Facebook – Top 100 FAVORITE Video Games: 65

65: Final Fantasy V (SNES, later ported multiple times)
Developer: Squaresoft
Year: 1992

No one would ever dare say that Final Fantasy V is the best in the series. If they did, I’d defriend them in a heartbeat (not really). Likewise, if anyone ever badmouthed the game and said it was horrible, I’d defriend them (again, not really). After the grand success of FFIV’s epic story about Cecil and Kain and Golbez, Squaresoft needed something to follow up with that was equally huge. And thus, space-faring warlords, a team of super space heroes, and a yellow bird named Boco are what came out of it.

FFV takes place on a world that seems to be mostly at peace. However, eons prior, an evil wizard created “the Void” – a darkness that would destroy all. So the people split the world up amongst the elements and trapped “the Void” in the inbetween, keeping that which can’t be destroyed at bay. Exdeath was then unleashed, beaten back, and has now returned to claim the power “the Void” can grant him. Enter Galuf – on of the super heroes from space (the second world) and his new rag-tag team of troops. Its pretty standard storytelling, for the most part, but that’s the joy of it. You can care for the characters as they are at the forefront, developed entirely and completely, while the simple story trods along.

The gameplay is standard turn-based action in battles, but the best part of this pixel quest is the new job system. While in FFIV each character had their own class, in FFV you gain job crystals that allow you to change each character’s class, from Warrior to Black Mage, Time Mage to Samurai, and my favorite, Red Mage! They’re all here!

“We have a winner!”

You can mix and match them, too, creating unique characters that have talents and skils from the Ninja class while also having some from the Monk class. It creates interesting gameplay the whole way through, as leveling up classes becomes almost more important than leveling up characters.

The rest of the game is pure, quality Final Fantasy; you’ll explore towns, shops, caves, and castles. Dungeon crawling and grinding through the woods is essential to not only further to story, but to even be strong enough to continue the story. The worst story in Final Fantasy can have rock-solid gameplay that makes it fun and important to the player to get to the next part of the narrative, and thankfully this game isn’t the worst story in the series (here’s looking at you, Final Fantasy XIII…). The game also features one of the few narrative-driven games to feature such a small team of characters to play with, never growing over four members at any one time. It allows you really get to know the characters as the hours of your life vanish, showcased by the game’s in-game clock.

All in all, Final Fantasy V is not the best in the series, but in a video game series that took almost 10 games to really start getting clunky, its difficult to really be the best. The adventures of Galuf, Bartz, Faris, and the rest have a place in my heart, being one of the first real “old-school” Final Fantasy games I’ve played through. This title has been lovingly ported (depending on who you ask – the PS1 port has some really shoddy scripting) enough times that it shouldn’t be hard to find a copy to play through, at this point. But beware – the game will break your heart time and time again with its insane difficulty curve.

Classic Moment:
Two full games before Aeris in FFVII, Final Fantasy V features (SPOILERS!) a main character giving his life to the cause; when the party is taken out by Exdeath with ease, its Galuf, the old Obi-Wan figure in the story, who stands up and fights to the end, losing his life in the one-on-one battle with the primary antagonist. Touching stuff for a 2D game.
ALSO, BONUS MOMENT: I love the ever-loving hell out of Gilgamesh in this game – “Enough expository banter. It’s time we fight like men. And ladies. And ladies who dress like men. For Gilgamesh…IT IS MORPHING TIME!”

 

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Added November 7, 2017
Don’t know how I missed a commentary note on this one, but ah well, here we are. Zak, Pete and I tried to get through this game a few birthdays ago, got really damn close, too. Alas, we ran out of time and never toppled the ending. Perhaps I’ll wrap it up at some point, though I’ve been expecting a 30th anniversary announcement of these games – with Trophy support – on PS4 in the future. Not yet, but fingers crossed.