Platform: NES
Developer: Square
Publisher: Square
Release Date: Japan: December 18, 1987,    North America: May 1990
Genre: RPG
Nerd Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Reviewed by Jedite83

Every story has to have a beginning, and for the Final Fantasy series this is it. Final Fantasy, the desperate hope for a struggling developer, was released in Japan in 1987 and later in North America in 1990, and went on to spawn a franchise with (currently) 15 core games, over 50 spin-offs, sequels and prequels, and a number of movies, anime, radio series, novels, manga and loads of merch. The media franchise spawned by Final Fantasy is one of the most successful in all of gaming history.

Why call it Final Fantasy? Developer Square was only a year old and was struggling after a string of unsuccessful games. Final Fantasy was a hail Mary pass – a make or break move for not only the studio, but many of the developer’s carriers, including series creator and director Hironobu Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi and his team pulled out all the stops and did everything in their power to make their game better and thus stand out from their competitors. Taking clues from the successful Dragon Quest (released in the US as Dragon Warrior), Final Fantasy sought to push the limits of what the NES could do. Better graphics, better music, more player choices and a large, immersive world.

The story of Final Fantasy follows four youths known as the Light Warriors, who each carry one of the world’s four elemental orbs which have been darkened by the four Elemental Fiends. Together, they must quest to defeat these evil forces, restore light to the orbs, and save their world.

The graphics in Final Fantasy were great when the game came out in 1987 and for fans of the era, they hold up quite well. The top-down view you see when in the overwold map and in towns is vibrant and full of details that really make the game pop. It’s one thing to see a castle, but it really comes alive with the attention to details like texturing the stone walls and walkways. This attention to details continues throughout the game. As you move from plains to forests to swamps, caves and more, it’s the fine details and unique color palette that really set the feel of the game.

The turn-based combat system also stands out from other games at the time. Instead of seeing the battle through the characters’ eyes, you see the battlefield from the side. Your characters, shown in more detail, stand on the right of the screen while the foes gather on the left. When you attack, your characters actually look like they are attacking, a change from the basic slash/flash of light animations of other games at the time. Detail is also shown in the sprites for your characters and the enemies, which are quite detailed, and the background matches the kind of environment you are in. However, as well-executed as the combat system is, I feel that the relative strength of the enemies can be frustrating at times. Early in the game, even the weakest enemies can be tough, but as you start to level up it balances out and you can get into a groove as you progress through the game, only to be stopped in your tracks by a boss that is far stronger than what you have been fighting (and thus far stronger than you can handle), forcing you to backtrack and grind out a few levels before you can proceed.

The story in Final Fantasy is basic and may be the game’s only major weak spot. We know from the introduction that a darkness has veiled the world and that, according to a prophesy. the fate of the world rests in the hands of four ‘Light Warriors,’ each holding an orb that shined and held the world in balance 2,000 years ago. While this is not a bad story, it’s also not much of one, as the story doesn’t get expanded much as you play through the game and meet new people. They story starts basic and stays basic. The (major) downside to this is as you finish one area of the game, there is no story to help point you in the direction that you need to go. You can easily find your self wandering around lost wondering “What’s next?” If you have the paper map that shipped with the game, it will help as places of interest are numbered in the order that you visit them. The game is also quite linear. You do get a couple of vehicles (a pirate ship, a canoe and an airship) to help you travel, and after fighting the boss Bahamut your characters get a promotion (an upgrade to more powerful forms). There are no side quests or anything to distract from the main story.

Final Fantasy is, by all means, a classic. It saved Squaresoft from failure, allowing them to go on the make many other popular and successful games. It established what are now many common tropes in the RPG genre. It pushed many boundaries for what a game could be, and by doing so made other publishers work harder to make their games that much better. However, the weak story, lack of character development and difficulty of enemies do hold the game back. If your a fan of the Final Fantasy series or RPGs in general, this game is, over 30 years later, still a must-play in my opinion.