After enjoying gliding through the Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster a while ago (or a few weeks ago, review upload-wise) I decided to jump into its sequel as soon as another gap in my gaming appeared… without remembering that it was the often-cited “black sheep” of the series due to its really weird levelling up system. Well, the Pixel Remaster at least goes someway in remedying this issue but it’s still very wonky as a game. All that being said, it did introduce a lot of important stuff to the series, not least named characters and a slightly more layered plot (plus Chocobos!) so it’s not all bad. Let’s take a look!
Background:
Um… I think our boat might have a leak…
Final Fantasy II was released on the NES (or Famicom I guess, given it never left Japan) on December 17th 1988, and there it stayed until a re-release on the WonderSwan Colour on May 3rd 2001, once again Japan exclusive. It would then get a re-release on the PS1 on October 31st 2002 in Japan and then March 14th 2003 in PAL territories and April 8th 2003 in the US, finally coming out in the west. It was then recreated for the GameBoy Advance and released on July 29th 2004 in Japan, November 29th 2004 in the US and December 3rd 2004 in the UK/Europe and once again redone for the PSP on June 7th 2007 in Japan, July 24th 2007 in the US and February 8th 2008 in PAL land. It also had some rather naff (visually) looking mobile phone ports after that.
The Pixel Remaster version was first released on PC on July 28th 2021 worldwide, then came to the PS4 and Nintendo Switch on April 19th 2023, also worldwide. The XBOX Series then got it September 26th 2024.
There were quite a few differences between all the versions, mostly the programmers admitting the new combat / levelling up system was a mistake and trying to do little adjustments to change that without ruining any nostalgia people have for the game by doing any complete overhaul. All that being said the game has sold over a million and was reviewed well at the time, but Final Fantasy III reverted back to the levelling up systems of FF I and then improved upon them, so the feedback was obvious. The man who created the new combat system, Akitoshi Kawazu, would use it again for his SaGa game and that’s become its own successful RPG series, so all’s well that ends well, and all that.
Gameplay:
Hooray! … Anyway, time to hop off because I need to enter this town and- Oh. Goodbye forever I guess!
On a surface level the game is your typical RPG of the time: you walk around towns to buy equipment and hear rumours that will lead you to the next dungeon to crawl through (although this game does have traditional quests given to you by NPCs as well), on the overworld and in those dungeons you face random enemies or in the latter the big boss of the dungeon in turn-based combat, all using a combination of weapon strikes and magic spells. The big difference here is the levelling up system, as normally you gain experience points through battle and after a set amount you level up and gain stats, but here your actions gain XP, so the more you use a sword the better at sword attacks you’ll get, the more you heal the better healing spells are, and most controversially, the more you get hit the better your health will be, meaning playing particularly well will actually hinder your later fights against tougher enemies by giving you a smaller health pool. This has been toned down in the Pixel Remaster and other re-releases, but in the original NES game it was so bad that a legit strategy in the early game was to have one of your party members attack the other over and over to level up your health to save time later. At least the magic system is the now-standard of having an MP meter and then picking a spell which uses a certain amount, unlike the limited slots / different levels system from FF I. Your party is also the same three main characters and a rotating fourth guest character depending on where in the story you are, which sounds good for variety’s sake but the issue is that the guest character is always at a set level and it’s normally far lower than your main trio, so you either have to spend ages grinding to get the guest character up or you just accept he’s going to die a lot in battle. Lastly you can now move characters to the back row of the battle, where they can’t use or get hit by close range melee type attacks but can obviously still get hit by spells and bows (and of course can still use spells and bows too!) meaning you can have a dedicated healer at less risk sitting on the back row.
Roasting some Goblins in an open grass field. What’s the worst that could happen?
One new and never-returning system (as far as I’m aware) is the “key words” system, where you learn, well, key words or pick up key items and then you can select one of these words or items in conversation with NPCs and getting the right one can lead to new information, or sometimes new key words that can then be used elsewhere. When I first heard about it I was a little off-put, but actually using it in the game it was harmless and quite fun, actually. I also have to mention that you can capture a Chocobo and ride across the overworld on it, doing so meaning you skip random encounters. It even has the classic tune, so it was fun to see how much of the creatures’ aspects were there right from phase 1.
Overall the gameplay was simple in one way but also needlessly complex in others. I know it’s rather a moot point by now but the levelling up system really doesn’t work here, and if I didn’t have a few Pixel Remaster options on to make it less of a pain I doubt I’d be arsed to play the game through to its end. Also that last dungeon? Blimey. I actually turned random encounters off a few times when I got lost and just needed time to think and backtrack without facing powerful enemies 100 times a second…
Graphics and Sound:
This is a good example of the detailed sprite graphics, but also… ugh. Not very nice to look at!
Once again it’s lovely 2D sprite art with a blown up (but not stretched) wide-screen view, paying homage to its roots but not just being a black screen in 8-bit sprites like the original.
Likewise the sound effects are the same but the OST can be switched from the original to a new and once again rather gorgeous orchestral arrangement on the fly. Best of both worlds, which is always the way these remasters should always go. Given what it is I can’t fault it in either department.
Story:
That it is! Another debuting thing. Also here’s Josef, who is he? Well, read on! (Briefly…)
Unlike the first game’s rather simple plot Final Fantasy II has a… little bit more of a plot. Basically, as the creators have admitted, it’s the Star Wars story of small rebel faction against an evil Empire, where you control Firion (brave hero), Maria (female friend) and Guy (strong but simple-minded type) as they fight against the Palamecia Empire. In the opening they’re with their friend Leon and the four of them are attacked and left for dead but wake up in the presence of Princess Hilda, who has set up a rebel camp with a few surviving allies, though Leon is missing. They soon become a well respected trio in the rebel faction and take on several missions to weaken the Empire or strengthen the rebels, including rescuing the Prince of Kashuan (though it was already too late); finding Mythril to create powerful weapons; meeting the pirate Leila (okay that wasn’t the mission but it did happen!); watching as friendly villager Josef gives up his life to save you; instilling bravery to the cowardly Prince Gordon; finding Ricard Highwind, the last of the Dragoons, and hatching the last dragon for him to ride on; and finding the famous and super-powerful spell Ultima with Minwu, the court mage (that infamously turns out to be crap due to one programmer thinking it would make sense and nobody being able to un-program it after he did it…)
A lot of these extra characters don’t make it to the end, but their deaths lose a lot of their power as when they die their sprites flash a bit and a weird ringing chime is heard before they vanish completely and it just made me laugh every time. No other dead body does it, they just beep away into nothingness… Maybe it’s a further Star Wars reference and its supposed to be an Obi-Wan surrendering to the Force thing? Well, anyway, eventually they fight the fabled Black Knight of Palamecia and it turns out to be Leon, who betrayed them all and joined the army that killed all their friends and families and burned down countless towns for… well, no real reason is ever given. It’s bloody weird! Oh well.
*Spoilers from here until the next bolded sentence!*
The Emperor’s final form! That’s what dominating Hell will get you, I guess…?
The rebels manage to break into Castle Palamecia and defeat the Emperor quite handily, and as they celebrate back at home they hear Leon has taken control of the Empire and is planning on continuing their evil conquering ways. Firion, Maria and Guy head to the throne room but before anything can go down the Emperor reappears looking more demonic and reveals he’s conquered Hell in the meantime and is now taking control of his Empire back but with even more demons mixed in. Everyone escapes thanks to the sacrifice of Ricard and soon Castle Palamecia turning into Castle Pandemonium, also from Hell. This leads to a final confrontation as Firion, Maria, Guy and a now-back-on-the-good-side Leon enter Hell and then rise up Castle Pandemonium to confront the Emperor, where he does the old trick of transforming into a large even more evil version of himself, where he is then defeated. Everyone returns home to begin their happy life but Leon quite rightly says he doesn’t deserve to just rejoin everyone and promises to travel the land and do good to make up for all the evil he did… for some reason.
*Spoilers are over!*
So yeah, it’s not going to win any awards but at least this time the main cast had names and the story was a bit more involved than “defeat four monsters, restore power to four crystals and then save the world by defeating the final boss”. It shows good forward progress for the series, which is always fun when you play through a series from the start.
Thoughts Now:
Everyone has a merry dance! … Seriously, that’s what is supposed to be happening, it’s kind of hard to get that across with simple sprites and a static image…
Would I recommend playing Final Fantasy II in 2026 (as of this writing)? Well, I did enjoy myself at parts but that was only due to the Pixel Remaster’s options, and even then the levelling up system still isn’t that rewarding. Hearing the level up chime and seeing your stats rise is always so satisfying, that just isn’t the case here, and like I said the bare bones original FFII is far worse. If like me you want to play through all the games in order then I say the Pixel Remaster takes some of the bits that didn’t work and turns it into something more playable, but it’s hard to get that balance so you’re not making it too easy. If you’re not bothered about playing literally every game, then you can safely skip II. It’s earned its rep as the “black sheep”, even if I don’t think it’s quite as bad as some say (though again they’re probably talking about the original version…)
Hogan Reviews 