My first experience with the Final Fantasy series was “Final Fantasy 7″. I had an NES. I played through the Legend Of Zelda, loved the Super Mario Bros. franchise. I even played Dragon Warrior. Final Fantasy was like driving down the 405 past LAX, with a 747 flying over my head. I don’t see how I could have missed it.

Final Fantasy Origins is a package with both, “Final Fantasy 1″ originally released in 1990 and “Final Fantasy 2″. Which until 2003 hadn’t officially made it’s way into the United States. This series consists of games which have remained the quintessential Japanese RPG’s. Final Fantasy 1 starts off giving the players an opportunity to choose a group of four different team members out of six. Each different class of characters has their own ability. The six classes are Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Red Mage, Black Mage, and Thief. Initially only certain classes can use magic or certain types of weapons, but as the game progresses the characters undergo a transformation, allowing for them to vary up their abilities. I went with the Warrior, Thief, Red Mage and Black Mage. The game allows for the player to rename their characters to whatever they want. The Warrior is the tank of the group. Using the most powerful weapons and armor, but not having the intelligence to use magic. There are give and takes to each character. The Black Mage is not as physically powerful, but uses attack magic. Thieves have the ability to steal items from their enemies during an attack, while the Red Mage can use both healing and attack magic. The Red Mage has a stronger physical attack than the Black Mage making for a more well rounded character.

With the world in chaos a prophecy of four Light Warriors is coming to fruition. Your quartet of characters are the chosen ones. The epic journey starts off with the warriors helping a kingdom save their Princess from a vicious kidnapper. Along their quest of trying to restore power to four Elemental power orbs, they find a town riddled with pirates, a town full of elf’s (containing a graveyard with a headstone, taking a little shot at ‘Link’, from the Legend of Zelda), Dwarves, various monsters, and Boss battles. The combat system consists of turn based action, where before each member of your team does anything, the player chooses which enemy that particular character will attack, if they will use magic, or an item. During the battles the Mage’s can heal and use magic that will shield their team, or different spells that can cause various effects to their enemies. Upon defeating the enemies your team members, if they are still conscious, will gain experience points which allow them to level up, giving them higher attack, defense, and magic power. Along with raising their health/hit points. The game is around 20-30 hours depending on how long it takes the player to level up.

Final Fantasy 2 takes the basic formula of the original, but improves on it in many different ways. Taking a more focused approach, the story now centers around three main characters. Firion, Gus, and Maria. Their journey begins after the trio’s village is burned down and they are attacked by the evil Palamecian soldiers under the orders of the Emperor. They are rescued by a princess named Hilda, and join up in the rebellion against the evil empire all while searching for Maria’s brother Leon. Your main team of three are joined by various other characters that can be used during battle while they are with you. There are improvements over the original in terms of the audio and graphics. Within the menu you can now change the formation of your characters. You can place 2 up front and 1 in the back. The character in the back receives less XP, but also is attacked the least. Also I found that the initial enemies in the sequel were less difficult and had a more enjoyable time playing it.

Changes in the way items are equipped were also made. Characters in the sequel are able to equip weapons to individual hands, as well as all three protagonists are able to use magic from the onset of the game. The game also allows the ability to save anywhere on the overhead map as opposed to being required to use a tent or town to save. Another thing that was improved upon was the emotion of the game and how the developers were able to convey sadness when another character within the game died. One time in particular struck me. The heroes had come across someone they were looking for, who was very weak. After giving up information and an important item, he passed away. The characters on screen then bowed their heads, and I could feel their loss. It amazed me that even back then developers were striving to make video games more than just a toy for kids. They were really starting to explore a whole new way of story telling.

I really enjoyed Final Fantasy 1 and 2, and am glad I had the chance to experience, these classics. There is a ton of replay value. With the first you can go back and mix and match different character classes to have on your team as well as play both games using different types of magic or weapons. That being said the games are definitely a grind. When you are traveling between destinations prepare for random battles. There are a ton that occur every 6-12 seconds on the overhead map and within the various dungeons. These battles are also necessary to level up your characters. This can be very frustrating when all you want to do is get to the next place and you continuously are getting pulled into the battle screen. The music is infectious and the adding of the FMV sequences are a nice touch.

It’s definitely worth playing these two classic games. Especially fans of RPG’S. It gives us the chance to see how far this genre has evolved, while also seeing what gameplay systems have been retained after all these years.

Final Fantasy Origins - PSN review, 9.5 out of 10 based on 2 ratings