Final Fantasy II is the game's first proper release in North America (it originally appeared in compilations) and something I am of two minds about. The PSP release wasn't my first time playing the game, though I found myself enjoying it more on the PSP than other times I've attempted (and subsequently quit) to play it. Whether it was a case of familiarity or the changes that have been made is up in the air, but I suspect that Final Fantasy II will be a "love it" or "hate it" deal for anyone who gives it a try.

Final Fantasy II gets the same visual makeover as the first game. All of the sprites have been redrawn and are much bigger and brighter. The game retains a 2D look, though with high resolution sprites. Backgrounds and characters look just the way they did in the original, only with more detail and a clearer look. Spell effects have a haziness to them that makes them look more like magic effects rather than a simple drawing of a lighting bolt or flame. Backgrounds also feature small, noticeable touches like cloud shadows. The real treat is the character artwork that pops up during story sequences. Although the game loses the distinctive Final Fantasy look when it comes to other in-game elements, the artwork helps to tie the game into the series.

Music, which is always one of the series' highlights, has been cleaned up as well. The arrangements are still synthesized and remain the same, but fans will not be disappointed.

Final Fantasy II's plot centers on four characters -- Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon - whose hometown is destroyed by an evil Emperor. The four attempt to escape, but are defeated in battle, only to wake up in the kingdom of Fynn. After discovering that Leon is missing, the three decide to return to their hometown and find Leon. The rebel group working out of Fynn reluctantly take the three in as members and together they try and overthrow the Emperor. Unlike the first game, Final Fantasy II is a more story-driven game. There are a number of plot twists and the story is generally pretty good. This is the same translation as the GBA version that was included in the Dawn of Souls compilation, so nothing has been changed except for a few new dungeons.

One of the most divisive aspects of Final Fantasy II is the leveling system. The concept behind the system is that rather than specializing in specific jobs like White Mage or Warrior, all of your characters are blank slates. Any character can learn and use any skill, and the more they use the skill, the better they become at it. While it lends an interesting strategy to the game, it also takes away one of the series' defining aspects, replacing distinctive jobs with more generic characters. You could easily strip the Final Fantasy from the game and it would be "just another RPG." This style of player-defined gameplay is usually lauded in modern games, though it doesn't work here.

Many of the issues that gunk up the system are really minor things. The balance between melee and magic attacks is off; magic easily trumps melee, so there is little incentive to stick to melee unless you do so because you're "supposed" to do it. In other words, the once open system is actually a little more close-ended than it appears. Another, more troublesome, issue comes with increasing hit points. Rather than the traditional "level up" system, your hit points go up when you receive damage, forcing you to take unnecessary hits. Again, the system sounds ahead of its time in theory, though it isn't practical and feels a little too tedious and mechanical to be any fun.

Though many of the game's wrinkles may annoy some, they may appeal to others. As you increase certain proficiencies, others will go down. This lends a neat strategy to the game if you want to try and create a unique class of character; otherwise it seems to try and funnel you into a specific class, defeating the purpose of the system in the first place.

Another of the problems with the system is that it is very easy to exploit. You can attack your own party members and gain experience towards whatever your attack method was (magic or melee) as well as building up your hit points. When the game was originally released, this was almost a necessity given the steep difficulty; in the re-release, it is cheap because of the reduced difficulty.

Although enemies aren't difficult to deal with, especially with well-built characters, they are plentiful. Random encounters are the bane of most RPGs, and Final Fantasy II ramps the encounter rate up big time. On one hand, it provides plenty of opportunities to level up your abilities; on the other, it gets annoying to constantly find yourself in battle.

Combat is turn-based and menu driven. Everything is clean and very easy to navigate. As your characters learn new skills, their combat menus can get pretty big; though they still remain manageable. The game also uses an Ask/Learn system that seems like it would be a cool addition, but falls flat. As you go through story segments, you'll learn key words that are saved in a menu. During conversations, you can ask characters about the key terms, sometimes unlocking new bits of information. The system is generally useless in the main game, though it does get some use during puzzles in the new dungeons.

Despite it's problems, Final Fantasy II is an okay game for players who are big Final Fantasy fans or old school RPG fans looking for something different. If you don't fall into either of these categories, there probably isn't anything here that would grab your attention.