Final Fantasy Origins

"Origins? Yes, and with quite the impact on modern days!"

*PLEASE NOTE* This review may contain spoilers!

Hey there Final Fantasy fans! So you're wondering what Final Fantasy Origins is like, right? Well, this is truly a great investment of money in my opinion. I'll divide this up into two parts: one for FF1 and one for FF2. oh, and this is my first review, so bear with me here a bit.

Final Fantasy 1. What can I say? It's a great start for a great series! What do I think of it? Well obviously I think it's great, and here's why.

Story:
Ah, yes. The story; the soul of every RPG. You start off as four warriors called the 'Crystal Warriors', each possessing a different crystal representing a different natural element. As you begin, you start off in a small Kingdom/town/city with nothing but a few hundred gil(the form of currency in most if not all Final Fantasy games, for those who don't know). You walk into town, buy whatever you want from the shops or whatever, realize your exits are blocked by guards, talk to one, and go to the castle. Simple so far. It seems the King wants the four warriors to get his daughter back from the once great knight known as Garland. Pretty simple; you go to this run-down castle, fight Garland, save the princess and be thanked. That's the end of the game, right? WRONG!! There's much more. This game quickly goes from being a Princess rescue mission to a GLOBAL rescue mission. Pretty sweet. Wait, the end guy is... wow really? He looks familiar! Hmm... you'll have to play it to find out (or find out somewhere else on the internet...).

Characters: Ok, you're starting the game and you get to pick job classes and their names. This is kind of the game's only downfall that I can see, because really only the Warrior are good throughout the entire game. Anyway, you get to choose among the Warrior, Monk, Thief, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage. Now, the warriors apparently are the best way to go since they can wear just about any armor and wield about any weapon you come across. Monks are pretty good, but take a bit more damage than warriors. Then there's the thief, which I've never really used so I won't get into much detail about him. The Red Mage is a balanced kind of fighter. Learns a few mid-level White and Black Magic spells along with being able to wield a few weapons. The White Mage obviously casts spells like Cure and Holy, while the Black Mage casts spells like Fire or Bolt. Magic is a bit underpowered considering spells can be cast once or twice in the beginning of the game without having to go back in town to rejuvenate your characters again.

Graphics: I'm not a huge graphics person, so I can't say much about this. Here's what I'll say about them - You can tell things apart from other things and have the ability to find your way around fairly easily and that's what matters. Although I have to admit, there are some great FMVs to be found

Gameplay: Here's the thing. It's hard to mess up gameplay for an RPG. You walk around and search for things, get into random encounters (for those who don't know, this means while walking around, your screen randomly switches you to battle mode and begin fighting), talk to different people to find out where to go, go through a dungeon, and so on. This game uses the TBS (or turn-based-system), so players have plenty of time to think about what they want to do during battle.

Final Fantasy I's Score: 8.

Now for Final Fantasy 2! This has quite a different level-up system, since there aren't actually any levels. The story's somewhat different, the characters have background information and so on. So what's great about FF2? Let's find out!

Story: This story's a little different from the first game. This time around, you start off as four friends (I believe all related) whose names are Firion, Maria, Gus, and Leon. These four start off being attacked by some knights, they fight, they lose, and so on. Leon goes missing, you go through some dungeons with people that mostly don't matter because they usually end up dying at the end anyway and aren't much help, find outrageously powerful mystical items (they're key items so don't get your hopes up) and throughout the game, get very skilled all to stop this big mean BAD ASS Emporer. No really, he is BAD ASS.

Characters: Like I mentioned before, these characters have background information! As I also mentioned, their names are Firion, Maria, Gus, and Leon. I usually think of Firion as the leader. Maria's more of a peacekeeper, Gus is the strong silent type (and he freakin' talks to other animals!), and Leon... well he's gone most of the game, so I can't say much about him except that at the end, he's just like any other fourth character, except he's the guy you want to level just because of how bad ass it is for the team to be back together again. I'm quite sure they're all family in some way or the other. Firion was adopted I believe, while Gus Maria and Leon are all blood related.

Graphics: Basically the same as FF1. You get what I call the 'classic gamer' feeling from it. You can tell what everything is, but it's not extremely detailed like today's games, but also like FF1, the FMVs are simply great to watch over and over again.

Gameplay: Ok, I mentioned the level-up system not being the same as it was in FF1. Leveling up in this game isn't about a level number, but more about what specific stat you want each character to have leveled. For example, if you get hit a lot during battle, that specific character will more than likely get a HitPoints boost and possibly raised endurance. If you choose to make someone a Mage, then casting spells will raise the level of the spell you cast the most, raise your spirit/intelligence and so on. There's also weapon types. There are Swords, Axes, Bows, Spears, etc. Characters aren't restricted to have any certain type of weapon, but it's good to stick with just one. For example, I gave Firion swords, Maria Bows, and Gus Axes. Their skills with any kind of weapon will increase as you battle. After whatever character uses whatever weapon enough times, their skill goes up one level for that weapon type, meaning if I attack enough with Firion, then his skill with swords will go up a level and he'll be better with swords than any other kind of weapon. ALSO having a bare-handed fighter is possible and they do get levels in bare-handed combat just as they do weapon types.

Final Fantasy II's Score: 8 again.

Summary: These two games are quite different, but just as great in their own little ways. They both have their ups and downs, just as any other game would, however I find them to have less downs and more ups. Thanks for reading my first ever review!

Overall Origins Score: 8.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/08/09

Game Release: Final Fantasy Origins (US, 04/08/03)