FINAL FANTASY II

This game does not get nearly enough respect for being one of the most unique and interesting games in the series. It was the first Final Fantasy I ever beat as a kid all the way back on the Game Boy Advance and it is just as much fun as I remember, maybe even more now that I better understand the stat system. The story is one of the best in the series, and I will hear no arguments. If I have any issues with the Pixel Remaster version, it is that it lacks the additional content from other remakes. For that reason, I'd hardly call this a definitive version, but if you want to see a classic in its purest form, you can't go wrong.

[h1] 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕧𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕕![/h1] I'll be honest: Final Fantasy II has a reputation, and after hearing people complain about its leveling system for years, I expected a disaster. Instead, I found a game that was far more enjoyable than I had been led to believe. It's NOT an RPG in the classic sense... but an adventure game where progression is through usage of your skills and not through how many monsters' ears you can wrap around your belt! The Pixel Remaster does this game a huge favor. The updated visuals are beautiful, the rearranged soundtrack is fantastic, and the quality-of-life improvements smooth out many of the rough edges that gave the original such a mixed reputation. The story is also a pleasant surprise, featuring a darker tone and more emotional moments than I expected from such an early RPG. It may not have the complexity of later Final Fantasy entries, but you can already see the series beginning to experiment with bigger narratives and more memorable characters... As well as more "adult-oriented" themes such as despair, depression and imminent doom. Final Fantasy II still isn't perfect, and I completely understand why it's one of the franchise's most divisive games. But after finally giving it a fair chance, I think it deserves far more credit than it usually gets. Underneath its odd mechanics is an ambitious RPG that wasn't afraid to take risks, even if not all of them paid off. And honestly, in a world where every sequel plays it safe, I kind of respect a game that looked at traditional leveling and said, "What about this dude can increase his defense by getting CRAPPED ON by this giant behemoth?". I mean, I liked it... Not like I'd like any other Final Fantasy game, but this is out there as one of the most memorable gaming experiences ever! I mean the game literally starts off by killing off your entire party, how is that not memorable lol? The only other instance I could think of where a game starts off with a shebang is Tales of Phantasia (Remake it for the love of all that's holy) [b]9/10[/b]

对比初代进步太大了，更宏大的世界观，更完整的叙事线，还新增了场景演出。主角团也有了固定名字，每位角色都塑造的有血有肉。而距离初代也就过了一年时间而已，可以想象到当年的玩家有多震惊。

Hot take here, I think FFII is more fun that FFI or FFIII. The story was also surprisingly ahead of its time.

Story was great and interesting but the leveling system was not fun at all. The idea behind it is not bad but I cannot say the same thing about the execution of it.

TL;DR - Final Fantasy 2 is one of the better arguments for the Pixel Remasters on Steam, as there was no prior or secondary version available on the platform. But ultimately the problem is that it's still Final Fantasy 2, the first truly sub-par game in the series for a host of reasons. In the fullness of time, FF2 was only impressive when it was made due to the limitations of the hardware of the day, and it only exists in modernity a failed experiment. If you are going through all of the classic FFs for whatever reason or have picked up the PR bundle, this version works well enough. But if you are thinking of picking up just this game by itself for its own merits, know that they are few. At Length - In terms of the value proposition here on Steam, this is currently the only way to legally acquire Final Fantasy 2. So if you want to support Squeenix and want this game, this is your only option, unlike say Final Fantasy 3 or 4, which also have 3D Remake versions available, and prior to their delistings, FF5 & 6, which had iOS versions available. As a Pixel Remaster series game, this comes with several features that improve upon an old OG FF2 ROM in that you get a modern shell menu and UI, a bestiary and music player, a mini-map system (more on that in a bit), improved pixel graphics roughly on par with FF5's style, and a fully remastered musical score. The soundtrack, btw, is easily the best part of the package. FF2's OST isn't terribly notable amongst the many classic scores from Nobuo Uematsu's time with the FF series, but even his less memorable work has some rather strong themes compared to most. I particularly like the final dungeon music, Pandemonium, and this is the best version of that song you'll find. FF2's core systems are however, highly experimental, and represent the first major departure in mechanics the franchise ever did. The primary experiment being in how character skills for both weapons and magic level up in a "Use it to improve it" method very similar to what the later Elder Scrolls games did, but well in advance of when they tried it. It also includes a very simple "conversation key word" system similar to what you might have found in a point & click adventure game in the 80s. But the problem is both systems are under-developed or create perverse incentives. The keyword system is basically meaningless since it's just not used enough. When you encounter most situations where you can actually use keywords for conversation, usually they only respond to one or two of them, and usually only one is needed to progress. Since your library of words grows very incrementally over the length of the whole game, there's very little puzzle to this for the player to figure out, making it feel more tedious than interesting, and at no point does choosing different keywords lead to different outcomes. The only time it actually is semi-interesting is at one point you can find an interactable bookshelf where you can use many of the keywords you've learned to presumably read up on the subjects they convey. This happens once. That's literally the best it ever gets with the system. The "no levels" skill-leveling system is the bigger issue, as it is at the same time overly obtuse to understand, doesn't make game balance feel very good, is incredibly easy to exploit once you understand how it works, and devalues most magic to the point of near uselessness. I won't go into detail here (there's plenty of info available elsewhere) but while it can be appreciated for being "interesting," it's very difficult to actually enjoy this system, even (if not especially) if you just "play naturally" and try to ignore its particularities. Probably the bigger issue though for me in this PR version, are two key things: 1) Because this is a "Remaster" of the original game, this version of FF2 cuts out a lot of the extra content that had been added to the game over the years in later editions. In the older, but still not OG, version of FF2 I played in the past, there was an actually really quite good bonus dungeon/episode meant to be played after the main game which isn't present here. This bonus dungeon was kind of the best part of those versions of FF2 in my opinion, so this PR version FF2 ends up feeling a lot worse than the other PR titles by this cut. 2) Much like FF1, many of FF2 maps played with a "red herring" dungeon design where the developers would make dungeon layouts purposefully confusing for the relatively small screen space to show the dungeon compared to where you needed to go, adding in tiles that automatically did damage and a high encounter rate to whittle down the player's resources. Both because of additional items that weren't in the OG game (ethers) and due to the mini-map, this attrition by dungeon layout design is completely obliterated in the PR version of the game. You can know from the map systems exactly where you need to go, and you will never really worry about running out of MP, so you will never be under the threat of encounter attrition, which just robs FF2 of any potential gameplay challenge apart from weird hyper particularist low skill speed-runs. This is a bit worse in the PR version of FF2 versus FF1 since many more dungeons in FF2 relied upon this type of design compared to FF1, though this problem is shared in both games. Again though, if you want to experience FF2 on your PC and you want to do it legally, this is your best option available. It's just also your only option, and that's the real shame here.

My next stop in my Final Fantasy journey takes me to FF2. FF2 was a really fun game that was very similar to the first game, but it added some good features and other mechanics that added to the overall experience. For starters, FF2 has a more laid out story and characters, which was cool to see as FF1 really did not have that them, I really like how FF2 has the learn, ask and key items you can use when talking to important NPCs around the world. It gave the game a more linear focused story and adventure which I enjoyed alot. I also liked the change to the weapon level up, as well as the additional to more weapons that you can use in combat. The one aspect I was not the biggest fan of but it was not a detriment was how spells were done. I do like how spells all start at level 1 and you level them up by using them more, but I was not the biggest fan of how really any character could use spells. I liked in the first Final Fantasy, as well as other games, that certain party members are certain classes/jobs/roles, as I felt it gave each character a specific purpose. It is not something I dislike, but I did not love the change. Overall, Final Fantasy 2 is a good game and a improvement to the first Final Fantasy. The vast majority of the changes they made, like the more in depth story and characters, as well as most of the combat was a nice change. It was cool to see the difference and jump from the first game to the second, and I do recommend this game as it was just as fun as the first game is. 7.5/10

FF系列填坑的第二站，相比初代有着近乎全方位的进步，同时系统设计也更加新颖。摒弃传统的EXP改为熟练度机制大幅提升了团队构筑的可玩性，使得角色得以脱离单一职业的桎梏自由发展，而这也为后续作品的持续探索打下了良好的基础。至于剧情方面则加入了更加丰富的情节演绎，同时情感也更为充沛，不再是前作那种可有可无的平铺直叙，平心而论这故事写得还算不错，让我找回了一些小时候看动画片的感觉。 收集图鉴的体验依旧非常糟糕，这作相比1代新增了大量的一次性地图，很多图鉴都容易遗漏，实在是坏文明。另外铁巨人触发率简直低得离谱， 当然也有我脸黑的原因吧。

Dos que FF antigueiras na minha opnião é o que menos agrada, a história é fraquinha, mas vejam a época em que ele foi bolado... Hehe~~ O grind pros achievements nesse em específico é uma desgraça kkkry Steam troxa d+ namoral. A arte ta linda nesse segundo game, pixel remaster sem defeitos. Mas bora! Joguem!