Final Fantasy 1 - An Ending

According to the game clock it took me just over 32 hours to beat Final Fantasy 1. After you factor in the many, many times that I reset the game, it was probably closer to 36 hours. By today’s standards 36 hours is an eye blink for a well made RPG, but I imagine that it was a record breaking achievement in 1987, and one that I’m proud to have experienced.

Having played most of the other games in the series, I have to admit that I expected a richer storyline and was initially confused by the lack of the usual story arch that forms a background for your actions in later games. In the course of playing the game I often felt adrift, aware of the larger scope of my actions only through the meager connection created by the opening cut scene. That said the game is challenging, more than, in some cases, and short enough that the lack of story is acceptable in the pursuit of game completion. It also provides the very first look at the story of the elemental crystals, a subject that will grow and evolve throughout the entire series.

Two of my three roommates have begun their own journey through Final Fantasy 1, bringing with them little or no previous experience with the series. Whether or not they will complete the game I can’t say for sure, but I consider their interest to be both flattering and a moderate success in achieving some of my own goals with this project.

I leave FF1 behind with a renewed sense of respect for my subject matter and of the value of the project before me. I am a Master's student studying English Literature and Creative Writing, and I feel that I must approach this endeavor with the same sincerity and depth of intention present in my approach to my studies. The Final Fantasy series does have immense value as a story telling medium and people should be encouraged to experience it. I’m happy to spend the rest of the year proving those points.

Tiamat in FF1

While Bahamut has always appeared as an ally to the warriors, Tiamat, sometimes in direct opposition, has always appeared as an enemy. In FF1 she makes her appearance as the fourth and final elemental fiend, the wind demon who’s captured the Flying Fortress from the Sky People. She is easily the strongest of the elemental fiends and her ferocity will only grow throughout the series.

Bahamut in FF1

I was thoroughly pleased to see that Bahamut, who I’ve adored in so many other games, is in fact present in the very first Final Fantasy that Square ever produced. True, you can’t harness his power the way that you will in later games, but his role is far from negligible.

Bahamut is the king of the dragons that inhabit the island caves to the north and in him resides the power to recognize your true potential as a warrior. Bring him a token of your courage from the Citadel of Trials and he’ll reward you by upgrading your character classes.

The Excalibur in FF1

The Excalibur is the second strongest sword available in FF1. To obtain it you’ll need to have acquired the adamantite ore, located on the second floor of the Flying Fortress. Take the ore to the home of the dwarves and Smyth the dwarven smith will use it to forge the sword. The Excalibur is usable only by the Knight class.

The Masamune in FF1

The Masamune is the strongest weapon available in FF1 and the only item that can be used by any class. It is located on the Air floor of the Temple of Chaos, on which the warriors must face their second battle with Tiamat. It's described in game as the “mightiest sword of all” and its graphic resembles are large katana.

Boss Battle: Chaos

Having restored the power of the elemental crystals you can now travel 2,000 years into the past, to the Temple of Chaos as it used to be, where the real arbiter of Earth’s distress resides. To reach him you’ll have to defeat each of the elemental fiends a second time, and to make things interesting, each fiend has been given increased stats and had their weaknesses removed. Still, the strategy for defeating them remains much the same. Cast Haste, Saber, Shield, Invis and Nul, and then tear into them with physical attacks and strong magic. Heal, rinse, repeat. In the Southwest corner of Tiamat’s floor you’ll find the Masamune, the strongest sword in the game. It’s usable by anyone, for a change. Make sure to snag it.

When you reach the heart of the temple you’ll discover that the monster who’s been causing you so much trouble is actually Garland, the Cornelian Knight that you killed in the opening minutes of the game. After his death the elemental forces sent him into the past where his hatred festered and Chaos consumed his spirit. From 2,000 years ago he sent forth the elemental fiends to enact his revenge, thus touching off a time loop that’s destined to repeat forever unless you can stop it. It’s really a fairly interesting concept. If only Square had developed it more during the game.

After revealing the mystery behind the game’s events Garland will transform into an embodiment of Chaos, and battle will ensue. Its go time! Chaos comes fully stocked with all of the major elemental spells that you’ve been seeing from regular enemies in the Temple: Blaze, Ice Storm, Lightning Storm, Poison Gas, etc. If you have a White Mage, please feel free to cast NulAll. If you’re like me, white mage-less, I would actually advise against casting Nul spells. You’re going to get hit with at least one large spell before you get all three Nul’s cast. Your time is more wisely spent casting Shield and Invis, or simply casting preemptive heals. Chaos doesn’t have quite the magic resistance that some of the elemental fiends did, so go crazy with your Black Mage and use up all the Flares and level III attack spells that you can.

Combine with Haste/Saber physical attacks and, with any luck, you’ve just beaten FF1. Congratulations!

Boss Battle: Tiamat

Reaching the Flying Fortress where Tiamat lives is the closest this game ever really comes to offering you a puzzle. Several steps are required, and you’ll need to obtain the Rosetta Stone, Warp Cube, and Bell Key items in order to succeed. I won’t describe the process here, if you’re stuck please feel free to use my link to Gamefaqs.com. If you make an effort to talk to all of the various villagers in the towns you visit and are able to put two and two together, you won’t get stuck.

There’s a good deal of treasure chests scattered throughout the fortress, some more valuable than others and not all of which you need to collect, but I wouldn’t leave without at least securing the Adamantite that’s lurking on the second floor. After exiting the fortress you can take said Adamantite to Smyth, the dwarven smith and he’ll reward you by forging Excalibur, the second strongest weapon in the game. Note: Only Knight’s can use the Excalibur, so if you don’t have a Knight in your party you don’t really need the Adamantite except as a completion item. This game is very discriminatory with its equipment.

Tiamat’s on, well, you know which floor. He generally opens the fight with Lightning Storm (or something to that effect), which looks impressive and can do a decent amount of damage, but can easily be mitigated by casting Nulbolt. He’s also capable of casting Fire II and Ice II, and you’re welcome to cast the appropriate defenses to these if you wish. Honestly, if you don’t feel like wasting a lot of time and effort on this fight, he’s susceptible to Break; cast it until he dies. If you don’t want to use Break then I recommend Haste and Saber for your physical attackers combined with your strongest attack spells. Heal when necessary and you won’t have problems.

Boss Battle: Kraken

Warning: The process of reaching the Sunken Temple will cost you a minimum of 50,000 gil. Just FYI.

You’ll enter the Sunken Temple on the third floor, and from there can either go up or down. I highly recommend you go up first, as the fifth floor is home to the Mermaids and thus devoid of enemies. There’s also a good deal of treasure, including a full set of diamond armor that’ll make you smile if you’ve got a warrior along. I didn’t, so the whole set was useless to me and I did not smile.

Backtrack to the third floor and continue down. You’ll find the Kraken on the fifth floor, which seems to be the standard floor for boss battles in FF1. I recommend healing as close to full health as possible before battle begins.

The Kraken is ugly and he hits like a truck. I highly recommend casting Shield II and Invisibility II at the onset of battle, if possible. That aside, cast Haste and Saber (or use the Giant’s Gauntlets to get the Saber effect) on your primary physical attackers and go to work. It's sort of a race to see which of you can deal out damage faster, but with Shield II and a decent amount of HP you should come out on top.

The Airship and the Dragon King

After defeating Marilith in Mt. Gulg you’ll notice that the snoozing man in the Northwest corner of Crescent Lake is now awake and, what’s more, has some useful information for you. He’ll confess with little coercion that he’s been looking for the Levistone for some years, and is convinced that it resides in the Ice Cavern to the North. He won’t tell you what to do with it once you have it. In fact, I couldn’t find anyone who knew what to do with the stupid thing, and I confess that I opted to look it up. Gamefaqs FTW.

Go get the Levistone. Take it to the desert south of Crescent Lake and use it. Voila, Airship!

Your first stop in your new sky vehicle can and should be the series of small islands situated between the two Northern continents. The caverns on these islands are home to a race of friendly dragons with much treasure to share. More importantly, their king, Bahaumut, will divulge clues to upgrading your character classes.

Take Bahaumut’s advice and seek out a token of courage from the Citadel of Trials and he will reward you with shiny new character sprites and upgraded abilities that will make you feel invincible, at least for a little while.

Boss Battle: Marilith

Marilith resides on the bottom floor of Mt. Gulg, a volcano located on the South Eastern continent, and reachable only by canoe. Much of the floor inside the volcano is covered with lava, as you might expect from such a place, and walking through the lava will deal a small percentage of damage to each of your party members with each step. You can't be attacked while walking through lava, however, so you have something of a choice between taking random amounts of damage from encounters or taking fixed amounts of damage from the environment. Either way, I would argue that reaching Marilith is actually more difficult than defeating her.

My Monk bit the dust about 60 seconds before I reached the boss. As I chose to undertake my quest using a Red Mage rather than a White Mage, I was unable to cast a Life spell to revive him. (The Red Mage cannot learn Life until he upgrades into a Red Wizard.) I'm sure you can understand why I was loath to exit the dungeon, row my way back to town, revive the Monk, row back to the volcano, and climb all the way back to the bottom floor. So I decided I would simply kill the boss with only three players. Marilith is capable of casting Fire II as well as some specialized ability that causes Blind (I can't think of its name now,) but the only thing you really need to watch out for is her physical attacks. She hits five or six times per swing and can deal upwards of 200 damage.

Fortunately for you she has a single, easily exploitable weakness.

Marilith is susceptible to paralyze. It took me four or five tries to figure this out, and another four or five tries to get her successfully paralyzed before she had killed one of my three surviving warriors. Once I got her chained down with everyone still alive, however, I was able to dish out enough damage to kill her before the paralysis wore off. Obviously Ice I and II are the strongest black spells, and hopefully you found the Ice Brand tucked away in one of the treasure chests earlier in the dungeon. I recommend casting Nulfire while in the processing of trying to get her paralyzed, just to mitigate her Fire II spell. Don't be upset if it takes several tries to get your Bind spell to work; it will eventually, and after that she's cake.

Congratulations on restoring your second elemental crystal.

Post Explosion

I have to apologize in advance for the multitude of posts that are about to appear over the next hour or so.

It eventually dawned on me that, due to the relatively short length of FF1 and the sparse story detail present it was somewhat silly of me to try and find something useful to post after every single play session. I would be better served, I decided, simply trying to beat the game and move on. So that's what I've been doing for the last day and a half, and making good progress at it I might add.I'm still going to post boss fights, important story developments, hidden goodies that one might otherwise miss, etc, but in general I'm focused on beating the game and moving onto number two in the hopes that there will be more worth actually talking about. That said, since my last post I've covered two bosses and a class upgrade, so I'm about to slam the site with several more posts. Sorry.

Boss Battle: Lich

Villagers in Melmond will try to tell you that a vampire has taken up residence in the Terra Cavern to the South and is subverting the power of the elemental Earth Crystal found there, thus causing the land to sicken and decay. Well, as is often the case, the villagers are only partially correct. There is a vampire lurking in the Terra Cavern, but one good hit with Fire 2 will send him permanently to the grave, and you won't see hide nor hare of the Earth Crystal until you do some more digging, pun intended. The real fiend responsible for the decaying soil is the Lich, and one spell is not nearly enough to send him on his merry way.

It only took me one try to defeat the Lich, so I can't swear that he follows a set pattern the way that Astos did. I can tell you that he possesses all of the rank two black magics: Fire 2, Ice, 2, Bolt 2, Sleep 2, Haste 2, and Slow 2, and will make ample use of them. I attempted to cast slow once and silence twice and all three attempts failed, leading me to believe that he's immune to at least those if not all status effects. He also takes depressingly little damage from physical attacks, so be prepared to burn through your spells. Fire does the most damage, and Ice the least.

At least from my one experience, the secret to defeating this guy is to cast NulIce, NulFire, and NulBolt as quickly as possible. Without these protections the Lich's spells will deal out around 100 damage to your entire party, and keeping up with healing won't really be possible. With protection the damage is cut to 30 - 50, and a potion or Cure 2 here or there will keep you alive. Not once during the fight did the Lich hit me with a physical attack, I assume you don't need to worry about such a thing.

Burn through your spells and hope for critical hits from anyone doing physical damage and you should be able to outlast the gruesome corpse with the protection spells and a decent supply of healing spells or potions. Put the Lich in his place and then restore power to the Earth Crystal and you will officially have proved yourself a warrior of the light.

Breaking the level 10 barrier

Still having trouble defeating the constant stream of enemies that stand between you and any attempt you might make to leave town? In addition to the general strategies that I've already provided (saving often, running from battles you can't win, and making sure not to skimp on the latest spells and equipment) there is one more thing you can do to improve your survivability.

Get to level 10.

Why level 10? Simple. Once you hit level 10 your warriors will suddenly stop missing their targets as often as they had been, and will begin hitting twice per swing instead of just once. (In the case of the monk you'll actually begin to see 3 or 4 hits per attack.) You'll also find that your mages have finally accrued enough spell uses that you're no longer terrified of wasting a spell. The difference in damage here is tough to imagine, and you have my word that post level 10 you'll suddenly find yourself feeling simply annoyed by monsters that used to inspire terror.

If you haven't hit level 10 yet and can't seem to progress I suggest you go kill ogres in the forest near Elfheim until that magic double-digit level rolls around and then see how you fare.

FF1 - Getting into the Story

I'll be the first to admit that story telling wasn't Square's strong point in the beginning. FF1 is about as bare bones as its physically possible to get and still claim that there's a story being told. If I weren't familiar with the rest of the series and able to see how these early story elements eventually evolve into some of the most enchanting stories I've ever experienced, I might be sadly disappointed. When combined with a frustrating difficulty level the general lack of story makes it challenging to continue playing, and I have to admit that I would not recommend FF1 as a starting place for players who have never visited the Final Fantasy world. All of that said, the basic elements that make up the FF1 story are the building blocks on which an empire has been constructed. Read on for cursory analysis.

The fundamental principle on which the FF1 story is built is one of the oldest mythological conceptions in existence - the idea that the world is made up of and preserved by the existence of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. This basic understanding of world functions has shown itself in ancient Greek, Hindu, Buddhist, Tibetan, Japanese, and Chinese mythology, as well as in the myths and legends of countless indigenous peoples across the world. Where the idea originally came from I'm not sure anyone can say, but its proliferation has been outstanding and in some ways the basic concepts of an elemental existence are still alive today in varied forms.

FF1 opens at a time when the elements have gone dark, and a cloud is slowly obscuring the world. According to an ancient prophecy four warriors of light will announce themselves at the time of greatest darkness, and will dedicate themselves to restoring balance to the world. The four warriors you chose at the beginning of the game are, surprise, the four warriors of light.

Sadly the game tells you almost nothing about the developing story as you go along. The opening consists of about two paragraphs which say almost exactly what I just said above, and after 15 hours of gameplay those opening paragraphs are the only actual story telling that I've been presented with. Any other glimpses into what's happening in the world come from NPC's throughout the various towns, who will tell you such things as "A vampire is obstructing the flow of the Earth Crystal and the land is dieing." After you go out and restore the Earth Crystal you can return to the town to be told, "The vampire is dead, the land is restored!" That's it. No party in your name, no deeper explanation of who was behind the plot to obstruct the flow of the earth crystal, nothing. Perhaps these things will come later, but my previous experience with later games has primed me to expect more depth. C'est la vie.

If, as I progress, the story begins to depend in meaningful ways I will revisit this section of the blog. If not, this is really all I need to say about the FF1 storyline, and I am anxious to progress passed this first game.

Boss Battle: Astos

Astos. King of the Dark Elves. Responsible for the theft of the witch Matoya's crystal eye and the eternal slumber spell that has kept the King of the Forest Elves in stasis for the last five years. Finally, a boss! Technically Garland, the corrupted Cornelian Knight is the first boss of FF1, but the fight with Garland lasts about 2.5 seconds and I'm confident that you don't my help in defeating him. Astos might be a different story.

The fight with Astos commences when you attempt to return the stolen Crown from the Marsh Cave to the oversized King of the Western Kingdom. The polar bear proportions of the chubby king might have tipped you off that he isn't altogether wholesome, but in event that it didn't, he reveal his true intentions when you attempt to hand over the crown.

Astos is virtually immune to physical hits, so if you haven't bought along either a black of red mage you're going to have some difficulties. Critical attacks will still deal substantial damage, but the average physical attack is going to be sadly ineffective. Fortunately black magic users make up 1/3 of the total available character classes, so chances are high that you've got one in toe.

Unload with your most powerful spells from turn one, no particular element is more effective than any other. My attempts to sleep, silence, slow, or blind Astos all failed, and while I don't know for sure that he is immune to these status ailments the use of them was surplus to victory. Hit him with spells and he should die in relatively short order.

Offensively Astos follows a fairly simple pattern. (I only fought him twice, but his actions were identical for both fights.) He begins the battle by casting an instant death spell on a member of your party. If it hits, simply reload and start the battle over again, as you don't really want anyone to miss out on experience for this fight. If it misses, which it did in both battles for me, he'll follow up by casting Slow II on one of your characters, and then Haste II on himself. At this point if you have a red or white mage with the NulFire spell you'll want to cast it, as Astos will follow the Haste II spell with Fire II, and this can do some damage if you're not prepared (though it wasn't enough to kill any of my party members even without the use of the NulFire.) After the Fire spell he'll begin using physical attacks, but by this point in the battle, if you've been using black magic each turn, he's nearly dead. Get in your last hits and congratulate yourself on your first real boss fight.

Your reward for dethroning the Dark Elf King is the Matoya's crystal eye. Take the eye to the witch in her cave to the north and she'll reward you with a Jolt Potion. The Jolt Potion can be used to awaken the sleeping Elf King, who will then reward you with something of actual value, the mystic key. Hurray! You can now open all of the Sealed doors that you've been encountering - assuming you remember where they all are.

FF1 - Hours 3 - 7

When I mentioned earlier that this first game in the Final Fantasy franchise was hard I wasn't exaggerating. Difficult, frustrating, agonizing, and capable of eliciting the most colorful of epithets. There's always something to be said for the thrill of surviving a brush with death, but the sheer regularity with which one of your warriors will die coupled with the exorbitant cost of reviving them leads to a potent desire to throw your controller across the room. Still, the true gamer soldiers on. I've spent the last several hours mapping the territory, so to speak, a learning how best to stay alive on journeys farther and farther away from the safety of town. These are my suggestions to you.

• Make use of the Memo Save function to save your game in between resting. You can memo save any time, regardless of where you are. Save early, save often.
• DO NOT skimp on spells and equipment. Everything you want to buy will cost you hundreds of Gil more than you can possibly afford. Don't leave town without the latest accoutrement. You'll enjoy the levels you accidentally get while slaughtering monsters for Gil almost as much as you'll enjoy the shiny new sword you bought.
• Don't be afraid to run away. Seriously, when you encounter a party of seven enemies two of which cause poison with their attacks, FLEE. There's no shame in living to fight another day, or, in this case, sometime in the next five steps you take. After your first two or so hours of game play, you should have reached the second town and gained access to the ship. Stay in the waters near where you first boarded and you'll find yourself likely to encounter Privateers with some regularity. Said Privateers are worth 150 Gil apiece. I highly recommend plundering their booty for a half hour or so before pushing on, prices at the next town take a steep up turn. (If you're on land, Ogres yield a good payout as well, but they hit considerably harder than Privateers).
  
• Carry potions. Lots of potions. No, more than that. No, still more. There you go. Oh, and carry half as many antidotes (resting at an inn does not cure poison), and a few sleeping bags for the purpose of hard saving before a dungeon.

By the sixth hour my party was level 8 and I'd officially bought everything that I could possibly force myself to stand still long enough to buy. I decided at last to tackle the Marsh Cave in search of a magical Crown rumored to have the power to restore the decrepit Western Kingdom. I escaped with the crown in hand and only 1 of 4 characters still alive. It was good times. My journey continues.

Final Fantasy 1 - A Beginning

Final Fantasy 1 opens by asking players to choose a name and character class for the four warriors who will make up the primary protagonists. While other games in the series offer players a chance to change character names and classes later on, this first game is, if memory serves, the only game which does not provide preexisting names and classes.

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Final Fantasy 1 - The History

The game that launched the series was originally released in Japan in 1987 before being licensed by Nintendo of America for release in the US in 1990, for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. It was created by Japanese game designer Hironobu Sakaguchi whose success with the series has made him a household name in the industry. According to Wikipedia the game was released at a time when Squaresoft (now Square Enix) was facing bankruptcy. I wonder if they realized at the time what the future would bring.