Final Fantasy Origins

"A successful remake of the golden oldies!"

Introduction
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It took 3 years for the English Playstation remakes of Final Fantasy IV, V and VI to make it to PAL regions despite the fact that the game was already translated into English for the American market during all that time. Now, PAL gamers have something to rejoice about.

For the first time ever, Final Fantasy I and II arrives in Europe. The first Final Fantasy was originally released on the NES for the Japanese and American market but never saw the day of light in PAL regions. Final Fantasy II however had never had an official English translation and was released only in Japan, again on the NES console (or Famicom). The release of Final Fantasy Origins celebrates the games that started and helped establish the Square empire to the well recognized company of today and Final Fantasy II will officially be released in Europe before America for the first (and probably last) time.

What can we expect then?
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The barest of stories and the barest of characters and virtually no character development can best describe Final Fantasy. So what do you expect then? I would describe Final Fantasy as the ''egg'' of the series - it has begun to hatch and ideas are seeping out. Players who have not played this game will now become immediately familiar with where the trademark ideas and figures of the later Final Fantasy games originated from. The white, red and black mage character models and the victory tune are all examples of stuff that are born from this game. But players can also recognize that some features are not yet born yet - most notably the active-time battle system of games post-FFIV and the chocobo has not yet made an appearance yet.

-Battles-

In the original Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II, the player had to be careful in hitting monsters because there was no auto-aim to divert a party member's attack from a dead monster to a live one. In the remake, Square has included auto-target to makes things much less frustrating than the first time round. But veterans can always turn the auto-target off to play the game in its original delight. Also, an easy mode is included for newcomers who may become frustrated by the demands of the original game so they may not be left in a lurch whilst old-schoolers breeze on ahead with their nostalgic re-experience of Final Fantasy.

For Final Fantasy II, in a detour from familiar FF elements, this game features a battle system that is familiar to the SaGa games. You do not gain any experience from battles but you get the opportunity to raise your character statistics depending on your actions during the battles. Any PAL gamers who have played SaGa Frontier 2 will be familiar with how the system works. However, this system is ditched from all consequent Final Fantasy games.

Gamers who are new to this game or any old-school RPG in general will need to have patience in order to cope with the demands of this game. Right from the get-go, it becomes clear that you need to take time to fight random battles in order to earn the cash to buy essentials such as potions and antidotes. Monsters are more numerous in numbers than in the future FF games and magic spells are incredibly scarce in terms of usage. There are no large MP figures in this game meaning that the limited amounts of times you can cast a spell forces you to conserve magic points until absolute necessary.

People expecting an elaborate plot from the first Final Fantasy will be disappointed. RPGs from the NES/Master system gaming era possesses far more simpler plots than their current counterparts. It was a stage where incorporating stories into games were at its basic level. Final Fantasy II is the first in the series to include individual characters in their own rights and the development that goes with them as well as the dialogue and goes some way to pave a path for the future games in the series to follow.

-Loading speed-

People have often complained about the lengthy loading speed in Square's previous ports to the Playstation such as FFV and VI and especially Chrono Trigger. But I am pleased to say that the loading speed (menu and battle) are pretty fast and have none of the lengthy delays in their other games. Saving the game is also a quick process too.

-Extras-

In this remake, Square has included an ''extra'' option similar in vein to that of the PSOne remake of Chrono Trigger. These includes stuff like the bestiary and art gallery of the monsters present in the game. They're not essential obviously, but it's nice to have them included. It's even nicer that you can access these extras whilst playing the game, so you can keep track of how many treasures you have collected in a particular dungeon that you are in and try and find them all before finishing the dungeon. This makes the extras much more constructive to your gameplay than those in the PS remake of FFVI.

GRAPHICS and SOUND/MUSIC
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The most obvious improvement with the remakes is the graphics. Backgrounds and settings now look much better than Final Fantasies IV and V and are on par with Final Fantasy VI.

Aside from the graphical touch-up from the original graphics, the music has been given a make-up as well. The battle music sounds much more funky and a lot more majestic than the original counterparts. The battle theme to Final Fantasy II wouldn't sound out of place if it were a boss battle tune! Overall, the new update remixes of original tunes are on the whole welcome and helps to complement the great remake that this package is.

-Borders-

Ah, the inevitable borders issue. I would always encourage people to try and look past the borders and concentrate on the game itself but to those who are concerned about them, then I can safely say that the borders in both games are pretty minimal in comparison to the likes of Final Fantasy VI. My advise is: don't let the borders stop you from purchasing this package. It's not something worth worrying about.

OVERALL
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This is the ideal package for any Final Fantasy fan out there, whether you have played the original releases or are completely new to them. There are new added features to make the experience more convenient not only for new gamers but also players of the originals. As long as you don't rush into buying the package expecting the same storyline elaboration as say, Final Fantasy VII, then it is unlikely that you will be disappointed.

At £19.99 or cheaper if you search around, this package is definitely worth your cash. As many PAL gamers like myself have not played FF1 and FF2 before, this will be an entirely new experience for us and I am grateful that after so many years, we are able to experience the roots to the fantastic Final Fantasy series.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/03, Updated 03/19/03