Final Fantasy II - Reception

Reception

As of March 31, 2003, the game, including all re-releases at the time, had shipped 1.28 million copies worldwide, with 1.08 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 200,000 abroad. Despite having only been released in June of that year, as of September 2007 the PlayStation Portable version had shipped 90,000 copies in Japan and 70,000 in North America. Despite these high sales, the game had sold the least copies of any of the first ten main Final Fantasy series.

The game's re-releases have been more heavily reviewed. Famitsu magazine scored the WonderSwan version of the game a 30 out of 40, and GameSpot noted the Dawn of Souls' mostly outdated graphics but praised its length and bonus content. IGN noted the great improvement in the translation of the story over Final Fantasy I and the addition of later Final Fantasy features, such as being able to save anywhere in the overworld map without a tent or cabin. The Dawn of Souls release was named the IGN Game Boy "Game of the Month" for March 2004, and the package was rated 76th in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list. The dialogue system was thought to be time consuming and stilted, but was still a milestone for interactivity. The story was considered to be much more involved and deep than the first Final Fantasy, as it involved romance and the death of characters. The game's plot was thought by some reviewers to mirror elements of Star Wars: A New Hope in its use of an orphan joining a rebellion against an empire that was building a massive ship, with a captive princess inside. GameSpy praised the addition of the ability to save the game at any time, calling the feature crucial for a game on a handheld game console, and in contrast to GameSpot, praised the graphics, saying that while they were primitive, they were "well-suited" to the Game Boy Advance.

The PSP version was met with average reviews. GameSpot called the level up system "chaotic" and noted that unlike previous versions, this was shipped without a version of Final Fantasy I. IGN also complained about the gameplay, saying, "If you're the type of player who puts a higher emphasis on more satisfying gameplay experiences then FF2 definitely isn't the upgrade it appears to be." Both sources praised the graphics, however. GameSpy, however, while echoing similar complaints about the "quirky and sometimes confusing" leveling system and praises for the graphics, also applauded the supposed decrease in difficulty of the game, which in the reviewers' opinion eliminated the necessity to abuse the leveling system in order to progress in the game as the player had to do in the original game.