I definitely need to thank you for it. I probably would have let the game sail past my radar and not given it a chance without the gifting, and having done so I can definitely see why you were singing its praises.

One: 5-0 of course, always winning! But really...I don't know how. The first two dungeons I must have barely come in under the wire, I got so turned around in some of the puzzles. But I guess I could wrap my head around the shock/wave gimmicks a lot easier, I had a better time in those.

Two: Um, should I? I had been getting "secretly evil" vibes off him for a bit but then he just left the plot only to show up post-credits referencing something that I couldn't remember. It seems there's still stuff being added to the game, is this supposed to be a tease for the future?

Evan, AKA Dethevans, AKA St Eva. AKA defeated. I apparently got the good ending too, so go me.

So far, Breath of Fire III has a much cheerier tone, overall. Even the music that's supposed to convey sinister or dark situation has a somewhat upbeat sound to it.

I gotta say, Breath of Fire II is way more grindy than even the first one was, and that game was Grind City in Grind State.
Story-wise it was not too bad. No mention of the dark dragon clan at all, really. One NPC claims to be a black dragon, other than that, just nothing. The bad guys are demons. The good guys aren't.
The title screen of Breath of Fire III shows a mural in the background depicting the heroes of the first game fighting against the final boss. Perhaps it will tie more directly into the original title than II did.

It's been a long time since I played it, but I do remember that Star Successor on hard was definitely...a thing. A thing with lots of cursing and retries.

Really, the boss rush on the last stage was where I came to know the true meaning of hell. Hopefully you make it through with some sanity intact.

Oh buckets. The dragon transformations in Breath of Fire II are more like summon spells... You use a dragon transformation, it does an attack and then you're back to normal. Laaaaaame. I did not expect that.

Well, good luck with Super Metroid. I enjoyed it up until a point myself, then I kinda lost interest. I may go back to it at some point.
I did finish up Breath of Fire a week or two ago, and I'm glad to have put it behind me. Breath of Fire II so far has been notably better. And I swear that the boss battle music is an unused Mega Man X track. It just has those SNES-style guitar riffs that MMX always used. I'll be working on this primarily until I beat it, then hopefully hop into part 3 after that. I guess I just have to figure out if I want to play it on my PSX Classic or my actual PSX or my PS2. I feel like the PS2 is on borrowed time, so even though I'd really dig being able to use the faster disc speed, I may have to stick it out on the native hardware.

As far as Borderlands 3, I'm not really sure. The campaign kinda left a sour taste in my mouth. I got bored with it during the third planet and never rally recovered from it. So that's a big maybe for the moment.

If you're looking to breathe some new life into a game you've played before and challenge yourself at the same time, there's a ROM hack of Final Fantasy VI I've been playing on and off here that might be up your alley. It's called Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World.
It makes changes that I like (characters are restricted in what Espers they can learn from), and changes that I don't like (you can't buy tents... WTF?). The challenge of the game is overall increased too. Enemies are stronger and more of them have reactionary death attacks. Certain characters are also changed, for example, Shadow can dual-wield by default. You also gain what's called "Esper Levels." Each Esper Level can be used to purchase a permanent upgrade to the character (but again, these are restricted by which Espers they can learn from).

Hope you enjoy it! Beware the grind.

I definitely agree that the final boss fight was great. It was a huge improvement over the Galbalan fight in Wanderers From Ys. Then again, Wanderers From Ys had some serious hit box detection issues on the SNES. Music was still great though. I'm surprisingly a fan of the bump system from I & II. I guess it seemed pretty unique to me at the time I played it. Also, Feena was such a cutie pie. As far as a Ys girls go, Feena is definitely my favorite. The bump system was popular enough, it seems, that it was brought back in Ys IV: Mask of the Sun. After that though, it was gone until the I & II remakes. Anyway, timeline-wise, Memories of Celceta takes place after Ys II. So I, II, and IV form a sort of trilogy. The exact order for the rest is a bit fuzzy, but I believe it is V, III, VIII, VI, and then VII. Ys Origins takes place hundreds of years before Ys I & II. Having played them, Origins' story won't spoil anything for you.

I'm definitely down to play Chross Code at some point. Unfortunately for me, Breath of Fire is going to have to wait since a little thing called Dragon Quest XI crossed my path. It's nearly as good as VIII. Not quite, but close. Breath of Fire didn't stand a chance against Dragon Quest. It's pretty boring.

How was your experience with Oath in Felghana? Personally, I think it has the best soundtrack in the series. Story-wise it's just so-so.