My aim to play through each entry in the mainline Final Fantasy series (excluding online titles) has just notched up its second way point as I have just recently completed the Anniversary Edition of Final Fantasy II using my Playstation Vita.
This game has something of a bad reputation amongst fans of the series, owing to historic problems in older versions of the game relating to character stat improvements (primarily). This was my first time playing through the game, and I can honestly say that I felt this game was a step above the original Final Fantasy in almost every way. Read on for more..
Story
This entry marks the first time in a Final Fantasy game that there is a real, tangible and interactive narrative taking place. The game begins with the lead heroes Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon fleeing their home town after it was attacked by the Palamecian Empire. After this initial encounter, Leon disappears and the rest of the group are discovered by rebels. The plot of the game consists of a quest to destroy the Empire's 'Dreadnought' warship, before progressing on to the quest of liberating the land from Emperor Mateus.
There are very few twists along the way, aside from one that may seem very predictable. The plot is therefore straightforward, but the game contains a supporting cast which add a fair element of variety to the game play as well as to the plot itself. Side characters such as Minwu and Ricard ended up being my preferred characters in the narrative.
For the Anniversary Edition, there are also two 'bonus quests' included, the Arcane Labyrinth and Soul of Rebirth. Each has its own self contained narrative, SoR more than the Arcane Labyrinth, but these also help in fleshing out various aspects of the story and make the additional game play more interesting to play through.
As far as story is concerned, FF2 has already progressed massively beyond its forebear, in big ways as well as some smaller ones - the addition of main characters that actually speak, for one! The game feels far more guided by the narrative in this instalment than the original game where the plot felt somewhat loose.
By modern standards, this story is nothing groundbreaking at all and you certainly should not be expecting some of the indepth lore found in contemporary gaming, but there is an attractive quality in this games relatively straightforward narrative that kept me interested throughout.
Visuals
The visuals are an area of subtle improvements over the original Final Fantasy. Character animations during story related scenes are small but noticeable improvements when compared to the first game. This also goes for dialogue - portraits of the characters are used to express basic emotions during conversations and can also help provide a reminder of certain villains' appearances and other members of the supporting cast.
During battles, the monsters' artwork has been completely overhauled from the original game, and in many cases this is a great thing - Gigas monsters, Golems, Dragons and the Iron Giant for example, all looked like they would be genuinely tough battles based on their appearances alone. Spells cast during the battles had mainly anti-climactic animations - I was relatively disappointed on my first uses of Flare and Ultima looking like they weren't quite as impressive as the story made them sound. Another small touch in battles that I found quirky was the party running off screen at the end of a battle - I believe this is the first and only time I recall this happening in a Final Fantasy title.
Environments tended to look similar to those in Final Fantasy, I felt. I didn't find myself wowed by any of the villages, despite subtle improvements to relatively minor assets. However, later areas of the game such as Pandaemonium were much more impressive to see, boasting a wide range of colours and detail.
The overall look of the game is still very retro and almost childish in its art form, but this game is very much a product of its time and if you intend to play through, it is best to accept the art style as part of the games charm. The sprites will grow on you!
Audio
A hallmark of a Final Fantasy game is a great soundtrack, and this game delivers well. Gone are the repetitive and grating shop jingles of the first game, however the core game still uses a small selection of tracks to cover each of the games areas.
The world map music is fantastic, catchy and melodic but determined and moody at the same time. Likewise the battle theme is driven, calling on elements of the world map theme and varying slightly to deliver a catchy tune. This is without mentioning the music for the final battle of the game, and the final dungeon. This series of games has always, in my view, delivered in spades when it comes to a climactic final confrontation and Final Fantasy II is no exception.
There are drawbacks, however. The NES technology this game was originally developed for means that there are a limited number of tracks and they do still become repetitive after several dungeon trawls, or after visiting numerous towns or castles. The music in all cases is catchy but it does wear thin when you are accustomed to more modern, ever-changing soundtracks in games.
Gameplay
Like its predecessor, Final Fantasy II's game play is where the title has to deliver. In my view, it does. Beyond the template layout of the game itself (tropes such as the world map, currency, random battles etc) the actual core battle mechanics have been completely and utterly scrapped, resulting in a totally fresh experience from start to end.
The levelling system works in a similar way to Elder Scrolls, in the sense that using a particular skill will cause it to level up. For example, the more you use a spear then the higher your proficiency with a spear will be. Or the more you use a type of magic, the more potent it will become (up to a maximum of 16 magic levels). Suffice to say that by the end of the game you would be unlikely to have maximised many of these skills unless you spent a very lengthy amount of time grinding.
In the game's original release, this system proved to be controversial and seems to be one of the chief reasons people don't bother with it now. This is unnecessary with the anniversary edition - I found that the only time I really had to grind throughout the entire game was when saving currency for equipment, and I certainly did not resort to the often referred method for 'cheating' to level up.
The addition of the Arcane Labyrinth section to the game provided me, as the player, with the opportunity to level up my party at numerous points throughout the game to gain rare equipment and open up the plot line of the associated side quest - if you are considering playing, do it this way and your grinding fears will be alleviated.
This game is also notable for other reasons, such as the introduction of Chocobos (big yellow birds) as a form of transport, the first in-game appearance of a character using the name of 'Cid', the introduction of the Ultima spell and Behemoth monsters, among others. Each of these aspects all assisted in building the games mythos and game play in a positive way.
Honestly, I had a blast with this game. My biggest gripe would be the lack of intuity with quests like the Arcane Labyrinth. Compared with the rest of the game and it's linearity, this dungeon threw a spanner in the works by forcing me to research online to save potentially hours of time in working out how it works. Otherwise, I felt that the game play thoroughly complemented the story and I enjoyed both immensely.
Even on completion, the game unlocks a new dungeon which replays the story's final hours from a different perspective. This added an additional five hours of time to my total, making it a 45 hour investment of time to complete the game. As if that wasn't enough, there is also an in-game bestiary for you to complete which was another fun little distraction in its own right.
Summary
In all, this game makes for a solid entry in the Final Fantasy series. I feel that history has been unkind to this game, and that this Anniversary Edition is very much the definitive way to experience Final Fantasy II without the issues and pains from the original version.
It also marks a solid route of innovation and development over the original game. Instead of clinging onto elements that were successful, Squaresoft instead delivered a brand new experience from start to finish, setting a hallmark for what would become a standard of the Final Fantasy series.
Rating 4/5
