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.
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.