With the shattering of the Water Crystal in Worus, it seemed fate would
only cry tears of sadness on the planet. The life force of the world would
gradually wither as each elemental crystal shattered. When each crystal
died, the seal they protected weakened in strength. That seal had sheltered
its earth from unspeakable evils for countless centuries. The lone pirate
Faris faced denial when the princess whispered they were long lost sisters.
Righteous yet quiet with the inner strength of a thousand echoes, Butz
acquired the position as leader. Death haunted him by eternally casting its
dark shadow upon him. The impact of riding on a meteor crashed with such
exceeding force that Galuf lost his memory. Fragments of his identity
gradually returned as he dreamt of a worried girl calling out to him from
another realm. Desperately the group traveled to the Kingdom of Karnak to
avert the destruction of its crystal.
Graphics [8.5/10]:
If you thought the characters in FF3 were super deformed, you should see
FF5. The graphics are simple often, but some of them are quite complex. I
would expect any less from Squaresoft, after all. And they hold a certain
nostalgic charm also. That sounds like a nice way of saying it looks like
crap, but really, they're quite good. I give it an 8.5 though because I do
realize that the graphics aren't of the highest quality. The battle scenes
in particular are very unimaginative and boring sometimes when compared to
the other FF's. Magic affects are fairly simple compared to Chrono Trigger
or SoM, but they do the job. For 1992, these must have been quite good.
Music and Sound [9/10]:
It's a Final Fantasy game, and you ask if the music is good? Actually,
it's quite good music, I certainly never tired of it, or had it grow
annoying to me. But it was a tad too simple for me to give it a full 10.
Many interesting tunes throughout the game.
Game Play [10/10]:
If I could, I'd give it an 11. It's a little slow at first, but once you
get started, this game is FUN! And I mean FUN! There's a great system set
up similar to FF1 almost. You have your main characters, but during battle,
they can "morph", so to speak, into a generic role, such as a mage or such.
This allows you to do a LOT of tweaking around, creating Battlemages, and
such. The storyline is captivating, and this is in my opinion the greatest
Final Fantasy made, despite it's simplistic graphics.
Challenge and Replay [7/10]:
Very challenging, and as for replay, I suppose you could play it again
eventually. But, really, when you beat FF3 (IF you beat FF3), your first
thought wasn't exactly starting over again right away :).
Conclussion/Overall [9/10]:
Overall a GREAT, fun game, that no Final Fantasy fan should be without.
Do whatever you can to get this game. Order the japanese cart and turn it
into a ROM and use a translator, or whatever you have to do. But get it.
Also, I just had to add for those not in the know, that FF2 was really
FF4(jap), and FF3 was really FF6(jap), so this one is the one made after FF2
and before FF3. The graphics and sound are a little simple, but you lose
sight of that once you start playing. A TRULY great game.
