Final Fantasy II is a game for Masochists. It gets 5.9 Self-Inflicted deaths out of 10.
The anniversary edition of Final Fantasy II only has a couple of real additions compared to past remakes. The most obvious difference is the enhanced graphics. Similar to The Anniversary Edition of the first Final Fantasy, the graphics in this game have retained the same two-dimensional style of the earlier remakes while enhancing them in a way that will leave you stunned for a good few hours if you've played any of the past versions.
The sound in the game has been enhanced as well, making everything from musical scores to clashing blades match the new visuals. Though the music is still amazing, there aren't as many memorable tunes in this game as there were in the first.
The largest improvement that Final Fantasy II made over the original game in the series was the story. Instead of controlling four nameless and speechless characters, Final Fantasy II introduced characters with personality, back stories, and a plot that progressively reveals itself to you as opposed to the way in which the original fed you the entire plot right before the last battle. Having said this, I must now point out that the plot and characters aren't amazing or all that developed, but for the time the story was a vast improvement over other games.
Now for the game play, and sadly, this is where the game goes sour. The over all premise of Final Fantasy II is the same as most RPGs. You travel around towns, dungeons, and the world map searching for your next key item or battling intimidating monsters, and I actually mean intimidating. Final Fantasy II has a bad habit of placing powerful enemies on the map in places where they shouldn't be. For Example, if you walk too far south of the town that you begin the game in, you may find yourself in a battle that you won't be able to kill unless you are MUCH stronger. I would give you an example of what level your party should be at to kill these monsters, but here-in lies another huge flaw in Final Fantasy II's game play; the leveling system.
I must admit, when I first heard the idea for the leveling system, I thought it was a good idea. Basically, your stats level up as you take actions in battle that correlate to each stat. For example, each time you hit someone with a sword it will level your sword wielding stat and your strength stat. This much makes since, and was actually kind of fun because it gave you eight different weapons that you can choose from and become proficient in however you see fit. Magic is the same way, when you use a spell, it levels up that particular spell as well as your Magic stat and your MP, and your HP stat goes up when you take physical damage. It was a great idea, and it actually works pretty well at the beginning of the game, but as you play, you begin to realize how terrible of an idea it really is. Final Fantasy II is a game for Masochists, and I don't mean that because it's a bad game, I mean it in a literal sense. The only way to effectively strengthen your characters stats is to have them beat each other over the head with spells and melee attacks. Even this can be bearable until you reach the end of the game, where the leveling is so slow that it becomes unbearable. This is why I gave the game a 'Hard' rating above… the game itself isn't difficult, but I honestly found it 'hard' to continue playing towards the end of the game JUST because of the terrible rate at which you grow stronger.
Aside from all this, there were a couple other additions to this game that made it a little better than it otherwise would have been. The game has a bonus dungeon that relies more on puzzles than combat, and adds a lot of fun to the initial game if you actually have the patience to get that far. There's also a bonus dungeon after you complete the game called the 'Soul of Rebirth' mode, that follows four characters that you meet along the initial journey. It's only about an hour long unless you need to level grind, and it doesn't add much of anything to the story. It's only really there for perfectionists.
Overall, this game is an experiment. It did a lot of things right, but had a deadly flaw that made it difficult to play through. With all the bashing I've done in this review, I did still enjoy it as I played it, but it's CERTAINLY not one of the better RPG's I've played. I only recommend it to the most patient of gamers, and those who are huge fans of the Final Fantasy series. If you really want to play Final Fantasy II, I do recommend this version, but the game as a whole can be draining.
My Final Verdict is 5.9 Self-Inflicted deaths out of 10.