Like many first attempts at putting an NES genre on the Game Boy, this game feels held back compared to its NES counterparts (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest). That being said, this game offers several new and experimental features, such as weapon durability, more explicitly level/stage based progression, and three very unique leveling systems.
That being said, these systems are often held back by other features of the game that exist as a result of the hardware restrictions it was under, the most notable of these being the frustratingly small inventory. Otherwise, the game is as you'd expect from an 80s JRPG, full of abrupt difficulty spikes and a necessity for grinding. That being said, if you are returning to this game in the current year, you're obviously comfortable with such genre conventions

Overall I enjoyed most of my time with this game, but a few issues with the difficulty and the inventory system, as well as just being smaller in scope than other games in its era make it less desirable to replay than Square's offerings on the NES,