>>11972218
1 has a barebones and stiff feel compared to the rest of the series, in the way that a lot of Capcom's debut entries do.
Street Fighter, Mega Man, Breath of Fire, etc.
However I feel the first game is still serviceable and is worth at least a shot, with just a few pointers in mind.
First is that the Internet is the game's super dungeon, that you get full access to explore fairly early on, but the game only needs you to do a fraction of it for the story.
Second is that the main story requirements aren't particularly high, but do encourage you to explore that super dungeon so you can build up strength.
Third is that save-scumming is key to saving time.
Mystery data on the internet can be re-rolled for better rewards, especially Zenny (money) farming, and the Chip Trader can be re-rolled to try for better battle chips.
Stuffing your folder full of hero swords, knight swords, Gaia3, BigWave, isn't a bad idea. Effective folder building isn't easy in BN1 due to the undercooked systems, but C-code is a good code to work with for a casual playthrough.
If you weather the game's somewhat clunky main story, the payoff is a surprisingly well executed and impactful finale that sets up the rest of the series.
Playing the DS version is also strongly recommended for the map system, new story content, and * code chips that improve folder building. They also deliberately left in the save scumming because they know players care about that for BN1 and 2.
