Final Fantasy 2 Index

Final Fantasy 2 Review

1988. Square had hit bank less than a year ago, and like all good marketing moves during the late eighties, milked it for all it was worth. Thus, Final Fantasy II was born from a wish and a hope, the first sequel to what was a dying SquareSoft’s last shot at fame, and the beginning of Hironobu Sakaguchi’s legacy.

Final Fantasy 2 is, in many ways, Final Fantasy I. Think the orginal 1987 masterpiece, and then add a little ‘plus’ to the end, and that’s what we get gameplay, graphic and music-wise. The team was smart enough though to weave a new story, and like its predecessor, the tale is indeed a spectacle for its time. Final Fantasy 2 revolves around four protagonists – Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon, residents in the kingdom of Fynn whose parents were all killed by the evil Empire of Palamecia. The four have now formed a resistance movement centred around the destruction of said empire, and this is where our story begins. The game was also significant for its intriguing introduction – it through the player straight into battle, leaving the four characters with no choice other than to lose and retreat with their wounds. It would be this storytelling that, in the coming decade, would centre SquareSoft as the genre’s premiere developer.

In terms of legacy though, Final Fantasy 2, along with its successor, III, are effectively the two ‘forgotten’ entries in the series. Final Fantasy II is generally just tacked on to re-releases of Final Fantasy I these days, as if Square believes the two titles to be so similar that they warrant a single release. They would first see a re-release together in the PSX compilation Final Fantasy Origins, then again in the GBA title Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls – also note that their soundtracks were never released individually, only together in 1989. More recently, the original Final Fantasy was re-made for PSP in the form of Final Fantasy – Anniversary Edition to celebrate, as the name suggests, the series’, and the game’s, landmark twentieth anniversary. Although Final Fantasy 2 wasn’t released until a year after the original, Square released Final Fantasy 2 – Anniversary Edition a mere two months after the first. This intrinsic marketing campaign sums up the game in itself – apart from the story and the setting, the game is effectively Final Fantasy all over again, and anyone who played the original title will know full-well what to expect with this by-the-numbers sequel.

Overall: 8.0/10.0

Final Fantasy 2 – Anniversary Edition is in stores now across Japan and America. Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls is still available at all good game retailers worldwide. Final Fantasy Origins can be obtained easily at any good retailer (usually online) stocking original PlayStation games.

- GoldenEyeRa

Final Fantasy 2 Information

Game: Final Fantasy 2
Developer: Squaresoft
Publisher: Nintendo (NES), Square Enix (GBA), Square (WSC), Square (PSX/PSOne), Square EA (PSX/PSOne)
Genre: RPG
Medium: CD-ROM, Cartridge
Platform: NES, PSX, PSOne, GBA, WSC

Final Fantasy 2 Release Date

Japan: 12/17/1988 (NES), 05/2001 (WSC), 10/31/2002 (PSX/PSOne), 07/29/2004 (GBA)
USA: 08/08/2003 (PSX/PSOne), 11/29/2004 (GBA)

Final Fantasy 2 Box Arts