This Final Fantasy was the second one released here in America and was the third overall released here. It made me kind of mad when later I found out that there were three games never released here. Granted, in retrospect the three never before released were all a bit off. This one is also quite different and a good FF game. I do not enjoy this one as much as IV, VII, IX and X, but I find it is a bit better than VIII and a V and there is no question it is better than the last two I have played in XII and XIII. It starts out very strong adding many cool features that at the time I had not yet experienced in a role playing game. The story was also very strong and I do believe this FF still has the most playable characters of any in the series. It is just at a certain point in the game, it just kind of weakens a bit as the story tails off for a bit and nothing new and inventive really comes into play anymore. Still a very fun and strong game overall, it just falters a little bit the second half of the game. Obviously, I do not think it falters too much as I still give this game a nine as a score.
The story has an empire that is trying to gain the powers of magic to rule the world. They enslave a mysterious girl named Terra, who is quickly the center of attention. Soon, the empire is attacking on all fronts as your party who consists of a good deal of people must fight back. Just as you think there is going to be a peaceful end, the world is thrown into absolute chaos by one of the Emperor's subordinates, a hateful man named Kefka who wishes nothing more than to destroy!
The game play is that of your typical FF game; however, they do add some interesting things here. Every character in the game can learn all the magic spells as you equip summons (here called Espers) and they help you learn many spells. Every character though has a unique ability akin to the limit break in the next three games. Granted, you do not have to build these up, and can use them anytime. Bad news for any monsters as some characters special abilities can do massively insane damage, like Sabin's blitz the bum rush! The story is strong and features great villains, that is until the second half of the game in a place called the world of ruin where the bad guys just consist of monsters and you do not see Kefka again until you face him in the final battle.
So this game is very fun and one of the best role playing games on the SNES. I would rank only FF II (IV in Japan) and Chrono Trigger as stronger ones. I like the many characters and I like the fact that despite the fact that even though they all can learn the same magics they still have unique qualities and skills. Unlike, say part XII where everyone can pretty much do what everyone else can do. So despite the fact the game does weaken a little during the second half of the game, it is still a very strong role playing game. I would take this game and its style over the last two FF games I have played (XII and XIII).
