I actually really like the NES era games an I do in fact rank them higher than some of the Playstation era titles cause I feel they are overall in better quality and get far more enjoyment out of them than some modern games.

FFI is pretty simple but I love the world, which starts off fairly typical Fantasy Genre nonsense but then drops an advance civilzation and a quirky time travel twist that ends the game with a bitter sweet ending. All this in a time frame where other RPGs were simple hero beats the evil bad guy and saves the princess and the McGuffin. They all live happily ever after. The ending was a pretty damn deep even by todays standards where most games still opt for the "Happily Ever After " ending. The re-playability of the title from its job class system makes the game also easy to go back through without being bored especially considering the game is fairly short as well. Hell, I stopped playing Crisis Core in exchange for tackling FFI PSP instead and had a hell of a lot more fun despite CC being so "great" for its gameplay and story. I still felt FFI was better.

FFII gets the shaft alot but after really playing the game for my FAQ, I've really come to appreciate the title more than for its novelty. The story actually is pretty good if a bit absurd in some places (beavers? really Square?) the mechanics of the game are far more deep than people give it credit for and I feel the game gets a bad rep from all the munchkins who feel the system should allow you to max out all your stats easily and then compalin when nothing can beat them.

The story is simple but it has its touching moments and even I can feel for someone like Josef and Minwu, especially heart wrenching when the game allows you to go back and speak with their loved ones... Combat is good the level system is great if you actually accept it for what it is which is basically a system to build the FFI job classes with a bit more variation since magic can be used universally (meaning you can build a character who has nothing but buffing and debuffing skills) and the weapon system allows even squishy mages and idiot proof warriors have a bit more flexibility and customization.

The music is gorgeous and I actually feel FFII has the best soundtrack of the NES era and I actually rank its soundtrack higher than the garbage we listen to in the PS2 era. The Rebels is one of my favorite compositions in the series.

The game was a ahead of its time and I'm that despite the game being 20 years old, people still don't get it. Hell this game as well as FFI pretty much started 90% of the RPG cliches we roll our eyes at nowadays and I feel FFII gets the shaft outside of Japan cause it was released outside of Japan fairly late in the series lifetime. Its hard to appreciate awesome villains like Mateus or the battle with the series first Behemoth when you are comparing it to crap from SNES and PS1 era.

This is also why I felt FFIII really gets the shaft. It was the last of the numbered series to be released outside of Japan and even with ROM hacks, most casual fans (which is most of the FF fanbase) probably never touched this game til the DS remake. Even then, I felt the game was magical and I am so sad the series doesn't use some of the spell mechanics like FFIII did, having to keep Mini and Toad spells around to traverse dungeons. The job class system was a hell of a lot of fun and even though I can't argue that FFV did it better, its not like III's version is bad on any account. I loved switching around classes and building new parties with the game but I'm a toital whore for job class systems.

The story feels pretty simple but has a pretty awesome plot twist early on (the floating continent and the nature of the true world) heroic sacrifices from its excellent supporting cast (built from what Square did with FFII no less) and also has a rather deep story for its time that is once again not seen very often in even today's games. A villain who is clearly crazy and evil but given a very sympathetic backstory, name me one game from the NES era RPGs that ever did this? It would be easier to list someone from the 16-bit era and even then I'm pretty sure that's a short list. Let's also not forget the story's message is about Balance and goes off to say that Darkness is just as important as Light and drops the whole pretense of Light = Good and Darkness = Bad. Once again, its hard to find any mainstream RPG that talks crazy like this (MegaTen is kinda built around this concept though). I mean comparing FFIII to IV, you suddenly realize that Square pretty much dropped most of the gaming mechanics in exchange for a story that happened to have a strong central cast, FFIII is not only a better game but its story is also just as equally as good as its descendant.

The sheer complexity of the game puts it high on my list and when you start to think about the era the game was created in and start comparing other FFs to games of their era, you realize how mind blowing this game really was cause very few later titles took as many chances as this title did for its time. For me, IV is technically a downgrade in the series after following up III and the only other two titles that share a similar fate is the transition from IX and X as well as XII and XIII which is mostly the same deal with the later titles streamlining combat and gameplay in exchange for story making very unbalanced games.

III is a smurfing masterpiece in the series cause it takes all the best elements of the first two titles and builds something truly magnificent from them. The fact the game still gets references and homages from later installments shows how important this game is to the series and how it still inspires designers toady. Its not just an antique, its proof that they don't make them like they use to. III is horribly balanced with a thought provoking plot, large world with lost of places to explore, and an excellent combat system. I still like FFII's OST better but its not like III's is anything to scoff at.