The last great adventure (Final Fantasy V Retrospective)
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- Опубліковано 8 чер 2024
- Final Fantasy 5 (aka FFV or FF5) was a landmark title, but today, it’s remembered mostly as a step in the wrong direction. But I would argue that it wasn’t. In this retrospective video essay, I’ll show you what the game was like, compare it to the previous games in the series, and explain how Final Fantasy V became a victim of missing nostalgia.
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🎦 My other Final Fantasy retrospectives:
▶ Final Fantasy I - • The original Final Fan...
▶ Final Fantasy II - • The most important gam...
▶ Final Fantasy III - • Final Fantasy’s last t...
▶ Final Fantasy IV - • The blueprint to Squar...
▶ Final Fantasy VI - • The first masterpiece ...
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro & Background
07:35 Presentation
13:57 Core gameplay
17:04 Job system 2.0
25:42 Freedom to choose
34:03 Combat
43:10 Dungeons
47:25 A world of secrets
56:12 Story
1:10:21 The last great adventure - Ігри
At last, it’s done! This is my love letter to Final Fantasy V. It’s my longest video yet, and quite possibly the most heartfelt defense of FF5 that’s available on UA-cam lol.
I hope you enjoy it! And as always, thanks for supporting me. :)
You know what comes next… But I have a couple of other videos I want to make before I get to “that one”.
PS. This will be one of the last video essays I post on my old channel. Head on over to my new channel if you want to see more content like this!
ua-cam.com/channels/6D4FlECbW_1KT_Z472LukQ.html
Must say I've only ever played ff12 and 13. Never got a chance to play all the other amazing jrpg's. For what ever reason the last week or so I've really been appreciate learning about all the classic jrp's. Never realized how rich the history of these games was. It's amazing really. Definitely subbing to your other channels to. This is one of the better videos I've seen here lately. Could tell there was a lot of passion put into it! Gonna have to find a way to play ffV now :)
ni no kuni octopath travelers divinity origional sin or dragon quest 11 last great sounds like bias nostalgia that needs you to actually play games to actually have a real opinion on or els it just ends as a childish opinion of someone unable to broaden their horizons dark souls mass effect dragon age bio shock dead space code vein devil may cry see people hold their bias nostalgia to a level but what is it so good do you even understand on a comparative level gravity rush infamous final fantasy 13 final fantasy did you 100% explore these games to realize the scale of 5 isnt even that amazing when broken down compared to even other modern day games
I do love this game but in almost every respect it's not as good as FFIV, except the job system. I deeply wish it was released on the SNES so I would have all the nostalgia associated with it that I do for IV and VI
Don’t forget there was a 4 part animated movie across 2 VHS called Final Fantasy Legend of the Crystals that released 97-98 though Urban Vision in the states. The Japanese release was a few years prior. It takes place in the universe 200 years post the story in the game. One of the protagonists is a descendant of Bartz. Along with a host of new characters. Cid makes an appearance, and his grandson Mid is apart of the cast. I purchased the set in 1998 from a local comic book shop and I was fascinated. My copy unfortunately was destroyed in flooding recently. I remember being in the store reading the box and being even more intrigued seeing the connection to FFV. While not a great film, it’s worth the watch if you’re a fan and haven’t seen it. At the time I was already aware of 2, 3, and 5 because…internet. I had already been obsessed with final fantasy 4 and 6. Also, I had enjoyed final fantasy 1 as well but it could compare to those two masterpieces. I couldn’t bring myself to play any of the Japanese roms as it would ruin my experience with the lack of understanding the story. Luckily, RPGe released a spectacular patch later that year and of course that led to playing the English patches for 2 and 3 which iirc were released the following year. It always strikes nostalgic memories watching these videos. I appreciate the time and assign!
For me FF5's true value can only be felt by those who finished FF4 back in the days. The longing for a continuation of FF4 adventure was perfectly relayed by FF5 opening title scene, complimented by nothing other than Nobuo's FFV main theme. It's like turning the page to a new novel, where another adventure awaits. By pressing the start button you can already feel a fantasy world unfolding.
Not going to lie, your closing of the video really hit me in the feels. I miss that magical time of pre-/early internet when video games were still exciting and challenging without the surplus of spoilers & walkthroughs & pissy reviews. Thank you for a great video!
Those days were special for sure! I’m glad you liked the video and thanks a lot for saying it. It really means a lot to me!
Just found this video and I haven't finished it yet but reading this comment really makes ya think. Playing then vs playing now is widely different. I'll play games now and depending on the game (mostly achievements and trophy hunting) will I use a guide. Otherwise I'll play blindly and just experience it all. It's good fun and really brings back the replayability to games. "oh, I missed some character(s) in the tactics game I was playing. Let me go back and start over, or new game plus and just go ham on the mobs while I enjoy it again"
Yeah this video hit the nail on the head for me too. I played through ff7 while studying to be a software engineer. As a hobby I contributed heavily to ROM hacking and emulation code, particularly for FF titles! I still prefer the hack script to the anthology release.
That's why I play my first playthrough of games in the dark as much as possible. The only thing I looked up in my Elden Ring (on my first go, on my subsequents I've looked up countless things) was where to farm upgrade materials.
I recently played Shin Megami Tensei IV which is 10 years old now and I'm really glad I didn't know much about it, what a fantastic game.
You can still do that too.
XIV without gameplay spoilers is the greatest gaming experience of all time in my opinion.
I was a senior in high school when this patch came out and played it then. Many memories sitting at my desktop playing fan translations in those days. My teenage mind never thought I’d ever play official releases of this, all 3 Romancing SaGa games, and even the upcoming Front Mission 2. I’d love to peep into a parallel world where the whole series was released in order of their Japanese releases. I imagine this game would be viewed a LOT differently. This is my very favorite game of the entire series.
Yeah, how different the history of Final Fantasy in the west would look if we’d gotten all of the games when they were new. As much as I love Final Fantasy V, I think I would have gone absolutely crazy over the game if I’d played it when I was 10 years old :)
I fully and completely agree with you that FFV's greatest weakness is a lack of nostalgia. Especially considering that most fans didn't have access to a competent version of the game until 2006, so it gets unfair comparisons to the incredible games of 7-10. Too many people write off FFV as "forgettable" when really, it just never had the chance to be known in the first place.
Well said! :)
@Dawn Razor Yay! So nice to meet someone who agrees that 5 is better than 6!
@@ballroomscott Yay! So nice to meet someone who agrees that 5 is better than 6!
Wait, did i just repeat your words? O_O Those actually were my words, but they sounded like yours!
Heh, we FF5 fans are likeminded XDDD
Never saw it this way but 💯
I played it when the internet was very young and I heard of a FF that didn’t mean it to the USA! I hunted this bad boy. It felt “backwards” because I had played lots of FF4 and FF6. The later spoiling me with graphics and music refinement.
But I love the Job system in hete and FFT (and Ogre Battle)
Cant miss it, if you never experienced it (when it was supposed to be)
@@maclovio9015 My first experience with FFV was the fan ROM. It was really good, especially for early attempts at such things.
Reminds me of playing Tales of Phantasia for the first time on my PC in the early 00's. I'm so grateful for the labor of these passionate folks.
This was my first Final Fantasy, I got it much later on the GBA, I picked it out myself because the cover art for it looked so awesome, I fell in love with it and the combat even though I was like 10. Even though I had never played a FF game before, it was exactly how I expected it to be.
When you catch up to the tortoise sage and go into the library, you did not go there yourself. Therefore, teleport brings you back outside the cave where you met up with the sage. Now you can go to many places using chocobo
Thank you! FFV OST is easily if not top tier, very close and doesn’t get mentioned enough. Superior to IV no doubt which is definitely mentioned more.
It’s hilarious to me how Square was so unconfident in the western gaming market’s ability to comprehend the “complex gameplay” of JRPGs, while JRPGs were originally designed as simplifications of early western computer RPGs
Haha yeah. I guess it makes some sense in terms of the (general) difference in complexity between video games and computer games at the time, but Square definitely had some weird ideas about western gamers back in the day…
@@Altercate I can understand their apprehension, especially as at the time they’d never done a professional localization, I just find it amusing. After messing around with the OG RPGs like Ultima and Wizardry, and not understanding them a bit because I was a preteen, it was games like FFIII-FFV that really got me to grips with the genre. Great series btw ❤️
@@charlesdilks3267 Thanks! :D
Their challenge was never bringing it to an American market, but to non RPG players. Most jocks played basketball games, most action folk played Mega Man, they were trying to sweep them up, not those who were playing FF1 and such.
@@HallyVee For sure, but by the same token Dungeons and Dragons was a part of American counter culture/ nerd culture at the time, so there was definitely a core RPG crowd to cater to. Them owning an NES was a different story but I’m sure some RPG nerds bought one for the RPGs
I absolutely love FF5, really glad to see someone doing such a deep dive into it.
FF5 is a return to the core basics that made FF1 great...
Been enjoying FF1 and the FF1 Randomizer a bunch lately, so addictive and satisfying, even if we already know the map... Always feels like a fresh experience... Next trying out some FF5 randomizers
I was able to play FFV when it first released in 92 (I’m half Japanese. My Japanese friends had it) and I have tremendous nostalgia for it still. If people in the west had it back then it would rightly be talked about as an absolute classic game today. The soundtrack is Uematsu at his most effortlessly catchy and fun
Thanks for sharing! I've always been super curious to hear Japanese people's thoughts about this game :)
Very jealous of your language ability... Japanese is a very important gaming language. I studied it for a while but never got anywhere close to good enough to play RPGs.
@@Altercate I remember being blown away by the graphical upgrades from FF4 to 5. Appreciate you mentioning that. Most people in the west played FF6 first so I think to them the graphics in 5 look like a step backwards, which is a shame
I absolutely love FFV, and you perfectly summed up a lot of what makes FFV my favorite 2D Final Fantasy Game!
The new Job Classes and customization, the graphical upgrade and it’s incredible soundtrack, and the world and exploration in FFV is one of my personal favorites and the idea of a world split into 2 is truly fascinating and was something that I’ve never seen before.
I’m also glad that you didn’t write off the story as being inferior to other titles and that it wasn’t as serious like in FF4 or FF6. because there’s a lot that happens in the story of FF5 that isn’t played for laughs and I feel that the humor was added in so that the story isn’t always depressing or dark.
And I absolutely love it. The story is straightforward while also having the right amount of twists and isn’t as overwhelming like with the other titles, nothing about the story felt rushed or too dragged out, there’s plenty of character interaction and moments of where the story breaks away from the action like with Bartz’s hometown. It has the right amount of charm and drama. And it was also the last main entry with a few exceptions to have the story be presented in a medieval fantasy like setting, as later games would go for more urban modern like settings with the magic being more as a byproduct.
and while I can appreciate what later games such as FF6 and FF7 did with how they tried to tell there narrative and characters. None of them really impacted me the same way like with FF5 and is one of my favorites for that reason!
Thank you for this review and I can’t wait to see more!👍
Thanks for sharing and thanks for your kind words! More videos coming :)
Because no FF6 nor FF7 have one insanely good character like Gilgamesh.
FFV is a great rpg. Back in high school I had to play it on an emulator and had a blast.
My mind was indeed blown when I played the fan translation in my teens. So I actually got a lot of nostalgia for it. It was the second FF I beat after FF7.
Thanks for sharing! Great times :)
When I was just about 5 (I don't remember exactly how old I was but it was around then), my dad loaded up an emulator of FF5. We both sat down and played it. I chose two characters, he chose two characters, and we made choices for those characters. Final Fantasy 5 is why I love Final Fantasy. It's why I love JRPGs. It's why I love the Bravely series (the spiritual successor to FF5, if you enjoyed FF5, you REALLY should play Bravely Default). It's one of the main reasons I enjoy gaming now.
My dad bought me the FF pixel remaster for my 18th birthday this year and I decided to play through the games in order, for two reasons: I wanted to say that I've beaten the games, and I wanted to experience the Final Fantasy games in order. FF1 was alright, and I really only enjoyed getting to experience the game that started it all because its a novelty. I actually enjoyed FF2 more than most do, but I understand why others disliked it. FF3 was fun (after FF5 me and my dad played FF3, although we couldn't beat it), and finally being able to beat it was a wonderful experience. My uncle had tried to get me to play FF4 once, but I never got into it like I did the other games. It held true when I actually played through it, and I still find the story and gameplay quite lackluster by comparison.
Final Fantasy 5 was the only game I went into this playthrough for an alternative reason. It wasn't just a novelty. It was personal, and it was nostalgic. As I played through the game I would constantly pick up little bits of information I remembered from my playthrough with my dad. I remembered wanting to try a blue mage, only for him to stop me because the "learn" system was really difficult to get into (I went through the entire game with a blue mage and rubbed it into his face). I remember the barrier tower. I remember being worried we'd drown when going back to Walse Tower. I remember so many little details. I just beat the game today and it's been such a great ride. I plan on starting FF6 soon, but I think afterwards I might go back to FF5 and see what else I can do in it. This game is my favorite Final Fantasy, and maybe that's the nostalgia, but it can't be understated what this game meant to me and what it still means to me.
Thanks for listening to my little rant 😅
Thanks for sharing! That’s really cool to hear. Nostalgia can definitely add a lot to a gameplay experience. I was around your age when I first played FF5 and the good feelings from that first playthrough come back every time I replay it :)
how can a person watch this without buying this game i watched and commented subbed and liked yesturday then bought the game off of steam today and i can see why you love this gem so much tysm for the awsome content.
Wow that’s awesome, thank you so much for your kind words :) Check out my new channel for more videos like this in the future!
Man, the internet part at the end REALLY hit hard! 35 now, and although I am typing this on my phone binge watching your vids, with my wife asleep on the couch, with Hulu on the tv, I really do miss the early days of the internet. I don’t think I would want to go back though if I really thought about it. Great vid, FFV was an amazing game when it came out, and still is in my top plays
Totally get that feeling lol. Don’t want to go back, but can’t help missing the experience…
even if it's not my favorite. I'll always say that Final Fantasy V is the Final Fantasiest of them all if that makes sense. Not only because of what people think of when they think about Final Fantasy like the Chocobos and Moogles and Crystals and things like that but become of something that I'll describe by the French word "Dépaysement" roughly meaning abrupt change of scenery. Because the first five games all start with a somewhat conventional, medieval fantasy word but the further you discover the mysteries of the game, you get sent places that are completely outside what you'd expect. Final Fantasy 1 makes you climb through a tower filled with servers and on top of it you end up in a space station, which strangely enough, they've changed in the remakes. In Final Fantasy IV you start in a setting of war between kingdoms and later you learn that an ancient race from outer space came to the earth on an artificial moon and some bad actors have been pulling the strings behind the scenes. When you first see the tower of Zot and everything is super high tech, it's really an abrupt change of scenery and the game keeps doing this with the place to explore. Final Fantasy V does that a lot, you start in one world, then get thrown into another, only to learn that they were once both the same and end up fighting the final boss in an even weirder dimension than the ones before. I think that what made old final fantasy great to me, there are not only allusions to the great beyond, you get thrown right into it and fight strange creatures from beyond time and space. Pretty damn neat if you ask me.
That’s a really cool point, thanks for sharing that! FF6,7,8 have a more uniform world building in that sense, where what you see from the start is more of less what you get (even if those games still feature some crazy environments). Sure, FF7 has a rocket ship that goes into outer space, but it’s really not so strange when the world of Midgar is a ‘90s kind of setting.
It’s also another way FF9 was a throwback to Final Fantasy history, since the game was more like what you describe than the previous three games. Very cool!
FF5 feels like the most pure FF experience to me. I love them all up untill after X though but 5 is my favorite.
Definitely agree with that! It’s the most straightforward game in the series and the first to really nail the gameplay.
You did it! You DID IT! MY GOD if this is not one of the best videos on FFV! Congratulations again, you encapsulated everything I had in my heart when I first played FFV and I couldn't put into words. And in any FF discussion group I could never express these exact words you've just used to describe it's greatness! So, thank you. It was a pleasure to watch this video essay on my favorite SNES FF. Of course I also love FFIV and FFVI just like you probably do, but it is tangible how much more you love FFV and respect it for what it was meant to be. Sadly I'm not able to support your channel money wise, but I'd like to hug you and shake your hand on this very well done job.
Congratulations, and keep up the good work. You're only getting better!
Wow, thank you so much! It really means a lot to me to get such positive feedback! :)
You're right, I love all the SNES Final Fantasies, and as my upcoming FFVI retrospective will show, the sixth game was extremely important to me when it was new. But I feel extra defensive of FFV simply because it gets so much unfair criticism. I'm really glad that my video could bring you joy! And thanks again for your very kind words. :)
As a clueless 5 year old that tried his darndest and didn't know how to read. Getting pwned by garula, the crystals at moore forest, the imp from walse castle, and the chimera and sandcrawlers from the deserts and especially 'GALUF'S FLAME HAS FLICKERED OUT'. Thinking that using having a party of 4 same jobs would be good. Those countless experimenting is why this will always be my favourite ff. I mean the low level gameplays and job fiesta are also a lot of fun to watch too. Thank you for this video dude, certainly made me feel like the young kid I was, and especially like you said for those translators that worked their bones off to make it possible for us to be able to enjoy such a wonderful masterpiece
Thanks for sharing your experiences! :)
This video simultaneously got you my sub and sold a copy of FFV Pixel Remaster for Square. Well done, sir 👏
Thanks for all the supportive words, Patrick! :)
5 was and is amazing
Bloody love this game. According to interviews back in 2000 Hironobu Sakaguchi said FFV was his favourite until FFIX was released (which he still says is his ideal Final Fantasy to this day).
The OST is amazingly diverse. Nobuo Uematsu travelled Europe between IV and V, and that influenced the music (there's some Irish jig music in the game). It also got an arranged album release with "Final Fantasy V: Dear Friends" in collaboration with a Finnish group now called "Angelit" - considering a lot of tourists from far East Asia travel through Finland I wonder if Nobuo was inspired by traditional Finnish culture.
The lack of nostalgia is painful. And a lot of people wrote off this game because the fan translation named the protagonist "Butz" (which is probably the most...literal way to translate his name).
I remember a Reddit post regarding a theory that all FF games followed some form of entertainment media, with FFVI being an opera, FFIX being a play, and FFIV being a romance drama. They said FFV was a pantomime.
To me, the best part is the legacy of FF themes this game left behind. The Moogle Critter Tripper Fritter, Omega Weapon, and the best one the Interdimensional Rift: Where both Gogo and Gilgamesh were banished into (I wonder where they might turn up...), and Atomos who sucks things out of the universe. My fan theory is that the Interdimensional Rift is the thing that connects the series, and it started in FFV. I think people who consider themselves die-hard FF fans would be excited about this theory if only they played FFV.
Oh and I just want to say: Read the FFV Boss Fight Book by Chris Kohler, it contains some interviews with Hironobu Sakaguchi, one of which has a particular point: Sakaguchi stops the interviewer briefly when they are asking about story and characters, because he says people shouldn't leave out the critical part of Final Fantasy, which is the planning of the journey for the player, the map, how they get around, how they return to where they came from. That quote comes immediately after a mention of an interview with Miyamoto regarding Mario, where Miyamoto expressed similar feelings that his job wasn't about creating fanciful stories with characters, it was engineering an experience.
It is my utmost belief that gamers enjoy games as a whole bucket of experiences; they do not know how to identify what they enjoyed, so they fall back on the thing that humans have empathised with for thousands of years: people and their stories. People talk about the story of a video game when they talk about what they remember, but they don't talk about THEIR story in the video game, which is what classic Final Fantasy was designed for.
I knew Square Enix lost their way when they first showcased their "Agni's Philosophy" demo, and then sent out a survey to all who watched it asking questions exclusively around "Did you like the character? Are you interested in the character? Would you play a game with this character?". It is not lost on me that the character designer for FFVII (who got his start in FFV!) is now in charge of many FF projects and is quite celebrated by Square Enix.
This is a god-like comment, my friend! You’ve really nailed down something that’s been brewing in my mind for a while now-the fact that story is just one aspect of the overall experience of playing a video game, and it can’t be fully separated from the gameplay.
I’ve been thinking about this stuff a lot lately and your comment really helps me. Thanks! :)
And I’ll definitely check out that book!
@@Xilefian I just wanted to mention that Square Enix definitely did not lose their way, XIV exists with new Instalments every 2 Years for a Decade now, and proves that.
Also, Sakaguchi's favourite Instalment was V, then IX, until last year where his favourite became XIV.
Couldn't agree more. I first played "FFV" on the playstation 1 back when they released the double disc package. I forget what it was called. Final Fantasy Chronicles or some shit. Anyway.
Could not say it any better myself. FFV is totally under-rated and slept on IMO
FFV is my favorite pixel-era FF game. Thank you for covering it!
yo i cried at the end of this i am no gonna lie. i just never knew just how much i really loved this game until i watched this. thank you so very much for making this
Wow, thank you so much for saying that! That makes me really happy to hear :)
im a simple man
i see FFV
i like and share
tyvm for reminding me of how much i love this game
legit felt myself tear up when going over the last stand scene
this game changed me when i played it when the romhacking scene put it out.
Thanks for the kind words! :)
I just finished V as Pixel Remaster on Switch, which came out a few weeks ago.
I think this game ties with IV as my favourite RPG.
Great story and characters, and some locations are memorable.
FF5 was the first FF I beat! There was so much FILL IN LATER I wish there was more story and character interaction in this game
Galuf gotta be one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters of all time, the moment where he storms Exdeath's castle just to save his friends with the four warrios of dawn playing in the background is simply amazing, loved 5
The way he fought Exdeath just before he perished was awesome
FFV was my first FF game. I played it on the GBA and played through it many times as a kid. For many years I played through it without any guides and each playthrough I made new discoveries while using things I had figured out in previous playthroughs to my advantage. It was an amazing game and it was perfect for a kid who didn't have access to that many games. Along with Pokémon and Fire Emblem this is what I think about when I remember the fun I had with the GBA. I'm very nostalgic for this game and I really appreciate this amazing video. Thank you for letting me relive some great memories.
Thanks for sharing your experiences! Glad you liked the video :)
I have so much nostalgia for the GBA versions of FF 1/2/4/5/6, as I git them when I was a preteen/teenager, and spent so long on car trips and after homework was done playing through them with no information on any of them, and just exploring the world to find out more....I think I've only ever beaten 5 once, and then would get so bogged down in class leveling minutae on additional playthroughs that I would never finish, and then just get myself involved in another/new game.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the game! :)
I grew up with this games and it's still my favourite, for all the reasons listed in the video. Great job! :)
This is one of the best reviews I’ve seen of a video game, and this has really reminded me of everything I loved about it ages ago (I really need to play it again now). Thank you!
Thank you, that’s very nice to hear! :)
I was actually born in 2000 and played the gba port of ffv, i never beat it as a kid but it has really defined my love of games, i look for character building and choice in my games. I try and replay it once every few years due to the freedom. Currently trying to 100% it right now
I itching for this years Four Job Fiesta!!
Came for your starcraft content a while ago but glad I'm still subscribed. Final Fantasy 5 is my favorite game of all time! I think it has the best soundtrack in the series, and some of the best characters in gaming.
Thanks for sharing! FF5 is for sure one of my favorite JRPGs of all time. It’s just such a fun and uplifting experience :)
V was magic to me. I was SO excited to play Final Fantasy Anthology the Christmas I got it; such happy memories.
Finding the fan translations of FFV and Tales of Phantasia were some of the most fun times when I started college lol
Final Fantasy V is by far my favorite FF of all. The sense of exploring the world, the pacing, the characters, the AWESOME job system, everything is just perfect. While everyone loves FF6, I miss the customization that 5 offered - and that we only saw back in Tactics
I'm kind of embarrassed to admit I never got around to playing Tactics back in the day. One of these days though 😅
Amazing video!
I love V so much. Darn, I love FINAL FANTASY so much!!
Thank you! :)
Final fantasy V is my third favorite in the series. Final Fantasy V would have truly been perfect for me, if it had a fifth party member, the dark night class, and the ninjitsu ability for the ninja class. A remake with added jobs and expanded story for Nintendo switch, Xbox one, and PS5 like Final Fantasy 4 DS would be awesome! Cool video 😎👍
Thanks! :)
Believe it or not, a translated rom of FFV was my first JRPG ever. It blew my mind and it's my most nostalgic final fantasy game. Nothing will ever top that job system for me.
Playing the Pixel Remaster and I enjoy it more than IV which I never thought I'd say just a year ago.
I really wish FF V was released here on the SNES. It seems far more a game of it's time than either IV or VI. Other than the internet, that was also a time before giant backlogs when great RPGs came out about 1 or 2 each year, steam sales didn't exist, and we replayed the games we had because they were all we had. FF V seems brilliantly designed for this style of play where we could play it over and over using different classes, and discovering a few secrets every few replays. But today I have a backlog a mile long, and if I play FF V again, it's been over 15 years since I played it the last time and there's much I have forgotten, so it's not quite like playing it several times a year like I would have in the early 90s.
The pace of “must play” releases these days has definitely gotten kind of crazy… There’s just no way to even begin to keep up lol
Excellent video, so much passion and deep analyzes at the same time, just a pleasure to watch, I didn't even sensed when 1h have gone!!!
On top of everything that you've said (mostly things that a player can see), hidden beneath is the real gem, the essence of FFV - the battle engine. That is a gem that is known only to a few that have actively participated in reverse engineering of the game. It is so deep, it has such complexity, that the vanilla have portraited like 30-40% of its potential.
A good example is the twin lance. It is like a spear but is not (Jump don't give the extra 100% dmg). It is the only weapon that hits 2 times without a skill. Other example is the Thief glove - it can be equipped by Thief but also Ninja. Why, because it has hidden mechanics. And these are just few exceptions of things that could be brewed by the engine, but vanilla almost don't.
Other things can not be even seen in vanilla. Like Flails - the engine support this class of weapons, but vanilla don't have instances. There are weapons that are called that way, but internally they don't function as such.
Unfortunately the player will not experience some features of the engine because of bugs. Like agility based weapon (like dagger) should be a toy for a strength based job (like knight) but a stabbing power for agility based like Thief. But because of a bug, they are toy in both cases.
Thank you for your kind words, and your thoughts about the game! I never knew Ninjas can equip the Thief Glove! :)
I have never seen anyone break FFV down to this degree. Your video has: 1) Convinced me to play it again 2) Sub to your channel 3) Watch all your other vids 😊
This patch came out when I was in junior high and open the world of emulation up to me. I have nothing but great memories of this game and when. This has the one of the best job systems of the entire series with FFT topping it and FFXIV common in next. When FF Anthology came out when I was in high school this was a day one purchase for me and I played the hell out of that and loved every minute of the story the engaging combat the customization options. This is literally one of my top comfort games. I still don’t understand how this title is scene as a weaker entry. But thank you for making this video my friend this made me an instant subscriber.
Ty for the video im 49 and grew up playing these gems and omg i miss real final fantasy games so badly...these games they try to push on us older gamers 😤 😒 well let's just say they're crap too be nice. But tysm for the trip down memory lane when gaming was so great 👍
Glad you liked the video! :)
5 is my favorite and I will always fight for it as the best ff in the series
It’s a fantastic game that deserves a lot more credit than it gets :)
@@Altercate it’s so much and yet so little, a lot of concepts in a very short time, there’s barely any time for grinding in this game yet there’s all the time to grind, I absolutely love this level of control when given to the player
One of the best in the saga, and the GBA port, aka Final Fantasy V Advance, is clearly the best Final Fantasy game I have ever played.
Great review, you really nailed what makes FF5 a lovable game. As a European, I discovered FF4, 5 and 6 at the same time, and did them in order. Hence, I could enjoy the improvements from 4 to 5 just like the japanese players in 1992. In addition, I think FF5 was the first 16-bit FF game to be translated in French by a team of fans (along with Seiken Densetsu 3), so it brought me even closer to the game. To me FF5 is the SNES RPG with the most fun packed in it along with Chrono Trigger. You are never bored when you play it because there is always something to do.
That's really cool! Seiken Densetsu 3 was another one of those early fan translations that made a big impact on me :)
My first FF, the most nostalgic of all games
FFV is my favorite and I always felt like it was overlooked and underrated. The job system, story, and setting is what I felt like was Final Fantasy’s identity. With each new release, I feel we are straying further and further from what I felt was Final Fantasy.
I wish they would make a classic Final Fantasy again. But it will remain stupid action-games with boring open worlds and weak story and lame anime characters. Very sad.
@Jogy Mogy final fantasy always made a new gameplay with each title. The commonality is that the gameplay is timed battles (or cross). This is why I get annoyed with "fans" trying to claim what "real ff" is. FF isn't so superficial that it revolves around turn-based. Over HALF the final fantasies are NOT TURN-BASED. Over half the games. Action is fine and still final fantasy bc FF = time/turn-based battles. There's more to it.
14 and 15 are actually very traditional FF. The gameplay doesn't make it
If you knew what FF really is, you'd know this.
Also, while you're complaining about 15, it's one of the highest selling/more successful FF titles. AND its very traditional FF lore.
Smh, I'm sorry you need the story handed to you for you to get it when unlocking it and experiencing it is better because it's a.... video game series. Not all FFs are going to be FF10 or even 14. 10-2 you had to work to unlock half the story. 15 works like this too. Spend time with people to learn things like.... real life!
Yes I agree, this is like 100% pure unadultered final fantasy, like going back to the first but way improved. My fav is 6 but battles and gameplaywise this and 4 are my favs and after ff6 the series died for me (9 being the exception).
Indeed, a fantasy midevil feel coupled with a dash of science fiction in the airship. It used to be a perfect mesh. Now it's barely recognizable as that it's an inglorious overlap of jarring science fiction with mere holdovers of fantasy.
I hope 16 does well that all said and done just so I can hold out hope that 17 will be that perfected ratio again.
Until then I'll continue doing FFXIV and enjoy the great memories.
FFV was actually my first FF ever played, with the GBA version when I was just 9 years old. For me, it felt like a natural progression of the only RPGs I had played before, those being Pokémon. Acquiring and leveling up Jobs to gain their moves felt really natural to me coming from that experience, and the addition of a story and characters I actually fell in love with made it so FFV helped to foster my love for the JRPG genre. I consider it to be one of the most important games in my life because of that, as JRPGs are my favorite genre now and have given me so many of my favorite games of all time. It’s always been disappointing to me that V gets so overlooked by so many people, and I will always love anyone giving it its due!
Final Fantasy V always just felt like an upgraded Final Fantsy III to me. Nothing wrong with it just but at the same time nothing stood out enough to make it more than what it was.
Stunning work on this. I remember playing the fan translation in high school and being blown away by it.
Thank you so much! :)
Nice video definitely gonna try it 👍
Recently come across this vid, honestly as someone who love FF5 in my first gameplay on PS1 and since then continue to play the game in every console it was released (currently playing Pixel Remaster), you express the points of the game so well! No FF has given me the same enjoyment and emotions as FF5, even after every revisit I have to this game I always get new enjoyment out of it!
Again, I can feel your love for the series bleeding in this video which is nicely done and clearly shows the enjoyment and love you put, I came across tons of retrospective vids of FF5 but none of them compared to yours, cheers for the great vid! Really feels vet heartful! Again, this is a very beautiful vid!
Thank you so much for saying that! That means a lot to me :)
Another issue with sales on titles like Final Fantasy 2, was the expense. It was a hell of a feat for me to talk my mom into buying final fantasy 2 for me when the price tag was 90 dollars.
90$ back then was...I don't want to break out an inflation calculator...but I remember candy bars as being around 50cents iir. I think I was 5 or 6 back then. Glad your Mom was down with getting it!
@@akaroth7542 Begging. So so so much begging. No pride at all.
Is it the best FF game? Probably not, but it's definitely my favourite
One hundred percent
Glad I’m not the only one. I really enjoyed playing and look forward to playing it again sometime soon
I wonder if you can try out Might and Magic franchise, especially Might and Magic 6, 7 and 8. (Or especially it's Merged Mod, which combines all three games into one). It has a lot of customization, and it's one of my favorite Western RPGs due to the fact that it plays like a JRPG. Even the soundtrack of Might and Magic games is somewhat JRPG-ish, also having sci-fi twist.
Thanks for the tip, I’ll definitely consider it!
Thank you so much for this great video and break down! 5 has been my favorite in the series ever since I played it, and I have never understood the criticisms of its story. I thought it was great
Thank you for your kind words! Glad you liked the video :)
This is an incredibly well-crafted love letter. I really enjoyed it
Thank you so much! I’m glad you liked it :)
I've never been a final fantasy fan. I've tried most of the mainline games (except 2-4) and put them all down, but I just completed this game and loved it. I wish they went more in this direction. In the meantime I guess I'll go back to dragon quest and chrono trigger, but I might even give this another playthrough as there a few optional bosses I missed.
That’s awesome that you ended up loving it! Thanks for sharing :)
7:37
No, no it wasn't. It's surprising you would even argue this since we can plainly see in the video itself that this isn't true. FFV was a very minor (at best) visual upgrade from IV.
It wasn't until FFVI that a substantial visual upgrade occured over what became before.
Saddly, most people play rpg for their story and not for their gamplay... those should just read book or watching film.
Game are about gameplay and FFV is the best FF on that point. One top of that, he have great graphic (for the time), killing music and a really good story, making him one of the best game ever (Dragon Force on Saturn being first :p ).
Like you said, the only thing this game don't have is a nostalgia factor in the ouest.
Your video is a love letter to my favorite FF and i hope a lot of ppl will see it, giving them a boost of motivation to test and enjoy FFV.
Yoh, discovered it around year 2000 and later bought it on GBA.
Thank you for your kind words! :)
When it comes to the characters in this game, they may not have the most individual depth but they absolutely are some of the best as a group
In something that is rare to Final Fantasy, as series of battle companions, alliances of convenience and brothers in arms, V's cast is none of those. They are clear and genuine friends, sharing a true bond of companionship beyond a shared purpose.
They care about each other deeply and just enjoy spending time together, they're one of the only groups that would actually hang out together socially even if the world didn't need them
Totally agree! I consider the FFV gang the best party in the Final Fantasy series *at least* up until the PlayStation era. That’s also what makes FFV’s ending so powerful for me-it hits me much harder than FFIV and FFVI’s endings because the four heroes feel like such a tight knit group in the end!
@@Altercate Absolutely. 4 The fter Years didn't surprise me that most of the characters only met up for special occasions
And it feels like most the 6 characters will likely only continue to associate to rebuild the world
But the 5 cast immediately embark on their next adventure and it feels completely in character, they'll stay together till the day comes that they physically cannot
Another thing that is special is the teleport spell. It exits to the world map where you had last voluntarily been. This is important.
Loved the video. Thank you for the great work
Glad you liked it! :)
Playing the FFV fan translation waaaay back in the late 90s was like the holy grail for me and my initiation in to the wider world of the internet. I had been online since 95 but my ignorance of just what was possible was finally torn down when emulation started getting bigger and bigger. Man...those were the days.
My favorite game ever. As a kid I could never beat it.
Hold up...
This was released in 1992...
Super Marios Bros, the live action movie was released in 93
Mario Bros suggests there are two worlds and the meteor that we believe killed the dinosaurs is in fact responsible for the two worlds being separated. It should also be noted that King Cooper in said movie wants to use something called the rock to merge the two worlds.
I'm convinced one of the writers was heavily inspired by this game.
Love the theory! 😂
Some great memories playing FFV on my PSP back in junior high. The expansive yet varied job system made it so much fun to build the character in unique ways. Both the scale of the adventure and the overall looming threat in the story was so cool playing it for the first time. FFV will always have a spot in my top 3 FF games
After playing final fantasy 4 (DS) and dropping the game due to difficulty and ridiculous story elements, FF5's lighthearted and comradery-centered story was something I felt far more attatched to, regardless of its flaws and lack of major character development. And as for the characters, I used the gameplay and even my own job choices to frame the characters into whatever was fun or exciting to me. For example: Galuf, signature space grandad, was a Berserker. So all of his combat was just "Raaaaaaagh!!" Therefore, Galuf being a loving, strong willed space grandpa who runs around in wolve's fur - beating enemies senseless with nothing on the brain but axe-swinging destruction, is one hell of an image. It's that kind of fun that your imagination gives you in FF 1 and 3, and I see no reason to have it stop here.
The game is just wild fun, and even more impressive when you try out the Four Job Fiesta just to execute whatever tactics you can to win. This game is one of the best FF's out there, and people don't give it enough credit as you have. Wonderful video.
Thanks so much! And thanks for that vivid image of Galuf lol. Totally agree that one of the strengths of this game is how you build your own view of the characters from the choices you make. In that way, the lack of predefined character development can be seen as a good thing!
Awesome job on this, look forward to watching the others youve made
Thank you! :)
FFV is my favourite in the series; I remember being delighted to play it in English back when the only way was through emulation.
Simply amazing. Just found this channel and this truly fantastic video
Thank you so much! :)
There are so many things taken from this FF and put into FF14. It was amazing
This video has made me want to revisit Final Fantasy 5 in a way that I didn't think was possible! I plan to the Game boy advance version before I found myself lost and ended up in some optional dungeon that I couldn't get out of and had to just call it quits. My guess is that it's the dungeon to get mine because I was pretty late in the game but I would love to play it all over again in the pixel remaster
You should definitely give the Pixel Remaster a chance! I think it's a great version of the game :)
This was always my favorite ff game idc what anyone says. Bartz is Bae
Not only does this game have the first super bosses, but one of them turns out to have a specific weakness that can be exploited to kill it in one turn, something I don't think ANY other FF superboss is susceptible to. In the void are dragons you can steal Hiryuu spears from. Equip each of your characters with two of them, and have them jump at the beginning of combat with Shinryuu. He will be dead by the end of the turn, unless your level is ridiculously low.
That's how I did it back in the day! I always thought it was so cool just how much of a difference your chosen strategy could do in this game. Almost every difficult boss can be absolutely crushed if you apply the right jobs and abilities :)
Honestly, this video made me want to give 5 a play. I have heard it was kinda boring, but everything you mentioned in this seems incredibly interesting. I love the job system and changed to it. It really does sound like this could be an underrated FF game.
Definitely give it a try! I’ve always felt it’s way underrated. Sure, it’s an old game at this point but with the right expectations it can be a lot of fun!
I'm playing the Pixel Remaster and enjoying it.
I always blitz my way to Monk's Barehanded and then don't worry about weapons for 80% of the rest of the game.
That’s great, I should try that some time 😂
@@Altercate It's great because Barehanded strikes are not only ridiculously overpowered for relative levels, but are ALSO naturally dual-wielded. So you are not only hitting for silly numbers (even as a white mage) but also doing that twice per attack action. From the beginning of the game. It's viable the whole way through.
The part that got me to quit was the endless bomb fight right after Galuf leaves the party. He was my only healer. I never went back to the game after that.
My First FF game was the GBA version of this.... How nostalgic.
Excellent vid thank you. I enjoyed all of this
No kidding, 5 is my favorite (along with 8) Final Fantasy...
Two of my very favorites, for sure :)
I just finished this game for the first time. I absolutely loved it. It's easily replayable. And, I always avoid any sort of online help when playing, and was totally trying to fight Exdeath without any of the powerful weapons from that shrine or temple or whatever it was. I had to go back and explore because I failed at defeating Exdeath so many times, discovered tons of interesting things, and realized I skipped some important stuff. I loved the endgame and how the story finished. It was simple in terms of narrative, but that's what allowed the job system to shine so well.
I'm playing through the pixel remaster right now. Haven't had this much fun playing a FF game in a long time. I've always wanted to finish it so now I'm finally going to do it.
This is my personal favorite FF game, second only to FFVII**
FF5 is one of the best games of all time, and it's the best of the first six FF games by a pretty wide margin. It's the first entry in the series to successfully integrate the character-driven story of FF2 and FF4 with the epic adventure of FF1 and FF3 (and nails both elements), and it does so with a really fun job system and challenging gameplay. I absolutely agree that it's overlooked because of missing nostalgia. There's also some issues related to the order in which these games were played by many people back in the day. FF5 came up with a lot of new, awesome things that were carried into FF6, but US players saw them first in FF6 and so associate them with FF6. So FF6 felt revolutionary while FF5 felt familiar, when really FF5 was the revolutionary game.
Yep, this game would have been remembered very differently by western audiences if we’d gotten to play it before we had FF6.
It's the best game out of the first 6 for you not to everybody,FF 5 has the job system going for it but that's pretty much it,final fantasy tactics is better than it and i am going to play FF 6 Next month to see it's quality
Mystic Quest was my first RPG as a child, and their efforts to appeal to US kids certainly worked for me, as I absolutely loved that game. Soon after playing (and being blown away) by Final Fantasy II, I came across a European gaming magazine with a single screenshot of Butz in a town with a caption, "Final Fantasy V." I thought, 'V?, that couldn't mean V because we only have 2 FF's released." Next, the Mega Man X issue of Nintendo Power (it had a silver cover - Vol 56 from January 1994), was my first issue of the magazine. Towards the back I saw another two screenshots of FFV showing the party battling Metamorphs and crystals in the Interdimensional Rift. It looked amazing, and got me so excited.
I was a subscriber of the Squaresoft fan newsletter back in the 90's when I was a kid. One of the mailings said that they'd be releasing Final Fantasy V as Final Fantasy Extreme after Final Fantasy III (VI.) My hopes were high and I couldn't wait.
I'd occasionally call Squaresoft's long distance number listed in the back the FFII instruction manual (when I could afford the phone bill) to ask about things like how many towns and how many Esper's would be in FFIII (VI.) In one call, I asked them about Final Fantasy Extreme, and they said it had been cancelled. I asked them if they would release it if I could get enough signatures from people who want the game to come out. The guy said, "Sure, if you could get enough signatures." I typed a letter and went up to every kid in my school explaining it and asking them if they'd sign. I probably had close to 100 signatures, and mailed the letter to Square Enix.
I also sent letters to EGM, Game Informer, and Nintendo Power explaining the situation and included screenshots of FFV as well as Romancing Saga 2 I'd seen in another magazine. Sadly, they never published my letters, though one sent back a letter saying they 'might' publish it :(
If Final Fantasy V had come out when I was 11 or 12, I would have been absolutely blown away. I used to restart JRPGS from the beginning just for the thrill of gaining new abilities again, trying new strategies, and buying different gear and upgrades. If my young self could have played FFV, I would have played it over and over, messing around with all the different jobs and abilities. Who knows, maybe I would have been inspired enough to finish the text based RPG, "Bahamuts Lair" I spend 100's of hours programming in Power Basic haha.
A few months after I moved in 8th grade, my friend called to tell me he found an English translation for FFV on the internet! I grabbed it right away, but my PC was too slow to get more than 15 fps. I held off for a few years until I could run it smoothly (along with Seiken Densetsu 3) and it was a thrill. It's been extremely hard, if not impossible, to find friends in person who have a passion or even interest in the Final Fantasy series, but the online community is a joy.
Still can't help feeling it might have changed my life in some way if it had come out in the early to mid 90's. I'm currently finishing up my 4th or so playthrough, but first time through FF5 pixel remaster, and it stands the test of time.
Great video. Brought back plenty of nostalgia :)
Absolutely beautiful comment! Thanks for sharing your experiences :)
ffv is my fav sprite based ff by a lot
6 is objectively better in every possible way.
@@the-NightStar My fav, mine. and also, no, is not objectibly better
"We all become orphans..."
Dude.
I for one think the fan translation of the SNES version of the game is the best version. The GBA went too far with having the characters speak in funny dialects, and had character portraits that look nothing like the sprites you're actually playing. Not to mention that every newer version seems to weirdly stretch the sprites and alter the color balance and so forth, and I definitely prefer the way they look before. Other than the fumbling of names like Butz and Exdeath, the fan game is pretty close to perfect IMO, and is possibly my single favorite game of all time.
Sorry to tell you, but a comprehensive look at the fan-translation of FF5 from many people, noticeably from Clyde Mandelin, the knowledgeable translator for Mother 3, over on his website. showed that FF5 might actually be the worst fan-translation of all time. It was absolutely butchered , and containing constant lies, misinformation, and even random references to William Shatner and many other bizarre, awful choices that honestly ruin the entire game.
@@the-NightStar you can dislike it if you want, but I for one find it preferable.
I thought the Shatner line was from the Final Fantasy IV fan translation? Has Mandelin really done a thorough look at FFV yet? I’m only aware of his FFIV and FFVI ones… Please link if you have it! :)
I freaking loved ff5
I honestly think from a gameplay standpoint, V is absolutely spectacular. The Job System is just way too fun.
I also honestly dig it's more simple and wholesome story and characters. I feel like V overall was like the first game, but done way better. It basically took the Four Warriors of Light and gave them personalities.