Final Fantasy I

Final Fantasy I, originally known as Final Fantasy, is a console role-playing game originally developed for the Famicom in 1987, the released in North America on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, and later remade for the Sony PlayStation in 2003 as a component of Final Fantasy Origins.

Final Fantasy 1 was also released in Japan for the MSX and the Wonderswan Color. The Playstation version is based on the Wonderswan Color version. Final Fantasy Origins was released in April 2003.

Final Fantasy I was developed in connection with Squaresoftsoft's brush with bankruptcy in 1987. In a display of gallows humor, Hironobu Sakaguchi said that his final game would be a fantasy RPG, hence the Final Fantasy title. Final Fantasy 1 was a huge success in Japan, easily saving Square from bankruptcy. Three years later, Nintendo of America produced a North American version of Final Fantasy I, which was also a huge success, due partly to Nintendo's aggressive marketing tactics.

Final Fantasy I is considered to be very influential on future console role-playing games. It was released at a time when very few such games existed and helped prove that such a game could be successful on consoles. Graphically and musically, it was a more polished effort than its contemporaries. Modern-day critics of the first Final Fantasy games point out that the game is very poorly paced; i.e. players spend the vast majority of their playing time wandering in search of random encounters to raise their Experience and Gold levels as opposed to exploring and solving puzzles. However, this was a common trait in 8-bit CRPGs, and this trait also occurred in some 16-bit CRPGs.

Nobuo Uematsu was 27 years old when he scored Final Fantasy I on the NES. The boss battle themes are used only in the Wonderswan and Playstation remakes of the game.

Story

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Final Fantasy I takes place on an unnamed fantasy world with three large continents. The elemental powers on this world are determined by the state of four glowing "orbs" ("crystals" in Final Fantasy Origins), each governing one of the four classical elements: Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind.

400 years prior to the game's opening, violent storms sunk a massive shrine that served as the center of a sea-based civilization, and the Water Orb went dark. At approximately the same time, a people known as the Lefeinish, who used the powers of the Wind Orb to create space stations ("Sky Castles") and airships watched their country decline as the Wind Orb went dark. This caused the wind to stop, and the airships and all but one Sky Castle dissipated or tumbled from the sky.

200 years later, the Earth and Fire orbs also went dark, plaguing the earth with raging wildfires and devastating the agricultural town of Melmond as the plains and vegetation turned to mush. Some time later, a sage called Lukahn tells of a prophecy that four Light Warriors will come to save the world in a time of darkness.

The game begins with the somewhat deus ex machina-like appearance of the four youthful Light Warriors, the protagonists of the story. The Light Warriors each carry one of the dark Orbs. They arrive at Coneria (Cornelia in Final Fantasy Origins version), a powerful kingdom that has just witnessed the kidnapping of its princess, Sara, by a rogue knight named Garland. The Light Warriors travel to the ruined Temple of Fiends in the corner of Coneria, defeat Garland, and return Princess Sara home. The grateful King of Coneria builds a bridge that enables the Light Warriors passage east of the country.

Traveling east, the Light Warriors liberate the town of Pravoka, which has been overrun by pirates. Upon defeating the pirates, their humiliated leader, Bikke, gives the Light Warriors command of his ship. At this point the Light Warriors also learn that a wizard named Astos has been terrorizing the area surrounding the inland sea of the southern continent, Elfheim, stealing a crystal that Matoya needs for sight, putting the king of the Elves into a coma, and stealing the crown of a minor western king. Matoya gives the Light Warriors the Herb to heal the Elf king's ailment.

The Light Warriors now have increased mobility, because of the ship, but remain trapped within the Aldi sea, in the center of a large continent. A large rock blocks the only exit from this sea. There is a group of Dwarves trying to remove the rock but they find themselves unable to proceed without TNT. The Light Warriors, needing a key to retrieve the TNT from Coneria Castle, discover that the sleeping Elf Prince has the key they need. They retrieve the stolen crown, only to find that the minor king was actually Astos. After defeating Astos, the Light Warriors find the crystal and return it to the witch, who makes them an herb that will awaken the Elf Prince. With the rock now cleared, the Light Warriors proceed into the greater world. (Note: This paragraph is a textbook example of what critics of cRPGs have commonly called a "fetch quest", a mandatory obstacle that has little or no bearing on the overall story.)

Proceeding to Melmond, the Light Warriors seek out and destroy the Earth fiend, Lich, who is responsible for the earth's rottening. Later the come to Crescent Lake, where a circle of twelve sages advise them on their future quest. They also receive a canoe which allows them to navigate rivers. Able to do this, the Light Warriors then enter the Gurgu Volcano (Mt. Gulg in Final Fantasy Origins version) and defeat the fire fiend, Kary.

Two fiends defeated, the Warriors enter an intermezzo quest: The search for the legendary airship, and a test of courage in the Castle of Ordeals (Citadel of Trials in Final Fantasy Origins version).

There are no ports on the northern continents, so the Light Warriors' ship is insufficient transportation to reach these destinations. The Light Warriors must resurrect a Lefeinish airship, by use of a magical rock called the "floater" (recognized as a legendarily bad RPG name) found in the treacherous Ice Cave.

The next task, which is not required to complete the game but allows the characters to use the most powerful weapons and spells, is for the Warriors to "come of age" by performing a task for the Dragon King, Bahamut; they must capture a rat's tail from the Castle of Ordeal.

This accomplished, the Warriors defeat the water fiend, Kraken, in an underwater palace, and Tiamat in the floating castle. The four fiends defeated, and the orbs restored, the Warriors find that their quest is not yet over: The fiends created an archdemon, Chaos, using the body of Garland, and sent him 2000 years into the past. The Warriors must once again defeat each fiend, all of which are more powerful than at the first confrontation, and then Chaos.

The Light Warriors, upon their victory, return to their own time, but due to the nuances of time travel they and the rest of the world are consigned to be completely unaware that the entire ordeal had taken place.

Gameplay

Final Fantasy 1 begins by asking the player to select the character types and names of each Light Warrior (player character). As is typical with many 8-bit cRPGs, the player characters are more or less passive participants in the story, and therefore the player's choice of character type affects only the Light Warriors' abilities in battle. The character types are:

• Fighter -- A specialist in heavy weapons and armor who can withstand tremendous amounts of punishment. Can become the Knight later in the game, who is able to use the most powerful weapons and a small amount of White Magic (healing/utilitarian spells)
• Black Belt -- A martial arts expert who is best left fighting empty-handed. Does tremendous amounts of damage in combat, but can't wear heavy armor. Can become the Master later on.
• Thief -- A considerably weaker Fighter with fewer weapons and armor skills but greater agility and luck (ability to escape from combat). The main reason to play with a Thief comes later on when he is able to transform into a Ninja. Ninjas can use almost every weapon and most armor, and have a substantial amount of Black Magic (attack spell) skills.
• White Mage -- A specialist in White Magic (Healing/Utilitarian spells). Not a good fighter, but better than the Black Mage. Can become a White Wizard later on, who is able to use the most powerful White Magic.
• Black Mage -- A specialist in Black Magic (Attack spells) and a very weak fighter. Becomes the Black Wizard later on. Many Final Fantasy 1 experts believe that the Black Mage is a poor choice for a character since most of his best spells are usable by the Red Mage.
• Red Mage -- A jack-of-all-trades character, able to use some but not all of both White and Black Magic, and possessing fighting abilities similar to but not quite as good as the Fighter. Becomes the Red Wizard later on.

Gameplay is similar to that of many other console RPGs. The player wanders around the overworld with an overhead view, randomly encountering monsters which must be either dispatched in battle or escaped. Winning battles earns the player Gold, which can be used to buy weapons, armor, curative items, and magic spells, and Experience, which accumulates until players achieve certain milestones ("experience levels") at which characters gain greater capacity for strength, damage resistance (known as Hit Points, or HP), and spell casting. The player can enter Towns on the world map to be safe from random attacks, restore HP and spell charges, acquire information by talking to villagers, and shop. Battle is turn-based, i.e. players select the desired actions for their PCs (Fight, Cast Spell, Run, etc. "Parry" or "Defend" is not an option, as it often is in other RPGs), and when finished the PCs execute their actions while monsters retaliate depending on their Agility.

The game borrows very heavily from Dungeons and Dragons. The list of enemies the player encounters during the game is almost identical to the bestiary of First Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Also, the spellcasting system, in which spellcasting PCs have a certain maximum number of "spell charges" for each spell level which increases as experience is gained, is another obvious homage.

Screenshots of the PlayStation version

Battle Screen

World Map