FINAL FANTASY II Reviews

Final Fantasy II is generally considered the worst of the pixel era FF games, and not without reason. The biggest strike against it is its wonky levelling system. But I also feel like this is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yes, you can completely break the game by abusing the level-up mechanics, but I also think many people approach the game only knowing that one thing, and feel like they MUST pump up their characters to ludicrous levels before the first dungeon - I know I did. Maybe that was true in the original Famicom release, where everything was even more broken. But this is the Pixel Remaster: rebuilt from the basics, with all major glitches and balance concerns addressed. So I'm spread the word: you can just pick this game up and play it like you would any other Final Fantasy game. Now, I'd still say this is the weakest entry of the pixel era, because the base game does have other problems. The dungeon design is very irritating, and that's compounded by the highest random encounter rate in the series. However, with a map displayed on screen, plus the ability to turn off encounters patched in from the console release, the game becomes much more manageable. So if you've never experienced FF2, this is probably the best way to do so. It does unfortunately lack the Dawn of Souls content found in the previous PC ports, but as just a way to play the base game, this will do nicely.

While this game gets a lot of criticism, but ultimately is just a genuinely fun game that tried new things.

I never played any other version of this game, though I know that the strange manner which you increase in power is often criticized, I do like the general idea even when it sometimes has you do strange things like hitting teammates to increase their HP or casting healing spells over and over again so that your cure spell can heal more and more. Everything, from the weapon you choose to use to the spells are all independently leveled and you have no such statistic as a universal experience or level. The story is fairly comprehensible, you taking the role of a group of war orphans that become important figures in a war to stop an evil empire from taking over the entire world. Ultimately, the story from point to point are busy work for vague advantages in the war and assualts against various locations and people as you eventually turn the tides of the war. In the end, I found that the game was worth the odd RPG mechanics and would recommend it to anyone interested in going back and playing through some older RPGs.

not as bad as they say. the combat gets really repetitive, but the OST is nice, the art is really pretty and overall, is an okay experience. remember to get the Blood Sword.

Final Fantasy II Pixel Remastered is by far the best way to experience this game. The original had many issues with its gameplay and leveling systems as Square was attempting to innovate its product. This version fixes a lot of those problems and offers options to speed up your leveling progress so you can experience the story without having to grind for it. Even still, this game is far from perfect. The leveling system changes offers too much exp and your party members will become near unkillable as early as the mid point of the game. The story still uses the unique “password” system that many players simply considered annoying. Even with those issues, I still recommend this game for anyone looking for a classic Final Fantasy game.

I actually like this game, especially with some QOL improvements in this version. The story is one of the best in the older FF games.

Final Fantasy 2, being designed mostly by the guy who would later go on to make the SaGa or FInal Fantasy Legends games, is often reviled at worst and ignored at best by the community despite how influential it is for the formative years of video RPGs in the late 80s as well as the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole. Whereas the first game took most of its cues from Dungeons & Dragons down all the way to its Bestiary, FF2 gave FF a unique identity and gave us so many firsts for the series from having the first scripted main character with a canon name and backstory in Firion and Chocobos to having the first ever story about Imperialism and freedom to the plethora of spells, Max HP values being locked at 9999, and a ton of unique weapons and enemies as well as classes that go on to become staples for the franchise. Even the iconic Ultima spell made its debut. The most divisive part is honestly the leveling system and it's both its best and worst feature. Most people are likely going to be more familiar with it in games like the Elder Scrolls series here in the modern day where character actions and thus player play style will determine character growth. The problems come in when exchanging spells or making characters too spread out drastically slowing down their growth. The lack of jobs specific skills that people would be expecting aren't here yet so that may disappoint people. Not to say this game is awful. It's really not. It's dungeons aren't usually super long and exploration isn't exactly punished nor are the "trap rooms" which are dead ends really super annoying. These downsides won't kill the experience outright and with the quality of life features of the Pixel Remaster versions, the game won't feel as aged as it might otherwise feel. Honestly, I recommend it especially to those who might be interested in retro video RPGs, those who want to see the iconic franchise's roots and those who like Elder Scrolls style character levelling giving players real control over their party's members. So, have fun and best of luck! This game is a bonafide CLASSIC in nearly every sense in my honest opinion!

The second game is also really good, and compared to the first game there are a lot of final moment for npcs. As well as that difference of tone, the levelling up system is different and really awesome. There are no classes just levelling individual things up like certain spells, weapon types, stats etc. Meaning you can have fun playing around with it :) I made my Maria a Bow-using Red Mage, my Firion was a Jack of All trades (sword n shield initially then dual swords and a few really levelled spells), and my Guy was a Axe & Dagger barbarian. Leon was a dual wielding Knight who could also use Cure like everyone else. If I ever play it again, there are a lot of spell and party combinations I thought about trying. I really like how this game experiments with new things, and you can too. I recommend it if you're interested, it's a lot fun :D Halfway through the game, FF2 videos started popping up on the internet (I dislike how things seem to track you even if you decline all cookies). And from them, I heard about how a lot of people think this game is 'too grindy' or about people getting their characters to hit themselves. As long as you have an idea of what your characters are going to be, the game isn't grindy, except for maybe one thing: [spoiler]levelling the magic spell Ultima, as it starts at level 1 and increases in damage if other spells are a high level. So if you only start to make one character a mage part way through, instead of from the start, and you want Ultima to do some really good damage, then there is some grind.[/spoiler] But as long as its only one character is trying to level things up, the other characters can carry as you progress the game normally. I think my only critique of the game is that, it would be nice if [spoiler]Ultima was levelled to what ever the characters highest levelled spell was, as initially using Ultima is underwhelming.[/spoiler] But apart from that one thing, the game has a good pace imo. I think I finished the game in like 16.5 hours and then just hunted for the last few Steam achievements ^^ You can make your characters OP in the game with time, but if you progress normally it's not necessary. I accidentally got too strong towards the end as I was trying to find every chest & enemy as I played. Being a very combat orientated game, it's easy to get so much gold which is great too :D While the Pixel Remaster looks really nice, I do prefer the look of PSP version though and seeing Yoshitaka Amano's concept art, but that's just a minor preference. At least it's not like the PC version of FFX looking worse than the PS2 FFX. [spoiler]Also this game is the first appearence of a Chocobo! :D[/spoiler]

Super fem emperor isn't fem enough and wants revenge. Everyone and everything dies. Oh no my friends :'( Beavers :D Everyone and everything dies again, snowy village of Salamand safe tho. Dragon :D Everyone and everything dies once again for good measure. Salamand still safe thus proving Palamecian Empire is weaker than Garlean Empire cause they cant handle the snow. See you in HELL. The end. Umm hi, im the FF2 leveling system go f*** yourself ya cunty waffle. OST modernized <3 Good game. Steam cant decide if I have 17 hours on this or 370 hours.

Such a huge jump in depth from Final Fantasy I. The leveling system was fascinating, but utterly useless in practice since the game doesn't really scale bosses or increase in difficulty--I heard the last boss was tough but he died in three rounds, lol. It's like they created a unique system but created way too many options so there was no balancing. The story is very basic and is very much an ode to Star Wars, I can see where inspiration for later games came from with youths facing a great empire/world power. Still, as I play these older titles, I am looking forward to the games continuing to jump in depth and quality as they slowly but surely establish the tropes of the series. This is worth playing if you are interested in the series, but similar to Final Fantasy I...it doesn't stand out enough on its own to be worth a full-price investment. Wait for a sale.