05-25-2019, 01:44 AM
For those not familiar with the franchise, Final Fantasy is a Japanese Role Playing game that made it's debut in 1988 in Japan on the Famicom. It was later released in the US for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. In 2003, to mark the franchise's 15th anniversary, a collection of the first two games were released on the original Playstation. This marks the first time the second game was released outside Japan, but the second game will be mentioned in a future topic. Upon booting up the game, you're greeted with a full motion video showing the events that have happened. The world has fallen to ruin, due to the four crystals being drained of their power. Their powers have been drained by the four fiends, whom were summoned by Garland the main antagonist of the game. In order to restore life to the kingdom, four warriors of light must team up to defeat the fiends, restore the crystals, and save the world! This is where the game starts!
Once the cutscene ends you get the option to start a new game, load a game from the memory card, or load from a memo file. Of course this was my first time playing the game, so I chose new game. Once you pick new game, you're greeted with a menu and from here you get to choose what classes of players you want in your party! The choices are warrior, monk, thief, red mage, black mage, and white mage. Since you get to choose the party's classes, the game has replay value right away. You can literally have a save with only warriors, another with only monks, a mix of classes, etc. You're not stuck with the same characters each time you replay it which makes it very unique! Later installments of the games sort of plays off this concept, but you're stuck with who you got until the end. If you're curious, my team consist of a warrior, monk, black mage and white mage. Later on, if you've done a side quest you can upgrade your character's classes too! Your warrior becomes a knight, monk a master, thief a ninja, red mage into a red wizard, black mage into a black wizard, and white mage into a white wizard!
Since this is a enhanced version of the game, all the sprites and music have been remastered! There's also separate music tracks for certain dungeons, which don't appear in the NES version at all! As with most soundtracks from the franchise, the music is beautiful. Honestly there wasn't a song I didn't like! The 8-bit chiptunes do have their charm, but ultimately this version has the better soundtrack. The graphics look like the Super Nintendo Final Fantasy games, so the games aren't in 3D which might make some players look past the game. Though if you're familiar with Final Fantasy 6 or Mystic Quest, the sprites won't look different from what you're used to seeing. Plus the cutscenes added really add to the story and immersed feeling you get from playing the game.
The mechanics and items are still the same as the NES version. However, this version of the game allows you to choose either to play on Normal mode or Easy mode! The only difference between the two are the max levels, and I assume bosses are probably a bit easier in the easy version. I played the game on Normal mode, so the max level my characters could make it to was 40. Also the final boss in this version has more HP than the original NES version, but that makes for a bit more of a challenge. Also since this was the first game, items and spells that appear in later games aren't in the origins version. They do appear in the Dawn of Light version on the GBA and PSP. (Items such as hi-potions don't exist in this version. You're stuck with normal potions...) This was honestly the only con with the origins version. This might not be a con for some players though, I found it quite annoying...
Overall the Origins version of the first game is great! I would recommend it over the NES version, but overall I'd say the PSP and GBA versions are better. If you can't find the GBA/PSP versions Origins can be found brand new pretty cheap on Amazon! I bought a copy for only $20 for the PS1. The enhanced graphics look great, the music is fantastic, and the cutscenes really bring the story to life. Overall, Final Fantasy via Origins gets a 6 out of 10. If hi potions were added to this version, it would have made it a bit better IMO. Still go and play it if you love JRPGs! The later titles are much better, but if you want to see where the franchise started give Final Fantasy origins a chance.
Once the cutscene ends you get the option to start a new game, load a game from the memory card, or load from a memo file. Of course this was my first time playing the game, so I chose new game. Once you pick new game, you're greeted with a menu and from here you get to choose what classes of players you want in your party! The choices are warrior, monk, thief, red mage, black mage, and white mage. Since you get to choose the party's classes, the game has replay value right away. You can literally have a save with only warriors, another with only monks, a mix of classes, etc. You're not stuck with the same characters each time you replay it which makes it very unique! Later installments of the games sort of plays off this concept, but you're stuck with who you got until the end. If you're curious, my team consist of a warrior, monk, black mage and white mage. Later on, if you've done a side quest you can upgrade your character's classes too! Your warrior becomes a knight, monk a master, thief a ninja, red mage into a red wizard, black mage into a black wizard, and white mage into a white wizard!
Since this is a enhanced version of the game, all the sprites and music have been remastered! There's also separate music tracks for certain dungeons, which don't appear in the NES version at all! As with most soundtracks from the franchise, the music is beautiful. Honestly there wasn't a song I didn't like! The 8-bit chiptunes do have their charm, but ultimately this version has the better soundtrack. The graphics look like the Super Nintendo Final Fantasy games, so the games aren't in 3D which might make some players look past the game. Though if you're familiar with Final Fantasy 6 or Mystic Quest, the sprites won't look different from what you're used to seeing. Plus the cutscenes added really add to the story and immersed feeling you get from playing the game.
The mechanics and items are still the same as the NES version. However, this version of the game allows you to choose either to play on Normal mode or Easy mode! The only difference between the two are the max levels, and I assume bosses are probably a bit easier in the easy version. I played the game on Normal mode, so the max level my characters could make it to was 40. Also the final boss in this version has more HP than the original NES version, but that makes for a bit more of a challenge. Also since this was the first game, items and spells that appear in later games aren't in the origins version. They do appear in the Dawn of Light version on the GBA and PSP. (Items such as hi-potions don't exist in this version. You're stuck with normal potions...) This was honestly the only con with the origins version. This might not be a con for some players though, I found it quite annoying...
Overall the Origins version of the first game is great! I would recommend it over the NES version, but overall I'd say the PSP and GBA versions are better. If you can't find the GBA/PSP versions Origins can be found brand new pretty cheap on Amazon! I bought a copy for only $20 for the PS1. The enhanced graphics look great, the music is fantastic, and the cutscenes really bring the story to life. Overall, Final Fantasy via Origins gets a 6 out of 10. If hi potions were added to this version, it would have made it a bit better IMO. Still go and play it if you love JRPGs! The later titles are much better, but if you want to see where the franchise started give Final Fantasy origins a chance.