Great gameplay, lacking story.
Gameplay (9/10): The story is shallow. There is no doubt about it. It is simple, shallow and predictable. That being said, the character develpment is actually VERY well done. It makes up for the shallow story. People complain about the newly done dialogue, but I like it. It adds a level of balance to the mood, since the story is pretty serious.
The battle system is the same as FFIV though the battle lag glitch is missing (thank goodness). The simplicity and repetitive style can get boring, but thanks to the job system things aren't so (not completely at least). The job system throws in a lot of choices and makes battles generally varied and interesting. It also adds a deep level of strategy and choice. One bad thing though: excessive random battles.
Speaking of the job system, that is the best part of this game. There are MANY choices and as you level up the job (seperate from character level...which effects stats) you get abilities to use with other jobs, so that you can mix and match as you see fit. This is a wonderful upgrade to the FFIII job system.
Graphics (7/10): The SNES graphics start to show their age. The monsters are fantastic and there are some new types of overworld units, but in all it is not too different from the past FF games.
Sound (8/10): Primitive sound effects (even old SNES games do better than this). The music is marvelous though. Nobue Uematsu never does a bad job does he? Clash on the Big Bridge might well be the best FF track ever. Battle and normal boss music is underwhelming, but the rest is great, especially the last mentioned track and the final boss music.
Value (9/10): There is plenty to do outside of the 40 hour main game. You can max out all of your jobs, get the ultimate equipment, fight the two optional bosses, max out character level, get all the summons, get all the Dark Arts, get all the Blue Magic, get all the Bard Songs and beat the bonus dungeon. This is the beginning of the fun sidequest addiction Squaresoft started to have with their Final Fantasy games.
All in all this is a very solid RPG and a very good classic. Though it'll take some time to learn since there is so much to learn, it pays off and gets REAL fun real fast. This is definately worth a purchase for RPG AND FF fans. As for new RPG players, this has a slightly steep learning curve so be warned. For new FF players, I'd suggest you start with FFIV first. That is the best place to jump into the FF series. Still, this is worth the money. Enjoy.