Thursday Media Review: Final Fantasy 1&2: Dawn of Souls

Both 1 and 2 behave vastly differently from each other, but the core concepts are the same. You control a band of four characters as you head from one part of the world to another dealing with monsters that arrive. In Final Fantasy 1, at the start of the game, you’re given a choice of six classes to fill your party of four. You have the heavily armored Warrior, the nimble thief, the iron-fisted Monk, the destructive Black Mage, the helpful white mage, and the versatile Red mage. Each one provides something to the group. For example, Warriors provide heavy protection and attacks, White Mages can provide healing spells, Black Mages can use offensive spells, and Thieves can increase the chances of finding items after fights and more preemptive strikes. Each class has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Red Mage (and Red Wizard) can learn both White and Black magic but cannot learn the most potent White and Black magic. The Monk (and Master) has the most substantial attack power in the game, but it cannot benefit from reliable equipment and has a low Hit-Point growth meaning it’s a glass cannon. With a limit of four, you can’t choose all of them. Therefore, your choices matter as you can’t change classes when done. So be careful if you want to go with four white mages. Final Fantasy 2, on the other hand, doesn’t rely on building your part as you start out with three (initially four) members. Though as the first game has you choose classes of your specialty, the heroes of Final Fantasy 2, on the other hand, don’t need to have it. Instead, it ops in using Dynamic Leveling (which requires proficient stats to level up your character.) For example, repetitive use of spellcasting will enhance your spell’s proficiency and the stat associated with the spell and the Magic Point (MP) pool. The same with taking blows may enhance your HP and defenses. In a way, the game encourages you to build up your character’s skills by fighting monsters before progressing (which is helpful in Final Fantasy 2).
Combat in both games is similar. You wander the dungeon or open-world until a random encounter occurs. Your party must defeat the enemy through melee attacks, spells, or item usage to beat your foes, or you get killed (either by wipe or stuff like Stone). Once you’ve defeated your enemies, you gain experience (numbered or dynamic), and sometimes you can get some items and spellbooks. That’s right, in both games, you learn spells through buying spellbooks for your casters. Final Fantasy 1 has you buying up to 3 spells per spell level (it’s complex), but the White, Black, and Red can learn up to three spells from their schools of magic. If you want to learn that spell of that category, you’re going to have to drop a spell if you reach that limit. Final Fantasy 2 has a unique means as anyone can learn spells from white or black magic. Though each attack uses a specific stat (Black uses Intelligence and White uses Spirit). They also start at level 1 but become stronger the more they’re used as they level up. By battling and combatting the enemies, your party will become strong enough to deal with the big bad evil guys at the end of each game and eventually save the world.

Though Dawn of Souls has some great features, some problems make the game slightly unfun. For both veteran and new players, the spell system in Final Fantasy seems a bit outdated and a handful. For example, as a White Mage, to heal specific spell statuses, you have to learn said specific spell to purge things like poison, silence, and Stone. Though Final Fantasy 2 gives us the magic Esuna that can cure all status conditions. The limited spell slot in 1 makes the game oh so complex and cumbersome.
Another problem is found in 2’s Dynamic Leveling system. The system is creative and innovative, but it’s a huge pain. To become proficient in a weapon, you have to constantly keep using it (including shields), which can be a pain if you want to be a weapon master. Learning new spells is the same, too, as all newly discovered spells start at level 1. This is a pain when you find some of the most potent spells like Flare, Holy, and Ultima, as you have to fight monsters just to make them up to snuff.
Lastly, though basically fun, the game doesn’t have any kind of guidance that future games introduce. It’s easy to get lost without a guide. In the first game, you are only guided to Garland in the Chaos Shrine, and afterward, you’re given full exploration later in the game, which, while good, can be a pain as some core aspects may require you to know. One such is the trials to unlock your party’s class upgrade, which can be forgotten unless you look it up. Final Fantasy 2’s content isn’t that problematic as the game does provide you a hint of where to go and where to progress. It’s not that bad, but still, you may need a guide to figure out situations.