The Best Of The Best Reunite
Written: Sep 16 '01 (Updated Sep 16 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Two of Square Soft's greatest RPGs
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: Get this along with all the other Final Fantasies...
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| Rock_On's Full Review: Final Fantasy Chronicles for PlayStation 1 |
A long, long time ago, back in the SNES days, two classic games developed by Square Soft, hit the SNES by storm. These two games are called Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 4. Chrono Trigger, which is no doubt the best RPG ever, and definitely the best RPG developed by Square Soft, is selling online sites such as Ebay for up to 150 dollars! Now I know that this game is the best of the best, but 150 dollars for a gray cartridge? And Final Fantasy 4, people say it’s the best one in the Final Fantasy series, just a notch above Final Fantasy 6. FF6 has also been found being sold for a pretty hefty price.
Well look no longer my friends, spend all that money except for 30 or 40 bucks, and use that 30 or 40 bucks to buy the newest Square Soft game edition, Final Fantasy Chronicles.
Lets see here... which game should I write on first...Ah yes, I think I’ll talk about the most talked about RPG......
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Chrono Trigger
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How about that plot, eh? I mean, why else has this game become such a good game, unless there is a good plot? Lots of reasons, but I’ll start with the plot first.
Plot/Story
After starting the game and a little cartoon like intro is finished, you see your player, spelled Crono in the game, in bed while his mother opens the curtains to wake him up. She reminds him about the Millennial Fair at Town Square and that his best friend, Lucca, is showing one of her new inventions.
As Crono is running so he won’t be late, he wasn’t looking where he was going, and ran into this girl. They introduce themselves and she goes with Crono to see Lucca’s invention. When they get there, a big crowd has already formed around Lucca’s invention. When Lucca asks for volunteers, Crono goes up to try her invention, which is a transporter. Crono transports perfectly, but when Crono’s new friend tries it, she is transported into another time as a portal opens and sucks her in. Crono grabs the pendant that was left behind and follows the girl to see what’s wrong.
This game has the most compelling story that sucks you in right at the start where as you progress, you keep wanting to see what happens next. You’ll find out right after Crono jumps through that portal, why Chrono Trigger is the best RPG ever made.
Battling the Baddies
As you walk through the environment, whether it be the past, present, or future, unlike a lot of Square Soft RPGs, battles are in real-time. Like in Paper Mario, you can see oncoming enemies, and if you don’t want to fight them, then avoid em’. But anyways, the Real-Time Battle System(RTBS) doesn’t have that black screen come up and then battling with a different background. When you’re attacked just a little menu at the bottom pops up so you can choose what attacks to slaughter your enemies with. One thing I do have to say is that the loading times are so slow on Chrono Trigger, that a game like FF7 would still get you battling by the time Chrono Trigger gets done loading.
You can meet and use certain character s throughout the game that will join you in battle. Some characters are in the past, some present, and some future. Each character has his/her/it’s own different weapon. Like Crono and Frog use swords, so they usually have a high attack power, one character uses a slingshot, and stuff like that. There’s also some sort of magic system you can use...
Tech and Magic Skills
Each character can have a Tech Skill in which you can use your MP(Magic Points) to use one of the attacks. Some Tech Skills can heal your party, or most do damage on one or all enemies. When more than one character is ready to be given a command, the Tech command switches to Combo if any characters have learned combos. When using a combo, you can select between Dual Tech and Triple Tech, which either involves two characters in the one attack, or three. Each time you battle and when you can learn new Tech and Magic skills by earning Tech Points. However, magic can only be learned after training at the “End of Time.”
But what if I get hurt...
...Then don’t play you pansy. No, just kidding. Like being able to equip different weapons, you can equip armor for the head and body. Some helmets can only be worn by girls, some can only be worn by guys. It varies out your teams abilities I guess. You can also equip accessories like a silver or gold earring would maximize your HP(hit points) by 25 or 30%, a power glove which adds two points to your power, a sight scope which shows an enemies HP, or a Power Scarf that adds four power points to your stats.
Eck! I’m almost dead!
You can buy and find certain items that will help heal your party and get rid of all those ugly status effects. Recovery items such as Mid Tonics and Full Tonics will recover most or all of your characters HP, MP recovery items like Mid and Full ethers will replenish your MP bar, status recovery items like heal or revive which recovers status like poison and a revive which revives a KOed character. You can also find shelters, which restores all MP and HP of all your characters.
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Graphics 5/5
The animations and most of the characters are like an Anime cartoon. There are vibrant colors and the battle graphics and all the environment graphics, amazing for a 16-Bit system on the SNES. Of course, the Play Station’s graphics predessor made this game look rich in colors even better than it looks on the SNES.
Control 5/5
There isn’t much control here. The Tech System might be a little confusing at first, but soon you’ll accustom to the way it’s set up.
Sound 5/5
The music changes between each mood that an area or dungeon has. o if it’s dark and kind of creepy, you’ll have that eerie sound to listen to. For places like the Millennial Fair, happy and cheery music will set the mood.
Overall 5/5
A great addition to this Square Soft title, you’ll be glad you bought FF Chronicles. Even if you just bought it for Final Fantasy IV.
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Final Fantasy IV
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The other Square Soft great that came in Final Fantasy Chronicles, would be Final Fantasy IV or FF4 for the Roman Numeral impaired. There’s been a lot of speculation between FF4 and FF6 about which on is the best Final Fantasy in the series. I personally haven’t had a chance to buy FF Anthology, for which the great FF6 is in, so I can’t really judge which is better since I don’t have it. But alas, on to the review...
Plot/Story
The captain of the Red Wings, the air force for the Baron Kingdom, Cecil, and his crew were sent to Mysidia to steal the water crystal. Now that they’re on their way home after completing the successful raid on Mysidia. But Cecil and the crew are feeling a bit guilty about taking the Crystal from the innocent people of Mysidia. However, Cecil reminds them that they are the proud and mighty Red Wings of Baron and must always remain loyal to the king.
When the airships arrive in Baron, Cecil takes the Crystal to the King, still being torn apart by guilt. As Cecil starts to leave the throne room, his guilt takes over him and he decides to ask the King of his intentions. Cecil now being accused of disloyalty, he’s stripped of his command of the Red Wings and is ordered to go hunt the Phantom Beast plaguing the Mist Valley, not too far from Baron. As the story unravels, Cecil the Dark Knight, is drawn into love and betrayal, which leads to a quest that will decide the fate of the world.
Bring it on, Baby!
Like most Final Fantasies, the ATB, Active Time Battle, is back. Whichever character, whether it be friend or foe, that has the better agility, will get to attack faster than slower characters. The faster you can attack, the faster the enemies HP drains, and the faster the HP drains, the faster you’ll beat the enemy.
Again, like the other Final Fantasies, you meet a variety of characters throughout your journey. Some of them join you for the rest of the adventure, some of them just join for a little bit and then when a certain event comes, they leave. Some characters join and leave up to three or four times even.
Cecil
Dark Night/Paladin
When you first start the game, Cecil is a highly trained Dark Night. As you go along in your adventure and meet a couple of new allies, you’ll eventually have to fight your inner self, by not attacking, and from there on you’re a Paladin.
Kain
Dragoon
One of Cecil’s rival and friends, Kain specializes in combat from the air. Kain does, not saying when, betray Cecil sometime during the story.
Rosa
White Magic
Rosa is a child hood friend of Cecil and Kain and specializes in white magic such as the cure ability.
Cid
Engineer
What kind of Final Fantasy would be a Final Fantasy without the infamous Cid. Cid has been a character in every Final Fantasy to date. From the sailor mouth Cid in FF7, to the Regent Cid in FF9, the character’s role in each Final Fantasy is a little different.
Tellah
Mage
A mysterious character and is said to have a strange connection to the Mage Kingdom of Mysidia. His expertise in both White and Black magic, Tellah is a well-balanced character.
Yang
Monk
He’s the leader of the Monks in Fabul and relies on his hands and feet to beat up the competition.
When you’re engaged in battle, you can choose either the fight, magic, or a special command, which depends on what character you’re commanding then. When you choose the fight command, you’ll attack with a physical attack or use a weapon like a slingshot or something. When using magic, depending on the character that can use magic, are put into two categories, White Magic and Black Magic. White mages can use white magic which includes the cure ability, and black mages use black magic which include Fire, Ice, and Thunder.
When you defeat a monster, you earn experience points, which as they accumulate, levels you up. As you progress in the game, and the enemies get stronger, you need to level up to be able to match everything else's level. Whenever you grow a level, your HP(Hit Points) and MP(Magic Points) grow in numbers. For example, by the time you reach level 50, you should most likely have about 2,000 Hit Points, and maybe 200 or 250 magic points, depending on the character’s abilities.
Battle Techniques
A tactical solution for those weak characters in your party, is to take advantage of the front and back rows. For the characters who are better with the physical attacks, should be in the front row, because if they’re in the back, they won’t do us much damage.
For the White and Black mages though, putting them in the back greatly reduces the physical attacks against them, however their magic also doesn’t weaken whether it’s casted from front or back, unlike physical attacks where if they’re in the back, damage won’t do as much to the enemy.
Chocobos
A Final Fantasy game without Chocobos? Unheard of. Although the feathered birds don’t have a very big role like in FF7, they’re very helpful along your adventure. As you journey across the land, you’ll come to Chocobo Forests, where you can catch a Yellow, white, black, or BIG Chocobo. Yellow Chocobos when you catch them will allow you on their back so you can ride across the land without being attacked by monsters. The white Chocobos serve as a kind of INN. They fully restore your party’s HP and MP, but you can’t ride them like the yellow ones. The Black can fly across the land, but not over mountains, and the BIG Chocobo can hold items for you.
Home, Home on the Range
As you travel across the continent, you’ll usually be led to different towns by the story. In each town, you can find an INN, where you can restore your party’s health. An items shop is where you can buy and sell various items, an armor shop where you can buy armor, and last but no least, A weapons shop to buy all your different swords, slingshots, ect...
I want to Fly Like an Eagle
There are two different vehicles you’ll be allowed to use during your adventure. One is the Airship, where you can fly anywhere you want to go. And then there’s the Hovercraft, which lets you travel through shallow water and lakes. The Hovercraft may also be able to take you to places that you can’t walk or fly to.
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Graphics 5/5
Like Chrono Trigger, FFIV’s graphics are a lot better and more colorful than the SNES classics. There are added CG cinemas, and background pictures are more clear than the SNES version.
Control 5/5
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, man I love being a turtle...Oh, wait a minute. That’s not what I meant to say. I meant to say that this IS an RPG, and like most other RPGs, there isn’t much control. There is the newbie factor though. Menus and action commands can be tricky at first.
Sound 5/5
I’m not to sure about the sound for this, because when I started playing FF4, I had just bought the new Blink CD, and so I was listening to that most of the time. But I do know that sound effects have once again improved since the SNES version and the themed music for each area is very well composed. The sound may get annoying after a while if you’re stuck in one place, but there’s a simple solution to that, go somewhere else!
Overall 15/15
Once again, a perfect score for this well made game. The developers at Square Soft never disappoint, and this game isn’t going to start to disappoint.
Overall Overall 30/30
I highly recommend Final Fantasy Chronicles to any RPG fan, Final Fantasy fan, Chrono Trigger fan, Play Station fan, or SQUARE SOFT fan. If you fall into either of these categories or are new and you want to see what you like, then go for FF Chronicles.
~Happy Gaming
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: Rocky
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