It's a great game and the one that really introduced me to the franchise. The story didn't age very well, but at least it's admirable for its time.
It lacks some things of a normal RPG, since it is oriented mainly to new players, as there is no customization, the difficulty and exploration are at a level a bit too "basic", but it's still great and quite fun. For example, the strongest swords are given to you for free in the dungeon chests instead of having to buy them. The gameplay is very good, although it gets really interesting when you are more advanced in the game, because as for the difficulty, the game is too easy for me, although that's because I already have experience in this kind of games.
This GBA version features a reworked interface and some quality of life improvements to the game. It feels like a mini version because of the font and sprite size, but it's actually quite the opposite, as it's a version with extra content and without any cuts. The music sounds great and the graphics were improved a bit, the backgrounds of the battles for example were completely redone and look very cool. Although as a negative aspect, this version presents lag in menu navigation, which is not annoying most of the time, but it does in the final battles where you have to choose fast and well your commands.
Perhaps the only detail that makes it less outstanding than some other games in the series, is that the game lacks customization as I mentioned at the beginning, and that is something that all Final Fantasy games before and after this title have. However it does have the merit of introducing the ATB system, something very cool that although it's not really perfect and can be tedious at times (you can't skip character turns), it's still a great and very innovative alternative for its time that many future Square games would use as a base.
Conclusion
It's a good game that doesn't stand out much today, though I still recommend playing it for its historical importance and how entertaining some bosses can be at the end. I really enjoyed revisiting this game, my first Final Fantasy, on my Game Boy Advance.
It lacks some things of a normal RPG, since it is oriented mainly to new players, as there is no customization, the difficulty and exploration are at a level a bit too "basic", but it's still great and quite fun. For example, the strongest swords are given to you for free in the dungeon chests instead of having to buy them. The gameplay is very good, although it gets really interesting when you are more advanced in the game, because as for the difficulty, the game is too easy for me, although that's because I already have experience in this kind of games.
This GBA version features a reworked interface and some quality of life improvements to the game. It feels like a mini version because of the font and sprite size, but it's actually quite the opposite, as it's a version with extra content and without any cuts. The music sounds great and the graphics were improved a bit, the backgrounds of the battles for example were completely redone and look very cool. Although as a negative aspect, this version presents lag in menu navigation, which is not annoying most of the time, but it does in the final battles where you have to choose fast and well your commands.
Perhaps the only detail that makes it less outstanding than some other games in the series, is that the game lacks customization as I mentioned at the beginning, and that is something that all Final Fantasy games before and after this title have. However it does have the merit of introducing the ATB system, something very cool that although it's not really perfect and can be tedious at times (you can't skip character turns), it's still a great and very innovative alternative for its time that many future Square games would use as a base.
Conclusion
It's a good game that doesn't stand out much today, though I still recommend playing it for its historical importance and how entertaining some bosses can be at the end. I really enjoyed revisiting this game, my first Final Fantasy, on my Game Boy Advance.