1. Home
  2. Otapedia
  3. Games
  4. Final Fantasy
  5. Final Fantasy 1/I - Final Fantasy

OtapediaFinal Fantasy 1/I - Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy I (1) is a role playing game produced and developed for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Square (Later to become Square Enix) It was released on the Japanese market in 1987 and is the first title in the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy 1 was released in North America in 1990 and has since been exported worldwide, reformatted for a number of different platforms including iOS, Android, PlayStation, Gameboy Advance, and others. The game’s main director was Hironobu Sakaguchi and the music was composed and scored by Nobuo Uematsu. The game was a great success and marked the beginning of a franchise that went on to capture movie and TV audiences, inspire books and manga, influence fashion and cosplay, and motivate the creation of a variety of merchandise.

Prologue

The world is out of balance; the elements are in revolt. Four young heroes, each with a darkened orb, must restore order to this chaotic world. Swords and sorcery will aid them on their quest; on this final fantasy. Four Light Warriors appear among the people, each carrying an Orb. Two thousand years ago, the Orbs shined with Light. Now, only darkness....

You are the Light Warriors, the world's only hope. You will journey all across the land, through dark caverns, into the depths of the sea, and even amongst the clouds, looking for some way to save the world from the plague that is slowly consuming it…

Final Fantasy I Plot

The game begins with four heroes each possessing a dark orb. Initially, they have access to the Kingdom of Corelia and the Temple of the Fiends. Their task is to return balance and order to the world. They begin by meeting the King of Cornelia, who complains that an evil knight Garland kidnapped his daughter Sarah. He pleads the warriors to save his daughter, and in return, offers to rebuild a bridge that leads to a neighboring continent and town of Pravoka. The warriors defeat Garland in a chaos shrine and brings Sarah back to her father. Sarah offers the warriors an ancient lute that Garland tried to steal and that had been passed down through generations.

The warriors pass over the bridge, discovering that a dark elven wizard named Astos is terrorizing the town of Elfheim. They meet the witch Matoya, who complains that she is now blind since her crystal eye has been stolen. In Pravoka, the warriors meet a pirate Bike, who orders his men to attack the warriors. After the pirates are defeated, Bike offers them his boat to sail the world. They then begin a number of quests on the shores of the Aldi sea. In the Marsh Cave, they retrieve a stolen crown for a king inhabiting a ruined castle, who ends up being Astos. They defeat Astos and retrieve Matoya’s stolen crystal eye, which they return to her in exchange for a special herb needed to lift a sleeping curse that was placed on the elf prince by Astos. After awakening, the elf prince offers the warriors a mystic key, which is able to unlock any door. They use it to open a storage chamber in Corneria Castle that contains TNT or Nitro Powder. Nerrick, a dwarf of the dwarf cave, uses the TNT to destroy a large rock that blocks their way out of the the Aldi sea.

The warriors visit the damaged town of Melmond and enter an earth cave where they defeat a vampire to acquire the Star Ruby, which allows them passage to Sage Sadda’s cave. In the Earth cave the warriors destroy Lich, the earth fiend, and obtain a canoe. They travel into the Gurug Volcano and defeat the Fire fiend Kary. They then acquire a levistone from an ice cave, which allows them to raise an airship to travel to the northern continents. There, they retrieve a rat’s tail from the Castle of Ordeal, proving their courage and each receiving promotions from Bahamut, the kind of the dragons. A fairy repays the warriors by giving them a special liquid that creates oxygen, which they use to destroy the water fiend Kraken in the sunken shrine. They obtain a slab giving Dr. Unne the ability to teach them Lefeinish language. The Lefeinish allow the light warriors to use the floating castle that the wind fiend Tiamat had stolen.

After defeating the four fiends the warrior’s orbs are restored and a portal in the temple of fiends is opened, allowing them to travel 2000 years into the past. There, the warriors learn that the four fiends sent the demon Chaos (Garland) back in time, and Chaos sent the fiends to the future, making a time loop that would ensure his immortality. By defeating chaos they end the cycle of his immortality, and return home. This causes their deeds and heroic adventures to be only known in the form of legend, though.

Gameplay

In the beginning of the game, the player selects the warriors’ names and chooses their styles, which have different strengths and weaknesses. The different styles are warrior, monk, thief, white mage, black mage, and red mage. Later in the game, a “class upgrade” can occur, boosting the abilities of each class.

Final fantasy gameplay utilizes four screens. An overworld map, town and dungeon maps, a battle screen, and a menu screen. Players randomly encounter monsters, can utilize shops, and may receive loot and treasure. Winning battles earns the player gil, used to buy weapons, armor, curative items, and magic spells. Winning also results in experience, which allows for level ups (levels 1 - 50), increasing the player’s HP, damage resistance, spell casting, and power.

From the menu screen, items can be equipped, items used experience points/levels can be seen. Battle is carried out in turns, the players choose from Fight, Cast Spell, Run, etc. for each member of their party and the enemy then retaliates. Players have eight inventory spaces, with four to hold weapons and four to hold armor. Common items include potions used for healing, tents and cabins used on the world map to save, and houses to recover magic.

Development

Hironobu Sakaguchi proposed to his employer to create an RPG type fantasy game but was turned down since the company wasn’t confident such a game would sell. However, after the success of popular RPG DragonQuest, the company changed its stance and gave Sakaguchi a green light. The game was influenced by Ultima and Wizardry. Akitoshi Kawazu formulated the battle system, based heavily on tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons and also influenced by Wizardry. Kawazu was influenced by Western RPGs and he advocated the ability to choose and create a character’s classes as an important part of a good RPG. Enemy weaknesses, such as fire and ice, had not been incorporated into Japanese RPGs until FF1. The game was programmed by Iranian American Nasir Gebelli, its music the 16th creation of composer Nobuo Uematsu.

Links

Square Enix Official

TOM Shop

Final Fantasy