Final Fantasy I 20th Anniversary Review
Twenty five years ago, a little known Japanese games development company in Japan, Square, was faced with financial problems. In 1987, they began facing a worldy evil which has been plaguing hundreds of companies. This great evil goes by the name of bankruptcy. After only a few years of development by itself, Square‘s portfolio of unsuccessful games on the Nintendo Family Computer (also known as the “Famicom,” and known internationally as the Nintendo Entertainment System) meant that Square would only have resources for one last effort to save itself.It was during this tumultuous time, Square‘s director of planning and development Hironobu Sakaguchi was tasked with the terrifying task to develop a game that would save Square from collapsing into oblivion. When he was asked on what type of game he was going to make, he replied:
“I don’t think i have what it takes to make a good action game. I think I’m better at telling a good story”
And thus, with the rest of the remaining money in Square, he created a game that would be the first game of many in am internationally acclaimed franchise lasting decades. With this game being the final game developed by the company and that Sakaguchi planned to retire after completing the project, Sakaguchi in a display of gallows’ humour ironically named it Final Fantasy.As fate would have it, Final Fantasy proved to be a major success in Japan and was far from being Square’s final game. Final Fantasy not only saved Square from bankruptcy, it also presented them with one of the most popular game franchise in the world. As of March 2007, there are 28 games in the franchise. This number includes the main installments from Final Fantasy I to Final Fantasy XII, as well as direct sequels and spin-offs. In addition, many of the older titles have been re-released on multiple platforms. As of December 2007, the series has sold over 80 million units worldwide.
For the 20th anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise, Square (now known as SquareEnix) has remade Final Fantasy for the PSP along with Final Fantasy II. The PSP version has higher-resolution 2D graphics, the FMV sequences from the Origins release and the bonus dungeons from the Dawn of Souls release (both Origins and Dawn of souls were remakes of Final Fantasy I). The PSP version also contains an all-new dungeon (titled Labyrinth of Time, is a dungeon with a time limit, in which the player’s HP constantly decreases as time passes. The player is able to exchange abilities such as White Magic usage and the Dash command in order to extend to the time limit, allowing them to delve deeper into the dungeon.), as well as an Art Gallery. The gallery uses the PSP’s high resolution to display high-quality art by Yoshitaka Amano, with new pieces of art being unlocked as the player progresses through the game. Although this version is much much more easier than its ancestor, it is still considered to be the definitive version.
Having played Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X with Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy XII in progress, this is the perfect opportunity to go through the game that started it all. The game starts with you, the player creating a party of four from a selection of different classes (which would in turn be upgraded to another class after performing certain quests in the game thereby making your characters more powerful). The game then begins with the appearance of the four Warriors of Light (i.e. the four character that you’ve just created) who each carry one of the Crystals. They arrive at Cornelia, a powerful kingdom which has just witnessed the kidnapping of its princess, Sara, by a knight named Garland. The main quest is to defeat the four fiends and restore the respective crystal to its rightful place.
The Final Fantasy franchise are synonymous with excellent stories in modern day. However, in its very first game of the franchise, the story is very simple with a nice enough twist at the end. Your adventure will primarily consist of fighting random battles, traveling, fighting random battles, visiting cities and shopping, fighting random battles, visiting dungeons to get Y item or kill X evil, fighting random battles, sailing the seas, fighting random battles, and fighting random battles. This folks, is role-playing game at its most basic.
The battle system is very rudimentary and basic, but keeping in mind the day and age when this game was created, it is a good system. While walking all over the world map, each step you take will have a chance of encountering enemies. The game will switch to a battle screen once the encounter is triggered. Enemy numbers range from one to nine are on the left side of the screen while your four Warriors of Light will be on the right. Each will take their turn to perform attacks, spells or use items. You will gain experience points for defeating enemies and once you reach a certain threshold you will level up to a new level with stats increase, thereby making you more powerful.
Magic is divided into two classes: white magic and black magic. White magic focuses on healing and support, while black magic is geared more toward offensive attacks. In There are a total of eight levels of magic in each school of magic. If allowed by their class, characters in your party can learn and use up to three different spells per magic level. Spells can be discarded as desired but have to be repurchased if you want your old spells back. Most magic spells are purchased in towns, but not all characters are able to use all spells. Class and magic level determines usability.
Many modern critics/reviewers point out that the game has paper-thin storyline, poorly paced by contemporary standards, and involves much more time wandering in search of random battle encounters to raise their experience levels and money than it does exploring and solving puzzles. Although Final Fantasy is over 20 years old, the simplistic old school nostalgic gameplay and charm kept me coming back for more. I’ve clocked in about 30 hours exploring, leveling and arming my little four-man army. This game is obviously not for everyone. Because of its age, Final Fantasy will appeal more to the nostalgic old-school gamers than to new modern RPG fans in general. Collectors will certainly want to add this bit of gaming history to their libraries.
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