Twitch
30-03-2006, 02:03 AM
I'm sure that many if not most of you will have played a Final Fantasy game at one point or another, but there are not that many that have played the glorious originals that I'm writing about here, and to make things easier I will refer to each game as FF1 or FF2 as needed below.
FF1 - The story is this; The world lies shrouded in darkness, the winds die, the seas rage, the earth decays, but the people believe in a prophecy patiently awaiting its fulfilment. “When darkness veils the world, four warriors of Light shall come...
After a long journey four young travellers did at last appear...
... and in the hand of each was clutched a crystal.
And so begins the first Final Fantasy, you must set out on the adventure and defeat the evil bad guy that is causing all this trouble.
FF2 - The story is this; A long-lived peace is at an end. The emperor of Palamecia has called forth monsters from the underworld and begun his campaign for world conquest.
A rebel army rose in the Kingdom of Flynn to thwart the emperor's plans. But the rebels' castle fell to an all out assault by the empire. Left with little choice the rebels withdrew to the remote town of Altair.
Four youths from Flynn also found themselves fleeing the imperial forces. They had lost their parents at the hands of the empire. But their escape wasn't over yet...
G R A P H I C S
The graphics for both games are pretty similar to the original except that they have been enhanced to make use of the GBA's faster processor. The character models are still the same in both as they were orginally as well as the world map, and just as an interesting tidbit, the white mage and black mage that are featured in FF1, are the character models that were used for the same character in FF IX. Below are screen shots from both games and a screen shot of the Beastiary which i'll speak about in depth in gameplay
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/FF_Dawn_of_Souls_2_thumb.png (http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/FF_Dawn_of_Souls_2.png) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/FF_Dawn_of_Souls_3_thumb.png (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=17033&c=209) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/FF_Dawn_of_Souls_4_thumb.png (http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/FF_Dawn_of_Souls_4.png)
S O U N D & M U S I C
The music of both games was originally scored by Nobuo Uematsu who has scored the music for most of the games in the FF series however, for FF2 the music was rearranged by Tsuyoshi Sekito, and because of this, is very similar to the soundtracks of the rest of the series with a decent drum beat in the background for the battle scenes and sorrowful music where it is required. All of this makes the game as great as the original was.
G A M E P L A Y
FF1 - When you begin you'll have to choose a party of four characters and you have six classes to choose from with the, Warrior, Theif, Monk, White Mage, Red Mage and Black Mage. Each class has their strengths and weakness's and each class also has its own change that can happen once certain criteria have been met within the game. The battle system is of the turn based style that Square set the standard for, as can be seen in the above screenshot. As with most of the older games in series you require MP in order to cast magical attacks and you must visit shops to buy the new attacks, each attack has a level with four in each and each mage can only have three magics from a level in their knowledge. Also important to note is that only the three mages can use magic until the class changes occur. You can however discard a learnt spell if you don't want it but will have to repurchase it if you need it again. Weapons and armour are equipable to increase your parties stats, this can be done selectively or you can choose optimal and let the game do it for you. This game also features the experience based levelling up common amongst the series.
FF2 - This game was unique in that it doesn't utilise experience-based levels. Rather than earning experience points at the end of every battle, each character who takes part in the battle grows based on what that character does during battle. So if a character uses a particular type of weapon frequently they'll become more adept at wielding a weapon of that type, as well as increasing in physical strength. Characters who frequently cast a particular magic spell will learn to cast stronger versions of that spell, for example cura, curaga and the sort if you knwo the series, as well as increasing their magical power rating. Hit points and magic points, similarly, increase depending on need: a character who ends a battle with only a small amount of health remaining might earn an increase in maximum hit points, and a character who uses the majority of their magic points during a single battle might increase their maximum magic points. This was the first game that allowed for a player to be placed in the back row to prevent damage from physical attacks, they were however still vulnerable to magic and arrows.
Beastiary - Both games have a beastiary that allows you to view the enemies that you have defeated, how many of them you have defeated as well as a number of things of information including the enemies; HP, Attack, Accuracy, Defense, Agility, Intelligence, Evasion and Magic Defense. Also featured is how much money you will get for defeating this enemy as well as the amount of experience in the FF1 beastiary and the rare item that enemy may drop, this makes it an excellent source of info if you're looking for specific type of item or experience in FF1.
P R O B L E M S
The problem's I had were with the levelling type in FF2 as you can read about above as well as a nember of bugs that make it easier to levelup. The only other problem that I have heard of others having is that the games are easier than the original which i actually found to be a good thing but as others found it bad i've put it here.
Also the final boss in FF2 is widely considered to be the second hardest in the series after Dark Cloud in FF3, and I can say it took me well over 20 attempts to defeat it.
C O N C L U S I O N
I love this game it is one of the best compliations of classic titles that I've played of late and it is great to have Final Fantasy on Nintendo again making for a great nostagic gaming experince for all ages. However if you are all about FMV's and flashy graphics in your Final Fantsy games than it's defianately not for you but if you enjoy the challenge in a portable format go for it.
-Twitch
Visit the Official Site Final Fantasy Dawn Of Souls (http://ffdos.nintendo.com/)
FF1 - The story is this; The world lies shrouded in darkness, the winds die, the seas rage, the earth decays, but the people believe in a prophecy patiently awaiting its fulfilment. “When darkness veils the world, four warriors of Light shall come...
After a long journey four young travellers did at last appear...
... and in the hand of each was clutched a crystal.
And so begins the first Final Fantasy, you must set out on the adventure and defeat the evil bad guy that is causing all this trouble.
FF2 - The story is this; A long-lived peace is at an end. The emperor of Palamecia has called forth monsters from the underworld and begun his campaign for world conquest.
A rebel army rose in the Kingdom of Flynn to thwart the emperor's plans. But the rebels' castle fell to an all out assault by the empire. Left with little choice the rebels withdrew to the remote town of Altair.
Four youths from Flynn also found themselves fleeing the imperial forces. They had lost their parents at the hands of the empire. But their escape wasn't over yet...
G R A P H I C S
The graphics for both games are pretty similar to the original except that they have been enhanced to make use of the GBA's faster processor. The character models are still the same in both as they were orginally as well as the world map, and just as an interesting tidbit, the white mage and black mage that are featured in FF1, are the character models that were used for the same character in FF IX. Below are screen shots from both games and a screen shot of the Beastiary which i'll speak about in depth in gameplay
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/FF_Dawn_of_Souls_2_thumb.png (http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/FF_Dawn_of_Souls_2.png) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/FF_Dawn_of_Souls_3_thumb.png (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=17033&c=209) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/FF_Dawn_of_Souls_4_thumb.png (http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/FF_Dawn_of_Souls_4.png)
S O U N D & M U S I C
The music of both games was originally scored by Nobuo Uematsu who has scored the music for most of the games in the FF series however, for FF2 the music was rearranged by Tsuyoshi Sekito, and because of this, is very similar to the soundtracks of the rest of the series with a decent drum beat in the background for the battle scenes and sorrowful music where it is required. All of this makes the game as great as the original was.
G A M E P L A Y
FF1 - When you begin you'll have to choose a party of four characters and you have six classes to choose from with the, Warrior, Theif, Monk, White Mage, Red Mage and Black Mage. Each class has their strengths and weakness's and each class also has its own change that can happen once certain criteria have been met within the game. The battle system is of the turn based style that Square set the standard for, as can be seen in the above screenshot. As with most of the older games in series you require MP in order to cast magical attacks and you must visit shops to buy the new attacks, each attack has a level with four in each and each mage can only have three magics from a level in their knowledge. Also important to note is that only the three mages can use magic until the class changes occur. You can however discard a learnt spell if you don't want it but will have to repurchase it if you need it again. Weapons and armour are equipable to increase your parties stats, this can be done selectively or you can choose optimal and let the game do it for you. This game also features the experience based levelling up common amongst the series.
FF2 - This game was unique in that it doesn't utilise experience-based levels. Rather than earning experience points at the end of every battle, each character who takes part in the battle grows based on what that character does during battle. So if a character uses a particular type of weapon frequently they'll become more adept at wielding a weapon of that type, as well as increasing in physical strength. Characters who frequently cast a particular magic spell will learn to cast stronger versions of that spell, for example cura, curaga and the sort if you knwo the series, as well as increasing their magical power rating. Hit points and magic points, similarly, increase depending on need: a character who ends a battle with only a small amount of health remaining might earn an increase in maximum hit points, and a character who uses the majority of their magic points during a single battle might increase their maximum magic points. This was the first game that allowed for a player to be placed in the back row to prevent damage from physical attacks, they were however still vulnerable to magic and arrows.
Beastiary - Both games have a beastiary that allows you to view the enemies that you have defeated, how many of them you have defeated as well as a number of things of information including the enemies; HP, Attack, Accuracy, Defense, Agility, Intelligence, Evasion and Magic Defense. Also featured is how much money you will get for defeating this enemy as well as the amount of experience in the FF1 beastiary and the rare item that enemy may drop, this makes it an excellent source of info if you're looking for specific type of item or experience in FF1.
P R O B L E M S
The problem's I had were with the levelling type in FF2 as you can read about above as well as a nember of bugs that make it easier to levelup. The only other problem that I have heard of others having is that the games are easier than the original which i actually found to be a good thing but as others found it bad i've put it here.
Also the final boss in FF2 is widely considered to be the second hardest in the series after Dark Cloud in FF3, and I can say it took me well over 20 attempts to defeat it.
C O N C L U S I O N
I love this game it is one of the best compliations of classic titles that I've played of late and it is great to have Final Fantasy on Nintendo again making for a great nostagic gaming experince for all ages. However if you are all about FMV's and flashy graphics in your Final Fantsy games than it's defianately not for you but if you enjoy the challenge in a portable format go for it.
-Twitch
Visit the Official Site Final Fantasy Dawn Of Souls (http://ffdos.nintendo.com/)