So... about that plot...

[Wolf Kanno]

While most fans can agree FFV has some great gameplay, the one criticism the game has always had was with it's storyline, which is often considered the weakest of the 16-bit entries. What are your thoughts on this?

[Flying Arrow]

It's just a fun excuse for a high adventure, really. It works for me because there is so much freedom in the mechanics and battles. I feel like anything more in-depth would cramp the colorful toy-ness about the game.

That said, the story's lightheartedness also kind of means that there's not much weight to it. For me, at least, the end areas feel more like the last levels of a good game than the climax of a memorable adventure. FFV is definitely my favourite 2D FF but sometimes I wish I'd feel a bit more satisfied from a story perspective when I finally get my party to the end to fight X-Death. On the other hand, the earliest game in the series that gives me that epic final dungeon feeling is VI, because of how detailed the characterization and world building is. IV is considered to have a "great" story but I still get nothing from the moon bits, so I can't really blame FFV for being weak in that regard. Square just had a few more steps to take before they got to crafting the really great game stories.

[The Man]

It is the weakest of the 16-bit entries in terms of plot, but considering the other two are FFIV and FFVI, two of the best entries in the series overall in terms of the plot, that's not really saying much. FFV's story is a lot less serious than those two games', but it improves a lot on a replay and you notice a lot of nuances that don't really stick out to a first-time player (mostly because there is a ton of foreshadowing that you won't pick up on the first time, not to mention a ton of references to events that mostly seem silly or nonsensical the first time through). When you compare it to a lot of what Square Enix has put out more recently, FFV's story holds up quite well.

[VeloZer0]

I never found the plot to be exceedingly engaging, which might be because I didn't become particularly attached to any of the characters. They could have all been Onion kids for all that mattered to me. In the other entries I felt like it was real people who were having these adventures, in FF5 they felt like sprites.

The story kept me interested, but it wasn't the main motivating factor that kept me interested.

[Depression Moon]

Just beating this game last year I agree about the story of this game. I will compare it to XII. Great gameplay, but a lousy story. The music was mediocre for the most part as well. I only like Clash on the Big Bridge and Bal. I will put this game just a tad bit higher over XII though because the job system was better than what XII had. The original version of XII didn't seem to put much emphasis on it which made it harder to play to a specific role if you wanted because abilities from previous games were missing in order to recreate that job convincingly. A hunter should be something more than a bow user for instance and a monk should be more than simply an unarmed or pole user.

I just love the job system in V so much. They should remake the game and have a vs mode. Online for a game like that wouldn't be as much of an issue like it is with fighters considering the game would be turned based so lag wouldn't hinder you as much, well I guess it can if you're playing a active match versus a wait match. If there is one game I would definitely try my best to be a top player in is in a competitive Final Fantasy game.

[The Man]

The music was not anywhere near mediocre. For one thing it's the first soundtrack where Uematsu had anything approaching adequate synth voices to work with (the FFIV voices are pretty bare-bones and it takes a toll on the complexity of the soundtrack) and he's gotten a lot more skilful at arrangements. The melodies are pretty top-notch as well.

Granted, it doesn't have the consistency of a soundtrack like FFVI's or FFIX's but it's still a solid soundtrack. Most of the tracks are quite good.

[nik0tine]

Just beating this game last year I agree about the story of this game. I will compare it to XII. Great gameplay, but a lousy story.

I take it you have only played FF12 once. I don't recall any foreshadowing in V, but in XII it was omnipresent. It's one of those games that has to be played twice to understand.

The music was mediocre for the most part as well.

0_o

[Jessweeee♪]

There were some really great tracks, a couple of awful ones, and the rest was kind of meh.

I like the plot enough to play the game twice. It's nowhere near my favorites in the series, but I liked it! Galuf is a pretty cool dude. My favorite part was when he solo'd Exdeath.

[Depression Moon]

Just beating this game last year I agree about the story of this game. I will compare it to XII. Great gameplay, but a lousy story.

I take it you have only played FF12 once. I don't recall any foreshadowing in V, but in XII it was omnipresent. It's one of those games that has to be played twice to understand.

I played XII twice though on my 2nd playthrough I think I payed even less attention to the story that time because I remember being so excited for it on my first playthrough and being disappointed that I didn't bother watching a lot of the cutscenes.

[Sephex]

I think people in the thread already nailed it when it comes to the topic. FFV is more of an excuse plot that it supported by a very fun battle system. Though, I don't find myself playing the game too often.

[Mirage]

FF5's got a pretty light-hearted story. As said before, it's more of an excuse to have a fantastic adventure, and what a fantastic adventure it is.

[Loony BoB]

Like with FFXIII-2, there is a plot, perhaps it's not that great, but who cares? I could play the game over and over and still enjoy it, and that is more important to me than the plot. The plot in FFV isn't terrible, it's just fairly basic. This is emphasized by the comical nature of many of the characters, showing they weren't out there to make a dark epic. They could have made Galuf, for example, into a much more serious character but they chose not to, and rightly so. It's a colourful game, not a dark one.

[Spooniest]

"Final Fantasy Lite"

[Roogle]

You know, I think they were really going for more of a lighthearted adventure than its predecessors. That's the impression that I got based from its more recent translation on the Gameboy Advance, anyway.

[Mirage]

Like with FFXIII-2, there is a plot, perhaps it's not that great, but who cares?

Comparing FF5s plot to FF13-2s seems kinda unfair. I mean, even if FF5s plot isn't the strongest feature of the game, the plot is straight forward, simple, funny, has a clear ending, and still good enough to give you a good excuse to crawl them dungeons and kill those bosses. FF13-2's on the other hand is 10 times more complex than it needed to be (and 5 times more complex than the writers had the capacity to handle), full of plot holes, lacks a real ending, but still sort of enough to drive the action forwards.

I know I'm repeating myself here, but FF5 does exactly what it says on the tin. It's a fun, adventurous adventure. It doesn't try to bite off more than it can swallow, it knows exactly what it is, and fills its position perfectly.