Fainaru fantajî

I own all eight of them. I've played at least part of every Final Fantasy game of the series. And you know what?

I still have a special place in my heart for that very first Final Fantasy game to ever hit the world of Nintendo (once THE hottest game system around).

It was the game that I never owned as a kid, but always wanted to play. I played it sometimes when I visited friends that owned it. Now I have it and all seven of the others.

Not to brag. But it is an excellent series. And I sound like I'm 13. But that's ok. Because Final Fantasy is simply cool.

This is the beginning of the great Final Fantasy legacy. Some of the cheapest graphics create a wonderful game and what was to be the start of some of the best video games ever produced. But this one has it all: gem-eating titans, time-travelling, witches, elementals and so much more.

I must admit, when I first played the original Final Fantasy, I was pretty disappointed. The game seemed pretty linear, and the story wasn't anything special in comparison to Dragon Warrior. However, when I got into the game a little more, I realized it's a big more complex than it looks. Although this game borrows a lot from the Dragon Warrior series, and seems to be missing a point, it definitley has its charms. For example, there's two different types of magics: black and white. White is more of the healing and reviving magic, while Black deals with devastating blows to your enemies. Also, you can select the "job" of your 4 characters at the beginning of the game. You can chose from Fighter, Ninja, Black Mage, White Mage, and Red Mage (I'm pretty sure there's another one that skips my memory.) Each one has its strong points as well as weak points. For example, Black Mages cannot use White Magic, but obviously they can use Black Magic. Same thing for a White Mage, only vice versa. Red Mages can use both Black and White, yet their magic never turns out to be quite as strong. Puzzling? It all makes sense when you play it. Another little charm of the game is the little extras, like the Xcalibur Sword. It's not essential to beating the game, but it helps out a lot. All in all, it was boring at first, but I really started to get into it after playing it for a little while. I have to admit the final boss Chaos is a little easy (which is probably more of a good thing, since I get frustrated easily)

I say the the original Final Fantasy. There have been many other greats, even the PS remake is great, but I've never played a more challenging/rewarding game in my life (and I bought it when it first came out on NES.)

It changed how I perceived RPG's; the trial by fire, the grinding, the upgrading, the fact that I hate dying so much...

I bought the NES mini just so I could play it again - never played another single game on the mini but this one. :D

No pun intended as always of course. I never played the game when it was first released, in hindsight and playing it on my console (Playstation), I imagine I would have really loved it. And I would say that I quite enjoyed the game even after all that time - and the ... well not very fine ageing when it comes to the graphics - yes this was not redone, so wash your eyes or whatever you would say.

That all said, the game is about a group of heroes ... heroes who we pick and name. And we also choose their class - it makes sense to pick and choose different characters/abilities to come with that. Since I am new to this game series, I cannot do too many comparisons. I did start playing FF7 that I think was called one of the best in the series? Might have gotten that wrong, but I know the fan base is quite big.

The game is called the same in Japan if my translate search was correct. Which is not always the case - see Resident Evil which was originally called Biohazard in Japan when it was originally released. Also the games, that much I know, are not playing in the same universe. So you get different stories, but also different people every time you play. Not sure if the movies or show portray any crossovers or if they focus on single games. .. or even tell original stories.

One thing is for sure, if you like strategy games that are round based (every character has time to choose their action for the round, if they are not dead or have an effect/spell on them) ... you will love this. I know people who don't like this .... they like it to be real time ... both have their flavor and things you like or don't like. It really is about what you make of it.

With number 7 I saw that they kind of broke that a bit and you could fight whenever. I am sure I can change it back to round based only - but it works so I'll keep it. But however old this is, the game works. And in some respect better than the original part 7 (they have done rebirth and whatnot with it) on Playstation. I could save wherever I want with that - also the map is there for me to know where I am something that seems to be missing with part 7 - at least the version I am playing.

Those who are savvy with role playing games (no pun intended, you know what I mean), may like the fact that you can level up and change the stats of your hero(es). What you may have liked ... to do yourself: do the upgrading yourself. But the game does that for you. At least you can see what is being upgraded.

The foes/enemies spawn whenever and you can level up quite nicely. The story is really nice (go find stuff, equip your troop with the best items and magic where applicable) .. but it has to be your cup of tea. Especially because it is pixelized and all that ... a lot of hours can be put into this too - so time consuming, fair warning of sorts. Final(ly) I played it myself, how about you?