A great re-release of 2 epic Final Fantasy titles. One never before released in the U.S. and the other a classic.
User Rating: 9.8 | Final Fantasy Anthology PS
Final Fantasy Anthology is a re-release of two great SNES titles. Final fantasy VI, which is well known by fans and considered one of the best Final fantasy Games ever, and Final Fantasy V, which was never before released in the U.S. This collection is worth it for those who never played the games before and even for those who already experienced the classic Final Fantasy VI. First up is Final Fantasy V. Final Fantasy V was released in Japan in 1992 but never made to the U.S. until now. Like most past Final Fantasy games, the games main plot is the Crystals. The four Crystals-Wind, Earth, Fire, and Water- keep the planet/nature in balance. One day, the Wind crystal shatters and this causes a disturbance in the Air currents, something King Tycoon noticed when he went to visit the Wind Shrine. Soon however, a meteor falls to the ground near by and this is where your journey begins. You first play as the main character, Bartz, to go investigate what was the cause of the sudden earthquakes. He discovers the meteor along and also finds there, princess Reina, daughter of King Tycoon, and a mysterious old man named Galuf. Together you start on a journey to find the cause of the shattering of crystals. Along the way you will eventually get more playable characters, Faris, a pirate captain, and Krile, a little girl that can talk to moogles. The great thing about Final Fantasy V is the job abilities. When your characters come across the broken pieces of the crystals, each piece is a different job. Each job allows you to learn attacks and skills that that one job ability only has. For example, the black mage job can only learn black magic and skills that increase your black magic attacks while a thief can learn how to steal, find hidden areas, and other abilities. When you first get your job abilities (and you only start out with a few) you may not have any attacks at all. That’s because you must win ability points from battles in order to gain and use your attacks. For some job classes like White mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Time Mage, and Summoners, you must buy your magic before using them. Also, some magic can only be used when you have a high magic level (high black mage level, white, red…etc). Other jobs like Thief and Monk don’t require you to buy your skills, just leveling up and getting ability point is enough. When you are far along in the game and you have more job classes, you can start mixing job classes, but only a maximum of two at a time. For example, if you have masters your Black mage job and switch to Samurai, you can equip you black magic as a secondary command, meaning your Samurai will be able to use black magic! Next up is Final Fantasy VI. Final Fantasy VI was first released in the U.S. back in 1994 and was considered for a while to be the best RPG and Final Fantasy game ever made…before Final Fantasy VII came along. It is still thought by some fans to still be the best. To me, Final Fantasy VI is unique because it had one of the deepest stories that can be found on the SNES and it’s not about the crystals! That’s a shocker since all the previous games were about crystals. Final Fantasy VI takes place many years after the War of the Magi, a war that involved magic users (Espers) and non-users that wanted magic for power. However, a girl by the name of Terra is able to use magic and is under the control of the Emperor. When she breaks free from the control she is discovered by a Returner member, a group that s against the emperor, and soon she teams up with Locke, a thief who is also a Returner member. Together the escape from the Narshe and the emperor. Unfortunately, the emperor is not going to give up so easily on losing her since she is one of a few people that can use magic. This leads to an epic adventure of discovering your characters past and true identities and saving the world. As you progress through the game, you will gain more playable characters that have there own abilities. I already mentioned what Terra’s and Locke’s abilities were, Terra can use magic and Locke can steal items. But there are many more characters that can do so much more! Edgar, king of Figaro, can use different tools against enemies. Sabin, Edgar’s twin brother, can use Blitz, which are a bunch of physically strong attacks. Mog, a moogle, can use dance, which he attacks with different elemental attacks. Cyan, a knight, can use Sword Techniques. Gau, a wild boy, can use Leap/Rage, which allows him to copy enemy abilities. Setzer, the airship pilot, can use Slots. Strago, an old mage, can use Lore, which is blue magic. Shadow, a ninja, can throw items and weapons at enemies and once in a while his dog, Interceptor, will come and attack the enemy for you. Celes, a female knight, can use Runic, which allows her to absorb the MP of certain magic attacks. Relm, a little girl, can use Sketch, which allows her to draw an enemy and make her picture come to life to attack you enemy. There are also hidden characters in the game, making Final Fantasy VI having the most playable characters in a Final Fantasy game. Also in this game you will find certain items called Magicite. Magicite contains a summon that died and its power are now in magicite form. You can only equip one magicite at a time to your characters, which allows you to summon that monster and also allows toy to learn certain magic that that magicite has to offer. So in the end, all your characters will be able to use magic along with their own special abilities. Which you will need when fighting the Emperors goons, like Kefka, that crazy clown with the evil laugh, which is actually one of the best villains in FF history. Like in any other Final Fantasy game, you can buy items, weapons, and accessories. You also have your status ailments present in this game. Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI is active time battle, like most future Final Fantasy games. One good thing about this collection is the extras! Both games have their own FMV movie, which the FF series is popular for. Also, when you beat Final Fantasy VI, you will unlock artwork from both games, a bestiary, and a video of Aria di Mezzo Carattere, that opera song Celes sings in the game. Speaking of music, the collection also contains a music CD with music from both games! Also, in is important to say that the dialogue in Final Fantasy VI has been fixed up and the naming of items is fixed too. Overall, the game should be a must have for all Final Fantasy/RPG fans of all ages. The Gameplay is good. The graphics and the sound is still the same from what it was on the SNES, which is nothing bad. The replay value of the game is excellent since the two games will take you about 30 to 40 hours each. So what are you waiting for? Play the game!
