Day 33

Game - Final Fantasy 5, Day 33
Hours Played/Hours Total - 2-1/2 hrs / 2-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Beginning of the Game!
Current Goal - Start the game and figure out what to do.

What Happened - And so it begins...the next chapter in the ongoing Final Fantasy series. I am playing Final Fantasy 5 on my PS3 (It's available as a PSOne Classic.), and this version of the game is just a ported version from the SNES. You see...Final Fantasy 5 was released on the SNES (Super Famicom, whatever!) in Japan, but we didn't get it over here in America until they brought it to the Playstation. Unfortunately, there isn't an updated version (that I know of) so basically I'll be playing the SNES version on a PS1. Anyways...it'll feel nice playing a game in its more or less original glory! Wish me luck!
     The game begins with a somewhat drawn out cutscene showcasing all of the main characters (or at least I'm assuming). They're all over the place in different places and different positions in life. One character is a princess named Reina and her father (the King obviously) is going to investigate a disturbance with the Wind Crystal (seriously, crystals AGAIN?). Next up is a mysterious old man he makes an exclamation of some sort. Then we jump to a pirate ship sailing across the vast sea, and the main focus is upon the pirate leader who has pink hair... We jump again and find ourselves in a Crystal room. Just as the king is entering, the Crystal explodes and shatters into pieces! Next thing we know, it pans over all the characters again, and every one is complaining about how the "wind stopped." Yup, this means we got ourselves another "hunt down the crystals!" Final Fantasy game! Just lovely. Skip forward and I find myself in control of a mysterious lad and his chocobo, who are relaxing by a warm fire. Suddenly...A METEORITE STRIKES! I'm treated to a lovely cutscene in first person view of a meteorite. It crashes down in the mountains, and our nameless lad goes to investigate. Moments later, I'm nearby the crash site and the nameless lad proceeds without the chocobo (named Boko). He runs into a pair of goblins running off with the princess from earlier! Mr. hero attacks and slays the goblins easily, and we're finally allowed to give him a name. Keeping with my style, I named him his actual name (Bartz), and Reina quickly responds by thanking him but saying she must hurry for the Wind Temple.
     Before she gets too far, Bartz hears a sound and the two investigate. They come to find out that someone else was at the crash site...an older man named Galuf. Unfortunately (get ready for it!), Galuf has forgotten everything except for his name. (The old man from the opening.) Must mean that he'll eventually get his memory back. Gotta love that amnesia bit...you can ALWAYS make things work if someone has amnesia! Anyways, Reina is glad to see he is okay, but she still insists on quickly heading for the Wind Temple. Galuf has a feeling that he was heading there as well, and the two of them set off WITHOUT Bartz (he declined). After the two left, I looked around briefly and then jumped back on Boko. It was a short distance when the Boko kicked Bartz off. It was worried about the Reina and Galuf, and Bartz agreed to try and catch them. However...disaster struck!
     All of a sudden, the ground began to shake and holes were popping up everywhere! Bartz jumped on Boko and quickly dashed forward. Along the way, I got attacked by a couple pair of goblins (easily defeated). The two from before were also here, and the chocobo quickly grabbed them up as the ground was giving way. The game jumps forward a bit, and the group begins to get friendly with one another. Bartz agrees to help the two out, and Galuf insists the he's only doing it because he has the "hots" for Reina. (Yeah...he basically said that exact line.) After getting it all settled, the group jumps on Boko (no idea how 3 people fit on ONE chocobo), and I begin to make my way the only way I can...forward! Just a small distance later, I run into a cave. The group jumps off and enters the cave...leaving the poor chocobo behind.
     Inside the cave, there really wasn't a lot to see or do. Of course, it is still the opening sequence of the game, so I probably shouldn't expect much. At least a dozen random encounters later, I run into a random pirate in the cave. The group peeks over from a lower ledge and notices his actions. He hits a secret switch and opens a secret door. I copied his actions and followed right after him. Inside there, the group finds the pirate ship and realize they need it to get to the Wind Shrine. Galuf suggest they just jump on board and get after it. Shortly later, the group is captured by the pirates (same ones as intro movie). Reina pleads with the pirate leader (named Faris) to please take them to the Wind Shrine. She reveals herself as a Princess (none of them knew this yet). Faris at first sees this as an opportunity to become rich but quickly changes his mind when he sees the pendent that Reina is wearing. Apparently, it greatly resembles one that Faris is wearing. The group is locked up in the brig, but shortly later, Faris forces them to join the pirates but agrees to take them to the Wind Shrine. Woo! Time for first ship! Of course, one might question how the ship could possibly move without the wind to push it. The pirates reveal that the boat is being pulled by a giant sea monster...a hydra. Anyways...onward to the open sea!
     The first thing that happens on the ship is a crewmate talking to Faris. He asks if the captain wants him to take the group to the Wind Shrine. I refused and started exploring. Along the way, I happened upon a random village called Tule Village. I went inside, looked around, found nothing but a tutorial and some shops, and made my way out. The happenings there weren't too much really. The pirates ran into the town's pub and immediately drank all the liquor available. The two men (Bartz and Galuf) have an awkward moment with a sleeping Faris (suspiiiicious). The game also contained the classic dancers which dance around with their jumping sprite ability. Apparently they gave the group a lap dance...I don't get why the early games were obsessed with having dancers jump all about. After accomplishing all that, I left town and made my way to the Wind Shrine (didn't take long to find).
     The Wind Shrine contained very little. With this still being the opening of the game, there wasn't too much they could throw at me. There was a group of men near the entrance that explained the current situation. Apparently the king had gone up but yet to come back down. Also, the wind stopped moving, and monsters started appearing. I talked with all the NPCs there, and I began the climb up. A few short floors and one big bird boss later, I find myself in the Wind Crystal's chamber. And now...the plot begins! As we entered the room, the ghost of the King appears and speaks to the group. Apparently evil is trying to take over, and the crystals are involved somehow. He asks the group to go around and protect them. After making his speech, he parts this world. I'm treated to a world map jump about as all the various crystals are throwing their essences at my main characters. Each character gains the essence of a crystal representing them somehow: Courage, Kindness, Hope, and Quest....Yup, that's the four it listed. The shards of the Wind Crystal gathers to the group and grants them power and jobs!
     Yuuuup, this game uses a version of the Job system like Final Fantasy 3, but there is a twist to make it better! Basically, as you level a job, you are granted the abilities of the job. However, if you switch jobs, you can change the commands of your current job! Leveling up the jobs is as simple as just straight battles. They gain their own version of experience known as ABP. Gain enough and the job levels up, and you gain a certain, equippable ability from that job. This means granting other classes the ability to cast magic OR better physical attacks for the weaker classes. This could definitely prove to be useful. There are also a wider variety of classes and abilities available. Blue magic and sword magic appear to be available! I look forward to seeing the variety of things available. Oh! Almost forgot...I gained the following jobs from the Wind Crystal: Knight, Monk, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage, and Blue Mage. The starting job is simply called Bare, and it is exactly the same as Freelancer in FF3.
     With the Wind Shrine done, I teleport out of their and make my way back to Tule Village. I bought out the spell shop, bought new equipment for the group, and discovered something that helped push the plot onward! I happened upon a house that belonged to someone named Zok. The Princess knew him as a friend and figured he'd be able to help. She asked him for the Key to a canal gate so we could pass through on the ship. He said he lost it, but he asked the group to stay for the night. During the night, Bartz had a flash back involving his parents who were somehow related to the crystals and their protection (HMMMM). He goes back inside to find Zok there. After talking a bit, Zok hands the key to the canal gate to Bartz. He was only worried about Reina and asked that Bartz protect her. The group wakes up the next morning, and I make my way out of town. As I'm leaving, Faris's crew starts to follow, but he orders them to all stay behind and guard the loot. They want to come with him, but in the end, they agree to stay behind. The pirates say their farewell, and its time for me to move along!
     I took a little time to farm up a level of the characters jobs. After that, I jumped on my ship and made my way to the canal. Once there, Bartz unlocked the gate (the group questioned where he got the key), and I sailed right along. Partway through the canal...disaster occurred! A whirlpool appeared and started sucking the ship in. As we were starting to go down, a monster attacked us for BOSS BATTLE TIME! There's really not any details to go into here though. The boss was big pushover. Just kept attacking it while following up with Bolt from the Black Mage. A few turns later, the boss went down. Hooray! The ship made it out of the whirlpool, but at a cost...we lost Hydra to the whirlpool. Sad times. It got even worse because Hydra was the only reason the ship could move in the first place. So the group drifted...
     Eventually, the ship drifted into a Ship Graveyard full of zombies and undead monsters. I healed up and kept moving along. The enemies weren't very tough so far. They went down fairly easily with a Monk at hand. Monk feels silly overpowered. It gets two attacks (powered up unarmed attack for each hand) as well as a Kick move similar to the one in FF4 (attacks the entire enemy group). Basically...just crazy powerful. Eventually came to a point where the group had to travel through some water. Faris tried to object, but it was the only way to go. (HMMMM) After making it through, the group decides to stop briefly and dry themselves off. Reina goes to another room to changes clothes and tells the group not to peek. The other three remain in the room and start a fire to warm up. Faris refuses to take his clothes off, and the other two try to help him remove them claiming he'll catch a cold. And then...the obvious happens! Everybody finds out that Faris is a girl and most definitely NOT a boy. This was hinted at when the two guys saw Faris sleeping earlier on. Galuf also claimed that he looked too pretty to be a boy at some point. Faris then deals out her story of how she was raised by pirates, and that pirates don't obey females very well. Therefore...she pretended to be a man. Anyways, the group accepts this and moves right on.
     Seeing as I've done enough for now AND was nearby a save point, I decided to save and quit for now. As for any additional notes on the game so far...battle system uses the ATB (Active Time Battle) system. It's basically the staple Final Fantasy system up until Final Fantasy 12 rolls in. It's a good system, and it was continually improved all the way until they dropped it...out of nowhere. I definitely enjoy playing this title in both its (more or less) original glory and on my console instead of a handheld. Sure this limits when/where I can play it, but I'm okay with that! Woo! I didn't get a lot done, but it's a good first step.

Ending Point - Partway through the Ship Graveyard.
Current Party - *I have a feeling this will ALWAYS be the party, and that it will never change. The game might surprise me though. I'll be going for the FF3 method of this. Character - level - class + level.

• Bartz Level 8 - Monk Lvl 1
• Reina Level 8 - White Mage Lvl 1 
• Galuf Level 8 - Knight Lvl 2
• Faris Level 8 - Thief Lvl 1

Goals Accomplished - Started the game. Got the group together. Found the Wind Shrine. Obtained the Wind Crystal shards and the first set of jobs. Obtained the Canal Key from Zok. Opened the Canal gate and proceeded through. Lost the Hydra to a whirlpool.
Next Goals - Make it through the Ship Graveyard. Protect the remaining 3 elemental crystals!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~