Welcome to Thursday’s Modern Gaming Reviews and we check out the Game Boy Advance port of Final Fantasy Origins. It has been over 30 years since the first two Final Fantasy games were released in the late 80’s alongside Dragon Quest. The first two games of the series helped popularized RPGs in the console market throughout the Third Gen. Around 2003/2004, Square came out with a collection and remade the first two entries in 16-bits. The first one is called Final Fantasy Origins that was originally released on the PS1 in 2003. The other one was a port called Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls that released on the GBA in 2004. Both collections contain remakes of the NES titles with additional content and improved visuals. The port renders both games in traditional 16-bit graphics with updated gameplay mechanics. The games have been updated with the current standards being used in most Super NES era RPGs. They include an auto target, save anywhere and a big inventory system. In the collections they are also packed with extra content such as items, weapons, magic spells and places that weren’t even in the originals. Gameplay The GBA port managed to make a few things more accessible compared to Origins. The gameplay is no different as it’s the traditional 2D system the 80s and 90s RPGs used with its modern mechanics. The format is the basic RPG system of exploring with an overhead perspective as you venture through the world. You will encounter enemies in a traditional manner through instant battles and within a dungeon face a boss at the end. In FFI, the player can put together a team of several classes at the start however, I never noticed any difference no matter what you picked. Those issues that plagued the NES titles have gotten fixed and has the most modern mechanics from the 16-bit era. That means there’s auto target, the weapon shops tell what items works with the classes and can save anywhere. In FFII, there's an attribute system where every weapon, spell and armor that is used gets stronger for each character. I always found this system unique as all main party members are free lancers and can equipped anything. It gave me a reason to fight these random battles instead of grinding so you could beat a stronger boss. Square also changed a few things with this system and if you don’t use a certain weapon a party member’s ability points don’t get reduced. That was more to do with making FFII accessible as its predecessor. Probably the weakest area of this remake and its found in the level design across both games. There are no puzzles to solve nor is there any abilities to overcome a challenge but exploring an empty level. Using this old design made exploring these levels tedious between the 2 to 5 second random encounters and getting through these labyrinths that even lead to dead ends and empty rooms. My biggest gripe with the remakes so far is nothing has really changed in terms of level design. The levels have labyrinth designs to them with the only challenge being the random encounters. I don’t know why Square always does this with their remakes sometimes. The only thing they fixed is having modern mechanics and calling the spells by their current names. When looking at Golden Sun that had the player solve puzzles and overcome obstacles it’s hard to go back to these bare bone designs. The main quest always had the player go through a dungeon/castle’s corridors, face a boss at the end and retrieve the key items. The next one is a tiny issue in FFII and it’s how you only have a permanent team of three with a guest fighter joining as the fourth member. I understand it was part of the story with Leon being swayed by the Emperor as the reason he never joined the team. A temporary member joining Firion had its moments like when Minwu and Richard got killed by sacrificing themselves. However, it happened every time the player reaches a part where they needed to explore a dungeon. Rating: 7.3/10 Graphics/Presentation The beauty of DoS is using 16-bit graphics to bring the games back to life. The environments and sprites look stunning and add a new personality thanks to the updated visuals. For the characters, their sprites had the same standards applied from the previous installments released on the Super NES. Each environment had the typical fantasy design of a dungeon and ruined temples. An area like the Sunken Shrine or the Flying Fortress had the fantasy appearance to them in spades. However, in FFII there weren't many in that world unless we count the Mysidia Tower and Pandemonium. Now, my personal favorite re-imaged concept comes from the redone soundtrack for both titles. These songs gave their theme this magical feel of a fantasy place and had impactful meaning to them. Another positive comes FFII's soundtrack and this was the first time the game was available to North American players. The songs were redone beautifully and really captures the mood of the environments and situations in the stories. The best of the soundtrack came from Chaos Temple, Phin Castle, Elemental Fiend Battle 2, Overworld (FFII), Castle Pandemonium and the Emperor's Final Battle. For some reason, Square always got its soundtrack right regardless if the gameplay and visuals don’t match the quality. The Sunken Temple along with the Flying Fortress were among my favorite levels in FFI. These places just had this mystical aura surrounding both with an ancient theme added to them. Now, in FFII, the in game graphics presents the intro in 16-bits and I will admit they did a great job replacing the PS1 CGI openings. Even though DoS lacked the CGI intros, the 16-bit openings were truly a great alternative design. These still captured the mood of the themes properly and made the adventure start out with a great feel. Now, the port’s major issue involving its visuals is how they are Super NES era graphics. After playing Golden Sun and Fire Emblem, the visuals don’t look as good as those examples were almost near 32-bits. DoS is in the same situation as the Breath of Fire ports and it’s just behind the GBA’s standards set since 2001. When even compared with other titles such as Sword of Mana and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories it just doesn't come close. DoS’s picture and sound isn't as clear as in Origins and this is due to the GBA's limited cartridge space. It’s the same for the soundtrack and even due its good despite the GBA’s crappy sound chip, this isn’t MP3 quality. That’s because Origins was running on a CD and DoS was using MIDI format instead of MP3. So, Origins has a better picture and sound while DoS has more suitably designed intros despite not being in CGI. Regardless, DoS still looks and sounds good for 16-bit standards and both collections still have well designed graphics. Rating: 7.5/10 Story The stories for both games have aged since the late 80's and the plots are as basic as it gets. The heroes fight the bad guys to save the world and a princess in the process while getting stronger. In FFI, the story follows four unnamed characters that are the typical silent protagonists, and the player gives them a class of their own. Regardless of who the player picks as the party, it won't change the story in the slightest. These characters are called the Light Warriors of Lukahn's prophecy and their task is to stop the four elemental fiends and Garland from destroying the world. The dialogue and events are the same and have been unchanged since the original. That's all there is to the story and nothing deep happens that we see so often in today's RPGs. At least we know the name of fighter/knight’s and he's simply called the Warrior of Light. IF you don’t know this got revealed in Dissidia where he becomes a selectable character. However, I wished Square would implement these story elements into the remake like using that personality from Dissidia. For FFII this got written with a deeper plot compared its predecessor. It’s about the Palamecia Empire trying to conquer the world using monsters from Hell. The Empire also tries conquering the kingdoms of Kashuan and Fynn and leads to the two countries forming a rebellion called Wild Rose. The main antagonist is simply known as The Emperor and four youths called Firion, Maria, Gus and Leon become the center of the story. New redrawn 2D images of the characters are now displayed in the dialogue boxes and will even show expressions of the current moment. I find it weird how Garland is only seen at first in the beginning in FFI and we don't see him again until the Final Battle. With the Emperor in FFII its the opposite and we get a first glimpse of him in the intro and later in the middle of the story. Both seem like the basic villains we usually would see in these older titles and the plan to either destroy the world or conquer it. Unfortunately, both stories are too simple compared to today's deeper plots in modern gaming. In FFI its story was very average and doesn't have the same wealth the original had at the time. It might’ve been a solid plot in 1987, but the theme has really aged since. The unnamed characters with different fighting classes don't work anymore unless it’s an MMO like World of Warcraft. There is no relation to the characters, and this makes them come off uninspiring. Even the main antagonists were as basic as they come especially with their typical one liner. No major events occured that felt compelling, and the main NPCs would just tell them to go here to retrieve a quest item. The NPCs had no defining personalities either and were no different than the Light Warriors. While in FFII the story wasn't as average like its predecessor, but the plot was still simple by today's standards. It was an improvement over the NES game however, the main characters don't really hold up or engage me in the slightest. The characters of Firion, Maria, Gus, Leon and the Emperor didn't have defined personalities. That's what made the story seem basic and some updated dialogue would've been nice. Again, why couldn’t Square develop Firion’s personality like they did in Dissidia? It turns out his dream is to see the world fill of roses but Firion has doubts this will come true due to people thinking this might sound childish. Rating: 6.6/10 Features/Content Originally, the content in Origins felt disappointing between the graphical upgrade, an art gallery and two mini games. There should’ve been more things added like side quests, equipment and spells that weren't in the originals. Fortunately, Square went the extra mile this time for the GBA port, and more things got added. Features like the bestiary, music player and a harder difficulty mode for FFI returns. The first major content added was four optional dungeons for FFI that become available after defeating an elemental fiend. My biggest problem with the Original NES release is how the game lacked so much content. I would put so much time into these optional dungeons thanks to the rewards and level grinding it provided. My favorite one was the Lifespring Grotto and facing the bosses from FFV like Omega. The fact I was facing what is considered the hardest and cheapest Super Boss in the series blew my mind. I also love being rewarded a special weapon and armor after beating these bosses. Just to have the Ultimate Weapon or the Genji armor was pure awesomeness considering the equipment wasn't in the original. The best thing about this is the extra stuff created replay value and gave me a reason to go back. It only gives you the option to take one or two special items at a time, and I enjoyed facing previous super bosses from the series. The image of the left is an Easter Egg found in the town of Elferia and its a funny Zelda reference. The reason this got placed in the text was Square throwing a jab at Nintendo as both first entries debuted in that same year of 1987. The second image is the entrance to the LifeSpring Grotto and its blocked by the statue of the Kraken. I always love how these studios add that extra dungeon or mode to their remakes so they could create that replay value we expect. For FFII, a new mode called Soul of Rebirth got added and it's unlocked after beating the game. I felt this made FFII story more interesting because of the fact you control the party of Minwu, Scott, Josuf and Ricard. It's interesting that these four characters that died would get revived somehow and continue fighting The Emperor. Another intriguing thing about these four is they are the Light Warriors of FFII. Unlike those from the first title this group of fighters had actual personalities. The only criticism for SoR is its too short and another ten hours could’ve been added. For any side features, those card mini games return for both Final Fantasies. To enable them, you must be in the boat on the ocean for FFI and in the snow sled in FFII. Unfortunately, the problem with accessing these is still an issue left from Origins. In DoS the player presses a button 20 times to open a Memory Card mini game instead of 55 from Origins. I can’t understand why they left the same idea but the difference being its now 35 times less of pressing a button. It was extremely obnoxious to even make the player learn the frog spell up to level 16 to gain advanced armor in FFII. Did they honestly think people like us had the time of day to do this for a weak spell? What makes this pointless is the Emperor's second form only takes a few hits to kill by using the Blood Sword and berserk on one party member. The player doesn’t even need those special weapons and armors when the trick I explained is all they have to do to win the game. Rating: 8.5/10 Final Rating The DoS port for GBA was a much improved version as the package managed to produce more accessible mechanics. The traditional style 2D gameplay is truly showing its age even when this got released in 2004. During the mid-2000s Square was starting to move away from the classic style of random battles. That’s where FFXII comes in and its free roaming gameplay really made FFX and its predecessors appeared outdated. For a handheld title, this is a good pickup game to pass the time much like Pokémon Fire Red. The visuals are a bit scaled down compared to the crisp cleared picture due to this playing from a cartridge instead of a CD. The CGI scenes got removed for obvious reasons but instead replaced with in-game graphics. The dual collections had it major issue of extra features fixed, and the package is loaded with enough to keep you busy. Unfortunately, age has really caught up with the stories as they now look simplistic. Most of the characters don’t really grow unless you count Gordon but what about the main cast across both games. The level design wasn’t changed in the slightest with the labyrinth dungeons and temples and facing a boss at the end. The visuals are not up to the standards of the GBA when Golden Sun is widely available on the platform with pseudo-3D effects. The collection is still considered a good remake and I would recommend this version instead of Origins. Gameplay: 7.3/10 Graphics/Presentation: 7.5/10 Story: 6.6/10 Features/Content: 8.5/10 Final Rating: 7.6/10 Good
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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