3.5/5 ★ – Llafer's review of Final Fantasy II.

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK REVIEW (From my RateYourMusic Profile) I’ll cover some things first. I’m a die hard fan of the Final Fantasy series so this review will likely be biased. From the moment I played Final fantasy IV in an emulator on my mother’s PC at the age of 6, I fell in love with the franchise. The following years I would occasionally play the recent games at that time but it wouldn’t be until high school that I would look back and play the classics of the NES and SNES era. And now let’s move to the main point of this review. Final Fantasy II… Where to start. This game is severely under appreciated in the final fantasy community. I’m kind of mad at how it is always so punished. When asked to rank the numbered games, FF II always dreams to exit the top 3 bottom of the fan made lists. This being because a lot of people first game was FF VII and everything that happened before VII is very old to be played or literally doesn’t even exist. In the case of people who have actually played the game, it is a rough one. It is then the game that punishes the player, for instance when grinding (because how damage is calculated) or via a not so good dungeon design. Because of that FF II is usually kind of a black sheep of the franchise sharing the spot with others like FF XIII, although the latter is getting more praise as time goes by. However you know what there seems to be a consensus amongst the people who have played FFII? You got it right, the music is so good. One of the things that has characterized the FF franchise over the years and specially the early years in the NES and SNES is the amazing soundtracks that Nobuo Uematsu could pull off with the limitations at the time, specially during FF I II and III. When it comes to the tracks that compose FF II OST I would highlight the all time classic ‘Prelude’ which at this point has become one of the most iconic songs in video game culture. ‘The Rebel Army’ a track that plays early in the game and which transmits in a very good way the mood of the adventure that is to unfold. ‘Main Theme’ which plays when the player is sailing in the seas of the Fynn kingdom and last but not least the ‘Finale’ song, which is a beautiful song to conclude the journey. To conclude, FF II holds a really good soundtrack. But it would not be fair to compare it with recent video game soundtrack since chiptune music from the third and fourth generation of video consoles are very different from the fully orchestrated soundtracks that are used recently in modern JRPG’s. It is in the context of chiptune music and specially on the 8-bit music where Final Fantasy II soundtrack shines.