something i've appreciated with the older final fantasies is their unique approaches to challenging the player, each one adding their own flavour on top of the original's DnD foundations. II had an ambitious (if flawed) "learn by doing" levelling system. III introduced Jobs, the ability to swap party classes at will to combat new locations and enemy types, while IV brought in ATB and is currently kicking my shit in. love the variety!
IV is a humbling lesson in humility for me, in that i'm simply Not Very Good. it demands quick analysis and reactions to enemy types and compositions, a solid understanding of move synergy and the ability to adapt as the game constantly swaps out party members and skillsets. the two comforts that kept my head above water in FF (traditional turn-based and reliable strategies) are deliberately tossed out in IV and boy i am drowning lmao.
i admire its dedication to keeping the player off their feet. every story beat is accompanied by a new set of party members and setting that ensures you never fall into a groove. one of my biggest complaints with the archetypal JRPG is their repetitive "mash attack" fights that amounted to sessions of number-grinding. IV is the wonderful, horrible aversion i was asking for and it's satisfying to throw myself at a brick wall.
this might be revenge for my opinion on Pikmin, how i considered it funny that console players found the fundamentals of an RTS difficult. now im the one googling discussions on a console-side series and finding out that yes, it's me, i'm simply Not Very Good.