Final Fantasy Anthology

"Slower gameplay in FF3/6, but everyone that gave this a "10" is right! This is worth the money to buy 100%!!!!!"

This is a pretty lengthy review summarizing FF3/6, FF5 and the add-in soundtrack cd that are all part of Final Fantasy Anthology.

The other half of FF Anthology will not disappoint those that were fans of FF3/6! On the otherhand, if you're looking for the pretty graphics like FF7 and 8, go home now and save the $39.99 (FF3/6, FF5 and soundtrack cd) it costs to get this great deal!

Final Fantasy V
Graphics: 9/10
Music & Sound: 8.5/10
Control/Gameplay: 9.5/10
Plot & Characters: 9/10
Fun Factor: 10/10
Overall: 9.2/10
(9/10)

Graphics: For what was a Japanese release and a predecessor to FF3/6, the graphics could be a little better as far as some of the detail goes. Despite this, I just so happen to like the 8-bit (borderline 16-bit) graphical style as what you see in FF5. The enemies are moderately detailed and the playable characters have that “ever so HATED” deformed look. The major malfunction I have with the old school visuals is that the characters are pretty small in town settings and on the overworld map vs. the clearly visible characters in FF3/6. As far as the added FMV sequences go, they are very good on their own and I enjoyed checking them out myself. Other than the FMVs there have been slight, yet noticeable add ins such as a different graphic sequence when you start a random battle and end a fight victorious. Like I just said....these won't rain on your parade unless you're that much of a snotty nit-pick to whine about them. Making the old school FF5 characters come to life in animated CG renderings is quite interesting and most people who've played this most likely take that for granted (my, my my fellow FF8 worshippers...what else is new?). In comparison some of the game visuals can be compared (slightly) to Lunar SSSC. The spells are quirky yet unique, the character's special moves are pretty interesting to watch, the enemies are pretty well detailed for the most part and the sprites on the overworld and in towns are average overall. If you're gonna judge this game on graphics alone go elsewhere. The way this game looks definitely provides a great nostalgic feel, if that's what you're seeking.

Music & Sound: About as average as the graphics are. Let's face it, this is a collectors' addition of a game that hasn't been released over here, so I doubt Square would really want to waste money on breaking something that was a classic back in ‘92 and trash the nostalgic feel with a bunch of pointless remixes of the fanfare and battle music **COUGH COUGHFF8COUGHCOUGH!!!!**... What's here is great considering it was at a time when there wasn't an FF3/6 to judge every other game on. The battle music is pretty cool as well as just adventuring and exploring dungeons. The boss music could have been a little bit better, but nonetheless it's not too bad. Sound effects are standard issue FF-types which (I assume) have been slightly altered from the original like in FF3/6. Aside from that basis of bias, I'll have to say that the sound effects arent too bad in FF5. The reason this got an 9 instead of something like a 9.5 or 10, is due to the fact that the overall soundtrack is not as great and revered as FF3/6's. It's good on it's own, but still can't beat the almighty FF3/6 soundtrack (Chrono Trigger isn't in on this argument though....strictly FF games..). Oh well. :)

Control/Gameplay: Like FF 3/6, the classic SNES controls of these old school games have been modified just ever so slightly. What's bizarre however is that like in FF3/6 the relics for sprinting are less needed than in the 16-bit versions. Holding the cancel button while walking in a dungeon/town is how you scoot about quickly. Actually.. this is a good thing, because now noone needs sprint shoes, thus meaning that everyone can have any two relics they wish rather than having 3 members with the relics they want and one person getting stuck with a dashing relic when they could have a better more useful relic on. What complicates this further is if you do have a running relic on you run four times as fast compared to when you had the relic on! What's so great about that? You don't dodge fights any faster and you don't really get through a dungeon faster, so what's the point? Also noteworthy is a two player option during fights just like in FF3/6 which is a great albeit an UNUSED and UNNOTICED feature. Though both games in the anthology are slower than their SNES counterparts, FF5 is faster in gameplay than in FF3/6. The one really annoying thing is the slowness of the menus. It takes too long to load up the status screen after pressing the triangle button which IS A PAIN if you're one of those RPG gamers who'd like to be in and out of a menu real quick. Other than the slow menus and rather slow loading time for the battles to start, FF5 is a gem in terms of control and gameplay.

Plot & Characters: I'm addicted to this game much in the same way I was with FF 3/6, but I haven't advanced far enough to proclaim the plot here is up to par or even better than FF 3/6's plot. It's also weird seeing as how you get all of the main characters towards the near beginning of the game due to circumstances shown in the plot. As for now, I can say that the plot is rather predictable and average (once I get more into it, I'll revise my plot evaluation). The characters are versatile for being only 4 of them due to the FF Tactics-like class changing which makes the replay go through the ceiling. The name of the main character can be determined by you and the other three: Reina, Galuf, Faris are all very important to kicking major butt in battles, so there are no useless “extra” characters that linger around until you get the balls to use them for a half hour or something like that. There's also an interesting surpirse regarding Faris a little later in the game too, so keep your eyes peeled. I'm pretty sure there'll be a major revelation regarding Galuf's real identity too spicing up the plot... Like I said, I'll have to reacess this part of my review until I get deeper into the game. Take into note that this is my first time with FF5...I'm obsessed with it like I was with FF 3/6 but have yet to conquer it as much as I did with 3/6. Also, like with FF 3/6 I'm playing this through without help from strategy guides or online FAQs because that jacks up the replay and I'm assuming that FF5 will be worth playing over again! Woo!

Fun Factor: What can I say? It's old....slightly remixed and worth the money to get as part of the collection that is FF Anthologies! Mastering your job classes, getting ahead in levels...etc., etc. will keep you as busy if maybe a little more than in FF3/6. Also a lot of the features seen in later PSX FFs (especially a lot of items seen later in FF7) seems to have started gaining momentum here such as the class system for FF Tactics which is a brilliant inclusion in a standard FF game like FF5. That alone will keep you busy for a LONG time... The ATB thing shows it's face here which is great too, because that really made battles a little more interesting than the “take turns” setup in the first few RPGs. I said it once and I'll say it again...this one's great! Frankly I WOULD (and already have been) play this over FF8 anyday even if it doesn't have the graphic and sound the next-gen gamers so direly NEED to have.

Final Fantasy 3/6
Graphics: 9.5/10
Music & Sound: 10/10
Control: 10/10
Plot & Characters: 10/10
Fun Factor: 10/10
Overall: 9.9/10
By this rating system it would be a 10 (rounding of course)

Please note that I'm combining my SNES review of FF3 with the Anthology version....

Hey, I'm not giving this a 10 becasue of the story either, becasue it still kicks the crap out of FF7 and FF8 anyday. You want further explaination? E-mail me cause i'm not finished with this...believe me. Why would the critics be so biased comparing FF8 to FF3? Why do you see a lot of people commenting that FF3 is the best? It should be more than obvious if you open your narrow (graphically subdued) minds.

Graphics: When FF3 was the only RPG on the SNES and when nothing else came out torival it, it was the best. Simply, up front and straight to the point. Exceptional graphics don't define an RPG's greatness, but they sure helped and FF3 was no exception. People expecting more got what they wanted which was FF7 and FF8, games that sacrificed what was defined by this game (all the ones before it) and Chrono Trigger (which is a tie with FF3 in terms of plot). Back to FF3... The reason the graphics weren't given a 10 was because they were more dreary in color than what followed it. Despite the color pallete not being the highest mark, I'd have to say the graphics are astounding for this being a 16 RPG. Chrono trigger's were very good because they dropped the high detail for more interesting animation, but anyway.... When you look back at all the predecessors to FF3 you'll see why. The detail is very very well done for being hand drawn and not all this computer rendering that shows up so (how could you miss it-everyone praises it?) well in 7 and 8. The bosses and enemies are very well drawn and detailed and have concepts that are carried over to later incarnations of the series (bombs, cactrots, malboros, etc.) as well as the summons which aren't all a bunch of graphically enhanced chumps that take forever to get the point across in a battle (which is whooping the enemy's ass). The surroundings are very well detailed, too. Towns and dungeons are amongst the largest (compare FF7's dungeon with 3's) and towns harbor more secrets than you think they would. Animation wise, this is more or less nothing new, characters have similar ways of attacking foes and the enemies die the same way and attack the same ways as they (more or less) have been in past RPG's. Spells are quite intersting, but serve the purpose they were meant for and not to satisfy the graphically hungering eyes of people who believe FF8 is all that. I'd rather endure 90 of FF3's ultima spells consequtively as opposed to 90 Bahumat Zeros and 90 Knights of the Round in FF7. The character concepts are more orignal and interesting than what's now being shown in RPG's today. You've got Gau, Mog, Kefka (who's kinda like Marilyn Manson), Cid (carry overs to later FFs and from previous ones), General Leo, Strago, Realm, Umaro, Gogo, Edgar, Shadow, all the moogles, Wedge and Vicks (carry overs to later FFs), Ultros, Chupon (carry over to later FFs), summons (carry overs to later FFs), etc., etc. In terms of originality, FF3 kills FF8 and 7 with one slice of the atmaweapon, though some concepts have become better introduced in FF3 from it's predacessors. To conclude this, the hand drawn graphics of FF3 sport much detail despite the much critisized low amount of animation everyone and their brother likes to rip on.

-->Anthologies: Little was changed to the original as far as the graphical transition to 16-bit onto a 32-bit platform in the FF3 version on Anthologies. The major noticibles are the warped kick offs to random battles and the added cinemas. The new cinemas are a lot like FF5's which were very interesting new ways of depicting the FF3 crew (and Kefka!) in CG style and are very well done.

Music & Sound: I like this soundtrack the most out of the series because it has a more appealing variety than what came later. There's not much chance at beating the Magitek Research Facility theme, Shadow's theme, the battle and boss themes, overworld theme, AtmaWeapon's theme, Kefka's theme, Moogle town, Zozo, Chocobo Veldt, Gogo's theme, Kefka's Tower, Fantaic's Tower, Floating Continent....etc. Even some of the more depressing cinical tunes sound interesting and involving adding heat to the situation at hand.

-->Anthologies: For the most part...the FF3 soundtrack has not been touched in this incarnation. The one thing that does make me mad is the martyring of the classic FF3 sound effects which are VERY noticable to those that have been hooked on FF3 since it first came out. The cursor blip noises are more of a “ting” noise than the classic effect, and most other sound effects like Edgar's autocrossbow and Cyan's quadra slam just have less impact in their sound effects. Quadra slam sounded like it had a ton of kick in it, and now it just sounds less impacting. I guess this isn't horrendous to alter these things, but if you've stuck with the original since the day it came out, this just sounds weaker in the sound effects category. Thank god Kefka's laugh was NEVER touched. You can never top or change that and get away with it!

Control: Your standard issue Square/RPG/Final Fantasy-type controls. Most people attack the fact that you can move in only 4 directions, as if it really mattered. In other words this is a creative excuse to attack the game and make it sound worse than it is (which it is not). Does it seriously matter if you can stand in one spot and spin 360 degrees when all you need to do is go from point A to point B? I think not. Are you gonna miss something in this game by not being able to move diagonally? Does it matter that you can run or walk in an RPG when you'd still get into a fight between location A and B? God, who cares? Honestly? Oh yeah, the ones who've been pampered with all the perks. Battle-wise, it's all turn based and all good. It may have menus that so many people dislike, but I'd rather have a list of choices and things I'd like to choose from. Plus, most characters have a signature move, something totally lacking in FF8 (too bad limit breaks don't count because I'm talking permanent signature moves not something that appears when you get your ass wallopped). Summons can only be summoned once per battle (thank god) making a heated boss fight more challenging when you have to rely on weapons and spells and not some little show of graphics that takes off more HPs than is really needed if you beef it up. The controls are just fine for this game and attacking it, is just being rather pointless. Oh yeah, and two players can play this game (during battles) so you can have one friend controlling half of the party while the other controls their half (go to config on the menu screen if you don't believe me).

-->Anthologies: Slight changes have been made here as far as overall controls....The basic configuration of the original is just a little bit changed and the only other majorly noticible function is the “dash button” (as in FF5). Nothing to really whine about.

Plot & Characters: I tend to agree that this has amongst all the FF games the best plot and is only rivaled by that of Chrono Trigger's and Xenogears (but they aren't FF's so disregard the comparison). I also agree that character developement is rather limited, but that depends on who you play as. Strago isn't as pointless as believed and neither is Realm or Umaro (Umaro helps you a ton in the Fanatic's Tower (HINT!)). Every character has a reason to join you with the exception of Gogo and Umaro and they all have a story behind them that backs up why they are with you. Typically it all centers around the tyranous empire of greed that seeks power to enslave the world. Towns are pillaged, taken over, and some (like Narshe) actually fight back rather than just take it. The plot starts out small and leads to some of the most globally challenging situations. You'll meet Duane and Katarin, survivors who carry the responsibility of giving birth to a child in a world that seems to have no future. You'll encounter the people of Zozo, the thieves and liars, you'll see people without homes and people trying to get by in the meekest of situations, you'll meet people trying to wade through debt and people trying to get over the deaths of friends (Shadow, Locke, Setzer) and struggles for hope on a more widespread scale than in FF7 and FF8. The death of Aeris was just a highlight to FF7 in terms of an impact in the story, but FF3 kept a thorough consistancy of a world that just keptgoing wrong. You'll see things that'll surprise you (Terra's past) you'll witness greed and tyranny that lead to full blown insanity. And i also want to mention that FF3 has the tightest sequence of events in the first half of the game than FF7 and FF8 could have dreamed of. I'm not saying that as a bias, I'm saying it because it more or less is true. What better way to end the first half of the game with a shwodown on a floating island that results in a chaotic climax of unparalleled interest. The game may be long and the second half of the game may seem loose in terms of events, but all this computes to one of the best endings Square has come up with. FF7's sucked...FF8's was an acid trip and more of a show than something that would explain what happened to each individual character. How long is the ending? Long. Enjoying and makes you ask less questions than the sequels that follow it after seing it.

-->Anthologies: No major changes here. If there were, I'd get mad. The new CG's add flavor to some of the plot events later in the game which makes the story more unique.

Fun Factor: This is where it's at for me. I've always come back to this and Chrono Trigger because they just keep giving even if you saw it all. I keep playing FF3 to master what I haven't gotton or to see if I can do better. For example, first time I played it, I got creamed on the Floating Continent (Level 30) and now, I've found that wasting more time results in better payoffs. By getting each character to level 99 at the end of the first half, I've found it much more enjoyable to play throught the rest of the game. People critisize the fact that you could turn your characters into gods in FF 3 and 7, but how could you do that? By playing hour after hour, by doing uneccessary things that get you ahead and on top! If you want challenge, then play through Mt. Zozo rather at level 12 rather than at level 32. You reap what you sew and that's a law in almost every FF game made ot date. Argue that, and you just are stuck on the pretty graphics and media hype. Where are the puzzles and the challenges? Right here baby. The amount of puzzles in here kill the #'s in FF7 and 8 and make it more challenging by throwing in insane amounts of repetitive battles in the midsts of all of it. That's your challenge, not searching out items to advance through the plot or whatever it is the others have that seems so appealing. Though I will admit, the mini-games are few here and less appealing than those in 7 but they are a lot more challenging despite the critisism people who lived off them in FF7. The colliseum is a challenge because you never know what's coming by betting items. You can fight Chupon and lose a critical item and never get it back EVER. Finally, I have to say, the final dungeon and Magitek Research Facility are amongst the most involving and challenging dungeons in FF3 compared to what came after and Kefka, still has the most maniacal and amusing laugh and attitude any villain will ever have even if he doesn't have a mammoth sword and a bunch of pumped up stats like Sephiroth, though Seph is still pretty cool. This game will keep you going beyond the 99 hour limit without any doubt (that is if you don't buy the guide). There's so much to miss that'll keep you coming back for more every time. Buy this. It's old school gaming paradise, despite what the whiner's say. I've only scratched the surface with this, but if you're still stuck on the fact that FF8 is the best thing ever made, then you'll be finding something to complain about seeing as how you're handy dadny perks aren't necessary for this to be one of the biggest, most defining SNES title there with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 5. If it wasn't then why would 90% of the people writing reviews give it a an above average rating or the highest possible rating they can give it?

-->Anthologies: The best is still all here with little major changes to make you want to flip out and have a heart attack. There is a new add in feature more or less for the sake of trivial nostalgia which is the bestiary which shows all the enemy stats and weaknesses as well as a pic of them. One last special (and interesting) feature is the ability to view previously viewed CG sequences whenever you want. These are just interesting add-ins that don't martyr the gameplay of the tried and true FF3.

Anthologies Soundtrack: 8.9/10
Frankly, this could be WAAAAAY better. FF3/6 has much better tracks than “the phantom forest” and they really should have had the Magitek Factory theme in it. Besiddes that major gripe, the FF3/6 half of the cd isn't too bad. The FF5 half is just a little bit under the keel as far as great sounds, thus bringing the overall review for the soundtrack add-in to a 8.9 because all around....it could be better. There's just too many good themes that Square didn't put in for no pointless reason for both games.

Major Pitfalls of Anthologies: Load times, potential freeze-ups (due to the platform it's on and the fact Square tried stuffing too much onto one cd)

My Recommendations: Buy this! BUY, BUY, BUY!!!! Despite the other half of the anthology lacking somewhat versus it's original, I strongly recommend buying this for the sake of FF5 because it is a great game by itself. The Soundtrack add-in is a modest inclusion that could be a lot better (all around-primarily for FF5 AND FF3/6), but get it for FF5. It's nostalgic and may not throw out the fancy thrills that FF7 and FF8 fans are hooked by, but if you're a die hard FF fan, then get this. I can't emphasize it enough! The critics are quite nit-picky when it comes to reviewing this and demand more (big surprise), but then again....if you expand on a classic visually and soundwise (to the point where it's visually a different game altogether)...you aren't playing a classic re-release. FF5 and FF 3/6 weren't intended to be games that HAD to be redone in order to get an audience. They are re-released collectors items' much like what Capcom's Street Fighter Collection was. Go back to FF8 (LMAO) if you assume that's the standard for an FF RPG ‘cause the die-hard fans know just where it's all at: the great stories, secrets a plenty and the neverending gameplay. The defining games of fantasy and epic adventure are out for the taking!

FF 3/6: 10
FF 5: 9
Sundtrack: 8.9/10
Overall: 9.3/10 (Or a 9/10)

As a package, FFA is almost gold! The only reason it didn't get a 10 by me was the moderate problems in converting this to the PSX's 32 bit format resulting in slowdowns and (some) freeze-ups. These games are brilliant on their own and are deservant of the praise the critics giving out 10's, but as a package, the soundtrack killed it, thus resulting in my solid 9.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 06/09/03