Final Fantasy II Console Game Review!

Rated Everyone - Everyone 10+
Mild Fantasy Violence
Mild Suggestive Themes

Mr. Beard's Review
Final Fantasy II
NES Console & Playstation Game


Ok, so I am going to be trying a different approach and a different format to my reviews. I still will be rating each game on my five different points. At some point, I may change and adapt them as well though. I just am trying to make my reviews better and more informative to all the readers. I will not be doing separate sections for each one of them as I have done before. Each star will represent each thing I review and I will be touching on each of them as I write up my review. I will be trying to add more info on each game now and doing a little research on them as well.
Game Play
Graphics
Music
Story
Replay Value
This is still a quick review of what I have experienced in the first hour of the game unless it is a game I have already played. If you would like to know more just let me know in the comments below. Plus I will also be posting links to some other great resources.

My very first encounter with Final Fantasy II was with the Playstation adaption in Final Fantasy: Origins, then shortly after that it was with the PSP version. This is another one of those games that have stood the test of time and spawned many remakes and revisions. This is also a game that has been around almost thirty years now. Starting in 1998 with the first release in Japan. There are loads of huge improvements and differences from the first Final Fantasy to this one. There are also many improvements between the original Final Fantasy II and the remake for Playstation as well. Square has always been there to give the fans what they want in this series. you can also see the huge differences between gamers from back in the 80s to today's modern gamers just playing these two games.

With the original game, there was a kind of loss of direction and very limited storyline. Almost as if there was not enough time or space to finish each piece. In the original game, it seems to have that same challenging flaw as the first game. The lack of direction. The remake, however, has a full story and character interactions along with more of an idea of where you are supposed to go or what you are supposed to do. Now when I got Final Fantasy Origins I mostly got it for Final Fantasy. So I never honestly got very far in Final Fantasy II. Same with the PSP version. I had gotten the game, but I never had the time to fully try the game out because at the time I was busy with another game called Monster Hunter. Right from the start, I noticed a huge difference that I never noticed before. The lack of an experience system and levels. However, there does seem to be a weapons specializing system. Dependant upon the weapon you are using with your character determines how skilled they become with that weapon.

As you can see you can improve your character's skills in a few different areas. So you can potentially raise your playable characters all to be swordsman or magicians. I am not sure yet if there is an actual class system or not to be honest. Like I have said I did not get into this game all that much. I do not think there would be a class system because it seems you could potentially max out every skill. This I can not be sure of they either. Although it will be fun to find all this out and possibly do a full walkthrough with a tips and tricks page as well.

The graphics between the original and the remake are truly a huge step from the old school simple 8-bit graphics to a more modern old school feel. They did go from vibrant colors to a more dull feel though. It feels as though there is a fog covering the game, where before it had a bright and sunny feel. The character redesigns make me a bit uneasy. Only because for some reason whether it is the dialog additions or just the upgraded graphics, they just feel different. I can not quite put my finger on it.

The battle system still has that classic RPG feel that they created in the first game of the series, which was hard to gain levels and had that added difficulty to the original game. the remake does seem to be simplified yet again though. I am not complaining about the changes at all. To me honestly, I think that the faster paced and easier system with the remake allows new players to enjoy the game. And with the revamped story it gives players who enjoy story over gameplay more to focus in on. In the original I found myself focusing more on the gameplay whereas when I played the remake I found myself more focused on the story and trying to find out more about it.

The music between these two games is worlds apart. In the original, you have that classic video game tone, where the remake seems like more of a studio quality instrumental score and soundtrack. Both games deserve a lot of respect. The music that came from these two games stayed just as strong as the games themselves.

The story is the same way the first game felt. In the original, it felt rushed and missing a lot of pieces, but it added to the mystery of the game and the challenge of playing it. At the other end of it with the remake, the focused more on the story than the overall challenge and gameplay of the game. From what I gathered the Imperials are basically overthrowing the world and you join the rebellion to stop them.

StoryFinal Fantasy II begins as Firion, Maria, Guy, and Leon are attacked by Palamecian Black Knight soldiers and left for dead. Firion, Maria, and Guy are rescued by Princess Hilda, who has established a rebel base in the town of Altair after her kingdom of Fynn was invaded by the Emperor. Hilda denies their request to join the rebel army because they are too young and inexperienced. The three set off for Fynn in search of Leon; there they find a dying Prince Scott of Kas'ion, Hilda's fiancé, who informs them that a former nobleman of Kas'ion, Borghen, betrayed the rebellion and became a General in the Imperial army. The party returns to Altair to inform Hilda. She allows the group to join the rebellion and asks them to journey north to find mythril, a metal which could be used to create powerful weapons. The party makes its way north to the occupied village of Salamand, saves the villagers forced to work in the nearby mines, kills Borghen, and retrieves the mythril.
For their next mission, the party is sent to the city of Bafsk to prevent the construction of a large airship known as the Dreadnought; however, it takes off just as they arrive. After retrieving the Sunfire, a weapon which can blow up the Dreadnought, they watch helplessly as an airship with Hilda on board is captured by the Dreadnought. When the Dreadnought lands to stock up on supplies, the party rescues Hilda and throws the Sunfire into the airship's engine. Before escaping from the explosion, the party encounters a dark knight whom Maria thinks she recognizes as Leon.
On his deathbed, the King of Fynn tasks the party to seek the help of the seemingly extinct dragoons of Deist. In Deist, the party finds only a mother with her son, learning that all but one of the Dragoons are dead, partly as a result of Imperial poison. After placing an egg of the last wyvern in a cavern, the party returns to Altair and rescues Hilda from the Empire a second time, before successfully reclaiming Fynn from the Imperial forces. They then travel west in search of a powerful magic item, joining forces with the last surviving dragoon on the way. The party returns to Fynn and sees that many towns have been destroyed by a cyclone summoned by the Emperor. The party calls upon the newly born last wyvern to take them to a castle inside the cyclone, where they confront and kill the Emperor. Back at Fynn, everyone celebrates the Empire's defeat, but a mortally wounded Fynn soldier arrives and reveals that Leon has taken the throne and plans to destroy the Rebels with the Imperial army.
The party enters the castle of Palamecia and confronts Leon. However, the Emperor reappears in the throne room in a new demonic form, revealing he has returned from Hell with the intention of destroying the entire world. The party and Leon escape Palamecia Castle with the wyvern, as the castle is replaced with the palace of Hell, Pandaemonium. Leon agrees to help the group seal the Emperor away. The party travels to the Jade Passage, an underground passage to the underworld, and finds the portal to Pandaemonium, where they finally defeat the Emperor. Afterwards, Leon chooses to leave in response to the trouble he caused, though Firion assures him that he'll be welcomed back if and when he returns.
The Dawn of Souls remake of the game for the Game Boy Advance includes an additional mission that takes place after the game, called "Soul of Rebirth". The story of the bonus mission follows several characters who died during the story of the game as they travel through alternate versions of several locations in the game and defeat another version of the Emperor. - Final Fantasy II Wiki

That is the story from the wiki. They always do a better job telling it than I ever can. The wiki does such an amazing job of always giving you the straight facts on a game. My aim is to give you my personal view on a game. I have yet to finish this game, but already I am coming up with my own ideas as to what is going to happen. For me, that is just the fun in a game. That is why I try to avoid reading reviews and tips and tricks and walkthroughs. Simply because I want to discover it all on my own. That is why I make these reviews with just enough detail to give you an idea of whether the game is good for you or not. Not tell you everything and leave the fun out of it.

In the overall run of my initial play of this game, I did enjoy it very much. I am looking forward to the weapon skills system and already have a page set up for tips tricks and walkthrough page on my site.

Gameplay

The gameplay for me was fun and added new features that I do look forward to testing out even more. From the original to the remake the games are very close in similarity. The only slight difference is the challenge of the game. The original being the harder of the two. The remake was centered more around the story than the challenge. For this, I gave it a full star.

Graphics

The graphics between these two gave are very different from each other yet still so very close. All they really did was retexture the original game and gave it a huge facelift. In all, they started with that classic RPG game style and even kept it in the remake so I gave it a full star!

Music

You know it still amazes me how much music they were able to make with such a small amount of room. They did make some really amazing songs just with that limited space. The remake just enhanced the music and made it all that much more memorable. For that, I gave it a full star.

Story

Now with the original, it left a lot of valuable details out of the story. With the new feature of adding and memorizing keywords to get more story or information from other NPC it does help with the story, but it still just left you a bit confused. The remake did pay close attention to the story and gave it more depth, but I do still feel as if this game will be difficult for new players to the series who need more linear gameplay. For that reason, I gave it half a star.

Replay Value

Now being this is an old school game the only thing it has going for is that nostalgic replay value. Now some older games have a lot of replay value for me. Some of them after completing the game and finish everything in lacks that good strong connection. For me personally, I did not feel that connection with this game and for that, I gave it only half a star.

Hopefully, this review gives you a good feel for the game without taking away some of the mystery and the discovery of the game. I do thank you all for reading the review and hope you all enjoyed it and I hope you all have an amazing day!

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