Final Fantasy Review (PSP)

Over 20 years from the first release, you haven’t really missed much in the remake

Over the past 20 years, Final Fantasy has become one of the most well-known RPG series worldwide, with games like Final Fantasy VII, X, and XII being a huge success and having memorable moments and bosses. However, not many people have played through the old Final Fantasy games way back on the NES or on PS1. For those who have played through most of the games in the series you’ll probably know that there have been many remakes of the Final Fantasy game.

Back in 1987 Final Fantasy was first released in Japan for the NES, and then years later it reappeared on the Playstation in 2003. For those who have played through or have not played the original Final Fantasy, there isn’t really much on story in FFI.

FF takes place in a fantasy world with three large continents. The elemental powers on this world are determined by the state of four orbs, each governing one of the four classical elements: earth, fire, water, and wind. On most other RPG games you would have characters with pages of back-story about their past, yet in FF there is really no story on your characters, the whole plot is about 4 warriors going on a journey and saving the world from darkness.

Gameplay: If you have played through Final Fantasy before, not much has changed in terms of gameplay. The main battle system is easy to pick up and before you start a new game you can choose what job classes you want your characters to use like Warrior, Black Mage, Thief or White Mage.

During battle you can either attack, use magic if you have a Black Mage or White Mage in your party, steal from enemies to get new items or you can heal your party members if there low on health.

Each continent and dungeon you’ll go through there will be boss fights through out the game but you can easily level up your characters and also get new spells as well or you can go to towns and buy weapons and armour to help your characters.

If you’ve played through FF before you haven’t really missed much apart from the PSP version has a new dungeon as well as dungeons that were in Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls on GBA. The script is the same as in the Dawn of Souls version, aside from the new dungeon.

Graphics and Sound: Nothing has really changed from the last remakes of Final Fantasy. During main gameplay it still looks the same with the 2D graphics but with brighter visuals in each area, dungeon and continent.

During random battles in FF, it’s still the same as you would have remembered it in 2D, some spells and effects have been given a new coat of paint and look spectacular. For an RPG game that’s been remade over and over you really haven’t missed much on the PSP.

It still looks the same with the 2D graphics but with brighter visuals in each area

Square Enix has also re-mixed the music for Final Fantasy and added a few new tunes from other Final Fantasy titles to boot. This music is clear, vibrant, and sounds great coming out of the PSP speakers. It’s still Nobuo Uematsu’s classic music, and most fans of his music will enjoy the remixes.

Overall: Over 20 years nothing has changed in the world of FF. Apart from the brighter visual graphics and the new coat of paint on spells, effects and the re-mixed music you’ve not really missed much.

The downside to the remake on PSP that it’s not bundled with Final Fantasy II and both games on PSP are priced at around £15 which can be a bit of a rip-off for some people or fans of the series unlike the last two versions, although you’d find a good bargain with these two games together.

If you have played FF you’re not going to miss anything but if you never played through FF before it’s worth picking up if you see it cheap. The main story can take over at least 20 hours or over depending on how much you want to get out of Final Fantasy I, but unlike other Final Fantasy games you won’t have a good story or many memorable moments in gaming history from this instalment.

3 / 5