For my first written review project, I intend to play through the essential decades-old RPG franchise Final Fantasy. Using my PS Vita as the console of choice, this gives me access to the majority of the PS1, PSP and digital titles in the series. Where better to start then, than the first title in the series, the original Final Fantasy?
When this title originally launched on the NES system in 1987, I was yet to be born and my gaming hobby several long years away. Historically, this game is known to be a title that changed around the fortunes of Squaresoft and gave them a fresh IP to establish a core franchise. The title was ultimately somewhat ironic, having been intended as a literal 'Final Fantasy' for Square but resulting in something of a rebirth, as well as wide spread popularisation of the RPG genre and providing a pivotal title in the catalogue of Nintendo's flagship console.
Story
Final Fantasy's story is, by modern standards, relatively straightforward and threadbare. The notion of character development (outside of gameplay) is all but nonexistent. Your group of four heroes barely utter a word throughout the entirety of the adventure, while the NPCs in the world seemingly exist to provide vague directions and only the smallest hints at a background to the world.
The four Warriors of Light are unnamed, an element which is left entirely to the player. They appear as heroes of legend in the city of Cornelia to assist the King with the rescue of his daughter, imprisoned by the renegade Garland. From here, the story takes a turn for grandiose with the heroes being given the task of restoring the four elemental crystals to grace (Earth, Fire, Water and Wind - 'Go Planet'?). The story is the personification of good against evil, with the heroes ultimately squaring off against the villain aptly-named Chaos.
For all my seeming cynicism, the tale is charming in its simplicity and lacks the bloat that modern day RPGs provide. It is fast paced enough that you will only lose interest if you are unable to deduce your next location. The fast pace of the story allows the focus to remain primarily on the gameplay itself and this is what will keep you coming back for more.
The game is also responsible for introducing some core icons of the Final Fantasy franchise, for example the first appearance of Bahamut the Dragon Lord, and Cid (the reference added in later remakes but absent from the NES original), as well as magic spells including the '-aga' naming tropes, among others. All of these elements would go on to appear time and again in later Final Fantasy titles.
Visuals
Final Fantasy showcases a varied and bright colour palette. You should not find yourself tiring of the visuals as cartoony as they may appear by modern standards. The world design possesses a lot of charm, and the personalities of the villages, dungeons and people within the world are conveyed well by the technology available. Even the dungeons are varied by being themed around an element - for example, the Fire dungeon takes place in a volcano.
That said, don't expect much in terms of variety when you enter certain towns - the Dwarf Cave and Elfheim for example, have townspeople whom look identical to one another. Cities like Cornelia have more variety of townspeople, however usage of iconography is applied consistently across the towns and villages - Churches and the shops in each town are easily identifiable by the signs outside. The towns themselves are all very distinct and, once visited, you should be able to recall the majority of locations by their design.
The fortune of the game having received a modern makeover gives the visuals a flair that brings the whole game into the twenty first century in a positive way, whilst still remaining true to its source material. The game succeeds in looking both retro and modern enough to seem superior to the NES original in every way.
Music
This game is packed out with some incredibly catchy ditties - beware that many of the often repeated tunes will begin to grate on you with time. I found myself playing particularly grindy areas such as dungeons on mute rather than facing the prospect of hearing the battle theme yet again. This is without mentioning the themes for villages and shops driving me to near insanity very early on.
Worthy of note are the following tracks - World Map, Battle (at least at first), Matoya's Theme and Chaos Shrine. Each track is filled with a sense of adventure and contains a tune that will riddle it's way into your brain before you know it.
The soundtrack is also worth note for introducing the renowned victory fanfare, the prelude and main theme of the Final Fantasy series, which repeat across the absolute majority of the series.
Gameplay
The game play is what sets this title apart. It is simplistic, due mainly to its age I have no doubt. There is nonetheless something compelling about the game play that will continue to draw you back until the adventure is complete.
The game's turn-based battle system is easy to learn and rewarding with battles that generally are not too time consuming. This works particularly well on the Vita where you can pick up and play within a dungeon as you wish - the added bonus of being able to save at any time make this all the more enjoyable and takes away the tiresome gruel of slogging through dungeons.
The class system allows for rich and varied game play on repeat playthroughs, however I have always been satisfied with the relatively standard assortment of Warrior, Thief, White Mage and Black Mage. Those looking to have radically different playthroighs will surely find a lot to like in the class system.
Advancement throughout the game is not tiresome, those willing to take their time in dungeons will obtain the best loot (Adamantite and the Masamune for example), whilst magic spells and standard equipment sets can be purchased throughout the villages in game using the games currency system of gil, earned through battles, selling your items and via treasure chests.
One hang-up I did find with the game was the lack of clarity in the games directions - there were multiple times where I found myself frustrated by skipping steps of the story accidentally (for instance with the Dark Elf Astos), or after completing one task I found the in-game hints too vague to ascertain where I actually needed to travel to next without missing anything - referring to an online guide can help but I always prefer to proceed without.
The game possesses both an easy and normal difficulty level for those looking for replayability. The level cap is adjusted across both (50 for normal, 99 for easy) - play on normal for the experience most similar to the original release. Additionally, the inclusion of a Bestiary allows for tracking each of the monsters you have defeated, which for the completists, offers the incentive to track down the games rarer monsters such as the Tyrannosaurus and War Mech.
This addition of the game also includes bonus dungeons, which I found to be the most grueling experience of the game by far, but also the most challenging and rewarding. They are skippable as they are not part of the core game, however should you wish to take on each of the five new dungeons be prepared for up to forty levels of dungeon (in one instance) containing four different bosses. Each dungeon contains easter egg bosses which are pulled from Final Fantasy III, IV, V and VI. During the course of completing these dungeons I developed an addiction to the completion of the bestiary which gave me reason enough to trawl through these dungeons multiple times in search of rare monsters. The fifth dungeon, the Labyrinth of Time, presents a final additional dungeon to complete. Ultimately, while these dungeons are very repetitive on subsequent runthroughs, as soon as you really get into them you will find that you have sunk almost as much time into them as the story's main quest.
Summary
In short, Final Fantasy is a worthwhile game to purchase. My initial runthrough took around twenty hours for story completion, with a further thirteen hours on top for completion of bonus content.
Do not expect to play a game with the same strengths as more modern games - despite the lick of paint and bonus content, this is still at its heart a 1980s RPG with all the simple charm and technical drawbacks that are entailed.
Nonetheless a fun game to play through, and for those with an interest in the series' roots, this provides a great way to satisfy any curiosity you might have. Challenging, charming and addictive.
RANKING: 4/5
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