Ah, Final Fantasy.
After a long and, frankly, ridiculous series of confusing events, the Pixel Remaster compilation of the first six Final Fantasy games became available physically for Switch and PS4 for under forty bucks total. (This was during the end of 2024, and the price has jumped up again since then.) I will readily admit to some FOMO during the initial sold-out launch before it was later confirmed to be re-released for a cheaper price. By the time it became more widely available I was comfortable waiting until a further sale.
Why did I want the compilation? It is kind of absurd, as we have in our collection possibly every other physical NA release of almost every game in the series. SNES, PSP, PlayStation/2/3, GBA, DS, 360, PS4, PS5, etc. We have the CD soundtracks to at least half of the games, several versions of most of the guides, and the Spirits Within and Advent Children movies. We already have the ready ability to play all six of the first games in several ways. Why on earth would we need another?
The short answer is that I just like the series! The best (IV and VI in my opinion) are some of my favorite games, the middle tier are generally better than average RPGs, and even the least preferable often have some interesting ideas. Some of my favorite characters, music, and story beats come from Final Fantasy games. Having six games (with orchestrated soundtracks!) all on one disc/cartridge with a few extra bonuses and QoL improvements (although missing some added content from other releases) was enough to get me to bite, although as mentioned I definitely waited for a sale.
My history with Final Fantasy goes all the way back to the first game on the NES. (I stil have my second CIB copy, although the poster is hanging up in our basement.) I had already finished Dragon Warrior and a few C64 dungeon crawlers, and when Nintendo Power hyped this new release and even published a guide for it, I was pumped. It didn't disappoint, although my thirteen-year-old brain would have been forever stuck without that Nintendo Power Strategy guide. I grinded for hours and hours after school, determined to 100% the game. I would put it down for other games and then pick it back up, but I often forgot where I was and just kept leveling my characters and wandering around.
And then, the Super Nintendo was announced. I was simultaneously delighted and saddened; it looked amazing in magazines, but I was a poor kid and my parents had scrounged years before to get me the NES. I had traded and hunted garage sales with chore money to build up the meager twenty NES carts I owned, and they would be my only possible method to acquire a new console.
A friend got his SNES and our friend group was amazed. It sealed the deal; I was determined to find a way to get one. In the back of a gaming magazine (Electronic Gaming Monthly, I think) were lists of dollar amounts FuncoLand offered for Nintendo games. After some simple math, I found I could trade my NES and all of my games to get a shiny new SNES. My parents would buy F-Zero so I had more to play than Super Mario World (which I had already completed at a friend's house long before I got my own copy.)
I got $14 for Final Fantasy. I remember because I debated about letting it go, but there was no other way. I tried to finish it but by then I just didn't have the time. I reluctantly mailed off (!) my NES and all fourteen games. The next few weeks felt excruciating, but one day the mail delivered the gaming console I still have to this day, yellow tint and all. And I played Super Mario World and F-Zero for hours every day after school, loving every minute and scrounging to rent every title as it came in to our local store.
About a year later, I overheard a classmate discussing an epic narrative of dark knights and redemption, of chivalry and summoners, of dragoons and magic. I literally thought they were discussing a movie, but I later found they were gushing over the epic story of a game of which I was only vaguely aware; Final Fantasy II for the Super Nintendo (actually IV, but that's a different story.)
I waited and waited until our local rental store got a copy, and then waited more as it was always checked out. When I finally got to play it, I was amazed! I fell in love with the story, I found the combat much more interesting and entertaining than the first Final Fantasy, and even my dad (who never had interest in any video game) commented about how much he enjoyed the music. I had my progress reset a few times in-between rentals, but I never minded too much. When I finally secured my copy and eventually saw the credits roll, it cemented itself as one of my most cherished gaming memories.
By the time Final Fantasy III (actually VI) released on the SNES, my High School friends and I were racing to see who could get a copy and complete it first. We swapped copies of SNES games back and forth to play through, including FFII, but this one we each wanted for ourselves. It did not disappoint. Once again the music, characters, story, and gameplay simply elevated the experience to a sublime epic. To this day I still give both SNES Final Fantasy games equal billing as all-time personal favorites. (Yes, there was also 'Mystic Quest,' but I consider that a spin-off.)
As the years went by and more Final Fantasy games came and went, I played most near the time of release. Some I really liked, some far less so. While personally those two SNES titles remained the height of the series, I've still liked the majority of the games and I think pretty much all of them were worth my time.
There are more Final Fantasy stories to regale, such as when my beloved wife surprised me with a new copy of Final Fantasy VIII on the same day I didn't tell her I went and bought a Dreamcast (we were realistically too broke to have bought either) and sleeping my way through Final Fantasy VII, but this is already getting away from where I wanted to go with this write-up.
I never did go back and finish the original Final Fantasy, even as I bought another copy to complete our NES collection. I also wasn't import savvy and couldn't read Japanese, so I never played through the Famicom Final Fantasy II (which is completely different that the SNES game.) I always intended to correct that, and though the GBA Dawn of Souls release would have been perfect I still hadn't gotten around to it. Then the Pixel Remasters were announced, and I was determined to play through them.
I have to say, at my age and stage of life the Pixel Remasters are the ideal way to play these games. The built in maps, the EXP and money boosters, the quality of life improvements such as retargeting after a monster dies, the absolutely gorgeous music, all work to give a 'seasoned' gamer like me the experience I want while respecting my time. I was able to truly enjoy the original Final Fantasy and I was surprised at how it was simultaneously primitive and revolutionary for the time. The story was simple but had more content than I remembered. The flexibility of the party system made it fun to tinker. I still liked the fantasy tropes lightly mixed with sci-fi. It may have taken 35 years (gulp!) but I am very glad I 'finally' played through it.
Next up was Final Fantasy II, based off the original Famicom version. I had always heard of this as the black sheep of early FF games, primarily due to the complete overhaul and changes to the traditional leveling system. Perhaps due to the Pixel Remasters tweaking this system, I didn't find it more difficult, just different. (I know this is at least in part due to the original penalizing stats while others increased, such as when casting enough spells a character's intelligence would go up but their strength would go down. The Pixel Remaster version does away with such penalties.) To my delight I enjoyed it completely! Once again I was impressed with a much fuller and more detailed story, though still simple by later standards. The music is as good as the rest of the series. The characters, while set, are extremely flexible in their builds and less defined by roles. Some of the puzzles and maps were very obtuse and the encounter rate is way over the top, although once again the Pixel Remaster comes through by allowing encounters to be turned on or off. Overall, I came away quite satisfied by the time I saw the end credits.
I'm taking a break and working through the Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana remake/port, Ys being another series with which I have a long and colorful history. It is serving as a fun palate cleanser before diving into the remake of the Famicom Final Fantasy III, the only other game in this compilation of which I have yet to experience. (I played through the PlayStation port of Final Fantasy V upon the stateside release.)
Maybe you don't have a history with these early Final Fantasy games, and therefore they won't hold the same magic. Maybe you are curious about 'classic' JRPGs and want to see where they came from. Many a gamer these days started with Final Fantasy VII or even later, and these games represent a completely foreign experience. What I can definitely say is, I'm very glad I picked up this compilation and 'finally' got to cross off a few on a backlog that started when I was a whole lot younger and had a lot more time on my hands...
