Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster

[lordmyk]

My previous attempts to play Final Fantasy II were few, mainly on the Game Boy Advance after beating Final Fantasy, as the two were on the same cartridge and what else was I going to do? I knew little about it, as my knowledge of the games jumped from the first one to the seventh one with bits and pieces from the others thrown in and so I was unprepared for its unique leveling system which didn't grant you experience and levels like many RPGs, but did something akin to an Elder Scrolls game and gave you a bit of experience every time you used a specific weapon, spell, or got hit. I was prepared to deal with this when I was in high school, but I had missed some bit of dialogue and wandered around the overworld completely lost thinking that I might revisit the game again someday.

That day finally came when I started on the Pixel Remaster, and I managed to figure out what I needed to do since I forgot about about an NPC that needed to be told a certain phrase. Which is the other major thing FFII brought to the series, random words and phrases you had to learn and use on various NPCs. It's a nice idea, but seemed largely inconsequential since it's not like using the wrong phrase on the wrong person would have any consequences.

I didn't talk about the first game's story at all, but while it was a very basic "go save the world from evil" sort of thing it didn't feel like it needed to be explained. This one was a wee bit more complex, as the evil is some Emperor and fighting with the rebels against his forces actually brings about changes to the game world and since you have a set character and companions (one of which swaps in and out throughout the story) it feels more like you're actually playing a role than just a Black Mage or Warrior whose characteristics you keep inside your head. That said, there aren't a lot of choices to make with these characters, except for in one section where you can try to fight a bunch of soldiers who overpowered me quickly and seemed easier to avoid.

The game's attempted innovations were laudable, and for something that was originally a Nintendo game it's fun to see this amount of attempted complexity. I do wish seeing your progress with your weapons was a bit easier (there's red bars but I would have liked numerical signifiers after each battle, like my skill with a sword went up four points and needs sixteen to get to the next level or something) and the larger amount of actual NPCs did help flesh out the game world and made it feel more like I was fighting for something.

The weirdest part of the game, by the way, is when you encounter a bunch of large beavers and one of your characters (named Gus, though I renamed mine Hugo) announces that he can speak beaver. This is apparently part of his established backstory though as far as I know there's no real way to access this information within the game. This is also the first game with a battle designed that you can't win, which is always such a welcome surprise.

The second Final Fantasy was certainly a worthwhile experience and, once I got the hang of its idiosyncrasies, one which didn't overstay its welcome. And now I go on to the third one.

Comments

[a_natural_beauty]

I'm curious about these beavers and his backstory! What a shame you couldn't learn more about it!

How did you like this one compared to the first?