II is still broken, but it's patched enough to be broken and playable unlike the original and Origins, which was just fucking broken. I'm about 15 hrs in (nearly to the end) and really enjoying it.
One thing I learned this week which I didn't know was the extra content is about 10 hrs per game! This is a HUGE amount of new content for two 8-bit RPGs. FFI has four dungeons that open up post-fiends, a total of 100 floors between them. FFII has the new "story" that's sort of an epilogue to the main game. Very cool there's that much new stuff!
It's rebalanced so that you will tend to have a more "natural" progression ... i.e. you have to cast a spell 5-15 times to upgrade, not 100. Also monsters have "ranks," so using low level abilities against high rank monsters gives more "skill XP" (there is no actual numerical skill XP, just ... stuff upgrades faster! is all)
You can still attack your own people to level up faster, which is goofy, but it's not REQUIRED, like it was in Famicom/Origins.
Also, the enter command/cancel bug has been removed as it's no longer necessary. (It was left in Origins, which should tell you something).
Another thing not mentioned about these versions is the scripts have been rewritten ... very cool. These are THE versions to get!
I mean, don't misunderstand me. It's not like it's a GOOD system, even "patched," and a bullet to Kawazu's head would still be best for everyone involved. It makes no sense and it's nonsensical and fighting your own people is still a faster/better way to level up than straight up battling. But at least the game is broken in ways that are PLAYABLE, now.
That's still mostly the case; however, 20 minutes of battle system abuse (casting spells on individual enemies to use tons of MP/battle) just outside a town helped me increase my MP fairly significantly. You never really get enough MP to use spells willy nilly, HOWEVER you eventually get enough money to carry around 99 Ethers, so same difference.
Magic also upgrades MUCH faster than weapons ... weapons are pretty slow (prolly still close to 100-uses-per-skill-level, since you use them All The Time) while magic upgrades far faster. My offensive spells are keeping pace with my weapon levels fairly naturally.
Yeah, I thought it was just a port of the PSX versions, but they're not. Final Fantasy I + II Advance are not ports of the PSX versions. The systems, cinemas, script, etc. have all been reworked from scratch, plus TONS of bonus content, it is teh hotness!
Plus, on the GBA these sorts of games are easy to play one-handed -- FOR WHEN YOU ARE STANDING UP ON THE YAMANOTE SEN YOU PERVERT!! Still, it's great to be able to run around and level during the daily commute! The platform just MAKES SENSE.
I own FF1 US, FF1j, and Origins 