AKI Man
Legend
By now, Final Fantasy is a household name, even among non-gamers. It simultaneously sums up everything dork and everything beautiful about gaming. The twelve games in the series proper have sold an outrageous 40 million copies, and have all been critical darlings. Not only that, but there’s been two full-length CGI films of the series (one standalone, the other a sequel to Final Fantasy VII, considered to be one of the best entries in the series), one anime film based off themes from the first six games, and a series that spins off of VII. Final Fantasy hearkens all the way back to the days of the NES, and when it hit, it hit hard in the hearts of gamers the world over fluent in dorkonese (ATHF reference).
Final Fantasy was so titled because the company producing the game had one more chance to create a hit game before they had to close up shop. I know that sounds ludicrous nowadays, but that’s how it was. So they made Final Fantasy. The game tells the story of 4 young adventurers, bound together in a time of crisis. You see, they got their mitts on the shards of a legendary crystal, which has the power to save the world, should the world ever be cast in an evil shadow. Of course, the world gets cast in an evil shadow, and it’s up to these four to save the world. Maybe that sounds a little standard for games of the era, but Final Fantasy’s plot is surprisingly deep. It takes awhile before it shifts into high speed, but when it does, you’ll find it was certainly worth the wait. It explores time travel and the occult, and that’s just on the surface. The gameplay takes its cue from the popular table top RPG Dungeons and Dragons. You pick your characters classes in the beginning of the game, and there are several to pick from, including Warriors, Fighters, Thieves, and the inimitable Blue Mage. I named my characters Roland, Eddie, Kahlan, and Darken. Straight literary references. Look ‘em up. Anyway, the gameplay has obviously come a long way since the inaugural title, but that doesn’t mean gameplay was bad in this. In fact, quite the opposite. Gameplay can be quite fast-paced, and rarely feels boring, even if your characters do move a little slow on the world map. Should you run into an enemy (and true to fashion), they are randomly generated, and you never see them until you are attacked. Your characters line up, and so do the enemy, and you trade hits until one party is all dead. It sometimes feels like you can be up against some insurmountable odds, but don’t worry, the game starts off easy enough to get you acquainted with how it works, and by the time the difficulty ramps up, you’ll be used to it and be able to micromanage your way to victory. Final Fantasy’s combat is all about strategy, which attack to use from which character that has the most chance to do damage and when. This thinking man’s game is fun, no doubt. Not only that, but there are several colorful areas and characters to explore and meet, and there are several good items to pick up.
The graphics may look definitely NES-ish today, in the mid-eighties at the game’s release, they were grand in scope and awe-inspiring. The characters were wonderfully detailed, the enemies all remarkably unique, and each town had its own personality. From booming castles to underground caves to rundown villages, each place had the ability to leave a distinct impression on your mind. You’ll get several different modes of travel as well, and they are all awesome. Not only that, of all NES games, graphically, this one has the most imposing ending boss battles. Really, most of the bosses look great. I would have liked for that Vampire to be in it a little more than he was. And we must never forget Garland the Knight. Anyway, yeah, Final Fantasy looked great.
Final Fantasy, aurally, was known as the first big impression from Nobuo Uematsu. His ever-shifting melodies and juxtapositions are beautiful, even with the limited software, even though software limitations haven’t ever stopped the game from sounding beautiful. I also believe this game, like all the rest, has its own soundtrack album, and like all the rest, it deserves it. The sound effects are superb as well, each one never sounding Block-breaker stupid or anything. In Value, Final Fantasy has spades. Not only is the game a classic to own, if you try to get all the items for your characters and level them up at least to the point where things are just gravy, you’re looking at about 30 hours of gameplay. That’s good for an RPG today, let alone back in the days of the NES. Now, on the other hand, with so many more Final Fantasy games available (the last of the twelve to be released in the States up to this point just came out on the DS), the only thing that’ll have you coming back for a SECOND thirty hours is nostalgia.
All in all, Final Fantasy is the start of a great video gaming tradition that never went bad. It’s weakest chapters tower over lesser games, and this one was the start of it al
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