Final Fantasy II's plot centers on four characters -- Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon - whose hometown is destroyed by an evil Emperor. The four attempt to escape, but are defeated in battle, only to wake up in the kingdom of Fynn. After discovering that Leon is missing, the three decide to return to their hometown and find Leon. The rebel group working out of Fynn reluctantly take the three in as members and together they try and overthrow the Emperor. Unlike the first game,
Final Fantasy II is a more story-driven game. There are a number of plot twists and the story is generally pretty good. This is the same translation as the GBA version that was included in the
Dawn of Souls compilation, so nothing has been changed except for a few new dungeons.
One of the most divisive aspects of Final Fantasy II is the leveling system. The concept behind the system is that rather than specializing in specific jobs like White Mage or Warrior, all of your characters are blank slates. Any character can learn and use any skill, and the more they use the skill, the better they become at it. While it lends an interesting strategy to the game, it also takes away one of the series' defining aspects, replacing distinctive jobs with more generic characters. You could easily strip the Final Fantasy from the game and it would be "just another RPG." This style of player-defined gameplay is usually lauded in modern games, though it doesn't work here.
Many of the issues that gunk up the system are really minor things. The balance between melee and magic attacks is off; magic easily trumps melee, so there is little incentive to stick to melee unless you do so because you're "supposed" to do it. In other words, the once open system is actually a little more close-ended than it appears. Another, more troublesome, issue comes with increasing hit points. Rather than the traditional "level up" system, your hit points go up when you receive damage, forcing you to take unnecessary hits. Again, the system sounds ahead of its time in theory, though it isn't practical and feels a little too tedious and mechanical to be any fun.
Though many of the game's wrinkles may annoy some, they may appeal to others. As you increase certain proficiencies, others will go down. This lends a neat strategy to the game if you want to try and create a unique class of character; otherwise it seems to try and funnel you into a specific class, defeating the purpose of the system in the first place.
