Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster Review

GLITCH’S VERDICT

Better story and personal leveling can’t fully redeem dungeons designed to waste your time.

Story improves on FF1 – named characters with dialogue and cutscenes instead of silent avatars checking boxes.
Usage-based leveling lets you build characters your way instead of generic stat grinding.
Proper builds dominate endgame – optimized characters steamroll the final boss.
Updated pixel graphics look good.
Soundtrack holds up throughout the run.

Trap room dungeons full of empty doors meant to trigger forced encounters and drain resources.
High random encounter rate turns exploration into tedious combat slog without toggle option.
Story is still rough – better than FF1’s zero plot.

Buy if: You want leveling systems where your choices matter or need to see how JRPGs learned to tell stories.

Skip if: Empty maze dungeons and constant random battles frustrate you, even with quality-of-life toggles.

15 hours played | Xbox | Main story complete

For Detailed Specs, Tech Analysis, And Plot Breakdowns, Check Out Other Reviews.

Follow @glitchreviews on Bluesky

Also in this series: Final Fantasy I

Also in this series: Final Fantasy III

Also in this series: Final Fantasy IV

Glitch