Final Fantasy - Final Thought

My Final Thought on Final Fantasy 1


Here we are, my first goal in a line of many goals has been completed!
Final Fantasy is the first and foremost of a great series over all.
For those who don't know (small history lesson ahead), the reason Final Fantasy is named such is because of the circumstances at that time. Final Fantasy was released by Squaresoft (currently Square Enix) as a last ditch effort at survival. Had the original Final Fantasy failed, we wouldn't have the Final Fantasy series. Hell, the video game RPGs of today could have been completely different! Sure there was always games like Dragon Quest, but I think things would still be pretty different. So overall, the title Final Fantasy is very straight up what it meant. It was a Final strike at the chance of survival. Fantasy part...cause it's fantasy genre of course?

Final Fantasy 1 had a lot of great things about it. It was about as simple as you can get for an RPG. You had 4 characters made up from 6 classes of your choice. You level up by fighting monsters. Magic is either black or white. Of course, this explanation is kinda pointless so...moving on!

The first Final Fantasy is probably the least straightforward of the entire series. From the beginning, it can be confusing to know where to go. Thankfully, if you happen to stumble upon it, you can slowly and surely find your way around. Someone...somewhere will know where you need to go. Unfortunately, it might be a random kid in a village on the other side of the damn planet. The game wants you to be a massive detective and ever vigilant. Even if you know what you need to do, you'll probably spend a lot of time wandering around trying to find where you need to do whatever you need to do. I can't imagine having the patience to perform this on the original NES version of the game. The PSP remake got annoying at times, and you can run while indoors on that! Original was slooooow and very tough. Remake on the other hand feels like it was made quite a bit easier.  So I'd like to give Kudos to anyone out there that made the time and effort as a kid or adult to finish this game to completion.

Overall, it's a great classic and worth a shot for anyone who wants to give the time. I spent around 27 hours on the game, and I already knew part of what to do while looking up some of the rest. It might be a hard/boring play for anyone who doesn't like the classic RPG style. Still a great game though and the beginning of a saga!

That's it for now. Going to take a break for a couple days and start up Final Fantasy 2 before the week is over!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 7

Game - Final Fantasy, Day 7
Hours Played/Hours Total - 5 hrs / 26-1/2  hrs
Starting Point - Inside the Mirage Tower.
Current Goal - Climb the Mirage Tower and make it to the Flying Fortress which houses the Fiend of Wind.

What Happened - A lot. Went from final fiend to the final boss, Chaos. Beat the game!
     So, I began my final journey from the bottom of the Mirage Tower. I figured this place for a decently challenging dungeon before reaching the Flying Fortress, but it turns out my figuring was way off. It was only like 3-4 floors of nothing big. Made it to the top, and I used the Warp Cube to warp from the tower to the Flying Fortress. Once on the Flying Fortress, I began my exploration for the evil Fiend of Wind. Considering how easy the tower just went, I was already set on the fortress not proving much a challenge. Honestly, it was not too hard. You find a couple chests with some cool items you probably have as well as a piece of adamantite. I did get lost on this one floor of everything is the same, but I got a bit of help from a guide (because I'm determined to finish this TODAY!). Then I approach the final fiend of Wind...known as Tiamat!
     Short story short, Tiamat (like previous Fiends) was a big pushover. Although a multi-headed, kick ass dragon of power should be awesome and tough, it was quite a pushover. I beat it without taking much damage at all. In all honesty, this could simply be my characters being overleveled or something, but I guess it doesn't really matter. With Tiamat defeated, you relight the final crystal, the Wind Crystal. With this done, one might wonder what is next. If you had looked outside this window in the Flying Fortress, you would see that all the energies of the four crystals had been collecting at the Chaos Shrine. Thus, something is going down at the Chaos Shrine, and it is high time that I make my return. I jumped in the warp behind the crystal and returned back down to the planet.
     The time has finally come. Not much more to do but head to the final dungeon. First thing I did was take the adamantite to this dwarf from waaaaay back near the beginning of the game. He takes it and creates the Excalibur for you. Pretty cool actually, getting yourself the legendary Excalibur. After that and a small trip to resupply, I embark to the final showdown at the Chaos Shrine. Upon entering, I immediately ran for the Dark Crystal located in the center. Using the power of your crystals, you light it up and are able to use it to go back in time 2000 years...Don't really understand that, but who cares! I jumped on and back in time we goooo. *Cue Back to the Future theme*
     You arrive in the Chaos Shrine (obviously), but the cool thing here is that it's what the Chaos Shrine USED to be. It's all new, clean, and totally not shitty condition. You might start thinking "but the Chaos Shrine only has 1 floor!" and apparently, only the dilapidated version of the shrine had one floor. In the past, it is packed full of multiple upper and basement floors. You can go up and down all wimbly-nimbly. At first, the path felt really confusing, and I thought I got back around to the beginning somehow. After a little thought and a small guide peak, I found out that I just needed to keep going in the direction away from wherever I came in at. After a small crawl downward, you approach a pair of stars and get into a set battle with...Lich! Didn't see that one coming. Along the way, you come across a handful of chests. Some have fantastic items that are being made available to you...last hour of the game. Some of them have some pretty awesome items in them, like Megaelixer (which fully heals HP & MP of the party). Grabbed all the stuff I could as I proceeded down.
     As you go, each floor starts to have a theme based on the Fiends you previously fought. First floor was the earth-based enemies, then fire-based enemies and so on. You also get to re-fight all the Fiends during this last phase of the game. Although they are all powered up, none of them are really any challenge (yet again). Also if you aren't careful, you might accidentally fight the new and improved copies a couple of times. They're attached to a specific tile on each floor that you have to pass to move on. If you accidentally back up after a battle (which I did >_<), then you get to battle them AGAIN. They're not worth much XP or much gil so this is just a disappointment to yourself. Finally after passing Tiamat, I figure that the final boss can't be too far away. The final floor is made up of a chamber of pillars plus a center room. In the center room, you spot the ever-popular and supposedly dead Garland. He then reveals to you the secret of the game!
     Turns out, when Garland died, he made a deal with the Fiends of Elements. They used their powers to send Garland back in time so that he could order the Fiends of the past to attack the future and rescue him or something like that. Basically, he's created a giant time loop where he can't die. However, with the power of the fiends in hand, it transformed him into something bigger and more dangerous. He has become...CHAOS! And after his speech, cue yourself the final battle!
     As far as the game went up to this point, I expected another pushover. I set myself up for defeat apparently. Chaos (unlike previous bosses) was no pushover whatsoever. He's got a ton of HP, can cast all the -aga tier spells, can heal himself with Curaja (9999 HP...fuck that), and his physical attacks are pretty brutal. If he casts haste on himself, he does enough to kill your weaker members in one hit. So starting off, I boosted all my party members with Protect, Invis, and the Null spells for protection. I then started casting Haste and Temper on my Knight and Ninja to boost their attacks. Those two start just relentlessly attacking while the Black Mage tosses Flare spells at him. Red Wizard is reserved for healing and other. This would be an effective strategy if he didn't do so much damage and can heal MASSIVE amounts with Curaja. Ending to this current segment? He beat me with ease. I attempted a second time with the same results. With this unfortunate turn of events, I went back upstairs to gain some levels. Running around and fishing for random battles at this point felt like a sad, sad setback. Thankfully, the enemies give out crazy amounts of experience, and I leveled up in no time. 5 levels later, I re-attempted the glorious final boss battle with Chaos. Although it was a tough battle, with the extra levels and learning that Temper can stack, I shot through Chaos and took him dooown.
     So, that is it. Final Fantasy 1 is complete. You are treated with a small cut scene and some lines to fill in for the story and after story. Basically explains that with the death of Chaos/Garland, the time loop is broken and everything is returned to normal. With the crystals restored and such, the world is finally able to resume in peace. However, the shitty part of all this...with the loop broken, all the time that took place in it is altered. As far as it is concerned, nobody knows or cares about your characters' exploits. Everything they did to save the world is merely myth and legend, but with you being heroes and all, I guess it is worth it for the safety and peace of the world. Personally, I still think it kinda sucks. =/

With that in mind...first goal has been reached! Congrats to me kinda. Now only...12 more titles to go. -_-
Up next, Final Fantasy 2 for the PSP.

Ending Point - BEAT IT! End of the Game!
Levels Achieved - 19 levels earned. Final level 63.

Goals Accomplished - Climbed Mirage Tower. Made it into the Flying Fortress. Found and defeated Tiamat, the Fiend of Wind. Traveled back in time at Chaos Shrine. Battled my way through the past version of the Chaos Shrine
Next Goals - Start Final Fantasy II.

Side Note - I will be making an extra post with my overall look at this title.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 6

Game - Final Fantasy , Day 6
Hours Played/Hours Total - 3 hrs / 21-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Inside the Sunken Shrine
Current Goal - Explore the Sunken Shrine and defeat the Fiend of Water. Locate the final location of the last Fiend after that.
What Happened - Should be a short post. I'm going to try and make these smaller considering each post has gotten progressively bigger since the initial one.
     Started off right inside the Sunken Shrine. The whole place is well...sunken and underwater, but thanks to the fancy Oxyale stuff, your group can travel around unhindered by the lack of any supply of oxygen. Anyways, my only complaint would be that enemies are water-based (obviously...), but some of them are kinda stupidly named. All they did was add Sea or Water in front of their normal name. I realize this isn't something unheard of or new to the RPG world, but I'd really appreciate some more name diversity. Apparently one portion of the shrine involves a pile of empty rooms with nothing. I'm assuming this is a strategy to piss me off while I'm just trying to beat this thing. It wasn't the most difficult dungeon, but I often felt like I was unsure where I was. However, I eventually made my way down to the bottom floor and ran into the Fiend of Water (on accident really).
     The Fiend of Water, also known as the Kraken, admired our ability to make it down there and survive, but he claimed that he would easily conquer us in his domain. So we engage yet another Fiend into a massive boss battle! Boy was I ready to take him! I got everybody all powered up and protected. This goes faster since the Knight and Ninja can cast spells like Protect, Temper, and Haste. As soon as I got ready, I finally ordered the attack on Kraken. (Keep in mind, my mages and Ninja were the main ones working on buffing, and my Knight was constantly attacking the Kraken regardless.) Right as the Black Wizard was about to cast an awesome spell of Thundaga...the Knight gave him the final killing blow. This is just so much disappointment. All the Fiends have felt so powerless and without any challenge. With Kraken down, your characters celebrate their victory and relight the 3rd crystal, the Water Crystal. After that, I immediately jumped on the exit magic circle.
     Woo! Feels great to be out of the water. Now I just have to...what do I do? I may not have mentioned it before, but I happened upon a town in the east with people, but all these people speak a language which you can't understand. All sorts of rumors have told me that someone was on the brink of translating it. One man told me his brother required something called the Rosetta Stone to translate an ancient language. Knowing where his brother was, I traveled to him so that he can tell me he's a great scientist. I go back to Onrac and talk to the NPCs one more time and finally come upon one clue. A clue that I not only missed but did not like. A lady suggested that all sorts of valuable treasure is located in the Sunken Shrine...one of these was a tablet with ancient languages on it. What does this mean? I get to travel back to the Sunken Shrine and locate the handful of chests I missed and find the Rosetta Stone.
     Back down into the deep water to locate the Rosetta Stone. With a little help from a guide, I was able to quickly get in there and locate the location of the chest with the Stone. I don't like the guide-use either, but I didn't feel like running around for hours trying to find it. Turns out the dungeon has mermaids living at the top of it...interesting but pointless. I located the Rosetta Stone and made use of the "Teleport" spell I recently got for my Red Mage. Zoomed back into town and ran straight for Dr. Unne. He grabbed the tablet from me and immediately learns the language (wha?). After learning it himself, he offers to teach you, and your group miraculously picks it up in just a matter of moments (...how?). With my newfound grasp of Lufenian, I rushed off to the city of  Lufenia. (These game designers were straight forward with their names, eh?)
     Now that I can understand them, I was able to talk around to everybody. Most of them just describe the past and the current situation with a flying fortress that houses the Fiend of Wind. I was also informed of the Mirage Tower and of a group of 5 warriors that had left recently and not returned. I had been by to this tower a couple of times, but it would never let me in. This problem was solved by one of the villagers who gave me the all-powerful...chime. Before leaving, I found a magic shop in Lufenia that was selling the all-powerful (actual all-powerful this time) black spell...FLARE! With the chime in hand and a new spell in my list, I set sail for Mirage Tower. It's not too far away, just in the middle of a desert, and more importantly, I already knew where! I made it into the Mirage Tower and decided to call it a day.

Ending Point - Inside the Mirage Tower.
Levels Achieved - 6 levels earned. Currently level 44.

Goals Accomplished - Explored the Shrine. Defeated the Fiend of Water, Kraken. Relight the Water Crystal. Revisited the Sunken Shrine. Obtained the Rosetta Stone. Learned Lufenian from Dr. Unne. Visited Lufenia and got a chime. Learned the Flare spell!!! Began climbing the Mirage Tower.
Next Goals - Climb the Mirage Tower and make it to the Flying Fortress which houses the Fiend of Wind.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~