Final Fantasy V

Final Fantasy V, the lost SNES Final Fantasy. When I first heard about FF5 I wondered what Square had been thinking to leave a Final Fantasy game out of US’s reach. It just didn’t make sense to me that a game belonging to one of the most known RPG series in the US wouldn’t have made it here. But now after playing and beating it I can see why Square would have been hesitant to bring this game to US shores. By: Sean Jacox (A.K.A Koji)

During the time this was released Square was afraid of bringing too hard or confusing of a game to the US shores. It was generally believed that US gamers were too afraid of the challenge of the games.

Back to the game. FF5 was unique from most of the other Final Fantasy games because it was focused on a few characters instead of the broad range that the FF series was known for. These characters you were stuck with the whole game but they threw in a job system (much like that of Tactics Ogre or later Final Fantasy Tactics) to spice it up. There were approx 20 jobs each with its own strength and weaknesses as well as what weapons could be used. Later as the jobs became mastered you could mix powers gained from other jobs. The sound of the game was what you would expect of any FF game. Very nice and beautiful but not too unique as to make it stand out from any of the other FF’s. One of the things I disliked the most was that the characters were not unique… There was nothing separating the main character apart besides a sprite and a story.

Overall this game is worth a play if you are an RPG fan… but it’s missing some key things that really made it even worth bringing to the US.

Graphics: 7/10

Sound: sound: 6/10; music: 7/10

Again no originality in the sounds. They sound the same as FF4 for the most part. The music has really good sound quality that fits the FF series very well. But it was nothing to special as to make it stand out in the series.

Play Control / Gameplay: 7/10

It’s an RPG… not much you can say on control other then it works.

Replay value: 6/10

After awhile you make take to playing it again if you have nothing better to do.

Unofficial Translation Quality: 8/10

RPGe did an amazing job translating this game for the time. It was very accurate and the font was pretty decent. The drawbacks to it were the font looked squished at times and not all things were expanded fully.

Official Translation Quality: 6/10

When square brought Final Fantasy Anthologies to the US, they brought out the missing FF5. The translation had better fonts and looked more professional but the characters didn’t feel right in their talk.

Overall Score: 7/10

Still a final fantasy game by any standards but may be too different for some people.