u/Inside-Snow3957

I bought this game on sale because I'm a fan of old school FF and heard its a nice throwback to those games. Apparently there's a huge difficulty spike in part 2? I'm currently in part 1 and it's pretty easy so far. Would like some opinion from people who beat the game or even gave up in p2. Is it so difficult to the point where it becomes frustrating? I wouldn't say I have that much experience with "hard" jrpgs, some of the ones I beat are Romancing SaGa 2 remake on original difficulty and some trails games on nightmare, which I enjoyed.

I am pretty new to this genre and played the following so far- Pipistrello, Elementallis and Under the Island. Loved all three for their exploration and artstyle. Any suggestions on games that are similar? I personally prefer top down view over 3D but anything is fine!

Edit: Thanks for all the recommendations everyone. Wishlisted most of the games suggested here