Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls

"20 years later. Unbelievable."

Final Fantasy.Many of us who have played games in the series know, as of this year, the series is 20 years old. A game series dating back to the late 80s that started on the NES and saved a company from bankruptcy is incredible enough, but to still be thriving today and getting more and more popular makes it even more amazing. Of course, people who have become fans of the series much later on in its lifespan might not be able to play the earlier entries in the series on the obsolete systems that they were originally released on. (I am one of those people, of course)

But luckily, that's why we have ports. With the ability to bring older games to handhelds with some updates, it's great to be able to play these older games that have been around for longer than some of its fans who never got a chance to play them when they first came out. Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls is a great example of this. By packing the first two entries of the series into one game, fans can now play updated versions of the earliest games in the series.

However, are polished graphics, sounds and gameplay mechanics enough to still make the experience fun after two decades? Surprisingly, the answer is "yes". While the two games that come with this package aren't exactly ground breaking or revolutionary like FF tries to be nowadays, both still provide a fairly fun RPG experience for the GBA.

But as you've noticed, there are TWO games packed into one. Therefore, I think it's only fair each game gets its own evaluation. The sections referring to Final Fantasy (I) will be in bold print while the sections referring to Final Fantasy II will be in italics.

STORY

Uh...what story? There really isn't much here...not that there's a problem with that. You play as four Warriors of Light trying to restore light and peace to the world in a time of crisis. The entire plot pretty much focuses on the four warriors travelling throughout the world and restoring light to the crystals.

FFII has a bit more emphasis on its story. You play as Firion during a time when you're trying to prevent a great war from an approaching Empire. While that's really all there is to it, there is still much more there than in the first game.

Obviously, you shouldn't be getting this for the stories in these two games. But just remember that these games were originally released in the late 80s-early 90s, so of course they're not going to rely too heavily on a plot. There's really nothing wrong with this; the outdated and old plots really don't hinder the experience in any way.

GAMEPLAY

Final Fantasy plays really simply and traditionally. Go to towns. Go to dungeons. Talk to people who need to be talked to in order to advance. Fight a boss here and there. Yeah, about as simple as you can get. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

FFII has one main thing to add in terms of gameplay. In addition to doing what was mentioned above, there are more things you have to do in the process. There's a word learning system where you have to "learn" keywords from dialogue and say them to other characters in order to advance.

Truly and honestly, that simple feature of learning and presenting words is the reason I didn't jump right to the battle systems seen in both games. But if you found that having to learn key words and say them was a bit unnecessary, then it's only going to get worse.

BATTLE SYSTEM

FF's battles play out about as traditionally as you can get. The four warriors have certain jobs in battle, most of them being basic ones we've all seen, like warriors, mages, thieves, ninjas, etc. After getting in a random encounter on the field, you're automatically taken to a battle screen where you duke it out in a turn-based fashion with your enemies. Using skills unique to each character's job, you simply have to beat down your enemies and bring them to 0 HP before they do the same. Honestly, it's about as traditional as you get.

FFII's battles play out in pretty much the same way; there are really no differences between the way you fight. However, FFII completely changes the levelling up method. In FF, you simply levelled up as you fought more battles by getting EXP points, and after obtaining enough points you gained a level. But in FFII, you level up much more than just your regular stats. If you defeat enough enemies with one character's sword, then that character's sword level increases; same goes for any weapon with any other character. Oh yes, and you can't really hit an enemy with a weapon unless your level for it is high enough. So if you try equipping a powerful sword to Maria and look forward to seeing her kick some butt with it after functioning primarily as a mage the whole game, then you're going to be disappointed to see she misses just about every single time.

And it doesn't stop with gaining weapon experiences. Now you individually learn status upgrades after winning a fight, such as endurance, magic level, MP, strength, and other things. In short, if you want a character to use a type of weapon they're not used to using, then you'd better be prepared to have them fight with it for a while before you actually start seeing some major damage done.

FF just used nice and simple battle mechanics that were easy to get used to. Because of this, the battles were fairly fun and had nothing really bad about them. FFII, on the other hand, seemed to try to fix what wasn't broken and made the whole thing a lot more annoying and complex than it had to be.

The difficulty of the battles really could represent how hard the games are. That being said, both games are fairly easy. The only enemy in the first FF game who should give you any trouble at all is the final boss. FFII isn't really that hard either, but it's certainly a lot more aggravating with the added level-up mechanics. (And is it just me, or did the "Ambushed" rate in FFII seem a bit high? Neh...probably just me)

So just like pretty much every other modern-day FF or every ported one, the challenge is fairly low. While hardcore gamers who want a memorable experience might be disappointed, the casual gamer or people just trying to enjoy the earlier games in the series will probably just enjoy the game.

GRAPHICS

The graphics in FF are certainly polished from their NES version, not surprisingly. Most places look very colorful and the character models are decent. Animations and graphics for spells and attacks are also pretty nice. Not really much to complain about.

Graphics for FFII are just about the same. Character portraits and models are all rendered well, as are the graphics in battle. Not much to say about the graphics that wasn't said about FF.

The graphics aren't mind blowing, but for the GBA they're pretty nice. And they're a real improvement over the way they were on the NES, but that's pretty much expected. Not much to say here. I doubt you're buying the game for the graphics, but if you can't stand ugly graphics, you probably won't mind this game too much.

SOUND

Sound's pretty much the same as graphics. It's nice some boss tunes were added in, and overall, everything sounds the way you'd expect for the GBA. The music usually fits the scenery, and while the sounds aren't exactly excellent, they usually get the job done.

The same can be said for FFII. While the music isn't quite as good as the first, it's still pretty easy on the ears and shouldn't cause any complaints. Sound effects are fine. Nothing bad to say about them.

LENGTH

Both games should last you from somewhere between 10 to 15 hours to complete. That means you're in for an experience that's at least 20 hours long, which is pretty good for a handheld game. While both games really aren't that long on their own, putting them together should make a nice worthwhile experience.

PROS

+ Decent graphics and sound
+ Simplistic battles
+ All around enjoyable

CONS

- Uh...well, I guess battles are a bit TOO simple

PROS

+ More story
+ Graphics and music are done well here, too
+ Battles themselves are still simple

CONS

- More complicated levelling up methods
- Aggravating at times

CLOSING NOTES

FF is an enjoyable experience. It's nothing extraordinary, especially today, but it still makes for a fun game to play whenever a console isn't near. It's far from the best Final Fantasy experience you can get, but it's still one worth checking out if you're a fan of the series and didn't get to play the first when it was initially released two decades ago. The simplistic and traditional battles make it simple and fun to play, even though lack of difficulty might make it TOO simple.

FFII seems to try to make a lot of improvements to something already fine and ends up making the experience worse than better. As stated several times by now, the more complicated level-up system (which really isn't that complicated, just more so than it needs to be) makes the game not quite as fun as the first. From what I've heard, the NES version is pretty difficult, and I don't doubt it. Luckily, this version isn't really that hard, but it's got its aggravating parts.

FF: 8/10
FFII: 6/10

Why am I giving the game an 8 rather than averaging the two scores out to make a 7? Because the overall package deserves an 8 rather than a 7. Granted, it's not a very strong 8, but the game is still fun to play and makes for an enjoyable experience. Not ground breaking or awe inspiring, but still one that's fun to play.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/23/07