TL;DR No major glitches, great new content, mildly increased difficulty, Fantastic end game

I hadn’t played Final Fantasy 2 / IV in a long while but it has always been a favorite of mine within the series (and all-time), I still have my cartridge for the SNES.

I will preface the rest of my review: I was just around 22 hours of in-game clock to complete, which included a bit of rushing in certain parts but also completed just about all of the side quests and most item finding.

The game starts out a little bit on the easy side of things (I kinda zoomed through here), and while familiar it doesn’t take long before you would notice the changes from the original, for those that know it. Maybe 2-3 hours in.

The changes breathe some fresh life into an old game.

As you progress further in, around 4-5 hours when your party starts to fill up it really starts to feel like a hack of a game you know, familiar but different. This is where I got hooked and pretty much binged the rest of the game.

Hours 5-15 for me included some tricky spots, some upgraded enemies, the bosses are certainly tougher but not insane. The new and reworked spells, new weapons and armor etc. all flow very nicely into the game; nothing required, nothing OP either.

When you reach ‘end game’ (I don’t want to give anything away) this was about hours 16 or 17 for me, this is when the game takes on another spike in difficulty. One I welcomed since I always thought the original was a bit too easy by the time you get there. And the game takes on another, nice level of ‘new’ as well. I could have spent a lot longer grinding and exploring this last section but my drive to get to the end was strong. Lots of new bosses here which will challenge even veterans, but they aren’t impossible, and there are hints for strategy along the way if you find them.

**The end game was truly a treat, and very rewarding to play through after an already enjoyable journey**

If I was stuck or feeling under-powered, a bit of enemy slaying would yield exp and levels, as well as gold to buy upgraded equipment.

All the new gears (and chars ability to equip), deserve a nod in their own right, this alone gave the game a nice new flavor.

So I never felt truly stuck, and if you are clever (or sometimes patient) enough you can even get through tougher spots under powered, so there are not really any ‘level-checks’ which is nice as well.

If you come across a tough boss and don’t win the first time, consider your strategy first, then perhaps another level or two for your chars. If still stuck…

***The one thing I would say, the in-game Battle Speed (Menu, Custom) is almost like a difficulty setting. I had trouble with a boss or two, slowed my battle speed down, and voila - victory. So just be aware if having trouble slowing things down can help a lot.*** I played on 1 fastest to start, slowed to 3 somewhere in the middle, and slowed to 6 for a couple boss fights but basically ran 3 for most of the game.

All and all, this was excellent. I have played 50-100 different Megaman, Super Metroid, random, and of course Final Fantasy hacks.

9.5/10.

A very big thanks to 8-bit fan, the creator, who was extremely helpful and responsive to the inquiries I had along the way.

This is an awesome hack! Play it!

-Web-