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lucem_ferre's Final Fantasy (PSP)
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| [February 21, 2008 02:45:27 AM]
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GAMEPLAY
Frankly, I’m bored. I go the witch, who just keeps saying she wants her glass eye; I go to the pirates and they give me a ship after kicking their wussy asses; I go to Elfheim and get told that the witch can brew a potion to wake up their king. I feel like those characters in fairy tales that have to go on a treasure hunt that seems to infinitely regress because someone always wants something else in return. And it’s boring.
Although, I was particularly entertained by the pirates telling me that I had cannon balls of steel.
DESIGN
I’ve seen the original graphics, and the PSP remake looks absolutely lovely in comparison. A nice touch are the cloud shadows that pass over the towns, as though there were read weather patterns; and if you wanted to get overly analytical about it, you could even claim it as a symbol of the growing darkness consuming the light of the land.
I find it strange that the battle system seems to be in ‘rounds’ rather than individual turns. You choose the actions of all four party members at once, let them battle, let the enemies have their turn, and then your set up their next round of actions. It makes it difficult when you’re not sure what to expect from an enemy, and in deciding who needs or doesn’t need to be healed. Also, having to pay for spells rather than earning them in battle…I can’t help but see that as a cynical commentary on current economies. And yes, I’m being entirely serious about that, silly as it sounds.
A pitfall for player frustration here is the constant random battles. IT’S ANNOYING, especially when the majority of the battles are against cannon fodder monsters that give you maybe 4 experience points and a couple gil. Because I have no sense of direction—I still don’t know my right from left—I get lost very easily on the World Map, and it’s a pain in the ass having to backtrack and go through all. Those. Useless. Monsters. ARGH.
The lack of characterization is bothering me. I loved FFVII so much because the emo-ness of Cloud and Vincent made me want to hug them, but I still have no idea who I’m moving around the maps in FFI. The only indication of any humanity was a cutscene saying something along the lines of their feeling “overwhelmed at the great task that destiny has set before them.” Which really doesn’t tell me much.
I know Final Fantasy is considered one of the most influential games in the RPG genre, and maybe it is; and perhaps it’s just my living in a time of video games constantly pushing the edge that I’m entirely unimpressed with this one. I imagine that if I ever do finish playing it, it’ll just be for the novelty of its reputation rather than sincere enjoyment.
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| [February 21, 2008 01:16:02 AM]
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SUMMARY
The four prophesized Warriors of Light appear, each with one of the world’s elemental crystals; they must restore the light to the crystals and banish the darkness consuming the world forever. Dun dun dun. Classic action/adventure RPG storyline (which makes sense, considering just how influential this game has been in the genre.)
GAMEPLAY
First, I need to clarify that this is the version remade for PSP; according to Wikipedia, it remains largely unchanged save for higher-resolution 2D graphics and a few extra dungeons and whatnot. Plus an improved soundtrack. (And yes, I did get professorial permission to use this version for the Classics list.)
So, I had an issue right in the beginning; due to my own impatience, I clicked through the conversation with the king too quickly and didn’t catch where I was supposed to go. I wandered around for a good while leveling up killing monsters, since the Menu didn’t have any sort of ‘journal’ saying ‘Rescue Princess Sara at the Temple!’ or anything else vaguely useful. I finally sucked it up and tracked down an online guide. It would have sucked to play this right when it came out nearly twenty years ago and not have had the Handy Dandy Internet to help out.
Far too many random battles. Also, my black mage’s HP is about a third of that of my other party members; why isn’t it leveling up as fast? My white mage is doing pretty damn well, thank you very much.
And the dialogue—like bad fantasy novels. I know, I know, I’ve been spoiled with the more recent games that have had the luxury of building off the mistakes of their predecessors, but seriously.
So far, none of the characters have been addressed as individuals, not even among themselves. I find this weird and a little creepy, especially when RPGs are reputed to be more advanced than other game types in the characterization department. I kind of feel like I'm moving mannikins around the World Map.
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lucem_ferre's Final Fantasy (PSP)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Thursday 21 February, 2008
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