Posted by Shawn M. on Feb 9th, 2007
Calm down, fanboys, it’s not a new FF game that’s in the works. Instead, it’s a look back at the Final Fantasy games we’ve been treated to over the years, and my personal reflections on each of them. There’s been a lot of games, so I’ll try to keep things short. For this first installment, I’ll cover Final Fantasies 1-6.
Final Fantasy - The game that started it all. When this game came out on Granpappy NES, I was a tween, and up until that point RPG’s were a rarity to me. Without knowing the scope of this game, I rented it and found it very confusing at first. Needless to say, there was no way I was going to finish it over the weekend. I forgot about it for awhile, but when it was re-released as Final Fantasy Origins for the PS1, I finally got around to completing it. By this time I had already played through several of the current FF titles, but found the very first to be a great adventure. If you’ve not played it, you can find it for several platforms, and it will soon be released for the PSP with updated visuals and gameplay.
FF 2 - This came with FF1 as part of the PS1’s Final Fantasy Origins pack. This game decided to go in a different direction with establishing specific characters. While that was a good step forward, the leveling system was horrendous. The acquisition of hit points depended on how much damage your character took. However, the enemies were so slow that you would have to attack your own characters to level them, and in doing so you would often kill them instead of damaging them. It’s a frustrating game, and only recommended for the die-hard completists out there. Otherwise, don’t bother.
FF3 - This title has recently been released for the Nintendo DS, and is a remake of the original that was never released in North America. After the madness of its predecessor, this game righted the ship by introducing one of the most challenging and rewarding gameplay ideas for the series — the job system. This is the game that made me buy a DS in the first place, and after spending a lot of time crawling through the beautiful 3-d dungeons, it’s a purchase I’ve not regretted.
FF4 - This is the first in the series that I completed, way back when it was released for the SNES. As the first 16-bit entry, it offered great music and stunning artwork (for the time). Most importantly, much effort was poured into the story, giving us characters that we could truly care for. Later on, the game was re-released for the PS1 (and fairly recently on the GameBoy Advance) with a better translation and an increase in difficulty. Many longtime fans of the series consider this to be the greatest Final Fantasy ever, and it’s hard to argue with those folks.
FF5 - America got ahold of this “long lost” title in the late 90’s with the release of the Final Fantasy Anthology pack for the PS1. As for the game itself, it was quite similar to FF4, but with the return of the job system. While I thought that this game played just as well as the other 16-bit FF games, it lacked a bit of the charm that 4 and 6 offered. Don’t let that dissaude you from seeking this title out, though — it’s still very fun to play, and a treat for those that enjoy old-school gaming.
FF6 - An immense cast. An epic story. And… the opera. This game came out late in the SNES’s life, but what an impact it made. At the time, the graphics were top-notch, and nobody could believe the quality of music that the SNES pumped out. A large portion of the FF fanbase consider this the best game in the series, and I’m one to agree — no other game in the series drew me in and astounded me the way 6 did. It’s not without its faults, though — mainly, a few of the characters are worthless and you have to do some serious level-grinding late in the game — but it more than makes up for it with the things it does right. Finally, 6 has possibly the greatest segment ever in the FF series — the opera. Every time I have played through this game — six times, and soon to be seven now that it’s been released for the GBA — I have kept a separate save file at the beginning of the opera just so I could go back and play through it whenever I felt like it. Oh, and Sephiroth? He’s got nothin’ on Kefka.
That’s all for this installment, kids. Check back soon as I’ll go through the “angst-ridden hero” phase of the series.
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- Final Fantasy: Reflections #2
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Devin de Gruyl
February 9, 2007 at 12:58 pm
One note about FF2: If you play the GBA port (part of FF1+2: Dawn of Souls), you’ll find one of the most frustrating elements of the game has been toned down; skill levels can now only go up, never down. (In the NES and PSX versions of the game, skills you don’t use, such as magic commands by your pure fighters, would begin to atrophy over time. While this is somewhat realistic - in real life you would lose skills you don’t keep sharp - it made for a very frustrating gameplay mechanic for level-grinders and those who live to max out their characters.) So that should help a little bit. It’s still probably the most irritating FF game of all, though.
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