Final Fantasy

From FFTogether

Final Fantasy
Publisher	Square Co., Ltd.
Developer	Square Co., Ltd.
Platform	NES, WonderSwan Color, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, Mobile Phones, PlayStation Portable, Virtual Console, iPhone OS
Release Date	NES December 18, 1987 July 12, 1990 Wonderswan Color December 9, 2000 PlayStation October 31, 2002 March 14, 2003 April 8, 2003 Mobile Phones March 1, 2004 Game Boy Advance July 29, 2004 November 18, 2004 November 29, 2004 December 8, 2004 PlayStation Portable April 19, 2007 June 26, 2007 February 8, 2008 February 28, 2008 Virtual Console May 26, 2009 October 5, 2009 May 7, 2010 iPhone OS February 25, 2010
Rating	CERO: A ESRB: E10+ PEGI: 7+

Final Fantasy is the flagship title of the Final Fantasy franchise, being the very first game in the entire franchise first released in 1987. It was first developed due to Square's bankruptcy and was assumed to be their final game. Hironobu Sakaguchi, the director, declared that this game was his "final" one and would be a "fantasy" role playing title, thus the name Final Fantasy was born. However, the game received positive reviews throughout Japan, selling over 400,000 copies and saving Square from bankruptcy. The series later continued, and spawned many individual series and games that would later be popular throughout the world.

Final Fantasy follows the story of four Warriors of Light, attempting to save the Crystals (the governing force of the world) from being destroyed. Although Final Fantasy is the first game of the franchise, it did not introduce much. Later recurring elements throughout the franchise was introduced in Final Fantasy II.

Gameplay

Being the first Final Fantasy in the series, the gameplay is pretty basic. The game first starts to select a class and create a name for the four Light Warriors you control. The player wanders around the world map in order to access certain areas in the game as well as encounter various enemies as you progress. Winning battles earns the player EXP and Gil, as well as a chance of a dropped item. As the player levels up, various stats such as HP and MP will rise. The battle system is turn-based and the player can select various actions for their four characters; such as Attack, Use Magic, Use Items or Flee from the battle. Once the player has selected an action for the player party, the characters will initiate their selected attacks as well as having enemies attack the player party.

Characters

Final Fantasy did not contain special characters with individual backstories like in future Final Fantasy installments. The player chooses a name for four characters as well as a class for that character.

• Warrior: Specializes in heavy weapons and armor and as a result, has the biggest damage potential and is able to withstand punishing attacks. An upgraded version of this class is the Knight, which can wield powerful weapons as well as use basic White Magic spells.

• Monk: Specializes in hand-to-hand combat and has the biggest damage potential next to the Warrior. They have low defense and can also wield basic Staves. An upgraded version of this class is the Master, and is one of the most powerful classes in the game.

• Thief: A weaker version of the Warrior class, but can still hit high damage thanks to the high hit count potential. This Thief class does not have the Steal ability that would later be introduced in future Final Fantasy installments. An upgraded version of this class is the Ninja and can wield better weapons and armor as well as use basic Black Magic spells.

• White Mage: Specializes in White Magic, an art of restorative magic. It is not a decent fighter and is best kept in the back row due to a weak armor selection. An upgraded version of this class is the White Wizard, which can use the most powerful White Magic in the game that the basic White Mage cannot such as Holy.

• Black Mage: Specializes in Black Magic, an art of offensive magic. Like the White Mage, the Black Mage is also a relatively weak fighter and is best used from the back row. An upgraded version of this class is the Black Wizard, and can use the most powerful of Black Magic spells that a basic Black Mage cannot use, such as Flare.