Just beat it! My tune has definitely changed on this game. It started out very vanilla, but as you go on, more cool stuff starts happening, including some sweet dream world and time travel stuff. Nothing too mind blowing but enough to keep it interesting and set it apart from just any old JRPG.
The game is not too long either. As you can see I beat it in under two weeks. I'd guess maybe 20 hours, and it didn't overstay its welcome with any annoying end game sequences or the like.
My biggest complaint would be the frequency of random battles. There's an item you get, not too deep into the game (the Silver Bracelet), that cuts down the battle rate and definitely makes a noticeable difference, but it really only takes it from super irritating to quite annoying. But that's just the way these games were back then so I won't ding it too much for that and you can basically just press A and hope for the best.
I'm also glad that I made frequent use of a FAQ, because the game does not always do the best job directing you on where to go. And there's some stuff in the late game that I really don't know how you're supposed to know what to do. There's also a lot of secret optional stuff that would seem to be quite hard to find on your own.
Overall though, this was definitely worth playing, a very solid 16 big JRPG. Not up there with FFVI or Chrono Trigger, but firmly in the tier below I'd say. I'd put it above FFIV for sure. It gets a hearty recommendation if you like this type of game. And I'm excited that Breath of Fire II seems to be even more highly regarded. I'll be checking that one out at some point for sure. |