SNES to DS changes

[Karellen]

The best additions to the game are the new abilities and the re-designed boss battles. I never liked the way the original offered so little in the way of customization after coming off the job-system in FFIII. The decant abilities make the game more like FFIX, where everyone has their own specific classes but still allow for some choice in how you construct your party. The boss battles are all excellent; they are by far the toughest in the series. Battles you could just breeze through in the original like Cagnazzo and Golbez actually require some thought this time around (unless you grind for hours or something). Leviathan is a nightmare. Funnily enough, Demon Wall is now one of the easier bosses in the game.

I thought it was a pretty decent remake overall. The story seems to be almost identical to the original (I can’t read Japanese, but all the scenes seem to play out in exactly the same manner) besides some deviations around the Giant of Babel (namely a few flashbacks). So it’s not really a whole new experience like SE seemed to imply it would be around the time it was announced (not much of this supposed ‘cut content’ from the original seems to have been added, if the amount cut was indeed as extensive as they said it was) but it’s definitely better then the original or the GBA port, even though I was a little disappointed that they don’t let you chose your final party like you can in the latter. Of course, considering how tacked on that aspect was in the GBA version, maybe it's better without.