satans domain (ff2 the planes of hell)spoilers

ok is it me? or is ff2 pure EVIL? sos this is a rant topic so dont bother reading if u want a non bias review.

ok i only just destroyed the dreadnaught but this game is riddled with flaws and will most likely be my worst ff.

the training systerm is hell! there is close to zero point in fighting monsters while u progress, they give u close 2 nothing. of course its almost IMPOSSIBLE to flee. i have never successfully escaped. u have 2 mess about outside towns training and hp is the only attribute that goes up much. the rest take forever.

hitting yourself to gain hp is riduiculous. the amount of times u must use magic 4 it 2 do anything is silly. the damage u do seems to be random, anything from miss miss, or 0. 0.. then nxt go u do 300, 300. why do bosses have insane defense? anything 2 do with the fact that against bosses u magicallyu start getting 1 hit instead of 4 hit? grrrr.

yep, throw me a 86hp gordon at me in kasion, VERY USEFUL, not. make the items stuipedly expensive, of course only 63 item slots.

and the character development? well i feel more personality in umaro from ff6 then these ppl.

sos but when i first put this on i was so impressed. the fmv emperor was beyond cool! the music is ETHERAL, SIMPLY STUNNING! but then the rot set in.

i know i have bias but ff2 is different i think. i was always screaming at ff1, particulary in the past temple of chaos and lich's lair. but that was more the games hardness and my weakness.

but this ff is not fun at all. its the first ff where fighting is a pain, not a joy. i long 4 story but have 2 fight 4 hours 4 each piece. this game is the ultimate in suicide inducing gaming technology.

will this game get better? will the story remain cool? and is the emperor any good? i dont know if i should continue . i would feel dirty and like a quiter. but i,m not enjoying the game. the ppl who told me to bash my head until i forgot about this game instead of playing it maybe on to sumthin. this is so the worst ff imho.

I don't think FF2 is nearly as bad as most people seem to say it is. I agree that the battle system can get tedious at times, but if you take the time to level up your characters a bit then most of it's a breeze. I love the deep customisation and the principal behind the stat gaining. You get hit, you get better at taking hits, someone casts magic on you and you become better at withstanding magic. It seems the most realistic of all the FF battle systems, where a character can stand and do nothing for 10 battles, then suddenly become better at (just about) every skill.

FF1 was okay, but FF2 has the better plot. I disagree with what you say about the character's personalities, I found characters like Leon and Gordon very interesting with their own little trials and twists in the story.

Nice thread title, considering (SPOILER)FF2's final dungeon is a castle in hell, and Satan is one of the bosses there. :D Anyway, I think FF2 is good in every way except the battle system. And I don't like the translation in FF2 Origins - I really prefer the fan translation for FF2 NES. But the storyline is pretty good, and it's very dark. There are many tragic events in the game. There isn't much character development, but the side characters who join your party are all nice and unique. The music is very good, and PSX makes most of the tunes even better.

The battle system would be innovative and very clever if it wasn't executed so poorly. Well, it would still be very likeable if the spell development wasn't so bad. The spells take forever to develop, and until they reach level 5 or so, they're almost useless. 50 castings of spell to raise its level, and there are 16 levels. Having your spells at around level 10 is usually more than enough, but I still find it tedious to even get the spells to level 2 or 3. Raising your MP is also very hard without the Change trick because you have to spend over half of your MP in a single batter to get more. And usually the enemies run away from you long before you've wasted your MP.

There are tricks to this game, such as beating up your own characters for getting more HP, or using Action/Cancel for weapons and spells to raise their levels. However, that isn't so fun at all, and it can also be considered cheating. But even with the questionable development system, the storyline is still very good. Probably even better than FF3j's (which I also like). FF2 also was the first FF to have Cid, Chocoboes, Dragoons, Genji equipment, Behemoths (I think) and Leviathan.

well i,ve calmed down now and am enjoying it a bit more. i just beat the lamia queen thing who almost beat me with confusion but the for the first time i got annoyed for the right reasons, cause the boss was hard.

yeah, jenova rebirth, i like the IDEA of the battle systerm but as sephiroth said the training is so tedious right from the beginning and magic is so useless most the time. only cure is lv 6 and nothing else is above 3.. i have never been bored of training till right at the end. ff7 training e.g is a pleasure in itself. but this is painful.

havent got leon yet, but ppl like gordon have more development then maria, gus and firion combined. maybe if i felt sumthin 4 them but...

yeah the story is good and has a lot of firsts in it (so happy to see a cid) but while ffx-2 had an awful battle systerm, mediocre soundtrack and awful story imho, at least it was very fun.

by the look of things, unlike ff1 this will require a second play to master, the thought sends shivers down my spine. i dont think i could hack it...

People just don't understand FF2. It took me a while, but I really like the system. I think the spell levelling is a little too drudgerous for its own good, but to me thats its only real shortcoming, and please keep in mind that my sig used to be a screen shot of my whole party being taken down by a hornet and a leg eater. Well, okay, so I photoshopped it to add humor, but I was really really bad at FF2 for a LONG time. There's just a trick to it. Once you know that trick, you'll sail through it. You probably won't even need the select/cancel trick if you know what to do. You simply need to have your characters be dedicated to one method of combat each. They're trying to encourage you to emulate the jobs of FF1. For example, Maria starts off with high intelligence and a bow. This is to suggest that perhaps she should cast a lot of black magic from the back row so you won't have to worry about the fact that casting black magic cripples your vitality. Gus starts out with an axe and higher strength, suggesting you make him your main fighter. Now, these are just SUGGESTIONS of course. You could make anyone do anything, but if you try to make one person do everything they'll be seriously weak. This is basically the exact opposite of what new-school FF fans are used to. In the first 3 games your characters pretty much had to be specialists, in VII and VIII there was no reason NOT to split your most powerful attacks, magic and support abilities between your characters. Oh how the times have changed...

yeah but i was good at ff9,10 and 1 in the job respect but this was originally different.

u r right though, i am right at the end have been an unstopable juggernaunt 4 ages now. its like i went from hyper weak to godly after one dungeon. but now i have ran into a huge brick wall...the last boss. grrr i cant win!