Final Fantasy I

Release Dates Statistics Europe Release Date - 14 March 2003 Japan Release Date - 31 October 2002 North America Release Date - 8 April 2003 Title: Final Fantasy Origins Developer: Square-Enix Publisher: Square-Enix Platform: PlayStation One Genre: RPG Players: 1 Our Rating: 9/10

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 how 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 in 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 aspect of Final Fantasy is the length of the dungeons. You could end up wandering around in a dungeon for two hours when you can’t find the right 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 just 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 them as they are. Although the music is pretty simple, it knows how to reflect the environment quite well. As the early NES music had to be catchy for the gamer to enjoy the lesser parts of the game. The improved sound quality of the PSX version makes it a splendid game soundtrack; catchy and tuneful. 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 can 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. Though, 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%