While FFII may not be the best story in the series as far as how well it flows or the length and size (again, think back to the time), I love the risks it took. People to this day consider it one of the darkest FF games in the series, and there's a good argument for it. 3 Three of your party members die in front of you along with at least 3 NPC's (which one joins the SoR team), two of the villains die and come back as monsters, Entire cities and kingdoms are wiped off the map, and you feel like you can never catch up to the Empire for a good chunk of the game, which is brilliant.

The characters are also awesome. There's a reason why many of them spawns spiritual descendants throughout the series. Then there are concepts like chocobos, Cid, Mysidia, Dragoons, Dark Knights, pretty villains, betrayal...you know, the stuff in a ton of other FF games that are almost integral to the series itself (mostly Cid, chocobos, and pretty villains).

Call it dated. Call it a Star Wars ripoff (btw FFXII is almost like a more expanded version of this game, so...). Just keep in mind the time it released and recognize its merits in that regard. For 1988, this game has a good plot and characters.