#251: Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls (2004, GBA)

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what is so appealing about the Final Fantasy series - many would say story and characters, and that may well work as an explanation for the more modern entries, or for Final Fantasy's IV and VI, but the NES titles were pretty damn popular as well, and they sure as hell weren't so thanks to a rich plot or characters (witness Final Fantasy I's nameless avatars, or its bizarre and confusing time traveling villain conceit).

The appeal lies, I think, in how the gameplay provides the player with the ability to customize a team of characters, while keeping this customization restrained enough to remain accessible. Remember, being able to select and equip a party of 4 characters from 6 classes is pretty restrictive for the RPG genre - more directly Dungeons and Dragons influenced titles (like Ultima or Wizardry - really any western RPG) pretty handily blew Final Fantasy out of the water on that front. But none of those other titles was as easily picked up and played. And none of those titles allowed for the sort of character based storytelling that these early Final Fantasy titles would attempt and which later Final Fantasy titles would achieve. These simplified mechanics also mean that there is none of the intimidation factor that I feel undercuts modern RPGs, although in this instance, things may be a bit oversimplified - the SNES-era Final Fantasy's struck the best balance of having something complex enough so as to be interesting, yet simple enough as to be readily understandable.

It should also be said that level grinding, though often criticized as being lazy game design (because, let's be honest, it is) can still a pretty compelling force, appealing in the same sort of 'killing time' fashion of a good puzzle game. There is a palatable sense of reward in fighting a boss and knowing that because you put in that time earlier, you're having an easier go of things now. It's the sort of thing that doesn't quite work on a console since it can't quite hold one's attention for the length of time it demands (at least it can't hold my attention), but works perfectly on a handheld where it can be done simultaneously with other semi-passive activities, like watching TV.



The version present on the GBA here pretty dramatically simplifies much of the gameplay mechanics here - gone are spell uses, replaced with magic points, for example. These changes have been pretty roundly criticized for dumbing things down, but I look at how stilted and awkward the mechanics were in the original, and how much grinding was required, and I have a hard time getting that upset. Taking something that is pretty obtuse and inaccessible and making it more playable is a pretty noble pursuit in my book.

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Final Fantasy II gets beaten like a red-headed stepchild because it pretty much deserves it. Should we give some credit to Square for changing things up so dramatically here? Sure, I suppose, but what little brownie points they earned there is offset by the fact that the new system kinda sucks.

For the uninformed, Final Fantasy II changes things up by ditching experience points entirely for a system that doles out attribute and skill points based on how much you use those skills or attributes? Want to build up strength? Attack more. Want to build up magic? Use magic. Sounds like a cool idea, right? Well how bout, want to build defense? Get attacked. Want to build up hit-points? Lose hit-points. The version on the GBA here at least managed to make this system more tolerable than in the original - no longer can you lose your skill points through under-use, but the core problem still remains - that being that the style of play this system encourages feels so unnatural.

Take building magic skill here: the general Final Fantasy style encourages the player to conserve their magic - magic points are more difficult to recover, after all - leading players to have their mages mostly stand aside (by defending, or using some ineffectual, but free attack) for regular battles. Magic points are saved for difficult enemies, bosses, and general healing. That style doesn't fly here - do that and your mages will become so underdeveloped as to become useless. So instead one has to go about casting spells for every generic encounter. The whole system just feels very restrictive - because every in-battle action directly affects how your characters develop, the player begins to obsess over their every move in battle.



Ironically, the rest of the game is a pretty strong improvement over the original - the story is much stronger, featuring real and defined characters rather than the avatars of the original. Also the plotline isn't derailed by the dumb time travel premise. An interesting keyword system acts to liven up dialog and quests in general - yes, this is little more than taking the 'talk to this person' quest and turning it into a 'say this keyword to this person' quest, but for a 8-bit RPG? That's a pretty big change, furthermore, one not really ever duplicated again in the series.

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Square-Enix
Released: 11/29/2004
Obtained: Christmas 2004 (Gift)

7.5/10