MobyRank MobyScore
NES
84
3.4
BREW
...
...
MSX
...
2.1

Description

Hironobu Sakaguchi's Final Fantasy... the first of one of the longest role-playing game series known to mankind. Final Fantasy is the game for the NES console that started it all.

The world is veiled in darkness. Winds don't blow, the seas are stormy, and the earth rots. All people can hope for is that the ancient prophecy will be finally fulfilled. "When the world is veiled in darkness, four warriors will come..." And indeed, they come - the four characters you have previously chosen. Their first quest is to free a princess from the evil Garland, and then the real journey begins...

Final Fantasy is played with an adventuring party rather than with a single character. Before the game starts, the player chooses four characters from six different classes: Fighter, Thief, Black Belt, White Mage, Red Mage, and Black Mage. Which four classes the player chooses for his characters is entirely up to him. He also gives the characters names.

In the game, the party walks around in a top-down world, visits cities, caves, palaces and other places to buy equipment, rest and get hints and new quests, and fights baddies when they are encountered. Final Fantasy uses a turn-based combat system; the ATB (active-time battle) system from the later installments is not used. In battle, the player gives each character in order a command (attack a particular enemy, cast a spell, use an item, or try to run.) Then the characters and the enemies act in a random order. Attacked enemies and party members lose hit points, dying when they reach zero HP. When all the enemies are defeated, living party members receive experience, eventually gaining a level and improving their stats when enough experience is accumulated. Slain party members can be revived in towns for a price.

Spells are bought in cities in special shops. The spells are divided into two categories - white magic and black magic. White Mages can only use white magic, Black Mages can only use black magic, and Red Mages can use both. Casting spells in battle uses up magic points, which, like hit points, can be restored by resting in inns.

Alternate Titles

  • "最终幻想" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
  • "Финальная Фантазия" -- Russian spelling
  • "Zui Zhong Huanxiang " -- Chinese title
  • "Finalnaja Fantazija" -- Russian title
  • "Final Fantasy I" -- Common title
  • "FF1" -- Common title
  • "ファイナルファンタジー" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups


Merchant Title Platform Price  
Amazon
Final Fantasy NES $7.81  
ebay.com
Final Fantasy    
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User Reviews

A game that helped popularize console Eastern RPGs, however, it is over-rated. NES Christian Delano (5)
The very first Final Fantasy game. Though a completely different beast all together compared to later titles NES Mr. Huh (112)
The first of the greatest video game series ever... but is it good? NES Unicorn Lynx Bronze Star Contributing Member (84228)
I guess this is the first game ever that has a (decent) ending NES Bregalad (696)

The Press Says

RPGamer NES Aug 21, 2005 5 out of 5 100
Defunct Games WonderSwan Color Jun 12, 2005 90 out of 100 90
IGN WonderSwan Color Feb 12, 2001 8.6 out of 10 86
RPGFan NES Jan 29, 2000 81 out of 100 81
Digital Press - Classic Video Games NES Feb 27, 2005 8 out of 10 80
Game Freaks 365 NES Nov 01, 2007 8 out of 10 80
Nintendo Land NES 2003 79 out of 100 79
Game Daihouko WonderSwan Color 2005 55 out of 100 55

Forums

Topic # Posts Last Post
Amazing story? 18 Unicorn Lynx Bronze Star Contributing Member (84228)
Jun 12, 2007

Trivia

The Wonderswan Color re-release features much better graphics and slight changes in gameplay system (for example, the characters target the next enemy automatically in battles). This release is nearly identical to Final Fantasy Origins for Playstation (of course, it doesn't have the CG intro).


This entry was contributed by Charly2.0 (18917), Kabushi (59838) and Unicorn Lynx Bronze Star Contributing Member (84228)
 

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