Played as part of the Final Fantasy Origins collection for the PlayStation 1.
I take shots at the prices of old games in some of my reviews, but despite recognizing how miserable the market has become, I all too frequently indulge in a bit of Gamer-brained overspending. Typically, I get fixated on one specific series or platform and chip away at every title on my list until I'm satisfied. Recently it's been OPM demo discs and the PlayStation 1 releases of Final Fantasy, which initially started as simply wanting to pick up FFVII and FFVIII before spinning out to everything. Why yes, I spent 35$ on a sealed copy of Final Fantasy Chronicles despite being told repeatedly by people on this very site that at least one of the two included games (Chrono Trigger) is borderline unplayable. I'll never be able to afford a house, but if I buy enough PlayStation crap I can simply build shelter out of jewel cases!
This demented urge to own some of the worst versions of classic Final Fantasy titles also means I'm beholden to finishing them. No longer can I load a ROM of Final Fantasy, beat Garland, shrug and go "that's an old RPG!" No, this is a real game, it exists physically on a disc, I invited it into my home and that means I have formed a contract with it.
The PlayStation version - which itself is based on the WonderSwan Color edition of the game - makes several improvements over the 1987 original, most obviously in presentation, but also by restoring functionality to a staggering amount of spells that were outright busted and potentially harmful to the player. Look, I was also born in 1987 and didn't come out right, so I'm sympathetic. This is a major change that takes a considerable burden off the player, but Origins: Final Fantasy is otherwise faithful to the structure of the NES release, meaning it is no less tedious and demanding.
Encounter rates border on self-parody, and frequently difficulty spikes mean grinding is mandatory. God help you if you decide to skip the late game class upgrades, or worse, forgo having a white mage entirely. There's only one type of restorative potion in the game and it does not scale with you, and since phoenix downs didn't exist yet, Life and Life2 become your only means of reviving downed party members outside of towns. A significant portion of the Final Fantasy experience involves inching your way through dungeons, gaining a level or two, warping out and healing up in town, then running the gauntlet again. You make a bit more progress each time until eventually you're powerful enough to take on the boss.
I have a notebook full of grievances against this game, like how all your attacks miss for the first few hours until you can get better equipment, or how everything costs so damn much that you have to grind Gil using the hidden 15-Puzzle minigame (thank you, Nasir Gebelli.) Just like real life, I'm spending all my money on funny tasting potions so I can't afford a damn cottage. The final dungeon is excessive and brutal and locks you behind a point of no return that can only be circumvented with the Warp spell, so if your White Wizard dies you get to reset the console. I could go on, but all of this is part and parcel with RPGs of its era. It's not like I expected Final Fantasy to be anything other than this and going in knowing it would not be a fully "modernized" enhancement allowed me to sink in and enjoy the game for what it is and not what I would like it to be. And I think I... like this.
There were definitely some rough patches, but Final Fantasy kept me engaged the whole way, and I actually found myself eager to get home and play it. It's been storming out lately, and leaving the blinds open while rain patters against the window and Final Fantasy buzzes on my TV has become something of a comforting experience as my state absorbs the aftermath of California's hurricane. I also have to compliment Final Fantasy for having a functional buff/debuff system that matters and bosses who can be inflicted with status ailments, a layer of strategy that the series pushed away from at some point and trivialized to the point of near unimportance.
Actually sitting down with this game has also given me a greater appreciation for why it caught on here and how important it is to the development of the JRPG genre. Games like Ultima and Wizardy served as strong points of inspiration to Sakaguchi and his team, with mechanics like choosing your own class and elemental affinities having their roots in Western roleplaying games. It's not hard to see why it caught on here when so much of our own DNA is present, and it's hard to imagine what shape roleplaying games would've taken had it not been so successful. If I weren't an embryo when this first released, I bet I would've had a great time with it, warts and all.
Despite ultimately having a good time, Final Fantasy is still antiquated and difficult and tough to recommend. It requires patience and probably a guide (gotta love the obtuseness of late 80s roleplaying games), and it's certainly a good idea to stick to something like Origins or the Pixel Remaster than play the original NES release if you do decide to commit your time and energy to it. I'm glad I did, though. New Weatherby comfort game, for sure. Excited to get to Final Fantasy II, I hear everyone likes that one the most. Yup, nothing but love for Final Fantasy II.
I take shots at the prices of old games in some of my reviews, but despite recognizing how miserable the market has become, I all too frequently indulge in a bit of Gamer-brained overspending. Typically, I get fixated on one specific series or platform and chip away at every title on my list until I'm satisfied. Recently it's been OPM demo discs and the PlayStation 1 releases of Final Fantasy, which initially started as simply wanting to pick up FFVII and FFVIII before spinning out to everything. Why yes, I spent 35$ on a sealed copy of Final Fantasy Chronicles despite being told repeatedly by people on this very site that at least one of the two included games (Chrono Trigger) is borderline unplayable. I'll never be able to afford a house, but if I buy enough PlayStation crap I can simply build shelter out of jewel cases!
This demented urge to own some of the worst versions of classic Final Fantasy titles also means I'm beholden to finishing them. No longer can I load a ROM of Final Fantasy, beat Garland, shrug and go "that's an old RPG!" No, this is a real game, it exists physically on a disc, I invited it into my home and that means I have formed a contract with it.
The PlayStation version - which itself is based on the WonderSwan Color edition of the game - makes several improvements over the 1987 original, most obviously in presentation, but also by restoring functionality to a staggering amount of spells that were outright busted and potentially harmful to the player. Look, I was also born in 1987 and didn't come out right, so I'm sympathetic. This is a major change that takes a considerable burden off the player, but Origins: Final Fantasy is otherwise faithful to the structure of the NES release, meaning it is no less tedious and demanding.
Encounter rates border on self-parody, and frequently difficulty spikes mean grinding is mandatory. God help you if you decide to skip the late game class upgrades, or worse, forgo having a white mage entirely. There's only one type of restorative potion in the game and it does not scale with you, and since phoenix downs didn't exist yet, Life and Life2 become your only means of reviving downed party members outside of towns. A significant portion of the Final Fantasy experience involves inching your way through dungeons, gaining a level or two, warping out and healing up in town, then running the gauntlet again. You make a bit more progress each time until eventually you're powerful enough to take on the boss.
I have a notebook full of grievances against this game, like how all your attacks miss for the first few hours until you can get better equipment, or how everything costs so damn much that you have to grind Gil using the hidden 15-Puzzle minigame (thank you, Nasir Gebelli.) Just like real life, I'm spending all my money on funny tasting potions so I can't afford a damn cottage. The final dungeon is excessive and brutal and locks you behind a point of no return that can only be circumvented with the Warp spell, so if your White Wizard dies you get to reset the console. I could go on, but all of this is part and parcel with RPGs of its era. It's not like I expected Final Fantasy to be anything other than this and going in knowing it would not be a fully "modernized" enhancement allowed me to sink in and enjoy the game for what it is and not what I would like it to be. And I think I... like this.
There were definitely some rough patches, but Final Fantasy kept me engaged the whole way, and I actually found myself eager to get home and play it. It's been storming out lately, and leaving the blinds open while rain patters against the window and Final Fantasy buzzes on my TV has become something of a comforting experience as my state absorbs the aftermath of California's hurricane. I also have to compliment Final Fantasy for having a functional buff/debuff system that matters and bosses who can be inflicted with status ailments, a layer of strategy that the series pushed away from at some point and trivialized to the point of near unimportance.
Actually sitting down with this game has also given me a greater appreciation for why it caught on here and how important it is to the development of the JRPG genre. Games like Ultima and Wizardy served as strong points of inspiration to Sakaguchi and his team, with mechanics like choosing your own class and elemental affinities having their roots in Western roleplaying games. It's not hard to see why it caught on here when so much of our own DNA is present, and it's hard to imagine what shape roleplaying games would've taken had it not been so successful. If I weren't an embryo when this first released, I bet I would've had a great time with it, warts and all.
Despite ultimately having a good time, Final Fantasy is still antiquated and difficult and tough to recommend. It requires patience and probably a guide (gotta love the obtuseness of late 80s roleplaying games), and it's certainly a good idea to stick to something like Origins or the Pixel Remaster than play the original NES release if you do decide to commit your time and energy to it. I'm glad I did, though. New Weatherby comfort game, for sure. Excited to get to Final Fantasy II, I hear everyone likes that one the most. Yup, nothing but love for Final Fantasy II.