Final Fantasy V is Awesome: The CoNcast Episode 30

Posted on Monday 18th May 2015 at 18:37 by Rangers51

For our thirtieth episode, here's a CoNcast that we've had in the can for far too long. In the vein of our previous recordings, discussing why Final Fantasy VI is awesome and then later the same for Final Fantasy IV, we turn our attention to the third game covered on CoN: Final Fantasy V.

Final Fantasy V is sometimes maligned among the canon of Final Fantasy games, but that's not really fair. There is a great deal of stuff in Final Fantasy V that is done exceedingly well, and we're here to point those things out to you as a public service to those who haven't played it in years or at all. That said, because the consensus around this game isn't as easy to get to than our previous games, you'll get more debate to enjoy this time around as well.

As mentioned, this is an old cast that got repeatedly bumped down the schedule for other things. Ignore any dated references, and Neal's busted mic which he's since fixed!

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes, This Episode

Posted in: CoNcasts

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Rangers51

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Member Since: 1997-07-31

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Comments

Death Penalty

Comment 1: 2015-05-27 19:08

In which Death Penalty gives FFV the most back-handed compliment possible

Glenn Magus Harvey

Comment 2: 2015-07-04 06:17

Re Speedrunners and the grapple hooks: I can imagine that being totally chaotic and really fun. As a person who enjoys a bit of fun chaos in multiplayer games, you've piqued my interest.

As for my experience with FF5 -- it's the third FF game that I played, I think. I know I played it after FF4 and FF6. I think I played it before I touched FF3, FF7, or FFTA. I've beaten it once. I played RPGe's fan-translation of the SNES version.

The way I played it was that I basically tried to get every character to master every class. That was too tedious and I stopped once I got to the end of the game, but I had mastered at least enough different ones that I got to have quite a selection to choose from, for abilities for my four mimics.

Playing through the game I did notice that it felt more difficult than FF4 (at least FF2US) and FF6. I felt this was a welcome difference.

My main enjoyment of FF5, oddly enough, was not so much the character classes -- though they did provide a welcome variety to the gameplay -- but actually the story.

I care a lot about story in videogames, and oddly, I enjoyed the story of FF5. In fact, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I think it's better than FF4's. It doesn't try to throw in a huge number of fantasy elements and plot devices, but instead it has a relatively straightforward plot. But in having that straightforward plot, it presents it with quite a bit of grandeur -- one remark I often make about FF5's presentation is that Exdeath at first seemed like some crazy fantasy villain type that always just runs from you and then turns out to be piss-easy when you actually finally fight him, but instead, he actually kicks your ass and thus actually feels legitimately dangerous and imposing. FF5 has a better and more coherently designed setting than FF4 does (which felt like a fantasy setting with lots of disparate elements thrown together), and it has fewer but more meaningful plot twists than FF4 does, making the story as a whole far more satisfying.

And there are just various points in the game that would fill me with awe -- the most impressive of which has got to be the final dungeon, with its ominous music, ten or fifteen or so different bosses, and a marathon series of pieces of the game world, including the "other half" of the mysterious town of Mirage. It really did feel like I'd entered another dimension. In general, I enjoyed features like that which laszlow praised about how the worlds came together and changed details on the map.

Yes, I took FF5's story seriously, and enjoyed it. No, I don't laugh at the evil tree when the evil tree can kick my ass and fully intends to do so.

I also quite enjoyed FF5's soundtrack, though it's about on par with FF4's, perhaps a little better -- nothing like its story being noticeably more enjoyable then FF4's. Oddly, Battle on the Big Bridge isn't anywhere near my favorite track -- my favorite is Exdeath's battle theme, also known as "The Decisive Battle".

Re FF5's place in the FF lineage

I know y'all did mention how this was a predecessor to FFT's job system, but there are also a few more subtle things, such as how it contributed to the design of FF6's character classes -- the mimic is the best example.

Speaking of FFT, I've finally picked that up, and I might actually go play it sometime...

what would I say to someone about FF5? Well, despite my enjoying the story as much as I did, I've learned that most people don't seem to care much for it, so I'd cite the job system.

Also, I insist that RPGe's translation is the canon one. With the possible exception that the starting protagonist's name should actually be Bartz.

And I remember that banner ad!

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