Let’s start with the obvious – This version of the game did not receive a perfect score. Maybe it’s nostalgia, or maybe it’s personal preference. Whatever the case, while in many ways this version is an improvement over the original, some of the design choices take away from what made the original game great. It’s still fun to play and if you want a trip down memory lane it’s worth playing. If it’s your first time playing this all time classic though…. you’ll probably not connect with it the way the rest of us did way back when.
I’m going to skip over things like achievements, accessible soundtrack, configurable gui options (outside of some quality of life upgrades), and other fluff. I honestly don’t know why people care about those things in games. I might spend 2 minutes looking at them over my total play through so i’m not going to waste time on them here. If you love that stuff, well it’s in this game and it wasn’t in the original. Have at it.
The most notable change, in terms of gameplay, is you no longer need to grind for levels. There is a setting where you can change your xp and money gain from .5 to 4x. On the surface, it’s a welcome change. The default is 1x, and I found it to be far too easy. Let’s ignore the stupidity that pegs the original gains at .5 (seriously, the original should be 1x, .5 should be for masochists, and the others should just naturally scale up from the original). It is nice to not have to grind for money and levels, however you quickly outpace the difficulty of monsters in any given area. Even the boss fights feel more like a predetermined outcome than something you have to prepare for. That said, I think you can manage that a bit by turning off random encounters outside of dungeons. On the PS4 that is done by pushing the R3 button.
The game also adds quite a few recovery items that were not present in the original – again these help reduce grind at the expense of dungeon strategy. Conserving your MP for the boss, making multiple trips into the volcano or earth cave to gather up loot, then head back to town to restock, choosing when to fight and when to run because you only had 99 potions (no hi potions, phoenix downs, ethers, etc in the original game), and making strategic decisions like that have been completely removed from this version of the game. If you do want to be a little closer to the original gameplay loop, but not get stuck grinding levels and money, leave the gains at 1x and only buy items available in the original game. In fact, it would have been nice to have a toggle in the settings for original vs remastered item shops. I also think “quick save” completely breaks the game so if you want a bit more tension – only save at Inns (or with a tent/cottage). Being able to quick save in a dungeon, or just save anywhere else, makes the game laughably easy.
Interestingly, the grindy bits are what we substituted for story. Or, more importantly, we told our own stories during those times. My friends and I would play together and take turns wandering in circles, leveling up, and getting enough gold (yes gold, gil wasn’t a thing back in the day) to buy slightly better gear. And we would make up stories about what the characters were doing. When a crit happened, we’d describe how it played out in our imaginations. Personally, I find these type of games, with anonymous protagonists sent on a quest, to be more fun than the over scripted, over produced, brain rot we get today. A good story is about what happens between the major milestones, and using your imagination to fill in the gaps makes for a better story than anything a studio can come up with. Both versions of this game give you that. Unfortunately, the remastered version reduces the space the story needs to breathe. I think it’s a product of people wanting to “beat” a game as fast as possible. Some games work best when you take your time. Final Fantasy is one of those games.
But enough of the nitpicking, this game still receives a top tier score because some of the other improvements are genuinely a welcome addition. Notably – the graphics and animations for spell effects are really well done. I love that they brought the snes look to an nes game. I’m biased because I grew up with these games but snes was peak graphics for jrpgs, imo. Another improvement is the ability to equip different items in battle. I was always annoyed in the original game that so many weapons were “highly effective against ______” creature type but you could never really predict when that random fight would occur. So the excitement and versatility of having found a sword perfect for the fight, was lost behind the RNG of that fight actually occuring. Being able to swap gear mid combat is the perfect fix for all that lost potential.
I know I said the superfluous fluff outside the game was pointless. However, they did bury one really interesting feature in with all the rest of the fluff. The Bestiary. The reason I give this a pass is because the original game shipped with a booklet and maps. On the back of one of the maps was a hastily cobbled together bestiary which was… often apocryphal at best. The in game bestiary is great for if you want to 100% the game (which we often tried to do as teenagers, albeit with no real metric to check against other than the aforementioned maps/etc). You also get the added benefit of being able to repeat any of the fights with whatever team you played last. This makes for some interesting challenges: finish the game, start a new game, and see how far you make it through the bestiary before wiping. Repeat at each milestone. It’s an interesting feature that builds on the older experience without changing the way you play the game.
One last QoL upgrade – Spellcasters can now unlearn spells. It’s nice to try out all the spells in one playthrough; as long as you have the right party makeup. Most of the spells in the game were so situational that you didn’t cast them often, and I think that still holds true, but, combined with the bestiary options, now you can actually treat every one off fight as a boss fight. Take in an under leveled party and see if that XXXXX spell will see you through. If not, load up your game and buy a different spell. White and Black magic both have 4 spells you can learn per level. Your mages no longer have to pick the “best” 3 based on long term use.
Overall, still a great game that lends itself to nostalgia. The gameplay and game loop misses are mostly fixable, even if it requires a bit more effort on the part of the player. Grab a friend, boot this one up, and take it slow. You’ll be surprised by the depth of storytelling accomplished in what started out as a desperate attempt at unseating the Dragon Quest (Warrior?) franchise.
Well. If you’re willing to scroll this far down. Here’s two more changes for you . I’ll let you decide if they are better or worse.
- The tomb in Elfheim now says “Here lies Link. It used to read “Here lies Erdrick”
- There used to be a stationary invisible person in Cornelia Castle. We used to call it “the ghost of the princess’ best friend”. Why was she a ghost? That’s your story to tell.
