Game has some really great aspects that blow my mind when I think its from 30 years ago. But it has a fatal flaw in its design. The game wants to actively discourage you from engaging with its battle system. The more you fight the harder the game becomes, and on classic difficulty this can quickly become all of your characters being one shot by random mobs. There was a game called the last remnant that had a similar concept back in 2008 and the mechanic was not well received there either. It adds nothing to the game, it punishes the player for playing the game and is such a severe detriment that I cannot recommend the game. The game is fairly light on narrative for a JRPG, its narrative is very much dated and simple and thats ok because its built on a fun gameplay loop. Until of course you are punished for engaging with that gameplay loop incorrectly. The game never tells you how any of this works, and it obfuscates how exactly and when exactly it punishes you. Youll have to go to online forums and discussion boards to even learn about this mechanic that is so crucial. The optimal way to play this game is to fight as few battles as possible, running past enemies and only engaging with the most efficient and lucrative fights and only when absolutely necessary. Which fights are the most lucrative? You just have to know or have a wiki up on the second monitor. This just severely hamstrings the game and unfortunately it just kills the fun. The game is popular its a cult classic so people who liked the franchise will of course say its perfect. But in being honest the game needs a better way to scale enemies or to make managing your number of encounters more fun and more intuitive. Its really close to be a great game but especially for a modern audience it unfortunately shoots itself right in the face with this baffling design choice

Game has some really great aspects that blow my mind when I think its from 30 years ago. But it has a fatal flaw in its design. The game wants to actively discourage you from engaging with its battle system. The more you fight the harder the game becomes, and on classic difficulty this can quickly become all of your characters being one shot by random mobs. There was a game called the last remnant that had a similar concept back in 2008 and the mechanic was not well received there either. It adds nothing to the game, it punishes the player for playing the game and is such a severe detriment that I cannot recommend the game. The game is fairly light on narrative for a JRPG, its narrative is very much dated and simple and thats ok because its built on a fun gameplay loop. Until of course you are punished for engaging with that gameplay loop incorrectly. The game never tells you how any of this works, and it obfuscates how exactly and when exactly it punishes you. Youll have to go to online forums and discussion boards to even learn about this mechanic that is so crucial. The optimal way to play this game is to fight as few battles as possible, running past enemies and only engaging with the most efficient and lucrative fights and only when absolutely necessary. Which fights are the most lucrative? You just have to know or have a wiki up on the second monitor. This just severely hamstrings the game and unfortunately it just kills the fun. The game is popular its a cult classic so people who liked the franchise will of course say its perfect. But in being honest the game needs a better way to scale enemies or to make managing your number of encounters more fun and more intuitive. Its really close to be a great game but especially for a modern audience it unfortunately shoots itself right in the face with this baffling design choice