I'm currently playing through the PlayStation version of Final Fantasy on Easy difficulty, and I just got through the Ice Cave. (My party is Monk, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage.)

If it weren't for the Memo save (basically save anywhere, but it goes away when you turn off the console), I would not have made it. You see, some of the encounters in that dungeon are just not fair, particularly enocunters with Mages.

Mages love to ambush you, getting a round of free attacks before you even get to enter commands; furthermore, they love to cast Fire3, which deals 50-200 damage to your entire party. (In this game, that's a lot, even on Easy when your level is higher.) Anyway, here is how one battle went.

* Group of 4 Mages ambushes me.
* 2 or 3 cast Fire3. Miraculously, everybody survives, but my Black Mage has only 1 hit point left. (Talk about cutting it close!)
* I enter commands (I believe to attempt to run away from the battle).
* An enemy Mage casts Fire3 again, and the claim of everybody surviving is no longer true; the spell wiped out all 4 of my characters.

That's not the only game over or reset I had to that particular enemy formation, and there are a few other problem enemies in that dungeon.

So, do you think this is fair? Have you played other games with parts that you would not exactly consider fair?

Staying with the theme of Final Fantasy, in Final Fantasy Tactics you can get escort missions where the enemy goes first, and is able to instakill the escort in 1 shot, meaning you're entirely reliant on the RNG to get you past the 1st turn. It also has a boss battle in the main story, which is ridiculously difficult unless you abuse a certain glitch.

If it's the particular escort mission I'm thinking of, doesn't this come at one of those parts where the game lets you save, but doesn't let you go other places (so you can't just go train a Ninja who can act before the enemies)?

In holding to Final Fantasy, you have to remember what year these games were developed in. Final Fantasy VII-VIII were difficult at times in and of themselves. Best way to beat these troublesome areas was to grind the heck out of random encounters to raise your levels. But I digress...these games were developed in the early 1990-2000s. Back then games were meant to challenge you, to be difficult. They wanted you to think, to use your brain. Today's games have been dumbed down and are way more hand holding and thus an Easy mode today would have been like a baby level back then. Normal would be Easy, Hard would be Normal etc. That was why back then so many developers built in cheat codes into their games.

Remember if you cant beat an area in Final Fantasy, grind random encounters bulk up and then go back at a later time.

There is a specific corridor in a certain dungeon whose name escapes me in the first Final Fantasy that is actually called the Hall of Giants. Every step you take is nothing but giants. Find the giant slayer sword and grind the fuck out of this corridor.
And egads that's a difficult party makeup.

Okay since we wanna go with the "first, second, and third" format which is the same as saying "firstly, second and lastly" in a rude as hell manner, I guess I should do the same.

Firstly: I know what you were talking about. You see Ive been gaming probably longer than you even picked up a console. The original Final Fantasy game was my first ever game. And believe it or not, I started playing video games with my dad at the age of 2. Got my very own handheld console for Christmas when I was 6 and have been a serious hardcore gamer since. And what you remember and what is is not always the same thing...which ties into the second point.
Second: Final Fantasy has scaling enemies? Yeah maybe your bosses, but Ive always found that leveling up makes certain areas easier. Boss battles are always a pain in the ass and Oblivion being harder? Nah man if it gets harder you simply suck at the game. Ive beaten Oblivion on Easy, Normal, hard you name it.
Lastly: Final Fantasy was a bit easier and that was because people were complaining that the previous games were too difficult. With the Materia system, I always made full use of it and again have beaten the game multiple times. And if we are gonna talk about games being unfair, then I should point out how other games like Legends of Dragoon aint always fair...remember the Grand Jewel??? That little SoB is the hardest fight I ever fought in that game. Supposed to get like 1 turn every round and winds up getting 2-3 to instakill your entire party.

Actually, on Origins Easy, that party make-up isn't that bad.

Monk: On Easy, you level up faster; this, in particular, means that you get to see the high damage output that high level Monks get much sooner, and you don't spend as much of the game with them weak.

Mages: On Easy, you get far more MP. At level 23, my White and Black mages have 46(!) casts of first level magic, and still around 20 (IIRC) of 5th level magic. In other words, I don't really need to worry much about MP. Red Mages also get a significant increase in MP, but not to the extent of the other mages; there's actually a noticeable difference in the MP of Red Mages versus other mages on Easy.

Anyway, I now intend to solo level my Monk to 50, and then later raise her to level 99; I did that years ago, and the result was 8000+ damage to normal enemies, 6000+ to the final boss, and 3980 (exact) to flans. (In this version, the final boss has "only" 4000 HP.)

FFVIII has a sliding scale. A level 99 creature from the beginning of the game is still far weaker than a similar creature at the same level from much later in the game