Enough expository banter! It's time we fight like men. And ladies. And ladies who dress like men.
I don’t have many memories to dredge up for Final Fantasy V. It’s an incredibly good game, and I think the world of it, but it’s just another game in the series to me. I didn’t get the chance to play it until the PlayStation release of Final Fantasy Anthology, packaged along with Final Fantasy VI. Mainly because it wasn't officially released outside of Japan until 1999.
I earned the money to buy Final Fantasy Anthology by taking people to school. I charged $20 a week for a ride. I took three people to school: Crist, Preston and BJ. I had the money for the game in a week. Aside from gas expenses.
One of my friends from high school, Richard, had the fan translation of the game. He'd made it about 3/4 of the way through, but this was in the days where plug-and-play devices were still relatively unheard of and PC controllers were even less so. He'd done what he could sitting at a desktop PC, playing along with the keyboard mapped to a pre-selected button configuration. He gave the emulated version to me, and while I played around with the first couple of battles, the bungling of the keyboard-mapped controls were just not for me. Prior to getting a USB-enabled controller, the only emulated game I beat was The Legend of Zelda: The Adventure of Link. I had to cheat, and it still took me 14 hours to beat it. I mean, when it came to Zelda 2, who didn't cheat?
When I first played this game, I was 15. One of the things I distinctly remember about the first time playing through the game on the PS1 was getting stuck on a certain boss in the third world. I didn’t grasp the concept of the fight. After a few wipes, I didn’t go back to the game for almost a year. I did finally beat it, though. I remember the game, up to and including that point, had been highly frustrating. The lack of leveling and the sheer difficulty of mastering classes drove me batty.
Even today, but especially then, this game was hard. I played through Final Fantasy Tactics in 1997 which had pretty much the same job system as FF5, but I couldn’t beat it without a GameShark. Well, I could have beaten it, but I wasn't willing to invest the time. I didn’t have the patience to grind as much as I needed. The same held true for FF5. And it was still hard. But I didn’t give the GameShark a shot until I started having trouble with that one boss. As ashamed I am to admit it, I beat the game the first time around, but I cheated. I believe the second time through, as well, but from the beginning.
Anyway, it wasn’t until 2013 that I rectified my indiscretion. I played Final Fantasy V Advance-the sound restored version-on a Game Boy Advance emulator. Do I feel bad about emulation? No. I own the game, and I’d been told this version is the definitive version of the game. So that’s the one I used.
As far as characterization goes, I’m not a huge fan of Bart, Lenna, Faris, Galuf or Krile. To me, the strength of the game is in the job system-not the characters. The sheer strength of the story about the plight of Planet R far outweighs any lacking character development. I found it hilarious the main villain, Exdeath, is a tree. Then, after contemplation, I realized the irony of a tree being the villain. Trees are seen as an indicator of life-yet Exdeath’s goal is to harness the power of Enuo (I will continue to believe this is the proper translation of Deathgyunos) and return the world to the Void.
The real meat of this game is in the job system. This fantastic little kernel that we’re introduced to in Final Fantasy III is expanded on in amazing detail and fashion in FF5. The ability to equip a secondary, learned ability lent itself to incredible customization, and late in the game, provided the ability to completely break the combat system-one of my favorite things to do.
It’s easy to put more than a dozen hours into the game before even getting deep into the story. There are several places early on where tough enemies are present, but reap in gained AP. My most recent trip through the game, I spent more than 20 hours before leaving the first world. Most of this time was spent mastering the Red Mage class for both of my magic users. Having the !Dualcast ability made me almost invincible in those early stages. Especially paired with stronger magic attacks, like summons.
The amazing thing about this game-along with FF3 and Tactics-is that while the story will never play out differently, the replay value is almost endless. When I played through in 2013, Lenna was my strongest physical character, and I ended the game with her as a dragoon. This time through, she ended the game as my strongest mage-as a mime who could !Dualcast both !White and !Black magics, respectively.
The interesting thing is, although all of my characters were in the high 60 level range, Exdeath was far more difficult this time around than I remember him being the last. I finished the final battle having used at least 10 elixirs and 15 phoenix downs. I even made a mistake at the start of the battle. Lenna was turned to stone and no one else could fix the condition, so I had to reset and give Krile (my other miming magus) !White as well as !Summon and !Time, just in case things went awry.
Ultimately, I think very highly of this game’s system. The music is amazing, and I most assuredly have a top five favorite tracks: A New World, As I Feel You Feel, Dear Friends, Lix-Bart's Theme and The Silent Beyond. While the lackluster characters bring down the rating in my eyes, it does enough right for me to give this game tons of credit where credit is due.
Richard and me looking through the FF8 strategy guide.
Breakdown:
- Order played: 5 of 12
- Order completed: 6 of 12
- Place among my favorites: 7 of 12
- Number of times completed: 4
- Versions completed: PS1, GBA
- Versions attempted: Super Famicom, PS1, GBA
- Definitive version: GBA+Sound Restored
- Favorite track: A New World
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