Post by Warlock on Sept 10, 2012 8:20:06 GMT -5
Final Fantasy V is another oddity in the FF series- there's a lot of interesting stories around it, but the game itself didn't make a huge splash in the US.
FFV had a bit of an unusual release history; it was announced as a translation and cancelled at least once- for a long time, it was one of the "most desired" Japan-only games in the US. Once emulation came about, it was one of the first full fan translations and one of the highest-profile ROM hacks of its' day. This may have worked against it, in a way, though; it wasn't available to non-Japanese-speakers until after a the flashier and better-written Final Fantasy 6 and 7. It didn't get an official english release until 2000.
The big draw of FF5 is the Job system- an expansion of Final Fantasy 3's class system. You've got four party members who stick with you for the whole game; each can be assigned a job at will (you gain access to new jobs by plot point). As they stay with a job, it levels up, and they gain abilities in it. The catch is that you can equip a single ability from any job at any time- so if you want to create a Paladin-like character, for example, you can turn one of your characters into a White Mage until they learn the "White Magic" ability, then change them to a Knight and give them "White Magic" as their optional ability. This allows a great number of interesting and powerful combinations- mages who can equip swords or heavy armor, knights that can dual-wield like a Ninja, warriors with healing spells, and so on. There are also two 'special' jobs that can equip more than one ability- the base 'Traveler' job does not learn any abilities of its' own, but can equip two commands and 'inherits' support abilities from any mastered job, and the hidden 'mime' job can equip three abilities. There's a decent variety of jobs, and it's a fun system to play around with.
That being said, that's the most interesting thing about the game- the visuals and sound, to my mind, are decent but nothing to write home about (especially compared with Final Fantasy 6, released in the US long before FF5's fan translation), and the plot is okay but- IMHO- does not compare well to Final Fantasy 4, let alone the later Final Fantasy 6.
It's still a fun game, and- among other things- introduced recurring character Gilgamesh to the series. I've been tempted to play through it again lately, but there are so many other games vying for my time that I haven't gotten around to it yet.
- HC
FFV had a bit of an unusual release history; it was announced as a translation and cancelled at least once- for a long time, it was one of the "most desired" Japan-only games in the US. Once emulation came about, it was one of the first full fan translations and one of the highest-profile ROM hacks of its' day. This may have worked against it, in a way, though; it wasn't available to non-Japanese-speakers until after a the flashier and better-written Final Fantasy 6 and 7. It didn't get an official english release until 2000.
The big draw of FF5 is the Job system- an expansion of Final Fantasy 3's class system. You've got four party members who stick with you for the whole game; each can be assigned a job at will (you gain access to new jobs by plot point). As they stay with a job, it levels up, and they gain abilities in it. The catch is that you can equip a single ability from any job at any time- so if you want to create a Paladin-like character, for example, you can turn one of your characters into a White Mage until they learn the "White Magic" ability, then change them to a Knight and give them "White Magic" as their optional ability. This allows a great number of interesting and powerful combinations- mages who can equip swords or heavy armor, knights that can dual-wield like a Ninja, warriors with healing spells, and so on. There are also two 'special' jobs that can equip more than one ability- the base 'Traveler' job does not learn any abilities of its' own, but can equip two commands and 'inherits' support abilities from any mastered job, and the hidden 'mime' job can equip three abilities. There's a decent variety of jobs, and it's a fun system to play around with.
That being said, that's the most interesting thing about the game- the visuals and sound, to my mind, are decent but nothing to write home about (especially compared with Final Fantasy 6, released in the US long before FF5's fan translation), and the plot is okay but- IMHO- does not compare well to Final Fantasy 4, let alone the later Final Fantasy 6.
It's still a fun game, and- among other things- introduced recurring character Gilgamesh to the series. I've been tempted to play through it again lately, but there are so many other games vying for my time that I haven't gotten around to it yet.
- HC