In 2003 Square-Enix released the remake of the first two Final Fantasies. The original NES games date all the way back to 1987 and 1988. For the re-release they gave the games excellent new graphics, better sound quality, monster encyclopaedias, item overviews, art galleries and CG movies at the beginning. These two games meant the beginning of Square’s glory. These were the start; these were the origins of Final Fantasy. They were the last in line to appear in the remake series on the Sony Playstation. Was Square-Enix saving the best for last?
Final Fantasy I:
This 2D game was first released in 1987 on the NES and was seen as the first RPG ever. Many Final Fantasy fans were very excited when the remake was released, including myself. The CG movie at the beginning is very nice and knows to make an impact. But would this game, after 16 years, know how to impress the people once again?
Storyline:
You start of as four young warriors who find themselves outside of Cornelia. As you enter the town you find out that the king of Cornelia is looking for the prophesized Light Warriors. One of the town guards notices the crystals and sees you as these legendary fighters. After an assignment by the king, you find out you truly are the four Light Warriors and you go on a quest to defeat an evil force that is threatening the world and bring back the light in the four crystals you carry around…
Score: 88%
Graphics:
The graphics of Final Fantasy are very pleasant for the eye. Although it’s 2D, the colourful characters and environment make up for everything. The whole game is made to look smooth, so the world map, the towns, the dungeons and even the battles look nice and smooth. The graphics shouldn’t really bother you; I think it’s the best a 2D game can get.
Score: 97%
Gameplay:
Since the game is in 2D, it’s not the graphics that should matter, but the gameplay. After all, that is what made the game so popular. At the beginning you have the opportunity to form and name your own party consisting of four characters. You will have to choose out of 6 classes, each with its own graphic. The classes are Warrior, Thief, Monk, Red Mage, White Mage and Black Mage. You have total freedom of selecting your party; you can even select one class multiple times.
The game itself is like a rollercoaster ride. Once you play one part, you want to play the next. And there is almost always an opportunity to buy a better weapon or magic spell, which you might want to acquire and thus keep you playing. The game has loads of weapons and spells, so they won’t bore you that fast. Also the dungeons you visit all have their own theme, and so do some towns, which keeps the game variant and interesting. There is also a turn point in the game where you can upgrade your party’s classes, making them look much cooler and you can learn them new abilities.
Score: 100%
Difficulty:
First of all, there are two difficulty levels: Easy and Normal. The Normal mode is indeed a bit harder then Easy mode. The hardest part of the game is to keep up with your characters; meaning once you have the chance to buy a new and better weapon or spell, you can actually buy it. Another though aspect of Final Fantasy is the length of the dungeons. You could wander around in a dungeon for two hours if you couldn’t find the way. But as in any Final Fantasy, a creative mind will clear the game much faster, easier and at a lower level then someone who is júst playing. And it’s nice that they left that element in there.
Score: 96%
Music:
Well, nobody can deny the fact that the sound quality on the NES sucked. So Square remade the music as well, but decided to use the original melodies and leave those as they are. Although the music is pretty simple, it knows how to reflect the environment quite well. As the early NES music hád to be catchy, for the gamer to enjoy the very least of the game, the improved sound quality of the PSX version makes it a splendid game soundtrack; catchy and nice.
Score: 94%
Overall:
This is one of those games that you just keep enjoying every time you play it. The replay value of this game skyrockets through the roof, seeing the many combinations on how you form your party at the start. In the end this game proves that it can be even more challenging then the 3D Final Fantasies.
For an all-round gamer, this game would just be good ol’ fun. For a Final Fantasy gamer, this is a little piece of heaven. And of course, this game wasn’t re-released to impress. It was released to add to your collection, to have a part of history, but that doesn’t mean we have to enjoy it any less...
Score: 96%
Final Fantasy II:
Only one year after the release of the first Final Fantasy, Square introduced Final Fantasy II in Japan. After the success of his predecessor, this game was very popular amongst its fans. Will the remake keep it as popular or will it only pull the game down?
Storyline:
The Kingdom of Fynn falls to the clutches of the Empire. Four orphan youths lose their homes, and are left with nothing. The remaining survivors of Fynn hide out in the town of Altair, not too far from the castle. There, a rebel group is formed. In an act of despair, the youths join the Rebel Army and try to stop the Empire from bringing more havoc in to the world.
Score: 97%
Graphics:
The graphics are pretty much the same as Final Fantasy I. The only difference is that it looks a little bit looser and wider. It also seems as if there the colour in the game is less, making it a bit less attractive on the eye. None the less the graphics are still better then most other 2D games.
Score: 82%
Gameplay:
Final Fantasy II introduced a sort of level-up system, that didn’t use experience to gain stats, but more the actions in battle. For instance, if you were to attack a lot physically, you would gain more strength. If you were to lose a lot of HP, the maximum amount would grow. Using this system you could decide what your characters strengths would be, or their weaknesses. The Magic system, unlike Final Fantasy I, did use a Level system. The more frequently you used a spell, the more it would grow stronger, and would grow to a next level. The same goes for the weapons. You have a variety of weapon types to choose from and the more often you attack with a weapon, the more hits your character gives with it and handles it much better.
As you play the game, you have total freedom of pretty much going anywhere. The only thing holding you back is the strong enemies. You can get pretty strong at the beginning though if you train in a good and efficient way and will allow you to go to places where enemies were too strong for you before. Also, the game is pretty straight-forward and you’ll never get stuck on what you have to do. The game shows nice variety because you have three standard members in your team: Firion, Maria and Gus. The fourth member will come and go and will always be different then the one before and have its own abilities and advantages.
Score: 92%
Difficulty:
The game starts on Easy mode. After you clear the game once, you can choose Normal Mode which can disable dashing, Auto Target etc. Also, like I said before, from the start of the game it is possible to go to pretty much anywhere, meaning if you train your characters good enough, you can stroll through the game as if it were nothing. Although, Square did arrange the game in such a matter, that your base stats won’t grow (much) if you fight against weaker enemies, which reflects reality a bit. This means that you have to proceed in the game, where the enemies get stronger and stronger, to increase your base stats. So don’t think that if you train once in the beginning, the game will be a piece of cake, it’ll still be pretty spicy.
Score: 90%
Music:
Because the story of Final Fantasy II is more serious, the music is more dramatic then the music from Final Fantasy I. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing though. This way you get really sucked in to the game, and you feel what is happening through the music. The soundtrack of this game is less universal then that of Final Fantasy I, meaning there is a small selection that will prefer this soundtrack over the one from FFI.
Score: 94%
Overall:
Final Fantasy II is an excellent piece of FF history. Mainly because of the exclusive level-up system this game is very interesting and shows how this FF differs from the rest of the series. The storyline is very good, a lot of ups and downs in the story which keep you playing and get you sucked in to the game, which is very nice. The replay value of the game is a little less then Final Fantasy I, but that’s because FFII has less different ways to clear the game. You can try to clear the game using only fists for instance, those kinds of things. Great game, but the lesser one in the Origins pack.
Score: 91%
Final Fantasy Origins is a must have. Especially FFI, which shows many, many hours of gameplay and won’t bore you very quickly. FFII is also very nice to have, due to the good storyline and the different level-up system you should’ve at least tried. All in all, a true FF fan should have this in his collection. And a casual gamer should just buy this, because it’s a piece of RPG-history.
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