The music is also great! I think people hate it because they try and min-max the combat and not just enjoy it for what it is.

I enjoyed it more after I played SaGa, felt like an earlier version of that idea, really underrated, the only people that really have genuine hate are probably japanese since it was quite bugged at release, but westerners played the mobile or psp ports of it that are fixed, it's a good game.

I had to scroll a bit but I found a fellow cultured fellow. I have FF2 on multiple platforms and not only do I agree with everything you said, but it makes me very sad that its system never got to be developed further in FF games. I love replaying it because I can focus on different play styles each time. Beyond some moments of grinding (like getting certain spells to drop or leveling select spells) the game/story is short and sweet. Also, one of the things I love so very, very much about FF2 (and 3 for this reason): so many enemies in one battle. I love prioritizing enemies or just AOEing, sometimes unloading just to survive or being very methodical so to conserve spells/MPs (depending on the version). Lastly, I love how good support is: control, buffing, debuffing - it's all solid. If I hated anything, I'd say that some versions has odd status healing/preventing.