Keyser plays Final Fantasy (NES)

Hey, guys. I'm going to do a report and commentary on my playthrough for the first Final Fantasy game. I got in the mood via a steam splurge and a scheduling of seeing Advent Children in theaters with my brothers.

Day 1-3

OK, so the NES version. I found myself in a weird pickle which I dug for myself based on a misunderstanding. I spent seven hours level-grinding because of this misunderstanding, but it got me 1300 extra cash. So this game has you name the four characters with the slightest bit of exposition: all four characters have an orb. OK. Lame.

So what's this pickle? Well, simple. When I went to the shop, at the very start of the game once you leave the castle where nothing happens without a mystic key you don't have, the shopkeeper says, "who's getting this?" In my mind that meant, AUTO-EQUIP. And I figured once I get more equipment than what this cheap "one of the first JRPG's ever" shop had to give me, it would ask me to switch stuff out later.

NOPE. This game might've offered up only five things to sell, and kept its story and gameplay super simple, actually bothers to have you PAY for a way to save the game, can't figure out an EXP balance between levels, AND only distributes large amounts of HP every other level for the mages as if that was some form of balance... but unlike the magic spells which equip on their own, the armor and weapons work differently, which I think is kind of ****ing dumb in a way. In the DS version of III, all the weapons and spells went in one bag, and if you auto-equip from the ship, you do it yourself. never in a million years did I consider that each of the four characters had their own individual bags for weapons and armor... so I spent seven hours over three days level-grinding with no equipment. I found out after acquiring a cap and wanting to find a way to transfer it from one character to another.

But hey, I'm almost at level six, and with the equipment on, I now have a lot of money to spend later. I also made sure to stock up on potions and tents.

So my characters are the same as in the first ever FF game I played, FF3 DS: Warrior, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage. I like balancing between attackers and healers. I gave them short and sweet names. Warrior: Jedi, because my first name is Jed, I had an extra space and I just downloaded a Lego Star Wars game; White Mage: Fae because white mages in FF remind me of faries, Black Mage: Blue because it has a blue robe, and Red mage: Pyro because Red Mages are my favorite of the three and I wanted something cool sounding.

I get to this one-floor temple where an evil wizard has kidnapped a princess yadda yadda, and the boss is really easy by this point. So I'm thinking to myself, "Sweet! It should be easy pickings for a little while."

Um, no. Immediately after I beat this boss, a bridge is built to get me to the next land mass, and on the right side of that is a random encounter iguana who hits harder than the boss I just fought. Honestly... Even for one of the first ever JRPG's, this is obviously NOT something you do. Unfortunately, I have to go to the right because exploring the left side lead to dead ends and an old person going on about a lost crystal. The only real solace in that situation is the large EXP I gain from these enemies. And there's the occasional pack of wolves, which isn't quite as bad as getting four madponies or even one iguana, as my fighter and red mage can one-hit KO them. So at about 30-50 EXP a battle, I can at least level up my team in around 8 or so by this point. I just had to beg that my mages' HP would raise significantly. And if not, I had to hope that my attackers would go after my warrior.

Of course, right before I get to the next town, I'm attacked by another iguana. But let me tell you: it's a breath of the freshest mountain air that I didn't get two, because one of those monsters can cut my white mage's HP in half.

So I go into town: it's invades by pirates. And the third person I talk to, IS a pirate, and I end up in a battle with nine of them. So far, the highest amount I got in one swing was six. But thankfully, all their HP's are low enough for my mages to one-hit KO them. SO after I beat him...

"Okay, take my ship."

I don't know out of who's ass that blew from, but hey, a ship's a ship. But there's a reason I came to this town: rest, relaxation and REAL weapons. Unfortunately, the vast majority of armors is built specifically for warriors, so there's an obvious favoritism here. Even Unepic had robes specifically for magic users and different elemental types. On top of that, the next level of armor goes from 80 coins to 800!? Um, I'm not renting a penthouse here. Swords were no different, and I couldn't get any new mage weapons. But I bought what I could, looked up who could equip what because I wasn't gonna take any risks in the bartering department, went outside to test my gear and watched the level up happen after the next battle. I was happy to see my mages' HP increase by around 25.

And now all I need to do is fight two battles to break even for an inn bill at this point, as the price went up from 30 to 50 (the most reasonable inflation in the game). It also helps if I fight an ogre, as one of those puppies brings you 195 gold!!! I even got excited to fight another iguana to test out the upgrades! But I still had to deal with the hassle of four madponies in one battle. Those guys have mondo HP and a painful attack. Thankfully, my fighter can deal fifty without a critical.

So I'm at level 6 for all my characters, everyone's even in EXP, and I've got a quest to find a crystal and a new town to fall back on. More tomorrow. Current consensus: NOTHING compared to VII.

Day 4

I spent a couple hours level-grinding and BOY am I making moolah. In the hour and a half of level-grinding, I checked out the ship and fought myself a shark. Damn, those guys are loaded with HP, and I might fight 'em more often if they didn't only give 60 coin. I might as well just hunt ogres, so my first venture out at sea was a bit disappointing, but the real reason I didn't go out was because I didn't want to waste items getting rid of a stun status by some weird eyeball in the sea.

I pigged out on a shopping splurge once I collected about 4000. I filled all my mages up with spells, but the level 2 spells cost 400 each, so I was down to 500. I'm not worried though, since I've been making money more quickly than I thought I would. The question is, will this help by the third town? Prices went up quickly... A major plus for my current situation is that my warrior started dealing 2 hits in one attack. Unfortunately, my mages aren't. So I want to be at least level 8 or 9 before I go to whatever dungeon I need to be at, and hopefully my mages will be able to handle themselves more well. If my red mage gets a 2 hit ability, then I'll really have two powerhouses ready to protect my mages, and my mages will be able to take out lesser enemies with one attack with that same power.

I've got a lot of places to explore now, so there's not much linearity to follow. But the problem is that there are no towns or caves or castles in the land area, so I had to look up a map to know where I was going. I made it to an elf town where I found that the spells were 1500 each, and they still didn't have any proper weapons for my white mage, but they had a slight upgrade for my blue one. On top of that, I had the severe displeasure of meeting three Geists, which managed to paralyze my entire team slowly but surely while they just constantly beat on me. And because the ordering of who attacks is severely random, there's no point in me trying to tell which character to heal which person when that person could be attacked immediately afterwards! I don't care if I got 100 EXP and 450 gold from that, it took FIVE MINUTES of watching them ferociously beat on my team with a broken system. It wasn't even the annoying gameplay challenge. It was just drawn out, poorly designed due to no speed-based attack pattern that I can tell and it kept me completely frozen for that time. SO I went RIGHT BACK to the last town to level grind there. I wasn't coming back to face those ****ers until I as strong enough. Honestly, the only reason I didn't quit playing right then and there and go over to number II was that I just started this journal. That's how bad the imbalance as. There are plenty of games with creatures who mix up the attacks, even with status ailments. But how did Square think a paralyzation EVERY ATTACK was a good idea?

After some more grinding up there, I had enough money to buy a few of those 1500 coin spells. My white and red mages now have a couple light spells which should help against the dark creatures (if a type-matchup system exists in this game, and it might since fire attacks do little to sea creatures as I tested). I found that if I stay higher up on the grid by that elven city, there's little chance of me meeting those ghouls. It's largely been ogres with their good EXP and high coin count. I'm set! With all these ogres here, the 100 coin inn price is little consequence.

So I'm going to spend the rest of my FF time today going up to level 10 and money grinding for the spells and maybe that 4000 coin sword that's gonna make my fighter invincible for a while. After that, gonna cool it with some dinner.