Do you consider this to be the best NES entry?

[Wolf Kanno]

In an odd turn of events since I first joined this sight, this game's stature has risen among the community where it used to be either hated or just meh, but lately it seems like a lot of people are starting to really love this game. So do you consider it the best NES entry and if so why? If you don't consider it the best, why not?

[Pike]

Yes, in fact I think it's the second best FF game overall.

[Colonel Angus]

I'll have to give it another play through before I judge it so. I'll probably feel FFI is still the best, since that's the one which I popped my RPG-cherry.

[VeloZer0]

I consider it the weakest NES entry. The story and world were strong, but I just can't get into the game due to the leveling system.

[Rez09]

I consider it the weakest NES entry. The story and world were strong, but I just can't get into the game due to the leveling system.

This. I'll always appreciate what the game did for the series, and the SaGa series later on, but a game has to be enjoyable to play first and foremost, and I cannot get past the leveling system in this game. For all the freedom it promotes, I cannot help but notice going anything other than a party of warriors is effectively useless, and I don't feel the game functions well either as intended, where you just plow ahead without grinding any stats and have to constantly enter/exit areas, or exploited, where you spend hours pumping stats and walk through the rest of the game -- it just feels tedious to me, and never fun.

[Madame Adequate]

Yes, in fact I think it's the second best FF game overall.

I don't rate it quite as highly overall but yes, it's the best NES entry for sure!

[Electroshock Therapy]

I think it's tied with FF III. Apart from the beginning where I'm mainly grinding for gold, this game is the first in the series where little to no grinding is required if you use proper strategy. Also, I feel this is the first FF game that actually requires strategy! Like other FFs, you're in for a rough time and long periods of grinding if you don't!

I think the leveling system is pretty interesting and fun. It's daunting at first, but then you get used to and realize it's not so bad if you don't deviate your characters too often.

[Ayen]

Gameplay wise I feel FFI was easier to get into. While I was able to enjoy FFII after learning the kinks it's not as self-explanatory to me as FFI was and that cost it some big points for me. Obviously, II has the advantage over FFI in story and characters. I think the same could be said of III since everything I heard about it talks about zero characters or anything. I can't rate FFIII beyond that since I haven't played it yet.

I think I would rate FFI just a little bit higher, but FFII is still a good game.

[Spooniest]

II is a good game, and the only NES game that has a story that concerns the identities of the main characters in any way.

However, the leveling system (while not as bash-your-face-in bad as many purport), is extremely restrictive.

If you want someone to be a good fighter, they have to attack. If you want magic that's worth a smurf, you have to have your mage(s) cast magic, every turn.

In an extremely subtle way, the game is destroying any chance of cross-training your character. Specialize or gtfo.

Not exactly deep or engaging. 6.5/10.

[Galuf]

i havent played III. but i like this one wayy better than I

[Motdrafin]

I do feel this is the best NES entry, with III not being too far behind. I actually like the leveling system, and I find the story impressive for a game that old.

[metagloria]

I think this is the worst game in the franchise, so...

[Skyblade]

I think this is the worst game in the franchise, so...

Pretty much this. The world and dungeon design is horribly complicated for no good reason, and the mechanics are utterly atrocious. It has Minwu, but that can't exactly carry the game right there.

[Cloudane]

My thoughts having played I II and III in the past year with no particular knowledge of what's popular.... no. I'm afraid it comes last

III was my favourite, even though (I'm playing on the NES as GodSakaguchi intended) it goes back to not having defined characters. It has the awesome job system that will have me replaying it over and over and maybe attempting some endgame maxing sometime, takes a leap forward in music, and pretty decent graphically for the time as well. Loads to explore.
Big plus for also being the first to put a lump in my throat, towards the end.
It also gives me more of an appreciation for IX, which is a game of references and without background of those references seems kind of random.

FFI comes second due to being the iconic first, the simplicity, and actually a fairly reasonable story.

FFII comes last mostly because of the terrible (IMO) skill levelling system and I find it a fairly weak story. It doesn't seem to go much beyond "rebels fighting an empire".

[Senshi Xion]

I personally do. I've played all three NES games and I enjoyed FFII the most overall.

First off, if you have problems with the combat, get a newer version. Only the NES version is broken. Origins fixes the bugs of the original, Dawn of Souls took out a ton of frustrating elements, and the 20th Anniversary edition is actually super polished and even has a "skip turn" type of command if you need certain characters to level up more. I personally enjoy the PSP version if only for the bonus dungeon, and the biggest problem I had was how many times Ricard and Leon fainted (MARIA ISN'T MADE OF MP BOYS!)

As for the story, I keep hearing about how simple it is, and I can agree with that. However, a good portion of the rest of the series has elements inspired by FFII. "Rebels fighting an empire" is something both FFVI and FFXII did, FFIV's cast copies from it several times, and all three villains created long lasting stereotypes in the franchise (as did Garland and CoD). Sure, the story is short and somewhat dry, but it was big for its time, and plenty of staples in the franchise came from it.

My thoughts on I are that it was decent. The game was just easy and fun. However, what knocks it down a slot is how confusing the story got toward the end. I get what it is and why, but it feels weird for Garland to disappear only to show up at the end with the hand wave explanation of "the Fiends did it".

Overall, III is probably one of my least favorite FF's. The job class system was great, don't get me wrong. However, the story was too bland for me, the villains were too cliched and made no sense, and the exploration frustrated me. You wanna talk getting lost in FFII? I had to restart twice due to getting lost in FFIII!

So yeah, my controversial opinions are out. I know someone might be angry, so before you call me elitist or bad at games, I've played all console games but XIII-2 and LR:XIII, I'm also into Tactics, Kingdom Hearts, and Bravely Default, and FFX is my favorite. *flame shield up*