Final Fantasy II.

Original Release: Nintendo Entertainment System, 1988. Version Reviewed: Dawn of Souls edition, Gameboy Advance, 2004.


THE PLOT:

The Empire of Palamecia is determined to conquer the world! Firion, Maria, and Guy are three youths, orphaned when Imperial soldiers attack their village. They are rescued by Princess Hilda, who leads a resistance movement against the Empire, but their friend Leon has vanished.

Though the princess is initially reluctant to let these inexperienced youths join her army, Firion and his friends prove their worth when they discover that one of her allies has sold out to the Empire. After that, they spearhead a series of missions for the rebellion, gaining the rebels access to resources while freeing villagers the Empire is using as slave labor.

Palamecia is far from finished, however. With the construction of its new Dreadnought, the Empire has a powerful weapon to bring to bear against all who oppose it!


CHARACTERS:

Final Fantasy II's major forward steps from its predecessor are the presence of a much stronger storyline and a hint of characterization. Unlike the first game, in which the heroes are hailed as saviors from the very start, this game opens with the characters seen as largely helpless, and having to prove themselves to even be officially assigned quests. I'm not going to claim that there's layers and depths here - This is a late 1980s NES game, after all - but the people you encounter tend to have at least a hint of individual personality.

Infiltrating a mine for precious resources...

GAMEPLAY:

Final Fantasy II tends to be regarded as the worst entry in the series, and that's almost exclusively because of its leveling system. The basic idea is sound - you level up skills based on what you use.  If you cast a lot of spells, you gain more magic points; if you kill enemies with a sword, you become more skilled at swordplay; if you get hit a lot, you toughen up and are able to take more hits.

Unfortunately for the game's reputation, this system in the original NES release was apparently... Well, broken. Reportedly, players of the original version had to beat themselves up in order to gain enough hit points to be able to survive even initial random encounters, let alone to grow tough enough for later enemies.

The Dawn of Souls version (and, reportedly, other re-releases as well) fixed the leveling system, which now much more accurately reflects the production team's intent. My characters engaged in no self-mutilation, and nevertheless were able to level their skills quite nicely; if anything, by the end of the game they were too strong, sweeping aside the game's last two bosses without even breaking a sweat... Which means that it's now off-balance in the opposite direction. Still, I admit to finding it enjoyable, at least as a novelty.

I'd also like to note a particularly nice touch: The battle at the start of the game cannot be won - It's part of the story that you lose, in fact - but the game still makes you play through it, which connects you that much more to the characters.

And still more random encounters...

THOUGHTS:

With the gameplay issues largely fixed for the Gameboy Advance re-release, the infamous Final Fantasy II emerges as... actually, really quite good! In most respects, this game represents a leap forward in terms of the series' sophistication. Instead of being an afterthought, the story is actually very well crafted. Yes, the story has some remarkable similarities to Star Wars (Dreadnought = Death Star; Dark Knight = Darth Vader; there's even a princess leading a rebellion against an Empire). Still, the storyline is structured with more care than would normally be expected from an NES game, and the narrative takes some surprisingly dark turns along the way.

As with the first Final Fantasy, the Gameboy Advance version features additional content. Reflecting the more story-based nature of the second game, that additional content has some actual substance to it. A bonus storyline titled Soul of Rebirth puts you in the role of characters who have died across the length of the story, battling through an underworld to assist the game's heroes one last time. It's expendable enough, but it is enjoyable - and fits well with the main game's story, making a decent addition to the whole.

Final Fantasy II is noteworthy for introducing some recurring series elements. It is the first game to feature Chocobos, the giant birds who appear throughout the series. It is the first game to feature Cid, a character who pops up in different roles in subsequent games.

Ultimately, though, I think its most important contribution to the series is in its storytelling, which is such a leap above its predecessor's that I can scarce credit that only one year separated the two games. I enjoyed Final Fantasy as an undemanding bit of retro gaming; but I actually found myself involved in the world and story of Final Fantasy II.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Game: Final Fantasy
Next Main Series Game: Final Fantasy III

Next Release: The Final Fantasy Legend



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