THE SHORT: Common Final Fantasy, with the advantage of one of the best and most intricate of the FF storylines.
THE LONG: I was always a fan of Final Fantasy, since back in 1990 when I finally got to rent the original for the NES. I spent so much time with it that when the sequel came out for the SNES a couple years later, I was actually a little intimidated. I didn't know how I'd keep track of all those weapon charts, which character could wear what, and, least of all, just how much of my time the game would consume.
I finally rented it and brought it home to play with my friend Dan, and we had an absolute blast. Although I constantly struggle to decide which is my favorite between this one and parts 6 and 7, I believe this one has the best storyline of them all.
Whereas Final Fantasy has always been about characters banding together to save the world and stop the main single evil bad guy, this time things got more complicated. You play as Cecil, captain of the Red Wings airship fleet, who's been tasked to steal the legendary crystals from all over the country. Cecil's king seems corrupt, and when Cecil questions him, he is dismissed from service. Getting help from his friend Kain, the two head to a nearby town to deliver a package as the king's last order. The package explodes and destroys the entire town, and the adventure starts.
This time, we aren't sure who the enemy is. New party members are introduced very slowly (in some cases, a player may get to about 20 hours in before he meets the last one). And this time, unlike most FFs, there are many more twists. In FF3 (6) and FF7 for example, was there any doubt that Kefka and Sephiroth were going to be trouble? Well, in FF2, who knew that both the main charactr and the big bad guy had something huge to reveal at the end of the game? Who expected one of the party members to actually turn on the party several times? Characters come and go quite often, and it's not like FF3: This time, you don't just get to go select your party from everybody who's just waiting. Your party changes by itself, depending on the plot. One person will suddenly leave to chase a sworn adversary, and another may sacrifice his or her body to save your crew. It's a great plot.
The characters are quite different as well. Sure, in FF3 you had all kinds of characters. But several of them were pretty interchangeable. Terra and Celes were pretty similar, as were Relm, her magical grandfather, and that beast kid who's name I can't remember. In FF2 however, almost everyone is worlds apart. Cecil is the knight who can learn magic. Kain has the powerful jump attack. Cid is the engineer who uses powerful tools. Edge is a mystic ninja. You have white wizards, black wizards, monks, and summoners.
The quest is very, very long as well. You'll get to travel all over a large overworld, then visit the volcanic underworld beneath it, and even travel to the moon. Yes, that last part's goofy, but if you're with the storyline up to this point, it won't matter.
There's so much to love about this game. When FF Chronicles came out for the PS1, I didn't buy it for Chrono Trigger, I bought it for this game (packaged as the japanese FF4, its original title). While FF3 and 7 are more predictable but with a great deal of character development, I maintain that there were several big surprises in FF2, and they were contained within a story that was just as dramatic as the rest. It's one of my favorite in the FF series, and although I may sometimes like the others more, this one will always be the one that gave me the best memories.
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