JRPG’s out of order
The first Japanese Role-Play Game (JRPG) I played was Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for Super Nintendo. At the time, I had no idea what the “RPG” in the title stood for. I was just a wee-lad looking for a game to rent at the local video store. Given how much I loved Mario, an advanced 3D looking game for the SNES? Hell yeah. This was also my first introduction to Square. Mario served as my bridge into the world of JRPG’s, through Nintendo and Square’s one-night stand that resulted in the weird, but adorable bastard love-child that was Super Mario RPG. Super Mario RPG deserves an article in its own right, I was so enthralled by the game when I rented it that I begged my parents for it for Christmas. I loved the characters, the battle system, the music, the atmosphere, the world to explore full of secrets, it was just great. And I started to get used to a twist on battle system that had evolved over years since the elden days of Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy.
I would have my first experience with a more traditional JRPG (but still an extreme subversion of the classic formula) when I got my second title in the genre: Final Fantasy VII for the Playstation. The graphics (for the time), the sprawling, epic story, the beautiful CG cutscenes. As an angsty teenage boy, there was no way I wasn’t going to fall in love with this game. And Tifa (eh, Aerith just wasn’t my jam) certainly played a role in many of my boyish fantasies no doubt as well. That 3 disc set got a lot of love (and scratches) over the years. I needed more though. I finally picked up Final Fantasy Anthology for Playstation and booted up Final Fantasy VI. The cover, a lush and wondrous watercolor by Yoshitaka Amano, promised much. And I was… underwhelmed. To date, JRPG’s had always pushed the boundaries in the audio visual department for me. Super Mario RPG came to me at a time when I was playing older SNES titles and the pre-rendered 3D graphics looked space-age by comparison. Final Fantasy VII was one of the first games I got on Playstation, and I’d never seen anything like it before. How Final Fantasy VI could have preceded it, I couldn’t fathom. Not to mention, the story didn’t seem to make any sense. What about Cloud, and Tifa, and Barret and Midgar? Where did they come into the story? Ultimately, I bounced off of FFIV-VI at the time, and moved forward in my JRPG journey to VIII, IX, and X.
Let’s fast forward now, and yes, I’m feeling old all of the sudden… 20 years. 20 years, has it really been that long? I still can’t get out of my brain that Final Fantasy VII is an old game now. The train pulling into Midgar for the first time and Cloud leaping onto the platform utterly filling me with wonder and excitement has left this imprint on me that will probably never be erased.
Back to the roots
But, now I’m finally returning to where it all started. Final Fantasy (1) for the NES. I’m older now. And much more patient. And better able to see past the graphics to look at the aesthetic. All the same, FF1 has been a tough nut to crack. And as usual, I have a general insistence in avoiding guides and walkthroughs except as a last resort (even if the user manual for the US version is pretty much a full strategy guide). While it may be difficult to see it today, FF1 at the time really shined graphically and musically. If you compare it to the likes of Dragon Warrior/Quest it is night and day. First off, Dragon Warrior’s music will have you muting it in short order since it is annoying and repetitive. But, FF1 they managed to create some pretty decent chip tunes with good variation and themes that don’t get old too fast (including the instantly recognizable victory theme). But, FF1’s enemies particularly have so much life, they are always caught in action poses, so even without animation they look like they are in motion. The sprites are very elaborate and detailed for the 8-bit era, and many have a sinister, otherworldly appearance. Again, this is thanks to Yoshitaka Amano’s concept art. Many of the monsters he drew were then carefully converted to pixel art while still retaining many of the details in Amano’s illustrations. They really steal the show when compared to the NPC and party member sprites, which look like your usual squat 8-16 bit RPG characters. To accompany my playthrough, I ordered a used copy of The Sky volume 1, which is an artbook of Amano’s art for Final Fantasy 1-3. With a little imagination, Final Fantasy 1 can be as gorgeous and memorable as the later, more technically advanced Final Fantasies.
Amano’s illustrations for snakes and spiders, the stuff of nightmares 
The snake in game 
The spider in game
But, there are still issues with the game that can make players want to put it down in short order. First being the grind. I was used to never having to grind in Super Mario RPG or FFVII. I feel like we have Ultima to blame for all this. It built the grind into the early games, and these influenced many early JRPG titles like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy, and left their mark for years to come. FF1 you’ll have to either install mods to reduce the grind. Or just deal with it. You’ll need to expect to spend 1-2 hours grinding when you reach a new area in order to be strong enough to overcome the attrition of a tough dungeon or avoid getting smacked down by a boss. And then there’s equipment. Modern Square games you’ll always have all the gil you need. FF1, you’ll be grinding for 20-30 minutes just to afford one spell at times. Luckily, most of the weapons and armor you’ll want can be found in chests. But, if you treat the grind like a chill game of solitaire, you’ll do fine. Just play conservatively when you aren’t looking for a serious challenge. The combat system isn’t bad either. You’ll need to pay attention when fighting a new monster party for the first few times. Unlike later games, if a monster is terminated after you’ve taken your turn but before your character has hit it, they’ll swing at air instead of moving on to the next monster in the list automatically. Surprisingly, this makes the fights a little more strategic then just mashing Fight for each character and throwing in the occasional spell. The party I’ve settled on finally (after several failed playthroughs), is Fighter, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage. I often end up pairing my Fighter and Black Mage, and Monk and White Mage having them target the same enemy (if I anticipate a good chance of knocking it out in one go). But, it goes to show that that seemingly archaic design decision creates a myriad of strategic play options. Spells are Dungeons and Dragons style, with a mage being able to memorize limited spells (only 3) at each spell level and getting a number of casts of each level per day based on their character level. No MP or mana whatsoever; you only recover your casts after resting at an inn or cottage (an item usable on the map). This means you must plan each foray into the wilderness or dungeon carefully, and then carefully weight your options in each battle. Consumables will be prohibitively expensive at first, even basic potions and antidotes. So, having access to healing spells is essential for extending each adventure outside of town. If a battle suddenly goes south, you’ll also want to have in reserve a powerful spell as life insurance, such as elemental black magic that can nuke all enemies, or the white magic Fear spell that can drive enemies off or Harm/Dia that can destroy undead enemies. While most status effects aren’t a huge deal, stun and poison will be the bane of your existence. Stun which is inflicted by many ghostly enemies and worms will cause a character to take a knee, basically out of the fight for a few turns while the enemy can basically pummel you. Get a few characters downed this way and you could basically end up with your party stunlocked as happened to me a few times. And my party was destroyed from full health just because they were ambushed by a few ghosts. And then early on, many enemies such as snakes and spiders inflict poison, which doesn’t go away on its own and damages the afflicted character with each step until healed by an antidote which costs 75 gil. And believe me, getting 3 or 4 characters poisoned in a fight and paying 75 gil a pop is not fun early on, so often it is better to run from enemies that inflict poison unless you can take them out in one go. Especially since you don’t get a cure poison spell until you get access to level 4 white magic. All the while, most of the status effects you can inflict are kind of a joke, like blind/dark (enemies still seem to hit much of the time) and sleep (enemies resist it much of the time, or wake up within a turn or two). So, essentially, early on you’ll be relying on your fighter much of the time since damaging spells can only be used seldom. And the rest of your classes are probably too weak to do significant damage.
Versions, and ports, and romhacks, oh my
But, all in all, I didn’t feel like the game’s fundamental mechanics required an overhaul to be properly enjoyed. And while there are tons of graphical upgrades for the game from the Playstation Final Fantasy Origins, the WonderSwan Color version, the GBA Dawn of Souls collection, and more, I happen to like the authentic charm of the original NES graphics. And, the grind isn’t too bad by default, and the battle system is fun and fair enough once you get the hang of it. What is problematic is how buggy the game is, and how poor the original translation was. I decided to go ahead and fix these things for a truer experience for my first playthrough. Final Fantasy has a ridiculous amount of romhacks for it. The emerging definitive version is Final Fantasy Restored by AstralEsper, which fixes virtually all the bugs, provides an excellent new Japanese to English translation, and provides some minor balancing and quality of life improvements. Even that could use a little minor improvements from Chicken Knife’s sprite touch-up and rebalancing. After trying 5 different combinations of hacks, I’ve found myself to be happiest with this version.
ambition nearly realized
As I talked about briefly in my last article, one of the best things about playing an older, more primitive game like FF1 is the elegance, purity, and minimalism of the raw, primordial design. There is no doubt my first two JRPG’s, Super Mario RPG and FFVII are brilliant, classic games. And they had already come a long way from their roots in FF1. But, they hadn’t replaced or replicated the experience of FF1. At first the simple quest given to rescue the Princess Sara soon turns into and world spanning quest to save the Crystals and defeat evil, complete with heroes and villains. Every place you go you’ll need to guide your heroes in the righting of wrongs, dealing with backstabbing villains, and exploring hostile wildernesses and dungeons. You aren’t given much in the way of exposition, so you are often on your own to explore the world and think about your next move, but you are given enough information that a guide shouldn’t be necessary (at least at this stage I’m after the Earth Crystal, the game has been fairly straightforward thus far). The story has enough there to keep you engaged and interested. Where it tends to bog down is when you encounter an area where the enemies are just too high a level for you to deal with effectively. Then the grind begins. But, once you overcome each hurdle you’ll feel the reward of your heroes growing stronger and defeating foes with ease that used to make you quake with fear. If it has one failing thus far, is that it doesn’t live up to the otherworldly concept art provided by Amano (apart from his monster designs). These gorgeous watercolors depict an alien fantasy world, but FF1 tends towards more traditional medieval fantasy in appearance (except when enemies are on screen). I would like to have seen an 8-bit rendition of FF1 that was closer to Amano’s art. All the same, this is a minor gripe. Especially since with a little imagination, the world can still come to life.
Mental Centripetity 