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By Steve Kilpatrick Hey! Do you guys remember games such as Death Trap for the PC or Rad Racer for the NES? Well if you've forgotten them it's just as well because Squaresoft would like nothing better. Hironobu Sakaguchi was so fed up with designing games after those sub par efforts that we almost didn't get this title… which may just turn out to be both his and Squaresoft's saving grace. Final Fantasy Facts This game was called Final Fantasy because it was to be Sakaguchi's last (aka/final) work as a game designer. It was also the final chance for the Japanese based company Squaresoft who hadn't exactly been successful up to this point. For all the grace and dignity that all their other titles lacked Final Fantasy had to make up for them. That's a pretty tall order. It gets even taller. The original Final Fantasy production team had just broken up and due to a less than stellar performance the head of the unit was fired. They called in Hironobu "one foot out the door" Sakaguchi to come in and salvage the project. Did the underachievers at Square have what it took to pull it off. In spades my dears… in spades. Not just every man's Fantasy This game isn't you run of the mill RPG. No sir! It has so much going on that you may want to take notes as you go. There are hoards of enemies, plenty of friends and along the way there is an incredible story that speaks mountains of what the Nintendo shouldn't be able to do but does anyway. To top it all off is a soundtrack from Nobuo Uematsu that the Philharmonic would fight to play. Everything comes together to just Wreak atmosphere. It comes packaged with a map, a bestiary and a thick instruction manual and let me tell you if you've never played an RPG you may want to look over some of that stuff. Why? Because this game is so deep you'll be whipping out the stink bait and the sink lure before it's all said and done(that's really deep). It also comes with a battery backup. This game is too precise to rely on some run of the mill password system. Just don't forget to hold reset when you turn off the power or you could find yourself really frustrated in the morning. Two's company, Three's a crowd, but you'll take what you get you lousy bums! The magic number in Final Fantasy is four. Sometimes that's bad sometimes it's good. Fo(u)r starters you control the "four" Warriors of Light in their quest to rescue princesses, kingdoms, and the four orbs of light. That's pretty cool. Alas(a word that happens to be four letters long) you may be annoyed by the choice of character names. Square only provides you with, you guessed it, four text spaces that limits you to trite names like: Zapp, Korr, Geo, Neo, and Fred. Names like this are enough to bring on more than one four letter word. Oh yeah, there's a game involved too… Where can I start? The story incorporates just about every popular fantasy theme out there. You rescue damsels in distress, wake sleeping royalty, fight pirates, take on powerful wizards, meet friendly witches, fly airships, rediscover ancient cultures, and somehow find time to save the world. It seems that Square focused all the pressure that they felt into the basic theme of the game. Overwhelming odds turned into stunning and satisfying success. With that said let me restate it. When you play Final Fantasy you will be satisfied. The visuals in Final Fantasy are above any before it. There are lush forests, cozy villages and sprawling levels. The music goes right along with the environment and the characters that you meet along the way aren't just your run of the mill riff raff and royalty. They are endearing and personable. You get the entire package and then you get more and more and more. Every time you feel like Square has done plenty they give you something new. Did I mention I like this game? Oops! There is a catch… Square decided that since they did tons of work on the game that you weren't going to be let off the hook. The game boast over 60 hours of gameplay to keep you busy. I guess this would be a good time to explain what an RPG is if you don't know. You walk around a map with a "Top Down" perspective and the monsters and enemies you encounter are all random. This means two important things. In RPGs you gain experience for everything you kill so you spend much of your time beating up on enemies to get stronger faster and more and more pimp. With the battles being random this allows you to wander around and fight for experience as long as you want. On the down side(sort of) it means that you can never kill all the monsters in the world, just the "big ones", leaving the rest in constant roving bands across the land. Oh well, you have to compromise sometimes right? Square's Class Act One defining feature of Final Fantasy is the Class system. Each of the characters you choose can be one of several different origins. The choices include White Wizard, Black Wizard and Red Wizard, Monk, thief and the big bad Fighter. Each has his own unique skills(yes "his" sorry but no females in this one). Some skills are very useful while some are just a neat novelty, but all are… well their freaking cool. If you would like some examples here you go, so stop nagging! Thieves can't steal (but they are one of the most useful characters when they evolve to Ninja so don't feel bad) , wizards use magic, but hold on there's a catch. White wizards can only use white magic, which is mostly curative. Black Wizards can only use black magic which is the prime offensive magic. Red Wizards can use a mix of both, but be wary. Wizards can only master three spells for each level which means Red wizards have to choose their favorite. If that includes 2 black magic spells then he can only use one white magic spell etc. Plus, he can never master the most powerful spells. Monks are masters of the martial arts. They can use some simple weapons but you will find their greatest strength lies in their bare fisted fighting. Fighters on the other hand use the biggest baddest weapons and armor and don't take any crap! The coolest part is the fact that all of your warriors are still young. Later in the game they grow in to adulthood and get even better, but I'll let you see that for yourself. The Final Word… heh heh heh get it.. oh never mind Well if you can't tell by now I love this game. Dragon Warrior introduced me to Role Playing Games but Final Fantasy turned them in to my favorite genre. Nes RPGs don't get any better than this. I sure hope Hironobu Sakaguchi sticks around for another ten years. Thankfully this didn't turn out to be the Final Fantasy it was intended to be. It became much, much more. Bottom Line: Beautiful visuals, perfect music(even for midi), and a brilliant story. If you can ask for more than that you must be an Eagle Scout. I won't say perfection, because if there isn't room for improvement then it would be depressing to wait for a sequel, but it is as close to perfect I have seen on the NES. My Grade? Well, I give it an A+ Squared, if you'll pardon the pun. My Score: A+ |
© 2001-2003 Stephen Maiorana (RoyalRanger)
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