Brag on FFI

[oddler]

The original version of Final Fantasy was horrendously bugged. Take a look at this quote.

I'm very happy that FF1 is even as good as it is, despite the non-working elemental weapons, spells that do nothing, buggy world map, invisible castle-dwellers, semi-corny translations, an ending that makes no sense to any sane human being, an arguably unbalanced battle system, etc.

It's true. The game appears as though it was thrown together and shoved into stores. Yet, it was a major turning point in fantasy gaming and a concrete beginning for what would become a series of great popularity.

Why? I want to know people's opinions on what they thought was so awesome about this game that they could look beyond its flaws and turn it into a downright enjoyable experience.

As stupid as it may sound, it was the Lute that really made me realize how cool this game was. An item that does nothing. Thanks a lot, princess. But when I finally figured out its purpose, I was taken aback. Granted, I was somewhere around 9 years old, but everytime I play that game now, I'm taken back to that moment of triumph when I found out that the only way through that blocked passage was to play a tune on that worthless instrument. I kid you not, I laughed I was so happy.

Discuss the finer things that make FFI an awesome game in spite of its obvious flaws.

[Obsidian]

One thing I immediately realized about FF1 when I was 8-10 years old was how much more accessable it was than other epic NES games.

You can actually beat the game and enjoy it without having to turn to any person or guide for assistance. I'm sure some of you remember having to burn every tree in world in Zelda 1 or having to perform some heinously obscure action in Castlevania 2 in order to drain a lake or something equally as silly. I remember getting stuck and becoming utterly frustrated in both those games, then becoming flat-out furious when some magazine told me that I had to "go up to a cliff and hold 'up' to proceed." Only about half the clues the game gives you in Zelda or CV2 are even romotely relevant; and I'm sure a few of them were lost in translation as well. In FF1, there was always SOME villager in the world with directions pertaining to what to do next.

Speaking to the villagers brings me to may next point. Even though many of them say exactly have the same thing, the very fact that they either guide you to the next objective or simply comment about the state-of-the-world leaves you with a better sense of the plot and the world you are trying to save. As dead-simple as that sounds, it is an element absent from Zelda 1, CV2, and other early NES epics/RPGs that makes FF1 stand out as one of the more engrossing titles of its time.

[Captain Maxx Power]

The game itself is quite clever in the adventure it spins, plus compared to it's archaic brother Dragon Quest/Warrior it was a lot easier to play.

[Relapse]

Well, I never really played the NES version. The first one I played through was the GBA one and it was awesome, compared to the NES version. So I gotta say, I don't know much about the NES version.

[Christmas]

Boomers and their original version.