I managed to pick up FF 1&2 on PSP at a local game retailer for £8 each which is pretty decent. They're slightly cheaper on the apple app store but I don't want to play these games with touch screen. I've played about 5 hours of FF 1 and I'm having a blast. The PSP version has been digitally remastered and in comparison to the original graphics, the game looks like it's in HD with its charming character sprites, detailed villages, varied landscapes and swift battle animations.
I really wasn't expecting much of the first FF game but man was I wrong! I honestly expected it to be, not bad but, not good either. However, it's early days and I've been tackling my way through several challanges and not one of them have been pointless or boring.
One feature of the game that I was really impressed with was the character choice at the beginning. When I started a new game I was presented with a character select screen. There are 4 character in the party, also known as the 'Warriors of Light', which sounds totally badass. Although, I can't help but picture some goofy, egotistical guys doing some ridiculous posing, freeze framed and people walking past shouting, "Jerks" in a Canadian accent. Anyway, each character has a class and it's totally up to the player on how they want to form their team.
Character Classes:
Warrior (Advance to Knight) - Can use a wide array of weapons and armour
Theif (Advances to Ninja) - Nimbly runs circles around opponents
Monk (Advances to Master) - Specialises in bare-knuckle attacks
Red Mage (Advances to Red Wizard) - Proficient in both black and white magic
White Mage (Advances to White Wizard) - Supports the party with white magic
Black Mage (Advances to Black Wizard) - Devastates opponents with black magic
As you can see, there are 6 Character Classes to choose from. My team consists of the Warrior, Theif, White Mage and Black Mage (who looks like the coolest mage I've ever seen).
After deciding on which characters to use in my journey, they have to be given names. I'm not too creative when it comes to name calling, but there is an option that lets you automatically generate some names but they weren't that good. If you know me you'll probably know I play a lot of fighting games, almost every day. I couldn't help but notice the characters I chose looked a lot like Street Fighter 4 characters, based on their default attire or alternative costumes. I named them Ken, Ryu, Sakura and Gouken respectively.
The music in the game is phenomenal, it's sort of nostalgic but that doesn't really make much sense seeing as I've not played this games before. It feels nostalgic to me because they're using the same sound effects and main menu music, identical to FF 10. The in-game music fits the locations I've visited perfectly and adds to the atmosphere of the game.
There is some basic micro-management going on in FF1 but it's keeping me interested. I'm constantly wanting to upgrade my armour and weaponary. The mages are designed in a clever way. The mages spells have to be baught from a store in different villages that have different levels of magic. There are 4 to choose from but the mages only have 3 slots which adds a sacrafice element to the mages.
So far I'm having a blast with the game and I can't put it down. I've saved the King of Cornelia's daughter from a master swordsman, defeated an evil king, awakened a curses prince from his slumber, obtained my own ship and even retrieved a wizards crystal eye. The game seaps awesome and I'm going to dive back in and carry on with my journey.
Also, this made me laugh! Stay tuned!
