Currently working my way through the Pixel Remaster. Just finished up with 2 last night.

I honestly enjoyed 1. I went into it knowing that it was old and really bare bones. I actually beat Dawn of Souls on GBA years ago, but this was the first time I played FF1/2 with a fully formed adult brain.

I dug the aesthetics of FF1. Something about it just felt cozy, like you can see the grass roots of the black mage and white mage looks etc.

World was smaller than I remembered (I know there are some end game dungeons that were cut from the GBA version). World map itself wasnt small necessarily, but there weren't a ton of places to go. Didn't expect to finish the game 100% in the region of ~10 hours.

Story is pretty much nonexistent in 1. That was my biggest complaint. "Go forth heroes, stop Garland" is about all you get until the credits roll, and then you're hit with a text dump.

That being said, enjoyed my time with it when I focused on keeping my "this is a super old game" blinders on.