...ever play the Jeff Ludwig Hack called "Mod of Balance" based on the Dawn of Souls version? If not you should it rebalances both games original design flaw really well. For instance in FF1 there were many broken mechanics in the NES and Origins versions that were 'fixed' in the original DoS, however MoB DoS takes it further and actually successfully balances every aspect of gameplay! As for FF2 the spell level growth is sped up(even though there is no select and cancel trick in this hack) and offensive magic is made WAY more powerful and weapon levels and stats are changes around as well as enemy drops etc.

Anyway I love this guys work and think you all should give it a whirl.