PSP Review: Final Fantasy I & II Anniversary Edition

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of one of the most successful RPG franchises of all time, Square Enix is releasing the first two titles in the series on the PSP. Final Fantasy I: Anniversary Edition was released this week in North America, and the follow-up sequel will come next month for those who are eager to play through the early entries in this venerable franchise. Both versions have been available for some time in Japan, and while they are not identical to each other in terms of storyline, they share enough similarities in terms of gameplay and presentation that they can be treated together for the purposes of this review. So, are these two remakes worth your valuable time and even more valuable money? While Final Fantasy veterans and fans of simple console RPGs will undoubtedly get more mileage out of these two titles, most casual role-playing fans are likely to be disappointed by the overall lack of effort and polish that has gone into their respective updates. Read on to find out how Square may have crossed the line between inspired remake and cynical cash-grab.

At the beginning of Final Fantasy II: Anniversary Edition, players are treated to an impressive 3D-cinematic that introduces the characters and the principal storyline, which involves a peaceful kingdom under threat from an evil empire. As impressive as these opening scenes are, they abruptly transition into the plain overhead view that will serve as the perspective for the majority of the rest of the game.

Can I play this game instead?

While it may be true that graphics do not make a worthwhile experience by themselves, the crude simplicity of the sprite-based graphics in these remakes often left me wishing that I was playing the animated cutscenes instead. Compared to the loving attention to detail that obviously went into crafting Final Fantasy III for the DS, these games are a disappointment. Their graphical and audio presentations barely exceed what can be accomplished on the Game Boy Advance, and they offer precious little in terms of new gameplay elements that would warrant another purchase.

Action in both Final Fantasy I and II is shown from the overhead perspective, and remains very faithful to the original titles. The original Final Fantasy II added the ability to learn key terms during conversations with NPCs, which can then be used to question other characters in the game. This adds a welcome level of depth to the experience, although overall the storylines of both games remain quite linear. Unlike more modern games, these remakes do not engage in excessive handholding. This can be both a blessing and a curse; on one hand it adds a welcome degree of difficulty, since it is not always clear where players should proceed next. On the other hand, players who are unfamiliar with the story or who do not pay enough attention to NPCs will find themselves doing a fair amount of aimless wandering.

The overworld map in Final Fantasy I

Enemy encounters are (mostly) random, meaning that enemies are usually invisible until the player enters into random combat. During combat, the player’s team lines up on the right and the enemies along the left side of the screen. Blows are exchanged according to an arbitrarily determined order until the monsters are dispatched. Fans of 2D sprite artwork might appreciate the new, detailed character and enemy drawings, even though they do not possess very many movement animations. While the 2D artwork gets a boost from the impressive and sharp PSP display, it is nothing we haven’t already seen before in games like Legend of Heroes.

All of the aspects of gameplay remain faithful to the original titles. That might be a good thing for those who are absolute die-hard traditionalists. For the most part, however, the changes that have been made over the years to the JRPG formula have been for the better. Battle systems are now more complex, more interesting, and offer a greater degree of tactical latitude to the player. Despite the onslaught of progressively tougher enemies in these PSP remakes, players weaned on the latest conventions like limit-breaks and tag-team skills will quickly grow tired of the repetitive nature of battles here. Final Fantasy I includes an additional 5 dungeons that were not in the original game, although four of these dungeons were included in the GBA remake, Dawn of Souls. The all-new dungeon, called “the Labyrinth of Time” is one of the most challenging in the game, and adds a level of difficulty that veterans of the tougher originals may be pining for.

In both games, control of movement on the world map is somewhat clunky. There is no input option for the analogue stick, which some people might prefer over the stiff d-pad. Characters cannot walk in a diagonal line, and must be directly facing an NPC in order to converse with them.

A boss battle in Final Fantasy II

Final Fantasy III for the DS demonstrated the essential ingredients for a successful modern remake of a console classic. While the new game did not include very much additional storyline content, it did update the graphics and user interface in a meaningful way, and it added some new character classes to experiment with. The Final Fantasy Anniversary Editions do not meet the high standard set by their predecessor on the DS. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with either of these remakes; after all, they are based on the highly successful formula established by the originals. Perhaps the biggest drawback to these Anniversary Editions is that they simply fail to impress.

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