(KH13 Exclusive note: This is my first review in a while. Feedback would be appreciated! I plan to do reviews for all of the first ten games, with this being the start. Now then, without further ado, let's begin!)
FINAL FANTASY I REVIEW
Back in the eighties, a game development company named Squarefaced huge financial issues. Their games weren’t taking off very well, and theydecided to put the rest of the company’s money into one final project. Thesmall team put their greatest effort in this game; despite thinking it wouldfail them anyway. Little did they know that this very game would save them frombankruptcy, and become one of the most legendary franchises in the RPG genre…
This game, of course, is the first Final Fantasy for the Nintendo EntertainmentSystem. Final Fantasy, or FFI, was a groundbreaking RPG for its time. It wasthe first RPG to feature the player’s party on the battlefield as well as theenemies, and also featured unique animations for different weapons and spells.It was a hit in multiple countries, and spawned a series that is far from itsfinal fantasy. A few years ago, I began my journey into this franchise withthis very game, on the Wii port. Since then, FF has become one of my favoritegame franchises of all time. I’ve wanted to review the first ten games for sometime now, and I’ve decided to begin with the first. Let’s begin, shall we?
(Note, this review will be based off of the original NES version of the game.)
Story:
The plot of FFI is simple, yet effective. The four crystals containing the power of thefour elements (Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind) have lost their light, and theworld is breaking into chaos. The four silent protagonists, known as theWarriors of Light, must restore light to the crystals and save the world. Assimple as this is, the game was on the NES, so it can’t be expected to beanything like the later titles. The game also has a few other things pop upfrom time to time, such as kidnapped princesses and blind witches with backwardsspeaking brooms. There’s also one sidequest, which consists of finding alegendary dragon in order to awaken your true strength. Of course, if you wantto add story elements, you could always name your characters after yourself andsome friends and imagine some dialogue. NES era RPGs were all aboutimagination, after all.
Gameplay:
This is the game’s strong point, as well as what can make it so frustrating. Thegameplay was similar to that of the traditional retro turn-based RPG (Retromeaning old Nintendo systems, not PSX or anything like that here). You havefour party members, all of which you choose a class and name for at the startof the game. You can choose from Fighter (Great attack and defense, can usemost weapons in the game), Black Belt (Great attack, after a few levels worksbest with no equipment attached), Thief (I honestly haven’t used Thief enoughto tell what it specializes in...), White Mage (The healer of the team, useswhite magic to support party members), Black Mage (Uses black magic to dealdamage to enemies), and Red Mage (Decent attack and defense, and can learn someblack and white magic). For a starting team, I’d say Fighter, Black Belt, WhiteMage, and Black Mage is a good setup, but it’s all up to personal decisions.You travel on a world map, as well as through towns and dungeons. You get fourslots per character to hold armor, and another four for weapons (Some weaponshave added effects; it’s a good idea to hang on to some). You buy new weapons,armor, items, and spells at stores. While walking on the world map or in adungeon, you’ll randomly initiate a battle with enemies. Now for the real meatof this game’s gameplay: Combat. You choose your party member’s attacks, andwhat they target. Simple, right? Wrong. First of all, there was no feature toswitch targets if a character’s target dies. This means you’ll need to thinkcarefully what you target; you could easily waste an action if you aren’tcareful. Then, there’s the magic. There are different levels of magic in thisgame. You can get three spells from each level, meaning your Black/White Magewill have to miss out on one spell per level (Most spells in the game werebroken by bugs though, so don’t worry too much). On top of this, in order torestrict what magic levels you can use, and how often you can cast spells, you’regiven spell charges for each level. Basically, a spell charge allows you to useany spell from that level. The number you get per level increases as you go on.They can also only be recharged at an inn, meaning you have to conserve magic.Now, this system can be very frustrating. Healing can become difficult to do,and you might need to make your Black Mage use physical attacks often. However,it also adds a whole layer of strategy. What spells should I use? How should Idistribute them to make sure my uses are effective? Spell charges are difficultto explain sadly, so I can’t really get my point across too well. If you don’tlike them, the GBA, PSP, and mobile remakes all used the traditional MPinstead, if you’d prefer that. They’re actually not too different when youthink about it, only difference being MP can be replenished easier. The NES versionof this game is also incredibly difficult compared to the remakes GBA and on.If you like a challenge like I do, go ahead and get this version. If you don’t,I recommend the GBA or PSP version.
Overall:
This is a fantastic game, and was a great way to start the franchise. The story workedfor an NES game, and the gameplay makes for one of the most challenging, yetfun RPGs I’ve ever played. The sound and music was also made well. After all,the legendary Prologue theme started with this game! It would be unfair tograde the game on graphics due to it being released over 20 years ago (That,plus I don’t judge games on graphics). If you’re starting out the series, thiscould be the game for you. I personally believe that the SNES games were betterfor beginning the franchise with, but if you want to go classic, this is yourgame.
(KH13 Exclusive note: This is my first review in a while. Feedback would be appreciated! I plan to do reviews for all of the first ten games, with this being the start. Now then, without further ado, let's begin!)
FINAL FANTASY I REVIEW
Back in the eighties, a game development company named Squarefaced huge financial issues. Their games weren’t taking off very well, and theydecided to put the rest of the company’s money into one final project. Thesmall team put their greatest effort in this game; despite thinking it wouldfail them anyway. Little did they know that this very game would save them frombankruptcy, and become one of the most legendary franchises in the RPG genre…
This game, of course, is the first Final Fantasy for the Nintendo EntertainmentSystem. Final Fantasy, or FFI, was a groundbreaking RPG for its time. It wasthe first RPG to feature the player’s party on the battlefield as well as theenemies, and also featured unique animations for different weapons and spells.It was a hit in multiple countries, and spawned a series that is far from itsfinal fantasy. A few years ago, I began my journey into this franchise withthis very game, on the Wii port. Since then, FF has become one of my favoritegame franchises of all time. I’ve wanted to review the first ten games for sometime now, and I’ve decided to begin with the first. Let’s begin, shall we?
(Note, this review will be based off of the original NES version of the game.)
Story:
The plot of FFI is simple, yet effective. The four crystals containing the power of thefour elements (Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind) have lost their light, and theworld is breaking into chaos. The four silent protagonists, known as theWarriors of Light, must restore light to the crystals and save the world. Assimple as this is, the game was on the NES, so it can’t be expected to beanything like the later titles. The game also has a few other things pop upfrom time to time, such as kidnapped princesses and blind witches with backwardsspeaking brooms. There’s also one sidequest, which consists of finding alegendary dragon in order to awaken your true strength. Of course, if you wantto add story elements, you could always name your characters after yourself andsome friends and imagine some dialogue. NES era RPGs were all aboutimagination, after all.
Gameplay:
This is the game’s strong point, as well as what can make it so frustrating. Thegameplay was similar to that of the traditional retro turn-based RPG (Retromeaning old Nintendo systems, not PSX or anything like that here). You havefour party members, all of which you choose a class and name for at the startof the game. You can choose from Fighter (Great attack and defense, can usemost weapons in the game), Black Belt (Great attack, after a few levels worksbest with no equipment attached), Thief (I honestly haven’t used Thief enoughto tell what it specializes in...), White Mage (The healer of the team, useswhite magic to support party members), Black Mage (Uses black magic to dealdamage to enemies), and Red Mage (Decent attack and defense, and can learn someblack and white magic). For a starting team, I’d say Fighter, Black Belt, WhiteMage, and Black Mage is a good setup, but it’s all up to personal decisions.You travel on a world map, as well as through towns and dungeons. You get fourslots per character to hold armor, and another four for weapons (Some weaponshave added effects; it’s a good idea to hang on to some). You buy new weapons,armor, items, and spells at stores. While walking on the world map or in adungeon, you’ll randomly initiate a battle with enemies. Now for the real meatof this game’s gameplay: Combat. You choose your party member’s attacks, andwhat they target. Simple, right? Wrong. First of all, there was no feature toswitch targets if a character’s target dies. This means you’ll need to thinkcarefully what you target; you could easily waste an action if you aren’tcareful. Then, there’s the magic. There are different levels of magic in thisgame. You can get three spells from each level, meaning your Black/White Magewill have to miss out on one spell per level (Most spells in the game werebroken by bugs though, so don’t worry too much). On top of this, in order torestrict what magic levels you can use, and how often you can cast spells, you’regiven spell charges for each level. Basically, a spell charge allows you to useany spell from that level. The number you get per level increases as you go on.They can also only be recharged at an inn, meaning you have to conserve magic.Now, this system can be very frustrating. Healing can become difficult to do,and you might need to make your Black Mage use physical attacks often. However,it also adds a whole layer of strategy. What spells should I use? How should Idistribute them to make sure my uses are effective? Spell charges are difficultto explain sadly, so I can’t really get my point across too well. If you don’tlike them, the GBA, PSP, and mobile remakes all used the traditional MPinstead, if you’d prefer that. They’re actually not too different when youthink about it, only difference being MP can be replenished easier. The NES versionof this game is also incredibly difficult compared to the remakes GBA and on.If you like a challenge like I do, go ahead and get this version. If you don’t,I recommend the GBA or PSP version.
Overall:
This is a fantastic game, and was a great way to start the franchise. The story workedfor an NES game, and the gameplay makes for one of the most challenging, yetfun RPGs I’ve ever played. The sound and music was also made well. After all,the legendary Prologue theme started with this game! It would be unfair tograde the game on graphics due to it being released over 20 years ago (That,plus I don’t judge games on graphics). If you’re starting out the series, thiscould be the game for you. I personally believe that the SNES games were betterfor beginning the franchise with, but if you want to go classic, this is yourgame.
Score: 8/10