PixlBit

Hm, someone should really write that book. 

Right, the hardcore games are still around, but like you said, the gaming audience has broadened to include anyone. The casual gaming market is huge today (mobile devices), so difficulty often takes a back seat to innovation and gameplay. 

That's the point. Kids had nothing else to do but sit around all day and play games, mastering them in the process. We as adults do not have that kind of time, so to pick up Castlevania or Mega Man today means that those games are gonna kick our butts! 

Great point! The respawning enemies thing is a big factor on the difficulty of old-school games. 

Stuck at the last dungeon? You and me both, buddy. 

Well, there's certainly a lot of versions out there that you could play. I'm interested in getting a copy of the DS version myself. 

Grinding is the bane of JRPGs; we've come to expect it, but we don't like it. It takes time and is monotonous, but it's necessary. The game does hold up surprisingly well, despite its very retro pixelly appearance. 

Yes, any character could cover for another, and Cecil as a paladin would automatically block for any character that was low on health. He was a life saver! Things like that make the battle system a lot of fun. 

You have no excuse not to play this game, seeing it is so widely available in so many formats. Get on it! 

FF6 simply improved upon everything that FF4 did, but 4 started it all, so indeed it is special.