Final Fantasy V is an interesting title. In many ways, it's very similar to III, four warriors, each with their own story and purpose for joining, each imbued with job powers from the crystals. However, where III really only scratched the surface of the Job Class system, V took it to a whole other level.
V open on a cinematic. A meteor is falling to earth near the castle of Tycoon. The king, Alexander Highwind Tycoon, takes flight on his wind drake, Hiryu, to check out what is happening with the meteor, while his daughter, Lenne, waits to hear from him. After loosing contact with him, she sets out on her own to find out what happened to the Wind Shrine, where he was purportedly headed.
Meanwhile, Bartz Klauser is out camping with his chocobo, Boko just as the meteor crashes to the ground. Bartz and Boko rush off to investigate and end up finding Lenne and an old man who has lost his memories, Galuf Halm Baldesion, being attacked by goblins. He saves them both, and the two decide they're going to check out the meteors.
Bartz gives his general "Fuck that" response and takes off on Boko. For the record, Bartz is the whiniest character in Final Fantasy. Given that this is the series with Tidus, the Emo Git, and the overcompensating, great Whiny Douche. The fact that I call Bartz this says a lot for his whining ability. Luckily, he gets over that and realizes he has to be a hero early on in the game, which manages a lot more for his character than carrying a big ass sword.
Shortly after their conversation, Galuf and Lenne are in trouble again, and Boko forces him to go and find them. The world is literally collapsing beneath them, as goblins try to stop them. Bartz saves the two of them at the last moment and heads for the cave at the end of the pass.
Once free from their attackers, Bartz tells them he'll join them. However, first they need to get out of the cave, and find a way to the Wind Shrine. Fortunately, the great McGuffin Lord made the cave a wonderful plot device, for it is a pirates cove, the cover of the Scherwiz Pirates, under their fearsome leader, all around major badass, Faris Scherwiz.
They attempt to commandeer the pirates ship, which only serves to piss Faris off. He's about to have them thrown overboard when he notices Lenne's pendant. It looks exactly like his...a relic from his past life.
*SPOILER (past the prologue anyways) ALERT*
Ok, if you've read my last few top tens, you know I love Faris' character, and you also know that she's the lost crown princess of the Kingdom of Tycoon, Alexander's first daughter, and Lenne's older sister, who was lost at an early age and raised by the great water dragon, Slydra. She soon joins with your squad and comes in with the best overall stats.
The four of them are this game's Warriors of Light in charge of protecting...you guessed it, the four crystals. In doing so, they fail...a lot...and each time they do, new job crystals are formed (don't they know positive reinforcement doesn't help) and given to the team.
The four fail...a lot. On the upside though, this gives them a lot of jobs to work with. They fail so much, Galuf sacrifices himself to save them all and his granddaughter, Krile, from one of the coolest (I think) bad guys in the series. I mean, how many major antagonists are trees who got pissed off humanity outside of The Happening. Not many.
Krile takes the place Galuf's death leaves, with all his abilities and stats in tow, as the warriors prepare for the final face off with ExDeath by searching for the Ultima Job Weapons. This was the first game to give every character an uber-weapon, and in that regard, that is the main legacy of the game.
As I've mentioned before, gameplay really didn't change a whole lot over the course of the first six games, however, V added something to the Job System started in III. It first gave more jobs, and a better system for leveling in the form of AP, but it also gave abilities, that could be learned from specific jobs and given to the other classes. This resulted in weird mixes, like white mages that could steal, or Red Mages that could summon, or Monks that could Doublecast.
Graphically, again, it looks good, and the CG videos for the PSX version were great at the time (they haven't held up well at all). Check out the opener here, if you haven't seen them and you'll understand what I mean.
The audio is as good as always, but there are three pieces that really steal the landscape of the music. The first introduces the second piece of the legacy of FFV, Gilgamesh, with Clash on the Big Bridge.
My Home, Sweet Home casts a tragic light on Bartz past as he and the others return there for the first time, and learn just who he is and how he's related to the others in the story.
Finally, the most epic piece out of the game, and one truly hitting home the feeling of lost, the desperation, and the hope that we cling to in those sad situations.
I'm sorry this one took so long, FFV was a hard one to write about because of how much you have to experience in game before you really can review it properly, and I have a standard "replay up to all gameplay elements experienced" policy with the games I review.
So, let me know what you think. Is FFV any good to you? Do you enjoy the job system it brought to the table? Is ExDeath badass? Are you perturbed Gilgamesh got so little screen time (don't worry, there will be more on him later)? Let me know.
-Sara
No comments:
Post a Comment