WHY HELLO THERE, my fellow Final Fantasy enjoyers, JRPG consumers, FF IV conquerors and gamers from all around the world

Upon defeating the spirit of raw hatred itself in Final Fantasy IV, I embark on my newest journey: sailing the Final Fantasy V seas as a Freelancer!
As the before installments, FF V is completely standalone and isolated from the previous Final Fantasy games.
As per the now established formula, some concepts are recurring: Chocobos, elemental Crystals, that one guy named Cid who really likes airships yada yada, you know the drill.

Yet again, we have a named cast, starting with our traveling protagonist Bartz and his chocobo companion Boko. Throughout the game you meet other charming characters like Galuf, Lena, Faris and Krile to build up your party. Their interactions are fun, and throughout the game a rather charming and endearing tone is set, much less grave, sad and melancholic like FF IV was. A welcome change, imo, after such a heavy game, a lighthearted one definitely works. Our new villain is a man in a tin suit that laughs in an exaggerated way and mocks the party at all times, unlike the practical Golbez of few words from IV. By the end you truly believe the Final Fantasy was the friends we made along the way with how charming Bartz being a doofus is, how Galuf breaks some tropes, how Gilgamesh keeps appearing (ARGH!), or how Faris' secret is revealed.
That doesn't mean the game is devoid of serious or sad moments, however. These moments are even more accentuated due to the lighthearted tone of the game, so when shit goes down, it really does. I think it is a good example of good storytelling and setting moods.

Gameplay & mechanics! The job system returns from FF III, along with the ATB system from FF IV. Personally, I rolled my eyes the moment I saw the job system but that feeling was quickly tossed aside: this time around, the system is much more improved, less gimmicky and more useful. The penalties for switching jobs are basically nonexistent so it feels a lot like the game encourages you to experiment with various jobs. Some abilities that you obtain by leveling up the job, can be used in the ability slot to use it outside the job, leading to wacky, practical or downright broken setups (Dualcast Summoner, looking at you). Rarely did I feel the need to use a specific job to progress, unlike FF III where some parts of the game were gated by using specific jobs for the boss battle or area.

As far as graphics go, FF V seems more colorful and vibrant compared to FF IV, most likely because the tone is lighter as well. The spritework is also good as expected of a Pixel Remaster entry. Every character has a different outfit for each job (which is very neat), ranging from cool to cute and some even being wacky. As usual, effects are the wildest and flashy.
Not much to say in this department that hasn't been said in previous entries, although it's a shame our protagonists this time around don't have portraits in the party menu.

Music! As usual, FF V gets a really neat soundtrack, remade with real instruments and fully faithful to the original SNES soundtrack. Some absolute bangers present in this entry. In no particular order, my favourites are: Battle at the Big Bridge, The Dawn Warriors, Reminiscence, Beyond the Deep Blue Sea, Sorrows of Parting, Slumber of Ancient Earth and very close to being my top favourite is The Final Battle, what a banger.

I personally recommend this entry in the Final Fantasy franchise. It was probably at this point where they finally nailed a perfect balance between wackiness and serious storytelling, with compelling character interactions and not just a melancholic story that you are looking forward to see unfold like IV along with a job system that encourages the players to experiment and find their own playstyle.
Give it a shot, it's fun.

[job changes to Monk and slices the review with Katana] see you in Final Fantasy VI, adventurer.

I feel as though Final Fantasy V often gets the short end of the stick in terms of recognition, being released in between two games that many consider to be classics, but trust me when I say that it had far exceeded my expectations. It's silly, stupid, and ridiculously fun. What it perhaps lacks in maturity it makes up for (if you really believe that that's something that needs to be made up, anyhow) with good humor and sincerity. Each party member has their moments- many in which are heartfelt, believe it or not- and good rapport with the others. This is all backed by a good soundtrack and some neat sprite work- the latter which seems to feel relatively untouched by the remaster, save for the saturation, and the former which I had set to the original. Similarly, the gameplay is very engaging. The ATB system works in favor of the pacing and the mismatching of jobs and abilities allows for some fun strategies. I won't lie and say that the ending doesn't drag or that the final boss isn't almost entirely dependent on RNG, but I believe that the rest of the game is well worth overlooking my frustration. If you're looking for a simple and sweet RPG, then I'd wholly recommend that you give this a shot.

Easily the best of the pixel games I've played so far.

Gripes I want to get out of the way: while the gameplay is excellent, going for the Platinum meant some unfun grinding and some specific plays (to learn all the blue magic, a few spells require you to be a specific level, etc.). The superbosses can be trivialized with certain team builds, but the initial shock of getting instantly killed by them hit me like a train (I'm certain that was the intention).

That stuff aside, what did I think of the game? I adored it. My favorite cast of characters thus far, I absolutely loved the whole team (and I finally understood the "bad jokes will be PUNished" reference my old friend from high school referenced), Exdeath might be my favorite villain out of all the games I've played, he's sinister but felt actually intimidating. The story is also the best thus far, combining that with characters I felt emotionally invested in made it even better.

The job system is mostly great (aside from the superboss builds requiring some busywork), it takes time to max them out and get the perks, but it's honestly worth maxing out every job you get since it pays dividends by the endgame.

Second favorite FF so far (sorry, the action lover has it for 16).

9/10

And now it's time for what most consider to be the magnum opus of the series, 6.

There is a lot to like about FFV, but there is also a lot that is holding it back. For one, some of the characters and even villains are not very well developed. For example, Gilgamesh. I love Gilgamesh, but that's only because of the questlines he has in FF14. In this game, he's a guy that shows up every once in a while, fights, loses, runs away, and repeat. He forms a bond with the party and grows to like them, but I never once felt that bond. If I ever had the chance to interact with him outside of battle, then maybe I'd feel more attached to him. As is, he's just this guy that shows up every once in a while.

The job system in this game is great, but it also holds the game back at times. I love tweaking my party and finding cool combinations. But there are times where if you don't go into a boss fight with the right setup, then good luck. It's super annoying when you have a great lineup and are getting through the regular fights without much difficultly, and then the boss is immune to almost everything you can do to them. That's just bad game design.

I don't want to come across as negative about the game though. It is good, but I consider it the weakest out of the SNES era games. The Pixel Remaster is the best way to play V if you don't have a copy already.

After the very good Final Fantasy IV, which is currently my favourite part of the Classic era (part 6 is still on my To-Play-list), I was quite disappointed with the sequel. Even though the main characters in Final Fantasy V are no longer blank slates like in the early games, they seem rather flat in comparison to Cecil, Kain, Rydia, Rosa and the rest. Despite their relationships, there is never any real chemistry between the characters. The story about a shattered world, war and, for the first time, exploitation by humans is really neat. But even if that doesn't quite reach the level of the story in part four, it's still really good. What Final Fantasy V does really well is the revised job system. This time we can change jobs at any time, level them up and the clever thing is that we can still use the skills we have mastered in a job even if we are assigned a different main job. For example, we can let Lenna practise some white magic first and then let her become a dragoon later, but still let her heal alongside Jump. This makes the set and skills we have at hand incredibly dynamic and allows us to switch skills from time to time to face a dungeon or a special boss with a different tactic. The combat is almost identical to its predecessor and once again utilises the ATB system with all its strengths and weaknesses. I'm still not a fan, as it sometimes makes battles unnecessarily hectic so that you avoid giving your opponent a devastating attack. And again, game number 5 has a problem with bosses that wipe the floor with you out of nowhere. It's fine if an opponent is challenging, but if you can barely react because he's attacking your entire team as a counter with four-digit points of damage, it's annoying. There is often a tactic (don't attack with a certain element because it triggers a strong attack or attack everyone at the same time, etc.) but you usually only find out in the fight with 20% HP remaining. If you're lucky, you'll manage to heal up again and memorise the gimmick. The last bosses in particular are a real struggle, as is typical of the genre, and to be honest this was the first time I had to grind. On the other hand, the dungeons are once again wonderfully and variedly designed and also have occasional puzzles. The story is okay to good and after the pacing gets out of hand around the halfway point, the last third in particular manages to add a lot of tension and urgency with huge stakes after a fateful twist. Final Fantasy V is still a good game, but in my opinion, it's the weakest of the SNES era so far. And as far as I've heard about the sixth game, it will remain so. But I stay curious until then.

Final Fantasy V is a collection of extremely high highs and several very irritating lows. In the same way that FFIV perfected what FFII tried, FFV is the full realization of everything FFI and FFIII attempted.

The story is simple—with a charismatic villain and a lovable cast—and the Job system from FFIII finally comes into its own, allowing you to build up your party in a thousand different ways.

The script is also incredible, heartfelt, and—at times—genuinely hilarious. It helps push the identity of this franchise even further into its own.

The main issue I have with this game is the difficulty curve: Right around the time you fight (minor spoiler) Atomos, the difficulty of encounters takes a massive jump. From that point on, many enemies have insta-kill gimmicks or other frustrating tactics that can make some dungeons pretty painful to get through.

Overall, I don't think FFV reaches the highs of its predecessor, but it's still an excellent experience that I'd recommend with little hesitation.

I’ve been slowly making my way through the classic SNES Final Fantasy trilogy via the Pixel Remasters after I realized how egregious of a blindspot they were to me, someone who proclaims to be a true lover of the JRPG as a genre. Last year I went through FFIV, the first of this trilogy, and found it to be much more linear than I expected, directly pointing you where to go and hurrying along from arc to arc, all while rotating out party members to keep the RPG mechanics fresh. Of course the story is good and the sample platter of party members makes for a variety of different play styles and strategy, and the game does eventually open up and allow for a bit of roaming, but overall I was generally just happy to See What All The Fuss Was About, and I came away from FFIV with a pretty good idea of why some folks might call it their favorite RPG or even their favorite game.

So imagine my surprise when FFV just about pulls a 180 in its approach to design and structure, tightly limiting your party members, but making them blank slates in a mechanical sense, not to mention offering many extended sequences of total freedom before you step into the next cutscene trigger. Even sections with few possible destinations are made to feel open by encouraging players to wander off into the weeds a bit, experiment with this or that job, go for a rare steal, try and learn some situationally valuable blue magic maybe.

That’s not to say that there’s no urgency to the affair, the storyline of FFV is basic, but effective. The initial act lays the groundwork of a patchwork group of adventurers who come together to look into why the world is unraveling at the elemental level, starting with wind disappearing entirely. Cutscenes across the game tend to last ~4-5 minutes max and sometimes feature only a handful of lines of dialogue, using pointed and meaningful lines to communicate a lot quickly. Though there is a twist or two to be found here, the story mostly sticks to the basics, instead embellishing its world with interesting dungeons and implied lore. Who built this giant floating mechanical fortress? What kind of magic is animating the books in this library? Naturally, I had grown quite attached to a number of characters by the ending, but a large part of that is due to how FFV so smartly intertwines its story with its mechanics.

FFV’s mechanics are defined by its job system, probably one of the most prolific things about it and a system that has seen many different iterations and variations since (and before really, see: FFIII), even outside of Final Fantasy. It’s easy to see why. It’s a versatile system with plenty of opportunities for personalized strategies and player expression. It’s such a simple but elegant way of letting players take ownership of these characters, to really customize them over the course of the game and make them feel unique. Jobs grant characters unique and useful abilities, heavily dictate stats, and even determine the type of gear a character can use. But importantly, they take a lot of investment to really squeeze the juice out of them, meaning it pays to plan ahead and commit to who masters which jobs, striking a balance between ability coverage (everyone is decent at everything) and specialization (everyone has a specific role they’re suited for).

The designers also had the confidence to keep these characters in your roster for the entire game (barring some minor exceptions), a decision that pays off twofold by having players grow attached mechanically while also serving the narrative of this group of 4 adventurers united in a common goal. Instead of trying to top FFIV’s varied roster of colorful characters, V instead prunes the cast down to a few solid archetypes that are characterized not only by snappy and efficient cutscenes, but also by their mechanical functions. For example, I knew Lenna had the best base stats for a magic user and also wanted to get ahead of the inevitable need for a Black Mage, however this investment meant I had a hole in the roster for a healer, and I opted to start training the gruff pirate Faris as a White Mage. This decision, made out of practicality, ended up endearing me to Faris as an outwardly callous person who nevertheless nurtures a soft side for healing, especially as she grew into the role and became more acquainted with the group. The game is littered with these kinds of mechanics as narrative, where FFIV was content to simply deliver the narrative to you.

I found the real secret sauce of FFV to be its encounter design. Part of this is the way it pushes the envelope in the ways it can portray a wide variety of situations in its combat system. Sure, 90% of the time combat encounters are just that, combat focused, but sometimes you run into A Character, someone shouting at you from the other side of the battle, or a creature with a specific agenda. You’ll run into enemy soldiers all too eager to flee from the burning building you’re both in, or machines that scan your party and dole out spells that target them based on their current level. You’ll even run into one of Final Fantasy’s most infamous characters during a certain battle on a certain bridge of a certain size. The enemies may not have the character of an SMT bestiary, but they’re able to express themselves in ways that make them feel like more than just stepping blocks to acquiring power as you progress.

The other part of the encounter design is the meticulousness shown by the designers in giving so many enemies unique characteristics like valuable rare steal items, or blue magic, or specific weaknesses that can allow a prudent decision in job choice to essentially “solve” a dungeon. One of my favorite examples of this was learning a new song for the Bard job that doles out extra damage to undead enemies. I had mostly dismissed the job up until this point but decided to give it a try, especially since the Bard’s ability can fulfill the same utility as a number of spells, but without the MP cost. This decision made the following dungeon a cakewalk for me, demonstrating the usefulness of a Bard as they stopped, confused, and eventually slayed enemies with ease. These kinds of little enemy details made it so I was constantly referring to the built-in bestiary to see how I wanted to approach extended sections, and it made me feel clever when a bit of grinding for a good item paid off and led to a bounding leap for my DPS output, or a piece of equipment with unexpected properties.

Minor spoilers for the finale of the game, but the jobs being functions of the crystal shards you spend the early game gathering leads to one of the most satisfying integrations of mechanics as narrative I can think of in recent memory. After you defeat the final boss the world finds itself coming apart at the seams, and it is through the reforming of the 4 elemental crystals that stability and peace are restored. It’s not explicitly stated (Bartz says something like “Oh wow the shards still had some energy left in them”), but it can be inferred that it was the development of your party’s jobs, the AP you poured into those shards, that re-energized them and allowed the reborn world to prosper. This revelation coupled with some truly deft (though some may say underdeveloped, I quite like the brevity) character work, had me walking away from the game with a song in my heart.

Some final notable things I want to call out, the music is of course extremely good, filled to the brim with classics and enhanced with arrangements made for this Pixel Remaster. I didn’t use them often but I love difficulty adjustment options like being able to turn off encounters or double EXP gain. I also appreciate the aggressive auto save feature, because I sure died a lot! FFV is an RPG that respects your intelligence, and it will put you through the ringer if you aren’t bringing your A game.

When the credits had finally rolled I started to seriously consider that FFV might be my new favorite entry in the entire series, having played 1-4, 7, 10, 13, and 15 extensively. The way it grants so much latitude to a player in terms of strategies while also constantly putting forth varied and challenging scenarios engaged me on a level I simply haven’t been with another FF title, and the way it uses its mechanics to augment its story also endeared me like few others. FFV is an absolute cornerstone of the RPG genre, a truly classic title that marries form and function like few other games.

Su punto más fuerte es el gameplay. el sistema de trabajos es una locura y está incluso adelantado a su época, te da una libertad absurda para customizar que función y rol cumple cada personaje, haciéndolo de los final fantasy más rejugables si no el que más.

En ese apartado no hay quejas, mi problema están más bien en la historia.

los personajes principales son buenos, son memorables y me acuerdo de sus nombres, pero la historia que les acompaña es... mediocre a más no poder. y eso ha hecho que este sea el final fantasy hasta la fecha que MÁS he tardado en pasarme, lo abandonaba frecuentemente porque la historia no conseguía engancharme nunca.

Final fantasy 2 tenía mala historia, pero por lo menos el juego era más corto y tenía la motivación de estar más fresco en la saga.

Y la historia de final fantasy 4 es mala en su mayoría, pero era mala de una forma que era divertida.

la historia de 5 en su punto más alto está simplemente bien, y en su punto más bajo es demasiado goofy, es decente como máximo y eso me aburrió más que si hubiera sido bastante mala.

pero soy consciente de que esto es sólo problema mío, puedo entender fácilmente como este podría ser un juego confort de alguien.

The job system took a little time for me to get used to, but even before it did, I could tell that I was going to love this game.

I love the Moogles. I love Gilgamesh. I love Boko. I love Ghido the Turtle. I love the dances you can partake in at the bars. I love how Exdeath turns himself into a splinter. I love how there are so many hard enemies and bosses in here throughout the game, and then by the end, you have Bahamut and you can just sweep the floor with him. But most importantly, I now fully understand why Nobuo Uemetsu is considered a musical god. His score in here is simply incredible (it's really nice they give you the option to change between both the new and old soundtrack, because I love both).

Even if this isn't the first Final Fantasy game I've played, I feel like I've finally (lol) been fully introduced to what the series has to offer, and I'm happy to say that I'm going to stick around to see more. And based on what I've heard for as long as I've known about video games, the next one I play chronologically is going to be even better...

This one came as a bit of a surprise. FFV was the Final Fantasy game I knew the least about before playing it, but it ended up being my favorite of the pixel games so far.

Instead of a big revolving cast of characters like IV, Final Fantasy V focuses on a much smaller and more charming group of individuals. Because of this, both the main party and the villains (Gilgamesh, I love you) end up being the most memorable yet. This game fully realizes what it is and doesn’t fall for the somewhat delusion of grandeur that the previous story-focused titles had. It keeps things simple, which works in the game’s favor since the writing hasn’t been entirely there yet.

The reintroduced and expanded job system from III is the cherry on top an already incredibly joyful experience, and the mixing of various abilities can lead to some fun battles, which gives the combat system a nice little shot in the arm.

Tons of fun. The story is in focus here, and it's actually funny in a way games rarely are. They refined the "heroic sacrifice" in this entry, and--importantly--they limit it to one character.

The job system is deep and intuitive, and could be very fun to replay with different combinations in the future (looking at you, Four-Job Fiesta).

I still don't love ATB, but FF has always wanted to be more action-focused than its counterparts, so I begrudgingly accept it.

I replayed FFV for four job fiesta this year, and honestly, on the replay I think this game has warranted the extra half star bump to 5 stars. It was just, if not more, fun the second time around, and I’ve gained an appreciation for just how much you can do in this game. With a team of blue mage, time mage, beastmaster, and dragoon, I was able to pull off most major milestones and beat the game, including Shinryu (I couldn’t think of an answer to Omega that did not involve extreme amounts of grinding). While the job system is so big and vast, there really isn’t anything you can’t do with any party (except maybe four berserkers, but I’m also aware there is a solo run of them out there!). And I think that’s impressive – I really value customization in video gaming and that element of FFV is something I deeply enjoy.

Final Fantasy is one of the top 3 formative gaming series for me next to Mario and Zelda. FFV may be the first game in the series to capture the same sense of adventure that I felt playing the original FF on NES as a kid. The writing was quite charming, never takes itself too seriously, yet still delivers a really compelling narrative that belies its SNES roots. The music is also a high point, (spreading grand wings / home, sweet home / battle at big bridge)

The job system feels great, and is a natural iteration on the class selection of the OG FF. The game rewards experimentation and had so much fun seeing what combinations of abilities and equipment can basically break the game.

Maybe the one flaw I can find is that the MC is more of a proxy than a character, but even then all of the characters (playable and otherwise) have that extra attention to detail that adds to the game’s overall immersion. Ultimately I feel like the smaller cast plays to the strength of the writing. Few games give that ‘gamer high’ after experiencing a really fulfilling story, and this was not something I expected going into it.

Phenomenal game; hopefully people who are only going into the pixel remasters for IV and VI check this out.

Não foi o melhor final fantasy que já joguei, mas também não foi o pior (sim eu estou falando de você, FFIV After Years).

Final Fantasy V é... esquisito. Apesar de todos os elementos que fazem FF ser um FF estarem ali, como os cristais, os heróis, o mundo se acabando, a narrativa crescendo, etc, ele insiste em inserir um humor extremamente bobinho na narrativa que faz o jogo ficar com um ar de "aventura da sessão da tarde."; As vezes essa vibe até funciona, acho que apenas poderia ser mais bem dosada.
Um dos melhores momentos da narrativa é uma briga entre o grande vilão e uma.... tartaruga. É esse o tipo de bobeira que constantemente se mostra presente na narrativa kkkk

Dito isto, a narrativa é um pouco rasa. Não há muito desenvolvimento de personagem, nem grandes reviravoltas. As coisas apenas meio que vão acontecendo. Mas funciona. Como falei anteriormente, não foi o melhor, não foi o pior.
Mas o que o jogo deixa a desejar no quesito narrativo, ele certamente entrega em qualidade na trilha sonora e no sistema de jobs.

As músicas desse Final Fantasy são coisa de outro mundo. Temos Battle on The Big Bridge é um marco de final fantasy, e segue sendo usada até hoje de tão boa que é, e também o tema da Lenna, que é uma das músicas mais lindas que já tive o prazer de escutar. Nobuo mais uma vez mostra que é um gênio na criação de músicas.
Quanto ao sistema de Jobs, fiquei um pouco resistente no começo por ter muitas opções, visto que cada personagem pode usar todas as classes, mas no final do jogo já estava completamente viciado em masterizar o máximo de jobs possíveis. Muito recompensador e acho que gera uma mudança de gameplay ao longo do jogo que é muito positiva.

Ao contrário do que me disseram, eu diria que vale SIM a pena jogar Final Fantasy V, porém, não recomendaria como seu primeiro Final Fantasy.
É um jogo divertido e com uma mudança de vibe bem vinda pra quem jogou os jogos anteriores em sequência, mas fica um pouco longe do que normalmente esperamos, ao menos narrativamente, de um FF.

Fine game. Basically FF III with more airtime.

The job system is interesting at first, but requires you to get into meta gaming near the end of the game when it gets properly hard. Some will love this, but I'm not very much into min-maxing and trying to break the game with the flexibility of the job system.

Characters can be a bit bland but some are very charismatic like Bartz and Galuf. The plot is a bit overdone for me at this point, very classic crystal saga with the warriors of light, with not enough character development to make up for it. The Exdeath splinter scene was a bit too silly, IMO.

Music is great as always. The overworld theme, Lenna's theme, final fight theme are all great pieces, just to name a few.