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- FF Odyssey
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By: wsim
This
game doesn't need much of an introduction, it was the game that started it all,
as they say. Final Fantasy was the game that started off one of the great
franchises in gaming history. The game happened to be quite good for it's
time period and was a bit more in-depth than the usual storylines that existed
in RPG games throughout the time period or found earlier. However, it
still pales in comparison to the current RPGs of today, which is expected as
this game is pretty much over 13 years old since it was initially released for
North America. However, it was originally released for the Famicom in
1987 for Japan. The game was developed under the circumstances that Squaresoft
was in real trouble and this was supposed to be their final and best effort
for the time period. Never in Sakaguchi's wildest dreams would he realize
that the original Final Fantasy would be a breakthrough for RPG games in general
and be the birth of a great franchise in the gaming genre. Yet, that is
what happened, now as we compare the likes of FFX or such, the difference is
astounding, yet many of the basic elements remain the same. As I review
this game, it is pretty interesting to see how the series has grown and progressed
over the past decade and a bit.
The world is decimated by strange factors involving
the 4 elemental Crystals, Fire, Earth, Wind and Water. Apparently, something
or someone has messed around with them. The evil Garland, a rebellious
soldier, kidnaps the Princess of Coneria and takes her captive, much to the
worry and dismay of the King. He finds the 4 chosen "Warriors of light"
and gets them to save the Princess from Garland. As they save the Princess,
they soon realize later on that Garland is
under the service of another evil being and it does involve the 4 Crystals.
The Light warriors discover that the world
itself is in disarray, mainly due to the weakening
light of the crystals which are causing the elements of Fire, Earth, Wind and
Water to roam free and they are not working in correct order. Along the
way, the warriors help cure the Prince of an Elf Kingdom from an illness and
help out various towns and people in their quest. Eventually,
they see the Dragon King, Bahamut and he grants them access to greater powers
in order to defeat the dark menace, Chaos, who is responsible for the plight
of the world. Finally, as they obtain the 4 orbs and relight the crystals
again, they set out to encounter Chaos in which the battle would determine the
fate of the entire world and it is their destiny, in the end.
Analysis/Ratings
-Graphics
-Gameplay
-Storyline
-Sound
-Fun Factor
-Overall
-Ratings
For
it's time, the graphics were solid and there really wasn't much to complain
about during
the
NES days. The graphics were updated
to the 16-bit era for the Wonderswan colour version of the game and they were
easier on the eyes, nevertheless, it was good enough for it's overall purpose.
While it is true that Square could have done more to the actual graphics for
the PSX version of FFI in Final Fantasy Origins, the SNES-era graphics were
good enough for most people. The FMV sequences in the FFO version of FFI
was pretty impressive to say the least, they didn't make it as choppy or low-quality
as the PSX version of FFIV in FF Chronicles. Not too much more that you
could ask for, no matter what version of FFI you do manage to play.
You would need some patience as money can be a bit
slow in the early going and such. Not to mention that a good portion of
the game is spent wandering around and levelling up your characters as they
are extremely weak and not very useful in the early going of the game.
In the remakes, you can now run, which is a good thing and a nice improvement
over the original NES version. The systems are the basics that make up
any RPG game, such as fighting to gain EXP points, buying items, weapons and
armor and of course casting magic spells and
so
forth. For it's time, there wasn't really much need for any real depth
in the system itself. Though, I admit that the pacing of Final Fantasy
I was a little slow, since a good portion of the game, no, the majority is really
spent levelling up and buying stuff, instead of advancing through the storyline,
or lack of, that is. One really big bug or glitch that I have noticed
and experienced, not sure if it's ever happened to you before but when playing
the import WSC version of Final Fantasy, there was a point when I got a bottle
as a key item and I messed up and used it at the wrong place. Going back
to the original place where I did buy the item, it costs 50,000g, the bottle
was gone and there was no place in which I could get it again. Thus, I
was screwed so remember to save often and be very careful. Still, for
someone going through the game for the first time, glitches like this can be
absolutely killer as you can't progress through the storyline if you miss out
on key items and such. Thus, you probably have to start again if you get
this glitch and realize that you can't get access through the submarine later
on. It seemed weird, I'm honestly not sure if this is a known glitch or
bug in the game itself but I swear that it happened to me once.
There isn't really too much to say
here, for it's time it was wonderful but clearly it is now dated
by today's standards. There isn't much depth
to it but anyhow, the story is about 4 anonymous "Light warriors" who set out
to rescue the Princess of Coneria from the evil Garland, a rebellious solider
who is under the service another dark being.
The Light warriors find out that the world is screwed up due to the weakened
light of the crystals which are causing the 4 elements (Fire, Earth, Wind and
Water) to go on a rampage. The warriors set out to find the orbs and relight
the crystals, to find out who is exactly behind this madness. Eventually,
the Light warriors find out that the evil "Chaos" is behind the despair of the
world itself. They set out to defeat him and restore stability and peace
to the world, once again.
Fairly impressive soundtrack. The remade versions have remixed versions of the original NES tracks, making them sound even better than before. While a lot of places seem to have repeated tracks, such as many of the dungeons and every single town and such, the overall impact and feel of the music manages to serve it's purpose. There wasn't too many mediocre or songs in the game that I really hated, a big plus in any RPG game. Not only that, the influence on FFI was so great that many of the themes in the original game went on to become remixed or remade in many of the FF series next nine instalments. FFI was the corner stone of what eventually shaped the overall influence of the FF series for years to come. You will probably remember more about FFI's music than the actual storyline, that is something to keep in consideration.
A pretty fun game for it's time, though I honestly
doubt that yo
u
will be replaying this one more than two or three times, tops. The storyline
is interesting enough to keep you interested for the first time through but
after that, it really lacks the depth of future FF games to really be much of
a factor. The game is short but it does take it's toll, considering that
you have to spend a lot of time levelling up and buying new equipment compared
to most of the later RPG games. The characters have zero depth as they
are all based on classes only and have no distinct personality but that is to
be expected for such an old game. I believe that the fun factor is average
for it's time, it wasn't really anything special in my opinion, unless you like
to spend most of the game battling enemies over and over again, the game probably
isn't worth more than 2-3 flythrough at the absolute maximum.
A very good RPG game for it's time period, paving
the way for more sophisticated RPG games to come in the future. The original
Final Fantasy changed the entire genre and was a pretty impressive piece of
work, considering that the original company, Squaresoft was planning this as
a final project. The success of the original FF exceeded their most optimistic
expectations and thus, demand was enough for future FF games to be made.
Since then, Square has never looked back and Final Fantasy con
tinues
to be their flagship franchise as well as being one of the biggest names in
the RPG genre to date. The soundtrack was fairly impressive and it's influence
on future FF games was extremely great, now that you come to think about it.
With solid graphics for it's time period, the game doesn't really have too many
low points. There was that weird glitch explained earlier in the gameplay
section of this review for the WSC, but otherwise, I don't see anything wrong
with the game. The only real problem is that the characters really lack
any depth at all and the storyline is fairly straightforward. Though,
it is kind of excusable considering how long ago the game was made. The
gameplay is very simple and contains all the basic elements of any RPG game.
The real problem, especially for casual gamers is that the pacing of the game
itself is not great and you will have to have a lot of patience on your hands
as you will have to spend a good portion, maybe the majority of the game levelling
up and buying stuff, that in itself seems to take quite a bit of time.
If you can get over that and the really dated graphics and lack of storyline,
then the game is pretty good in it's own right.
Ratings (Compare
w/ other games)
| GRAPHICS: | 8.5/10 | 8.5 | Considering that this game was made in the NES days, the graphics for it's time were solid and impressive. Yes, they may seem incredibly dull in today's standards but if you played this game back in the late 80's when it was first released, you would realize that it was an achievement in it's own right. There isn't too much more you could ask for, even in the 16-bit remake versions of FFI for the Wonderswan colour and the PSX. |
| GAMEPLAY: | 14/20 | 7 | Simple, yet easy to use. It provides many features that are the standard fare for any RPG game. The only real problem is the pacing of the game doesn't seem that efficient. A lot of time is spent levelling up and I mean a lot. While it gets tiresome after awhile, this is a more deeper RPG game than what preceded it in the past. Casual gamers might not exactly like fighting battles over and over again though, but considering that this was an older RPG game, it is decent, though, it could've been a bit better in my mind. |
| STORYLINE: | 16/20 | 8 | The storyline, while it is rather dull, it is pretty solid for it's time period. A simple story about 4 warriors in their quest to restore the crystals back to their former power and to set out to stop the menace behind the world's despair. It went beyond the simple "save the princess" formula, used over and over in RPGs prior to this one. Consider it a start of a new beginning for RPG games. |
| SOUND: | 9/10 | 9 | The original FF soundtrack was probably the most influential in the entire series for games to come. While there wasn't exactly a great variety of music in the game as all the towns and many of the dungeons have the same themes, the fact is that many of the tracks found in FFI were remixed and redone in the future instalments of the FF series. There are some memorable tracks in the original FF that you may recall, for that, the music in FFI was probably one of the best parts of the game itself. |
| FUN FACTOR: | 7/10 | 7 | It was not that bad for it's time, in terms of fun factor. Though, I honestly believe that you wouldn't bear playing this game more than 2-3 times after finishing the game. The storyline is interesting but it does lack depth to keep you really interested and a lot of time is spent levelling up and buying new equipment. Actually, the majority of the game is spend levelling up, especially early on, since your characters aren't exactly that useful to begin with. Above average in terms of fun factor, but otherwise, nothing that impressive. |
| OVERALL: | 54.5/70 | 7.8 | For it's time, Final Fantasy was a very impressive RPG to say the least. Even now, while it is horribly dated, the game itself is fairly influential and changed the entire genre. Squaresoft was planning to make this their final project after realizing that their company was down in the dumps, or heading in that direction. The game was a combination of both hard work and impressive efforts and Squaresoft started to get better after the release of FFI. In fact, the game was such a success, that it made way for future instalments of the series. Besides a few minor flaws, the game is pretty much all you can ask for it's time. Nuff said. |
The Wonderswan remake consists of updated graphics and designed for a handheld system.
Japan
Designed exclusively for the 900i series phones (Japan only), and released
on March 1, 2004, an inexpensive
download can make one of these phones play this game (similar to the Wonderswan remake). Some other neat features include wallpapers, and
character plays. Visit
http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mobile/ff/index.html for more information.
The phone itself can be found at
http://panasonic.jp/mobile/p900i/index.html.
North America
(not available yet, but it has been announced)
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