Let's Play Final Fantasy Blind

Loveland

Loveland

Location
Michigan
Pronouns
He/Him
I've never played a Final Fantasy game. The most experience I've had with one was the first half hour of Final Fantasy 9 and watching a Let's Play of a Final Fantasy 6 hack. Let's fix that!

I'll be playing the first Final Fantasy on PSP, since that seems to be the best version available to me. If there's a better one, it's already too late.



Of course, this is a Square Enix game. I haven't played much from them. A quick glance at my library tells me that I have Sleeping Dogs, a pretty good GTA clone; Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, a fun action-adventure; and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, a game where you sneak around as a cyborg. So my experiences with Square Enix have all been positive thus far.

The intro video first has a crystal just sitting there, then cuts to a man in purple armor confronting a big red dragon.



The dragon is pretty quick to resort to violence, blowing a fireball at the purple man. The purple man was ready for this, though; he just cuts through it.





The dragon is not happy about this development. The purple man runs at he roaring dragon, and then...



The main menu. It's just the title and a blue woman man with what appears to be a flying lizard pet. I like the minimalism. So, I jump into New Game. After telling it I prefer English, I am presented with my first challenge: character creation!



I have to pick both classes and names. Since I've never played before, I'll be going with the default classes. The names, on the other hand...



I go for lowest common denominator mass market appeal that doesn't really make sense.

On to the intro!















 
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We can now begin playing!





Everyone is equipped with just a knife and plain ol' clothes, except for Madoka, who has a staff. When I head into the town, Cornelia, to find supplies, the first person I talk to immediately drags me off to see the king. The king asks to see the crystals, then he and the chancellor start talking.







King: Yet they stand before us with the crystals. I cannot dismiss this as mere coincidence. Crystal bearers, there is a task I would ask of you.



Chancellor: Garland, a knight once in HIs Majesty's service, has abducted Princess Sara. I ask for you aid in the name of His Majesty, the King of Cornelia. Garland has taken refuge in the Chaos Shrine, which lies to our north.



Chancellor: But Garland is the finest swordsman in the kingdom. There is none who can match him.

If the four of us were to gang up on him, we'd probably have a good shot.



King: The bridge leading north was lost long ago, making passage impossible. If you can rescue Sara, I will have the bridge rebuilt as a sign of my gratitude.

So he's holding the only link to another continent hostage so we'll save his daughter? That can't have a good effect on the international economy.



Now I'm free to go! The chancellor tells me to talk to the dancing girl in town if I'm lost, and the king re-iterates what we've already heard, as do the castle's guards. Looking around the castle a bit finds me Queen Jayne, who is overcome with grief.



Funny how she and the princess have names, but the king doesn't. There's also an unnamed, crying younger princess who really misses her sister.

Going outside and around the castle finds me a couple of locked rooms.



Old Man: Then gave the key to the elf king to hold until the coming of the Light Warriors.

Why the king of old didn't keep the key instead of trusting a bunch of dirty elves, I don't know.

With my exploration of the castle over, it's time to hit the town!



The townspeople mostly talk about either the crystals or the princess. I guess those are the hot topics in the town rumor mil right now. There are some other tidbits though. Apparently Pravoka to the east has become a pirate den. The dancer the chancellor pointed me to is not as helpful as he implied.







A hint?



At least the weapon and armor shop have good prices.



Not so good at the magic shops, though...



Or the general goods store...

With everyone kitted out, I guess it's time to go grind!
 
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My first battle! There are a lot of them...



But they are easily dispatched!

After another battle, everyone levels up and I head back to the inn to recuperate.



When they wake up, everyone does a little dance.

It seems like everyone will level up at the same time. So will there only be a disparity if people die?

To the north, I find a cave. Time to investigate!





I enter Earthgift Shrine.



A guy with a beard and an accent dwarf tells me I can't go in.

I leave.

Farther to the north, there is another new place.











It appears to be infested with the undead.

And spiders.

And goblins. It's in this battle I discover the utility of the sleep spell.

On my way back from a trip to town to visit the inn, an encounter that isn't goblins appears outside! They drop an echo grass, which cures silence.



There's another two doors locked by the mystic key. I need to find that Elf King.





But luckily, this chest isn't locked! I give the hat to Homura, my squishy mage. Another two chests give me a potion, which restores HP, and a tent, which you can use outside to get some HP and MP back.

With the shrine looted, it's time to confront Garland.



Apparently he likes bats.
 
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Garland: Hmph. The king's lapdogs. Do you have any idea who you're messing with? You really think you have what it takes to cross swords with ME? Very well...





Boss battle!



He goes down with hardly a fight, though. Was he really the kingdom's finest warrior?



Sara: I am Sara, princess of Cornelia. That's the first time anyone's ever defeated Garland. You must allow me to show my gratitude. Please, accompany me to Castle Cornelia.





We skip right to the castle.

King: There can be no doubt that you are the Warrior's of Light from Lukahn's prophecy! You should hear the prophecy in its entirety. Ahem. If I may...









King: Now, I hear that a Crystal can be found on the continent to our north. Restoring light to the Crystals is our only hope of ridding the world of the monsters which plague it! I will have the bridge to the north rebuilt, as I promised.

The battle victory chime plays.

When we try to walk away, we are stopped by Sara.

Sara: Wait just a moment!




Sara: When he abducted me, Garland took this lute as well. I want you to have it on your journey.



Well, that's it for today! Next time, the northern continent!

Now, for my thoughts on the game so far. It's all pretty standard JRPG fare, which makes sense, since it's one of the genre's codifiers. The tent/sleeping bag are something I haven't seen before, and Pheonix Down is a clever name for a revival item. Not that I can afford one of those yet.

The art style is weird. The sprites don't really match the backgrounds or overworld. Looking at images of the original, I think I'd prefer how that looks over the PSP version. But then I wouldn't have the conveniences of the PSP version, which also apparently includes a bonus dungeon.

As for my party, Sayaka the thief and Kyouko the warrior are about tied for damage. On the occasions Kyouko manages to get a double hit, she does the highest damage I've seen so far from melee. Homura the black mage's magic does some high damage, but I tend to save her MP. Sleep has been pretty useful. Madoka the white mage's spells are all about utility, and she can contribute to some fights with her hammer. Sayaka and Homura are squishy, and the enemies like to hit them, but Kyouko gets a lot of tanking in. Hopefully they'll all stay relevant throughout the game.

Remember, I am unspoiled for all Final Fantasy games, so be careful what you say. This game doesn't seem to have any twists in store for me, though.
 
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Well, while I'm debating what things that sound like spoilers but are actually revealed in the first half hour of the later games to 'spoil', I'll note one thing. Take a look again at the title screen, now look again at the Warrior of Light fighting the dragon. Specifically, look at his Adam's apple. I don't recall which artist has that style, but bishonen is very common from him.

That said, while I'm pretty sure there is a twist at some point, but I doubt anything will truly shock you if you are familiar with the genre. This may not be the very first JRPG to exist, but it is close, and I believe it preceded the earlier Dragon Quest outside of Japan.
 
You should play all of the final fantasy games.


the first one kinda shows its age… and Squares inexperience at the time of making it.





6, 7, and 9 are the best of the bunch.
 
Vauron said:
Well, while I'm debating what things that sound like spoilers but are actually revealed in the first half hour of the later games to 'spoil', I'll note one thing. Take a look again at the title screen, now look again at the Warrior of Light fighting the dragon. Specifically, look at his Adam's apple. I don't recall which artist has that style, but bishonen is very common from him.
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Yoshitaka Amano - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Character designer for the first 6 Final Fantasy games.
 
Vauron said:
Well, while I'm debating what things that sound like spoilers but are actually revealed in the first half hour of the later games to 'spoil', I'll note one thing. Take a look again at the title screen, now look again at the Warrior of Light fighting the dragon. Specifically, look at his Adam's apple. I don't recall which artist has that style, but bishonen is very common from him.
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Wow, I didn't even start the game before getting something wrong. If he's a Light Warrior, does that mean my party is supposed to be the purple armor guy? Or does he just represent the warrior?
 
ninjafish said:
You should play all of the final fantasy games.


the first one kinda shows its age… and Squares inexperience at the time of making it.





6, 7, and 9 are the best of the bunch.
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Playing all the Final Fantasy games would take so much times though.

There's also the 5 which is worth playing for its job system.

But the 6 is the best. There's no question about that (it's also the only one I managed to finish, but well)...
 
Dissidia Final Fantasy sorta confused things. Your party in FF1 consists of the 4 Warriors of Light. Dissidia implied there was only 1 Warrior of Light, then I think Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy* implied there had been three others before him. I have no idea. Don't worry about it. Those games were the 'lets grab characters from a whole bunch of games to make a one-franchise version of Smash Brothers' games.

The purple armor is probably just based on the updated look for the Warrior of Light in Dissidia, though the red armor is available as an alternate skin. An alternate skin I like more, but an alternate one none-the-less.

*I have no idea what shrooms they were on when the named those two. Also, the 012 is pronounced as 'Duodecim', because of course.
 
The original design for the 'Warrior' was with blue armor and they use that for Dissidia and the opening of the FFI ports.

In-game they made his armor red because the thief, monk and black mage already had blue sprites and they had to balance out the color schemes.
 
Be sure to be careful what spells you pick. There's always a spell that you're not allowed to take cause of space, so be sure it's what you want.
 
Wait what, all of them? You are a brave man sir.
 
Loveland said:
I don't think I'll be able to lp all of them, but I can probably get through the first few.
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It wouldn't be particularly difficult to do, it'd just take a while.

And... yeah. Either skip 2 or leave it for last. If anything can kill one's enthusiasm for the franchise as a whole it'd be Final Fantasy 2.
 
When I read the title, I thought you were literally going to play the game blind. This isn't what I expected, but I'm not complaining. In any case, this game is a good entry into the franchise. Looking forward to more.
 
Wahaha! Playing the classic FF1 eh? Ah yes, the swan song that saved the company itself! It's original incarnation was a lot more like D&D in that spells recharged only if you slept, no MP bar here! While it's shows it's age a lot it's still a fun romp. (Well imo.)

Thiefs hit more often, can't steal (odd I know) but they can run from battles easily.

It is said that with 4 warriors you can break the game as they're pretty good with few counters. Still, 1 is acceptable. They're tanky and hit hard what's not to like?

White/Black mages do exactly what you think, except that WMs get spells that can kill undead. It's something I guess.

On to the units you didn't pick.
Red Mages are a jack of all stats being able to use swords and black/white magic. However they're not the best at everything so they're a bit lackluster.

Black Belt: The magikarps of this game. After a certain level, giving them weapons actually hinder them so they're good if you want to be frugal. They are very strong glass cannons.
 
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