Got my wires crossed there; a **pentagram** would denote evil at its center; a hexagram is the Star of David, and Nintendo of America likely had it changed to a triangle as part of their policy regarding religious imagery. Thanks for pointing out this faux paus; I'll address it in my FF4 video when discussing the localization of FF1. EDIT: A cursory look on ye ol' Wikipedia mentions that the hexagram is also an occult symbol, which NoA may have been more concerned about than being a Jewish symbol. But I'm taking the L anyway here and leaving the mention of the Star of David so nobody gets the wrong idea.
@@danieldosso2455one of PS3 era Tekkens had to change floor texture to remove some Islamic holy words (because you step on them) designers just didn't know when using a generic Arabian texture. I also seen some Christians offended by FFXVI seeing the game plot as poke at Christianity. But usually generic stuff like crosses and starts are hardly offensive it was just Nintendo of America being WEIRD.
@@AndrewBluettDon't worry, I'm changing it to a pentagram when I run it at the end of my FF1 D&D campaign. The party will likely innocently think it represents their five crystals ;)
57:08 This small detail regarding the mountains and why they're colored white is so charming to me. It's probably my absolute favorite artistic decision made in regards to technological limitations of the time, these developers were geniuses! I only wish this artistic vision was kept in future remakes/emulation
When I started this video on a whim-I was searching for the GameTrailers retrospective which is a favorite of mine, decided I'd try something new when I saw this-I was expecting this 100 minute video to cover the whole series. I'm absolutely blown away by the level of detail, all the stories I *did not* know, and incredibly excited to see this is a continuing series. Really looking forward to diving into the other episodes!
Yeah Gametrailers did promote the myth of the naming of Final Fantasy, apparently they got that wrong, I'm so glad someone has revealed the real truth about the naming of it.
It also reminds me just as much of a dungeon master suddenly adding more hit points to a boss monster because they know the players won't enjoy a two-turn battle, and that same DM then using the upgraded version on a new group. The time loop idea works just as well though.
Arguably the best Final Fantasy retrospective on UA-cam - and I have seen several of them. I love your in-depth analysis, and historical inserts. I'd like to share a piece of my gaming life. Been "gaming" for over 36 years or so. Co-created a gaming podcast, two tattoo sleeves adorned with my gaming legacy of sorts, and have watched far, far more youtube gaming content than combined "TV". I live for the stuff. Saying all that to set this up a bit: So it's sometime early 90s, not sure exactly when or how old was - let's just say I was a kid. It's a birthday of mine, and my babysitter says she wants to take me into town to buy some birthday presents. My parents agree and off we go. We went somewhere and she bought me Nickelodeon Gak, because I was CRAZY for that stuff but my parents never bought me any. (given Gak dates, I might have been 10/11, 1992/1993, but ran to 1999 so who knows..). So she pulls into this mom n pop movie rental place. There's a big bin of NES games for sale at the front. She says I can pick one game from the bin and she'll buy it for me for my Bday. Awesome! there's like.... 40 games in this bin. All with their case/manual. Guess they were selling excess copies, or all who knows. Anyway, I'm at the age where I've been playing games everywhere I could, any way I could, but I didn't have like.... my "genre/style" down, ya know? I played whatever. More importantly, I DEFINITELY didn't know how to choose games - as in, pick good from bad. So, I'm sifting through all these cases. "Played that, played that, own that, played that, that looks dumb, played that, not interested in that..." I'm losing hope. I saw the box art for FF1 and thought it looked cool. Read the back of the box, thought that was interesting. So I put it aside as a Maybe. Kept sifting through, and I saw a box for the Terminator 2 game. I had seen that movie, so I knew that T2 was. Put THAT one as a maybe also. Kept on through the box, didn't pick anything else. So there I am. Some barely double digit game loving kid on his birthday trip with an awesome babysitter girl... and in one hand I have FF1, and in the other I have T2. I thought the box/writing for FF1 was so interesting so I figured I'd "take a gamble" and picked FF1. Let me tell you, I played that game all the rest of that day, all my free time for the rest of the next days until I beat it. Fell in love with FF and RPGs that day. I don't even think I played with my Gak anymore that day, lol. Years later, a local rental store has T2 for rent, so I payed the $2 and rented it. WHEW, did I EVER make a great decision, because turns out T2 for the NES is hot garbage!!!! So anyway, that's my eternal FF1 story. Hope it was worth a read, lol. Thank YOU for the video/content, and I look forward to you doing the rest of the entire series!!!!!!!!!
This channel is so underrated its criminal man. If it wasnt for tiktok destroying peoples attention span. these are amazing videos highly recommended for any RPG Enthusiast. I would absolutely love if you covered Octopath Traveller and newer games too. love you dude
White mage plus Bane Sword and Heal Helmet = greatness! As a kid I beat FF1 in so many different ways. When you only have one game you get the best out of it
Honestly some the limitations in the original actually enhance the experience for me, the lack of retargeting require you to put more thought into encounters rather than mashing the a button. Also Garland backing away as he explains his time loop actually seems to add tension as if he is backing away before before stuck at the end of the room with nowhere left to run and his transformation into Chaos almost seeming like a last ditch effort to preserve the loop. Also never knew the mountains were white for a specific reason and never knew the 12 sages were there to explain everything while getting around limitations. Overall great video.
Recently decided to play all the Final Fantasy games, and just finished FF1 last weekend (WAR, THF, BLM, WHM). I loved every minute of it, it was charming, and the last boss was an epic showdown for the ages that had me on the edge of my seat, I will definitely replay it sometime with a different comp. It aged extremely well, you can't say that for every games made in the '80s.
I started playing it again two nights ago. What a classic. I actually used WAR,WAR,RED,BLM. I never used the 2 warrior configuration but it’s fun in melee.😂
Being of fan of the series for over 20 years, i gotta say, your work is the first convince me to play FFI. Will be looking for it later! Thanks and keep up the great work!
This is one of my favorite games ever. I still have my NES cartridge and Ive pretty much played/bought ever rerelease thats ever come to this shore. No matter how basic it is, I find it a joy to play through
absolutely excellently done!! so well researched, well-edited, well written, everything about it is perfect! i especially liked the in-depth profile of Sakeguchi, so much information that fleshes out his story and background that i've never seen anywhere else. this is a masterwork that should honestly be the definitive story of FF1, and I cannot wait for more!
32:30 Props, you're the first person I've seen actually mention game manuals for NES games when talking about how they were designed. Too many retrospectives I see talk about how these games were designed to be impossibly confusing on initial playthroughs, clearly being done by a younger generation who didn't have the benefit of touching these games while they were new, probably largely done on emulator without ever experiencing them physically. Great video overall though. Plenty I didn't know, very informative. Keep it up.
I was the same age when it dropped. I was a little into Dungeons and Dragons because of my friend’s older brother so I had a basic understanding of understanding of what was going on.
i am a 42 yo man and cherished that game deeply. I must have completed over 20 teams ..... my favorite team that make the game easy was a Warrior , Red Black and white mage. But the team i would always remember , was playing with my cousins and each of us choose 1 character without saying what we would choose. We finish with 1 Warrior , 1 Thief , 1 Red Mage and 1 Black Mage. Games were simpler before but i feel that they were more unique .... i am still a gamer and i feel all the game are similar.
Found this video after first getting really disappointed by some very shallow other videos on early FF and was bracing myself with yours, only to be absolutely blown away. I'm a huge series enthusiast with an interest in JRPG historiography, so your video was a real breath of fresh air. The way you dedicatedly stick to the famicom version even over the english NES version was really impressive to me-- i'd never seen the original manual before and it was just beautiful to see it here. Finding out Sakaguchi was into Moorcock too, that I honestly did not know and it makes *so much* about final fantasy make sense to me on a tonal and aesthetic level. Love that you gave proper context to the 'and that's why it's final fantasy' story too. Was genuinely shocked watching when you mentioned you're relatively new to the series-- your work's got a level of detail and respect that is really uncommon. Can't wait to watch the rest, and maybe get pedantic a little in the comments for your video about 3-- don't mind me if I do, I'm like the one north american fan of the famicom version, I had a lot of free time in electronics class in high school haha. Really appreciated the video!!
Now for all you ffxiv fans out there you know where the time loop came from in endwalker. As well as the theme for the city of Eulmore and let's not forget Montoya's cave. So many eastern eggs from past games are inserted into 14 which is a true tribute to the franchise as a whole Great video too! Gonna go back a give your others a watch
Great video. I was too young in 1990 to really understand how to play the game that friends and I used to pound on the A B buttons quickly during battles!
Only an hour in and I love this video. Huge FF fan, so it's great to learn all the behind-the-scenes stuff along with all the research you've put into this. You've earned a subscriber!
I've learned quite a bit about Final Fantasy and makers behind it over the decades, so it's pretty rare for me to come across new information, but I learned several new pieces of lore in your retrospective. Well done. 👍
This video was so good! I'm so glad I found it. My family and I are going through a rough time right now and I want you to know that these videos make me truly happy in a time where it is sometimes hard to remain so. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series. This was incredibly detailed, and extremely well written, presented and produced. I consider myself a huge Final Fantasy fan, and you had stuff in here I never knew, like the crystals in the mountains and some of the finer details of the development. I especially loved that you went into some detail on the remakes and what made them different. That was truly the icing on the cake in an already wonderful video. Thank you for making this, and I hope reading this comment gives you some of the happiness that you've given me.
Thank you for giving me the label of Dapper that I deserve. In all seriousness, echoing the sentiment that this is an extremely well done and thorough retrospective. I’m looking forward to watching all of the ones you do for the series I’m learning to genuinely love as I play through it currently.
Well, yeah, it does feel like an unlicensed Dungeons & Dragons game, and that's what made it so awesome to those of us who grew up with THAC0. At the time, I had yet to either play or read the Temple of Elemental Evil module, but merely being aware of it, and knowing the elementals in the Monster Manual, the whole thing made sense. Expedition to the Barrier Peaks left the Sky Palace feeling right at home amid swords and sorcery. Even the progression of Level 1 Save Kitten (Princess) to Level 36 Kill God (embodiment of Chaos itself), and having to use an easily-missed item obtained in the first quest during the final dungeon, coupled with the Vancian magic system, buying spells for your spellbooks, even feeding Adamantium to a Dwarven smith- it just screamed "this is the epic adventure a DM should aspire to craft." Revive the Orbs found its way into several of my youthful campaigns after playing this. Just a correction- Chaos wasn't changed for the ports. He had all those attacks in the original, albeit with different names (Inferno, Swirl, Crack, Tornado instead of Blaze, Tsunami, Earthquake, Cyclone). Those of us who have done challenge runs planned to kill Chaos either before CUR4 or after, since his combat script was linear, with the only random element being whether he was doing a physical, special, or spell- specials followed one order, spells another. Later ports changed the order of Specials, later randomizing their order, but the abilities of Chaos are the same. As for the aesthetics of the Sky Palace, it looks more like you're in low orbit in the remakes. You're above the clouds blotting out the sun instead of some reverse gravity base pointing to the stars. Like you're overlooking the planet. Though I do feel something was lost changing from sterile metal walls to marble- feels more pulled from dwarven flying fortresses than technological advancement. As for the bonus dungeons, they bored me to death. Ruse up, Fast, then smash, over and over. Blink, Invis, Haste, Saber (Giant Gauntlet), and Temper are all you need and it's done. You could handicap yourself using damaging spells for a challenge, considering how much more powerful buffed melee has always been, even in the buggy NES port (where Saber and Temper didn't work, leaving FAST as your only option offensively). Whereas the brevity of the original content didn't have the tactic feel repetitive, it really wears on you during the bonus dungeons.
Found your FF4 retrospective through the grace of the algorithm and I’m so glad I did! These are the kinds of gaming deep dives I’ve been wanting. Smart, interesting, effective! Just subbed and will look forward to any future releases.
I'm not sure why I was just recommended this video today, but I have to say you did a great job there. I'm going to sub and hope that you upload more content just like this. Also the fact that your mom was so proud of your video was adorable.
A small correction: there are "only" 126 possible party configurations, not 1,296. Because you can reorder your party mid-playthrough, it doesn't make sense to allow class order to count as a differentiating factor between possible party lineups.
His phrasing doesn't specify _starting_ configurations, so I suppose he counts switching the party members around for whatever strategic or aesthetic reasons the player may come up with for doing so.
this was brilliantly well done... well written and narrated! as final fantasy is my favorite game series of all time i was really excited to see your take and perspective on things from the beginning to the later years and watch your opinion change as the heart of the series did as well..very interesting perspective and your historical facts were on point.. all around great work brother, i'll end up watching this 3-4 more times before you release the next episode
Truly great video! But, I would have to disagree about the Circle of Sages and Garland walking backwards being clumsy workarounds. Even if they were driven by technical necessity, from the player's standpoint they can be experienced as mythic allusions, dramatic pacing, etc. even if they didn't originate from those intentions. Basically I think the default for the player is to take EVERYTHING as being the result of artistic intention unless it's something that glaringly, obviously isn't - like an obvious glitch, but neither of these come across as glitches. And in these cases I'd say the limitation may have been a blessing in disguise that resulted in richer experiences than if the developers had been free to do the most obvious thing (have Garland just stand in one place - as opposed to him drawing you gradually in, compelling you to follow him...), or having a single Sage just standing there, as opposed to uniting spatial exploration by movement (visiting the sages in turn) with exploration of the lore they divulge.
woke up put this on to listen to while I work so I could finish it and noticed you uploaded the second one, always love to watch these hour long videos, keep it up
It will always feel a little strange to me that the science fantasy imagining of the flying fortress would be stripped back somewhat, visually and audially, in the later renditions of this game to something more purely fantasy, given the later entries in the series leaning fully into it
I was thinking the same thing, although they nailed it in Stranger of Paradise, it is exactly what I imagined to be from the NES original version, very techy and you can see the stars outside the windows... but with a techy version of FF4 soundtracks
Is it wrong that I keep on binging this? Because honestly, I'm inspired to make my own retrospective but I'm more of a written type of person because writing has been my strong suit. I keep watching it because of two reasons. One because I love the narration that is done so well and two, it's so massively detailed it's not funny. I've checked out other retrospectives but this surpasses it all. I love it. I saw the recent one, FF4 and I can't wait for FF5. It has a lot of symbolism for me personally.
Something I love about Sakaguchi's story is after all the fame he found with FF he left, made a few other great games, then "retired" to Hawaii where he could spend more time surfing than working.
I like to think that the whole "You saved the princess, but the story isn't over," is a bit of a jab at Dragon Quest 1, where the "save the princess" is part of the story, and only ends up with the culmination at the end of the Princess being saved after you defeat the big boss.
What? I just played Dragon Quest. Saving the princess doesn't happen at the end of the game. It's a side-quest, you can even complete the game without ever saving her. Don't talk about stuff ya don't know man
OBAYASHI MENTION LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO seriously though, I set my sights on beating all the numbered final fantasy games (or most of them) and seeing that you have made videos about all of them talking about their creation and legacy makes me really happy. the cultural context of these games is something I'm not able to really experience for myself, so having a comprehensive summary is really exciting. thank you so much :)
Absolutely loved the video. Whatever amount of time you spent to make it, Worth it brother. Genuinely one of the best retrospectives I have watched. Subbed
In late middle school out of curiosity of the Final Fantasy franchise I bought the NES version on the Wii Virtual Console. I would play it for hours, getting my butt beat and exploring the world. Restarting plenty of times to try and figure out what all the jobs did and got. It really was something special and felt like a grand adventure even compared to games like TES V being out by then. I've yet to get far in any of the other games before my attention is lost. Oh well.
An amazing piece of research, by far the best I have seen on the subject. I greatly appreciated the care with which it was done and the attention to detail. I admire you for finally allowing me to see the effect of white mountains on a CRT screen! You've made a really comprehensive and huge video, devoting time to many aspects that I've too often seen to be overlooked or not sufficiently explored elsewhere, such as the evocative implications of the setting, the spectacular uniqueness of the Flying Fortress, and the references to "Laputa" (perhaps among the similarities I would have added the robot falling from the sky and the stone that can make objects fly). There is only one thing I feel I must point out: deep in the four dungeons there are no Crystals but only the Altars, from which the elemental energies come (the Sages also mention this). The four Great Crystals were added in the remakes, so in the original game the only Crystals that exist are those that the Warriors of Light carry with them.
Haven't watched much of this yet, but the presentation so far is fantastic. Hopefully the algorithm is kind to you! If it gets enough traction especially around a big release, it should get a ton more views. Congrats, and thanks for the content :)
With a game spoken of so often on youtube, one has to make a special effort to make a video that covers ground that isn't anywhere else. You, sir, have done so. The background research and explanation is more thorough than anywhere I've seen on FF1, and the contextual analysis was particularly interesting. I also appreciate the more detail going into discussion on remake changes, which are often just a footnote. Overall, impressive. I will be following your work
Love retrospective videos and you're are great. One thing to point out is that you got the chaos shrine and final dungeon themes mixed up but doesn't change that I loved watching this and now want to replay these games again
This hands down the BEST FF1 retrospective I've ever seen! Well done! I subscribed so I don't miss the next one. I own a complete boxed FF1 for NES, but I'm kinda jealous of that Famicom one you showed. P.S. Marzgurl brought me here.
The game he's playing isn't the "Famicom" original. I mean, first of all it's not in Japanese, but more obviously it's got the new item names. "Airywater" and "golden needle," for example. I'm genuinely curious what version this is... it seems like the pixel remaster... only without the bonus content.
you have a great speaking voice, makes your video a very easy watch. and i really like how its all stock footage put together instead of someone's face telling us the story.
This is on par with the official documentary released where they interview the people that worked on it, if not moreso, you brought us into the real reasons behind the title. So glad I was searching for lore reasons regarding FF3 and (spoilers) the "flood" that overtakes the world, it didn't quite sit with me and so I was searching reddit for answers when I happened to find your review, and to find that you have a UA-cam channel where you discuss these games in depth! Not only did you cover this game in such great detail, you exhibited the art and music that made this game and series a lifetime passion for me. You even covered the remakes! Playing Stranger of Paradise renewed my fervor for the series, as it brings a new/interesting take on FF1 that takes the story elements of FF1 and expands upon them. I highly recommend trying it in the future!
Discovered this right in the middle of my own big JRPG phase, in particular two days after beating FF1 on NES. Outstanding retrospective and I can't wait to watch the rest. I'm especially looking forward to seeing your look at FF6, which is easily among my favorite Super Nintendo games.
Came here from your FFVI video and I’m shocked you hadn’t played any of these games before starting this series. Great stuff, especially from a 10k sub channel. I’ll definitely be watching the rest.
I am very glad you included history about Sakaguchi himself in this retrospective because so much of that reflects in early FF, especially when the PS1 era rolls in
Wow- great job on this! Really brought me back to my childhood discovering FF on the NES and being blown away at the time. Can't wait to see the rest - especially "II" (IV) and "III" (VI) on SNES.
This was incredibly well researched, written, and put together. I love the Final Fantasy franchise and have a soft spot for the original as it was my first FF. I very much enjoyed this and look forward to seeing the rest of the series.
I would like to ask how a hexagram would denote evil at its centre?
Got my wires crossed there; a **pentagram** would denote evil at its center; a hexagram is the Star of David, and Nintendo of America likely had it changed to a triangle as part of their policy regarding religious imagery.
Thanks for pointing out this faux paus; I'll address it in my FF4 video when discussing the localization of FF1.
EDIT: A cursory look on ye ol' Wikipedia mentions that the hexagram is also an occult symbol, which NoA may have been more concerned about than being a Jewish symbol. But I'm taking the L anyway here and leaving the mention of the Star of David so nobody gets the wrong idea.
@@AndrewBluett Fair, good sir. Curious was all.
Alot of companies try to keep religious symbols of any kind to a minimum to increase the number of potential customers.
@@danieldosso2455one of PS3 era Tekkens had to change floor texture to remove some Islamic holy words (because you step on them) designers just didn't know when using a generic Arabian texture. I also seen some Christians offended by FFXVI seeing the game plot as poke at Christianity. But usually generic stuff like crosses and starts are hardly offensive it was just Nintendo of America being WEIRD.
@@AndrewBluettDon't worry, I'm changing it to a pentagram when I run it at the end of my FF1 D&D campaign. The party will likely innocently think it represents their five crystals ;)
Square choosing Yoshitaka Amano as the concept artist was the best decision they ever made
Having Nobuo Uematsu work on the music wasn't a bad choice either.
So True his artwork is Legendary 🥰 I would love to have some Vampire Hunter D Art from him😊
@@QueenViolet8me it would be Gatchaman
I really warmed to his more scenic than character-based art still over the years. I love, I freaking LOVE that painting of Chaos' throne.
No the best decision was having Uematsu as composer. FF wouldn't be half of what it is without his music
I completely loved this honey, and I am so proud of you. You're doing so well with these videos and I really hope that things to go well for you love.
Why did you word that like you’re their lover?
@@austins.2495 roleplaying fantasy
@@austins.2495 *mother
Hi mom
That is Mrs. Mom to you 😆
57:08
This small detail regarding the mountains and why they're colored white is so charming to me. It's probably my absolute favorite artistic decision made in regards to technological limitations of the time, these developers were geniuses! I only wish this artistic vision was kept in future remakes/emulation
When I started this video on a whim-I was searching for the GameTrailers retrospective which is a favorite of mine, decided I'd try something new when I saw this-I was expecting this 100 minute video to cover the whole series. I'm absolutely blown away by the level of detail, all the stories I *did not* know, and incredibly excited to see this is a continuing series. Really looking forward to diving into the other episodes!
Yeah Gametrailers did promote the myth of the naming of Final Fantasy, apparently they got that wrong, I'm so glad someone has revealed the real truth about the naming of it.
Gametrailers! That website takes me back!
Still waiting for the Stranger of Paradise Retrospective. Because I know you, like myself, are just here to kill Chaos.
Chaos grows stronger with each remaster/remake!!!? THAT is awesome! As far as I’m concerned, that’s canon!
It also reminds me just as much of a dungeon master suddenly adding more hit points to a boss monster because they know the players won't enjoy a two-turn battle, and that same DM then using the upgraded version on a new group.
The time loop idea works just as well though.
Arguably the best Final Fantasy retrospective on UA-cam - and I have seen several of them. I love your in-depth analysis, and historical inserts.
I'd like to share a piece of my gaming life. Been "gaming" for over 36 years or so. Co-created a gaming podcast, two tattoo sleeves adorned with my gaming legacy of sorts, and have watched far, far more youtube gaming content than combined "TV". I live for the stuff. Saying all that to set this up a bit:
So it's sometime early 90s, not sure exactly when or how old was - let's just say I was a kid. It's a birthday of mine, and my babysitter says she wants to take me into town to buy some birthday presents. My parents agree and off we go. We went somewhere and she bought me Nickelodeon Gak, because I was CRAZY for that stuff but my parents never bought me any. (given Gak dates, I might have been 10/11, 1992/1993, but ran to 1999 so who knows..). So she pulls into this mom n pop movie rental place. There's a big bin of NES games for sale at the front. She says I can pick one game from the bin and she'll buy it for me for my Bday. Awesome!
there's like.... 40 games in this bin. All with their case/manual. Guess they were selling excess copies, or all who knows. Anyway, I'm at the age where I've been playing games everywhere I could, any way I could, but I didn't have like.... my "genre/style" down, ya know? I played whatever. More importantly, I DEFINITELY didn't know how to choose games - as in, pick good from bad. So, I'm sifting through all these cases. "Played that, played that, own that, played that, that looks dumb, played that, not interested in that..." I'm losing hope.
I saw the box art for FF1 and thought it looked cool. Read the back of the box, thought that was interesting. So I put it aside as a Maybe. Kept sifting through, and I saw a box for the Terminator 2 game. I had seen that movie, so I knew that T2 was. Put THAT one as a maybe also. Kept on through the box, didn't pick anything else.
So there I am. Some barely double digit game loving kid on his birthday trip with an awesome babysitter girl... and in one hand I have FF1, and in the other I have T2. I thought the box/writing for FF1 was so interesting so I figured I'd "take a gamble" and picked FF1.
Let me tell you, I played that game all the rest of that day, all my free time for the rest of the next days until I beat it. Fell in love with FF and RPGs that day. I don't even think I played with my Gak anymore that day, lol.
Years later, a local rental store has T2 for rent, so I payed the $2 and rented it. WHEW, did I EVER make a great decision, because turns out T2 for the NES is hot garbage!!!!
So anyway, that's my eternal FF1 story. Hope it was worth a read, lol. Thank YOU for the video/content, and I look forward to you doing the rest of the entire series!!!!!!!!!
That story rocks
This channel is so underrated its criminal man. If it wasnt for tiktok destroying peoples attention span. these are amazing videos highly recommended for any RPG Enthusiast. I would absolutely love if you covered Octopath Traveller and newer games too. love you dude
White mage plus Bane Sword and Heal Helmet = greatness!
As a kid I beat FF1 in so many different ways. When you only have one game you get the best out of it
Honestly some the limitations in the original actually enhance the experience for me, the lack of retargeting require you to put more thought into encounters rather than mashing the a button. Also Garland backing away as he explains his time loop actually seems to add tension as if he is backing away before before stuck at the end of the room with nowhere left to run and his transformation into Chaos almost seeming like a last ditch effort to preserve the loop. Also never knew the mountains were white for a specific reason and never knew the 12 sages were there to explain everything while getting around limitations. Overall great video.
I really enjoy the different video game documentarians preserving/contextualizing culture in various ways. Thank you.
Recently decided to play all the Final Fantasy games, and just finished FF1 last weekend (WAR, THF, BLM, WHM). I loved every minute of it, it was charming, and the last boss was an epic showdown for the ages that had me on the edge of my seat, I will definitely replay it sometime with a different comp. It aged extremely well, you can't say that for every games made in the '80s.
I started playing it again two nights ago. What a classic. I actually used WAR,WAR,RED,BLM. I never used the 2 warrior configuration but it’s fun in melee.😂
Being of fan of the series for over 20 years, i gotta say, your work is the first convince me to play FFI. Will be looking for it later! Thanks and keep up the great work!
This is one of my favorite games ever. I still have my NES cartridge and Ive pretty much played/bought ever rerelease thats ever come to this shore. No matter how basic it is, I find it a joy to play through
High quality stuff (For all 3 FF retrospectives done thus far), Can't wait for the others.
absolutely excellently done!! so well researched, well-edited, well written, everything about it is perfect! i especially liked the in-depth profile of Sakeguchi, so much information that fleshes out his story and background that i've never seen anywhere else. this is a masterwork that should honestly be the definitive story of FF1, and I cannot wait for more!
Gucci booze
I just started watching this and I can tell you’re one of the the most thorough video essay makers I’ve seen on UA-cam. U deserve more subs fr
32:30 Props, you're the first person I've seen actually mention game manuals for NES games when talking about how they were designed. Too many retrospectives I see talk about how these games were designed to be impossibly confusing on initial playthroughs, clearly being done by a younger generation who didn't have the benefit of touching these games while they were new, probably largely done on emulator without ever experiencing them physically.
Great video overall though. Plenty I didn't know, very informative. Keep it up.
These are some History Channel quality videos, and absolutely the best retrospectives of anything I’ve ever seen. Keep going!!!!
Great video! I just wanna note that Matoya's theme is used heavily in FF14 and lots of new fans know it and love it ^^
13 year old me was blown away by this game. Dragon "Warrior" was great, but this game was the next step.
Great review. Lots of details I didn't know.
I was the same age when it dropped. I was a little into Dungeons and Dragons because of my friend’s older brother so I had a basic understanding of understanding of what was going on.
i am a 42 yo man and cherished that game deeply. I must have completed over 20 teams ..... my favorite team that make the game easy was a Warrior , Red Black and white mage. But the team i would always remember , was playing with my cousins and each of us choose 1 character without saying what we would choose. We finish with 1 Warrior , 1 Thief , 1 Red Mage and 1 Black Mage. Games were simpler before but i feel that they were more unique .... i am still a gamer and i feel all the game are similar.
We are almost the same age, and I was very similar! For me, my most memorable run was using 4 Red Mages haha.
Good times!
Almost 40 myself. Favorite team was warrior, bm, wm, and monk. But I once completed a black mage/wiz solo run which was hilariously fun
Found this video after first getting really disappointed by some very shallow other videos on early FF and was bracing myself with yours, only to be absolutely blown away. I'm a huge series enthusiast with an interest in JRPG historiography, so your video was a real breath of fresh air. The way you dedicatedly stick to the famicom version even over the english NES version was really impressive to me-- i'd never seen the original manual before and it was just beautiful to see it here. Finding out Sakaguchi was into Moorcock too, that I honestly did not know and it makes *so much* about final fantasy make sense to me on a tonal and aesthetic level. Love that you gave proper context to the 'and that's why it's final fantasy' story too.
Was genuinely shocked watching when you mentioned you're relatively new to the series-- your work's got a level of detail and respect that is really uncommon. Can't wait to watch the rest, and maybe get pedantic a little in the comments for your video about 3-- don't mind me if I do, I'm like the one north american fan of the famicom version, I had a lot of free time in electronics class in high school haha.
Really appreciated the video!!
Now for all you ffxiv fans out there you know where the time loop came from in endwalker. As well as the theme for the city of Eulmore and let's not forget Montoya's cave.
So many eastern eggs from past games are inserted into 14 which is a true tribute to the franchise as a whole
Great video too! Gonna go back a give your others a watch
Bro there was a tree from ff2 as well bruh
Final Fantasy
i was expecting a mediocre video with what your views but what i got was amazing this needs to be seen by more people
Great video. I was too young in 1990 to really understand how to play the game that friends and I used to pound on the A B buttons quickly during battles!
Only an hour in and I love this video. Huge FF fan, so it's great to learn all the behind-the-scenes stuff along with all the research you've put into this. You've earned a subscriber!
I've learned quite a bit about Final Fantasy and makers behind it over the decades, so it's pretty rare for me to come across new information, but I learned several new pieces of lore in your retrospective.
Well done. 👍
This video was so good! I'm so glad I found it. My family and I are going through a rough time right now and I want you to know that these videos make me truly happy in a time where it is sometimes hard to remain so.
I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series. This was incredibly detailed, and extremely well written, presented and produced.
I consider myself a huge Final Fantasy fan, and you had stuff in here I never knew, like the crystals in the mountains and some of the finer details of the development. I especially loved that you went into some detail on the remakes and what made them different. That was truly the icing on the cake in an already wonderful video.
Thank you for making this, and I hope reading this comment gives you some of the happiness that you've given me.
As everyone is saying, these retrospectives are excellent! Just doing my bit to encourage the algorithm to show them to more people
Final Fantasy 1 is one the few games that made me WANT to play it again right away, mind you I was playing the PSP version but still I like this game.
Thank you for giving me the label of Dapper that I deserve.
In all seriousness, echoing the sentiment that this is an extremely well done and thorough retrospective. I’m looking forward to watching all of the ones you do for the series I’m learning to genuinely love as I play through it currently.
I’ve crushed all the retrospectives you’ve done up to this point over the last twelve hours and just wanted to say, you do phenomenal work
the MSX OST of final fantasy 1 is something I have only learned about rescently, but it is criminally underrated, it sounds amazing
Well, yeah, it does feel like an unlicensed Dungeons & Dragons game, and that's what made it so awesome to those of us who grew up with THAC0. At the time, I had yet to either play or read the Temple of Elemental Evil module, but merely being aware of it, and knowing the elementals in the Monster Manual, the whole thing made sense. Expedition to the Barrier Peaks left the Sky Palace feeling right at home amid swords and sorcery. Even the progression of Level 1 Save Kitten (Princess) to Level 36 Kill God (embodiment of Chaos itself), and having to use an easily-missed item obtained in the first quest during the final dungeon, coupled with the Vancian magic system, buying spells for your spellbooks, even feeding Adamantium to a Dwarven smith- it just screamed "this is the epic adventure a DM should aspire to craft." Revive the Orbs found its way into several of my youthful campaigns after playing this.
Just a correction- Chaos wasn't changed for the ports. He had all those attacks in the original, albeit with different names (Inferno, Swirl, Crack, Tornado instead of Blaze, Tsunami, Earthquake, Cyclone). Those of us who have done challenge runs planned to kill Chaos either before CUR4 or after, since his combat script was linear, with the only random element being whether he was doing a physical, special, or spell- specials followed one order, spells another. Later ports changed the order of Specials, later randomizing their order, but the abilities of Chaos are the same.
As for the aesthetics of the Sky Palace, it looks more like you're in low orbit in the remakes. You're above the clouds blotting out the sun instead of some reverse gravity base pointing to the stars. Like you're overlooking the planet. Though I do feel something was lost changing from sterile metal walls to marble- feels more pulled from dwarven flying fortresses than technological advancement.
As for the bonus dungeons, they bored me to death. Ruse up, Fast, then smash, over and over. Blink, Invis, Haste, Saber (Giant Gauntlet), and Temper are all you need and it's done. You could handicap yourself using damaging spells for a challenge, considering how much more powerful buffed melee has always been, even in the buggy NES port (where Saber and Temper didn't work, leaving FAST as your only option offensively). Whereas the brevity of the original content didn't have the tactic feel repetitive, it really wears on you during the bonus dungeons.
Great video sir! The original Final Fantasy has some serious nostalgia for me.
I love retrospectives especially in series like this. So can't wait.
Came here after relistening to the Game Trailers one for the Umteth time. Really enjoying the depth, quality and pace of this! Subbed!
Found your FF4 retrospective through the grace of the algorithm and I’m so glad I did! These are the kinds of gaming deep dives I’ve been wanting. Smart, interesting, effective! Just subbed and will look forward to any future releases.
This is the best video on Final Fantasy 1 I’ve ever seen. Thank you so much for making this!
This is the best retrospective I've seen on the game. By the way I really appreciate you posting your sources in the description.
Damn this is a professional level documentary. Interesting information, well edited, well spoken. Good job, earned a sub.
there needs to be a movie about how final fantasy series was made just like the tetris movie coming up
Absolutely fantastic retrospective! Very well done 👍
I'm not sure why I was just recommended this video today, but I have to say you did a great job there. I'm going to sub and hope that you upload more content just like this. Also the fact that your mom was so proud of your video was adorable.
lol that wasn't my mom. that was my partner. she's silly
A small correction: there are "only" 126 possible party configurations, not 1,296. Because you can reorder your party mid-playthrough, it doesn't make sense to allow class order to count as a differentiating factor between possible party lineups.
His phrasing doesn't specify _starting_ configurations, so I suppose he counts switching the party members around for whatever strategic or aesthetic reasons the player may come up with for doing so.
Final Fantasies artwork is my all time favorite. especially the FF crystal chronicles and FF tactics type art. Or Braverly default especially.
Bro, this is top shelf content. You deserve more views.
These retrospectives are incredibly well made. Instant fan
this was brilliantly well done... well written and narrated! as final fantasy is my favorite game series of all time i was really excited to see your take and perspective on things from the beginning to the later years and watch your opinion change as the heart of the series did as well..very interesting perspective and your historical facts were on point.. all around great work brother, i'll end up watching this 3-4 more times before you release the next episode
@Tyler Conley do u know the name of track playing at around 25 minute mark?its slow,is it a soundtrack piece?
@@paulsmith9192 its not a final fantasy track that i'm familiar with...i believe the poster used it as a general ambience track
@Tyler Conley so customed made
Truly great video! But, I would have to disagree about the Circle of Sages and Garland walking backwards being clumsy workarounds. Even if they were driven by technical necessity, from the player's standpoint they can be experienced as mythic allusions, dramatic pacing, etc. even if they didn't originate from those intentions. Basically I think the default for the player is to take EVERYTHING as being the result of artistic intention unless it's something that glaringly, obviously isn't - like an obvious glitch, but neither of these come across as glitches.
And in these cases I'd say the limitation may have been a blessing in disguise that resulted in richer experiences than if the developers had been free to do the most obvious thing (have Garland just stand in one place - as opposed to him drawing you gradually in, compelling you to follow him...), or having a single Sage just standing there, as opposed to uniting spatial exploration by movement (visiting the sages in turn) with exploration of the lore they divulge.
Well done retrospective, ready to kill Chaos?
You know it!
Oh I love retrospectives and have played through all the mainline FF games so looking forward to more episodes of this. Subscribed!
I'm only 25 minutes in, but this is amazing so far. So much more in depth than a lot of other vids. And with a bibliography
woke up put this on to listen to while I work so I could finish it and noticed you uploaded the second one, always love to watch these hour long videos, keep it up
Great content man, this level of quality is hard to come by. 👍
This retrospective is outstanding - it is a lot more detailed than most other FF retros
That's the goal!
@@AndrewBluett Keep it up - hoping to see FF2 retro in the future
@Andrew Bluett can u tell me the name of the track playing at the 25 minute mark?soo soft is it a video game soundtrack? Name track if has one
@luki1234567890123 do u know the track playing around the 24 to 25 minute mark?its slow.is it a soundtrack piece?
It will always feel a little strange to me that the science fantasy imagining of the flying fortress would be stripped back somewhat, visually and audially, in the later renditions of this game to something more purely fantasy, given the later entries in the series leaning fully into it
I was thinking the same thing, although they nailed it in Stranger of Paradise, it is exactly what I imagined to be from the NES original version, very techy and you can see the stars outside the windows... but with a techy version of FF4 soundtracks
Is it wrong that I keep on binging this? Because honestly, I'm inspired to make my own retrospective but I'm more of a written type of person because writing has been my strong suit. I keep watching it because of two reasons. One because I love the narration that is done so well and two, it's so massively detailed it's not funny. I've checked out other retrospectives but this surpasses it all. I love it. I saw the recent one, FF4 and I can't wait for FF5. It has a lot of symbolism for me personally.
It's not wrong to have inspiration, but it is when you plagiarize. Not saying you do that, just pointing it out, that's all.
My dude made it into the algorithm, He bouta blow up. Great vid
Something I love about Sakaguchi's story is after all the fame he found with FF he left, made a few other great games, then "retired" to Hawaii where he could spend more time surfing than working.
This is a fantastic video, well produced and informative. Almost feels like a NoClip documentary.
Keep up the good work, you've earned a sub mate.
This is so incredibly well done. Absolutely beautiful work. Far and away the best Final Fantasy retrospective I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot.
This is one of the best retrospectives of any game I've ever listened to. You killed it 👏
I've watched a lot of retrospective videos on Final Fantasy and this one is one of the best.
Oh that was fascinating, especially as someone relatively new to the whole series.
Damn, this was awesome, makes me want a biopic about Sakaguchi and Final Fantasy 1
I like to think that the whole "You saved the princess, but the story isn't over," is a bit of a jab at Dragon Quest 1, where the "save the princess" is part of the story, and only ends up with the culmination at the end of the Princess being saved after you defeat the big boss.
What? I just played Dragon Quest. Saving the princess doesn't happen at the end of the game. It's a side-quest, you can even complete the game without ever saving her. Don't talk about stuff ya don't know man
Oh boy, I LOVE videos like this. I've subbed before I've even watched it. Please keep doing these if they're fun for you!
OBAYASHI MENTION LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO
seriously though, I set my sights on beating all the numbered final fantasy games (or most of them) and seeing that you have made videos about all of them talking about their creation and legacy makes me really happy. the cultural context of these games is something I'm not able to really experience for myself, so having a comprehensive summary is really exciting. thank you so much :)
this deserves so many views. cant wait for more!!
Absolutely loved the video. Whatever amount of time you spent to make it, Worth it brother. Genuinely one of the best retrospectives I have watched. Subbed
In late middle school out of curiosity of the Final Fantasy franchise I bought the NES version on the Wii Virtual Console. I would play it for hours, getting my butt beat and exploring the world. Restarting plenty of times to try and figure out what all the jobs did and got. It really was something special and felt like a grand adventure even compared to games like TES V being out by then.
I've yet to get far in any of the other games before my attention is lost. Oh well.
Awsome videos dude. I still have with me my Final Fantasy I USA version NES cartridge and working! Greetings from Monterrey, México.
An amazing piece of research, by far the best I have seen on the subject. I greatly appreciated the care with which it was done and the attention to detail.
I admire you for finally allowing me to see the effect of white mountains on a CRT screen!
You've made a really comprehensive and huge video, devoting time to many aspects that I've too often seen to be overlooked or not sufficiently explored elsewhere, such as the evocative implications of the setting, the spectacular uniqueness of the Flying Fortress, and the references to "Laputa" (perhaps among the similarities I would have added the robot falling from the sky and the stone that can make objects fly).
There is only one thing I feel I must point out: deep in the four dungeons there are no Crystals but only the Altars, from which the elemental energies come (the Sages also mention this).
The four Great Crystals were added in the remakes, so in the original game the only Crystals that exist are those that the Warriors of Light carry with them.
This is great, this series deserves more views! Keep at it!
Good video, but I want to point out that the Origins version fixes the vast majority of bugs and probably offers the best experience gameplay-wise.
Haven't watched much of this yet, but the presentation so far is fantastic. Hopefully the algorithm is kind to you! If it gets enough traction especially around a big release, it should get a ton more views. Congrats, and thanks for the content :)
Great video I can’t wait for the rest in the series!
With a game spoken of so often on youtube, one has to make a special effort to make a video that covers ground that isn't anywhere else. You, sir, have done so. The background research and explanation is more thorough than anywhere I've seen on FF1, and the contextual analysis was particularly interesting. I also appreciate the more detail going into discussion on remake changes, which are often just a footnote. Overall, impressive. I will be following your work
Amazing, AMAZING video. Subscribed, can't wait for more.
Love retrospective videos and you're are great.
One thing to point out is that you got the chaos shrine and final dungeon themes mixed up but doesn't change that I loved watching this and now want to replay these games again
This hands down the BEST FF1 retrospective I've ever seen! Well done! I subscribed so I don't miss the next one. I own a complete boxed FF1 for NES, but I'm kinda jealous of that Famicom one you showed.
P.S. Marzgurl brought me here.
The game he's playing isn't the "Famicom" original. I mean, first of all it's not in Japanese, but more obviously it's got the new item names. "Airywater" and "golden needle," for example. I'm genuinely curious what version this is... it seems like the pixel remaster... only without the bonus content.
you have a great speaking voice, makes your video a very easy watch. and i really like how its all stock footage put together instead of someone's face telling us the story.
This is on par with the official documentary released where they interview the people that worked on it, if not moreso, you brought us into the real reasons behind the title.
So glad I was searching for lore reasons regarding FF3 and (spoilers) the "flood" that overtakes the world, it didn't quite sit with me and so I was searching reddit for answers when I happened to find your review, and to find that you have a UA-cam channel where you discuss these games in depth!
Not only did you cover this game in such great detail, you exhibited the art and music that made this game and series a lifetime passion for me. You even covered the remakes!
Playing Stranger of Paradise renewed my fervor for the series, as it brings a new/interesting take on FF1 that takes the story elements of FF1 and expands upon them. I highly recommend trying it in the future!
Discovered this right in the middle of my own big JRPG phase, in particular two days after beating FF1 on NES. Outstanding retrospective and I can't wait to watch the rest. I'm especially looking forward to seeing your look at FF6, which is easily among my favorite Super Nintendo games.
This is fantastic. I am so happy to have found your channel. I can't imagine the work that went into making this video. Really wonderful job!
Came here from your FFVI video and I’m shocked you hadn’t played any of these games before starting this series. Great stuff, especially from a 10k sub channel. I’ll definitely be watching the rest.
You deserve many more views and attention, your hard work shines through, can't wait to watch your other vids
I am very glad you included history about Sakaguchi himself in this retrospective because so much of that reflects in early FF, especially when the PS1 era rolls in
Wow- great job on this! Really brought me back to my childhood discovering FF on the NES and being blown away at the time. Can't wait to see the rest - especially "II" (IV) and "III" (VI) on SNES.
I love the combination of Warrior, Monk, Red Mage, White Mage.
24:57 I immediately recognized that from the back of the box of dawn of souls
Awesome work on this. I have your Final Fantasy retrospectives playlist saved, and can't wait to hear your perspectives on the rest of the entries
This was incredibly well researched, written, and put together. I love the Final Fantasy franchise and have a soft spot for the original as it was my first FF. I very much enjoyed this and look forward to seeing the rest of the series.
Amazing work, this will get hundreds of thousands of views in the long run!
An incredible in-depth review! Keep up the amazing work 🥳
Fantasic! I even teared up a bit. Please do them all!
That's the plan! The second one went up yesterday