Even with a face lift, Final Fantasy shows its age through practically every aspect of the game.
Right out of the gate you can see why Final Fantasy was so groundbreaking at the time. You get to control four characters! While this gimmick isn't as surprising today, it was a major improvement over having one guy versus an army of evil back in the day. You could name your heroes and then assign each of them to a different job class (Knight, Thief, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage) that level up down the road to stronger forms affecting how much damage you deal and how fast you do it. Each job class has it's own pros and cons: Knights have excellent attack and defense, but can't learn magic; Thieves are fast and strong, but aren't very useful in the first part of the game; Red Mages can learn all basic magic and have decent attack power, but cannot learn the strongest magic, while Black and White Mages can learn the best Black and White magic in the game respectively. Final Fantasy probably offered the best team strategy for an RPG back in the 80's.
But no matter how you look at it you can't deny an aspect of Final Fantasy that didn't age well: it's battle system. This was Turn-based gameplay at it's caveman form. You'll attack an enemy, defeat it, encounter more enemies, use spell, defeat all enemies, rinse, rather, repeat. The outdated battle system is even worse at the beginning of the game where you're team is still futile and weak, and can easily be out bested by an army of Goblins. And what's worse there are no phoenix down's at the start of your game, so the only way to revive your fallen teammate(s) is to pay the church pastor - Inn's will only heal your live members. And to make matters even worse, experience points and Gil is minimal at the beginning of your adventure, which can add to the frustration before you even go any where. The difficulty is also out of whack. One time you'll be bored to death by random encounters of WEAK enemies that do abysmal damage and annoyingly always seem to go first, and the next you'll meet a mammoth boss with ungodly attack and defense points that will make you desperately search your items for a potion, only to find out that the turn based system makes your character's speed random, which sometimes makes character 2 use potion on character 1 before character 3 has a chance of using a phoenix down on character 1! This wastes more than one character's turn when they could've healed or attacked. Don't expect FFIII's polish here - this battle system is still wet behind the ears.
One aspect I really disliked about this remake is the lack of an in-game map. You'll end up sailing from one side of the seemingly endless ocean to the other trying to find your next destination. Seeing as this is the generation of RPG's with in-game maps, it seems stupid that Square Enix didn't think of putting one in. Finding your next destination is also a big confusing hassle in every meaning of the word. You'll end up talking to village folk over and over trying to understand the half-a** clues they give you, and then basically guessing where to go next. If it wasn't for the internet I would've never found the Levi Stone, the Airship, or the exact location of a temple, because of the riddling way the game tells you how to get to a certain place only to send you in circles, or have village folk sprites get in your way, since streets were built way too narrow. Don't trust people, they'll only hurt you.
Surprisingly, the plot line is still interesting for what its worth, despite being so cliché. One minute you're saving a princess then the next thing you know you're saving something much bigger: the world. Time travel is also a surprise twist, and this was before Chrono Trigger and Ocarina of Time. Of course, the plot line is still primitive, but it's still not half bad.
This edition of Final Fantasy looks really nice. Some can argue that it should've been in full 3-D like the other FF remakes on the DS, but the 2-D graphics with clouds rolling overhead while you run across the field to wonderful hand painted battle scenery can't be easily duplicated in 3-D. The music is also pretty decent. Though at first, the battle theme can get really repetitive for the first hour of the game. This can be overlooked however, as you'll gradually enjoy the theme as the always forever nostalgic victory theme plays after wards, so its not all bad.
Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition provides Dawn of Soul's four alternative side quest dungeon for those that want more. Each dungeon features four familiar bosses from the FF universe that provide a good challenge for even those that got the best weapons in the game, and speaking of which, you're rewarded with such items if you beat them. On the downside the dungeons are way too big, the enemies are just as weak as the rest of the enemies in the main quest, and you have to reenter the dungeons every time to beat all of the bosses. On the upside, at least you're getting your money's worth.
In conclusion, if you already played Dawn of Souls to 100% there's really no point in getting this game, even with the graphic enhancements. This game sadly didn't age well, which makes it a ho-hum experience nowadays. But if you're still curious, I'd recommend trying to find this game under $10. It's not the king of RPG's anymore, but Final Fantasy is still the ideal building block of all RPG's.