Final Fantasy Anthology (Sony PlayStation 1, 1999)

This game is a must-have not only for Final Fantasy fans, but for all RPG fans. Included are the fifth and sixth editions in the FF series. Both are mostly preserved in there original form, but new FMVs have been added (as well as the loading times the PS1 is famous for). This marks the first time the fifth was released outside of Japan. And while it is an amazing game with a unique job system (which was later adapted into the Tactics series, among others), the true gem of this package is Final Fantasy 6.

VI follows a multitude of characters in a world where an empire is beginning to take over by re-discovering the ancient force of "magic". And while it may sound cliche, it's execution and character depth make it one of the most unique RPGs out there. It boasts one of the largest amount of part members in FF history, an amazing sprite stle, the classic great music of the series, and an updated version of the basic ATB battle system with a lot of new features, like the Blitz tech requiring the player to enter a fighting-game-like combo.

I know I've been going on about FF6, but FF5 is also a truly amazing game. It's just that I played FF6 when I was young and it's more nostalgic for me. Getting either one of these games would be worth the price, but getting two?! That's amazing.

All information was taken from wikipedia, respectively. (They know more than me.)

Final Fantasy Anthology is a compilation of two Final Fantasy console role-playing games by Square for the Sony PlayStation. Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI are featured in the North American edition, while Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V are in the PAL region edition. The games were ported by TOSE from the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System versions. Final Fantasy Anthology was published in North America on October 5, 1999 by Square Electronic Arts and in the PAL region on May 17, 2002 by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

In Japan, all three games were released for the PlayStation both individually and packaged together as part of a limited edition box set called Final Fantasy Collection. Although all three games differ little from the original Japanese versions in terms of gameplay, graphics, and sound, a number of extras were added, including art galleries, bestiaries, and two full motion video opening and ending sequences not present in the original releases.

Gameplay

The gameplay in both Final Fantasy V and VI use many standard role-playing elements; characters grow in strength by gaining experience points from random encounters with monsters on the overworld or in a dungeon. Experience culminates in a "level up" in which party members' attributes, such as hit points or magic power, increase. Like previous Final Fantasy installments, the games consist of four basic modes of gameplay: an overworld map, town and dungeon field maps, a battle screen, and a menu screen. The overworld map is a scaled-down version of the game's fictional world, which the player uses to direct characters to various locations.

Active Time Battle (ATB) system, in which time flows continuously for both the player and enemies during combat, is used in both these games. The first game to use this system was Final Fantasy IV.

Final Fantasy V uses the Job system, expanded from Final Fantasy III, while keeping a predetermined amount of characters in the party at all times, whereas Final Fantasy VI has a large number of selectable playable characters which often leave and reenter the party, or the large party splits up and you must play through the segment as that party, then switch to another, then the other, etc.

Final Fantasy Anthology has 2 games in one, FF5 and FF6. They are both about a 4.3 out of 5 rating as each has their own unique pros and cons.

I first saw FF6 11 years ago at a friend's house and I since wanted to play it. I got Final Fantasy Anthology since it had FF6 and the first thing I noticed was a sudden loss in the frame rate, especially during battles (usually dropping to 30 fps, even 20 under rare conditions). It happens when scrolling through lists, while effects occur (such as from casting a spell or numbers popping out of things) and it makes things a bit difficult. Fortunately the battles were easy enough that this isn't much of a problem. The lag also occurs in towns where there are many objects visible, but rarely. Although the game was originally for the SNES, I was surprised that the faster PS1 couldn't even keep up with it.

Outside the lag, there are some other downsides. The most annoying is the fact you can't do more than 9999 damage. I could very well be doing beyond even 80,000 damage at the best possible. The battles are also unchallenging, even bosses, as I'm able to go through caves and things without having to restore anyone's HP. The sound effects are quite limited in variety and Kefka's laugh sounds very distorted. Lastly, figuring out what you're supposed to do next in order to proceed further was the most challenging part. The case where Locke escapes from a town surrounded by soldiers was the worst, taking me 6 hours to figure it out. It was much easier for me to defeat all the soldiers without curing Locke than it was to figure this out. During the second half of the story, it's even more difficult since you have almost no hints on what to do next, especially where to go next.

FF6 does have some strong upsides as well. The music is the obvious strong point in the audio (especially the world map music early in the game and the battle music). Some of the looks on the characters are also quite funny and like in one of the early boss battles, some of the comments made are humorous. The story is about a 4.1 out of 5 rating.

FF5, however, is a lot different. It's music isn't as well-liked music, but the battle music doesn't even sound like there was a battle (as FF6 does very well with). The design is a bit awkward, but it's the fact you can only equip one single ability and cannot use spells on multiple targets is the game's major downside. The biggest annoyance (flaw?) is the fact that it takes so long to level up (50+ battles) and without doing all that, bosses are very difficult to defeat (and with the case of not being able to use spells on multiple targets, made even worse). On top of that, even when it does take 50+ battles to level up, regular enemies can take as much as 15% of your character's HP in a regular hit (30% if critical), bosses doing 50% more. At first, this isn't a problem, but by the time you get out of the central area that you start in, it gets really bad. Even though it was taking 40 battles just to level up, I could barely manage to defeat a fire-based boss enemy. By 12 hours' play time, I lost interest in the game. Even though battles are my top favorite thing, and that the series lacks difficulty with battles, this is rather ridiculous. The story, from what I've seen, is only about a 2.8 out of 5 rating, but without playing through the full game, it's hard to give an accurate rating.

I had the original Final Fantasy VI (III as we know it in the US) for my SNES. Loved the game, and it was one of the longest and most interesting Final Fantasies I had played yet. It had a long list of characters you could get, like Suikoden, but each of the characters had notably different abilities. For example, there is Sabin, a martial artist with Blitz combinations you can utilize in battle by putting in combinations like (Street Fighter), Gau, a character that can jump into an enemy and learn to mimic them later, and numerous other characters beyond the stereotypical thief, fighter, and mages. As added bonuses, there are relics that give any character extra abilities or stat boosts, and every character can learn magic. That plus the new FMV sequences made it a must buy for me.

At the time, I wondered why we missed out on Final Fantasy II, III, and V stateside, but as of the late days of the Playstation, this collection and a later one covered the ones we missed, minus III, and I was glad to grab them. Final Fantasy V began a new trend in the series with many new ideas, including a manageable job system and customizable special abilities. If you can find the version of this game with the soundtrack as an extra disc, the background music is worth it, if you don't mind the dated MIDI from mid-SNES days. All in all, this is a good buy, and I recommend it to anyone who loves classic RPGs.

These 2 games are probably (in my opinion anyway) the best ones in the series. I will review each game separately.

FF5: One of the previously unreleased FF games is now in America. I really like choosing classes because it does to raise the replay value through the roof. I literally trained my characters to get to level 30 or 40 just to get my jobs mastered. The storyline is good as well because unlike some of the other FF games, this one sticks with the one you need to get rid of rather than fighting the final battle against someone that you have no clue on what makes that character so evil and why your fighting him/her instead of the one who is destroying the world. The bad thing about this game is the lack of characters so be prepared to look at the same 4 characters on the screen and also not having a menu to change characters.

FF6: I think this is the best one in the series. There is absolutely no real "Main" character in this game. For those who are confused, what I mean is that, well for example, FF7 you have about 9 characters but the leader character is Cloud, well in this game you can have 4 different characters in your party and you have the ability to put in any character as the leader. The characters are excellent in this game; I pretty much like all of them. This game also has some of the best music for a FF game. Overall: If you like the SNES FF games, this is the right collection for you.