It is good to see that, unlike Final Fantasy I, this game has an identity of its o.. wait a minute, this is just the plot of Star Wars.

My biggest problem with the first FF game was its lack of originality. The world and its enemies felt uninspired and, in some cases, were straight-up copied from other forms of media. While II partially fixes this by introducing many of the series' iconic elements that are still present to this day, it completely fumbles the gameplay side.

Instead of the enjoyable brisk pace of the original, II is a complete slog thanks to its frustratingly dull never-ending loop of going back and forth between a handful of places, all while having a broken leveling system and incredibly boring dungeons with awfully high enemy encounter rates.

While it is fascinating to see the series we know and love today slowly take shape, the sophomore entry sadly feels like one step forward, two steps back.