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Plot: 4
Graphics: 3
Sound: 4
Game Mechanics: 3
Replay Value: 3
Overall: 7

When Final Fantasy came out, it was one of the first RPGs, a genre that now dominates the gaming world. This game spawned nearly twenty games in the series, spread over six systems. The Final Fantasy Series is currently one of (if not the) most popular gaming series out there. Did the origin deserve to have this empire spring up behind it?

In Final Fantasy, you begin as the Light Warriors, a group of four individuals, each with an Orb. The Orbs are magical crystals whose powers are tied to each respective element of nature (fire, water, wind, and earth). If the Orbs grow dim, then that element begins to falter worldwide. The Orbs have already grown dim, and it is up to the Light Warriors to revive the power of the Orbs. To do so, they must hunt down and defeat the Fiends of each respective element.

As the player, you get to choose who your four Light Warriors will be. To do so, you get to choose between six well-balanced character classes (as well as having the option of having multiple characters of each class). Each character class is unique in what magic spells they can learn, what items they can equip, and what stats are favored as they grow.
The characters learn magic by going to stores and buying a spell. Each character can only “buy” a spell they are capable of casting. This causes the player to put some forethought in their spending, forcing him or her to carefully manage how they buy spells in addition to weapons, armor, and items. Spells have their own ranks depending on what it is and power. There are four spells for each level, though each character can only hold three spells per level. This adds to the challenge by requiring even more forethought on the part of the player. Each spell level has its own MP amount, and each spell casting costs one MP.
The battles are fairly basic in this game, done in a “battle sequence” style. The player inputs commands for each party member, then everyone goes at once. Kind of eliminates in-battle strategy, especially since the turn-order is seemingly random.

Final Fantasy has one side quest (one that many consider to be required). This would eliminate replay value in most games, but this is not where that resides in this game. This game’s replay value lies in the party customization. There are over a thousand character class combinations in this game. Its worth is rather difficult to gauge, though. This is only good if one is willing to play the same game over and over again, each time a different way.

The plot is rather simple, in places, and isn’t always present. The player spends most of the game just “bumping around” accomplishing the goals. What gives this game an above-average plot is the end, which has confused many players and caused much discussion for nearly two decades.
The graphics are above average for the time. It sometimes seems absent, though, especially in battle. In battle, the sprites do their thing on a blank, black screen, with a small strip of background graphics out of sight at the top.
The sound was placed very beautifully, and fit very well with the rest of the game, creating a wonderfully appealing atmosphere. Technically, it was fairly standard.
The Game Mechanics are rather simple, though they did a good job having no precedent to work off of, and a good job of setting the foundation for the games to follow.


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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

It sums up the game well in my opinion. One problem i had was your- It eliminates in battle strategy- comment. Since there is no auto retarget i think it makes battles harder.

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If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

I liked the review, but I was curious about one thing: 1000 different class combinations? Even if you meant classes combined without going to the next class (i.e. BlackBelt -> Master), 1000 isn't possible. Other than that, nothing wrong with it. Very well done.

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You know. I think you're a very special unit.

There're 1,296, to be exact, using a permutation of six classes across four slots since you can have a party that uses all of a single class.

Anyway, I think it's a really good review, but it would be nice if had a final section that looks at it in overall (the Overall Rating section), so there'd be a nice little summary of the whole review showing your thoughts on the game as a whole. Just my two cents.

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~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Zephir is right, but only in the sense that:
BB WM BB BB
is different than
WM BB BB BB
and
BB BB BB WM

for example there are 24 different ways you can order the group from 8BT...
Fi Th RM BM
without changing who is in the group, but each different order of that counts in the 1296.

There are 15 total groups without repeating a class, and each of those has 24 different permutations... thus a loss of 23x15 = 345 and that's just the beginning. I'm sure you can eliminate at least another 500 or so duplicates.

BTW I'm sure there is an easier function to calculate this, but I just can't think of it ATM.


so I think even if you count the class change as different there are less than 1000.
(unless a different order means a different party)
I suppose you could play through the game with your white mage taking all the hits, but that seems somewhat counter-intuitive.

might make a good idea for a new challenge, use your normal party, but in reverse order.
(that usually makes BM mad)

BTW I must apologize, it appears that I'm out to prove someone wrong, I'm not, but I'm kinda anal about math... Sorry

This post has been edited by Aholibamah on 23rd September 2004 17:59

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I'm the root of all that's evil yeah, but you can call me cookie.
-BHG

FF3DS friend code: 4424-8076-6097

Formula for Combinations is:

n!
----
(n-r)!r!

so...the answer for our little equation with 6 classes in 4 places is:
a measly 15.

someone correct me if I'm wrong


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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

Quote

n!
----
(n-r)!r!

this is assuming that all classes are different in each party.
if you can repeat a class, there are many more combinations.

ok, so I'm lame and I did it by hand.

there are 15 combinations that you can have that have 0 repeating characters.
(you can't have 2 of the same type of guy at all)
there are 75 where you have 2 of the same type of guy, but no groups with 3 of the same
there are 30 where you have 3 of the same and one other
and there are 6 groups where you have 4 of the same.

for a grand total of 126 groups

but I'm pretty sure I missed something whilst counting.

This post has been edited by Aholibamah on 23rd September 2004 20:24

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I'm the root of all that's evil yeah, but you can call me cookie.
-BHG

FF3DS friend code: 4424-8076-6097

Quit highjacking my submission

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer