Final Fantasy (video game)

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Final Fantasy
Designer(s)
Writer(s)
Composer(s)
Nobuo Uematsu
SeriesFinal Fantasy
Platform(s)
Release
December 18, 1987
    • Famicom/NES
    • MSX2
      • JP: December, 1989
    • WonderSwan Color
      • JP: December 9, 2000
    • PlayStation
      • JP: October 31, 2002
      • EU: March 14, 2003[3]
      • NA: April 8, 2003[4]
    • i-mode
      • JP: March 1, 2004
    • Game Boy Advance
      • JP: July 29, 2004
      • AU: November 18, 2004
      • NA: November 29, 2004[5]
      • EU: December 3, 2004[6]
    • EZweb
      • JP: August 19, 2004
    • Yahoo!
      • JP: July 3, 2006
    • PlayStation Portable
      • JP: April 19, 2007
      • NA: June 26, 2007[7]
      • EU: February 8, 2008[8]
      • AU: February 28, 2008
    • iOS
      • WW: February 25, 2010[9]
    • J2ME
    • Windows Phone
      • WW: June 13, 2012[12]
    • Android
      • WW: July 27, 2012
    • Nintendo 3DS
    • Pixel Remaster
    • Android, iOS, Windows
      • WW: July 28, 2021[14]
    • Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
      • WW: April 19, 2023
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Final Fantasy

the four Elemental Fiends
. Together, they quest to defeat these evil forces, restore light to the crystals, and save their world.

Final Fantasy was originally conceived under the working title Fighting Fantasy, but trademark issues and dire circumstances surrounding Square as well as Sakaguchi himself prompted the name to be changed. The game was a great commercial success, received generally positive reviews, and spawned many successful sequels and supplementary titles in the form of the Final Fantasy series. The original is now regarded as one of the most influential and successful role-playing games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, playing a major role in popularizing the genre. Critical praise focused on the game's graphics, while criticism targeted the time spent wandering in search of random battle encounters to raise the player's experience level. By March 2003, all versions of Final Fantasy had sold a combined two million copies worldwide.

Gameplay

Final Fantasy has four basic game modes: an

bosses, enemies are randomly encountered on field maps and on the overworld map when traveling by foot, canoe, or ship, and must either be fought or fled from.[16]

Commands to give the character are shown.
The Light Warriors battle Lich, Fiend of Earth

The game's plot develops as the player progresses through towns and dungeons. Some town citizens offer helpful information, while others own shops that sell items or equipment. Dungeons appear in areas that include forests, caves, mountains, swamps, underwater caverns, and buildings. Dungeons often have treasure chests containing rare items that are not available in most stores. The game's menu screen allows the player to keep track of their

hit points (HP), which represents a character's remaining health; a character dies when they reach zero HP. Characters gain experience points by winning battles.[16]

Combat in Final Fantasy is menu-based: the player selects an action from a list of options such as Attack, Magic, and Item. Battles are turn-based and continue until either side flees or is defeated. If the player's party wins, each character will gain not only experience but also money, which is known as Gil in the Final Fantasy universe; if it flees, it will be returned to the map screen; and if every character in the party dies, the game will be over and all unsaved progress will be lost.[16] Final Fantasy was the first game to show the player's characters on the right side of the screen and the enemies on the left side of the screen, as opposed to a first-person view.[17]

The player begins the game by choosing four characters to form a party and is locked into that choice for the duration of the game.

quests.[16]

Magic is a common ability in the game, and several character classes use it. Spells are divided into two groups: White, which is defensive and healing, and Black, which is debilitating and destructive. Magic can be bought from White and Black magic shops and assigned to characters whose occupation allows them to use it. Spells are classified by a level between one and eight, with four White and four Black spells per level. Each character may learn only three spells per level. White and Black Mages can potentially learn any of their respective spells, while Red Mages, the Ninja, and the Knight cannot use most high-level magic.[16]

Plot

Setting

Final Fantasy takes place in a fantasy world with three large continents. The elemental powers of this world are determined by the state of four crystals, each governing one of the four classical elements: earth, fire, water, and wind. The world of Final Fantasy is inhabited by numerous races, including humans, elves, dwarves, mermaids, dragons, and robots. Most non-human races have only one "town" in the game, although individuals are sometimes found in human towns or other areas as well. Four hundred years prior to the start of the game, the Lefeinish people, who used the Power of Wind to craft airships and a giant space station (called the Floating Castle in the game), watched their country decline as the Wind crystal went dark. Two hundred years later, violent storms sank a massive shrine that served as the center of an ocean-based civilization, and the Water crystal went dark. The Earth crystal and the Fire crystal followed, plaguing the earth with raging wildfires, and devastating the agricultural town of Melmond as the plains and vegetation decayed. Some time later, the sage Lukahn tells of a prophecy that four Light Warriors will come to save the world in a time of darkness.

Story

The game begins with the appearance of the four youthful Warriors of Light, the heroes of the story, who each carry one of the darkened Orbs. Initially, the Warriors of Light have access to the Kingdom of Coneria and the ruined Temple of Fiends. After the Warriors rescue Princess Sarah from the evil knight Garland, the King of Coneria builds a bridge that enables the Warriors of Light passage east to the town of Pravoka. There the Warriors of Light liberate the town from Bikke and his band of pirates and acquire the pirates' ship for their own use. The Warriors now embark on a chain of delivery quests on the shores of the Aldi Sea. First, they retrieve a stolen crown from the Marsh Cave for a king in a ruined castle, who turns out to be the dark elf Astos. Defeating him gains them the Crystal Eye, which they return to the blind witch Matoya in exchange for a herb needed to awaken the elf prince cursed by Astos. The elf prince gives the Warriors of Light the Mystic Key, which is capable of unlocking any door. The key unlocks a storage room in Coneria Castle which holds

TNT. Nerrick, one of the dwarves of the Cave of Dwarf/Dwarf Village, destroys a small isthmus using the TNT, connecting the Aldi Sea to the outside world.[17]

After visiting the near-ruined town of Melmond, the Warriors of Light go to the Earth Cave to defeat a vampire and retrieve the Star Ruby, which gains passage to Sage Sarda's cave. With Sarda's Rod, the Warriors venture deeper into the Earth Cave and destroy the Earth Fiend,

time loop by which he could live forever.[19] The Warriors of Light defeat Chaos, thus ending the loop, and return to present, but their heroic deeds remain unknown outside of legend.[17]

Development

A man sitting in a chair and speaking into a microphone.
Hironobu Sakaguchi at Japan Expo Paris in 2007

Creation

Hironobu Sakaguchi had intended to make a role-playing game (RPG) for a long time, but his employer Square refused to give him permission as it expected low sales of such a product.[20] However, when the RPG Dragon Quest was released and proved to be a hit in Japan, the company reconsidered its stance on the genre and approved Sakaguchi's vision of an RPG inspired by Ultima and Wizardry.[20] Only three of his colleagues volunteered to join this project headed by him because he was thought of as a "rough boss" in spite of his unsuccessful creations.[21] Eventually, Final Fantasy was developed by a team of seven core staff members within Square referred to as the "A-Team".[22][23] Sakaguchi convinced fellow game designers Koichi Ishii and Akitoshi Kawazu to join the project. Kawazu was mainly responsible for the battle system and sequences, which he based heavily on the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons and the RPG Wizardry. For example, enemies' weaknesses to elements such as fire and ice had not been included in Japanese RPGs up until that point. Kawazu had grown fond of such aspects of Western RPGs and decided to incorporate them into Final Fantasy. He also advocated the player's option to freely choose their own party member classes at the beginning of the game as he feels that the fun in an RPG begins when the players create a character.[20]

The scenario was written by freelance writer Kenji Terada, based on a story by Sakaguchi.[15][23] Ishii heavily influenced the game's setting with his idea of the crystals.[21] He also suggested illustrator Yoshitaka Amano as character designer, but Sakaguchi declined at first as he had never heard the artist's name before. When Sakaguchi showed Ishii some drawings on magazine clippings and told him that this was the art style he was looking for, Ishii revealed to him that these were actually created by Amano, hence leading to his involvement in the game.[21] The music for Final Fantasy was composed by Nobuo Uematsu and marked his 16th video game music composition.[17] Iranian-American programmer Nasir Gebelli was hired to code the game. He initially tried to understand all aspects of the gameplay but was soon advised by Sakaguchi to just program the design concepts so he did not have to explain everything to Gebelli in detail.[21] Gebelli was also responsible for creating what is considered to be the first RPG minigame, a sliding puzzle, which he added into the game despite it not being part of the original game design.[24] Among the other developers were graphic designer Kazuko Shibuya, programmers Kiyoshi Yoshii and Ken Narita, as well as debugger Hiroyuki Ito.[25][26][27][28][29] When the project started to show promise, designer Hiromichi Tanaka and his "B-Team" joined to aid development.[21][22] The lack of faith in Sakaguchi's team, as well as its unpopularity within the company, motivated the staff members to give their best.[22]

Release

Sakaguchi took an in-development ROM of the game to Japanese magazine

PAL region until Final Fantasy Origins in 2003.[31]

Title

Over the years, several theories emerged as to why the game was called Final Fantasy.[32] In 2015, Sakaguchi revealed that, from the beginning, the team had wished for a name that could be shortened to FF (エフエフ, efu efu); that way, the game's title could be abbreviated in the Latin script and pronounced in four syllables in the Japanese language.[33][34] The original working title for Sakaguchi's RPG concept was Fighting Fantasy, but was changed to avoid issues with a gamebook series of the same name that had already been released.[21][33] The reason for choosing the word "final" to form the eventual title of Final Fantasy was explained as twofold by Uematsu: for one thing, it stemmed from Sakaguchi's personal situation, as he would have quit the game industry and gone back to university had the game not sold well,[22][32] and for another, Square was under the threat of bankruptcy at the time, which meant the game could have been the company's last.[22][32] Although Sakaguchi confirmed some of the theories, he later downplayed the rationale for choosing the word "final", saying that "it was definitely a back-to-the-wall type situation back then, but any word that starts with an 'F' would have been fine".[33][34]

Versions and re-releases

Final Fantasy has been remade several times for different platforms and has frequently been packaged with Final Fantasy II in various collections.[17] While all of these remakes retain the same basic story and battle mechanics, various changes have been made in different areas, including graphics, sound, and specific game elements.

Chronology of Final Fantasy versions and remakes
Title Release Country System Developer Publisher Notes
Final Fantasy 1987
1990
Japan
USA
Family Computer / Nintendo Entertainment System Square Square
Nintendo (NES)
The original version.
Technical limitations and the censorship policies of Nintendo of America resulted in a few minor changes to certain elements of the American version.[35][36]
Final Fantasy 1989 Japan
MSX2
Square Microcabin Minor graphical upgrades, expanded music and sound effects, and shorter loading times.
Final Fantasy I・II 1994 Japan Family Computer Square Square Minor graphical updates.
Final Fantasy 2000 Japan WonderSwan Color Square Square All-new, more detailed graphics, background images in battle scenes, re-drawn sprites, and parity with later games.
Final Fantasy Origins 2002
2003
2003
Japan
USA
EUR
PlayStation
Tose
Infogrames (Europe)[37]
Includes the same graphics from the WonderSwan Color version, remixed soundtrack,
FMV sequences
, art galleries, and memo save function.
Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls 2004 Japan
USA
EUR
Game Boy Advance
Tose
Nintendo Four additional dungeons, updated bestiary, and a few minor changes.
Final Fantasy 2004
2006
2010
Japan
Japan
USA
Mobile phone
Bandai Namco Games
Final Fantasy 2007
2007
2008
Japan
USA
EUR
PlayStation Portable
Tose
Square Enix Higher-resolution 2D graphics, FMV sequences, remixed soundtrack, bonus dungeons, and script from Dawn of Souls.
Final Fantasy 2009
2009
2010
Japan
USA
EUR
Wii Virtual Console Square Enix Virtual Console release of the original FC / NES version.
Final Fantasy 2009
2012
Japan
USA
PSOne Classics
Square Release of the PlayStation version as a PSOne Classic.
Final Fantasy 2010 worldwide iOS Square Enix Square Enix Based on the PSP version.
Final Fantasy 2011 Japan
EUR
downloadable PSP games
Square Enix PlayStation Portable version released as downloadable PSP game.
Final Fantasy 2012 worldwide Windows Phone Square Enix Based on the iOS version.
Final Fantasy 2012 worldwide Android Square Enix Square Enix Based on the iOS version, but without the bonus dungeons, bestiary, and music player.
Final Fantasy 2013 Japan Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console Square Square Enix Virtual Console release of the original FC version.
Final Fantasy 2013 Japan Wii U Virtual Console Square Square Enix Virtual Console release of the original FC version.
Final Fantasy 2015 Japan Nintendo eShop Square Enix Square Enix Based on the PSP version with updated 3D stereoscopic graphics.[38]
Final Fantasy I & II Advance 2016 Japan Wii U Virtual Console Square Square Enix Virtual Console release of the GBA version.
Final Fantasy 2016 USA
EUR
NES Classic Edition Square Square Enix
Nintendo
The original version emulated as an in-built title for the system.
Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster 2021
2023
worldwide Square Enix Square Enix 2D remaster based on the original game.

Final Fantasy was first re-released for the

MSX2 system and was published by Microcabin in Japan in December 1989.[39]
It had access to almost three times as much storage space as the Famicom version but suffered from problems not present in Nintendo's cartridge media, including noticeable loading times. There were also minor graphical upgrades, improved music tracks, and sound effects.

In 1994, Final Fantasy I・II, a compilation of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II, was launched for the Famicom.[40] This version was only released in Japan and had very few graphical updates.

The WonderSwan Color remake was released in Japan on December 9, 2000,[41] and featured many new graphical changes. The 8-bit graphics of the original Famicom game were updated, battle scenes incorporated full background images, and character and enemy sprites were redrawn to look more like the ones from the Super Famicom Final Fantasy games.[42]

In Japan, Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II were re-released both separately and as a combined game for the

full motion video sequences, art galleries of Yoshitaka Amano's illustrations, and a memo save function.[44] The port was re-released as part of the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box package in December 2012.[45]

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls is, like Final Fantasy Origins, a port of the first two games in the series and was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004. The Dawn of Souls version incorporates various new elements, including four additional dungeons, an updated bestiary, and a few minor changes.[46]

Square Enix released a version of Final Fantasy for two Japanese mobile phone networks in 2004; a version for

SoftBank Yahoo! Keitai phones on July 3, 2006.[49]
The games have more refined graphics compared to the original 8-bit game, but not as advanced as many of the later console and handheld ports.

Square Enix planned to release this version for North American mobile phones in 2006,[50] but it was delayed to 2010 and released in collaboration with Namco. It retains the game difficulty and "spell level"-based magic system from the original Famicom version. Other elements such as updated graphics, spell names, and monster names are borrowed from the Game Boy Advance / WonderSwan Color versions, not including the additional dungeons, monsters and items present in the GBA version. Game data is saved as in the original Famicom version (by using Tent, Sleeping Bag, and Cottage or by going into an inn), but there are now three save game slots and a "Temporary Save" option available in the game.[51]

For the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy, Square Enix remade Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II for the PlayStation Portable.[52] The games were released in Japan and North America in 2007,[53] and in European territories in 2008.[54] The PSP version features higher-resolution 2D graphics, full motion video sequences, a remixed soundtrack, and a new dungeon as well as the bonus dungeons from Dawn of Souls. The script is the same as in the Dawn of Souls version, aside from the new dungeon.[55] This version was later released for the Nintendo 3DS (on the Japanese eShop only) with the addition of Stereoscopic 3D.

Square Enix released the original NES version of the game on the Wii's Virtual Console service in Japan on May 26, 2009,[56] in North America on October 5[57] and in the PAL region as an import on May 7, 2010.[58]

Square Enix released the iOS version of Final Fantasy on February 25, 2010, based on the PSP port with touch controls, worldwide.[59] A Windows Phone version was released on June 13, 2012, which is based on the iOS version.[60][61] Square Enix released Android port on July 27, 2012, largely based on the iOS version though lacking the new dungeons of the 20th-anniversary edition.[62]

The game (alongside 29 other games) was included in the NES Classic Edition / Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System released by Nintendo in November 2016.[63]

The first game in the Pixel Remaster series, Final Fantasy, alongside Final Fantasy II and III, was released on iOS, Android, and Windows PC through Steam on July 28, 2021.[64]

Reception

Final Fantasy has been well received by critics and commercially successful; the original Famicom (NES) version shipped 520,000 copies in Japan,[30] grossing more than ¥3 billion or $21,000,000 (equivalent to $56,000,000 in 2023) at retail.[78] According to Square's publicity department in 1994, the game had sold 600,000 copies in Japan. The NES release was more successful in North America, where it sold 700,000 copies, adding up to 1.3 million copies sold worldwide by 1994.[79] As of March 2003, the game, including all re-releases and remakes at the time, had shipped 1.99 million copies worldwide, with 1.21 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 780,000 abroad.[80] As of November 2007, another PlayStation Portable version has shipped 140,000 copies.[81]

Editors at

Dragon Warrior, and citing examples such as epic stories, leveling up, random battles, and character classes.[88] In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list, also noting it as one of the best and influential NES games.[89]

Final Fantasy was one of the most influential early console role-playing games and played a major role in legitimizing and popularizing the genre.[90] According to IGN's Matt Casamassina, Final Fantasy's storyline had a deeper and more engaging story than the original Dragon Quest (known as Dragon Warrior in North America).[91] Modern critics have criticized the game for being poorly paced by contemporary standards, as it involves much more time wandering in search of random battle encounters to raise their experience levels and money than it does exploring and solving puzzles. Other reviewers find the level-building and exploration portions of the game as the most entertaining.[44] In 1987, Famitsu initially described the original Final Fantasy as "one of many" that imitated the Dragon Quest formula.[92] Roe R. Adams, III reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that gamers should "put Final Fantasy high on your list of games to recommend to people who have no idea what a CRPG is or how to play one".[93] The game is considered by some to be the weakest and most difficult installment of the series.[42]

The subsequent versions of Final Fantasy have garnered mostly favorable reviews from the media. Peer Schneider of IGN enjoyed the WonderSwan Color version, praising its graphical improvements, especially the environments, characters, and monsters.

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls were generally positive, with Jeremy Dunham of IGN giving particular praise to the improved English translation, saying it was better than any previous version of the game.[95] The PlayStation Portable version was not as critically successful as the previous releases; GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd cited the visuals as its strongest enhancement but stated that the additional random enemy encounters and updated graphics did not add much value.[96] The Dawn of Souls package was rated 76th in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.[87]

Legacy

A soundtrack album was released together with the score of Final Fantasy II in 1989.[97] Some of the game's tracks became mainstays to the Final Fantasy series: the "Prelude", the arpeggio played on the title screen; the "Opening Theme", which is played when the party crosses the bridge early in the game and later referred to as the Final Fantasy theme; and the "Victory Fanfare", which is played after every victorious battle. The opening motif of the battle theme has also been reused a number of times in the series.[17] Final Fantasy was also the basis for the series finale of a video game-themed cartoon series Captain N: The Game Master entitled "The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N".[98] 8-Bit Theater, a sprite-based webcomic created by Brian Clevinger, parodies the game, and has become very popular in the gaming community since it started in March 2001.[99]

Elements from the video game have also appeared in a series of fighting games: Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 and Dissidia NT. Warrior of Light, based on Yoshitaka Amano's design of the lead character, and Garland are the respective hero and villain representing Final Fantasy. Warrior of Light is voiced by Toshihiko Seki in the Japanese version and Grant George in the English version, while Garland is voiced by Kenji Utsumi (Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012) and Kōji Ishii (Dissidia NT) in the Japanese versions and Christopher Sabat in the English versions.[100] All the games add background information to the world of Final Fantasy. For instance, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy names the world of Final Fantasy "World A" in order to distinguish it from World B, the world of Dissidia.[101] Characters and music from Final Fantasy have also appeared in the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy series. The Amano Warrior of Light makes an appearance as a boss in Shadowbringers, the third expansion pack for Final Fantasy XIV.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, an alternate universe prequel to the original Final Fantasy, contains numerous references and allusions to the original game, in addition acting as an "origin story" of the antagonist Chaos and the four Warriors of Light.[102]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: ファイナルファンタジー, Hepburn: Fainaru Fantajī

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Further reading

External links