To this day, still my favorite Final Fantasy

FF V is utter gaming bliss in my opinion. While the story really isn't all that great, but it was at least on par with the games before it. I really liked a lot of the quirky aspects about the games, especially your hero's (Butz/Bartz/whatever) advancement from piano playing bum to piano playing pro! Just watching his little sprite jam something totally rad out on that piano always make me laugh.

Final Fantasy V is a rare title in the series in my opinion, as it represented the last of the 'old-school' or 'traditional' games in the series while serving as the bridge to the more narrative-driven titles that start with Final Fantasy IV, but didn't come into bloom until Final Fantasy VI. It was the last Final Fantasy game that would feature the elemental crystals in all their glory until Final Fantasy IX, where Square tried to go back to the basics, and it was the last Final Fantasy game to really play off a non-serious, almost happy-go-lucky turn (which Square also tried to showcase in FF IX). It wasn't overly serious, but it wasn't completely whacky either. It had such a perfect mix of charm and excitement and offered the best "Let's go on an adventure" feeling the series had offered so far. It's just a blistful, charming little quest. Charming is the best word I can choose to describe it at any rate. There's a certain character, called Gilgamesh (who I based my original The Final Fantasy username off of, many years ago) that embodied everything I needed a rival to embody. He brought a level of humor to the game, but also something really rememorable (as did Mr. Turtle Sage) that kept the game from being too serious. Whenever something would get a bit too deep, you could count on on the NPCs (or your fellow party members) to do something to liven things up a bit. That's something that happens in the newer games as well, but as deep as they are the comedic moments can't offset everything entirely.

With Final Fantasy IV, and later VI on up, the game was so story-driven that it took a lot away from the basic sense of adventuring, but with Final Fantasy I through III, the story line hadn't advanced enough to make much of an impact. Final Fantasy V, in my opinion, represents the exact perfect mixture between advancing the story and keeping that sense that YOU are out there adventuring (as opposed to simply watch or follow someone else's adventure). It's a formula that has been mastered by the awesome, awesome, AWESOME Dragon Quest franchise (or Dragon Warrior, to us yankees) and featured a lot in Final Fantasy V, which is why I think it remains one of the most beloved titles in the series to the Japanese gamers.

But outside all of that, there's the gameplay. How much fun it is to mix and match abilities with classes. The most fun I have with this game is when I use the seemingly stupid or worthless classes to throw a bit of flava into the party. It offers a lot of freedom and gives you enough space to train your characters as you see fit (FF VIII does this a lot too, which is why I love it, and FF VI and VII do it to an extent). Plus liked creating my own stupid job classes, for example make a Black Mage and give him/her the !Blue Magic option and now you have a beat up mage (or a mage that is all black and blue). Or you can take a Mimic and turn him or her unto a real American hero when he or she is outfitted with the !Red, !White, and !Blue Magic skills. Give a Dancer the !Sing ability and you have yourself a Super star! Watch out Britney Spears, you're not the only one who can sing and dance (well, you can't really sing so nevermind). Once you have your Super star/Rock star give a Trainer the !Steal command they he can become your rock star's manager. Give the !Terrain skill from the Geomancer class to an Archer and you have a long-haired hippy (someone who speaks to the animals and the envirnoment). Make "the great white ninja" of Beverly Hills Ninja fame with a Ninja w/ !White. !Steal to a Dancer creates "Ex-wife" while !Mix to the Bard makes a "Junkie Singer." Make a Bare character with Both Hands and !Peep to create a pervert. Crap like that. It's stupid, but it kept me playing the game.

Anyway, I'm retarded, but I have nothing but fond memories of Final Fantasy V. Although I didn't play it until 1998 (and later 1999 with Anthology) it's still the only FF game I find myself coming back to (or at least considering ). A pretty bland story, but interesting envirnoments, awesome NPCs (Gilgamesh am goal), and creative game play keep my interest up while the lighter moments and general silliness at times gives me that "Dragon Questy" adventure that I have grown to adore.

So yeah, Final Fantasy V rocks.

[Neo Necron]

I agree with pretty much every point there, haha. I love it too. Not as much as I used to, admittedly, but I still think it's great. (Not greatest imo, FFVIII be my fav ^_^).

It's sad how many people look down on the game. Admittedly, I can see what people might not like about it, but still, I think it's brilliant.

The size of you post definately goes to show how favourable you are to it. Nice work!

I think Final Fantasy VIII is a better game when it comes to both story and game play (because they are both deeper in VIII than in V), but Final Fantasy V is my favorite because I have so many fond memories of it. Not only is it the last of the "old school" games (and don't kid yourself, as Final Fantasy VI started the transistion into the current Final Fantasy, not VII - although VII improved on VI's foundations consideriably).

I always wished for a prequel of Final Fantasy V, where we can find out what happened 1000 years ago with that ancient wizard they keep talking about (whose name escapes me right now ).

And yes, the game is bloody brilliant.

Man I need to change my username. I meant "Bob the Almighty" but it was really, really, REALLY late when I created this account. Maybe I should go back to my old Gilgy username.

[Neo Necron]

Well, you always have the sequal Anime, Legend of the Crystals which was made a number of years back. I've only seen the first 2 episodes, and I vaguely remember much about it to be honest, but if you love FFV, and you can find copies of the anime, you should watch it (if you havn't already, of course ^_^).

[Brotherhood]

I also loved FFV, it was a great game. Anyone who bashes it is just another lame FFVII fanboy. I liked the story pretty much myself, although saving the crystals got repetitive in FFIV it wasn't too bad. The characers were okay for the most part, it was sad when Galuf died.

My idea for a prequel would be for the original 4 warriors that fought X-Death 30 years before. Drogan, Galuf and Wolverine I believe it was...and some other guy whos name escapes me right now.

In my opinion Square should prequel or sequel almost every FF game, and not just the overrated FFVII. And quite frankly, FFVII deserves ****.

...Necron, are you saying they made anime to sequel FFV?

[Neo Necron]

Yes I am, and you can read about it in that Link I posted. It doesn't seem to be widely known about, unless I've just been ignorant

[Omega]

I'm not going to start a debate here, and no I'm not an FF VII fanboy, that game was ok but way overrated. As far as FF V, I didn't really like it that much. Sure the mixing jobs was fun, but it was more fun in FF Tactics. The crystals were cool as usual but FF IV had such a better storyline, better graphics, and was just an overall better game.

FF V I suppose had it's own flair, but I wasn't as interested in it's comical or lighthearted style. I also wasn't too impressed with the graphics, the game also was very tedious and repetitive when trying to max out your characters level and mastered jobs.

It was alright, I'd call it fun for awhile, but it is definitely an FF title I wouldn't pick up again.

All ff's are goodill say that. And ff 5 is no exception! It was one of the best ff's ever made and also on my top ten list but to be honest FF 4 is the all time best game i have ever played. I dont care for the playstation one but on an emulater it is the shit!!!! ff 5 is good to.

[SuperSabin2005]

What I like about this game is you can get abilites (see character abilities for more info) and the fighting in this game. Honestly, this game is pretty good like final fantasy 4 and final fantasy 6.

[Leroy]

It wasn't bad. Not my fave though. I liked Locke ^^

[Elf]

Originally Posted by Jet

It wasn't bad. Not my fave though. I liked Locke ^^

Hmm....I don't think I ever named Bartz "Locke" before, and I'm pretty sure that Faris usually ended up being my thief, but I guess you can do things differently.

I thought this was one of the better games in the series, though it was mostly because of the job system. I always like being able to customize the characters into different job classes and such, and trying out different combinations adds tons to the replay value. The story wasn't the best around, and some parts seem.....um....choppy?, kinda just going a little randomly without notice for some reason, but all in all, it could have been much worse.

[Green Angel]

Not too bad in my opinion but I didnt like it that much, it is in my fave. list but in the bottom. I dont think it was that good...it was ok

[Crazy Chocobo]

Final Fantasy V was alright but definitely wasn't my favourite. It had a interesting storyline and a good cast of characters but I thought some of the battles were a little difficult at times. It might have been because I didn't level up properly. I got up to one battle and was never able to defeat the enemy! I haven't completed the game but hopefully someday I will.

The storyline was alright, as I said but I don't think it was the most entertaining out of the whole series. It got a little boring for me sometimes. The characters were cool and had unique looks and personalities.

The job system made the game a lot of fun. I wish they could have had that in all of the FF games! There were a lot of different jobs to choose from and it was cool!