The Official Final Fantasy 1 FAQ [2014 Update]
The Official Final Fantasy 1 FAQ - Because the front page is rather out of date!
1. What is the differences between all the versions? Which one should I play?
I'm not gonna get too specific, but this will give you a good idea:
NES/Famicom - The version that started it all. Pretty buggy, clunky, and has a choppy translation, but there's an old-school charm to it. This is the version found on Nintendo's Virtual Console service.
MSX - More colorful but the animation is worse, and is even more buggy than the NES version, somehow. Not available in English. Don't bother with this unless you're curious.
WonderSwan Color (WSC) - Game got remade from scratch to be above SNES quality in terms of graphics and sound, some bugs corrected, a bunch of interface changes to make gamepay more smooth, and enemy stats buffed. Not available in English.
PlayStation (PS1) - Uses the WSC port as a base. Sound upgraded even further, difficulty modes and art gallery added in, and a redone translation. Part of the Final Fantasy Origins compilation.
GameBoy Advance (GBA) - Based off the PS1 port. Visuals and audio got downgraded. Classes got rebalanced, all the bugs have been corrected, a whole slew of items have been added in, and the magic system has been completely redone, which all adds up to the game being much, much easier. Some people find this version too easy to bother with, but your mileage may vary. There are some extra bonus dungeons that will provide some challenge, though. Translation again redone to be more in line with the modern FF games. Part of the Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls compilation.
PSP - Based off the GBA port (seeing a pattern here?). The audios and visuals got upgraded again, and the game has never looked or sounded any better. Another hard bonus dungeon has been added in, and has a hilarious glitch that lets you equip any weapon/armor to any class, but is otherwise the same as the GBA version.
iPhone - It's pretty much just the PSP port, but the controls modified to use the touch screen.
Android - See above, but for some reason the bonus dungeons got taken out.
Personally, I prefer Origins out of all them, but go with whatever looks the best to you.
2. How do I open up the map?
In the NES/GBA version, hold the B button and press Select. In the PS1 version, hold down the O button and press Select. In the PSP version, hold down the O button and press start. In the iPhone version, press and hold the status screen. The NES version just shows one big map, while the other ports let you zoom in, and see where which location is. However, you can only see areas that you've already entered.
3. What is the Class Change Quest? How does it work?
The Class Change Quest (or as I prefer to call it, the Class Promotion, because you don't actually change your class) is a side quest which many players choose to do because it makes the game much easier. What you get from promotion depends on the character and version you're playing. In the NES/MSX/PS1/WSC versions, promotion doesn't change your stats ('cept Black Belt/Monk's, see his entry below for more), instead it just expands your equipment and magic selection, so you can do it whenever you want. In all the other versions, your stats are boosted (except for the Red Mage), so perfectionists will want to class change as early as possible. This can either be done through a) only killing bosses and running from everything else until class change or b) have a Red Mage and kill off the rest of your party, and use only the Red Mage until you promote, since promotion doesn't affect their stats. This will be rather hard, but the Red Mage will get boosted experience so at least you have that going for you. Both methods are possible, as personally tested by myself.
4. What are the playable characters in this game?
There are 6 playable characers. They are: Fighter/Warrior, Black Belt/Monk, Thief, Black Mage, White Mage, and Red Mage. I assume that anyone reading this already knows what White Magic and Black Magic are, but if you don't: White Magic is healing and undead killing magic, while Black Magic is damaging elemental magic like Fire, Blizzard, etc. Buffs, debuffs, and status effects are split up between the two colors.
Fighter - The Fighter has all-around high stats, and has more equipment than any other starting class. On the downside, he has no magic. He promotes to Knight which lets him equip almost anything and gains the ability to cast low-level White Magic. The Fighter is called "Warrior" in later editions. In the NES/MSX/WSC/PS1 versions, he is by far the best party member, to the point where you can do a run with only Fighters and have a fairly easy time. Carrying no fighters is an easy way to make the game a lot harder. The other versions rebalance things so that a Warrior isn't needed, but is still useful.
Black Belt - The Black Belt is a pretty odd character. He can't equip much armor or weapons; to make up for this, his attack and defense stats use a special formula that's based directly off his level. Despite this, you'll want to keep armor and weapons on him at the beginning as those paltry weapons can outdamage his fists. By level 10, take the weapons off and he'll start doing damage on par with a fighter. The Black Belt will never tank as well as the Fighter though, as the Black Belt spends the entire game with tissue paper defenses. By level 31 he becomes the best damage dealer in the game. Keep in mind, most players will not reach that level, so that's only a benefit for those who love grinding. Due to a glitch, his defense (absorb) stat goes down to whatever level he is if you put armor on him after he levels up (this is fixed in other versions). This can be corrected if you go to his status screen. He becomes a Master after promotion, and is the only class to get a stat change...in that his magic defense growth decreases!
In the MSX version, the Black Belt doesn't have his special formula, rendering him useless.
In the GBA/PSP/iPhone/Android remakes, he's called "Monk" and got some serious buffs. His special stat formula has been modified, which results in him getting much higher stats. He'll take the title of "best damage dealer bar none" really quick, and will have the highest HP too. Furthermore, promotion no longer decreases any of his stats. Sadly, they made his magic defense the lowest out of all the characters to make up for all his rad buffs...
Thief - The Thief only has two good stats: Luck and Agility. Neither are useful. It's commonly stated (even by this FAQ before) that the Thief has a higher chance of running away, but in the NES version, that's bugged to where that's not the case, and even in the versions where that's fixed, it still isn't that useful. So yeah, is there anything good about him? Well, when he promotes, he becomes a Ninja, and his equipment selection gets a massive expansion, having a very similar list to Knight's, and can cast low level black magic.
In the GBA/PSP/iPhone remakes, his defenses are still terrible, but his stats got boosted to the point where he can deal damage on par with a Warrior. As for the Ninja, he gets more stat boosts and equipment, keeping him on par with the Knight both offensively and defensively, though the PSP/iPhone versions mess this up a bit by giving the Barbarian's Sword, the strongest weapon in the game, to the Knight and the not the Ninja.
Black Mage - The Black Mage can use most Black Magic spells, but in return, all of his stats (except for Intelligence) are terrible. Intelligence is supposed to determine how effective your spells are, but the problem here is that in the NES/MSX/WSC/PS1 versions, Intelligence is bugged and does literally nothing, meaning that the Black Mage essentially has no good stats. To make matters worse, FF1's limited magic system makes it so that you can only cast a scant few spells in a dungeon before having to retreat and heal at a town. That being said, those few spells are incredibly useful when you need them, so they're not all bad. They promote to a Black Wizard, slightly expanding their equipment selection, but the biggest draw is letting them use all Black Magic spells.
In the other versions, Intelligence works, meaning the Black Mage's spells are the most effective out of anyone. In addition, the more modern magic system allows the Black Mage to use his spells far more often, and in fact can keep on casting spells as long as you have the money to shell out for Ethers.
White Mage - The White Mage uses most White Magic spells, and doesn't have any good stats barring Intelligence, putting him in the same boat as the Black Mage. He promotes to a White Wizard, expanding his equipment and granting him all White Magic spells.
The changes done to the GBA/PSP/iPhone/Android versions make the White Mage far more useful, though the Black Mage is the better spellcaster due to him having the higher intelligence. Still, you will need a White Mage/White Wizard to survive the bonus dungeons. Don't leave home without one.
Red Mage - The Red Mage is a jack of all trades; he can use decent equipment, and has a fairly good selection of black and white magic. He starts off as the best character, but as the game goes on, he gets weaker due to less and less options being available for him. Still, the hardest parts of the game are early on, so he'll definitely pull his weight when he's most needed. After promotion, he gets more spells and equipment to play around with.
In the GBA/PSP/iPhone remakes, the Red Mage still gets more magic and equipment when he becomes a Red Wizard, but gets zero stat bonuses in contrast to everyone else, making him the worst character.
5. What is this "15 Puzzle Slider" that all the cool kids been talking about?
In the NES version, while you're in the Ship, hold the A button, and press the B button 55 times. In the PS1/PSP remakes, hold the X button, and press the O button 55 times. You'll enter the 15 Puzzle screen. It's a very simple puzzle, where you have to get all the numbers in order from 1-15. Completing it will get you 100 gil. In the WSC/PS1 versions, completing it will get you 2000-10000 gil depending on how fast you do it. In the GBA/GBA/PSP remakes, you'll either get useful items like Blue Curtains, or crappy items like Echo Grasses, again depending on how fast you complete it. I don't know how to do it in the phone versions. If, for some reason, you can't complete it, you can always download this program, and it will solve it for you.
15puzzle Optimal solver
6. Is the White Mage a man or a woman?
In FF1, none of the classes are ever given genders, so it's really up to you. For whatever it's worth, the spin-off material gives characters genders. The novel has Warrior, Thief, and Black Mage as men and White Mage as a woman, and in Dissidia, the Warrior of Light is male.
7. I'm trapped at the Soul of Chaos dungeons! Everyone's at 1 HP and 0 MP and I have no recovery items! What do I do!?
If you die in the Soul of Chaos dungeons, then you'll just teleport out to the entrance with 1HP and 0MP.
8. Do any of the spells stack?
FAST/Haste does not stack, nor do the A/Nul spells. Temper DOES stack though. If you don't understand what I mean, you can cast Temper and it'll keep on boosting that character's attack, up to a certain limit. However, casting NulBolt 9999 times won't divide the Thunder damage any further. In addition, if you have armor that protect against elemental damage, then the Nul-spell of that element will have no effect.
9. What's the best party?
That's different depending on the version, and what you mean by the "best". If by "best" you mean most powerful at the highest level, then that'd be four Masters, since they can deal the most damage against anything in one turn. Of course, good luck getting to that level with them to begin with!
If by best you mean "quickest to clear the game with", then the question is a lot easier to answer. Empirically speaking, the fastest recorded speedruns have been done with:
Fighter/Fighter/Fighter/Red Mage
Fighter/Fighter/Red Mage/Red Mage
Fighter/Fighter/Red Mage/White Mage
There hasn't been as much experimentation or discussion over the MSX/WSC/PS1 versions, but mechanically they're pretty similar, so those parties should still work pretty well over there. For the GBA/PSP/iPhone/Android versions, despite lots of discussion I haven't really noticed much of a consensus, probably because the classes are all so balanced. I would say just make sure you avoid repeats, have a White Mage, and don't use a Red Mage unless you're doing the solo trick I described in question 3.
10. How can I get gil easier?!
Go to the Finger Point, which is that finger-looking area of land northeast of Pravoka. It has monsters stronger than what you're normally supposed to fight. If you're playing the NES version, and you're too underleveled for the finger point, you can go to an Inn, reset the game, go into the sea, fight Kyozus, go back into the Inn, repeat. In the WSC/PS1 versions, just play the ship game a couple of times.
