hope to write up this week. We'll see how much time I get to do so!
I completely agree. For what it’s worth when I’m talking about it being the worst im talking in the scope of main series numbered games (no X-2s or type 0s). The pixel remaster probably does lift a lot of the load people felt in the original game but it’s not terrible. I do agree about the final boss. I felt way over leveled for him and there were periods where I turned encounters off just so I would feel like I was appropriately leveled. I do wish the 4th party member scaled that’s probably the most annoying part of all of it
I find it difficult to compare games like FFII and FFXVI. I really didn't like the end of XVI, and that made me feel pretty negative about the rest of the game. I don't think that II had any similar problems, but is it better than XVI? Then there's FFXII, which I didn't finish because I didn't like the battle system. Does that mean it's worse than II, which was just kinda okay? I don't know. It's hard to judge. I look forward to your thoughts as you continue your project.
Interesting take! I think for me I’m mostly just going to rank them based on how much I enjoy them or rather how much fun I had playing them. I guess we’ll see how this whole thing shapes up! Thank you for following along.
Just binge read all three articles. I’ve wanted to do this for years. Very curious to see what you’ll think!
I’ve had a very similar experience to you: grew up on ffx and kh, tried xiii but couldn’t get into it. Liked xv but the director overthought it and didn’t play test it enough. The main difference is that I have played iv and thoroughly enjoyed it. I tried ii but struggled to get into it so soon after the superior iv, so it was nice to hear your thoughts having only played ffi !
I also tried ffvi a few years ago and was enjoying it but sadly never finished it. I’m a little ashamed to say I’ve never played through VII 🤦♂️ it took me years to get a hold of a copy and by the time I did, I had small children and no time for a massive rpg. I’m hoping they’ll enjoy playing it with me when they’re older (hopefully my ps2 will still work by then!)
Thanks for reading along! I hope you enjoy my thoughts as I get farther into the series.
It’s really cool to see people share the same experience as me. It feels like everyone grew up with these games but me so it’s nice to find people that are sharing the same feelings!
I feel like the FF games are so accessible now so it might actually be easier to play along as they get older. They’ve rerelease them on every system including steam. It seems like they also go on sale frequently too. I just grabbed 7 and 10 in anticipation for getting farther along in this project. I think those two games cost me maybe 14 bucks? 1-6 as the pixel remasters were on sale recently for like 25 ish. So overall not bad for tons of hours of entertainment!