Next up I found a marsh cave, and after clearing that the heroes had a crown. They gave this crown to an evil elf in a northern castle, which triggered a boss fight and let them reclaim Matoya's eye. Then they returned to Matoya, got a tonic, gave it to the elf prince, and got a key. I backtracked through the few dungeons I'd been in so far and opened mystic key doors, gathering treasure. I also opened a door in Cornelia, claiming some nitro powder! The dwarf was happy to get it because it let him create a canal so my adventure could continue. After heading west and finding a new town on an island, this was where I stopped. My heroes are all level 18.
So far, I'm enjoying FFI more than I thought I would! With old games like this there's always the worry that they haven't aged well or are needlessly obtuse, but that hasn't been a problem so far. My only real complaint is the high encounter rate but I'm trying not to run from battles because I suspect the difficulty has been balanced around fighting all of them. I would've appreciated a map too, but it's also been oddly fun to wander the world looking for things to do and I haven't gotten stuck or lost yet.
Anyway, that's all I've done so far. I think these games are shorter so I'm not sure how long this topic will go for, but I hope a few people follow along like usual regardless. And, as always, I welcome any tips people might have!