I'm jumping straight in because this fuckin thing has been living in my mind rent free since I played it. Final Fantasy II is one of the worst games I've ever played in my life, and even though I had an absolute blast during my playthrough laughing at just how disgustingly broken this game is, it's still objectively last.
Let's start with the pros of this game:
- I like the protagonist's design (gif at the bottom)
- I'm sure there's probably a second thing but lmao
Ok cool so now let me tear into this thing
The mechanics of this game are fundamentally broken. I don't know what backwards ass idiot thought anything about this was a good idea but I hope they got fired. The idea is that to level up a stat, you have to "use" that stat, so to speak. To gain Attack power you have to attack enemies, to gain MP you have to use your spells, etc. How do you think you get HP in this game? ...Getting hit. In the endgame it's real easy to go to the area of the map where you started, encounter 1 level 1 enemy that can't harm you, and sit there auto attacking your party for hours while one dude heals everyone every turn. Repeat ad nauseum until you have 9999 HP and literally can't die to anything the final boss throws at you. It's admittedly quite funny finding ways to break this shit, but at the same time holy hell how did ANYONE think this would work? Again, one of the most fundamentally flawed RPGs I've ever seen.
On top of that, the story is a continuation of the first game's but in an even MORE cliched direction. At least "we have to restore the Light" is A GOAL, whereas "ok cool but we kinda need both Light AND Darkness to survive" is so overdone and boring and cliched and I hate it.
WHAT DOES THIS GAME HAVE TO OFFER? Not much besides a cool looking character design for the protagonist, in a series where attractive men are already plentiful. Weirdly enough, though? I think I'd still give this one a recommend, if only to see for yourself just how far you can break the mechanics and how much fun you can have with it.
