Final Fantasy II (GBA)

The sequel

Just like Final Fantasy II I got this also on PSOne, but as stated, no TV and not available to me at the moment so let's play this. 

First enemy of the game, I'm f***ed!

So it begins when the Empire attack the kingdom of Flynn that forces Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon to escape their home. Maria and Leon is siblings and Guy is a "nature child" who was raised by animals while Firion is some kind of best friend I believe. After the intro attack Firion, Maria and Guy wakes up in the rebels hideout. Leon is missing. Firion & Co want to join the rebels, but princess Hilda says no, so you sneak into Flynn anyway. There you meet Scott, one of the princes of Kashuan at his deathbed as he protected everyone fleeing the castle during the attack. Returning to the rebels with Scott's ring you get aloud in and tasked with checking up on some mythril deposit in the north after talking with Josef from Salamand. With that you know have equipped the rebellion so they can fight back, but unfortunately news reach them that the Empire is finishing of the construction of the Dreadnought, a gigantic airship. 

I feel like playing Empire of Steel again

So you have to head to Kashuan to get the Sunfire to drop in the engine to blow it up. Scott's brother Gordon tries the same thing, but joins up with you at the castle. Returning the Dreadnought have captured princess Hilda riding on Cid's airship (Cid is a recurring character in every Final Fantasy game, often having something to do with airships). So a rescue operation is on the way. You rescue the princess and blow the ship up. But it wasn't the princess but a lamia disguising as Hilda. So off to the arena to rescue her. Meanwhile Minwu the white mage that saved you in the beginning have been missing in the search for the spell Ultima. Following in his footsteps you get eaten by the leviathan where you meet Ricard, the last of the Dragoons and together you climb a tower where Minwu uses his life force to break the lock on Ultima. You return, take back Flynn, but the Emperor summons a cyclone that wreck havoc on the rebels. Firion & Co awakens the last wyvern and storm right in fighting the Emperor at the top ending his evil reign. But it's not over since the Emperors Dark Knight have taken over. So you look for Cid who is dying of the wounds from the cyclone and hands you the airship so you can enter the Empires capital from the air. Battling to the top the Dark Knight is... Leon, but before you can do anything the Emperor returns from Hell and only with the sacrifice of Ricard does Firion and the others escape. Leon joins you and you know have to travel to Hell to fight the Emperor. 

And this one didn't come to the West?

You beat the Emperor and the End pretty much. The story is really good in my mind. Characters you meet during the adventure dies left and right. They incorporated a buzzword system so you could learn certain words and then ask them to get more information. So why is this regarded as one of the worst games in the Final Fantasy-series? Because they also implemented a new way to "level up" by removing it and focusing what you use is what you get. Including different spells and weapon types. Again they have refined it in the GBA game since I didn't grind anywhere. Although you have to go out of your way to use magic since MP hardly goes up due to being so limited at the start and then the spells doesn't get effective until something like level 5. And some enemies need to be attacked with magic. Doesn't help that originally it was also a thing that if one stat went up, another went down. Opposing stats that is so magic went up and strength down I believe. Also since it's so long between playthroughs I forget what spells are worth putting time and effort in. For example Haste, Berserk and Osmosis. All protection spells are worth it and I must put time in on Esuna since it never work that well for me. This is basically a reminder to when I get to the PSOne version where I can't save anywhere. I recall save scumming through the end portion of the game last time since I got hammered then, but this time no problem, which apparently is due to me not grinding for 5000 HP and 500 MP giving the magic defence and agility skills opportunity to raise to decent levels making the game much easier. And now I got the extra mode to play through.

I saw this a lot playing that mode

So I screwed up the leveling... again. Minwu and Scott hardly survived the first enemy and Josef didn't add much. Ricard was the only one that stood a chance and appropriate for the end game. So after reaching the town I gave up. So you are supposed to be the dead companions (plus Scott that looks like Gordon who was one of two companions two survive beyond the four main) and travel through another kind of Hell (or it might be heaven) to fight the Emperors "good side". For those that really liked those dead companions (and Ricard and Minwu are the best). This mode doesn't exist on the PSOne version so we will see if I ever finish it.

Overall I personally liked this game. I liked the "leveling up" system and it at least wasn't random like in Legend of Legacy that randomized the stat upgrade (game was made by the same people). The story might be cliched, but as proven time and time again, I can get down with it. And if you are gonna play one version this is probably the best due to the player friendly alterations they did for a modern audience. The music, while not abundant with tracks, is at least enjoyable. I especially like the boss theme. Now, if that is exclusive to the remakes I don't know.