M.M. Kin Video Game Review - Final Fantasy V

Look at that! More elemental crystals! We must save the four crystals again or the forces of darkness will take over the world!

Wait... didn't we already do this before? Three times already, if I recall... in FFI, III, and IV. Wow, these crystals must be super-important!

But the game is still good. The storyline is unique enough from previous ones that despite the thing with the Crystals, it doesn't feel like some boring rehash. The Jobs system is back, and impvoed, so that skills you learned from one job path can be chosen/retained even if you choose a different path, so you can be a Thief who knows White or Black magic, or a Mage with physical fighting skills (i.e. Monk or Knight) which makes it pretty awesome.

This is a pretty fantastic installment in the series, with five characters with stories that fit well into the main story, and the artwork and gameplay is pretty fantastic. FFIV had some pretty great graphics, but it was in SNES' earlier days, FFV came along when SNES was improving in its graphics and I loved the designs of some of the bosses/villians.

The Gameboy Advance remake is pretty much what you'd expect from the updated versions of these games - you get bonus dungeons, but also several new Job designations. This game has a certain complecity in its story and world that exceeds FFIV and I wholeheartedly recommend it to FF fans.

Grade

FF5 (SNES version) A-

FF5 (GBA remake) A

M.M. Kin Video Game Review - Final Fantasy IV

I played the original SNES version in English (branded as FFII back then) when I was a teenager, and enjoyed it. The first three games in the FF series all had unique features, and flaws, as if the series was still trying to find/feel its way. FFIV was actually the very first of the original FF series I ever played, and having played the first 3 games since, I can say that FFIV has a more solid story and gameplay compared to its precedessors.

Instead of switching around jobs like in FFIII, each character in FFIV has a job and certain skills, and that doesn't change, though I don't think that's a bad thing for this installment. The story is solid, though like FFI, III, and V, there are four elemental crystals the characters need to locate/save. Kinda repetitive, but eh, whatever.

The characters have backstories/histories, which make them feel more real compared to the generic characters from FFI and III, and FFIV is the best in the series, thus far. At least in my opinion. The story of the villians, and who the real bad guy is, is also decent, and so is the dialogue... there's some funny lines mixed in with the serious/story dialogue. You also get to travel to the Moon, so whee!

Like all the other remakes so far, bonus dungeons and additional items/weapons are introduced, making a good game even better. Not only that, but the characters you previously lost in the SNES version (Cid, the twins, Yang, Edward) return as playable characters, which definitely made me very happy, LOL. All in all, I would say that though the previous games were decent (especially with their remakes) this is the first installment in the series which really, truly feels very FF-like.

Grade

FF4 (SNES version) B

FF4 (Nintendo Gameboy Advance remake) A-