Release Date: July 28, 2021
Developer: Square Enix
Platforms: PC (Reviewed), Switch, PlayStation 4
Price: $11.99

These Pixel Remasters are truthfully a blessing, giving both longtime fans of the series, and newcomers, a chance to (re)experience the series in all of its 8 and 16-bit glory, and though I maintain that the III and IV 3D Remakes from the Nintendo DS are superior, it's still an absolute treat to be able to play these as they were originally intended, with modern controls and accessibility options to make it much more palatable to a wider audience and keep up with the tools that we have now in contemporary gaming.

Final Fantasy II is far from perfect and likely far from being a fan favorite in regard to the Pixel Remasters, but it still stands on its own two feet, gathering an identity of its own with heroes that are personable and actually have characteristics. That said, however, Final Fantasy II certainly changed things up tremendously from its predecessor, and I wish I was around when Final Fantasy II was released to witness all of the discourse I'm sure there may have been regarding its growth system and how it had very little to do with levels (because there are none) and more to do with the actions being taken, and giving growth to those actions instead. Final Fantasy II strays away from the traditional RPG system of gaining a certain amount of experience before ascending to the next level, bringing with it stat boosts. and decides to give growth to every weapon type, spell, stat, and whatever else that has influence on a character and gameplay on an individual basis.

Say you're using Cure over and over on one of your party members. It's possible that at the end of the encounter, Cure will likely be ascended to Cure II, III, IV, etc., and with each tier brings with it an obvious increase in power. Cure will begin to do about 50-150HP of health at the beginning, but once you reach the max level with it, XVI, you'll be looking at thousands of heath points recovered in a single use, and each tier also equates to the MP that will be used for it, so Cure XVI will use 16MP to activate for those that have learned the spell.

Characters here are also much more flexible, though your builds should still be focused, but that's entirely up to the player. Anyone - and I mean anyone - can learn Cure, continuing with that example. Anyone can hold a bow, an axe, a sword, a dagger, and so on, and armor and equipment can be used in any fashion as well. While there's an 'Optimal' option to auto-equip your characters, I'd still highly recommend going about your own experiments and trials with how you want to build your characters. I eventually made it so I basically had a White Mage, Black Mage, and two Warriors, but that was strictly in relation to their build and not any restriction to having to choose your class before hand. My White Mage, for example, had a few spells that would typically only be meant for a Black Mage in any other game, and they could also hold their own if strictly doing physical attacks as well, keeping up with the Warriors if need be. The flexibility of building your characters here is a lot of fun to play around with, especially when you're someone who enjoys strategizing and numbers.

Story-wise, however, this is where things begin to fall flat. It's not bad by any means, but if you're playing these in chronological order instead of whichever one interests you the most first, you'll quickly see the pros and cons of each and where advancements and drawbacks were made. While the first few never really had any deeply rooted stories due to their limitations at how exactly to convey a narrative at the time, the language of a story spoke for itself through its gameplay and course of events. For the first, everything flowed very organically and in a traditional fantasy way of "there's an evil guy, you're a hero, go save the world" type of approach, and while that doesn't necessarily change much in Final Fantasy II, other than the heroes getting more of a voice, it feels very uninspired by comparison, though the overall game feels MUCH more balanced than Final Fantasy I. Truthfully—though I don't like making the comparisons between RPGs much—if you're a fan of Pokemon's deeper mechanics, such as IVs and EVs, you'll likely have a lot more fun with Final Fantasy II's mechanics over the more traditional approach of Final Fantasy I.

Though we can't change much about how these games were made literal decades ago, these Pixel Remasters almost feel like a museum of sorts, and that's really great. Not only do you have a package here compiling a series that has held its weight and become globally beloved, but looking at concept art and listening to its original and modern orchestrations in a menu of its own is hugely appreciated when the nostalgia and historian inside us hits hard. These were the steppingstones for a genre that has grown in such a way that a lot of us now can't live without, and it's a joy to play from beginning to end, even if you're going in completely casual -- and they're a hell of a lot of fun to achievement hunt also!

PROS:

These pixel remasters have retained a high-quality finesse to the pixel art that keeps it looking fresh and vibrant on any screen
The live orchestrations, much like the rest of the remasters, remains impeccable
Though off-putting, the changes in leveling in Final Fantasy II are rather welcome and can prove beneficial over a traditional leveling system depending on the player

CONS:

The story is an uninspired hash of “hero defeats evil, saves world” that some may find tiresome

Final Fantasy II – Pixel Remaster Mini Review