Final Fantasy (PSP) Review: "Humble Beginnings" | Tome of Silver

Hello everyone, and welcome to Chapter 39 of the Tome of Silver. The show where I randomly select a game from my collection, review it and add it to an ever-growing ranking list.
The Final Fantasy series is truly one that needs no introduction to anyone with even a passing familiarity with video games. This line of anthological fantasy role-playing games is one of the single best-selling series of video games ever made. It continues to hold strong today, with its most recent titles, Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth both being met with massive praise. This is no small feat, especially for a franchise that’s been around as long as FF has, dating all the way back to its original title in 1987, Final Fantasy, for the NES. Despite receiving massive amounts of praise upon its release, these days, I find the NES original a very difficult game to recommend. Aside from its “Nintendo Hard” levels of challenge and tedium, it also has a bunch of bugs and glitches that make several mechanics not work as they’re supposed to, to greater and lesser degrees of frustration. The channel Project MUTT Entertainment has a great and super comprehensible video on these bugs, so if you’re curious, I strongly recommend you go check it out. Link in the description.
There is always merit to going back and experiencing something as it originally was, and the NES game is more than playable. That said, that combination of difficulty alongside the cavalcade of minor gripes can make the NES game messy, and not particularly attractive for causal audiences wishing to experience Final Fantasy’s roots.
Luckily, Final Fantasy has had quite a few remakes and remasters over the years. Many of these, outside of just improving the visuals, cleaned up many of the bugs and made it much more accessible to a general audience. This extends from the PlayStation all the way to modern consoles with the pixel remaster. As to which of these is the defacto superior way to play Final Fantasy, I couldn’t say. Some may love Dawn of Souls port to the Gameboy Advance for its additional content, while others criticize it for being too easy, and flock instead to the Final Fantasy Origins version on Playstation 1. If you’re looking for a breakdown between the many different ports, that is not what this video is about, and there are plenty of videos and discussion forums on the topic. For this video, we’ll be focusing on the version released on the PSP, referred to as Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Edition. So ready your crystals, face the forces of Chaos, and let’s turn the page to Final Fantasy for the PSP.
Glitch Delve: Final Fantasy 1 by Project MUTT Entertainment: • Glitch Delve: Final Fa...
NES Gameplay Footage: • Final Fantasy (NES) pl...
Dawn of Souls GBA Gameplay Footage: • Final Fantasy I - Dawn...
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:41 Story & Setting
06:49 Gameplay
16:31 Conclusion & Ranking

[@slammerfive9515]

loved the pacman reference. 4:56 that moment when the final boss sees you did all the side quests. 7:20 what is this a crossover episode? wow that airship mechanic looked awesome for 80's tech. always love seeing the sprite work for these games. Splendid stuff as always, thank you for the video.

[@tomeofsilver]

Thank you so much! And yeah, I was trying to think of a good group of four to name the crew after. I was torn between the Pacman Ghosts and the Ninja Turtles, lol. The Ghosts won in the end cause I felt they deserved some love.

[@lexnoil]

What a way to start my day, with a new video by Tome!

[@tomeofsilver]

Hehe, happy to provide! Have a great day!

[@lexnoil]

@@tomeofsilver you too. And Happy Friday to you.

[@paulamaguire674]

Love the humor in these.

[@TheSwordsman100]

I'm a bit odd in that due to the sheer amount of world building found in the original and the expansions given to it's lore and characters by the remakes and Nomura's Dissdia titles (like the introduction of Cid and making the Warrior the main hero and giving him his own personality that the novel would also use and flesh out the others) FF1 is my favorite FF and the Warrior/Knight is my favorite FF character despite not being as expansive as FF6 or FF7. While Strangers of Paradise would mess with the order a bit by replacing the Ninja with a Dragoon, the highly implied canon team and what was used in the novelization was a Warrior/Knight named Zest (JAP)/Setro (ENG) who led the team, a Thief/Ninja named Sauber (JAP)/Zauver (ENG), a White Mage/Wizard named Floe (JAP)/Flora (ENG) and a Black Mage/Wizard named Daewoo (JAP)/Teol (ENG). As for best version of FF1, while I can't speak of difficulty since I never cared for that debate one way or another, I have played most of it's different releases. (with my first version being the Dawn of Souls remake for the GBA back in the day) That being said I say its either a toss up between the PSP version or specifically the PC version of the Pixel Remaster. Why specifically that version? Because it allows you fix my biggest problem with the remakes with mods, which is Square Enix's instance on using older sprites instead of updated ones that match what the character look like everywhere else. (Which is a restriction only FF1 seems to have) Its utterly ridiculous that the Warrior/Knight can't have his offical look in any of the remakes, despite the update of technology and them using him for the logo art. Instead they continue to use the FF3 Knight. The only tradeoff you have with the Pixel Remaster is the return to the old magic system and none of the newer dungeons, despite this, the changes to the script (like the adding of Cid) and the many improvements to the gameplay remain.

[@tomeofsilver]

That is a fantastic explanation. I think it's awesome FF1 is your favorite FF! I've never read the novels, but I adore the portrayal of Warrior of Light in the Dissidia games. His personality actually made him one of my favorite FF protagonists because of it. (I also really like the voice Grant George gives him in the English dub). I also agree with how bizarre it is they never updated Warrior's sprite to reflect his later design. Not only does he look like that in the logo like you said, but he also uses that design in the opening of the Origins/PSP version! Yet the design is found nowhere actually in game. It's baffling.

[@TorranceRex]

Is there anywhere online I can see the novelization? I had no idea it existed.

[@TheSwordsman100]

@@TorranceRex The FF wiki has a page and summary on it which is how I found out about it. (Final Fantasy I * II * III: Memory of Heroes) Though I don't know of a place where you can find it for free, I bought my copy off Amazon.

[@TorranceRex]

@@TheSwordsman100 Thanks man. I appreciate it!

[@TheSwordsman100]

@@TorranceRex You're welcome.

[@TorranceRex]

Great Vid dude. Deserves more views.

[@tomeofsilver]

Thank you very much! I really appreciate that!

[@veghesther3204]

Sadly ONLY IT and the GBA version has those 4 elemental 10 to 40 floors dungeons in them the current PIXEL remaster of FF1 does NOT.

[@tomeofsilver]

Seriously? That sucks. You would kinda hope they would try to make the remaster the "definitive" version with all the previous additions.