Customer Reviews

Final Fantasy V Advance

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Square Enix is going back in time with their latest Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS titles. First we had Final Fantasy 1 and 2 on the GBA which were brilliant recreations of the original Nintendo Entertainment System titles that started the Final Fantasy series way back when. Then last year we had the first SNES Final Fantasy game in Final Fantasy IV Advance on the GBA which recaptured the fun that really made the series a house hold staple keeping the game the same as we remember with extras added in to make it even more fun then we remembered. Final Fantasy III which was a Japanese only exclusive NES game is now on the Nintendo DS introducing a new yet old game to fans old and young.

Now with thier next title in Final Fantasy V, will Square Enix again capture the magic that made their old games so much fun? The answer is absolutely yes!

This game is a great example of why the job class system, that Final Fantasy has become well known for, is so much fun to interact with. You start out with a team of four who have to save four special elemental crystals from being destroyed. Every time a crystal does happen to be destroyed the crystals will lend the would be heroes it's powers letting them change thier classes into more powerful fighters, magic users and specialist in the hopes of saving various worlds from a great evil in the name of Exdeath.

The story can be a bit on the weakside. Besides the point of fighting evil just because they are good guys and that's what good guys do there is not much more to the story then your typical Final Fantasy situation. The real draw of the game is the idea of building your dream team of characters in the classes you want to build them into. Some of the classes most will be familiar with if you have played a Final Fantasy Tactics game. There are some new and unique ones but over all they all have their pro's and con's and let you switch between them easy enough while being able to use previously learned abilities from one job into another job.

There are your typical classes in the Knight, Black Mage, White Mage, Monk and Thief. While there are more obscure job titles like Berzerker, Dancer, Beastmaster and Bard that add a lot of originality and newness to the game as it lets you be classes that you may have never thought of being in a Final Fantasy world.

A lot of the game will focus around you leveling up due to the fact that the only way to learn new skills for your current classes are to gain job points by winning battles. Also it can get quite expensive buying equipment for all the different classes as a lot use very specific weapons like whips bows and axes while most use swords and daggers. So this game is not one that you will be able to rush through quickly if you want to get the full experience out of it.

Overall this is a great addition to any fan of a good RPG series both young and old. The story is the only weakness as it could have been a bit better but the fun of the game and your own ability to choose what type of fighters you want to use at any given time make you forget quickly of the story going on and keeps you focused on the action and having fun with the many classes to find.

With three worlds, over 20 class choices, bonus classes and dungeons not found in the original games and so much more to do in this game you definitely can't go wrong picking this up. A very worthy, yet not as well known game in the long running Final Fantasy series.

Especially with Final Fantasy VI Advance on the way, this is a great way to pass the time until it becomes available. This isn't the greatest Final Fantasy game, but it seems to fit in perfect to the portable setting it has been put into. Get it today so you too can max out all the job abilities for all the characters.

The first time Final Fantasy V was releasd in America was with the Final Fantasy Anthology package. Now the game is where it belongs. On a handheld system. The GBA is pretty much at the end of its life, but it still manages to get a satisfactory game every now and then. Final Fantasy V is by no means the best in the series, but it is, for the most part, an RPG that deserves appreciation and acclaim.

Final Fantasy V begins with a character named Bartz witnessing a meteorite come hurdling to the ground. When he goes to investigate he meets up with Lenna. Lenna is searching for her father who has gone off to the wind shrine to check on the wind crystal. Lately, the wind has been weak, and it can only be because something is wrong with the wind crystal. In addition to meeting Lenna, Bartz also meets Galuf, a man who has lost his memory in light of the meteorite crashing. All he can remember is his name, and that he too must also go to the wind shrine. Eventually Bartz decides to travel with them, and so your adventure begins.

In truth, Final Fantasy V doesn't have a good storyline... at least when compared to Final Fantasy IV and all the Final Fantasy games that appeared after the fifth installment. It's pretty basic and generic. This is obvious by how fast you'll meet your main party, and how much more emphasis is put on gameplay. These characters are not well developed nor is the story full of unbelievable plot twists. Except Final Fantasy V was not meant to be about storyline. It's all about the gameplay, and that's where Final Fantasy V excels the most.

As with Final Fantasy IV before it, Final Fantasy V uses the ATB battle system. All your characters stand on one side of the screen while all the enemies stand on the other. When a character's ATB gauge fills up, you'll be able to issue commands. The game then plays out in turn based fashion. Final Fantasy V is simple, yet it's a lot of fun, and it also provides a challenge. The gameplay is enhanced even more by the games complex job system.

The job system is extremely complex, even by todays standards. As you progress through the game you'll obtain job classes for your characters. There are plenty of jobs. Monks, thieves, white mages, black mages, and plenty more. Each of them learn several different abilities all of which can and will be useful to you on your journey. When you select a job with a certain character, you'll have to battle to earn ability points so that they can learn all the abilities they can. Some abilities are more useful than others, and the possibilities are endless. Also, once a character learns an ability, you can change jobs and have them equip it. So a black mage could, in fact, use white magic, provided he's learned the ability to do it.

You'll spend a lot of time on the field battling to get ability points. The more abilities you learn, the more ability points you'll need for the next. This is fine and all, but most enemies don't give up loads of ability points. So the game puts a huge emphasis on battling. This is also seen by the low amounts of experience enemies also give off. Leveling up is a slow process. The good news is battling is fun, especially with the job system in place. Unless everyone's jobs are the same, there's a nearly endless possibility of commands you can give in the middle of battle.

Final Fantasy V Advance sports the same extras as all the previous Final Fantasy re-releases on the GBA do. An extra dungeons and some extra bosses, and that's about it. Nothing too big, but worth the price nonetheless. It'll probably take you 20-30 hours to complete Final Fantasy V. It's not filled to the brim with secrets like future Final Fantasy titles, but mastering all the jobs will really keep you busy for several hours alone. It's also cool because along with the extra dungeons and bosses, you'll get four new job classes. This only adds more to the already complex gameplay.

Graphically, Final Fantasy V is a little dated, even by GBA standards. It looks far better than it did in Final Fantasy Anthology. It's much smoother and does have a little bit of an update, but it doesn't go the extra mile it could've. Enemies still only flash to attack your characters, and they're hardly animated. At least the game has a great soundtrack. Final Fantasy V goes on to show why the Super Nintendo era for Final Fantasy music was one of the best in the series. The game just sounds really good.

Final Fantasy V is a golden treat for Final Fantasy fans. It may have a weak storyline, but what it lacks in story it more than makes up for in gameplay. It's not the best in the series, but it's still a really fun game.

The Good

+It's a lot of fun to play
+The job system makes for a lot of variety in your party
+Great music
+The minor graphic updates are welcome
+Bonus dungeons and bosses
+There's a huge emphasis on gameplay

The Bad

-Not enough of a graphical update
-Weak story and characters

FF5 will always hold a special place in my heart as the red headed stepchild of the series. In this updated version there are even more reasons to let it out of the basement! First off they added something which I thoroughly enjoy! Portraits. This may not seem like much but now you get to see why Galuf gets ragged so much about being old! Oddly enough he doesnt have brown hair and beard in his portrait...but thats ok we love his sprite anyway! There is much better character interaction, and the party actually seems to have developed a sort of personality. Bartz cracks Groany jokes that will make you slap your forhead. In fact there is even a very bizarre Red Lobster reference in the game... You will fall in love with Gilgamesh all over again as he incompetantly tries to thwart you repeatedly throughout the adventure. Farris is not quite so rediculously cliche as a pirate, but still cliche enough to make sense and be loveable, and her portrait helped you understand how the characters found her foxy a little more than the purple haired creature you were familiar with. X-Death is still the lamest bad guy of any FF game, but its almost kind of endeering in a way...and yes he still harnesses the ultimate power to become a....tree at the end.

The class system is left more or less unscathed but for the addition of a few new ones which are dumb at best. Canoner was not somethign any of us were waiting for ff to add. Necromancer has never been the MO of the FFs and the bizarre weather oracley person just kills your party most of the time. Nice guys! It makes you wonder why they didnt throw in some FF staples that were missing. It might have been nice to have a paladin or something remotely FF thrown in there, but whatever, thats small potatoes...

Its still a blacksheap but you will find the game much more playable now, and the characters dont simply clam up half way through the game like they did before! Go grab this one and get your party full of monks ready to wreak some havoc!!

Awesome long lost final fantasy game! Too bad nintendo decided to send over mystic quest to the US instead of this one when they came out with it! I bet they would have made a lot more money! They job system is a lot of fun and the game is classic final fantasy. Tons of hours of gameplay, great soundtrack, and a fun job system makes this one a must have for anyone who loves the final fantasy franchise. Extras added for the advance version make it that more fun like more jobs, an extra dungeon, and better translation then the playstation version that came out years ago. If your a fan of final fantasy, this is not one to pass up.

In keeping with their tradition of re-releasing their SNES Final Fantasy games on the GBA, Nintendo has repackaged Final Fantasy V. The result is nothing short of spectacular, as Final Fantasy V Advance turns out to be the best version of FFV to date. The main reason being that the game has been re-translated and augmented so that the script is now very tongue in cheek and full of humor. Pop culture references are abounding, and game makes fun of its rather simplistic and cliché storyline. The result is a fresh and witty take on what was originally a simplistic and unoriginal story.

For players unfamiliar with the rest of Final Fantasy V, it can be quickly summarized as follows: The emphasis of the game is not on story, but on fighting. The game requires the player to spend more time leveling up and building up abilities than it does the player reading text and figuring out puzzles. As a result, the game is actually somewhat easy, since the player will most likely "over level" their party in order to have a team of characters to their liking. Beyond the emphasis on leveling, anyone can see why the game originally had a rather unoriginal and overall boring story. Thankfully, the aforementioned "script update" has helped remedy this issue greatly.

As for the game's combat, Square has added 4 new jobs that the player can acquire, but three are only accessible towards the end of the game (and the last after the game is beaten). Still, the new jobs do add some variety to game play as well as replay value. The jobs themselves are not "overly powered" as some players might be lead to think, and in comparison, the original 15 jobs can be more powerful than the new 4 if used properly. Still, the new jobs do make life easier when it comes to leveling up thanks to the abilities that they introduce to the game. Ultimately, the new jobs add some needed additions for players who have already beaten FFV in the past.

As for other additions to the game, the most noticeable are that the game has more colorful and better-drawn graphics. The soundtrack has been remixed, and is now far superior to the original SNES game. The game also has an optional 30-room dungeon and a boss survival mode for players seeking more action after the game is over. Suffice to say, the additional content easily plays on the game's emphasis on combat and not on story telling. Other additions to the game include a bestiary, so that players can look up the stats of the monsters that have been defeated. In addition, the game has a music player mode for those who enjoy the music of Final Fantasy V.

The only drawback on Final Fantasy V Advance is that some players will find the new content to be "not enough". Where as the original Final Fantasy V could be completed at about level 36-50, the additional content can be beaten at 50-60, depending on how much time the player has invested into the job system (and how much outside assistance they utilize.) Still, with the new translation, FFV Advance is a worthwhile experience, even for players who have already played FFV in the past.

Over the past couple years, Square has been releasing ports of their beloved older Final Fantasy games to the GBA, with results ranging from great to excellent. Final Fantasy V Advance is no different, once again offering superb and classic RPG action that does the GBA proud. If you remember the Final Fantasy Anthology that was released for the PS1 years back, you'll remember this game, and when playing it on the GBA, you'll notice a few slight differences, most notably in the game's story and dialogue. The graphics look like you would expect a 16-bit Final Fantasy game to look like, with fluid animations and environments to boot. The lengthy quest is quite challenging as well, offering up a great amount of replay value which help you get your money's worth with this game. If there's any downsides to Final Fantasy V Advance, it's the typical kind you'd expect from the older games in the series: the horde of random battles that you'll across will grate on your nerves, and newer RPG players probably won't dig the dated presentation. Not to mention that for a Final Fantasy game, the game's story doesn't grab you and make you want to keep playing just to find out what happens next. Despite all that, Final Fantasy V Advance is another wonderful port of the classic series to Nintendo's undying handheld system, and the better news is that the best game in the series, Final Fantasy VI, is on the way to the GBA too.

---GRAPHICS: 4 OF 5---
Some of the graphics are good, such as the detail on big characters, such as Ex Death and Gilgamesh. The graphics for the ending was of FF 6 level. I really liked the graphics for Bahamut, Meteor, and Odin :)

But overall, even for a SNES generation game, it was ok. I prefer the graphics of Secret of Mana and Dragonquest 3 (remake for Super Famicom).

---MUSIC: 3 OF 5---
Overall, the music was ok. Some of the tracks are good (especially the ending track), others are ok, and 1 was annoying (the pounding music in the flying machine). I'd say FF 6 is better mainly because of the opening theme and main theme on the field (Tina's/Terra's theme).

---CHARACTERS: 1 OF 5---
Very shallow and too predictable with the exception of Gilgamesh.

---STORY: 1 OF 5
If at least one of the characters was dead when Ex Death was defeated, the ending is excellent - one of the best I've ever seen. But other than the ending, the story is horrible, among the worst of all the SNES RPGs I've played.

---BATTLE SYSTEM: 5 OF 5---
PROS:
The main reason to play this game is for the job system. Unlike the Dragonquest games, the classes are well defined, unique, and balanced for the most part. There are a good number of nice combos that are possible with the abilities, and as others have pointed out, many different ways to defeat the enemy.

Leveling up the jobs is balanced as well - although the fights in the beginning mainly give only 1 to 2 ability points, this goes up considerably towards the end, to a max of 199 ABP from a single battle, and 5 guaranteed battles that reward 100 ABP each. This helps if you screwed up leveling up the wrong classes in the beginning - you can always make up for the mistakes at the end.

CONS:
One flaw of this system is that with enough leveling up, all the characters can become overpowered and lose their uniqueness. For example, if I have every character learn every single ability and then switch to the bare class, there is no point in giving them different names or faces anymore because they will be clones. However, there is a way to prevent this from happening - just stop leveling up jobs after a certain point. I follow the personal rule of mastering each job only once (by any character). I was able to beat both secret bosses even while following this rule, so it's not necessary (and not as challenging) to overpower all my characters as some strategy guides suggest. I give the battle system 5 despite this flaw because there is enough flexibility to give the player the option to keep the characters from becoming overpowered. This is much better than the reverse - if the characters are underpowered, there's nothing I can do about it (a common problem in the Dragonquest series).

Another flaw is how the abilities for magic are way more overpowered than a non-magic ability. For one slot, I can get 15 - 18 different options for a magic ability, while I can only have 1 option for non-magic spells. Because there can only be up to 3 slots for abilities per character, I wasn't able to attach as many abilities as I preferred (FF 7 helps solve this problem). It would have been better balanced if there was a single slot for all the abilities of each job. Although this is a minor flaw, it would have made the game more balanced and more enjoyable.

---SIDE QUESTS: 5 OF 5---
Of the all the video games I've ever played, this game had the best side quests of all of them. Sure, I could go to the last dungeon without the legendary weapons and spells, but having them makes a humongous difference. It's also nice that there are 2 secret bosses who are very powerful. Final Fantasy 7 also had side quests, but spells like Knights of the Round Table were too powerful. FF 5's side quests are well balanced - powerful, but not too powerful, with reasonable difficulty to complete.

---CONCLUSION: 4 OF 5---
Although the story is forgettable, this game has amazing replay value because of the job/ability system and how early class change is permitted (within an hour).

It seems like the majority of modern RPGs have become more about spectacle and style over anything substantive. Yes, I realize there are exceptions and this is certainly a matter of personal taste but I find modern RPGs to largely consist of flashy cut-scenes which are padded with mountains of repetitive dialogue from a half-dozen or so extremely cliche, over-the-top anime-inspired teenagers/young adults. Meanwhile, the plot of these games are so hopelessly convoluted and riddled with contrived twists that the whole story easily falls apart due to countless plot holes. Finally, while the actual game-play aspect varies wildly many modern RPGs present the player with a steep learning curve and are buried under mountains of menus that make even a simple combat action feel like a spreadsheet project.

Final Fantasy V is an example of a game that is not only from an older era but is almost an antithesis to the average modern RPG. It is a game with the simple premise of saving the four crystals from a dark lord. This is the reason why many gamers consider Final Fantasy V's story and characters to be "weak" but I completely disagree. Final Fantasy V embraces its simple premise and thoroughly explores it. The result is an extremely well written and perfectly paced story (with a few good twists thrown in) that utilizes a small cast of believable protagonists and a legitimately intimidating antagonist with a surprising back story. Furthermore, while the tone of the whole narrative is lighthearted Final Fantasy V managers to deliver more than a few epic and touching moments that, ironically, have more weight than the over-dramatized stories of modern RPGs. It is also worth pointing out that the Advance version of Final Fantasy V is exceptionally well translated and includes dozens of cleverly woven in Western pop culture references which bolsters the humor of the story.

Yet even those who dislike the story of Final Fantasy V will often admit that the game play is where it shines and that comes as no surprise. Final Fantasy V's job system is dynamic, extremely customizable, and surprisingly simple. As one progresses through the game they can assign a wider variety of jobs ranging from Knight to Dancer to the four available party members. Each one of the party members can also actively utilize a skill learned from another job, via ability points gained in battle, with their current one. The sheer number of jobs is impressive with over twenty ultimately being available to the player. However, the game, in particular the boss battles that often require certain tactics to beat, is structured in such a way that it is better to have a flexible group than an overspecialized one. It is a system that promotes diversity, experimenting with job combinations, and strategy rather than simply over leveling your characters, grinding out the ability points for additional job skills, or making the whole party clones of one another.

Even if you are the type of gamer that likes the style of modern RPGs the actual game mechanics of Final Fantasy V will probably be enjoyable for you. Meanwhile, if you happen to dislike the stories of the newer games then Final Fantasy V's plot and characters could very well capture your interest in addition to the well implemented game mechanics. I can only strongly recommend Final Fantasy V to all RPG fans and any old-school RPG fan that dislike the newer games should definitely check it out. I have not only played every Final Fantasy game to date but a good number of other RPG franchises over the years (including the Ultima and Persona series) and Final Fantasy V is undoubtedly one of my favorite RPGs of all time.

"Final Fantasy V" is a really great GBA game that has a little bit of adventure, fighting, and a good story. It really is a great game!

Story-An adventuresome guy name Bartz with his pet chocobo come across a girl named Lenna who is being attacked by monsters. He helps save her, and once they get away from the monsters a meteor crashes to the earth, and the two find an old man there named Galuf who has amnesia. They try to find out why Galuf was at the meteor and come across pirates in which they befriend the leader Faris. Eventually, the four of them find out that they have been chosen to save four crystals. They set off to save them and get powers in the meantime by having jobs with everything from black mages to white mages to knights to monks to dancers. You gain more jobs as the game goes on. The point of the game is to stop an evil being who will come back to life if all four crystals are shattered. So save those crystals! But there are several back stories so you won't get bored.

Graphics-The backgrounds are good, but the characters are rather small. I liked the graphics, and I thought that they fit the game well.

Sound-The music was nice, I thought. The songs were mostly happy, and although they played quite a few times, I never got sick of them.

Gameplay-Walking around is really easy, as is talking to people. Now fighting is pretty easy as well. You select the characters and they can attack, do one of 2 special moves that comes from levelling up in the jobs, or use items. To level up in jobs you stock up in ABPs(ability points) which you get from completing battles. You also get EXPs when you complete battles (experience points). These help you gain experience levels which improve your HP (health points) and MP (magic points) and other stats such as defense, strength, and more. Your attacks can differ with the weapons you have equipped. The weapons that you can equip are based on the job that you are part of at that time. For instance knights can equip swords, summoners can equip bows, while freelancers can equip everything. There are a few other things that you will have to learn as you play the game, but these are the basics.

Fun-Yeah! This game is fun! The story is fun, the levelling up of jobs is rewarding, and it just is a great game.

Length-The story length is probably 30+ hours, but you probably won't play it straight through, as you might get stuck once or twice, but it's always solvable. And the boss battle is very tough. Too tough, in my opinion, which is why I took off a star. You might question whether that is a valid reason. When you get to it, you'll understand!

All in all, this is a great game that I recommend to all. It has strategy, fighting, and fun. I definitely recommend it for $30 or less. It's definitely a steal for anything less. Great game that is fun for all!

Some people liked FFIV better, but personally I loved FFV. I played the SNES years ago, and the improvements to this game make it even BETTER. Like all Advanced versions of the old FF games, this game has a Bestiary, and it's cool because you know which monsters carry rare treasures, plus the four new jobs that come with this Advance version are pretty neat. Like all other FF Advanced versions, the names of a few spells have changed as well as some monsters, but that does nothing to affect the quality of the game.

The bonus dungeon here is one of the best, period. There's a lot of cool treasures to be found within the Sealed Temple, though it is not without its challenges (you'll need a HIGH level to beat Enuo) Overall, FFV Advance is a worthy item for any Final Fantasy fan, and if you enjoyed FFV, you'll LOVE this Advanced version - goodness knows I did.