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Final Fantasy Origins Final Fantasy I & II Remastered Editions Review (continued)
More User Submitted Final Fantasy Origins Final Fantasy I & II Remastered Editions Reviews
Date: 2004-11-27
Final Fantasy origins warning
Overall the game is a tad boring, and it takes a long time for stuff to really happen in FF1.
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Date: 2004-11-19
The games that launched an empire....
It pains me. Only when all nine planets are in perfect alignment is it possible for me to hate a Square-Enix game. For the game to come from the much-loved Final Fantasy franchise, there has to be a lunar and solar eclipse at the same time. Anyone's heard the story right? Square was a struggling developer back in the eighties facing bankrupty. They made a RPG styled after Dragon Quest, Japan's top-selling RPG, which turned into a mega-hit, saving the company and launching one of the most revered videogame series ever.
It's strange that I never played Final Fantasy when it first came out on NES. I know that my family owned the cartridge, but I'd never played it. I figured that the first game would be something special. Final Fantasy to me has always been the epic stories, the memorable characters, and the solid gameplay mechanics. Those were the qualities that just enthralled me when I became hooked on Final Fantasy II (the 4th one really) for the SNES. Unfortunately, the story is barely there and the characterization is nil. You are a band of heroes that is plopped down in a medival fantasy world and given the task of restoring the four crystals which will save the world. That's it. Most of the time you are wandering about aimlessly, trying to figure out where you are supposed to go. The method of exploration is go into cave, if monsters kill you in one hit, leave cave and find another. There are some towns you can visit and be treated to wonderful dialogue like "Bless the Crystal!" only thing half the idiots in this world say.
If that weren't frustrating enough, this is a really hard game. Unfortunately, the difficulty feels like it comes from poor game design than actually being meant to challenge you. Perpare to spend tons of time leveling up. You'll be attacked often, after one or two steps sometimes, the monsters appear in droves, and your attacks will miss as much as they hit. In dungeons, there are no save points for you to save and restore your health with a tent. The healing items and magic is woefully inadequate most of the time. The magic system is also messed up. Instead of having magic points to use as you please, Magic is divided into 8 levels and you can buy 3 spells from each level. You can only use magic from each level a certain number of time. This annoying because by the time you reach level ten most of the low level spells are practically obsolete but you'll have tons of them and few higher level spells. There are also no items to revive fallen party members, so you have to leave the dungeon, track back to town, and get a priest to revive you. This is really annoying when the town doesn't have a priest and you have to go halfway around the world to find one.
I managed to play for 10 hours before I could stand no more. Final Fantasy II is a little better. You play as a group of youths fighting for a rebel resistance movement. The characters have personalities and the game actually gives you missions to accomplish. However, I didn't like the leveling system. Depending on how you fight, your stats increase and decrease accordingly. You'd think that would have the characters highly customizable? Wrong! The characters are still inclined towards certain jobs and weapon types. Maria has low HP and can't hit the broad side of a barn, so she has to be a mage. Give her a javeline instead of her bow and arrow and some animals will have gone extinct before she lands another hit. It takes forever to get the stats to increase.
The presentation of the games are pretty good. The graphics and spell effects are bright and attractive. The music is still exceptional. If you loved Final Fantasy I when it first came out and have been itching to play it again, ignore this review and buy this right away. These games have never looked better and they come will a host of unlockable extras. For everyone else looking to play the RPGs are yesteryear, get Final Fantasy Chronicles or Anthology, as Square has perfected the formula for RPGs by then.
Final Fantasy Origins is a relic of a long-ago era in gaming that has aged like Buddy Hackette. It's a definitely a historic benchmark for the industry, but for me it's only novelty is that it shows that "You've come along way, Baby!"
Date: 2004-08-25
The origin of Square Enix
A great collection of the games that started THE greatest video game series of all time. The first chapter in the series is a great game but still not as great as the second which is a lot more story involved. I loved them both they show that they are the games that defined the roll playing genre. Loaded with special fetures, there really is no reason not to buy this collection of RPG greatness.
Date: 2004-06-15
The Best Game
I personally think that the first one is a bit over rated, but number two really is the best.With the blood swords to the numerous amount of characters and magic.I recommend this to any true ff gamer.
Date: 2004-05-09
Origins, Perhaps Only Good Once
I purchased FF: Origins for Playstation 1 because I have been a big Final Fantasy fan for years. I thought it would only be right for me to see the origins of this greatly known and loved series. However, I found myself to be slightly disappointed. Two games are in the FF: Origins game disk. They include, Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II.Final Fantasy I: Dungeons, random battles, finding items, and running aimlessly in circles trying to find your way around. That's about all I could say about Final Fantasy I. At the beginning you get to select a customized list of characters. You can have any combination you desire. This is a great feature I enjoyed. My party included: Warrior, (originally called a Fighter), Black Mage, White Mage, and a Thief. If I wanted, I could've put a Monk in my party or even a Red Mage. Also, since you can pick four party members you could have 4 warriors or 2 black mages and 2 white mages...basically any combination you desire. The graphics from the original Final Fantasy to this Playstation version is quite improved. It is still in 2D, but the colors, sound, and graphics are much improved.
The reason I did not enjoy this game as much was because I was not compelled by any story or innovative battle system. You learn skills by buying them at a store. I hated getting lost in dungeons and there wasn't enough places where you could `officially' save your games. Memo file was introduced to this version of the game, but if I wanted to actually quit and shut off the Playstation, Memo File would be deleted. It seemed like a tedious game for me, but I wasn't brought up with the old school Final Fantasy, so I'm probably just a little spoiled with innovative battle systems and an in-depth story line.
Overall: A pretty short game, (about 30 hours) and a good remake of the roots of Final Fantasy. This is not my personal favorite by far, but I can't say it sucks. Final Fantasy II: I seemed to like this one better. There was more of a story line, and this time characters in your party had a story and development. Skills were learned by not only purchasing them at a store, but then reusing them over and over. The only way they could level up or be useful in the game is by a repetitive act of use. This was how the rest of the game was done as well. To level up your HP, you have to get hit a lot and be in the critical at the end of battle. To level up your MP, use a lot of magic. This goes on and on. That's basically what you spend most of the time doing in the game is reusing skills and attacking your own character to raise your HP. Still, I liked this one better than the first. For Both Games: As the game progresses there are Bonus Material to look at monster information, pictures, artwork, conceptual art, ect. There is a great feature that shows the percentage of monster defeated and items aquired. Overall: A good game, but not my favorite of Final Fantasy series. If you've played the old version, I'd recommend trying out the improved version. And if you're interested in FF roots, here's the game for you. But for casual gamers, this may be too much of a bore as the battle system is not innovative.
Final Fantasy Origins Final Fantasy I & II Remastered Editions Reviews Page: 6 of 10 Prev<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next>>
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