evasource

Up until about the middle of third grade my video game library consisted of Zelda and Mario. During one of my brother's birthdays I watched in awe as he triumphantly ripped open the Final Fantasy nintendo box. He ran down to the basement, shoved it into the nintendo, and started playing. Being in 2nd grade, I was wondering what the hell was going on, so, being the annoying little brother I was, I followed him down. Because of my limited intelligence at such a young age, I was confined to watching him play.

He played the game many times, with several different combinations. Halfway through third grade my family moved and I switched elementary schools. My new house was right across the street from Aoknight, and I have been living here ever since. My brother, who was in 7th grade at the time, stopped playing the game for a while, whereupon I took over. I called Aoknight over to my house and we started playing, little did we know what we were getting into.

Unfortunately, my nintendo was extremely old and the game cartridge gave out in around 4th or 5th grade. So, for one of aoknight's birthdays I got him the game, and the playing started again. My brother would give us little lists and things by which to play the game. Such lists included where to go, what secrets to get, and what weapons and armor to give to which character. We supplemented this with the Nintendo Power strategy guide, which we wrote random comments in with pen.

Happy. Giggles.

And so, it began. Me and Aoknight beat the game with a large variety or party combinations, and we stopped playing around 7th grade. At this time, we had just seen a Final Fantasy 7 ad and we waited for 2 years when I got FF7. After this I got Xenogears, which is another story for another day. Now for the review.

For some reason I remember the ending equipment of all the guys for the most basic party:

Knight
Weapon: Xcaliber (equipped)
Armor: Dragon Armor, Aegis Shield, Opal Helmet, Opal Gauntlets (all equipped)

Master
Weapon: None
Armor: Gold Bracelet, Ribbon, ProRing (all equipped)

White Wizard
Weapon: Masamune (equipped), Thor's Hammer (casts LIT2 when used in battle), Heal Staff (casts HEAL on all party members when used in battle)
Armor: Gold Bracelet (equipped), Ribbon (equipped), ProRing (equipped), White Shirt (casts INV2 when used in battle)

Black Wizard
Weapon: Catclaw (equipped), Defense (casts INV when used in battle)
Armor: Gold Bracelet (equipped), Ribbon (equipped), ProRing (equipped), Black Shirt (casts ICE2 when used in battle)

This is how it was as I remember it, I'm sure it's fairly accurate.
Other parties we did include:
K, K, WW, BW
K, N (Ninja), WW, BW
K, RW (Red Wizard), WW, BW
RW, M, WW, BW

And more.

FF1 (FF3 in Japan) is probably the most replayable FF game because of the numerous combos of guys you can have. Also, the Armor and Weapon system is better than any other FF game. In Armor you have 4 different kinds: armor, shield, shield, gloves. Such a system allows more freedom than any other armor system. Another unique attribute is when you use some armors in battle they can cast magic spells (White Shirt casts INV2). The Weapon system allows each character to hold 3 weapons, equipping just one. The other 3 can be used to hold weapons that cast magic when used in battle (Defense casts INV).

As for Magic, you buy it and certain characters can use certain spells and you have to be at a certain level to buy them. Each town has 2 magic shops: Black Magic and White Magic, black mages can use black magic and white mages can use white magic. Red Mages can use certain spells from both, but not all. No other class can use magic, except for the Knight and Ninja, who can learn low level magic spells.

A great aspect is the class change that occurs about halfway through the game. In the beginning you are asked to choose from a Fighter, Black Belt, Thief, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage. Upon retrieving the Rat Tail from the Castle of Ordeal, Bahamut rewards your party with a class change, each class evolving into something new.

Fighter --> Knight
Black Belt --> Master
Thief --> Ninja
Red Mage --> Red Wizard
White Mage --> White Wizard
Black Mage --> Black Wizard

Although it is not required to do this, it is necessary to get good armor, weapons, and magic. Besides this, the characters look very different. They originally all look like little kids, but upon class change they grow up and look REALLY badass.

It is definitely the hardest FF game, but not so hard that is pisses you off. For example, it is imperative at some points in the game that you take some time out to level up and raise money to buy high level armor, if you don't then you will find yourself dying very often. When me and aoknight played, we put certain level minimums on dungeons and things to avoid death at all costs.

Death. In most FF games this is not a big deal since the characters are all on different levels anyway. But in FF1 we always reset the game upon a death because it is good to have all the characters on the same level, when you don't it messes up the balance and you fuck yourself.

There is lots more good shit to say about FF1 so download the ROM you cheap bastard and play this kickass game! Feel free to e-mail me with questions and comments.

If you actually read this far, congratulations!