Was really fun to experience this game with 37 years of RPG hindsight. Above all else, this game feels like someone had a lot of fun playing Dungeons & Dragons with their friends and decided to make a video game about it.

The Pixel Remaster adds a lot of quality-of-life updates that make it much more enjoyable than the original, since the likely audience for this release are now older and have busier lives than they did back when this game first dropped. Having access to bonus features like the original concept art and a music player (original and orchestral OST's) is a nice touch, and getting to see the same pixel graphics but with crystal clarity and smooth framerates is a perfect nostalgia boost.

The story is very aged, as is to be expected of a game nearly 40 years old, but is probably the most straightforward and least-tropey of the early Final Fantasies (lookin' at you, FFIII). Because of this, the game doesn't last as long as you'd expect it to, even when 100%-ing the thing, and you might be surprised to have paid more than $10 on such a quick game if you didn't get it on sale.

Highly recommend this particular version for anyone interested in taking a peek at the origin of many things we've come to take for granted in modern role-playing games.

Sights & Sounds
- I can't really compare the audiovisual experience of the pixel remaster to the original NES version as I never played that title, even as a ROM. Didn't play the PS1 version either. Even though the game is as old as me, this is my first brush with it besides seeing the occasional clip. That said, I quite liked the character and enemy (especially boss) sprites
- The overworld map, while interestingly layed-out, does feel a bit barren and often featureless beyond forests and the occasional desert. I understand that there was probably some desire not to change this aspect of the game much from how it looked in 1987, but I still felt my eyes glaze over from time to time when I was walking around
- Towns are a bit better, and I thought it was pretty neat how each locale managed to feel distinct (at least visually)
- For some reason, I could not find a font that I liked in spite of the options available. They ranged from "legible but visually discordant" to "I think this is causing actual physical harm to my eyeballs"
- Final Fantasy titles have always had great music. I went and listened to some some of the original tracks for comparison, and while I love how good they sound considering what was possible at the time, I'm not going to complain about the pixel remaster's orchestral versions. They sound incredible, so I was willing to overlook the charm of the originals

Story & Vibes
- Briefly, your party of heroes (4 in total chosen from 6 classes with as many duplicates as you'd like) show up in the royal city of Cornelia with some shiny rocks in their pockets that seem to suggest that they may be the prophesized Warriors of Light. The king takes this as a cue to send you to save his daughter from one of his former knights, presumably because he's bad at leadership and problem solving. This kicks off your epic adventure to activate your rocks, which is apparently the key to stop animals from turning into monsters or whatever
- I think that the complete lack of protagonist characterization beyond "job" is probably the main tether holding this game's story down. Because every question about motivation or backstory has to be answered by "shiny rocks", there's only so much narrative bandwidth for the game to work with
- So, that being the case, the vibes are honestly a little dull. There's no humor, no relatable issues, and no takes being made. Just go to a location and beat a boss with the power of menus

Playability & Replayability
- Considering how much this game's design influenced console RPGs for decades, it's hard to really talk about any unique aspects of the gameplay. If you've ever killed a monster in a game by selecting a spell out of a menu, you'll feel immediately familiar with the gameplay here. It was interesting to play one of the early turn-based party RPGs, but they are a little bland by design
- As you may expect, the general gameplay loop involves getting a task, wandering around the map until you figure out where you're supposed to go, upgrading your gear and spells in each town, grind if you think you may be too weak to kill the boss, and then go do what you were instructed to do
- Because there's not much to talk about gameplay-wise, I'll instead point out some things I didn't expect from someone who's old enough to have played the original game on the NES as a kid but simply never did
- Although the job system has been trotted out a few times in the Final Fantasy series, I did appreciate how party composition is entirely up to you. The game may be really hard if you decide to trot out 4 black mages, but no one is stopping you
- The magic system also felt a little weird. You do have spell slots with limited usage like many table-top RPGs, but at the same time, you have to purchase your spells from magic shops in the game's various towns. Considering the amount of grinding you need to do to buy spells and the merely situational usefulness of offensive magic, I kinda feel like it's best to just play with 3 fighters and a white mage. The other classes just feel ancillary
- One QoL touch I'd like to highlight is the ability to turn off random battles. It's nice to be able to level as needed rather than be pulled into a fight when you just want to backtrack
- I don't know if I'll be replaying this game anytime soon. I'm more keen on playing my way through the series in order to play the ones I've missed through the years

Overall Impressions & Performance
- It was nice to play through this important title as a way to gaze into the past a bit, but I left my experience feeling that there simply isn't much here for the modern gamer. As a piece of gaming history, it's a nice title with some killer music and fetching pixel art, but I've gained some appreciation for how far the genre and medium as a whole have progressed in my lifetime
- The pixel remaster has certainly earned its Steam Deck Verified badge. Ran perfectly and looked great

Final Verdict
- 6/10. I appreciate this game's legacy more than the game itself. Its impact can still be seen today, which is a testament to the quality of some of the design decisions Square made. However, putting on blinders to ignore the historical significance, the experience is a little bland for someone playing games in the 2020s

Since I have not experienced a Final Fantasy title before VI, I thought to myself, "Why not experience the origins of this franchise that I love so dearly?" Fake fan, right? "JRPG" is my favorite genre and for the past year or so have been branching out to other franchises and origins of the beloved genre. Anyway, I am on spring break at the moment of publishing this review and bought the "Pixel Remaster" versions of I and II when they were on sale not too long ago.

After my fifteen hour journey, completing the bestiary and getting the platinum trophy, I found this entry to be really neat for what it is. Sure, it's a NES game pushing forty years old and the first game in the franchise, but it really has some neat stuff to it. Allowing you to pick four from six different classes at the beginning, in which I chose Fighter, Monk, Black Mage, and White Mage. I LOVED the Monk, which later upgrades to Master, because he hits hard and you do not need to invest any weapons in to him. The use of Magic in this game was quite interesting to say the least and was not a fan of it at first, but once everything opened up and I was able to learn higher level magic, it really clicked with me. I was fond, too, of spells like protect and saber that can stack and made certain encounters super easy. I like the range in which you can set up the different spells you want to use and are able to "forget" them in order to learn others that can prove to be more useful. The story is basic and that's fine because this a point in time when developers were realizing that video games can be used as a narrative rather than just focusing on gameplay. The journey is rather short and simple, but it's fine, and honestly a perfect palate cleanser after my one hundred plus hour grinds on Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload, and Rebirth. I did not take advantage of any of the boosters until late game because I got absolutely destroyed by Warmech and the final boss. I believe I was around level fifty for everyone when I got to Chaos' fight. I did some grinding, turning the EXP booster up to max, as I tried to find that dang Warmech again and Iron Golem (this one thankfully took me only a little to find), and after pretty much reaching max level with everyone, took on Chaos and destroyed him.

I think that FFI is a great title for its time and while it was not as amazing to me as it may have been to those that experienced it at its birth, it really did a lot to set up the standard for the genre and spawn of the iconic franchise. However, I have Stranger of Paradise on hold, not sure why I never got around to finishing it, but I think I will appreciate it more when I get back to it and complete it with the experience of this game under my belt now.

J'ai découvert le premier volet de Final Fantasy avec ce remaster et je dois reconnaître avoir bien apprécié l'aventure. Un scénario simple et qui ne vous prend par la main. 14 heures d'aventures à batailler (Ah ! les rencontres aléatoires...) et aussi à chercher un peu mon chemin parfois.

Le remaster est fin et parvient à redorer le titre sans le dénaturer. La nouvelle version de l'OST est agréable mais dénote quelque peu à mon goût avec les bons vieux pixels de prime abord (je lui laisserai sa chance lors d'une prochaine partie). Et afin de ne pas gâter l'expérience, je me suis aussi abstenu de toucher aux aides (comme désactiver les fameuses rencontres aléatoires).

Il ne fait nul doute que l'effet produit par le jeu à sa sortie sur NES fut amplement justifié. Considéré dans sa version d'origine et remis dans son contexte, il ne démérite pas. Il reste intéressant encore aujourd'hui, et d'autant plus agréable avec cette nouvelle parure ; bien qu'il faille sans doute avoir le goût des anciens jeux pour que l'expérience soit optimale.

FFI PR provides a solid old school experience with much needed QOL features.

Highlights
- Oldschool JRPG combined with some modern QOL features
- Clocks in around 16 hours. Scratches that jrpg itch without putting in the hours of a second job.
- Fairly simple battle mechanics if you’re new to the genre

Things to Mention
- With proper item management, the game provides little challenge in combat. Depending on what you’re looking for, this could be good or bad.
- Pairs well with mobile platforms such as the Steam Deck.

The worms that make up my brain make it so I can only play games in order, even if there's no logical reason to need to do so, so I HAD to play this game. And I don't regret it.

It's a small RPG game with blank playable characters, 6 options of classes, good if simple turn-based combat, some fun little side content (like proving yourself to Bahamut in order to get your class upgraded or walking back to deliver Adamantite to Smyth the Smith so you can get Excalibur) and a simple plot that shows the devs' want to make something bigger and better (and they will!). It can feel a little generic, or "simple" as I said a few times, but that's because it MADE those things generic, it's one of the places where it all began.

I had a good 19ish hours with it, even if at least 4 of those were just me walking around, trying to get Warmech to spawn so I could complete the bestiary, and 1 hour of repeatedly checking the map to see if I missed anything. I highly recommend it!

Upon replaying FFI PR with some friends, my opinion on this game has went up. Not skyrocketed, but certainly worth half a star’s boost. I don’t know if it’s something that took a bit to marinate, or there’s juxtaposition after playing FFIII/FFV/most-of-FFVI, but it became really apparent to me just how easy FFI is to pick up and play. On my second playthrough I used a different team, where I learned that the character differences are fine-tuned just enough to make it so that each composition feels unique, but nothing is detrimental and there’s a mostly-reasonable brute-force solution to everything if you need one. Probably. I’m not going to test that with four white mages anytime soon but for most party compositions I think it’s true.

And while Marsh Cave is still awful, the Pixel Remaster does have the in game map option to press a button and have a map of the entire room you’re in appear. While I did complain in my first review about dungeon design with its empty rooms and stalling so that you’re ground down with encounters being from the Fuck You era of NES game design, and I still think that’s true, you can simply just not go into the empty rooms this time around since you can see where they are, as long as you’re inside a room.

Otherwise, pretty much what I said last time. Play the FF1 Pixel Remaster, it's good.