Back in January, I decided to do a crazy Final Fantasy marathon and finally beat all of those famous RPG's for once. So then I started on the first one, all the way up until number twelve while ignoring eleven and thirteen for different reasons. It took me until June to beat them all, and now I present to you, my opinion about each of them. The blog will be split up in two parts because many reviews await:
Final Fantasy
Rating: 5.9
Rating: 5.9
Barely playable today. And by that I mean poor difficulty flow, tiresome level grinding with little benefits mostly, expensive currency, confusion among equipment and perhaps worst of all, limited use of spells. By far are later Final Fantasy titles more playable, more challenging(that’s right) and more fun. Which is quite logical, this being the first Final Fantasy and all. The first segment of the game is at certain spots just harsh with the difficulty, there is some research to be done if you have no clue what works and what doesn’t.
The game does pick up once you collect the better items but by then I already judged the whole game because of the struggles I experienced. Here, Squaresoft did their best and I approve of their efforts, but not every NES classic stood the test of time. I just wanted to get over with this and finally start beating Final Fantasy games for once.
The game does pick up once you collect the better items but by then I already judged the whole game because of the struggles I experienced. Here, Squaresoft did their best and I approve of their efforts, but not every NES classic stood the test of time. I just wanted to get over with this and finally start beating Final Fantasy games for once.
Final Fantasy II
Rating: 5.5
Wow, just wow. Final Fantasy II might be the oddest experimental NES sequel I have beaten yet. After Super Mario Bros. 2, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, I stumble upon this much lesser loved title in the huge franchise. And another point of thought is that it brings out some of the most conflicting emotions I’ve had during reviewing a game. On the surface Final Fantasy II ain’t no big deal. It is your typical sequel title done right, the characters and plot are a vast improvement over the original, the inconveniences such as limited spell usage is practically much lessened, it’s a bigger game, the graphics are here and there improved, more music, better level design and other small things I noticed.
Then what in the blazes of the RPG universe does that lower rating mean then!? I’ll tell you, as others dared to set forth the message from the odd Famicom RPG title before; it’s the one and only unusual level system.
Then what in the blazes of the RPG universe does that lower rating mean then!? I’ll tell you, as others dared to set forth the message from the odd Famicom RPG title before; it’s the one and only unusual level system.
Sure, the gameplay is largely intact and in some areas improved(such as healing in a much more relievable way, rather than using a potion 40 times on a hero in the original or otherwise I would had to use one of my limited healing spells), but the leveling system was both stunning and tedious for me as I played through this.
The catch is that every stat, spell and weapon level through specific ways, not just all blended as regular with experience points, but all pretty much separated. If you slash an enemy with a sword long enough, the sword itself will level up. If you cast Cure on someone for about as 100 times, it will level up. If your character gets hurt so much that it will be in its kneeling position, vitality will rise. If you emptied all of your magic or if you cured a certain character to max health, your intelligence in magic will level up. If you use physical damage on enemies long enough, you will gain power but will lose intelligence. I am not making this up.
The catch is that every stat, spell and weapon level through specific ways, not just all blended as regular with experience points, but all pretty much separated. If you slash an enemy with a sword long enough, the sword itself will level up. If you cast Cure on someone for about as 100 times, it will level up. If your character gets hurt so much that it will be in its kneeling position, vitality will rise. If you emptied all of your magic or if you cured a certain character to max health, your intelligence in magic will level up. If you use physical damage on enemies long enough, you will gain power but will lose intelligence. I am not making this up.
What Final Fantasy II dared to do here is try to add in reality issues and thus suggested that if someone was violent enough, that person would lose intelligence. That just blows my mind, but let’s not mix fantasy with reality too much now. All I will say further from this system is that while I truly applaud Squaresoft, even more than before for trying this bold direction, it turns out to be an incredible frustrating game mechanic the longer you played.
I had to use extreme measures in order to beat this very frustrating and very, very tedious way of getting stronger, such as by speeding up the game and yes, even the infamous pseudo bug everyone is talking about. The original game was moving slow, but here it was as if time was slowed much more because of the individual leveling of everything and by my full opinion do I feel that this process completely shattered the appeal of this sequel.
Simply put, if you did not level up your 3 prime characters and optionally your 4th character properly, the game would drag your ass from Mysidia to Dist and leave you for death on the ground by its use of the late evil(literally in all its way) bosses. I really am starting to hate the confusion among properly preparing for certain things in NES titles, because here it is a large issue for me. Seriously, for some of these games, walkthroughs are a must. Status effects are even more annoying here and the late jump in difficulty is as wide as Russia, it’s very poorly done. The game was encouraging and even fun to play while venturing through a large portion of the game, getting further with the plot. But once you got to the final areas, well, enough already, the difficulty is just YUCK.
Simply put, if you did not level up your 3 prime characters and optionally your 4th character properly, the game would drag your ass from Mysidia to Dist and leave you for death on the ground by its use of the late evil(literally in all its way) bosses. I really am starting to hate the confusion among properly preparing for certain things in NES titles, because here it is a large issue for me. Seriously, for some of these games, walkthroughs are a must. Status effects are even more annoying here and the late jump in difficulty is as wide as Russia, it’s very poorly done. The game was encouraging and even fun to play while venturing through a large portion of the game, getting further with the plot. But once you got to the final areas, well, enough already, the difficulty is just YUCK.
So much writing about this poor yet fascinating title, It’s a miracle that online NES reviewers such as the Angry Video Game Nerd haven’t touched upon it yet.
Final Fantasy III
Rating: 7.5
Finally a Fantasy that is actually decent enough to be an RPG, and by far the most fun to play out of the NES trilogy. Interface is finally improved towards RPG accessible standards, and it’s a huge relief to visually know what is equip able on whom. A system that was hinted at in the original Final Fantasy has now become a full fledged so called Job system, where characters can change their classes at any time, given that their equipment is depleted in the process. It isn’t a balanced system, but it sure is fun to see the diversity in these classes.
The pace of Final Fantasy 3 is just right, the same goes for its difficulty. Sometimes there are hard bosses, but the Job system and local news of the towns are your 2 friends then. The levels in the game also had enjoyable placed secret areas with goodies awaiting, the music is the best yet and this seems to be the largest game of the trilogy, with the final areas becoming harder and harder. What else can I say? Both FF2 and 3 saw the birth of plenty of FF trademarks, Chocobos and Moogles for example. And it’s relieving to end the NES games with a good third part, nothing wrong with it at all.
The pace of Final Fantasy 3 is just right, the same goes for its difficulty. Sometimes there are hard bosses, but the Job system and local news of the towns are your 2 friends then. The levels in the game also had enjoyable placed secret areas with goodies awaiting, the music is the best yet and this seems to be the largest game of the trilogy, with the final areas becoming harder and harder. What else can I say? Both FF2 and 3 saw the birth of plenty of FF trademarks, Chocobos and Moogles for example. And it’s relieving to end the NES games with a good third part, nothing wrong with it at all.
Final Fantasy IV
Rating: 7.6
The most traditional of the Final Fantasies yet, with traditional music, traditional magic point usage and a traditional storyline, this time with actual emotional main characters to care about and well, kind of an opposite back then, you play as a Dark Knight for an evil empire. But that will soon change as you progress further in FF IV. Looks like gameplay, graphics and music became better yet again, and that is why I easily give IV a higher score than III. Regarding gameplay, I keep noticing small changes in it while I play each of the games, such as the interface, the battle speed, the way towns work etc.
As for difficulty, it is more relaxing to play through than the NES trilogy, hence making it easier, but not that it becomes a breeze, especially when looking at the final dungeon. Final Fantasy I might be the classic game for many, but IV is the most accessible and the most personal RPG of the series so far.
As for difficulty, it is more relaxing to play through than the NES trilogy, hence making it easier, but not that it becomes a breeze, especially when looking at the final dungeon. Final Fantasy I might be the classic game for many, but IV is the most accessible and the most personal RPG of the series so far.
Final Fantasy V
Rating: 7.8
Improves yet again from its predecessors, having a MUCH NEEDED dash button (I do not think this was implemented before), a much more polished Job system, a storyline with effective humor, an even better interface, smoother and faster gameplay and the music in overall is positive. Possibly also the longest FF yet, even longer than III, V is just a solid RPG in overall. Especially consider playing with the Job system here and figure out its remarkable advantages for the player.
The main villain can finally be called somewhat memorable, because of his desire to consume everything, plus Exdeath is just an odd name. Most of all, Exdeath is just more involved than Chaos, Emperor, Dark Cloud or Zeromus in my opinion. The difficulty seems even more lowered than before.
The main villain can finally be called somewhat memorable, because of his desire to consume everything, plus Exdeath is just an odd name. Most of all, Exdeath is just more involved than Chaos, Emperor, Dark Cloud or Zeromus in my opinion. The difficulty seems even more lowered than before.
Final Fantasy VI
Rating: 8.1
And now Flok has come to the first massive leap from previous titles, Final Fantasy VI. In the past I tried to play this title because of its massive popularity, but I never got into it, nor did I get further than the Opera part and entering Vector for the first time. Playing it now during my Final Fantasy marathon is an enormous joy, not only because I can see the connections with earlier titles, but now I can also see the very good qualities this game brought upon the RPG genre, including a massive playable character lineup where almost any time it would be up to the player which 4 characters he would use throughout the journey.
The graphics are finally improved in an obvious way, the music embodies the settings even more, the gameplay is pretty customized, reminding me of the Job system in FF3 and FF5, but this time with a twist, the summons(Espers) of the game play around with stats and spell boosts now. The Relics system is a nice touch, the characters fight in their own interesting way, each one getting more unique than the other.
And the story is the first one I can say is poured with quality in overall, most of the main characters have developed backgrounds and emotions, the citizens of towns are more alive and best of all, Kefka is simply a classic power hungry villain with a maniacal personality of insanity. Contrary to popular belief, this game can be hard, especially when you have no knowledge of weaknesses or strong acquirements, and the Fanatic’s Tower and Kefka’s Tower are just that.
And the story is the first one I can say is poured with quality in overall, most of the main characters have developed backgrounds and emotions, the citizens of towns are more alive and best of all, Kefka is simply a classic power hungry villain with a maniacal personality of insanity. Contrary to popular belief, this game can be hard, especially when you have no knowledge of weaknesses or strong acquirements, and the Fanatic’s Tower and Kefka’s Tower are just that.
This marks the end of the first part of this marathon of RPG reviews.
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