I previously wrote about how Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) on NES was my first real introduction to roleplaying games. There was another game on NES that offered a similar, but more expansive experience, that I also enjoyed and ended up following as it became one of the biggest franchises in video games. I am talking, of course, about Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy resembled Dragon Quest in some ways but with managing a party of characters instead of a single protagonist, offering character classes that each had their speciality abilities and traits, travel by boats and airships, a larger variety of monsters and puzzles, and (in my opinion) a more compelling story, it stood out as something special. I played this game on NES and several times over the years as Square Enix re-released the game on newer consoles and handhelds. It was always a joy to explore but I admit I never even came close to finishing the game. I would play until another game stole my attention or the game reached a point of difficulty I couldn’t overcome and I moved on.
A few years ago, the original six Final Fantasy games were given a “Pixel Remaster” that put more polish on the graphics and provided some quality of life gameplay updates. I bought the Pixel Remaster bundle on iOS and have made it a goal to play through all six games. Armed with my Backbone controller connected to my iPhone, I started my journey with, of course, Final Fantasy.
It took me some 35 years but I completed Final Fantasy in its entirety this time! I am glad I did because this classic holds up well. The gameplay is simplistic compared to what you’ll find in RPGs today, of course, but there is depth here. Building your party for success by choosing classes, equipment, and spells can be fun and rewarding. Combat is the familiar turn-based, menu-driven affair that RPGs are known for. It is easy to figure out and never feels clunky. In short, it is a solid foundation for a series of games that continues to leave an indelible mark on the video game world.
I could go into an in-depth review of Final Fantasy but I won’t. There are literal decades of reviews out there. Even the Pixel Remaster version of the game has been covered well. I wanted to write this to touch on what aspects of Final Fantasy stood out to me after all these years and how it has helped inform my approach to running tabletop roleplaying games.
I appreciate the premise of a simple story. The game opens with an ominous event. The crystals that control the four elements (earth, wind, fire, and water) went dark and over time the unrestrained elements cause chaos across the world. A prophecy says that four “Warriors of Light” will come to save the world (that’s you). You have four darkened crystal shards and your goal is to return light to them, bringing order back to the elements. I won’t spoil the story even though we are talking about a game that is just shy of its 40th anniversary but I appreciated the pacing of Final Fantasy’s story. You know why you are on this quest from the start even if you don’t know how you will accomplish your goal or where it will take you. It seems obvious but telling players up front what they are in for provides immediate engagement. This is something I want to keep in mind before running a tabletop RPG campaign. Give the players a clear idea of what concern looms large and what role they play in resolving it.
Final Fantasy’s gameplay loop involves solving some kind of localized issue in a town or region which leads the Warriors of Light entering a dungeon to defeat a foe or gain a new puzzle item critical to furthering advancement in the journey. The game’s frequent delve into dungeons combined with my recent interest in tabletop RPGs that bring back the classic dungeon crawling experience like Shadowdark RPG and MCDM’s upcoming Crows inspires me to want to build my own dungeons. Final Fantasy does not present dungeons in the problem solving, methodical way that Shadowdark does. It instead presents labyrinthine dungeons that test your abilities through random encounters with monsters. You can try to get in an out as quickly as possible but if you are up for exploring you can find treasures worth your time. Resource management, a staple of a classic dungeon crawl, does come in to play when you choose to take your time and explore. I always appreciated this in RPG video games even if I wasn’t good at that aspect. I think dungeon crawling, today, has its place depending on the game and the scenario you want to subject your players to. Not every game night needs to be a dungeon crawl. I am gaining an appreciation for that style, however, and am up for the challenge of creating dungeons that test players’ abilities to think and solve problems, manage their resources, and maximize their time in the depths of a dungeon.
I thought a lot about how the party I created for my Final Fantasy adventure worked together. No class is able to do it all like the dude from the first Dragon Quest game. You can assemble any combination of character classes and have a go at it. All fighter, all the time? Go for it. Wizards, wizard, and more wizards? Sure. I went for the classic, balanced combination of fighter, thief, white mage, and black mage. Not much to say here that isn’t already obvious. The fighter does damage and takes a lot in return. The thief is fast, can do a lot of damage, but less hardy than the fighter. The white mage buffs and heals the other party members. The black mage deals serious damage with spells. I knew how to manage these characters from experience but it wasn’t until I got further into the game that I felt myself truly understanding how to approach battles in a way that optimized what my party could do. This got me thinking about the tabletop again. I play D&D regularly with my group of friends and I don’t recall us ever putting much emphasis on trying to make a balanced, well rounded party. For the most part, we play the characters we want to play and make it work. I played with a well rounded party in Final Fantasy but I think about an all red mage party or going with black belts and white mages. The game would change dramatically! This isn’t an observation about running games differently only that I found more appreciation for how a game can change by swapping out some of the characters.
I could have finished Final Fantasy decades ago but I don’t think I was in the right mindset for it. These days, I find that taking a slow, thoughtful approach to this classic game is not just enjoyable, but dare I say cozy? Yeah, I’m going with cozy. I always admired Final Fantasy but I can now say that I love this game. I look forward to playing it again someday, though I have five more Pixel Remastered Final Fantasy games to work through. I am already two thirds of the way through Final Fantasy II and I intend to post occasional progress updates as I wrap that game up and move on to the rest.
Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this one. It turned out to be longer than I expected it to be. If you enjoy RPGs and somehow missed the original Final Fantasy, please give a try. It has aged well and taught me a few things about game design that still hold true some 40 years after its release. There is something to said for these foundational games.
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