Final Fantasy

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Final Fantasy I-VI Pixel Remaster Collection, along with Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, and Final Fantasy VI)

Final Fantasy, originally released in Japan in 1987 on the Famicom console, then brought over to the United States with a Nintendo Entertainment System release in 1990, is not only a game that started a long-running franchise that remains strong to this day, but it is also a game that developer Square (now Square Enix) famously bet its entire future on, thus the game’s title (if it failed, it would be Square Enix’s “final fantasy”, or at least so the story goes). Given that Square is still around, and so is Final Fantasy, clearly this bet paid out for them.

Final Fantasy was a groundbreaking title, and along with the original Dragon Quest, these games would set the standard for all JRPGs to come. However, this is not a game that has aged well. In its original release, battles took place against plain black backgrounds, your four main characters had no names or personalities and were completely interchangeable apart from their stats and abilities, the story was simple and not especially compelling, and the game had an absurd amount of grinding.

In the time since that game’s original release, it has seen multiple re-releases and remakes. A release on the Japan-only MSX2 brought with it minor improvements to graphics and sound, a second compilation release on Famicom alongside Final Fantasy II gave the game a few more minor visual updates, a Wonderswan Color port completely remade the visuals, a port to the original PlayStation in the Final Fantasy Origins bundle took the Wonderswan version and added new pre-rendered cutscenes, remade music, art galleries, and expanded use of the save feature, Game Boy Advance ports of Final Fantasy I & II added new dungeons… I’m not even halfway through the list, but I’m going to stop there. Suffice it to say, this game has been remade multiple times, on multiple platforms, with some versions staying closer to the original, and some adding improvements to the presentation and gameplay.

This release, the “Pixel Remaster” version of the game, originally released on PC and mobile platforms in 2021, with a port to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch with a few extra features in 2023. I’m not about to compare this release to each and every other version of the game, but I will note some of the features and comparisons this release has to other versions. However, I’ll just say right now that I have not played all of the remakes and re-releases of this game, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this could be the best release of this game to date.

The first and most notable change over the original game is going to be the presentation. The Pixel Remaster version of the game upgrades the simple 8-bit visuals of the original to something resembling 16-bit visuals, with some nice added effects like lighting highlights on the ocean, and a really nice flowing water effect in streams, and the overworld map even uses faux “Mode 7”-style visuals like the SNES games in the series did.

This release doesn’t include the pre-rendered cutscenes of the PlayStation release of the game, but it also doesn’t have the horrible loading times of that release, and I’d argue I’d much rather have the latter. And for players who complained about the modernized text in PC and mobile release of the Pixel Remasters, this version has added options to return the text to the pixelated original look. My only issue with the visuals in this release is that scrolling is sometimes a bit jittery in an ugly and distracting way. Apart from that, this game is lovely.

However, the truly incredible change here has to be this version’s newly-remade soundtrack using a combination of orchestrated, instrumental, and synthesized themes. I’ll just say right now that I’ve never been the biggest fan of the original Final Fantasy’s soundtrack, but the moment I started this game, my jaw dropped at how wonderful this release of the game sounds. I don’t have any tracks I can link to directly, but check out this page for samples. In particular, I recommend 3. Opening Theme, 4. Castle Cornelia, 5. Main Theme, 6. Chaos Shrine, 22. Derelict Keep, and 23. Miniboss Battle, to name a few. Simply put, this version of the game takes the low-fi tunes of the original and turns them into something truly beautiful. And for those who prefer the original versions, you can opt to play the game with those instead if you want.

Beyond the presentation, there are also content and gameplay improvements here too. One of the most noteworthy improvements has to be the new Auto-Battle system, which can really cut down on the grinding this game puts players through. Want to cut down it even more? The PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch release include menu options to boost the amount of gold and experience you get from battles, allowing you to severely cut down on the grinding. If you prefer, you can even eliminate random encounters completely, though of course this could lead to being severely under-leveled when encountering scripted battles like bosses.

This release uses the “Charge” magic system of the original game, rather than the MP system some other remakes opted for. This makes the gameplay here more unique compared to other entries in the series, though it may take some getting used to. This release also removes the ability to save wherever you want, limiting it to the map screen, although you can still quick save in a town or dungeon. Speaking of the map, this version also adds a new map system. You can also change the button layout to suit your preferences. Finally, the game’s main menu includes a gallery where you can listen to the entire soundtrack and look at concept and publicity art for the game.

Okay, I think I’ve lauded this game with enough praise by this point, now time to get to the bad stuff.

This game makes use of the Game Boy Advance localization for this game, which was quite excellent, and far superior to the original localization… but even with this improvement, this is still a pretty underwhelming story by today’s standards. Your characters still have zero unique personalities, and the cheesy “chosen ones” episodic story is laughably generic by today’s standards. This game does still have funny moments where it shows some personality, but overall this game cannot hide how dated its story is.

The same goes for the gameplay. While I very much appreciate options to reduce grinding, that doesn’t change the fact that the only real choices you make for your character growth are in the game’s opening character selection and in shops where you outfit your characters, including selecting spells for magic-users. There’s no skill trees, no way to determine point distributions, absolutely nothing to give the gameplay any significant amount of depth, particularly if you chose a party of non-magic users at the game’s outset.

What’s more, unless you’re in a particularly challenging battle, you’ll just be choosing “attack, attack, attack” over and over again – that auto-battle isn’t just saving you time, it’s saving you a ridiculous amount of boring tedium, which is to say, the majority of combat in this game.

Speaking of challenging battles, this game does nothing to warn players when they’re venturing into an area with enemies that are far too overpowered for them, and since it’s not always clear exactly where you’re meant to go, this means it’s very easy to stray in the wrong direction only to get horribly slaughtered. If you play this game, you definitely want to save often.

Then we have to look at this game’s price. I thoroughly appreciate all of the improvements and enhancements that this version of the game received, but even so, $12 seems a bit steep for a game that’s still very archaic and outdated in its story and gameplay, even with all of those improvements.

In the end, I think this release of Final Fantasy is perhaps the best we can expect for a remake of the first game in the series, unless Square Enix were to do a full re-imagining of the game. However, for a release that opts to have one foot firmly planted in the past and one foot in the present, this is a solid remake with an outstanding presentation, and excellent upgraded features and content, even if it can’t completely hide how dated the game it’s remaking actually is.

tl;dr – Final Fantasy is the Turn-Based JRPG that started the entire franchise, and this is an absolutely outstanding remake that gives the game a gorgeous new presentation with absolutely beautiful remastered music and some excellent new gameplay features that help to cut down on the original game’s flaws… but those flaws are still there, from the laughably quaint story to the shallow gameplay. JRPG fans and especially Final Fantasy fans wanting to see where this series started should find this to be a great way to do that, but definitely don’t expect anything especially great by modern standards.

Grade: C+

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