The best FF of the first 5 and it's not even all that close for me if I'm being entirely honest. While not necessarily as streamlined and tightly constructed as Final Fantasy IV was, most of its individual elements end up adding up to something that ends up feeling greater and more ambitious regardless. While a bit uneven comparatively, I do feel like that almost every individual element of this game feels at its best so far, with a lot of focus being put upon a ton of more unique moments and interactions especially providing this with a very unique tone in the series, as well as feeling like the point in which a lot of series staples became properly established.
The combat is easily the best part of the game, taking the job system from III and making it something far more interesting and nuanced this time around. Rather than III's approach, which rendered the idea of mixing and matching classes rather useless outside of specific times where the game practically forces you to pivot, along with having a bunch of them that basically served as strict upgrades that rendered others obsolete, the job system in V clearly focuses extremely strongly on providing an incredible amount of variety and versatility to your party composition. While having 25 different classes by the end of the game will obviously lead to some of them feeling a bit more useful than others, I felt that the game did an excellent job at providing a lot of unique utility to each of them, leading to a lot of versatility and viability. This was heavily appreciated since it essentially meant that as long as you didn't try building a team around blatantly bad ideas, you'd usually either have a way to deal with the situation, or it wouldn't take much to put yourself in such a position, which works wonderfully for letting the player still often go with the classes that seem cool to them, rather than only having a couple of options that will actually work.
This is taken further by the way you're able to mix and match different class abilities once you've levelled them up a bit, not only allowing for a much wider range of options, but providing a greater reason to bother actually using multiple classes as you proceed rather than just sticking with one or two, adding greater strategic depth to the experience. This naturally can lead to some insanely broken combos, but I don't see this as an especially bad thing as much as something that rewards experimentation and results in one of my favourite things to do in JRPGs anyway, figuring out clever ways to completely break the systems in play. What I like about this though is that until neat the very end of the game, the player likely will not have a team that is a catch-all solution to every situation, where sacrifices will basically always have to be made in one way or another, leaving holes in your strategy to play around. My favourite way this manifests is with some of the abilities you get working as enhancements rather than additional combat options, leading to situations where you'll be forced to choose between sacrificing some of your effectiveness in one area for a more varied moveset, or making the decision that those options won't be needed for what's up ahead. This balancing act continues throughout the game and results in a lot of time spent planning out new strategies to move forward.
The encounter design goes a long way in making all of this work as well, taking a more open ended approach where you'll often have enemies and bosses that hard-counter certain methods, but leave enough room for there to be a lot of effective ways to take them down regardless. It encourages you to play around with a few different ideas without ever truly feeling as if you've been railroaded into one or two very specific playstyles. I also love how there seems to have been an increase in purely strange and surprising encounters, with the Tonberry being my favourite of the bunch, with its insane hp pool combined with it having absolutely no attacks for most of the fight, just instead ominously walking closer to your party. It's a moment that feels carefully crafted to entirely throw inexperienced players off and to keep them on their toes, not to just take any random encounter so lightly, and there are a few others like this as well that basically continuously hammer home that a even a lot of these common enemies are perfectly capable of killing you without some kind of plan in mind, and it keeps things really engaging when you hit the point where everything seems threatening and like a small puzzle you need to solve so you can trivialise them.
While the narrative side of things definitely seems to be what ends up under fire most often with this, it does a perfectly fine job most of the time while still having some incredible highlights that stand tall amongst what the series had up to this point. While not having as strong a hook as IV in particular, I still feel like the lack of narrative emphasis here is a bit of an overstated complaint, as while it definitely falls more in line with typical tropes and story beats, it by no means just feels like something used as a vessel for more gameplay. The game sees the player travelling through a nicer set of locales than the past, with dungeons expanding far beyond castles and caves this time around, with setpieces such as the ship graveyard, the engine room of a ship, and the haunted library all being fantastic changes of pace to be sent through that makes the journey between each story beat feel more exciting than ever. I also appreciated the way that the more tragic elements of this game got a focus without being undercut by other decisions that were made in the same way that IV's story ended up feeling, as while things never quite get as dire as they seem to in IV, the stakes still feel far more real. Exdeath similarly fills a similar role, where he might not be especially intriguing as a character, but his presence is felt with every step of your journey while still letting some hope in with the heroes succeeding at something once in a while as well, and his role in the final stretch of the game is awesome. With that said, there is one thing this game has narratively that strongly elevates everything for me, and that's Gilgamesh, not just being easily the most fun character in the series so far, but also being the driving force for so many of the absolute greatest setpieces in the game, having this aura of imposing danger mixed with comedy that causes him to be an absolute treat every time he's onscreen.
Basically, while the game doesn't quite feel super polished and streamlined in certain areas, this is still peak Final Fantasy so far and it's not even close. The combat system is genuinely incredible, the narrative, while simple, is a great ride throughout with some mountainous high points, the music is insane as usual, and the way the encounters are designed makes for an engaging experience from start to finish where you very rarely feel like you can just cruise through thoughtlessly. The first game in the series where I just feel like it's an incredibly strong game in general without the caveat of it feeling like just the foundation of something greater further down the road.
The combat is easily the best part of the game, taking the job system from III and making it something far more interesting and nuanced this time around. Rather than III's approach, which rendered the idea of mixing and matching classes rather useless outside of specific times where the game practically forces you to pivot, along with having a bunch of them that basically served as strict upgrades that rendered others obsolete, the job system in V clearly focuses extremely strongly on providing an incredible amount of variety and versatility to your party composition. While having 25 different classes by the end of the game will obviously lead to some of them feeling a bit more useful than others, I felt that the game did an excellent job at providing a lot of unique utility to each of them, leading to a lot of versatility and viability. This was heavily appreciated since it essentially meant that as long as you didn't try building a team around blatantly bad ideas, you'd usually either have a way to deal with the situation, or it wouldn't take much to put yourself in such a position, which works wonderfully for letting the player still often go with the classes that seem cool to them, rather than only having a couple of options that will actually work.
This is taken further by the way you're able to mix and match different class abilities once you've levelled them up a bit, not only allowing for a much wider range of options, but providing a greater reason to bother actually using multiple classes as you proceed rather than just sticking with one or two, adding greater strategic depth to the experience. This naturally can lead to some insanely broken combos, but I don't see this as an especially bad thing as much as something that rewards experimentation and results in one of my favourite things to do in JRPGs anyway, figuring out clever ways to completely break the systems in play. What I like about this though is that until neat the very end of the game, the player likely will not have a team that is a catch-all solution to every situation, where sacrifices will basically always have to be made in one way or another, leaving holes in your strategy to play around. My favourite way this manifests is with some of the abilities you get working as enhancements rather than additional combat options, leading to situations where you'll be forced to choose between sacrificing some of your effectiveness in one area for a more varied moveset, or making the decision that those options won't be needed for what's up ahead. This balancing act continues throughout the game and results in a lot of time spent planning out new strategies to move forward.
The encounter design goes a long way in making all of this work as well, taking a more open ended approach where you'll often have enemies and bosses that hard-counter certain methods, but leave enough room for there to be a lot of effective ways to take them down regardless. It encourages you to play around with a few different ideas without ever truly feeling as if you've been railroaded into one or two very specific playstyles. I also love how there seems to have been an increase in purely strange and surprising encounters, with the Tonberry being my favourite of the bunch, with its insane hp pool combined with it having absolutely no attacks for most of the fight, just instead ominously walking closer to your party. It's a moment that feels carefully crafted to entirely throw inexperienced players off and to keep them on their toes, not to just take any random encounter so lightly, and there are a few others like this as well that basically continuously hammer home that a even a lot of these common enemies are perfectly capable of killing you without some kind of plan in mind, and it keeps things really engaging when you hit the point where everything seems threatening and like a small puzzle you need to solve so you can trivialise them.
While the narrative side of things definitely seems to be what ends up under fire most often with this, it does a perfectly fine job most of the time while still having some incredible highlights that stand tall amongst what the series had up to this point. While not having as strong a hook as IV in particular, I still feel like the lack of narrative emphasis here is a bit of an overstated complaint, as while it definitely falls more in line with typical tropes and story beats, it by no means just feels like something used as a vessel for more gameplay. The game sees the player travelling through a nicer set of locales than the past, with dungeons expanding far beyond castles and caves this time around, with setpieces such as the ship graveyard, the engine room of a ship, and the haunted library all being fantastic changes of pace to be sent through that makes the journey between each story beat feel more exciting than ever. I also appreciated the way that the more tragic elements of this game got a focus without being undercut by other decisions that were made in the same way that IV's story ended up feeling, as while things never quite get as dire as they seem to in IV, the stakes still feel far more real. Exdeath similarly fills a similar role, where he might not be especially intriguing as a character, but his presence is felt with every step of your journey while still letting some hope in with the heroes succeeding at something once in a while as well, and his role in the final stretch of the game is awesome. With that said, there is one thing this game has narratively that strongly elevates everything for me, and that's Gilgamesh, not just being easily the most fun character in the series so far, but also being the driving force for so many of the absolute greatest setpieces in the game, having this aura of imposing danger mixed with comedy that causes him to be an absolute treat every time he's onscreen.
Basically, while the game doesn't quite feel super polished and streamlined in certain areas, this is still peak Final Fantasy so far and it's not even close. The combat system is genuinely incredible, the narrative, while simple, is a great ride throughout with some mountainous high points, the music is insane as usual, and the way the encounters are designed makes for an engaging experience from start to finish where you very rarely feel like you can just cruise through thoughtlessly. The first game in the series where I just feel like it's an incredibly strong game in general without the caveat of it feeling like just the foundation of something greater further down the road.
A very enjoyable Final Fantasy game that doesn't get the love it deserves. The job system and the graphics and story really sell this game as one of the better games more people should give a chance. It's also one of the more easier game difficulty wise to get into. The GBA port is definitely the way to go. But the upcoming Pixel Remasters are great also. A good underrated game.
There's no reason to play this version now that the Pixel Remaster is available.
Completely off on my own here but this game right here made middle-school me hate and fear RPGs and I still haven't shaken it off, honestly. I hit some kind of point where I believed I needed to grind to progress and it hit me like a punch in the stomach. Then I realized that I dreaded the prospect so much because I fundamentally and deeply hated the whole tedious menu-battling character-optimizing system that every battle was — that is, what I was dreading was having to suffer ANY MORE of the actual gameplay part of the game. Up to that point, I hadn't even thought if I was enjoying myself or not, just killing time. It's not like I was particularly invested in the story. It occurred to me that a quicker way to not have to do any more battles was just to stop playing, so I did, and wrote off the entire RPG genre.
I put this down a while ago which is sad because what i played I ADORED. Fantastic jrpg gameplay and flow, the job system is sick, true customizability is great. i think that its story is decently fun, i love some of the characters, and its music, while being the weakest of the SFC trilogy, is still great. Battle on the Big Bridge, anyone?
But yeah, need to get back to this. Played like, 70% of it.
But yeah, need to get back to this. Played like, 70% of it.
Personally, I feel that this is the best way to carry out the job system. It's not too complex, there's enough unique jobs to make you go "huh, never thought I'd be playing as a Chemist," and the story isn't half-bad. The one issue is that once you come to learn the OP combo of the game and the jobs that you need to max by end game in order to stand a chance at the bonus content, there's not really much of a reason for you to level up any other jobs. Much more comedic and light-hearted than any of the games that had come before it, but still has those moments of seriousness and sadness. One of the must-plays, I feel. Especially because of the music (namely Battle at the Big Bridge).
The job system really makes this game. Typical turn based RPG with an "ok" story otherwise.
The narrative is a bit more lighthearted than IV, with an arguably less interesting antagonist and overall plot, but V has always been more about the journey than the destination, in the same vein as I and III. The job system is excellent and manages to keep the adventure fresh throughout, rather than subjecting the player to a stale, linear progression.
The best of the three Advance ports, but even still probably not the version to play.
un tio con tres tias novea e
Emulated
O jogo apresenta uma boa jornada com bons momentos e com personagens bem carismaticos e acho maneiro como o jogo consegue representar isso bem com sprites estilo cotoco.
O sistema de jobs é divertido, achar uma boa combinação de job + abilities é recompensador, entretanto exige grinding, depedendo do seu nível de aversão ao mesmo vai mudar bastante sua experiência com o jogo, no MEU CASO, eu não curto muito, muitos dos jobs você acaba não conhecendo do que se tratam e não tenho saco pra grindar pra conhecer, isso incentiva um fator replay entretanto.
Algumas outras merdas do jogo me fazem diminuir a nota, tipo opção de correr no overworld desbloqueada por job, velocidade de caminhada no mapa lenta, especialmente debaixo d'água e é claro inimigos que te matam em poucos ou até mesmo 1 hit em lugares ou tiles aleatórios sem nenum aviso por parte do jogo e que muitas vezes você não pode fugir, que no caso te resulta em um game over, fazendo você perder progresso atoa e ficar paranoico salvando o jogo que nem um animal.
O sistema de jobs é divertido, achar uma boa combinação de job + abilities é recompensador, entretanto exige grinding, depedendo do seu nível de aversão ao mesmo vai mudar bastante sua experiência com o jogo, no MEU CASO, eu não curto muito, muitos dos jobs você acaba não conhecendo do que se tratam e não tenho saco pra grindar pra conhecer, isso incentiva um fator replay entretanto.
Algumas outras merdas do jogo me fazem diminuir a nota, tipo opção de correr no overworld desbloqueada por job, velocidade de caminhada no mapa lenta, especialmente debaixo d'água e é claro inimigos que te matam em poucos ou até mesmo 1 hit em lugares ou tiles aleatórios sem nenum aviso por parte do jogo e que muitas vezes você não pode fugir, que no caso te resulta em um game over, fazendo você perder progresso atoa e ficar paranoico salvando o jogo que nem um animal.
Really enjoyed this. One of the best battle systems in the series. Story isn't incredible but it's good fun
I love the job system and the characters, but I don't like ATB.
really good, fun, and overlooked game
Este me parece cualquier cosa la verdad no hay por donde cogerlo
The best one.
5 stars simply because this game is just so........FUN!! amazing job system that still holds up - even playing this 20+ years later i still found it super satisfying to experiment with each character's jobs and figure out which skills worked well together (ninja + rapid fire is awesome for the record) and i honestly think its some of the best combat in the entire final fantasy series.
and no, the story and characters aren't as deep as a lot of the following titles (or maybe even ffiv) but there were some surprisingly touching scenes in there, and i found myself tearing up at the ending cutscene because after hours of grinding abilities and exploring the world(s) with these characters i couldn't help but become attached :'') also, if you care (i do) having a gender nonconforming party member, especially in a game this old, is pretty cool.
for the most part, though, the story is pretty lighthearted and a lot of the dialogue is incredibly silly...which i also think is fun! possibly a controversial opinion, especially if you're a fan of final fantasy's more serious narratives, but i think the localizers really nailed the tone and humor (while still keeping enough of a balance for the occasional serious moment), and i found a lot of the sillier scenes and characters genuinely very funny. gilgamesh is one of my favorite ff antagonists now, just because he never failed to make me laugh.
i really don't have it in me to seriously criticize any part of this game, it was just that fun. bartz & co. im so sorry you were robbed of your ds remake your game is a solid 10/10
and no, the story and characters aren't as deep as a lot of the following titles (or maybe even ffiv) but there were some surprisingly touching scenes in there, and i found myself tearing up at the ending cutscene because after hours of grinding abilities and exploring the world(s) with these characters i couldn't help but become attached :'') also, if you care (i do) having a gender nonconforming party member, especially in a game this old, is pretty cool.
for the most part, though, the story is pretty lighthearted and a lot of the dialogue is incredibly silly...which i also think is fun! possibly a controversial opinion, especially if you're a fan of final fantasy's more serious narratives, but i think the localizers really nailed the tone and humor (while still keeping enough of a balance for the occasional serious moment), and i found a lot of the sillier scenes and characters genuinely very funny. gilgamesh is one of my favorite ff antagonists now, just because he never failed to make me laugh.
i really don't have it in me to seriously criticize any part of this game, it was just that fun. bartz & co. im so sorry you were robbed of your ds remake your game is a solid 10/10
i love u exdeath
There is no objectivity here. This is just my first Final Fantasy and my favorite. I absolutely love the job system with which you can custom and build your characters like you want. You can even farm to master every job and have cheated characters.
Exdeath is by far one of the worst vilain FF got (Sephiroth killed Aerith I know, but Exdeath just kills... everyone and even one major character).
The story is basic, but also surprising since it's divided in three parts which I won't spoil. From all the 6 first Final Fantasy, I think this one is the best and the one that leaves you with the more liberty.
But beware : The game is hard and you can finish it being level 30... it is better to master 3 jobs per character to finish it with just enough challenge.
Exdeath is by far one of the worst vilain FF got (Sephiroth killed Aerith I know, but Exdeath just kills... everyone and even one major character).
The story is basic, but also surprising since it's divided in three parts which I won't spoil. From all the 6 first Final Fantasy, I think this one is the best and the one that leaves you with the more liberty.
But beware : The game is hard and you can finish it being level 30... it is better to master 3 jobs per character to finish it with just enough challenge.
This entry is very solid. The party members and villains are good (not the best though), there's a class system, and there's multiple worlds to explore.
What it lacks is the narrative and protagonist aren't as interesting as 4's. Additionally many minor plotlines are reused from previous games which makes it feel a little repetitive even if it arguably improved many of them.
Overall I'd say this entry ranks in the middle of the series. It's good but not particularly a must play like others are.
What it lacks is the narrative and protagonist aren't as interesting as 4's. Additionally many minor plotlines are reused from previous games which makes it feel a little repetitive even if it arguably improved many of them.
Overall I'd say this entry ranks in the middle of the series. It's good but not particularly a must play like others are.
"Enough expository banter! Now, we fight like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men! For Gilgamesh...IT IS MORPHING TIME!"
— Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy V
I really, really want to pick this one back up. I really, really, REALLY fucking enjoyed the time I had with it. And I probably will, eventually. For now, it’s in da backlog along with ff4 and 10-2
— Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy V
I really, really want to pick this one back up. I really, really, REALLY fucking enjoyed the time I had with it. And I probably will, eventually. For now, it’s in da backlog along with ff4 and 10-2
Really happy I played this version of the game. Not my favorite FF but still an incredibly charming entry in the series.
The RPG that revolutionized the Job system even moreso than Final Fantasy 3, Final Fantasy V is a behemoth of a game. Sporting more technical depth than 4 or 6, thanks to the insane job combos you can pull off with your party, a great plot, and a nostalgic OST, this game is truly worth of the 'classic' moniker.
WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT?
Final Fantasy 5
Pra você ter uma noção de o quão macaco eu sou com esse jogo, eu grindei até o level 11 antes do primeiro chefe e ele morreu com 1 hit de cada personagem.
Final Fantasy 5 é um jogo incrível com muitas merdas, tipo inimigos no começo do jogo em áreas especificas que te matam em 1 hit, eu sou macaco e já joguei esse jogo umas 4 vezes sem zerar, então muitas vezes esse tipo de coisa passa despercebido pra mim já que eu evito esses lugares por lembrar de cabeça.
Depois de zerar o meu jogo eu fui ajudar um amigo meu que ia jogar, e foi meio que nisso que eu comecei a pensar que tem de fato muita coisa no jogo que alguém jogando pela primeira vez não entenderia oque é pra fazer.
Caso você não goste muito de grinding esse jogo pode não ser pra você, já que maioria das skills dos jobs exigem grind, mas caso seja macaco que nem eu e masterizar todo job do jogo com cada um dos personagens, esse é o jogo pra você.
Eu adoro esse jogo e mesmo com alguns problemas que ele tem, ele é um jogo muito bom a única coisa que pode acabar afastando você dele é a questão do grind, você pode até tentar jogar o jogo sem grindar mas alguns desafios do jogo esperam que você esteja num nível maior.
Pra você ter uma noção de o quão macaco eu sou com esse jogo, eu grindei até o level 11 antes do primeiro chefe e ele morreu com 1 hit de cada personagem.
Final Fantasy 5 é um jogo incrível com muitas merdas, tipo inimigos no começo do jogo em áreas especificas que te matam em 1 hit, eu sou macaco e já joguei esse jogo umas 4 vezes sem zerar, então muitas vezes esse tipo de coisa passa despercebido pra mim já que eu evito esses lugares por lembrar de cabeça.
Depois de zerar o meu jogo eu fui ajudar um amigo meu que ia jogar, e foi meio que nisso que eu comecei a pensar que tem de fato muita coisa no jogo que alguém jogando pela primeira vez não entenderia oque é pra fazer.
Caso você não goste muito de grinding esse jogo pode não ser pra você, já que maioria das skills dos jobs exigem grind, mas caso seja macaco que nem eu e masterizar todo job do jogo com cada um dos personagens, esse é o jogo pra você.
Eu adoro esse jogo e mesmo com alguns problemas que ele tem, ele é um jogo muito bom a única coisa que pode acabar afastando você dele é a questão do grind, você pode até tentar jogar o jogo sem grindar mas alguns desafios do jogo esperam que você esteja num nível maior.
On my journey to play the games that preceded Bravely Default and shaped them to be the games they are, I obviously had to include Final Fantasy V. If you compare this game to Bravely, it'd feel like a more rough-around-the-edges version, but that's not quite a fair comparison.
For a game that came out in the 90s, this was quite innovative as far as the battle system goes, and I have to give it credit at least for that.
For a game that came out in the 90s, this was quite innovative as far as the battle system goes, and I have to give it credit at least for that.
Simples, porém muito divertido, somente o necessário para ser competente e direto, muito bom!
The first ever big-boy RPG I actually beat! Hardly the most ambitious RPG on the SNES, but the great job system, fantastic gameplay, great soundtrack, and admittedly shallow but likable characters make this one a lot of fun.
The localization is...well, it was funny at the time, but the jokey nature of it definitely goes too far in places and definitely inspired some of the shittier localizations we've seen since then.
The localization is...well, it was funny at the time, but the jokey nature of it definitely goes too far in places and definitely inspired some of the shittier localizations we've seen since then.
Final Fantasy 5 asks a bold question: "what if there was a really angry tree".