This is one of the most popular Final Fantasies ever. And no, not because it's the best. Because it had a massive advertising campaign by both Squaresoft and Sony, being the first Final Fantasy game to not be on Nintendo, and being on Sony's first attempt at gaming consoles, the Playstation.
Well, the advertising worked, tons of people played the game, and it was the first introduction to the Final Fantasy series for a lot of people.
Thankfully, it was a good game. Again, I have to reiterate, not the best in my opinion, but still a solid entry in the series.
The game does a great job with some pretty massive worldbuilding, like most Final Fantasies. You start off in the slums of a city for a long time before getting out, realizing there's a whole wide world for you to explore. Even after that, there's hints of a long history behind it all. It's great for people who like paying attention to details.
And pay attention to details you must. The game attempts to juggle multiple plot threads. On my first playthrough, I felt like there were certain... plot twists that were pulled out of nowhere. I had to play through again to realize they did in fact drop some hints earlier. But there's just so much going on, it's hard to keep track of it all, it can easily be mistaken as a simple "kill the big evil guy and save the world" story when it really is deeper than that.
Gameplay wise, it's fun. The materia system was new and unique, but it had the problem of making every character nearly identical other than limit breaks. Which could be a good thing - you can use the characters you like, and any team will work well as long as you equip them well. But it also makes them less unique. The world has plenty of secrets and sidequests (chocobo breeding? WEAPON?)
The graphics... look dated today. Still, they're done in a semi-cartoonish manner with a low polygon count, so it has a weird, un-detailed look that kind of works. I mean, their hands are cubes. But there's still a lot of expression and emotion behind them, mostly through good use of exaggerated animation. The hand-drawn 2D backgrounds certainly help keep the game looking beautiful despite its age.
Overall, I would say this is a solid Final Fantasy game and definitely set the tone for the later Final Fantasies. A massive world with lots of hidden backstory and a rounded cast of characters, it might have bitten off a little more than it could chew, and it probably takes two playthroughs to digest it all. The gameplay is certainly fun enough to carry it through.
Excellent for its time, still good today
This is one of the most popular Final Fantasies ever. And no, not because it's the best. Because it had a massive advertising campaign by both Squaresoft and Sony, being the first Final Fantasy game to not be on Nintendo, and being on Sony's first attempt at gaming consoles, the Playstation.
Well, the advertising worked, tons of people played the game, and it was the first introduction to the Final Fantasy series for a lot of people.
Thankfully, it was a good game. Again, I have to reiterate, not the best in my opinion, but still a solid entry in the series.
The game does a great job with some pretty massive worldbuilding, like most Final Fantasies. You start off in the slums of a city for a long time before getting out, realizing there's a whole wide world for you to explore. Even after that, there's hints of a long history behind it all. It's great for people who like paying attention to details.
And pay attention to details you must. The game attempts to juggle multiple plot threads. On my first playthrough, I felt like there were certain... plot twists that were pulled out of nowhere. I had to play through again to realize they did in fact drop some hints earlier. But there's just so much going on, it's hard to keep track of it all, it can easily be mistaken as a simple "kill the big evil guy and save the world" story when it really is deeper than that.
Gameplay wise, it's fun. The materia system was new and unique, but it had the problem of making every character nearly identical other than limit breaks. Which could be a good thing - you can use the characters you like, and any team will work well as long as you equip them well. But it also makes them less unique. The world has plenty of secrets and sidequests (chocobo breeding? WEAPON?)
The graphics... look dated today. Still, they're done in a semi-cartoonish manner with a low polygon count, so it has a weird, un-detailed look that kind of works. I mean, their hands are cubes. But there's still a lot of expression and emotion behind them, mostly through good use of exaggerated animation. The hand-drawn 2D backgrounds certainly help keep the game looking beautiful despite its age.
Overall, I would say this is a solid Final Fantasy game and definitely set the tone for the later Final Fantasies. A massive world with lots of hidden backstory and a rounded cast of characters, it might have bitten off a little more than it could chew, and it probably takes two playthroughs to digest it all. The gameplay is certainly fun enough to carry it through.