This review contains spoilers
Review in progress: Updates to this review will occur as I beat each title and be formatted to review the collection as a whole up top when complete.
The Final Fantasy Legend: Start of a SaGa
This game is even better than I remembered as a kid. A lot easier than I remembered too. This bite sized, unique game holding the Final Fantasy name in west was actually started as Makai Toushi SaGa, and headed by Akitoshi Kawazu the designer of Final Fantasy I and II. The core of SaGa as a series is felt in this first title alone, focusing heavily on its unique leveling systems and party compositions, an early attempt at bringing RPG to the new gameboy platform devoid of such a staple like Pokemon even at the time, this game is doing its best to not sacrifice anything despite its platform limitations both visually, gameplay, and musically with Nobuo Uematsu having to learn an entire new platform to develop music for.
Story | Life is but a game
The story is straightforward at first. Theres a tower that leads to paradise and the world you know is in conflict as three kingdoms fight for each other national treasures while rumors surface of an even greater treasure protected by a divine fiend. The game starts you off intentionally very basic. Your world map is not very vast and your exploration is very small. Its only after you collect all the treasures and return them to a statue of a goddess does the game get more interesting. The heroes obtain a magical orb. One of 4, each protected by an elemental themed boss, much like the Final Fantasy of its name. The game quickly sets itself apart by expanding the players world by climbing the tower to reach paradise. Many worlds all about the same size as the one you start in are discovered among the way, all while climbing this treacherous tower. A favorite of mine being the post apocalyptic world not so different from modern day where traveling on the world map above ground makes you target of the worlds final boss you can only run from at first. Most of the story is told through dialog and subtle tells at certain parts that may only make sense in retrospect. Its not the deepest but I like how it tries to make your party members you recruited and created have character and dialog with each other instead of being purely silent heroes with nothing to say along the journey.
The Final Fantasy Legend: Start of a SaGa
This game is even better than I remembered as a kid. A lot easier than I remembered too. This bite sized, unique game holding the Final Fantasy name in west was actually started as Makai Toushi SaGa, and headed by Akitoshi Kawazu the designer of Final Fantasy I and II. The core of SaGa as a series is felt in this first title alone, focusing heavily on its unique leveling systems and party compositions, an early attempt at bringing RPG to the new gameboy platform devoid of such a staple like Pokemon even at the time, this game is doing its best to not sacrifice anything despite its platform limitations both visually, gameplay, and musically with Nobuo Uematsu having to learn an entire new platform to develop music for.
Story | Life is but a game
The story is straightforward at first. Theres a tower that leads to paradise and the world you know is in conflict as three kingdoms fight for each other national treasures while rumors surface of an even greater treasure protected by a divine fiend. The game starts you off intentionally very basic. Your world map is not very vast and your exploration is very small. Its only after you collect all the treasures and return them to a statue of a goddess does the game get more interesting. The heroes obtain a magical orb. One of 4, each protected by an elemental themed boss, much like the Final Fantasy of its name. The game quickly sets itself apart by expanding the players world by climbing the tower to reach paradise. Many worlds all about the same size as the one you start in are discovered among the way, all while climbing this treacherous tower. A favorite of mine being the post apocalyptic world not so different from modern day where traveling on the world map above ground makes you target of the worlds final boss you can only run from at first. Most of the story is told through dialog and subtle tells at certain parts that may only make sense in retrospect. Its not the deepest but I like how it tries to make your party members you recruited and created have character and dialog with each other instead of being purely silent heroes with nothing to say along the journey.