Jeremy Gallen's Game Reviews

Scenes of the Class Struggle in Final Fantasy

During the 8-bit and 16-bit video game console generations, North America was in a dark age when it came to Japanese roleplaying games, with many overseen for localization, as had been the case with the Final Fantasy franchise, which led to confusing renumbering of their titles that the seventh installment for the Sony PlayStation would rectify. Final Fantasy V on the Super Famicom would be one of the titles overlooked for translation until the release of the Final Fantasy Anthology for Sony’s first game console. The fifth entry would see numerous rereleases, the latest being the Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster, which would find its way to the PlayStation 4 along with the other entries of the remake collection.

Final Fantasy V opens with a vagrant named Bartz, who, along with his trusty Chocobo named Boko, investigates a fallen meteor accompanied by an amnesiac elder named Galuf. The other deuteragonists include the princess of Tycoon, Lenna, who is searching for her father, and the pirate captain Faris, both joining Bartz to stop seals breaking to release the wicked sorcerer Exdeath. The characters are well-developed, with some decent twists, although the narrative rehashes elements from prior Final Fantasies, which include the weakening of elemental forces. The translation doesn’t detract from the lighthearted disposition, with cultural references such as the Power Rangers. However, the choices for names such as Hiryu for King Tycoon’s Wind Drake and Exdeath for the main antagonist could have been better.

The fifth installment was the second to feature the franchise’s once-signature active-time battle system, fights still randomly encountered. However, as in the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch versions of the other Pixel Remasters, the player can turn random fights on or off. Boosts also return that can as much as quadruple experience, money, and job ability points, and make the game more accommodating to players of different skill levels than ever before, a godsend given that Final Fantasy V, without them, is one of the more difficult entries of the series. The structure of active-time combat remains unchanged, with the playable cast of up to four characters having speed gauges that let them perform a command when filled.

Alongside the standard system of levels from experience is the job system, returning from Final Fantasy III, albeit evolved. Upon reaching the first elemental crystal, players receive access to different vocations that affect what kind of abilities the characters can perform in combat. Among the initial classes are the Knight, which can equip swords and heavy armor and take damage instead of allies low on health; the Monk, which can deal significant damage without weapons yet can only equip lighter armor; the Thief, which can steal items from enemies; the Black Mage, which can cast offensive magic; and the White Mage, which can cast healing and defensive spells.

Jobs have levels that rise with Ability Points obtained from battle alongside standard experience and money, letting a character equip one additional command, a passive ability, or a stat increase with their current occupation’s base command. For instance, one can have a Knight that can cast White Mage spells up to a specific tier, provided the player has advanced levels in the staple Final Fantasy healing class. One major issue is that if the player continually wants to master new class skills, they can only have one extra active or passive ability while learning a particular vocation. This setup can feel constraining, but players can set their characters as Freelancers, where they can equip two job abilities.

Late in the game, the player can unlock a secret class, the Mime, that allows for far greater freedom in vocational customization and was my go-to job for all my characters during the endgame. The general restrictiveness of the job system before then is perhaps the main shortcoming of the game mechanics, and there are a few bosses that drove me to reference the internet and can be unbeatable depending upon the player’s party setup. The turbo mode players can toggle can relieve some of the grind necessary to progress without the Boosts, and some class and ability combinations can make the experience a breeze at times. Ultimately, with the adjustable challenge, the fifth entry’s Pixel Remaster is an accommodating experience.

Those who have played prior installments of the Pixel Remaster collection will be familiar with the control, with a menu system that is easy to handle and an overworld map connecting all towns and dungeons. A suspend save is also available, along with autosaving when transitioning between areas, which can be beneficial given the frequent poor placement of hard save points. The in-game maps for towns and dungeons are also helpful, although the latter can be annoying, and the direction of where to go next is frequently poor. Regardless, things could have been worse in the category of interaction.

Composer Nobuo Uematsu’s soundtrack for the fifth entry is one of his strongest, beginning with a central piece that sounds like a cross between the Indiana Jones and Back to the Future themes, along with numerous remixes of various emotions throughout the game. The Prelude and series overture are also present, and tracks such as “Clash on the Big Bridge” are equally solid, with superb instrumentation. Some silence sporadically abounds during many story scenes, but the aural experience is well above par.

Visually, the game is on par with its preceding Pixel Remasters. The original introduced effects such as various emotions for the character sprites, which retain their miniature proportions and only enlarge in combat. Some graphical laziness from the Super Famicom release returns, like the main character sprites beyond battles not showing their current jobs. Enemies in combat are also inanimate and consist of occasional reskins. However, the environments and effects within and without engagements are solid, so there is some reason to celebrate regarding the fifth remaster’s graphics.

Finally, given the possible need for grinding to make it through the main quest, total playtime ends up higher than in previous Pixel Remasters, somewhere between sixteen to twenty-four hours, with lasting appeal present as maxing every class and receiving every PlayStation Trophy. However, there are no narrative variations and above-average difficulty on default settings that may deter additional playtime.

In summation, the Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy V is mostly on par with its predecessors, given the accommodating difficulty settings that will appeal to players of all skill levels, the quality-of-life improvements such as in-game maps, the enjoyable story and above-average translation, the superb soundtrack, and the pretty remastered visuals. However, the fifth entry leaves room for improvement even in its positive aspects, among them the restrictiveness of class development, the weak direction on advancing the central storyline, the derivative nature of some story elements, and lazy visual decisions retained from its prior ports. Regardless, while it isn’t the strongest entry of the Final Fantasy franchise, it does warrant a look from gamers exploring the storied series’ history.

This review is based on a single playthrough with all Boosts at their maximums to the standard ending and 54% of PlayStaton Trophies acquired.