Final Fantasy is quite a popular series. Though usually, when people think about it, they talk about IV, VI, VII, and IX. These are perhaps the most well known Final Fantasy games. But this game has always been skipped from the conversation. Why is that? Well, we didn't get Final Fantasy V until it came out as the Final Fantasy Anthology on PS1 along with Final Fantasy VI again. And that translation was pretty bad, but we eventually got a more definitive version of V with the GBA Final Fantasy V Advanced. Now, outside of that brief history, let's look at what we've got here.
This game is perhaps my favorite Final Fantasy. The gameplay is simple but outstanding. The main point of the gameplay is that it has an enhanced and redone Job system, that far exceeds Final Fantasy III's well done attempt. In the original Final Fantasy V, there's 22 jobs. Throughout the story, you, as Bartz, along with your team mates Lenna, Faris and Galuf, are trying to save the four crystals that act as elements to the world. Through trying to do this, each crystal you go to gets you new jobs.
Here's how Jobs work:
- You won a battle, you get the usual experience and gil, but now you also get ABP. ABP helps you level up your individual class. That's right, with your character's level, their classes have levels too.
- Master a class and become able to use that class' ability (such as White Magic from a White Mage) on another class (such as Blue Mage). The combinations that this can make up feel endless!
- When you've finally found your combination that you like, you can change your character back to a freelancer, and give them two different commands from previous classes. That's just one advantage to going back to a freelancer, as another is that you can equip anything.
With this, the game feels fresh from the typical "this character is this class, and cannot be changed" mentality. This is why I enjoy games like Final Fantasy V, VI, and VII. They provide a lot of unique styles of playing. Albeit, a problem I have with VI is that you could really just equip any Esper to anyone and have as much magic as you want. But that's for another review.
Final Fantasy V's story isn't the best, but it's certainly not bad. It's a typical adventure story, with a few moments of feeling sympathetic to the characters. Their personality shines through, such as Lenna's caring heart, Faris' strength and tomboyish complexity, and Galuf's adamant self. The main enemy has an interesting goal, similar to one from a previous game (if you're a long time Final Fantasy fan, you'll know what I mean when you play it). There will be some big plot twists in this game that leave you in awe, as well.
This game is currently available on the Playstation Network under the Final Fantasy Anthology translation. The translation isn't the worst, as it mainly just messes up names (i.e. Lenna is "Reina" in Anthology) and it's not something to worry yourself over. There's also a small downside to the GBA version, its music is slightly downgraded. It's something that wouldn't matter to anyone if its their first time playing it. I'd highly recommend this game, I'd give this a 9/10.