Final Fantasy announced for iPhone

[MrHat]

Yay!

They announced it on their facebook page though.  Way to go marketing!


Hopefully it's not like $19.99.

[Yegolev]

Really?

[Rasix]

 

[LK]

Brilliant.

[schild]

While awesome, Final Fantasy 1 is still pretty much dreadful unless you make ridiculous rules like "only White Mages."

[MrHat]

I just hope this paves the way for more classic RPG's to be ported to phones.

[Rasix]

Even noting FF1's weaknesses, it's still better than 99% of the RPGs available for the phone at this time.  There is some truly awful crap out there any nothing that approaches a decent jRPG. 

[Teleku]

Eh?  I loved FF1.  Challenging, but fun game.  What didn't you guys like about it?

[Rasix]

It's been roughly 15 or so years since I've played it to completion.  I liked it and it really got me going on the whole RPG genre but it's easy to look back at games like that an Dragon Quest 1 and see that they weren't that fantastic.  I don't think I could stomach going through them again.

It was grindy, certain classes were beyond gimpy until remorting (making it a pain in the ass to play), and it's just very basic from a both a story telling and game mechanics perspective.  It is what it is and a product of its time, but I'm not one to allow nostalgia to cloud judgment.  Games and genres improve.  Sometimes they don't  beyond adding a layer of pretty paint and you get Lost Odyssey.

Hey, I'd be happy for Mystic Quest or one of the Gameboy FFs on the iphone.  The current stuff on there is worse than the crap that got ported to the PSP.

[Thrawn]

Ah fond memories.

 

[ahoythematey]

Though it is my favorite game franchise, I have never played the first Final Fantasy*, so this is awesome for me.  Hopefully it is a precursor to rereleases of the later games, maybe letting me fuck off at work with a little bit of Final Fantasy 5 in my pocket.  Of course, I'm sure these will have the typical Squaresoft-tax applied. 

*True story.  I was lured in by that amazing Nintendo Power deal for Dragon Warrior back in the day and just didn't really pay attention to the other RPG series until the SNES.

[Kail]

It was grindy, certain classes were beyond gimpy until remorting (making it a pain in the ass to play), and it's just very basic from a both a story telling and game mechanics perspective.  It is what it is and a product of its time, but I'm not one to allow nostalgia to cloud judgment.  Games and genres improve.  Sometimes they don't  beyond adding a layer of pretty paint and you get Lost Odyssey.

They released remakes of FF1 and 2 for the PS2 and GBA, and the graphics look like they're being redone again so I assume they'll be improving other things as well.  Even the PS2/GBA version had vastly reduced grind, improved interface, and were generally way more palatable for me than the original.

Personally, I'm more interested in FF2 than FF1; the story's way better, and the advancement is skill based rather than class based.

[schild]

These are just rejiggered Final Fantasy Anniversary sprites.

[Hayduke]

I liked this game a lot as a kid, one of my first NES games.  I liked it even more when I figured out you had to equip armor and weapons, not just buy them.

[Teleku]

Yeah, my first time through I was pissed about how gimped my black belt was until I unequipped his weapon watched him start doing 3 times as much damage with his fist.  Lots of trial and error in that damn game.

[MisterNoisy]

Great.  A FF I might actually be interested in (everything FF past 6 is total dogshit), but on a platform that I only play games on for 5 minutes at a time (which obviates old-school FF gameplay).  C'est la vie.

[ahoythematey]

You're wrong.  FF 12 was amazing.

[Velorath]

Not so much, no.

[Teleku]

Maybe he just got confused by the names and really meant FF X2.   

[MrHat]

I forget how saves where handled way back when.

Essential mobile gaming dictates save whenever right?

[Rasix]

I forget how saves where handled way back when.

Essential mobile gaming dictates save whenever right?

FF1 was inn/tent/cabin if I remember correctly.

[ahoythematey]

Not so much, no.

I meant what I typed: Final Fantasy 12 was a great game, and really restored a lot of misgivings I had about the numbered series after X and X-2.  The combat system was interesting and quite different, allowing a large amount of freedom in how you played the game.  The main story was basically Hidden Fortress/Star Wars, and I'm okay with that, especially with the ending making sense, relatively.  The characters were well-written, and the voice acting was much, much better than the disastrous VO in X.

I can appreciate not likening 12 to as good a game as 6, seeing as 6 is a very good game and has some powerfully-rosy nostalgia to back it up.  FF12 is, however, still a well-done RPG on its own.

For FF1 on iphone: anything other than the sprites being changed?

[Teleku]

I forget how saves where handled way back when.

Essential mobile gaming dictates save whenever right?

FF1 was inn/tent/cabin if I remember correctly.

Also, you only got one save.  Your options on the main menu were to continue (which would then load where ever you last saved) or New Game.  Somebody starting a new game, like your younger step brothers for instance, and saving would, of course, delete your entire other game that you logged countless hours into already.

[Velorath]

These are available now for $8.99 each.  I plan on at least giving the first one a try (when I feel the need to kill time at work on a slow day).

[Rasix]

I got the first one. It mostly works.  The movement controls are through a virtual controller pad, but everything else is touch.   The movement is a bit spotty and aside from the frame rate issues in town, it's my only major port related gripe.  There's an oddity where you can't tell the monster names (except for a split second at start) until you've started your attack and the turn is being played out.  I hope this is just something in the controls I don't know how to do yet, because it's a minor annoyance. 

Otherwise, it looks great on the iphone. You can save anywhere outside of battle.  The plot is so strange coming the perspective of FF4 on.  You're given so little direction, but at the same time it's so linear.  I may have to use Gamefaqs for a game I beat 20 years ago. The combat, while old and dated, feels appropriate here unlike when some developer doesn't stray far enough away in modern games.

The best thing is reading the comments for FF2.  "Hey, I thought this one had Cecil and Cid in it.  WTF." "DIS ISN'T DA 1 I PLAYED ON MY SNES.  I WANT MONEY BACK."  "Hey, everyone, I too was fooled, then I looked at Wikipedia.  It appears the 2 in the US was really 4 in Japan. This is shameful from Square so I am giving them 1 star", etc etc etc.