This would have probably been miserable to play regardless, but doing it right after FF1 made it even worse.
I do acknowledge that a lot of ambition went into making this game, but while some of the core ideas were solid, most of the execution felt quite poor and led to almost constant frustration throughout the runtime. I guess this sometimes comes with the territory when you try to experiment and offer something completely different.
Like many others my biggest gripe was likely the progression. Maybe not even so much the mechanics of how it worked, but rather the way it constantly made me feel. The game sells the progression as what is essentially ultimate freedom - the more you use a certain ability the more it levels up and all equipment can be used without limitations. It should feel very natural, but instead it caused an almost constant feeling of dissonance for me. I felt a need to always use abilities I did not need in my current encounters just so I could level them up for future battles where I actually needed them. This made everything feel very hollow for me. There's so much choice with cool magic, but realistically you need to pick 2-3 favourites because unless you spend the time casting something constantly it will be relatively useless.
In addition to this many of your characters stat upgrades are somewhat random. If you get hit enough your health may increase a little after the fight. Same with dodges, MP and probably a few more things. The added randomness and removal of actual levels ended up almost completely removing my excitement at seeing my characters progress.
Naturally not loving both ability progression and stat progression meant that combat started feeling incredibly hollow after a while. Which brings me to the next point. There's so damn much of it. There is a random encounter approximately every 4-5 steps you take. In addition to that the dungeons in this game are about twice as long and filled with maze like dead ends and confusing stairs. Two things that absolutely do not work together. I would have liked to explore the maze, but there's a constant feeling of being penalised with 10 random encounters any time you take a detour.
Since progression seems to be the keyword for my little rant here I'll also add that map progression took a massive dive in this game. In Final Fantasy sections of the world map were unlocked in clever ways to guide the player more naturally and offer a sense of being on an adventure. For the most part this is gone in FF2 and the majority of the world map is open from the very start which removed a lot of the sense of wonder I had while playing the first game.
I have more gripes, but I figure I've already ranted enough about my experience and probably come across more negative than the game perhaps deserves. The biggest praise I can give this game is definitely the music. Nobuo Uematsu is a genius and listening to the iconic soundtrack made everything a little more bearable. It also looks amazing and I love all the sprite designs. The story - while not being perfect - strives to be a little darker which was interesting to see. It's still not something I want to judge too harshly in these early games which is a whole conversation of it's own, but they are getting closer to crafting a proper narrative. FF2 also introduced a lot of series staples like the Chocobos so it was cool as a fan of the franchise. It might even have more iconic elements than the first game as far as the identity of the series is concerned. I just wish that I had enjoyed the actual gameplay more.
I do acknowledge that a lot of ambition went into making this game, but while some of the core ideas were solid, most of the execution felt quite poor and led to almost constant frustration throughout the runtime. I guess this sometimes comes with the territory when you try to experiment and offer something completely different.
Like many others my biggest gripe was likely the progression. Maybe not even so much the mechanics of how it worked, but rather the way it constantly made me feel. The game sells the progression as what is essentially ultimate freedom - the more you use a certain ability the more it levels up and all equipment can be used without limitations. It should feel very natural, but instead it caused an almost constant feeling of dissonance for me. I felt a need to always use abilities I did not need in my current encounters just so I could level them up for future battles where I actually needed them. This made everything feel very hollow for me. There's so much choice with cool magic, but realistically you need to pick 2-3 favourites because unless you spend the time casting something constantly it will be relatively useless.
In addition to this many of your characters stat upgrades are somewhat random. If you get hit enough your health may increase a little after the fight. Same with dodges, MP and probably a few more things. The added randomness and removal of actual levels ended up almost completely removing my excitement at seeing my characters progress.
Naturally not loving both ability progression and stat progression meant that combat started feeling incredibly hollow after a while. Which brings me to the next point. There's so damn much of it. There is a random encounter approximately every 4-5 steps you take. In addition to that the dungeons in this game are about twice as long and filled with maze like dead ends and confusing stairs. Two things that absolutely do not work together. I would have liked to explore the maze, but there's a constant feeling of being penalised with 10 random encounters any time you take a detour.
Since progression seems to be the keyword for my little rant here I'll also add that map progression took a massive dive in this game. In Final Fantasy sections of the world map were unlocked in clever ways to guide the player more naturally and offer a sense of being on an adventure. For the most part this is gone in FF2 and the majority of the world map is open from the very start which removed a lot of the sense of wonder I had while playing the first game.
I have more gripes, but I figure I've already ranted enough about my experience and probably come across more negative than the game perhaps deserves. The biggest praise I can give this game is definitely the music. Nobuo Uematsu is a genius and listening to the iconic soundtrack made everything a little more bearable. It also looks amazing and I love all the sprite designs. The story - while not being perfect - strives to be a little darker which was interesting to see. It's still not something I want to judge too harshly in these early games which is a whole conversation of it's own, but they are getting closer to crafting a proper narrative. FF2 also introduced a lot of series staples like the Chocobos so it was cool as a fan of the franchise. It might even have more iconic elements than the first game as far as the identity of the series is concerned. I just wish that I had enjoyed the actual gameplay more.