This review contains spoilers
Full Disclosure: I played through this will full on Game Genie cheats because I wanted to experience it without having to experience it the way I did when I was 10.
Like with my review of Zelda 2, there is no way to accurately explain what it was like playing this in 1990. When this came out, we had played through Dragon Warrior numerous times (everyone had that game, in part because Nintendo Power gave it away (my childless uncle got me whatever game Toys 'R Us said was the best every Christmas, which was how I got it)) and Dragon Warrior 2, and we fought their limitations and quirks.
But Final Fantasy was different. It was bigger, it came with maps and monster guides (because we weren't as good at video games as Japanese kids were), and you got FOUR characters!
It had its own limitations, however, like how you could only save in towns or on the field with an item, and how you always had to walk out of caves or dungeons and then all the way back to town, making every single trek terrifying.
Here was our loop: grind, buy the best stuff, overlevel, run away from every battle in dungeons, beat the boss/get the thing, run away from every battle on the way back, breathe a sigh of relief back in town (one time, only our White Mage was still alive and we stupidly saved with a HOUSE outside the Marsh Cave (there was only one save file) and it took us dozens of tries to make it back to town).
But what really made this game great, what really made it stand above the rest, was the story. On the surface, it is very bare bones, yes, but it has a lot of variety, and there are, for the time, remarkable moments of wonder and depth.
The moment that I still refer back to when explaining this is the Waterfall Cave. At this point in the game, you should have three orbs lit and an airship. You have walked through a very dangerous forest to Lemuria, and you have figured out how to speak their language, because they are an advanced and ancient people.
In the cave, there is a robot. Why is there a robot here?!? That robot gives you a cube, which will take you to the Space Castle. Why is there a Space Castle?!?
In 1990, this blew our minds. The PS1 remake tragically changed the decrepit, metal Space Castle into a regular castle, removing that feeling of wonder that came from going from a medieval setting to a futuristic one in a single move.
And then, at the end, you have to, in a single run, go 2000 years in the past and refight all four fiends and THEN the final boss. This took us numerous tries, and when we finally delivered the killing blow, with a near death Black Wizard, we jumped on those fucken beds and cheered and yelled like idiots.
And you just can't get that feeling anymore, but I sure as hell have been trying, through practically every entry in the series.
Like with my review of Zelda 2, there is no way to accurately explain what it was like playing this in 1990. When this came out, we had played through Dragon Warrior numerous times (everyone had that game, in part because Nintendo Power gave it away (my childless uncle got me whatever game Toys 'R Us said was the best every Christmas, which was how I got it)) and Dragon Warrior 2, and we fought their limitations and quirks.
But Final Fantasy was different. It was bigger, it came with maps and monster guides (because we weren't as good at video games as Japanese kids were), and you got FOUR characters!
It had its own limitations, however, like how you could only save in towns or on the field with an item, and how you always had to walk out of caves or dungeons and then all the way back to town, making every single trek terrifying.
Here was our loop: grind, buy the best stuff, overlevel, run away from every battle in dungeons, beat the boss/get the thing, run away from every battle on the way back, breathe a sigh of relief back in town (one time, only our White Mage was still alive and we stupidly saved with a HOUSE outside the Marsh Cave (there was only one save file) and it took us dozens of tries to make it back to town).
But what really made this game great, what really made it stand above the rest, was the story. On the surface, it is very bare bones, yes, but it has a lot of variety, and there are, for the time, remarkable moments of wonder and depth.
The moment that I still refer back to when explaining this is the Waterfall Cave. At this point in the game, you should have three orbs lit and an airship. You have walked through a very dangerous forest to Lemuria, and you have figured out how to speak their language, because they are an advanced and ancient people.
In the cave, there is a robot. Why is there a robot here?!? That robot gives you a cube, which will take you to the Space Castle. Why is there a Space Castle?!?
In 1990, this blew our minds. The PS1 remake tragically changed the decrepit, metal Space Castle into a regular castle, removing that feeling of wonder that came from going from a medieval setting to a futuristic one in a single move.
And then, at the end, you have to, in a single run, go 2000 years in the past and refight all four fiends and THEN the final boss. This took us numerous tries, and when we finally delivered the killing blow, with a near death Black Wizard, we jumped on those fucken beds and cheered and yelled like idiots.
And you just can't get that feeling anymore, but I sure as hell have been trying, through practically every entry in the series.