First try at a Final Fantasy game

[nikon_62]

So time has proven me wrong about the Final Fantasy series. In the early 90's I watched some friends play FF2 or 3 and said turn based games blow. A few years later some friends showed off the PS1 to me and wanted me to see how good FF7 was. I decided the load times were horrible and refused to play it. I was one of the PC gamers who was convinced that consoles were on their way out in the late 90's smart huh?

Now that I'm old enough to not have stupid knee jerk reactions to things anymore I realized RPG's are fun and I should play final fantasy, so I'm starting at the beginning.

I've spent a few nights on FF1 now playing with Nestor and my laptop. After a few total party wipes I think I've got the hang of it. I have a good world map a good description list of all the spells and a decent walk though.

So far aside from the limited descriptions for items and spells I think it's a lot of fun. So considering that I've never played any final fantasy games and I'm starting at 1 does anyone have things not to do stories or advice?

[dlmvii]

While it's nice to start from the beginning, I think you'll find that the first 3 final fantasies (the nes ones) have not aged very well. They are very grind dependent, and can leave something to be desired. If you like the first one though, 2 and 3 are worth a try.
That being said, the SNES ones (starting with 4) are much better, and have a deeper story and character development. 7 is of course everyone's favorite, though I'm especially partial to 6 and 9.

Also, the numbering is slightly askew in the american markets - FF2 on the SNES is actually FF4, and FF3 is actually FF6. You'll find that they are almost always referenced by their japanese numbers though. It's a bit confusing at first.

[nikon_62]

Yeah I've noticed that FF1 is kinda limited on the story and heavy on random encounters. I've started groaning every time I get a random encounter of more that 6 enemies. I'm not sure if Nestor is a little slow but it seems to take much longer than I would expect for screens to move on. I probably hit A 30 times to get through the 4 or 5 screens after winning a fight.

[Dylan]

Yeah I've noticed that FF1 is kinda limited on the story and heavy on random encounters. I've started groaning every time I get a random encounter of more that 6 enemies. I'm not sure if Nestor is a little slow but it seems to take much longer than I would expect for screens to move on. I probably hit A 30 times to get through the 4 or 5 screens after winning a fight.

It really helps to turn up the "respond rate" on the title screen, I usually put mine at 7 to make the game move at a reasonable speed (which is to say that it makes the screens spend much less time on screen).

If you enjoy FF1, then you'll probably like them more and more as you go along (at least, that was my experience). FF2 (the original Japanese one) is an utter mess, and really the only one in the series that I abhor. Some people didn't like FF3 (Japan), but I loved it.

The next generation is even better, with 6 being probably my favorite in the series.

FF7 has been met with mixed feelings by fans, but personally I enjoyed quite a bit. FF8 I didn't care for, however. FF9 is another high point in the series, probably my favorite behind 6.

[Octopod]

If you dig FF1 at some point you should give Dragon Warrior 1 a try. Some of those early jRPGs are good.

[MrPopo]

The biggest thing with FF1 is that even though your magic is limited, don't be afraid to use your black magic. Once you get the FIR2, LIT2, ICE2 and higher spells they hit all enemies instead of one. So if you run into a large group of enemies bust out one of those and make your life easier.

Conversely, white magic is precious. Stock up on potions and use those for out of battle healing. Only use the white magic for in battle healing, and maybe the HARM spells against a large undead group. The white mage spells for curing status that share a slot with a heal spell should not be used. Get the appropriate item instead.

[dlmvii]

If you dig FF1 at some point you should give Dragon Warrior 1 a try. Some of those early jRPGs are good.

QFT. The Dragon Quest/Warrior series very often meets (and in some cases exceeds) final fantasy's offerings. The Dragon Quest games are known for requiring a bit of a grind though. My favorite in the series is 7, although it's a huge time commitment (~80+ hours)

[emwearz]

I am a fairly big FF fan, but up until Dragon Quest VIII I have never played the series (They were never released in Australia), recently wclem was kind enough to send me Dragon Warrior (Quest) 1 for the NES, sure it has a bit of grinding, but I am really enjoying it, I look forward to smashing the rest of the series as I come across them, highly recommend them.

As for FF, I suggest playing either the PSX versions of the first two, they just play a lot better today than there NES counterparts.

[AmishSamurai]

You can skip over II and III. II was a failed experiment, III was pure pain. IV-VI are great though.

Also, I agree with doing the first few Dragon Quests as well. They are very grind-happy though, but so are most early RPGs (looking at you Phantasy Star >.>)

[lisalover1]

If you own a PSP, get the PSP remake; it's far more enjoyable than the original NES version. You can save anywhere, spells use MP instead of charges, leveling is more enjoyable, the difficulty is rebalanced, extra dungeons are added [although they were added in the GBA port first], the graphics are phenomenal, and so is the music. Final Fantasy is a great game, but the PSP remake makes it an incredible game.