Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls

"Back to beginnings for Final Fantasy"

Final Fantasy games have been around for a long time and have picked up the title of being the most popular, if not the best, RPG series. Since the series became the property of Sony, the company has moved their games away from providing the complete turn-based gameplay and strategy that the earliest games in the series provided, and are moving towards a more detailed and graphical, story-driven experience based around splendid cut-scenes, an expansive story, and plot driven characters. While this has brought in a generation of younger fans, it has alienated some of the original fan base, for the most part, who were brought up with the brilliant titles on the NES and SNES. Square decided to release Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls, a compilation of the first two Final Fantasy titles from the original NES, with graphical upgrades and new content. This may be the title to introduce the newer fans to the style of the older games and a way for veterans of the series to re-experience old memories.

FF I&II Dawn of Souls is basically two games in one, firstly Final Fantasy I, the game which had a hand in starting the turn-based RPG style, and was one of the most famous titles on the original NES. Final Fantasy I is different from newer titles in that it isn't really isn't as story driven as later titles, the characters are made up of various classes that you create, and do not speak or add to the storyline at all. I still find myself caring for the characters even with little story behind them, it leads to a more open ended view of the plot in the game. The story is very shallow, as said group of adventurers must battle demonic forces to obtain four crystals of light, as only with these crystals can they stop a coming darkness be averted. Final Fantasy II, however, has a much more definitive story and characters, it also contains plot twists and shows the development to a more all round game. The story is once again the tried and tested “rebels fight against an evil empire” saga that has been used to death, and the characters really aren't all that unique. That said, the storyline did not let the game downs too much then or now.

An area where FF I&II is let down is in graphics. Despite being marginally better than what was originally seen from these titles when first released, they don't live up to the standard of recent GBA RPG's like Golden Sun, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga and recent Pokemon games. There also isn't too much in the way of battle animations or attacks that were seen in the more recent games in the Final Fantasy series. All in all, the graphics are solidly done, but could have been greatly improved upon for being released and apparently re-made titles.

The games have been improved upon greatly in the sound department, as even with only the Game Boy Advance's sound system to work with, the background sounds add life to the dull backings. The sounds are greatly superior to the older games and, while only slightly muffled, really take the system to the limits of what it can do. The sound effects are lacking the same treatment done to the music; they have been improved upon and are nicely done.

Onto the gameplay and both games are very, very different. While both utilized usual random battles and turn-based combat that the Final Fantasy series has always used successfully, there are many differences after that. Final Fantasy I is more of the “traditional” RPG, you get into random battles, defeat enemies with various attacks, magic techs and times and gain experience to grow levels to increase characters' strength, hit points, and magic points. The classes you can choose to be in your party differ widely and teams do not have to be typical at all, I really enjoyed being able to choose who to have in your party in the original game and it still adds a certain variety to the gameplay and replay ability.
Final Fantasy II divulges from the normal style by greatly increasing the amount of character customization. Any character can hold any weapon or cast any spell, thus allowing players to make characters however they want. You could have a team full of bow users or a team who all used magic and this makes the game very open to playing different ways. Characters can be positioned in the front or back of the rows in the party. Players in the front row will deal and take more damage and players in the back row will deal less but take less. The most important difference and the biggest one is that now characters no longer increase in levels, but rather increase their various stats as they gain experience of doing what they are being trained to do, as well as the strength of the weapons that they use. Final Fantasy II probably provides the more rewarding experience of the two games after considering character development and storyline. However, there are some problems in that the strategy element this game seems to use never seems to truly be complete as the majority of bosses can be simply defeated by hitting them with characters' most powerful attacks without too much effort. The many random encounters can be frustrating and some small flaws in map design and controls do hinder the games slightly.

If you're a fan of the series and have either played or not played these early games this is for you as the new content and plot is enough to make the game enjoyable to play again. If you've been a fan of recent RPG's on the GBA this is certainly one for you and with 25 hours and above of gameplay on each game this will be something to last you for quite a while. The games do show there age but if your looking for a more gameplay based experience this is definitely for you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/25/06