Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Today marks the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy V in Japan, which was released on December 6th, 1992 for the Super Famicom.
The Jobs
Final Fantasy Vs 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.
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
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 games 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 Galufs 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
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 characters 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
Final Fantasy Vs 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).
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
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
It also had an OVA sequel. The Legend of the Crystals takes place 200 years after the story of Final Fantasy V following Bartzs descendant Linaly and her friend Prettz. No, its not very good.
What are your favourite memories of Final Fantasy V? What sorts of jobs do you like to use? How did you perform in this years Job Fiesta if you had participated in it? Feel free to post anything to celebrate your time with FF5!