Is this any good?

[Scream1008]

I've started the game but never could really get into it. However, I am thinking of starting it again. Is it a good game? The level-up system is interesting me.

[Bart's Friend Milhouse]

It is a very good game and totally worth your efforts even if you're just going to complete it once. It did take me some time to get into the groove of the things and it's levelling up system (if you can even call it that) punished my overconfident approach to the game. Give it a second chance

[Omni-Odin]

Play it again. That's all I have to say.

[aquatius]

Play it if you have the GBA version, the NES one is pretty crap.

[Sefie1999AD]

The game has a pretty good storyline for its time, but the battle system is very tedious unless you're playing the GBA version. If you have FF Origins or FF Dawn of Souls, you might as well play FFII too after you've beat FFI.

[alchemistlord37]

The stat system is ver creative. Each stat is gained by what you do in battle:
HP/ Stamina Up: Lose HP in Battle
MP/ Intelligence,Wisdom: Use MP in Battle.
etc.etc
I had trouble getting into it myself (on the ps1 game) but for some odd reason, I actually played it on gameboy. Overall, it's a pretty good game!

[Crossblades]

I recommend it.

[DarkLadyNyara]

It's a fun game. Play it.

[Laddy]

It's pretty good, not divinely life changing, but overall, it's a pretty good little game when you just want a game.

[,,,]

I only have experience with the NES version to speak of, but I recommend you avoid it like the plague. It is absolutely horrible. Don't listen to anyone who tries to excuse the "leveling" system, unless there were major changes made in the other versions, anyone who pretends it's even remotely tolerable is a liar.

[DarkLadyNyara]

There were changes made, yes. I can't say how extream they were, since I haven't played the NES version. But in Origins and DoS (more the latter than the former) I found the system not only tolerable, but fun. People have different tastes. Deal.

[Sefie1999AD]

In NES, the battles were horribly slow, and casting a spell on everyone (either all enemies or all allies) pretty much took forever since the spells were hitting one target at a time, and the game was displaying an effect information box between every hit. Leveling up HP and MP were very slow, and most of all, weapons and magic took ages to level up.

In FFII WSC and FFII Origins, the battle speed and group casting effects were greatly improved, and it was a lot faster to level up weapons. However, HP, MP and spells were still very slow to level up in those versions, greatly discouraging the use of magic.

In FFII DoS, HP pretty much increases on its own, so you don't need to worry about that, and the spells level up a lot faster. You still need to level up your party a lot, but it's clearly more tolerable in FFII DoS. Leveling up MP is still a bit of a problem there, but I usually solve that by raising the spell Sap on a high level and using it to drain the MP of my party members.

[Zeromus_X]

It's a good game, but it's incredibly tedious. Don't play it if you aren't accustomed to ancient dungeon crawlers.

[,,,]

There were changes made, yes. I can't say how extream they were, since I haven't played the NES version.

Do you still lose strength for using magic, and lose magic power for attacking? That was what made the system completely moronic. You'll want at least one magic user, and in every dungeon your mage has the same options for each of the 34803465 battles you fight, none of the options good:

1. waste mp casting a spell that you don't need to cast, so that you don't have any left when you get get to the boss and do need it.
2. attack and risk having your magic power lowered.
3. waste an item you don't need to use.
4. run and hope this isn't a rare time it works, wasting the effort you've exerted fighting the monster so far.

Don't know about the other versions, but there was no "defend" option in the nes.

[DarkLadyNyara]

There were changes made, yes. I can't say how extream they were, since I haven't played the NES version.

Do you still lose strength for using magic, and lose magic power for attacking? That was what made the system completely moronic.
In Origins, yes, Dawn of Souls, no. Again, personal taste.



Don't know about the other versions, but there was no "defend" option in the nes.
That's still true, but frankly, it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[,,,]

I normally wouldn't care about defend either, but in this case it would give the mage something to do that isn't potentially detrimental. A system that makes it so that everything a character can do will harm him or the party is a stupid system, personal tastes aside.

When I played through I made two of the party members into magic users, so for each battle there was not one but two characters for which I always had to choose between wasting mp and lowering my magic power. twice the stupidity.

[KasaiDraco]

Yeah I hate the NES FF1 and FF2 battle systems. It takes like 10 minutes to finish a battle that would take like a minute or so to finish. Because almost every hit is ineffective or a miss. Those games would be SO much better if the battles weren't like that. Glad they changed the battles in 4 and later. Never played 3 so don't know about that.

[Sefie1999AD]

The Ineffective feature is only a matter of strategy, though. I once played a game of FFI WSC with the Auto-Aim disabled (i.e. Ineffective enabled), and I didn't find that game any harder than a game of FFI WSC with the Auto-Aim enabled. However, I also think it's annoying when your mages need to do something stupid and near-useless or something that will weaken their magic when you're going through dungeons. Every version of FFII, except for DoS, was pretty much discouraging the use of mages.

[KasaiDraco]

I only use physical attacks in those 2 games, never magic.

[FuzZerd]

I virtually stoped losing any stats about half way through the game.

[silentenigma]

it reminds me of hamlet, which is.... kinda good...

[darksword12]

Yeah, I've never lost stats in DoS. I reccomend that version, it's the one I played. And believe me, you don't want a version that discourages magic. Wait til you get to deist cavern. The hill gigases still make me shudder.