Final Fantasy Legend 2
Reviewed by DOAHunterX
Final Fantasy Legend II revolves around when your character's father
disappeared when you were a child and gives you something called a MAGI
(one of 78 in the world of the game). Now that you have grown up, your
character decides to search for their father. When you tell Mr. S, your
school teacher, that you are leaving for an adventure to go for your father,
Mr. S recommends for you to choose 3 others to assist you in your quest.
Graphics 8.5 out of 10
Final Fantasy Legend 2 is a pretty old game, as far as Game Boy-wise,
and so their graphics are not as they are nowadays. Still, the figures
are good (for their time, that is) and the monsters are well done. When
you attack an enemy, you can actually see the attack you are doing to it.
For example, if you slice your enemy with your sword, you will see a
sword slash the enemy. If you use a fire spell, you will see a fire over
the enemy. Still, every character you can interact with has that
two-frame walk of theirs.
Music and Sound 9 out of 10
Sound, while almost unchanged over the Game Boy history (at least I don't
think so), isn't affected as much over the fact that this game was created
over 6 years ago as its graphics. Like the graphics that appear when
you attack an enemy, it comes with its appropriate sound, like the
sword slash or the crack of thunder. The music is appropriate, but
repetitive. Still, there are juke boxes that you can change the sound
with and a sound test that you can listen to by pressing the B, Start,
and Select buttons at once. This music test contains the ending music,
so don't spoil yourself!
Game Challenge 9.5 out of 10
Now, game challenge is totally unaffected over time(the challenge of
Tetris hasn't changed, has it?) and it hasn't affected this one. The
challenge is light at the beginning, for your characters haven't reach full
abilities yet, but once you get the boss gods like Venus or Magnate, you
will be sweating like crazy for a plan of action. Building up your character
won't be fixed level after gaining experience points here in Final Fantasy
Legend 2. Instead, you build up your strengths by using various weapons
to gain it. For example, use swords to build Strength, spells for Mana,
etc... Which gets me to my next category...
Game Play-Fun 9 out of 10
The game play is different from convention RPGs, but not in all good ways.
The way of building power in Final Fantasy Legend 2 is an interesting
difference. The worlds are connected linearly and you cannot go to another
world unless you get all the MAGI from the previous world. But the worlds
do have some variety of choice(take Apollo's world, for example). You
can go to an undersea volcano, a mountain inhabited by a robot, or a cave
filled with light. And the Edo world was a confusing piece of a place,
wondering where in the non-linear world to go next.
Frustration
At least two pieces of frustration, not all linked to myself personally. First,
if you don't hold the A button to scroll messages, it will go too slow, and if
you do, it will go too fast(unless you are a fast reader like myself). And second,
look at the number next to the enemy telling how many of the enemy there is.
To first timers, 4 jaguars may look like a single jaguar that attacks quickly
and never knows when to die, but it is in reality, 4 jaguars. Just look at the
number next to the monster(s).
Replayability 9 out of 10
This RPG doesn't get its replay value from secrets. It gets them from how you
do it. Since you can select your members before you begin, it can give you
limitless options of starting your group (1 of each, 2 robots and 2 mutants,
1 human, 1 mutant, and 2 robots, and more) and learning strategies for
fighting the various enemies. Also, the game is highly susceptible to Game
Genie codes (I don't think that Game Shark has that many codes for this game)
and can really change the way you play!
Overall 9 out of 10
I highly recommend this to any RPG fan that owns a Game Boy. I would like to
see a Final Fantasy Legend 2 DX for Game Boy Color someday, as well as the
rest of the Final Fantasy Legend series.