I got off to a great start, played the in-browser emulation of FF, didn't realise there was anywhere to go other than the palace (being able to go sideways into the houses to access the town was not obvious to me).

So off I went into the wilderness, got battered by a random encounter then met Garland and got absolutely pulverized whilst thinking "I bet this is one of these early fights you're supposed to lose". Nope. Dead, dead, dead, dead. Restart.

Clearly I was spoiled by my first FF being FFVII!

Haha yes the original is SO difficult! They really do just toss you in there without any clear sense of progression.

I was so mad that any progress made since the last inn save gets lost on death too. It is definitely "NES hard".  I do kind of find it motivating to think about how much less angering I can make my version now though.