The original Final Fantasy II for the Nintendo Famicom was a game I didn’t find out about until nearly ten years after its release. I was always a big fan of the Final Fantasy series, but this one wasn’t localized for English audiences until it was remade for the Sony PlayStation. While I enjoyed this version I couldn’t help but be left to wonder how much better the original 8-bit incarnation was. I finally gave in and decided to tackle this rather daunting cartridge release. Final Fantasy II is one of the worst installments in the franchise, but there’s quite a bit of charm in this original release that was lost in all the remakes. Let’s take a look.
Final Fantasy II starts off on the right foot. Upon naming the main cast of characters you’re thrust right into a turn based battle against all powerful foes. There’s no way to win this, and three of the four protagonists awaken in a rebellion hideout in the city of Altair in the Kingdom of Fynn. The setting here is a medieval fantasy world with swords and sorcery, and an evil Empire bent on taking over the entire planet. It’s up to these three protagonists to aid the rebellion and fight back against Palamecia in a story that’s surprisingly personable by 8-bit standards. There are even a fair number of plot twists, some memorable characters, and fun towns/dungeons to explore.
There’s an odd system wherein you can learn key phrases characters say, and repeat them back in certain instances to either progress the story or find out more information regarding it. It’s off putting at first but fine as you get used to it. The reason I didn’t like this is because it forces a lot of trial and error, and I found myself forced to return to early areas to make sure I didn’t miss a phrase that I would later need. It’s fine for what it is, but personally I’m glad the developers didn’t try it again in any of the other sequels.
In many ways it was Final Fantasy II that set the tone for the series. Perhaps even moreso than the original installment. Many of the themes here carry into almost every other Final Fantasy game. Character deaths and sacrifices, along with betrayals, and more. You also have a very light suggestion of a love story, and a few story premises that would later be copied by Final Fantasy IV. If there’s a weak link in the story then it’s certainly that the villain is lacking. You don’t even see the emperor of Palamecia until you’re almost done with the story, and his dialogue is all highly contrived. It’s worth noting that this game marks the first appearance of a character named Cid in the franchise as well as the introduction of Chocobo.
The story is actually one of the best in any 8-bit RPG. The pre-established characters really help to tighten the narrative, and the fourth slot in your party (which functions as a revolving door as people leave and join you) really helps to give other characters some time to develop. Sometimes they’re with you for too short only to join again later, but others (such as Josef) are one-offs. I actually really did enjoy the story. Even just exploring the world here and taking in the sights is cool. There’s a variety of vehicles that you can use here including a canoe, ship, snow sled, airship, etc. The game uses a very neat effect to make it feel more lived in by having airships occasionally fly overhead while you’re exploring the world map. Talk about neat.
For better or worse the battle system hasn’t been changed significantly from the prior installment. These encounters (unless staged within the story) occur at random while you’re exploring dungeons and the world map. Enemy encounters take place on a separate side view screen. Here you see your characters on the right side of the screen, and the enemies on the left. You start each round by entering commands for each character in your party. These include attacking, using magic, items, and attempting to run. No one has unique skills or special moves here but that’s not a big issue. You win when one side loses all of their hit points. When victorious you’re granted money, but not experience points which is quite unusual.
It seems that Squaresoft wanted to do something a little different when it came to character progression for this release. Unfortunately they kind of fell flat on their face here. You see, each character becomes stronger not by gaining experience points but rather what happens during each battle. Using particular weapons over and over causes your character to gain skill with them. If enemies hit you a lot during battle then your max hit points will increase. The same goes for defense. If specific characters are beating foes to a pulp in each and every battle their strength goes up. The problem with this is that it changes how you play the game. I found myself using weaker armor so that I would more frequently get hit point boosts. I would also waste my turns so that enemies would hit me more often for the same reason.
It caused me to waste a lot of time basically fooling around during enemy encounters. That’s not a fun way in which to play a game if you ask me. I shouldn’t have to purposely make myself weaker and then waste my turns so that I can get hit just to increase my maximum hit points. It just makes for an unfun experience. To make matters worse, depending on how your characters participate in battle they can even lose values from their stats. Fighting battles should only increase your aptitude for battle in role playing games, and the fact that it can make you weaker here is incredibly counter-intuitive. I hope that whoever came up with this concept stayed far away from the genre after this major misshap.
It’s a real shame because everything else in Final Fantasy II is surprisingly competent. While there is the occasional vague task to complete I feel like there’s far less guesswork here than in the original or even sequel. The dungeon designs are labyrinthine but not as mundane or poorly thrown together as something like Phantasy Star II. They’re actually fun to explore with liberal amount of good treasure to be found. You’re often rewarded well for venturing off the beaten path. The game is extremely difficult but it ramps in such a way that doesn’t feel unfair. You’ll sometimes hit a wall where you need to be stronger to proceed. Final Fantasy II would be a good game if it wasn’t for the lack of experience points system. The off-beat mechanics they replaced it with just don’t work.
By and large Final Fantasy II can be easily mistaken for the original game in most screenshots. There are some environments that have more detail and color than anything in the original title, but for the most part it’s pretty identical. With that said some areas look amazing by system standards. The insides of Leviathan have an incredible organic look to them and the colorization is very otherworldly. It’s a neat effect. The battle scenes are still a little drab with simple black floors instead of actual terrain, but the enemy designs are pretty impressive. It’s here that you’ll find many monsters that are still re-used by the series to this day. The soundtrack is one of the weaker ones in the series, but it’s okay. The world map theme is the highlight, as is the music that plays in the rebel base. Everything else is largely forgettable.
I like Final Fantasy II. I really do. Unfortunately I don’t like how the game forces me to play it, but everything else hits the right notes for me. It’s such a shame because the character progression system is enough to actually ruin the experience for me. An RPG lives and dies by its battle mechanics, and unfortunately this one lays in its own bed. Final Fantasy II could have been a contender but it falls flat on its face. Because of it this is one of the worst games in the franchise.
