Playing through the Pixel Remasters and Final Fantasy II was not what I was expecting at all!
So a while back my gf got me the Pixel Remaster collection of PS5 and I was excited to finally get to play the classic games (I had played 1 on the NES mini and 6 on the SNES mini but never touched 2 through 5). Decided to play them in order so I got through 1 and loved it just as much as my first playthrough but I was nervous to start 2 because all I've ever heard about it was that it was the absolute worse FF game because of it's leveling system but outside from that I didn't know anything else.
Cut to the credits and me being absolutely blown away with how ahead of it's time the game was for the genre. A main character that actually speaks and reacts to the events around him, a tragic narrative filled with important character deaths and a world that you could see be devastated and changed by the villains attacks. You're telling me this came out in 1988??? Yes it's not as grandiose as FF6 but the seeds for this series quality being planted as early as this caught me so off guard I always assumed the change happened with FF4 and onward.
Starting FF3 for the first time right now and seeing the Onion Knights also speak surprised the fuck out of me. I'm so used to this era of games just keeping the MC completely silent, hell Dragon Quest STILL only does silent protagonists. I am so excited to get through the rest of these and then jump to 10-2 and 12 since those are the only other ones I've never played.