Played this all of my childhood, have 5 physical original hard copies and have completed this game and unlocked every possible item through every different type of run through.

absolute cinema

Having returned after almost 25 years, this game does not live up to the nostalgia. There are a few interesting characters and story lines; however, the best ones get pushed aside for a convoluted story with a lot of hand waving. The biggest problems with the game are the side quests, combat, and ability system.

Side Quests: Uninteresting, feel like chores, and often gated at random moments in the game. You can miss out on completing side quests due to the nature of how on rails the game is at times and the gated progression.

Combat and Ability System: Slow and cheap. So many enemies with battle ending status effects. The battles feel purposefully designed for you to repeat them multiple times. You often fail until you select just the right abilities and equipment to circumvent the status effect spam from bosses and some mobs. By the end of the game, most of the heroes become one note ability spammers. Combat was okay in the first two discs and starts to take a nose dive after. Having access to all the abilities often feels like a waste of time considering you will need to waste most of your points on protection mechanics. It just feels like lazy design. And, that is not to even mention Lv5 Death--who thought that was a fun mechanic for players to deal with. Having to stop and make sure your heroes are not multiples of 5 so you don't get one shot is annoying at best.

Overall, if you love Final Fantasy games and this one is one sale, give it a whirl. Be sure to check out the mods that make the game look and feel better though. If you are on the fence, you can pass on this one.