The game was groundbreaking in Japan, back when all there was to compare it to was Dragon Quest. It came to the USA a bit late in the NES's life, but you'd be surprised what a full-issue spread in Nintendo Power can do for a game's notoriety. But despite all its popularity, Final Fantasy was two things: 1) a flagrant rip-off of Dungeons & Dragons, in many cases without even the serial numbers filed off, and 2) a terrible, bug-ridden mess.
But Final Fantasy seems like one of the most often-rereleased video games out there, behind Tetris and Pac-Man but not a whole lot else. The GBA port is itself more or less the same as the Wonderswan port that came out a little before it, but to its credit it at least addresses one of the two issues hindering the NES version.
Squeenix did a lot of combination rereleases of the Final Fantasy franchise, at one point combining Final Fantasy 4 and Chrono Trigger together. This is... one of those, and Dawn of Souls is the first time Final Fantasy 2 was released in the USA. You know Final Fantasy 2, it's the one that eventually spun off the SaGa series,
for better or worse.
But -- for now, at least -- I'm sticking with what I sort-of know. I've played the NES version through a few times, but not this one.
Warriors are the game's easymode. Having trouble with the game? Start over with more Warriors. (At least, this is true of the NES version.) They can take hits like a champ thanks to their heavy armor, and they can use the game's best weapons. Their damage output isn't as great as the dedicated strikers, but to their credit, swords swings aren't limited by Vancian magic spell slots. (And the Warrior gets white magic too, later in the game.) If the Warrior were a Pokemon, he would be Snorlax.
Thieves get some of the biggest benefits from the GBA remake, because now they
work as intended. See, Thieves are supposed to be good at running away, keeping your party out of trouble in hazardous dungeons. But since the NES version was hacked together, fleeing a battle didn't work right, and everyone was as good at it as everyone else. The Thief lost his specialty and basically became a Warrior without the heavy weapons and armor.
In the GBA version, Theives are indeed better at running away than anyone else, and I suspect they keep your party from getting ambushed as often. Once they promote, they can wear heavier armor and wield better weapons and some black magic. They start out weak, and eventually gain power to get... still outclassed by other options. If the Thief were a Pokemon, he would be Magikarp.
Monks are like Warriors in that they just brawl enemies to death without the aid of magic. But while Warriors are the slow-and-solid tank, Monks are agile death-of-a-thousand-punches sorts of fighters. They can wear limited weapons and armor but are almost always better off without it, moreso in the GBA version than the original NES game (where nunchaku were somewhat useful in early levels). Later in the game, they get even better at punching things and dodging hits. That said, if the Monk
can't dodge a hit, his sturdy training is only going to do so much to keep him standing. If the Monk were a Pokemon, he would be Charizard.
The Red Mage is the first casting class, and not a dedicated one. Red Mages are better fighters than the other mages and can cast better spells than the Warrior, Thief, or Monk. There are some spells that Red Mages just can't learn, however, including some of the most useful and powerful ones. Nonetheless, they can do a little bit of everything. If the Red Mage were a Pokemon, he would be Clefable.
The white mage is a healer and defender. They make their allies hard to hit, and restore their HP once they're hurt. In the NES version, they're a little superfluous because having another Fighter on the team instead means you take so little damage overall you never have to cast a healing spell. Not sure if that remains the case in this version. If the White Mage were a Pokemon, it'd be one of the ones with a healing move, but not Chansey because they don't have that kind of staying power. They're Final Fantasy mages, they're kind of fragile!
The black mage sucks at fighting and can't take a hit, but commands elemental blasts and has some useful utility magic. In the NES version, they're made obsolete by spellcasting equipment thanks to, yes, more bugs. In this version, they remain useful as the casters with the highest raw damage output. If the Black Mage was a Pokemon, he would be Alakazam.
Normally this is the part where I'd open up the team composition to a vote, but ah, screw it. I roll four dice and take the classes in order. 1, 3, 4, 6 means...
Rock on, food theme naming.
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Topic: The GBA was good to this franchise: Let's Play Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls! (Read 14843 times)