it's pretty astonishing how much they got right from the very first title, as far as the music and enemy design go, as well as setting what would be the "vanilla" jrpg story.
however, be aware that they REALLY are not kidding when people say this game is almost all grinding. i don't mean this as inherently negative --i actually enjoyed grinding out some enemies before i went to bed each night, and there's not much more satisfying than the level up jingle.

for anyone wanting to play the first in the series, i HIGHLY recommend checking out the patch "that's exactly
the same, only all enemies drop 255 experience and large amounts of Gold upon their defeat. This way, you have the option of skipping the hours of grinding and just seeing all the original game has to offer."
which you can get here: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/5554/