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Originally Posted by LonePaladin
There was a lack of story because it was orignally NES game. They didn't have much space at the time for a lot of text so they concentrated on making the game play good. It wasn't really still the SNES era that FF games started having a "good" story since the SNES carts gave devs a lot more space.
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well... not really. FFIIj has a pretty incredible story - complete with a key word recalling system, a mysidia sub-plot, the destruction of most of the towns in the word, a passage to hell, etc. etc. etc.
FFI didn't have a "strong" story because... well... it was like the 2nd TRUE console RPG ever developed (if you think FFI has a weak story, check out dragon warrior for the NES
). the conventions of rpg story telling hadn't been fully figured out yet, and at the time they thought the townspeople just "talking" about what was going on was enough to keep you cognizant as to what to do next. actually the story is pretty awesome if you play all the way through it. the 2000 year time loop, YOU were that warrior of light, etc.
regardless - FFI is sort of incredible though, as it's the closest to zelda that the series ever got. you're just put in a world, left alone and clueless in front of a massive castle and surrounding towns. eventually you're just given a ship and the world, and it's up to you to find new ports where they require your aid, new lands screaming for a challenger... it's that sort of sandbox exploration, that bliss-filled exuberance of completing one chapter of a game, and being at that point where you have no idea what to do next, then the thrill of finding that town - where the townsfolk are talking about strange beasts and lands yet unknown to you - that is where the power of FFI's story is.
from that angle, i think FFI has a pretty strong story - if you look at it as more of an open-ended world of 8-bit possibilities, rather than the more modern approach of holding your hand through a series of cut scenes. it's one of the reasons i love FFXI so much. i truly feel that FFXI is more like FFI and FFIII than any other final fantasy game since. FFI and FFXI are akin, as they give you the famous starting 6 jobs, and then they give you the world. the rest is for you to sort out.