Final Fantasy II doesn’t magically turn a strange, uneven experiment into a top‑tier classic, but it does elevate it into a genuinely enjoyable retro RPG with clear historical value. Its unconventional growth system, solid but familiar story, and excellent audiovisual overhaul combine into an experience that’s often compelling, occasionally clumsy, but rarely outright tedious anymore. For newcomers doing a series playthrough or long‑time fans who bounced off old ports, this is easily the best way to experience FFII

“Excuse me, Stewardess? I speak Beaver.” Sakaguchi and Co. deserve nothing but respect for trying to re-invent Final Fantasy with each new entry. While I think this kept the franchise feeling fresh, the end result was not always positive. In the case of Final Fantasy II, it does indeed feel like one step forward, two steps back. The good news is that the party is no longer a group of empty shells, upgrading from zero-dimensional characters to a whole one-dimension. Maria cares about her brother. Firion is bashful around ladies. Guy speaks beaver. Complete with a complement of rotating side characters who also have “A Thing”, and we are already leagues above where Final Fantasy I’s character writing was. The world, while generic and lifted from common mono-myths such as Star Wars (young rebels led by older mentors fight against an evil empire, complete with an emperor who - somehow - returns) is much more fleshed out than it’s predecessor. Perhaps more important to what the franchise would become is the heightened melodrama with not just party members but entire towns being destroyed in the wake of the empire’s charge against the rebel’s forces. Real consequence and stakes are a quick way to get the players invested in a way the original lacked. The bad news is Final Fantasy II’s approach to mechanics. Opting for a one-to-one action-to-experience makes sense on paper. You swing a sword so you’re skill with sword increases. You took a hit, so you’re HP increases. We’ve had games, such as The Elder Scrolls, use this approach with mixed success and that tracks here as well. Where it runs into a brick wall is with skills that require a certain level be reached in order to be effective. Esuna for example needs to be level 3 to cure the amnesia status. In order to get to level 3, your best bet is to spam-cast Esuna each round on party members who don’t need it, gaining a modicum of XP in the process. Not only is this grinding, it feels bad. It feels like wasting your characters turn while achieving very little - literally nothing, in the short-term. More questionable decisions were made to balance out the prior. To make grinding a more natural part of progress, the encounter rate is increased. On top of this, dungeons are laid out with a ton of dead end rooms, leading the player into even more encounters. While this allows the player more time to level up different skills and spells, - a necessity of the game’s aforementioned design - it is exhausting. When you are greeted with the odd treasure room, there’s only a small chance the rewards are something worth your time, and not just an antidote, or a common tier weapon. Truly, FFII’s design feels like the ur-example of what every JRPG hater thinks a JRPG is. Constant random encounters, unavoidable grinding for experience, and useless treasures at dead end hallways. I want to like FFII more than I truly do. The bigger emphasis on story and world-building in development is very much a good choice on part of Square’s team. But they created a gameplay loop that begs you not to see those efforts fulfilled. A very rocky 5 out of 10.

I enjoyed this game a lot. The problem with the game is that it's real easy to break the game. If you battle your own party a lot you can overdevelop stats with for example way to much health points. I've seen plays with a party that have hp of 3000+, this makes the game to easy and a drag to play. My party had one character around 2000hp and the rest way below that at the final boss. This gave me a great challenge. I finished the game after beating FF1 and I love it! It's way better than FF1 imo. The story is better. I like that the characters come and leave. It keeps your brain sharp, you have to adjust gameplay and not slumber your play with a the same group of hero's the whole game. The leveling system is way different and much more fun, you can mold your characters the way you like them to play, much more freedome. I have tried so much different ways to battle in this game than in any other FF game I have played so far (ok I have only played FF1, 2, 4 and 6 so maybe 3 and 5 will change that). I have used magic way more than just auto battle normal attacks like I have done with all the other versions. It feel less grindy and I do not hate the grind at all in RPG's. Ok the story is not as good as FF4 and 6 but it's way better than 1 but the gameplay is so much fun. One negative point are the dungeon's. They are to predictable. Just walk to the doors farthest away to progress and there are a lot of empty room, boring! All in all I think the pixel remaster version is a excelent game, had a good time with it. I rate it 8,5/10.