I just listened to the FFL/Saga episode.
I was in the process of writing a letter for this episode, but I'm a terrible writer, and had so many thoughts about the series, that I wasn't able to get something down for you guys to read.
Like most of the people who wrote in, it was my first JRPG as well. There was a kid in my after school program who had one of the games, and I thought it was so cool that I tried to convince my mom to buy one for me, but she wouldn't. However, a family friend had a copy of FFL2, and I was able to trade him something in order to get it. I fell in love with the game despite not really understanding most of the systems. my first time was using 2 Robots and 2 Monsters, and I had to restart the game multiple times and read a ton of GameFAQs in order to make any real progress. While you guys mentioned the glitch about using specific Hardware (a Fat Gameboy, not a Pocket or Color) to instantly jump into battles and manipulate the stat system, I ended up using the other glitch- at various points, based on the number of Magi you have, you can use the Trash Can in the inventory screen (Because Kawazu hates you, you have a limited inventory for your entire party, so you can use the trashcan to discard items) as an item that would raise your stats by one. These were usually rare items, but you could use the trash can something like 100 times before it would cause an error and "reset" the stats of your characters.
Even using the code, the game is hellishly difficult, and while I was able to beat Apollo, I was never able to defeat the computer defense system that serves as the games final boss. It would not be until I bought Final Fantasy Legend 3 a few years later with money saved from babysitting that I would be able to complete one of these games. I remember very little about this game, except that at this point, I had played Final Fantasy 7, and was happy that the game was a more traditional RPG with levels and the like instead of the complicated system of the previous game.
The Final Fantasy Legend series is the rare game(s) that have a special place in my heart, but I could never recommend someone check out today. They are very much a product of their time, having aged more like milk than like wine.
