I played both the FFIV Pixel Remaster and the FFIV 3D remake side-by-side for good comparisons

Much more fast-paced than the 3DR, also combat is simpler as well. Not as cinematic (like the other PR FF games that came prior)

Compared to the titles I played prior (1, 2, 3 PR and 3 3DR), combat changed a lot. Instead of it being a full turn-based experience, it has an action bar that fills up and when filled you'll get your turn for a character after other PCs/enemies who had action bars fill prior. Honestly a very clunky mechanic, in both variants of FFIV that I played. When casting spells, there is an invisible "Castbar" that has to fill as well, this was only apparent to me as this castbar is not invisible in the 3DR version of FFIV

Story was a massive improvement compared to the titles I played prior, for the first time in this series I honestly cared what characters were doing what and what was going on. The games seem to get better about this as I go through the series.

I'm so old that when I first played this game it was initially released as Final Fantasy 2

8/10 A solid remake with minor translation issues.

By today's standards, the story is short, simple and very cliche, but that's part of the charm for a game like this. The music is fabulous, the remade graphics cute and on brand. There were a few glaring typos and some mistakes in the English localization but no major bugs or balance issues to speak of.