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Thread
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Jim Profit
01-05-13 04:21 AM
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iN008
01-13-13 08:10 PM
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Sometimes a game is just bad.

 
Game's Ratings
Overall
Graphics
Sound
Addictiveness
Depth
Story
Difficulty
Average User Score
8.7
7.5
8.5
5.5
8
7
8.5
Jim Profit's Score
3.3
5
7
1
6
4
9

01-05-13 04:21 AM
Jim Profit is Offline
| ID: 716257 | 1312 Words

Jim Profit
Level: 11

POSTS: 9/19
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Likes: 0  Dislikes: 0
I'm not big on Final Fantasy, but I am an avid fan of the dungeon crawler concept, Dungeons&Dragons, etc. Many have said that Final Fantasy 2 is one of if not the worst of The Final Fantasies, and frankly I did not want to believe it. Being one of the few jrpgs in general that is skill-based over linear level grinding, I was actually expecting a lot more then I got. At that I truly believed the hacker did the best he could to make this game workable. But to no avail...

GRAPHICS: 5.
The graphics are not horrid, but they could be better. It'd be difficult for someone who has never heard of Final Fantasy to believe this one was a sequel, because the graphics have actually degraded in many respects as far as random encounters go. While still colorful, and in fact more vibrant and unique color schemes then it's predecessor, everything just seems like a doodle you would draw up in class. The hacker did not make any changes to the graphics that I know of, so I'll just rate it as a five.

SOUND: 7.
The sound is an improvement to the first Final Fantasy, and matches the environment the music is put in. Though a bit repetitive at times, it is not aggravating and a pleasant melody with intense, yet mild by most game standards for combat music.

ADDICTIVENESS: 1.
Try as I might, I could not see the game through. Too many things made it a chore to continue. While I'll save most of the complaints for difficulty, it should bare mentioning that a lot of players would become quickly frustrated by the lack of information presented to you. One could assume the function of most spells and items, but it does not tell you this at the shops. So either you have to take a guess, or know the game relatively well before you even start. There is also a lot of minor annoyances that while would not kill a game in their own right, piled together the way they do make it almost unplayable.

STORY: 4.
Older games are not played for their story. It's hard to get into a story without cut scenes, deep dialogue, and everything looking like something out of a coloring book. The attempt at a plot only makes it worse when it is a simplistic contrived tale of kings, rebellions, and demon lords plotting in the inner circles of all the politics. I play Final Fantasy to be a heroic mage or swordsman battling ugly monsters for praise, loot, and bragging rights. Not to roleplay Game of Thrones. Not to say FF2 doesn't try. It leaves hints and options available for extra dialogue boxes, and remembering keywords and such. But in general I just don't find this to be the time or the place.

While it is normal for JRPGs to set you up for a battle you cannot win, it does not necessarily mean it's a good thing. While some might look at it as these guys are really tough, and one day you'll be strong enough to beat them. All I see is a very railroaded way to get you at square A, then move on to square B. And it could just have been explained better overall why you and your ragtag bunch are so important as to be resurrected.

 DEPTH: 6.
The map itself is pretty straightforward, but honestly given the cheap and often unfair battles ahead of you... this is probably for the best. While there is much to do, it feels artificial and clunky. By trying to persuade the player to wade through more dialogue, and compose this convoluted math system of different stats, it ends up more a drudgery then offering replay value or any additional bonus.

DIFFICULTY: 9.
The game is not difficult in and of itself. But in it's entirety it almost feels like you're playing a very drawn out roulette table, pretending to be a video game. There are several things I want to cover here, and surprisingly none of them have to do with the skill system which I don't have any problems with.

The first thing is the controls. I can't tell if it's my computer, or the game. But when I go to select an option, and the arrow key (sword key I should say) just goes wherever it pleases... it's just very bothersome and can many of times mean a wasted action. I knew coming into this FF2 did not yet figure out that if an enemy is dead, not to consider an attack as a miss, and just attack the closest enemy otherwise. But with such bad controls where half of the time you're attacking something you did not want to attack... that just makes it infuriating. Especially when attacking comrades is possible. It may hold strategic reasons why you would do it in a skill based game... but not when the controls are this bad.

The second thing is encounter curves. Typically as you traipse around the first part of the map you're going to come across hornets, imps, and other things generally within your skill group. But there are those rare instances when all of a sudden you are face to face with a class four enemy like a specter or a knight. And your only options are to either reset at where you last saved, or sweat through it and hope someone in the party is left alive to crawl back to town. Which brings another problem.

The haphazard system. Usually Inns heal everything. Not so here. They only seem to really heal HP/MP. Which in a game making liberal use of status ailments, is pretty annoying when shops only carry maybe two types of ailment negations at a time. Stocking up on potions, slows down gameplay, and a lot of times these mini-boss type threats come unannounced. For example when you go to second town over, do not talk to any guards or you will get massacred. (I don't even know if there's a such thing as level grinding enough against imps and hornets to be ready for them.)

Some status ailments can be downright confusing as well. Poison for example, does not seem noticeable until you get poisoned twice. Then you're engulfed or however they worded it, and it lasts permanently until you drink an antidote. (Because again, inns won't help.)


The hacker implemented exp gains even for dead characters, a higher starving skill set, and tried to smooth out some rough spots as far as skill mechanics go. But sometimes things are just too broken to fix, and this is one of them. I would not say FF2 is the most horrible game, I've played really bad games and this is not gritting at the teeth bad. But it does have a lot of negative qualities, and if you come into this expecting Final Fantasy as you know it, or in general any fantasy turn based rpg... you are going to be sorely disappointed.


OVERALL: Overall I give it a 3.3. Bad controls, occasional hiccups in consistency, unexplained assaults, and almost gritty combat in an otherwise high fantasy sort of game just make the general experience bad and uninviting. I hate to conform to common opinion... but the people may be right about this one. Final Fantasy 2 was a terrible sequel and Squaresoft (Or whatever the company that owns Final Fantasy is called now...) was very lucky to recover so quickly from Final Fantasy 2 with three. My guess is they decided to go with what they know, much like Zelda did with the poor reception of Zelda 2. This is not to say experimenting is bad. But it's as though they set themselves up for failure. Because what else can you expect from poorly constructed gameplay?
I'm not big on Final Fantasy, but I am an avid fan of the dungeon crawler concept, Dungeons&Dragons, etc. Many have said that Final Fantasy 2 is one of if not the worst of The Final Fantasies, and frankly I did not want to believe it. Being one of the few jrpgs in general that is skill-based over linear level grinding, I was actually expecting a lot more then I got. At that I truly believed the hacker did the best he could to make this game workable. But to no avail...

GRAPHICS: 5.
The graphics are not horrid, but they could be better. It'd be difficult for someone who has never heard of Final Fantasy to believe this one was a sequel, because the graphics have actually degraded in many respects as far as random encounters go. While still colorful, and in fact more vibrant and unique color schemes then it's predecessor, everything just seems like a doodle you would draw up in class. The hacker did not make any changes to the graphics that I know of, so I'll just rate it as a five.

SOUND: 7.
The sound is an improvement to the first Final Fantasy, and matches the environment the music is put in. Though a bit repetitive at times, it is not aggravating and a pleasant melody with intense, yet mild by most game standards for combat music.

ADDICTIVENESS: 1.
Try as I might, I could not see the game through. Too many things made it a chore to continue. While I'll save most of the complaints for difficulty, it should bare mentioning that a lot of players would become quickly frustrated by the lack of information presented to you. One could assume the function of most spells and items, but it does not tell you this at the shops. So either you have to take a guess, or know the game relatively well before you even start. There is also a lot of minor annoyances that while would not kill a game in their own right, piled together the way they do make it almost unplayable.

STORY: 4.
Older games are not played for their story. It's hard to get into a story without cut scenes, deep dialogue, and everything looking like something out of a coloring book. The attempt at a plot only makes it worse when it is a simplistic contrived tale of kings, rebellions, and demon lords plotting in the inner circles of all the politics. I play Final Fantasy to be a heroic mage or swordsman battling ugly monsters for praise, loot, and bragging rights. Not to roleplay Game of Thrones. Not to say FF2 doesn't try. It leaves hints and options available for extra dialogue boxes, and remembering keywords and such. But in general I just don't find this to be the time or the place.

While it is normal for JRPGs to set you up for a battle you cannot win, it does not necessarily mean it's a good thing. While some might look at it as these guys are really tough, and one day you'll be strong enough to beat them. All I see is a very railroaded way to get you at square A, then move on to square B. And it could just have been explained better overall why you and your ragtag bunch are so important as to be resurrected.

 DEPTH: 6.
The map itself is pretty straightforward, but honestly given the cheap and often unfair battles ahead of you... this is probably for the best. While there is much to do, it feels artificial and clunky. By trying to persuade the player to wade through more dialogue, and compose this convoluted math system of different stats, it ends up more a drudgery then offering replay value or any additional bonus.

DIFFICULTY: 9.
The game is not difficult in and of itself. But in it's entirety it almost feels like you're playing a very drawn out roulette table, pretending to be a video game. There are several things I want to cover here, and surprisingly none of them have to do with the skill system which I don't have any problems with.

The first thing is the controls. I can't tell if it's my computer, or the game. But when I go to select an option, and the arrow key (sword key I should say) just goes wherever it pleases... it's just very bothersome and can many of times mean a wasted action. I knew coming into this FF2 did not yet figure out that if an enemy is dead, not to consider an attack as a miss, and just attack the closest enemy otherwise. But with such bad controls where half of the time you're attacking something you did not want to attack... that just makes it infuriating. Especially when attacking comrades is possible. It may hold strategic reasons why you would do it in a skill based game... but not when the controls are this bad.

The second thing is encounter curves. Typically as you traipse around the first part of the map you're going to come across hornets, imps, and other things generally within your skill group. But there are those rare instances when all of a sudden you are face to face with a class four enemy like a specter or a knight. And your only options are to either reset at where you last saved, or sweat through it and hope someone in the party is left alive to crawl back to town. Which brings another problem.

The haphazard system. Usually Inns heal everything. Not so here. They only seem to really heal HP/MP. Which in a game making liberal use of status ailments, is pretty annoying when shops only carry maybe two types of ailment negations at a time. Stocking up on potions, slows down gameplay, and a lot of times these mini-boss type threats come unannounced. For example when you go to second town over, do not talk to any guards or you will get massacred. (I don't even know if there's a such thing as level grinding enough against imps and hornets to be ready for them.)

Some status ailments can be downright confusing as well. Poison for example, does not seem noticeable until you get poisoned twice. Then you're engulfed or however they worded it, and it lasts permanently until you drink an antidote. (Because again, inns won't help.)


The hacker implemented exp gains even for dead characters, a higher starving skill set, and tried to smooth out some rough spots as far as skill mechanics go. But sometimes things are just too broken to fix, and this is one of them. I would not say FF2 is the most horrible game, I've played really bad games and this is not gritting at the teeth bad. But it does have a lot of negative qualities, and if you come into this expecting Final Fantasy as you know it, or in general any fantasy turn based rpg... you are going to be sorely disappointed.


OVERALL: Overall I give it a 3.3. Bad controls, occasional hiccups in consistency, unexplained assaults, and almost gritty combat in an otherwise high fantasy sort of game just make the general experience bad and uninviting. I hate to conform to common opinion... but the people may be right about this one. Final Fantasy 2 was a terrible sequel and Squaresoft (Or whatever the company that owns Final Fantasy is called now...) was very lucky to recover so quickly from Final Fantasy 2 with three. My guess is they decided to go with what they know, much like Zelda did with the poor reception of Zelda 2. This is not to say experimenting is bad. But it's as though they set themselves up for failure. Because what else can you expect from poorly constructed gameplay?
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01-05-13 04:52 AM
sasukeman4433 is Offline
| ID: 716266 | 37 Words

sasukeman4433
Level: 4

POSTS: 2/2
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CP: 8.0
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Likes: 0  Dislikes: 0
Sometimes, but people like to say they're bad because they aren't from this generation, I'm not at all saying that you are implying that, but it's just that way sometimes. Now off to play some Metroid xD.
Sometimes, but people like to say they're bad because they aren't from this generation, I'm not at all saying that you are implying that, but it's just that way sometimes. Now off to play some Metroid xD.
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01-05-13 04:57 AM
GAMEGEEK101 is Offline
| ID: 716268 | 23 Words

GAMEGEEK101
Level: 32


POSTS: 104/210
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Jim Profit : your wrong about final fantasy being bad, but i agree that this one is kinda bad, because it is very early.
Jim Profit : your wrong about final fantasy being bad, but i agree that this one is kinda bad, because it is very early.
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Ender Dragon


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01-13-13 08:10 PM
iN008 is Offline
| ID: 723147 | 28 Words

iN008
Level: 91


POSTS: 143/2358
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First off Final fantasy the franchise isn't bad...
Secondly good review
You put enough reasoning behind your ratings so I won't judge you on that.
Keep doing reviews!
First off Final fantasy the franchise isn't bad...
Secondly good review
You put enough reasoning behind your ratings so I won't judge you on that.
Keep doing reviews!
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Registered: 12-31-12
Location: Central Scotland
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