To put it lightly, RPG's that want you to create your own build rather than handing you a pre-made one have been my kryptonite for the longest time. It's why in the past, I've remained the most casual, white bread type of RPG player. The length that this kind of game comes with, the ludicrous amount of possibilities, and the anxiety that the choice I'll end up going with is going to bite me long-term, leading to an outright reset of the entire run... these were all things that overwhelmed me. It's why I couldn't deal with FF7's Materia system, it's why the moment FF6 introduces magic customizability I almost immediately bounced off, and it's why FF4 was - of fucking course - the one I liked.
But, hey, it's good to expand your horizons, and there's a reason why people like these games. What it comes down to is that I have to completely turn off my inner demons, and treat Final Fantasy V as what it is: A game that's meant to last. Once I do that, and once I understand the systems at play, I figure I can head into the later games with a much greater appreciation for what they want out of me, in opposite to what I want out of it.
So, I've beaten Final Fantasy V. And, I must confess, if someone was watching me play it, they would probably want to strangle me by the neck. The thing that harmed my enjoyment the most was my own fault. I somehow managed to find myself in a situation where alongside FF5, I was also in the middle of playing Megami Tensei II, an absolute hellscape of NES RPG difficulty which I couldn't have imagined playing without save states and rewind involved. And as I reached its credits, I realized I still had 15 hours of FF5 left, and despite being in no mood for more turn-based shenanigans, I pushed onward anyway. The thing is, I save stated through Megami Tensei so hard, that mentality rubbed off on how I played FF5 as well, load stating and rewinding before, during, and after every single instance of danger and non-efficient gameplay there was.
In the end, I beat the game, and wrote a 3.5/5 review for it, praising the party customizability options, its wonderful soundtrack, charming sense of humor, but heavily criticizing what I described as "trial 'n error boss fights," under the opinion that a good chunk of bosses rely on "gotchas", requiring specific Job builds that you cannot possibly be aware of on your 1st try, leading either to an inefficient boss fight, or in rarer cases, an instant death. I concluded by saying that FF5 is a bit of a messy game on your 1st run, but in all likelihood, a much better experience on a 2nd run once you know what you're doing. And during my 1st run, I didn't know what I was doing all that often. That review stayed up on Backloggd for about 2 days, give or take.
But... I am here now, rewriting my review of FF5, and changing my score to a 4/5 for two reasons. One being, I felt unfulfilled. That review rubbed me the wrong way from the very start, and I knew exactly why. I became so terminally reliant on save stating my way through games, that I convinced myself that failure was an unacceptable condition. That reflected on my take on the "trial 'n error bosses," essentially saying that if I don't win a boss fight on my 1st try, that boss fight is bad. This couldn't be any stupider of an opinion. Developers don't add failure states into their products because you shouldn't ever see them, nor is the right way to play games "Effortlessly conquer every part of them." It's like solving a crossword, what the fuck is the point if they just give you all the answers? The entire point of a puzzle is to stump you, in the same way the entire point of a challenge is to put you at risk of losing.
The 2nd reason for rewriting my review, is because I have done the unthinkable. Frankly, I don't know if this was the wise thing to do, and it has most definitely contributed to a period of RPG burnout that I'm currently about to head into. But if I didn't do this, this feeling of unsatisfaction would've tortured me for weeks, as it has done so for the several days I allowed it to. Immediately after finishing FF5 and writing out my previous review... I deleted the review, and then began a 2nd run of the game. This time, rewind was disabled, and save states were only utilized just before the start of a boss fight, and nowhere else.
While I haven't yet beaten the 2nd run as of this writing (though i am at the final dungeon by this point), I'm not here because I got bored, or weary, or frustrated. For once in my life, I have wrote a review before finishing my run of a game because I was satisfied with what I've experienced. I think I can now write this review with the full understanding of what makes Final Fantasy 5 a great game.
Suikoden taught me a valuable lesson in RPG's, that the reason why they're called "roleplaying" games is because it's about choosing what type of build you want, rather than succumbing to OCD and thinking the game wants you to try all of them. This lesson, in regards to some RPG's, is a valid one to keep in mind. FF5 taught me a different lesson, a different way to adapt to these sorts of RPG's: You don't have to try every build there is, but that doesn't mean you should be limiting yourself to just one either. With the tools at disposal that FF5 provides, the point isn't to force you out of your favorite build. The real purpose is to get you to find one you like even more.
When you die to a boss fight here, what may be perceived as a "punishment", is actually the game confidently pushing you forward into experimentation. To enforce this, switching Jobs is an instant process, and though you can grind Jobs up to obtain fun abilities, what FF5 cares more about is each Job's starter skillset being unconventionally used to generate surprising and exciting results. There were more than a couple moments where I smiled, or dare I say, pogged out due to strategies that go beyond just mashing the fight button.
FF3's attempt at a Job system was servicable, but ultimately underwhelming, I could never seem to get use out of the more unconventional Jobs, and grinding them up to be of use took too long. What makes FF5 way better is that as you change Jobs, your default stats gained through regular level ups are automatically redistributed to be optimal for the specific Job you're using, thus, they're ready for battle fresh out of the box. This made switching between them a more comfortable process, one that allowed me to enjoy over 19 of the 22 available classes, a sharp increase over FF3, where I only preferred Jobs that were blatant upgrades over the standard knights and mages. Here, nearly everyone is equal in their own unique strengths, and my willingness to step out of my boundaries allowed me to find not just one build that really works, but several. So, you see, FF5 can get away with wanting me to try out lots of different builds. Because it makes it very accessible to do so.
Though I must admit, once you find those few really special abilities, during my 2nd run, it was impossible to resist immediately pursuing them and using them wherever I could. While I still made strides to vary up my build depending on the situation, I frequently came back to X-Fight, the Call ability, Double Wield, and 2-Handed. There's still a part of me that really likes to prioritize high damage numbers over slow and steady progress, which in turn makes me feel like I'm still limiting myself in the ways I'm playing the game. On the other hand, I always have to remember that RPG's are about what works for you, and if I had fun playing it this way (which i did), while keeping in mind other options under other circumstances, then FF5 was still just... really, really fun from a gameplay perspective.
In my scrapped review, something else I complained about was the ATB system, which seemed a little more gimmicky here than in FF4. FF5 is inherently a more strategical game than its predecessor, which had me require more time to think over my options during battle. So the pressure the ATB system adds feels anti-thetical to the whole idea of "think your options through." Additionally, because I changed classes frequently, my menus and the order in which the party attacked kept changing, meaning I kept accidentally tripping up, selecting the wrong things because I was in a rush to outrace the timer before the enemy got their turn in. In this review, I'm still gonna leverage this as a valid critique, alongside the confusion of what the ATB system actually adds to the experience rather than detracts. However, I've found a way to circumvent this issue, and it's as simple as "press start to pause the game, dumbass." From there on, the ATB system becomes significantly more managable.
As for the story, I'm not exactly sure if I've made up my mind on it yet, but despite its seeming shallowness in the standards of today's age, I think I've warmed up to it well enough, that, this... may be the best Final Fantasy story so far? FF1 & FF3 were blank slates, while FF2 & FF4 tried a touch too hard to make me feel emotions for characters I knew for all but minutes. By comparison, FF5 still has a little bit of that "the characters are having bad things happen to them in every step of their journey" thing, but there's a strange certain sincerity to the tone of this game, that makes me feel all warm and cozy just adventuring in it. Maybe it's the characters being more expressive and animated this time around? The fun chocobo dances? Or Bartz's infectious optimism and belief that the solution to every problem is "ah fuck it, let's just do it." Or maybe it's all of those things, and then some. While I'm not sure I buy the idea that the entire game was a deliberate parody of RPG tropes, I can't deny that there's a subtle feeling of fun being had here. Not enough for a deep story, but enough to make you root for these little 16x24 guys. As sometimes, it feels like they're rooting for you.
As for the soundtrack, I'm starting to think that this is where Uematsu really started honing in his craft. FF4 was melodically strong, but had a lot of trumpets. Mind you, FF5 has plenty of them too, but my wish was that the series would start relying less on just this one instrument for every melody it doots out. FF5 is starting to get there, it's starting to lean into other instruments taking priority. "Battle on the Big Bridge" is the biggest example of this, as Uematsu has just discovered an instrument of the gods, the prog rock organ. And within the next games, it becomes very clear that prog rock is what Uematsu is all about. FF5's soundtrack was just a taste of what's to come.
Alright, it's about time to sum this up. Is FF5 a good game? YES!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it is. I needed some time to warm up to it, both for self-inflicted reasons and FF5's specific expectations of how to play it, but once you're in there, it's just really fun. When most people think of RPG's, they tend to think of the story being the main pull, but FF5 was created in an age where gameplay took precedence. And this Job system was the logical endpoint on how to create the most engaging type of RPG gameplay, by removing most manner of restrictions to let you play it in hundreds of different possible ways. The only condition, is that you have to get out of that comfort zone of yours, and let experimentation take course. My instincts fought back at first, anxious over the idea that not all of my time playing the game is being spent on making progress. But there's nothing wrong with that. After all, the nicest thing about RPG's often comes from that feeling of relaxation when you take in and absorb just how much these games give you to do. That, in itself, is progress to understanding the genre. I now feel more than ready to head into the later Final Fantasies, and be able to enjoy them. Thanks for reading this stupid shit.
But, hey, it's good to expand your horizons, and there's a reason why people like these games. What it comes down to is that I have to completely turn off my inner demons, and treat Final Fantasy V as what it is: A game that's meant to last. Once I do that, and once I understand the systems at play, I figure I can head into the later games with a much greater appreciation for what they want out of me, in opposite to what I want out of it.
So, I've beaten Final Fantasy V. And, I must confess, if someone was watching me play it, they would probably want to strangle me by the neck. The thing that harmed my enjoyment the most was my own fault. I somehow managed to find myself in a situation where alongside FF5, I was also in the middle of playing Megami Tensei II, an absolute hellscape of NES RPG difficulty which I couldn't have imagined playing without save states and rewind involved. And as I reached its credits, I realized I still had 15 hours of FF5 left, and despite being in no mood for more turn-based shenanigans, I pushed onward anyway. The thing is, I save stated through Megami Tensei so hard, that mentality rubbed off on how I played FF5 as well, load stating and rewinding before, during, and after every single instance of danger and non-efficient gameplay there was.
In the end, I beat the game, and wrote a 3.5/5 review for it, praising the party customizability options, its wonderful soundtrack, charming sense of humor, but heavily criticizing what I described as "trial 'n error boss fights," under the opinion that a good chunk of bosses rely on "gotchas", requiring specific Job builds that you cannot possibly be aware of on your 1st try, leading either to an inefficient boss fight, or in rarer cases, an instant death. I concluded by saying that FF5 is a bit of a messy game on your 1st run, but in all likelihood, a much better experience on a 2nd run once you know what you're doing. And during my 1st run, I didn't know what I was doing all that often. That review stayed up on Backloggd for about 2 days, give or take.
But... I am here now, rewriting my review of FF5, and changing my score to a 4/5 for two reasons. One being, I felt unfulfilled. That review rubbed me the wrong way from the very start, and I knew exactly why. I became so terminally reliant on save stating my way through games, that I convinced myself that failure was an unacceptable condition. That reflected on my take on the "trial 'n error bosses," essentially saying that if I don't win a boss fight on my 1st try, that boss fight is bad. This couldn't be any stupider of an opinion. Developers don't add failure states into their products because you shouldn't ever see them, nor is the right way to play games "Effortlessly conquer every part of them." It's like solving a crossword, what the fuck is the point if they just give you all the answers? The entire point of a puzzle is to stump you, in the same way the entire point of a challenge is to put you at risk of losing.
The 2nd reason for rewriting my review, is because I have done the unthinkable. Frankly, I don't know if this was the wise thing to do, and it has most definitely contributed to a period of RPG burnout that I'm currently about to head into. But if I didn't do this, this feeling of unsatisfaction would've tortured me for weeks, as it has done so for the several days I allowed it to. Immediately after finishing FF5 and writing out my previous review... I deleted the review, and then began a 2nd run of the game. This time, rewind was disabled, and save states were only utilized just before the start of a boss fight, and nowhere else.
While I haven't yet beaten the 2nd run as of this writing (though i am at the final dungeon by this point), I'm not here because I got bored, or weary, or frustrated. For once in my life, I have wrote a review before finishing my run of a game because I was satisfied with what I've experienced. I think I can now write this review with the full understanding of what makes Final Fantasy 5 a great game.
Suikoden taught me a valuable lesson in RPG's, that the reason why they're called "roleplaying" games is because it's about choosing what type of build you want, rather than succumbing to OCD and thinking the game wants you to try all of them. This lesson, in regards to some RPG's, is a valid one to keep in mind. FF5 taught me a different lesson, a different way to adapt to these sorts of RPG's: You don't have to try every build there is, but that doesn't mean you should be limiting yourself to just one either. With the tools at disposal that FF5 provides, the point isn't to force you out of your favorite build. The real purpose is to get you to find one you like even more.
When you die to a boss fight here, what may be perceived as a "punishment", is actually the game confidently pushing you forward into experimentation. To enforce this, switching Jobs is an instant process, and though you can grind Jobs up to obtain fun abilities, what FF5 cares more about is each Job's starter skillset being unconventionally used to generate surprising and exciting results. There were more than a couple moments where I smiled, or dare I say, pogged out due to strategies that go beyond just mashing the fight button.
FF3's attempt at a Job system was servicable, but ultimately underwhelming, I could never seem to get use out of the more unconventional Jobs, and grinding them up to be of use took too long. What makes FF5 way better is that as you change Jobs, your default stats gained through regular level ups are automatically redistributed to be optimal for the specific Job you're using, thus, they're ready for battle fresh out of the box. This made switching between them a more comfortable process, one that allowed me to enjoy over 19 of the 22 available classes, a sharp increase over FF3, where I only preferred Jobs that were blatant upgrades over the standard knights and mages. Here, nearly everyone is equal in their own unique strengths, and my willingness to step out of my boundaries allowed me to find not just one build that really works, but several. So, you see, FF5 can get away with wanting me to try out lots of different builds. Because it makes it very accessible to do so.
Though I must admit, once you find those few really special abilities, during my 2nd run, it was impossible to resist immediately pursuing them and using them wherever I could. While I still made strides to vary up my build depending on the situation, I frequently came back to X-Fight, the Call ability, Double Wield, and 2-Handed. There's still a part of me that really likes to prioritize high damage numbers over slow and steady progress, which in turn makes me feel like I'm still limiting myself in the ways I'm playing the game. On the other hand, I always have to remember that RPG's are about what works for you, and if I had fun playing it this way (which i did), while keeping in mind other options under other circumstances, then FF5 was still just... really, really fun from a gameplay perspective.
In my scrapped review, something else I complained about was the ATB system, which seemed a little more gimmicky here than in FF4. FF5 is inherently a more strategical game than its predecessor, which had me require more time to think over my options during battle. So the pressure the ATB system adds feels anti-thetical to the whole idea of "think your options through." Additionally, because I changed classes frequently, my menus and the order in which the party attacked kept changing, meaning I kept accidentally tripping up, selecting the wrong things because I was in a rush to outrace the timer before the enemy got their turn in. In this review, I'm still gonna leverage this as a valid critique, alongside the confusion of what the ATB system actually adds to the experience rather than detracts. However, I've found a way to circumvent this issue, and it's as simple as "press start to pause the game, dumbass." From there on, the ATB system becomes significantly more managable.
As for the story, I'm not exactly sure if I've made up my mind on it yet, but despite its seeming shallowness in the standards of today's age, I think I've warmed up to it well enough, that, this... may be the best Final Fantasy story so far? FF1 & FF3 were blank slates, while FF2 & FF4 tried a touch too hard to make me feel emotions for characters I knew for all but minutes. By comparison, FF5 still has a little bit of that "the characters are having bad things happen to them in every step of their journey" thing, but there's a strange certain sincerity to the tone of this game, that makes me feel all warm and cozy just adventuring in it. Maybe it's the characters being more expressive and animated this time around? The fun chocobo dances? Or Bartz's infectious optimism and belief that the solution to every problem is "ah fuck it, let's just do it." Or maybe it's all of those things, and then some. While I'm not sure I buy the idea that the entire game was a deliberate parody of RPG tropes, I can't deny that there's a subtle feeling of fun being had here. Not enough for a deep story, but enough to make you root for these little 16x24 guys. As sometimes, it feels like they're rooting for you.
As for the soundtrack, I'm starting to think that this is where Uematsu really started honing in his craft. FF4 was melodically strong, but had a lot of trumpets. Mind you, FF5 has plenty of them too, but my wish was that the series would start relying less on just this one instrument for every melody it doots out. FF5 is starting to get there, it's starting to lean into other instruments taking priority. "Battle on the Big Bridge" is the biggest example of this, as Uematsu has just discovered an instrument of the gods, the prog rock organ. And within the next games, it becomes very clear that prog rock is what Uematsu is all about. FF5's soundtrack was just a taste of what's to come.
Alright, it's about time to sum this up. Is FF5 a good game? YES!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it is. I needed some time to warm up to it, both for self-inflicted reasons and FF5's specific expectations of how to play it, but once you're in there, it's just really fun. When most people think of RPG's, they tend to think of the story being the main pull, but FF5 was created in an age where gameplay took precedence. And this Job system was the logical endpoint on how to create the most engaging type of RPG gameplay, by removing most manner of restrictions to let you play it in hundreds of different possible ways. The only condition, is that you have to get out of that comfort zone of yours, and let experimentation take course. My instincts fought back at first, anxious over the idea that not all of my time playing the game is being spent on making progress. But there's nothing wrong with that. After all, the nicest thing about RPG's often comes from that feeling of relaxation when you take in and absorb just how much these games give you to do. That, in itself, is progress to understanding the genre. I now feel more than ready to head into the later Final Fantasies, and be able to enjoy them. Thanks for reading this stupid shit.
FranKle
3 months ago