It's a little silly, but I was a little worried that this game might be overrated because it's one of the few decent RPGs available on the Genesis. But this is actually pretty great. It's a relatively short (I did all the sidequests and some grinding and still managed to finish the game in under 16 hours), fast-paced, lean RPG. It was a pleasant surprise how much side content there actually was, with multiple optional dungeons and even an odd-jobs board like Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door would have. The story was always interesting, with a fun cast, lots of big revelations, a gradually escalating scale, and one moment that made me really damn sad. If you've beat the game, you know exactly which one. I think this game does a great job of balancing very light and very dark moments, and I love any media like that. The combat feels damn good, with great animations that move at a blazing speed and a convenient macro system. The fights are so fast, it's one of few JRPGs where I rarely reached for the fast forward button in my emulator.

I still think it's just slightly behind the highest tier of 16-bit RPGs. The overworld graphics can be a bit primitive, the spell and tech names basically require a glossary, and Air Castle can go straight to hell. I also felt the story had a few too many fake climaxes, which hurt the feeling of really building up to something. I really wish the combo system were more reliable as well, though Grand Cross was simple enough to pull off semi-frequently. But it's unfair to expect this game to live up to the likes of Final Fantasy VI. It's still an absolutely great time and one of Sega's finest achievements of the 90s.