Similar, when I was a kid I think there were some things I was missing about the game, I didn't get very far back then. But a few years back I played through and I felt like it's a solid game. There are two other games in the collection I have a sort of personal vow to beat, Landstalker and Sword of Vermillion. Landscaper was a cool Zelda clone except for how difficult the jumping puzzles can be. Being able to discern where things are in space can be awful with that game.
Kind of wondering about beating Phantasy Star 2 though, I never did but 4 is the apex of the series. The elevator mazes in 2 just make me sick, I have a game active and I am unapologetically using maps because fuck that shit. I just recently played through Shining in the Darkness without maps, which is a first person dungeon crawler and your map spell reveals about a tenth of the map at a time, and you have to have walked there before. Which helps you find unexplored areas when you can be frivolous with magic.