Final Fantasy 1 (PSP) - A Retrospective of the JRPG Hit

[@TheGameLooters]

Nice work man this was enjoyable to listen to!

[@RychecksWorld]

Just came across this in my recommended, keep this up and you're channel will go far!

[@carbonite1983]

Thanks man! This was a very enjoyable trip down memory lane! Keep it up.

[@keegsmegeegs]

Wow....I never looked this deep into one of my childhood games. I learned so much. I hope this video gets alot more people's attention! Thank you. 💖

[@sebastiankulche]

My favorite Final Fantasy game. Is the most perfect of all.

[@yorguenaut4499]

Currently playing this again on my PS Vita, i CANT understand why didnt they port this instead of pixel remasters. Or at least, give the option to buy either. This game looks so good on my PS Vita!

[@TheDelayer]

Came for the FF history, stayed for the philosophy. Great vid, hope you get more subs.

[@XXXXD]

Tbh this video felt like something from 200k subs channel . Really good job .

[@RetroAndChill]

Thank you sir. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@TheVenrex]

Dude! Great video. Liked and subbed. Keep up the good work.

[@tjofcarolina1776]

High production value for a small channel. Promising

[@RetroAndChill]

Thanks! I appreciate it.

[@loafuscramwell7961]

Love the quality of the video! I wanted to get a vibe of the first game, apparently there might be a new spin-off coming from the world of the first game. So maybe there might be a little bit of a d&d vibe with the creatures and such.

[@linkbluu321]

13:35 Actually, in the original version the Floating Castle/Flying Fortress was actually a space station in high orbit... honestly, it was better that way.

[@phlowsion4088]

Excellent video. Continuing on from your point about the DnD influence, I believe that this was the first JRPG to make use of elemental spells and weaknesses (fire and ice, water and lightning etc.) This would obviously go on the be standard in the genre, and the core mechanic of some games, Pokemon in particular.

[@expansivegymnast1020]

I never connected the magic system to D&D it makes so much sense now!!!!

[@itstartsupfront-isuf1335]

This is a great video

[@Iemonzinger]

Assumed you had like 300k subs when watching this. Really cool video!

[@Senorgrav]

What version of ff1 are you playing. Looking amazing

[@RetroAndChill]

It's the PSP version with some visual filters on an emulator.

[@DirtiestSoul]

i love this game since is discovered in 2007-2008, looks so beautiful

[@Rockhead84]

Chaos Shrine theme is such a banger. I was surprised how good the first one is and how it resembled later entries. Much better than FF II!

[@vtstht]

How do you capture the psp video?

[@RetroAndChill]

I played the game on a PSP emulator and recorded it using OBS. That's really the only way to record handhelds unfortunately.

[@vtstht]

@@RetroAndChill and ps vita tv?

[@RetroAndChill]

I never owned a Vita so I wouldn't know lol

[@amimm7776]

Edit: holy shit this got long "There is no one ideal party" In the OG, it was two/three fighters and two/one red mage, I didn't play the remakes much, but my guess for it would be two warriors, a thief and a white mage, since the red mage was heavily nerfed. Sorry to be a party destroyer, I still have fun experimenting with esoteric class combinations, but the games are nowhere near balanced enough to say "there's no ideal party". I never thought about the remakesfrom the perspective of "respecting your time", probably because I use some QoL changes to the OGevery time I play, so it feels even faster than the remakes, though I still think those are too easy from other perspectives, still, interesting take. "High encounter rate" as you walk the hall of giants was funny, funnily enough, every time I play the remakes I feel the encounter rate is WORSE than in the OG, I wad never bothered by battles in the OG, in the remakes, I do all the time. Great overview of FF1 overall, perhaps you could have mentioned just how replayable it is, and how it encourages challenging yourself by picking bad classes on purpose, but that's not something you'd easily notice unless you're an FF1 freak like me. About legacy... FF1 isn't a final fantasy game, it's a wizardry game (try playing wizardry 8 and ponder the similarities), the first true final fantasy game was 2, 3 went back to the FF1 roots while merging in a deeper-ish story, and from 4 on that's when the train got going. Here's a brief note on the legacy of FF1 itself I wanted to include: - Being such a broken game, there are several rom hacks of the OG, most pretty good. - there's a community around playing the game randomized, even if you don't like randomizing it, the randomizer tool is incredibly deep and full of little tweaks, you can craft your idealized version pf FF1 NES with it, boosted, EXP, faster combat, spells that don't give you epilepsy, list goes on. - there's a sorta reboot of FF1 on the DS, one final fantasy the 4 heroes of light, it's like FF1 remade with the knowledge of what FF would eventually become, on the same vein as the FF3 remake, would make for a cool video, I think. - Jeff Ludwig made an incredible mod for the GBA remake of final fantasy 1, the mod of balance, it's honestly my second favorite way to play FF1, everything from the classes and spells to the enemy AI was remade, can get grindy, but it's a fun trip and the most challenging version of FF1, even with the save anywhere feature. FF1 is my favorite FF game, from the mods and sheer replay factor, I've gotten more hours of enjoyment out of it than most games, it's deserving of it's legendary status, even if it barely resembles the franchise it gave birth to.

[@sebastiankulche]

-"the games are nowhere near balanced enough to say "there's no ideal party". Me: If you refer to the original, then i agree. If not, i heavily disagree. The remakes of FF1 where in fact the only game in the franchise that doesnt abuse on unnecesary grinding, lol. -"High encounter rate" as you walk the hall of giants was funny, funnily enough, every time I play the remakes I feel "the encounter rate is WORSE than in the OG, I wad never bothered by battles in the OG, in the remakes, I do all the time." Me: Thats just wrong, the random battles were much more common in the OG. Maybe the camera gives you the impression of making more steps, when in reality you are making the same distance in both games. "-Jeff Ludwig made an incredible mod for the GBA remake of final fantasy 1, the mod of balance, it's honestly my second favorite way to play FF1, everything from the classes and spells to the enemy AI was remade, can get grindy, but it's a fun trip and the most challenging version of FF1, even with the save anywhere feature." Me: It was a good experiment, and i really like the new classes added, but other than that it was just a mod to make the game harder just for the sake of being harder. Is just way too grinding. The developer could just balanced the game in other ways, similary to other mod games like Doom RPG, where yes, the main character is more powerful, but also the enemies. With new classes i expected new enemies and maybe bosses to fight, not just increasing the price of the objects and exp needed to level up, thats artifficial difficult. Imo it ruined the perfect difficult of FF1. -"FF1 isn't a final fantasy game, it's a wizardry game" Me: I dont know what you are referring to this since i didnt played any wizardry game, but if i have to talk personally i see the first FF (at least the remakes) as a loot game, especially if we talk about the extra dungeons that gives you a lot of different equipment to obtain, probably FF1 on PSP is the game in the franchise with the most equipment available. It just feels so satisfactory to constantly obtain new equipment. "FF1 is my favorite FF game, from the mods and sheer replay factor, I've gotten more hours of enjoyment out of it than most games, it's deserving of it's legendary status, even if it barely resembles the franchise it gave birth to." Me: Oh, i agree with this, although for different reasons. The PSP and GBA versions were basically simpler, but extremely refined to the max loot rpg games with linear exploration. Since they dont have so much grinding compared to other games in the series and the story wasnt the focus, then is a game i can pick up and play constantly, and i just love it. The PSP version was my favorite way to play the game, in fact, i would even go as far to say that is one of the best RPG games ever made, since is so perfect in the core gameplay. The only thing i didnt like it about the PSP port is that it wasnt bundled with FF2 like the PS1 or GBA ports.

[@amimm7776]

@@sebastiankulche Oh boy this will be a fun one Balancing, grinding and party formation: About party formation, yeah, I agree, the soul of chaos dungeons do help incentive building a slightly more varied team, but it's still mostly the same as the original, it's just now you need white mages more since battles don't last one second and monks got somehow even more OP. On the topic of grinding, FF1 NES isn't grindy at all, what are you talking about? I only ever had to grind while playing with deliberately bad teams (4 black mages, 4 white mages, 4 thiefs), then again, I do take an eccentric route through the game (do the Tiamat dungeon as soon as possible to get excalibur, OHKO Tiamat with bane, use the OP loot to steamroll the other fiends), but as long as you don't run away from battles, you should be fine, I finished the temple of fiends revisited at level 20 once. About encounter rate: No way, I've had two battles only two steps away from the last in the remakes, CONSTANTLY, maybe it's just bad luck, I think the difference I notice is more so how the OG had a fixed encounter table while the remakes are actually random. About mod of balance: I played it more since writing this, I think my problem is less how hard it is and more how it tries to nerf everything else, gauntlets only cast thunder, heal helmets cast cure, saber gauntlet doesn't cast saber, ETC. It just throws too much at you while removing all the tools you had, which is sad, I wish a better hard mode mod was made. Also, I don't think FF1 has perfect difficulty at all, the fact melee classes can consistently out-perform magic shows that, which is a shame, the mod of balance kinda makes magic a lot better. "Wizardry game": I won't blame you for not knowing it, but here's a history lesson, Wizardry is the granddaddy of JRPGs despite not being a japanese game, borrowing heavily from DnD, it's basically the reason dragon quest and final fantasy exist, I make the comparison because the first game feels a lot like FF1, down to similar classes and systems, the thing is, when comparing FF1 to it's brethren, it comes way closer to wizardry, take out the white and black mage names, give the game to a final fantasy fan and they might just think it's a different game entirely, FF was really born with FF2. That's what I meant, also, yeah, I guess it's kind of a loot game, but I played it so much I know where all the good stuff is and just go directly to it... but the soul of chaos dungeons are trash, the only good equipment were boss drops and even then they aren't always good, plus, the dungeons are so massive and boring I don't care for replaying them and getting the best loot possible, it's just pointless. Best game: Interesting, "I can just pick up and play it" is the reason I like the OG too, I do kinda like the remakes too to some extent, but the soul of chaos is more monotonous than anything, so I don't bother with it. ~the actual best RPG is Lunar tho-~

[@sebastiankulche]

@@amimm7776 Maybe the NES version wasnt TOO grinding, but still compared to the remakes the difference shows and grinding itself is harder since the enemies can kill you more easily and the lack of auto targeting mean you expend more time in battles. In the original also i noticed that with one or two steps, oh! there´s another battle. Its something that just happends with any RPG to be honest, just bad luck man. "Also, I don't think FF1 has perfect difficulty at all, the fact melee classes can consistently out-perform magic shows that, which is a shame, the mod of balance kinda makes magic a lot better." I was thinking that in the past, but now i noticed that i was wrong, since the fighter is basically useless without being power up. A mage could do instant damage to any enemy without worrying of having high defense (especially if he is weak to an specific element), also is more safe to kill all of the enemies in one hit than letting the fighter to kill one at time. I agree however than the fighter has more potential to breaking havoc, but if he is alone then it wouldnt do much damage, while a mage has more possibilities of survive due to its capabilities of casting something that kills all of the enemies in one hit (also he can also power up itself like the fighter if he has equipped the Masamune or the cat claws). The fighters and monks are basically tanks, while all of the other classes acts like supporters (or in the case of the Ninja, mid supporters). I know Wizandry, just i didnt played it, maybe one day. "but the soul of chaos dungeons are trash, the only good equipment were boss drops and even then they aren't always good, plus, the dungeons are so massive and boring I don't care for replaying them and getting the best loot possible, it's just pointless." There´s also good equipment in chests, just is so rare, like for example, i find a few days ago a Genji Helm. I was surprised that i still left some equipment even with all my characters being at level 99. The dungeons are kind of boring, i agree, but they are also very challenging since they work more like endurance tests, also, they have some puzzles and strange locations/dialogue that breaks the monotony imo. I didnt play Lunar yet, so i cant say anything. But i played almost all of the FF and still i consider 1 by far the best (especifically the PSP version).

[@amimm7776]

​@@sebastiankulche I'd argue harder battles that take more brain power makes for less tedious grinding, and alright, I'll admit, there's a bit of grinding, mostly for money right after finishing Provoka, but abusing the encounter tables for the Kyzoku trick generally makes me not notice it. No, in the original it's actually impossible for two battles to happen back to back this soon, I played through it a dozen times, never happened to me, and it's not just luck, the OG is actually very predictable and deterministic as far as when battles happen and against who. Alright, magic is good for wiping out a ton of enemies in one hit, but it's not like melee fail at swift execution, even if you see a ton of them at once, non mages can still use the spell casting items to wipe them out, especially in the OG where INT doesn't matter, but damage dealing spells are just bad against everything else, I did a black mage only play-through, nuke was doing 200~ per cast on average, a fighter's attack can do 50% better with no buffs and triple it with fast, plus, it's just more consistent than the spell lottery that will either lightly bop the enemy or do actual damage. Don't play wizardry 1-5, 6-7 maybe, 8 is the most refined one but it has aged poorly, it's a case of pick your poison, and it's really slow. Here's the thing... what is all that rare gear going towards? Chaos and the extra bosses are nowhere near strong enough to the point where you need the gear, I beat omega at around level 57~ without ever getting any sort of good gear from the soul of chaos dungeons, it just feels pointless to me, but I'd love to see something similar be done in a more refined way. Also, they are endurance challenge is against boredom, nothing is challenging up to the last bosses, and you can just stockpile ALL the healing items for it, also, while I do like some of the extra rooms and find them neat, most are annoying time wasters, haven't tried the PSP labyrinth though. The Lunar thing is a joke, basically I'm just obsessed with that game series, you're lucky I didn't burst into a tangent about dragon song while writing this, perhaps because FF1 is the one other game I'm as passionate about. You should play it if you like anime and don't care for mediocre gameplay, they start grind-y (first boss of both is a pain, but there's a cheese for the one in 2) but they pick up steam later.

[@sebastiankulche]

@@amimm7776 Oh, i didnt know that about the random encounters in the OG. Still i personally see more dangerous overall. With the spells thing i was mostly referring to the remakes since in the OG are kind of broken, you know, there´s like half of spells that doesnt work. In some part is good since you dont waste much money in spells in this version, but on the other hand, they cost much more than the remakes, and the game doesnt tell you what spells works and.... yeah, is bad. There´s also a way to power up magic, but it would be very tedious, and i dont know if its worth it, since i didnt tried it. In the remakes you can teorically destroy enemies with spells if you increase your intelligence enough, not only by leveling up, but also using the items from the extra dungeons that increases stats permanently and the potion that increases your intelligence temporaly. Yeah, is very time consuming but it is another way to damage a strong boss with flare, along with the powered fighter. Omega was kind of hard for me at level 60, mainly because he is the only boss that constantly spams physical attacks that does like 500 damage but well, fair enough. Chronodia in its strongest form is much more stronger than Omega though, and she have an unique ability; she can disable commands of your menu in mid battle, so that battle probably was what you are searching. Did you play any other RPG or other adventure games like Ratchet And Clank? Whats the purpose of the TAUN? Or maybe, whats the purpose of the infinite rocket launcher in RE4? Simply, weapons very strong as a reward for completing the game. I find it kind of cool, especially in a game like FF1. "Also, they are endurance challenge is against boredom, nothing is challenging up to the last bosses, and you can just stockpile ALL the healing items for it, also, while I do like some of the extra rooms and find them neat, most are annoying time wasters, haven't tried the PSP labyrinth though." I disagree, but fair enough. I find it challenge enough, and you are forgetting the floors with lava or spikes in multiple floors, enemies exclusive to this dungeons like the dragons that spams flare and holy, the dungeon with 40 floors or like you said, the PSP labyrinth. Even with 99 ethers. That dungeon is so hard, since is basically a race against time. You have to solve puzzles very quickly, while you fight strong enemies, and with a command disabled (attack, magic, flee, item, etc). If you fail, you would lose heal over time, unless you sacrifice another command.

[@rontia]

it was just square before america right? tthen squaresoft??

[@RetroAndChill]

I’m not sure actually

[@rontia]

@@RetroAndChill I am from America and born 80s pretty sure a few years ago I learned Squaresoft was a name around the time of the English titles

[@rontia]

i could very well be wrong

[@TimBitten]

I just slogged through the PSP version and you MUST run from weak enemy parties to keep your sanity. lol

[@RetroAndChill]

There's a reason that random encounters have largely been removed from most newer JRPGs. Even Bravely Default got rid of them in the Switch game.

[@TimBitten]

@@RetroAndChill sometimes they can be done right, though. Like if you get weird, cool ones in certain areas, or you can manipulate their frequency, or run away pretty easily, etc. They’re not always bad, you just have to learn to manipulate the system a bit. But of course, some games don’t make that very easy.

[@gyrenrockz]

FFVI is still the best FF game ever..

[@sebastiankulche]

I personally prefer 1, but 6 is still a top 3.