Final Fantasy Anthology
Reviewed by Dyson Turner
Final Fantasy Anthology has to be one of the coolest games
to ever hit Playstation. Not just the fact that is two great
RPG's in one package, no I will look beyond that. It is
because it gives people who never owned played or rented
these 2 games, a chance to see why their was 7 of them. Many
people out there who have played the later 2 Fantasy's think
that's all there is to it and don't realize that the roots
of the games were right here, and these were two of the best
FF's on the market. It also gives us American gamers who
played FF3 who didn't even realize their was 5 other Final
Fantasy's and only knew of two those two being Final Fantasy
and Final Fantasy IV. Both of these games I am still playing
and enjoying even to this day. If you played the other 2 and
though that were a little too easy get a load of these,
these are just as epic, and 10 times harder. You can breeze
through 8 in less than a week, but don't think that you can
do that 5 or 6. These games both guarantee 50 hours of game
play each, and that is if your good and you do everything.
Story 10/10
Final Fantasy V
A very intriguing one, it seems that mostly all the early
FF's focused in on the 4 elements Earth, Wind Water and
Fire. This one isn't an exception it does the same thing.
There are only 5 main characters one you meet later on but I
don't want to give away the surprise. The story begins as
Reina's father goes to the Wind Meteor because their has
been some trouble with the crystal their. Then there's a
young man by the name of Bartz who is traveling along with
his chocobo boko and runs into Reina. Then they see a man
fall from somewhere in front of the Wind Meteor he comes
along. Then they meet a pirate name Faris who comes along as
well. I will explain each character.
Bartz-The main character of Final Fantasy V. He is described
as common person and he is the adventurous type who looks
for things to get into with his pet Chocobo Boko.
Reina-A very noble Princess, she isn't the usual type of
'save me!!' princesses found in other RPG's she is
energetic and she puts up a good fight. She joins the story
when she found out her father left.
Galof the as fore mentioned old man. He has seemingly lost
his memory do to the fall and all he remembers is his name
is Galof and he is looking for the Wind Meteor, even though
he is old he still fight.
Faris- A pirate who has been pirating all his life. He
doesn't seem too hostile and there is a connection between
Faris and Reina because they wear the same medallions, so
for this reason he decides to join the quest.
All these characters have a connection with each other, and
very soon this story starts to pick up and it takes all the
unsuspected twist and turns as per the usual Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy VI
The Story of Final Fantasy VI was a long and intriguing one.
It was after a war, the war was the War of the Magi. Then
all of mankind's technological advances were destroyed. Many
years later mankind built back what they once had, well at
least close to what they had. The War of the Magi was over
Espers, at one time Espers and human co existed peacefully,
until some people wanted to use their powers for the magic
that Espers had. So the war broke out and all Espers fled to
a disclosed dimension type place where humans weren't
allowed in. There was a strange girl, by the name of Terra
who was born with magical powers, no one knows how she got
them but the Empire was ready to exploit her for it. Which
they did, and that is around the time an Esper was
discovered. Many felt that Espers were just myths and that
magic was just made up. Well when the discovered the Esper
they new magic was for real and that everyone wanted to use
it. I won't get in too deep about the characters because in
this game talking about almost any of the characters except
Terra is considered a spoiler.
Graphics 8. 0/10
Final Fantasy V
The graphics weren't that great, and I was thinking Square
were going to improve them instead of just giving us the
Super Famicon version in CD form. All though they were
pretty good for RPG's back them they fail to meet today's
standards. I do like some seemingly 3D effects that were
tried like when you were in the Airship and when you seen
the meteor falling. The character size was about the same
from FF4 the only difference is now you seen their faces
move when they laughed or some times when they talked.
Normally I couldn't compare the older graphics from back
then to now but I have to here because of when it actually
came out. Well seemingly it does look bad, and some people
considered the graphics on this a joke I like it because as
I dug deeper in the story I soon forgot how bad the graphics
were. Well at least each character was distinguishable from
each other.
Final Fantasy 6
Well compared to today's standards these graphics aren't
good, but when this came out on the 16-bit systems they were
unrivaled! The almost 3D effect when you riding an adorable
chocobo or in the airship. The size of the characters and
the colorful backgrounds everything is inspirational and
astounding. The towns look great too, and each one has a
different look, and is quite colorful. The bosses were huge
and were highly detailed especially Weapon. Exclusive to
this version was FMV. The FMV's that play through out the
game are spectacular, you really get to see what the
characters look like, this is a huge plus for the people who
had the SNES version. Although FMV's aren't abundant like
they were in FF8 they are still pretty good even though it's
only 3 of them. All the characters were distinguishable from
one another, and so were the towns people and what not. They
added a different type of screen when you are about to
battle in the world part of the game; it sort of resembles
Final Fantasy VIII. This really ups the overall graphics a
lot and it gives fans a reason to play through again.
Sound
Final Fantasy V
The music sounded good. I liked the FF prelude adaptation
here than any other version because after this one came out
it got messed up after wards with different beats and such.
The other town songs sounded great too and it was stuck on
your mind all the time you played this. This game really
pioneered some of the music that was heard in the later
Final Fantasy's and was unmatched bar none. The sound FX was
down to a bare minimum though you really didn't hear much.
Well early RPG's weren't too big on sound FX to start with
and this Final Fantasy is known different than them.
Although I did like the music on this and this saved the
whole sound category. Some Sound effects were heard but not
enough to really say something about it. On the PSX the
music sounded even better, because now it was CD quality and
it doesn't sound like a midi.
Final Fantasy VI
The music in this game was outstanding, and some of the best
of the series. I liked the music in the later Fantasy's but
this music even surpasses that. Like the music when you're
in a cave, or in certain towns. I really enjoyed the music
that played while you were in the world part because it kind
of reminded me of western music. That Final Fantasy preludes
is back and it sounds even better than before. With a few
new beats added, and it sounds crystal clear on CD format.
The sound effects were basically non-existent because of the
fact that like most RPG's you only get the sound of magic
and when you cast it and what not. The Espers make sound FX
like lighting bolts and other. As a whole the graphics and
music department did well in producing a wonderful game.
Game Play 10/10
Final Fantasy V
This game featured the job system. The most unique and
innovative system for an RPG to date in my opinion. The idea
was you would assign each character a job, and when they
gained Ability Points to a certain amount they would gain a
new ability. The ability gaining part was the uniqueness
about it. Unlike FF6 were you were born with one you earned
them here. Some were quite useful, however others weren't
needed too much. Some jobs offered less Hp and more MP.
Usually Mages and magic users didn't have a high MP but
nights and monks and ninjas did. This is where the Job
system solves the problem, now if you have to fight some
particularly tough enemies or bosses you could have the
strength and HP of a Knight combined with the skills of a
Black Mage. Then mages had their faults they couldn't equip
swords or shields. This problem also solved because you can
gain a Knight up high enough to have even mages with swords,
which resulted in deadly combinations.
Almost every job besides being bare, had a certain aspect
that could only be used wit hit, or until you mastered that
job with that character. For instance monks are able to
kick, if you master a monk you are also able to kick.
Different mages learned different spells and could only use
certain types. White Mages learned white magic like Cure and
Raise. Blue mages learned enemy skills, which could only be
used if a blue mage stood up to the spell. Time Mages
learned time magic like comet and slow, hyper. Then
everyone's favorite mage Black used elemental spells like
fire and ice and thunder. Their was also a summoner,
summonmer's used summon magic. These were great too, because
they summoned the powerful summon monsters. Summon monsters
are cool but they didn't play an important part in the game
like we would of like them have too. Like FF6 had Espers and
they were key, FF8 had GF's they were key for some reason
Summon monsters were ignored here. Anyway besides that they
were still powerful and all your old favorites were here
like Ifrit and Shiva. You also had your usual airship
moogles and chocobos. I liked the role moogles played in
this game they were very useful. The difficulty in this game
was mega hard, and their was a save and memo feature.
Final Fantasy VI
This game is for 1 or 2 players, well not really because you
only get to use two players during the fighting sequence.
The magic system that was used in this game is called the
Esper system. The idea was to equip an Esper, when you equip
an Esper it would teach you magic. You gained like most
Final Fantasy Ability Points, commonly known as AP. When you
gained a certain amount of AP a spell was learned which you
could not lose exchange or other. Some Espers had different
learning rates much like Final Fantasy 8's GF's had learning
rates. In the screen where you view your Espers you will see
a list of spells next to each one plus the number which
tells them how fast they learn. For instance say you have
Shiva equipped, and she learns Ice 2 at 5X. While another
Esper learns Ice 2 at 2X. You will need to get 20 AP's to
learn Ice 2 if Shiva is equipped and you will need 50 AP if
the other Esper is equipped. That's the basics on that
Espers, are also summon Monsters. You can only equip one
Esper per character so if you are using four characters you
can summon to 4 different Espers. Most Espers do take up a
lot of MP so you should really think before doing this, and
you can only summon an Esper once per battle.
Then there are other things you will need to know when
playing this game as well. You do get weapons and armors
like most other RPG's and they are paid for by GP. These are
basics, some weapons and armor can grant you a limited
power. Mostly armor though might make you more immune to a
certain type of magic or status change. Then you have
relics, relics are like accessories which you can equip to
the people who are in your party. Some relics make your
walking speed faster some relics, might make you immune to
status changes like blind or confused. Some add to your
strength and some can only be used with certain characters.
Examples of this are earrings, which can only be worn by the
three female characters. Each character is born or inherited
a certain power which can not be changed no matter what.
Some of the cooler one's are Sabin and his Blitz, Setzer and
his slots, Locke and his steal. Plus many more like Gau and
his enemy maneuvers, Sketch and her drawing of the enemies
plus many more. Some of them will be mega cool some are only
moderately cool and you could live without. Theirs even
weapons which some charactres can not equip and some weapons
which are only useful to certain characters. Weapons like
Locke can only use the thief's knife and the guy with the
sword techniques can only use certain Swords. This game also
has new features not before seen in the original Final
Fantasy 3. Things like the boss view list. This let you view
every monster and boss in the game, and you can see their
strength weakness and other things about them. You also have
a FMV viewer, whenever you see a new one save the game and
you can view it any time you please. The game difficulty is
super ultra hard, I still haven't beaten yet, and I'm not
close to it either. This game has a save using one block of
memory and a memo save.
Overall 10 out of 10
These are two outstanding games. Too bad this isn't like the
Final Fantasy collection and it came with Final Fantasy IV V
VI that would have been real cool. They do make up for it
however by packing in music CD. This music CD features 22
songs from the game including the midi of the Final Fantasy
Prelude, which was heard throughout the series. Some other
choice songs from both games are on there as well, too bad
the opera house song didn't make it. That has got to be one
of the best songs in the entire series, of games. The replay
value on these two games are high, considering you didn't
own either of these games on Super NES or Super Famicon, it
makes it worth while adventure. You will not get bored
because both of these games are mega tough even though
things are mostly spelled out for you, you shouldn't get
lost because each town ir so requires you to do a new task.
Things never stay boring in either game so you are in for a
real treat here. My only gripe is they should have updated
the graphics and gave us a Final Fantasy Collection. Even if
both of the stories were the same it still would have been
great if both of these games resembled Final Fantasy VII. It
could have been done if all FMV's were taken from the games,
they really weren't needed in this or any of the other great
Final Fantasy's for that matter.
The fun factor is high as well, there is always something
going on and something to do, in both of these games. This
is a real good deal not often can you get two great RPG's
for the price of one especially Final Fantasy's . Although
the random battle in both games can get tedious at times,
especially when you need sleep and you are just trying to
get out of a dungeon, or cave and save your game. Also many
people complained about the long loading time on these two
games. In my opinion the loading time from the filed to the
status screen really isn't that bad. It all depends on how
impatient you are about things like this. It may have not
has been as fast as the SNES version but this a CD and that
was a cartridge where this is no loading time what so ever.
Other than the dated graphics and the lack of sound FX there
were not that many problems with the games what other people
would lead you to believe there were. This game in my
opinion is hard to pass up and you would have to be a fool
if you did because you have two great RPG's some of the best
video game music ever, and all for an incredibly low price.
Final Fantasy Anthology is a must have for any serious RPG
fan, and it is a collectors item. Unless you already own
Final Fantasy VI then I wouldn't advise you to get this
because you are paying 40 bucks for one game and a game you
already own. If you have not played experience either of
these two classics than I would advise you to now because
this is definitely worth it. Ithe only other small problem
with this in some people's opinion is the poor conversion in
FF5 other than that that game is great as well, and I
haven't played the original enough to voice my own opinion.
What I can say is that I really enjoy both of these games
and these are a must have in any serious RPG fans video game
collect, and above all one of my favorite two game to play,
and I hope is becomes your as well.
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