Final Fantasy 1 - Lacking But Charming
Due to a recent addiction to Final Fantasy 14 and its liberal reuse of the series staples, Crystals, Cid, Chocobos. It gave me an urge to go back and try out some of the series older entries. I have finished FF7 a few times and played if not finished 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 16. The series has always compelled me but with the more recent games requiring 100’s of hours, I struggle to get stuck in. But with pixel remasters of the first 6 games making them accessible outside of emulators, I thought it was time to give them a try. Starting was the first game I was surprised how well this game held up. After playing early games in the Dragon Quest series that did not compel me, Final Fantasy was a simple RPG with ton of charm, but my smooth experience could be due to features added in the remaster.
To be clear this review is only relevant to the pixel remasters. While I am happy to spend time grinding in an RPG the boosts that increase Gil and EXP from battles kept the games pace up and stopped any drag. A bestiary informing me of enemy weakness made fights smoother and a dungeon map showing chest location, along with the ability to turn off enemy encounters made exploration a breeze. While I did not abuse these features, I feel it is only right to be honest that my experience was streamlined thanks to them.
Story 3/10
The world is governed by four crystals that control, wind, earth, fire and water. Four fiends have been unleashed blocking the power of the crystals. With the world in chaos four heroes of light appear to combat the fiends and save the world. While basic there is a simple charm to the story that caries you through the game. It is lacking a lot of the motifs or memorable iconography of later FF games and much more inspiration from other works of fantasy and Dungeons and dragons. Which can leave the game feeling less unique after experiencing the later entries. In its early hours the game spends some time embroiling you in smaller issues. A knight has stolen a princess; a town has been overrun by pirates and an elf king has been cursed to a sleep without end. The feeling of going town to town and solving smaller issues and gain tangible rewards like your own ship is a great driving force, NPC’s do a great job of giving you enough information that if you pay attention progress is clear. Sadly, these smaller tasks are replacing with traveling to 4 locations to defeat fiends and return power to the crystals.
These grander tasks mean the actual story is at a standstill until all four are found. Momentum slows and little new information is gained. You travel through caves, volcanos, underwater cities and a city in the sky. Lastly you find the chaos shrine and are sent back 2000 years into the past to fight an old foe turn into chaos personified. You informed of a never-ending time loop that the heroes of light must break. When did this cycle start, the game does not know, have we truly broken the loop, I am not sure. While the loop is an interesting idea, it comes from nowhere and little explanation is given.
The story does what it needs and gives context to your adventuring, but its bigger ideas are given little time to breath and its smaller adventures stick around for a short time. I feel that even if some of the desolate towns effected by the crystals were returned to life after a fiends defeat it would give you a feeling that your actions are having an effect. But in a time where stories in games where an afterthought, the fact it left me with some interesting ideas to ponder on is nice.
Characters - 2/10
Being brutally honest, there are very few actual characters in this game. There is only one I can think of that shows up more than twice and has any significant story importance. To avoid spoiling the only twist in the game I will refrain from saying who that is. It is strange to play an RPG where there isn’t more than a couple of people to connect to. The four Warriors of light are all nameless lacking even a role that you didn’t pick for them. The only character growth they have is gaining class upgrade thanks to Bahamut the Dragon King. There are a couple of memorable NPCs The knight Garland of Cornelia, The Pirate Bikke who claims to reform his life after losing one fight and that is all. The NPC’s can be endearing but lack more of then a single line of dialogue.
World - 3/10
The world in this Final Fantasy lacks even a name which says a lot. It is a world filed with multiple kingdoms spread over a few closely connected continents. Each land mass features the following, Grassland, Rough Terrain, Forrest, Mountains and a desert. These changes are mostly superficial only changing the background of your fights and having some sway over the type of enemy you will face. Mountains sometimes contain caves, but they are mostly wall. The rouge terrain only exists to restrict where the airship can land, and rivers and oceans contain aquatic enemy’s but are progress barriers. There are no major biome shifts other than deserts, but these are fictionally no different from anywhere else. The only real change seen in the world to reflect your achievements are NPC’s responses.
Towns don’t degrade or repair depending on your actions. There is one instance of you and a dwarf causing massive ecological damage, but this might as well be you opening a door. Its a world that fails to leave a large impact, even now I find it hard to even remember the names of any town. What is worse is the overworld is lacking any secret or location that isn’t connected to the critical path. There is very little reason to explore off the beaten path as the story will take you everywhere you need to go. There is a single instance where you can explore a dungeon that isn’t required and the reward is one of the best in the game, even one or two more of these would if added some mystery to the world.
Visuals and Aesthetics - 5/10
Reminder for this and the following section that I am playing the pixel remaster. It does feature the ability to switch between modern and classic visuals. But the modern is just a texture placed over everything that blurs the crisp pixels. While sometimes some enemies can look a bit like a mess when they try to add to many details. You can usually tell what each creature is at first look, fishmen, dragons and eldritch beings all hold up after seeing them for the hundredth time. I do wish there was more to differentiate between boss monsters and the general mobs you come against. It isn’t until the final boss that a change in location and perspective gives you the feeling that you are fighting something that poses a true threat. Each class give your character a different look, most of which have become iconic like black and white mage’s, meeting Bahamut your classes evolve, and it is impressive that the characters change feels substantial. Menus are basic but fictional offering very little flare.
Sound Design and Music - 7/10
I played through Final Fantasy with the original score, while the arranged may be fine I wanted to get a feel for the original. The songs in this game that are good have gone on to be iconic, the prelude builds an atmosphere of mystery and magic, the opening theme, feels like a hopeful start to an adventure, with the main theme I’m crossing fields and climbing mountains in my mind. Entering a town the sounds give the vibe of a medieval village getting on with its day. While the dungeon theme is chaos and confusion while you dart from room to room fending off swarms of beasts. The Battle track sounds like the clashing of blades and warriors dodging swipes. It is lucky these tunes are great with how often you will be hearing them. But they are strong, and the motifs used here return throughout the series. I also do a small dance every time I hear the victory tune.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 6/10
I have played few JRPG’s I’m my time and while this is old it feels fully formed. Learning status effects and its counters, weakness and the spells to apply correct ailments. It is immediately intuitive and flows. It does require a time investment, no matter how much you learn an enemy weakness you still need to spend some time grinding out mobs to level up. I will admit I did use some boosters to speed up the grinding. I finished the game at level 60 which from some quick googling is either a fine level or far too much (who is beating chaos at level 35). The final boss still killed me once, while I was working out how to manage damage and healing from his big spells.
The truly great feature is the ability to start the game with a team of any of the classes. I had a warrior, monk, white mage and black mage. But with two other job, thief and red mage and each having their own advanced version, along with most spell level having four choices but only three slot to equip there is a plethora of choices to change up how you play. Want to try and beat the game with four black mage’s go for it. While clearly basic compared to later games in the series and the fact I already enjoy turn based RPG’s the whole experience felt intuitive and comfortable.
Level Design - 6/10
While we have talked about the world map offering very little in the way of exploration, the dungeons are another matter. The first real experience with a dungeon is the caves, where you are tasked with finding a crown. Coming here unprepared is hell with most monsters being able to poison you, bringing a ton of antidotes or saving cash to teach your white mage a spell to remove poison is the only way through. This dungeon is overall very basic, three levels with many rooms containing chests some empty. It is an endurance run, deciding how far you can push yourself not knowing how deep it goes. Each floor only has one entrance and exit so it is clear where you need to go but not how far. Added with chests being able to contain monsters, if you are struggling even rewards become a threat. As the game continues, and you have levelled and gained enough potions to drown a dragon the endurance aspect is lessened. This is when dungeons transition into mazes. Some paths blocked requiring you to find correct route, teleporters that can progress or take you back to the start. There are two dungeons in a row with hazardous terrain that damages you to walk over. The dungeons are nothing crazy, but each is distinct in its theme and are memorable.
Player Reward and Replay - 6/10
While there is very little off the beaten path and the game does not contain explicit side quests. The game does offer rewards to the players who have long memories. Returning an item to a blacksmith can net you a powerful weapon. It is undermined slightly by finding a better weapon in the following dungeon. The game itself offers the player very little in completion rewards. But with its reasonable length and its ability to mix and match its 6 jobs I can see myself booting the game up every now and again and running through with a new group.
Fun - 7 / 10
Fun isn’t how I would describe my time with Final Fantasy, I was comfortable, it felt like getting cosy with a coffee and a book. Nostalgic for something I never played, I dabbled a few hours a night and was content with my time. When the rain was battering my window, I was comfy traveling the world fighting monsters and being lulled into a trance with the grind to level up and hear that wonderful victory song.
Frustration - 9/10
For a game that is this old there is a surprising lack of Jank. I don’t know how much that has to do with the pixel remaster, boosters provided a smoother time but there was a surprising lack of friction with its systems, story or traversal. The game is not difficult but requires just enough thought with some of its bosses to engage.
Conclusion
Final Fantasy 1 rarely feels its age when playing. While the visuals, story telling characters and world are basic. Everything else is strong enough to allow you to ignore some of those shortcomings. I can see myself easy buying it on my phone to play during lunch breaks. If you are looking for a solid RPG that won’t take you hundreds of hours or a lot of mental commitment. I am happy to say I can happily recommend Final Fantasy, while it is lacking it is charming in so many ways.