So I finally got around to beating this game, and I have to say it was... interesting.

Boss fights were definitely stressful, possibly because they were significantly more difficult than the enemies leading up to them. The game does not do a great job warning you about impending doom, and the last dungeon is especially guilty of this. Near the end of the game, regular encounters started feeling like boss fights, though, so I guess it leveled out in the end.


I wasn't very attached to the characters, to the point where I can barely remember their personalities. It seemed like each time we got a friend to tag along the plot was supposed to focus on one of our party, but other than a few reaction shots--literally, there was very little protagonist dialogue--there was little indication of this until the very end when Doga ran around saying "So and So! Party Member X needs your help!"


The villain's premise was interesting (three apprentices of a mighty wizard and the immortal one inherits... mortality? I'd be pissed too!), but when we finally got to encounter him it turned into "BLARGH! I AM A PUPPET OF THE CLOUD OF DARKNESS!", which was disappointing. I'd rather Xande had been the mastermind and the cloud HIS puppet, honestly.



Other than that, well, it was about an average Final Fantasy experience. The combat was much more interesting than the story for this one, which sort of places it near FFV in my rankings.