It's kinda funny if you think about it: Final Fantasy is the most consummate RPG series that there is in video games, and yet, it took four installments of the series (of which this was the second to reach stateside) to play like most of the RPGs that would come after it. Not to say that Final Fantasy II is run-of-the-mill; rather, you can argue that this game is the mill. Pedantry aside, it's quite a statement to make about a game that it plays like a standard console RPG, and yet it does everything so well that it's still lauded as a classic.

Unlike previous iterations of the series, in which more attention is put on party building and the plot is little more than just a series of quests leading up to the final battle, FF2 is a game where the storyline is the central point of focus. The game chronicles the adventures of a knight named Cecil, vacated from his high position within the castle guard and charged with finding the reason why his king suddenly covets the magical crystals that the other kingdoms of the world protect. Along the way, a variety of characters come into and out of the party, each of which have an array of very unique abilities.

The plot does a great job of captivating the player, as the level of tension is kept at a high level throughout the game while the party is at times pursuing and other times being pursued by the bad guys. The only weak point is the dialogue, which clearly lost a lot of context in its translation. At times, the characters seem unable to say anything but each other's names, making them sound like characters from an early radio soap opera. They do have a reasonable amount of personal depth, though, and there are a couple of humorous moments during the game - namely when one of the heroes gets called a "spoony bard". Thematically, this is really the first time that they really start to blend sci-fi and fantasy elements into the story, as futuristic towers and giant world-destroying robots are found side-by-side with the mythical setting of elves and sages.

As with any other game that comes out on a very young console, you have to be a bit soft on the presentation. In the case of FF2, it's clear that the visuals to this game aren't significantly better than what we saw on the NES. That's not a big issue, though, as the colors remain bright and the animation is crisp. On the other hand, this is really the game where Nobuo Uematsu earns his reputation as a top-notch video game composer, as much of the score is at a very high level - particularly the themes you hear most often: the battle theme, the overworld theme, and the boss music.

New to the series is the battle system, which incorporates more of a real-time feel to the proceedings than the simple "punch in commands and wait" methods used in the past. It doesn't do much to enhance the fighting, except to keep players more on their toes and develop more elaborate fighting strategies. The only things I really have a problem with are the amount of delay between inputting a command and having it carried out, and the way you're forced to have a front and back row, given the enormous disparity in damage dealt between front- and back-row characters.

Because of the emphasis of plot over party, the game doesn't offer a whole lot in the way of sideshows. The only one I can really think of is towards the very end, where each character has an ultimate weapon that's guarded by a boss. It's also comparatively short, as you can beat the game in less than 30 hours without really trying. The final battle manages to be tough regardless of where you party's levels are at, and the ending does a satisfactory job of resolving each character's stories - though once again, the weak dialogue makes it less rewarding than it could've been.

It's important to note that while the first Final Fantasy was popular and successful, it was this game that really turned the series into the foremost console RPG for the remainder of the decade. And playing through this game, it's not hard to see why.

Overall Rating:
Presentation: 8	Play Control: 8	Plot: 8	Challenge: 8	Total Score: 6.5
Personal Score: 33