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Final Fantasy V 20th Anniversary Thread

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
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Today marks the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy V in Japan, which was released on December 6th, 1992 for the Super Famicom.​

The Jobs

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Final Fantasy V’s main selling point is its job system, an improved version of the system implemented in Final Fantasy III. The player starts out as a Freelancer and progresses through the game to acquire and master up to 22 jobs (26 in the GBA version). While characters regularly level up with EXP, in order to advance equipped jobs, players must acquire ABP (ability points) in order to level up jobs. It also allowed players to let their playable characters multi-class in that they may equip one or two abilities from unequipped jobs while taking on the guise of another job. In a way, this was almost like having more than four party members at your disposal at one time within a party.

Some may argue that this increased flexibility was a welcome change after the job and party restrictions placed on players in Final Fantasy IV, especially after having played Final Fantasy III. This job system would not return again in the series until Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy XI, and Final Fantasy Tactics.​

The Plucky Cast

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The game had a quintet of playable characters. Bartz Klauser (who is sometimes fondly called “Butz”) is the first person that the player controls and becomes drawn into the game’s plot when he investigates a meteorite crash site with his chocobo Boko. Lenna Charlotte Tycoon is the Princess of Tycoon who meets Bartz at the meteorite site. Galuf Doe is an elderly man stricken with amnesia discovered at the crash site. Faris Scherwitz is a pirate with a mysterious past who captures Bartz, Galuf, and Lenna when they try to steal her ship. Finally, Krile Baldesion is Galuf’s granddaughter. Together, these characters work to stop the nefarious Exdeath from destroying the crystals and bringing the world to ruin. But not without stopping to play the piano, explore towns, poking sheep, or fighting Y-Burns.​

Improvements

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Final Fantasy V was the second game in the series to use the ATB system developed for Final Fantasy IV, but it added the ATB bars which move depending on the character’s speed stat in order for the player to anticipate and time his or her attacks. This was implemented in later FF games. It was also the first game to feature the fan-favourite recurring character Gilgamesh, who appears in various forms in future Final Fantasy games and ports/remakes of pre-Final Fantasy V games.​

Learning the Piano One Track at a Time

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Final Fantasy V’s soundtrack spanned two discs and 67 tracks. Originally, composer Nobuo Uematsu had thought that the game would require 100 tracks. He developed his ideas for the music employed by reading the script and composed the melodies to go with the themes of the story scenes and characters. Generally, in my experience, the album is considered to be hit-or-miss, but there are a lot of good tracks on there such as Ahead on Our Way, The Four Warriors of Dawn, and the massively underrated The Decisive Battle. Perhaps the most famous piece from Final Fantasy V is Clash on the Big Bridge, the Gilgamesh battle theme.

Final Fantasy V also had two arranged albums: the Piano Collections: Final Fantasy V, and Final Fantasy V: Dear Friends (an arranged soundtrack with live instruments and vocals).​

Ports

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Final Fantasy V was later ported to the PlayStation in the Final Fantasy Anthology with an interesting localization in 1998 in Japan (1999 in NA, 2002 in EU). It was also ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2006 with several additions (4 new jobs, and a much improved and humorous localization).​

The Anime

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It also had an OVA sequel. The Legend of the Crystals takes place 200 years after the story of Final Fantasy V following Bartz’s descendant Linaly and her friend Prettz. No, it’s not very good.​

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What are your favourite memories of Final Fantasy V? What sorts of jobs do you like to use? How did you perform in this year’s Job Fiesta if you had participated in it? Feel free to post anything to celebrate your time with FF5!​
 

Aeana

Member
Thanks for making the thread, and great job with it too.

I really love FF5, which I'm sure isn't a secret. It's really a tragedy that it was inaccessible to English-only gamers for so long.
I bought the game the day it came out and was honestly in love with it right from the beginning, because the intro is so incredibly captivating. I really didn't expect anything like that based on the prior games in the series.

At this point, I think I've played it in just about every way you can play it, with all different kinds of job combinations. In the end, I don't really think I have a favorite job, but I will say that I don't think that any game has done blue mage as well as FF5 has, which is a really shame.
 

linko9

Member
This is my favorite RPG ever made. I absolutely love everything about it. Generally I tend to roll my eyes at RPG stories, but I thought this one was really good. It was pretty bare-bones, which I think is good, but I really enjoyed all of the characters, which is rare for me. One of the only times I actually felt sad playing a videogame is when
Galuf dies
. The music is wonderful, probably my favorite in the series. Of course my favorite thing about it is the Job system, which was pulled off amazingly, and actually encourages you to develop characters differently for almost all of the game, and employ some semblance of a strategy in battle, which is nice.

Also I should mention: the game is hilarious. And most of the humor comes from the sprite animations and whatnot. That scene with the turtle-sage in his cave is pretty damn funny. I always get a few genuine laughs playing this game, which almost never happens with games for me.
 

terrisus

Member
Didn't have the chance to play this until the GBA version, but, got that day one, and absolutely love it.

I really enjoy games which give you options as far as job/class/character customization. That said, I do tend to go with some pretty boring options, which aren't too far off from what might normally be available. Typically two melee-based characters, and then a white magic user and a black magic user. But still, I like being given those choices anyway, and wish more RPGs offered that freedom.
 

Aeana

Member
Didn't have the chance to play this until the GBA version, but, got that day one, and absolutely love it.

I really enjoy games which give you options as far as job/class/character customization. That said, I do tend to go with some pretty boring options, which aren't too far off from what might normally be available. Typically two melee-based characters, and then a white magic user and a black magic user. But still, I like being given those choices anyway, and wish more RPGs offered that freedom.
I like how FF5 lets you take your mages and make them more viable in regular fights just by giving them the barehanded ability from monks. Do that, and they can dish out loads of physical damage when they're not casting spells. That one realization way back when may have actually been the point where I fell in love with the new version of the job system.
 
It's a good game, I didn't care for the story but enjoyed the freedom of the job systems and discovering some of the optional summon monsters/dungeons.

Hiroyuki Ito generally made the best FFs.
 

terrisus

Member
I like how FF5 lets you take your mages and make them more viable in regular fights just by giving them the barehanded ability from monks. Do that, and they can dish out loads of physical damage when they're not casting spells. That one realization way back when may have actually been the point where I fell in love with the new version of the job system.

Indeed. I think 5 actually had just about the perfect amount of cross-over between classes. Since, with the Esper system in 6, by the end of the game typically I had everyone (in my main group anyway) having basically exactly the same set of spells (and massively over-leveled anyway). With 5, there's still a good amount of distinction between the characters where they each have their own roles, but where you can toss in some stuff to give flexibility as well.
 

jackal27

Banned
Cool thread! I've always liked the characters of Final Fantasy V, but I've never gotten very far in it even though I own it on my Playstation and my GBA. Faris is such a great Final Fantasy character. Final Fantasy games with changeable classes always intimidated me as a kid though, so that might be part of it.

I've been playing 3 lately though and loving, so maybe I should give it another try!
 

CorvoSol

Member
I freaking love 5 because of its class system, and because Bartz is hilarious. The bonus dungeon in the GBA version is total bull, though.

HAPPY 20th FF5!!!
 

Jazzem

Member
My brother got the GBA version for me Christmas 2008, couldn't tell you how grateful I was! Ended up really loving the game, out of the FFs I've finished (III, V and VII) it may honestly be my favourite. The job system is just so much fun to experiment with, yet is still reasonably accessible.

It's weird that this was the next FF I finished after III though, as that's basically a prototype for this game, heh.
 

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
One of my favorite RPGs of all time. Great job system and a good story to boot. Thread is awesome. Good work!
 
My favorite FF game. Great main character, really fun job system and has quite a charming story.

Happy 20th Anniversary!
And maybe we'll get a remake too!
 
The greatest crime ever inflicted upon humanity is that SQUARE-FUCKING-ENIX has not put Hiroyuki Ito in charge of an FF4DS-style remake of this game.
 

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
At this point, I think I've played it in just about every way you can play it, with all different kinds of job combinations. In the end, I don't really think I have a favorite job, but I will say that I don't think that any game has done blue mage as well as FF5 has, which is a really shame.
Thanks. I completely agree with this part. It wasn't until I'd played FF5 that I began to adore the Blue Mage class and no FF, outside of perhaps 10-2's Gun Mage, came close to replicating the feel of it. Sure, I love the Enemy Skill Materia in FF7 (and it's probably one of the few pieces of materia I equip), but I like that in FF5 you don't have to survive the attack everyone learns it after any Blue Mage is hit by it. It's convenient.

It also helps that the animation for spell usage is cool:

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That's another thing. FF5's cast animation is cool.

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kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
Honestly, I thought FFV deserved more of a remake than FFIV did but that's just me personally.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
The sketchy emulation of the Playstation version of FFV made one section of the standard battle music sound almost indistinguishable from a muffled version of the ringtone of my phone at the time I first played it.

My memories of playing through the game for the first time include a lot of pausing and checking to see who was calling me.
 

Negator

Member
This is my most favorite Final Fantasy game. So many cool sidequests and optional stuff, even near the very beginning of the game!

The second best implementation of the Job System that I know about.

The GBA localization is a little wacky, but I think it fits the spirit of the game perfectly. A thousand times better than the awful Playstation version.
 

Einhander

Member
It's a nice Final Fantasy game and I enjoyed the job system it had. The story was kinda lackluster, though. Square needs to remake this for 3DS pronto.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Thanks for making the thread, and great job with it too.

I really love FF5, which I'm sure isn't a secret. It's really a tragedy that it was inaccessible to English-only gamers for so long.
I bought the game the day it came out and was honestly in love with it right from the beginning, because the intro is so incredibly captivating. I really didn't expect anything like that based on the prior games in the series.

At this point, I think I've played it in just about every way you can play it, with all different kinds of job combinations. In the end, I don't really think I have a favorite job, but I will say that I don't think that any game has done blue mage as well as FF5 has, which is a really shame.

An even bigger tragedy awaited those who were excited for the FF Anthology release in the US. The first official English language release was an awful mess that made me hate the game for years and years. It's the only PSX game I've ever encountered that would freeze while saving! The script makes absolutely zero sense! The infrequent freezes and full screen glitches made it a chore to play!

I was skeptical about that game until a bunch of people who I trust told me that the GBA version was a full turn around. I played that version and fell in love with it right away. It's now my second favorite game in the entire series.
 

Aeana

Member
This is my most favorite Final Fantasy game. So many cool sidequests and optional stuff, even near the very beginning of the game!

The second best implementation of the Job System that I know about.

The GBA localization is a little wacky, but I think it fits the spirit of the game perfectly. A thousand times better than the awful Playstation version.
The translation suits the game perfectly. charlequin and I have been known to muse that FF5 would probably do well with a laugh track added a la Mystical Ninja 64.

An even bigger tragedy awaited those who were excited for the FF Anthology release in the US. The first official English language release was an awful mess that made me hate the game for years and years. It's the only PSX game I've ever encountered that would freeze while saving! The script makes absolutely zero sense! The infrequent freezes and full screen glitches made it a chore to play!

I was skeptical about that game until a bunch of people who I trust told me that the GBA version was a full turn around. I played that version and fell in love with it right away. It's now my second favorite game in the entire series.

Are you trying to tell me that you don't know what a Y Burn is?
 
I still need to go back and finish the GBA version's post game content. Every time I say I'm going to do it, I get reminded of how hard the extra dungeons/bosses are and wuss out.

GBA localization is fantastic, though. Wasn't expecting it to be as funny and charming as it was.
 
I recently started playing FFV for the first time (as the GBA version). This and 3 are the only main, offline Final Fantasy games I've never really played. It started off a bit weird for me but got into a groove pretty quickly after that.

Unfortunately, I got a bit suck on THE boss battle 2/3 through the game, and then a lot of other games started dropping into my hands, so I need to go back and finish it soon.
 

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
Well, when you take into account the amount of re-releases that FF4 had...

Yeah. It's overkill. They could've at least pooled the resources from one of those re-re-releases into FFV. It definitely deserves it. Fantastic game due to its witty dialogue, excellent job system that keeps on going and going and going, and pacing that is perfect in almost every single way. I'm surprised that I actually like FF8 more than this. Huh.... Oh right. Romance. Gosh I'm a sucker.
 

Zeranium

Member
One of my favorite Final Fantasy games.
But it didn't start off that way.

I first experienced it through Final Fantasy Anthology (US version) and was looking more to having FFVI since I never owned the SNES version and only played my cousins copy.

So after finishing VI I checked out V for like maybe 5 hours and dropped it.
Didn't think much of it from that initial run.
Years later I decided to return to it -- y'know, just out of curiosity.
For some reason everything just clicked. Ended up loving the game and Gilgamesh.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
The translation suits the game perfectly. charlequin and I have been known to muse that FF5 would probably do well with a laugh track added a la Mystical Ninja 64.



Are you trying to tell me that you don't know what a Y Burn is?

The version of the game has so many bad memories for me that during my first month of Playstation Plus FF V was one of the free games and I didn't even bother putting it on my download list despite putting on every single other game whether I will ever play it or not.

I know the story of FF V is wacky to begin with but it just plain doesn't make sense in that translation, and what little is coherent is BORING.

It's not even a fun bad translation like Breath of Fire II.

Also the anthology music CD has none of the good FF V tracks on it at all so I used to believe that game had nothing good music wise besides Clash on Big Bridge.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Maybe now that I've recently finished FF4 I should get back on this game... if I wasn't already drowning in a backlog that is.

This is one of the few FFs that I really enjoyed primarily for the battle system though.
 

pyrandes

Member
Great OP!

Still one of my favorite FF's, and one I've been meaning to get back into at some point... I suppose I could on my vita, but Id rather find my charge cord for my GBA and play thru that version again.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
Blue Magic is tops in FFV because of Azulmagia. People who don't blue it up have never seen him kill himself, and that's terrible.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Blue Magic is tops in FFV because of Azulmagia. People who don't blue it up have never seen him kill himself, and that's terrible.

Well that and their great spell and equipment lists, plus they are available the entire game.
 

randomkid

Member
I have the weirdest history with this game, I remember when I first got the internet I read some ancient FAQ overviewing the story and downloaded wav files of many songs in the soundtrack and pined over it, never thinking it would ever come out here. Years later when it was announced for America, I bought FF Anthology Day 1 and LOVED IT, really enjoyed the game and thought it stood up with all the other FF greats. Had no clue that this version of the game was so reviled, I straight up loved the experience and don't recall any negatives.

Then the GBA version was announced and as a diehard fan of FF4 GBA I was really excited to replay the game, but after 10 hours or so I just couldn't get into it and stopped playing. Nowadays I have no desire to revisit it. I really don't get it, I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the game, but it ranks near the bottom of FF's I'd like to replay and it kinda cracks me up that my experience with the American versions of the game is probably the reverse of everyone else.
 

Aeana

Member
I have the weirdest history with this game, I remember when I first got the internet I read some ancient FAQ overviewing the story and downloaded wav files of many songs in the soundtrack and pined over it, never thinking it would ever come out here. Years later when it was announced for America, I bought FF Anthology Day 1 and LOVED IT, really enjoyed the game and thought it stood up with all the other FF greats. Had no clue that this version of the game was so reviled, I straight up loved the experience and don't recall any negatives.

Then the GBA version was announced and as a diehard fan of FF4 GBA I was really excited to replay the game, but after 10 hours or so I just couldn't get into it and stopped playing. Nowadays I have no desire to revisit it. I really don't get it, I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the game, but it ranks near the bottom of FF's I'd like to replay and it kinda cracks me up that my experience with the American versions of the game is probably the reverse of everyone else.
You should consider participating in the FF5 4 job fiesta next time. I think it might reinvigorate the game for you.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
I actually got about halfway through programming a quick java version of the classic Fiesta run job generator (including an option for thief/white mage to be paired together!) and nearly started a run tonight before remembering that I have absolutely no time this month for a 12 days of Christmas style run!
 

Luigi87

Member
Great thread, and good to know about the anniversary.

This was the first Final Fantasy that I ever played. I don't consider it the best, but it means the most to me for that reason, and I love the job system.

The game seriously deserves a remake (would be partial to one like FF4's Complete Collection sprite remake).
 

Negator

Member
I finished the fiesta and have a second fiesta ready to go just in case I get the urge between now and the next fiesta.

Another reason I like the game. Challenges like the fiesta are totally possible, even with the worst combination of classes.
 

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
This was the second Final Fantasy I was exposed to. I'm sort of sad because everything after FF5 was downhilll for me in terms of character customization and such.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
This was the second Final Fantasy I was exposed to. I'm sort of sad because everything after FF5 was downhilll for me in terms of character customization and such.

X-2, Tactics Advance, Tactics Advance 2 all reach about that level though two of them are in a different genre. Four Warriors of Light comes close but has some issues.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
Well that and their great spell and equipment lists, plus they are available the entire game.

Equipment is a crutch. Superhero-lookin' peeps who explode themselves and induce bosses to do likewise in fits of jealousy needn't concern themselves with such frippery.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Equipment is a crutch. Superhero-lookin' peeps who explode themselves and induce bosses to do likewise in fits of jealousy needn't concern themselves with such frippery.

It's hilarious differences in equipment that make most characters in FF VI better than others. Oh hey these four characters can get max evade and a ton of plus modifiers to stats without using relics. Sucks to be you other guys.

It does also work that way in V to a degree. Heavy armor users are the haves, Knights and Samurai lord over everyone. Rod users troll non rod users and everyone gets the better of White Mage...everyone not named Monk!

Monk is screwed by equipment in FF V. They just don't scale well and the item that helps make them slightly better in the end game happens to use the most valuable equipment slot of them all.
 

Dremark

Banned
My favorite game in the series as well as one of my favorite games of all time. It's also the first game I ever imported.
 

Aucool

Member
Nice post-mortem op, I really enjoyed reading it. I really liked FF5 job system, in my opinion the best of the entire series and is really a shame that it wasn'used in the next games of the serie (untile FFX-2). The story wasn't as deep as the FFIV/VI one, but the gameplay was so cool that it was really a pleasure to play.
 
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