This was the first import game I've attempted to play. I (well, Google and a few other online resources) translated all the text as I played through it, so it took me probably around 10 times as long to finish as it would take if played normally.
It's basically the poster child for the standard JRPG of the era. Other than maybe the amount of voice work and cutscenes, being from 1989/90, there's absolutely nothing groundbreaking about it. It checks off a lot of the boxes of reasons that you've seen many times before for why you need to save each town as you circle your way around the game world. The only thing about it that I can't think of having seen before is that Yuu, the main character, can only use magic during specific sections of the game where he gets suitably enraged about what he witnesses.
The battles move at a very brisk pace, sometimes being shorter than the load times to enter and exit the battle. There are no item drops from monsters, so if you like that aspect, you'll be out of luck here. I do like that your companion, Monmo, who is a sentient motorcycle, can be ridden back to any town you've been to, as long as it's still reachable (meaning no dungeons in your path, or if you're not on an island, etc.), with no chance of getting into an encounter. I'm not a fan of it being a game over when the main character is knocked out, which is the case with Yuu. Not being able to transfer items between your two party members is a definite negative, especially if Saya is carrying all the items that cure petrification, since if Yuu gets petrified, it's instant game over. While the game is not difficult, I found myself needing to decide if I should head back to town or try pushing on just a little further at many points in the game. Only two bosses, one being the end boss (even though it only took two attempts, and I'm pretty sure I defeated him on a do-or-die attack), gave me any real troubles. The actual end boss does seem to come completely out of nowhere, if you care about that.
I only encountered one major glitch -- if you try to cast a spell during battle at the very beginning of the game, before Yuu learns any spells, you can't exit the menu, requiring a system reset. But Yuu learns his first spell at Level 3, so it's only briefly something you have to keep in mind. I also had few other minor issues:
It would sometimes seemingly lock up entering/exiting battles or choosing menu options, but after about 10-15 seconds, it would finish the operation.
The battle music was about half-speed a few times, and glitched out once where the different layers were completely out of synch (but when it looped, it got back in synch).
The sound effects randomly mess up inside the couple Ruins (but not during battles there).
If you have never played an import game, this is a very doable game to "get your feet wet."
