I'm still here!

Hey everyone! The holidays took up a ton of time for me so I wasn't able to post for a while. Worry not, I am still here and the trek shall continue. I have spent a few hours with Final Fantasy V on the SNES and I'm cautiously optimistic so far.

We're back in the realm of fan translations which, I've gotta say, I'm really enjoying. Being a purist, it's hard for me to say that  I prefer the fan-led projects but seeing as how awful the localization has been on ever Final Fantasy up to this point, the fans just do a better job.

I really do want to give a quick shout-out to these fans. See, even now, JRPG fans who don't speak Japanese have it pretty tough. Frequently, only the biggest franchises get ported over to the US as these niche audiences usually aren't enough to justify the cost of a proper localization team. We thankfully have companies like Atlus, XSEED and others who are willing to do this, as well as the major titles from Namco-Bandai and Square-Enix, but many, MANY games get left in the dust. Look at the relatively recent debacle regarding Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandoras Tower and The Last Story. Particularly Xenoblade Chronicles, this game was one of the highest rated JRPGs to come out in years yet it was initially not going to be brought to the US. Operation Rainfall thankfully stood up and helped bring it over but many games don't get the same treatment.

Anyway, for us niche fans, we are reliant on those selfless folks who devote countless hours translating every single line of dialogue in a game with only the promise of fan donations as compensation. Without them, we would never be able to play the original versions of games like Final Fantasy 2, 3 and 5. Other games like Valkyria Chronicles 3, Terranigma, the many Tales games never released in the US would also be lost to us. So a huge thank you to you folks for your hard work. Without you, this journey would not be possible.

"Boco, why is everything all black???"

Final Fantasy V. This was the follow up to the huge success that was Final Fantasy IV. While Final Fantasy was obviously doing pretty well three games in, IV really cemented it's place as the leading series in the JRPG genre. It also did very well over in the states under the name Final Fantasy II. So how do they follow up such a smash hit game?

Well, they take the storyline that everyone loved from IV and meld it with the job system from III. Oh yeah, and make the game hard as balls. Yes, the rumors you heard are true, the cited reason that Square gave for why they didn't bring this game to the states is that it was just too hard. Thankfully, many gamers, like myself, took this as a challenge and made the SNES rom one of the highest downloaded SNES roms in the early 2000's. 

Look at their originality. JRPG characters with amnesia.

Although Final Fantasy V improved on several things from it's predecessor, it is commonly regarded as a low-point for the classic Final Fantasy games. Many reviewers don't like the storyline or the characters, calling it all tried and true. The job system is still lauded as being one of the most important developments in the series' long history, but the game is usually called merely passable.

In some ways, I think it gets a bad rap and in other ways, I agree, so far. One of the best parts of Final Fantasy IV was the interesting and changing boss fights. Bosses were rarely just the run-of-the-mill, beat them up till they die, type fights. They commonly changed tactics in the middle of fights and required you to do the same. The fight against Dark Cecil is one of the most highly regarded boss fights in gaming history but many of the other fights are memorable as well, really utilizing the ATB system to keep you on your toes and really ramp up the tension during these encounters. So far, Final Fantasy V has not done this very effectively. It's wonderful being able to now see the ATB progress so you can better plan characters moves but the boss battles haven't been very interesting at all, up to this point. One interesting fight pits you against a monster who changes between living and undead status which is cool but it's an obvious switch and stands out as the only boss to do anything mid-battle. 

I still have quite a ways to go but I do enjoy the game so far. It may not be as revolutionary as IV or VI but it's still an SNES Final Fantasy game and has been plenty enjoyable to me thus far.

Boco doesn't like being left behind! Boco charge!

Game on!