Summary: An unnamed fantasy world governed by four elemental orbs is in a period of darkness, and the Light Warriors have arrived to restore the light. The player controls the characters through this fantasy world, meeting people, acquiring experience, fighting villains and working to restore light to the world.
Health: Final Fantasy is often regarded as the quintessential RPG, taking the elements of role-playing games and popularizing them among the digital game community. Although previous games had explored RPG elements, Final Fantasy helped make them mainstream.
Final Fantasy’s most obvious health representation is the idea of character class. The player puts together a group of four warriors and can choose from among several different classes for each warrior. Different classes equate to different skills and strengths: Fighters, for instance, are more apt at fighting, whereas Thieves are quicker and Mages can wield magical attacks. In addition, the player is responsible for controlling all four characters during a battle instead of just one. This introduces a level of diversity and complexity of play uncommon in video games at the time, reflecting the diversity often found in real-world social groups.
The game carries this idea of variation further by introducing several different screens depending on the characters’ situation. The main gameplay screen is an isomorphic overhead similar to the Legend of Zelda games, where the player moves the characters about the world and engages in conversations with NPCs. When the characters encounter an enemy, the screen shifts to a side-view turn-based battle mode, where the player selects from menus of options to decide how each character responds to the threat. Other screens appear when the characters purchase items in shops or when the player assigns different weapons to different characters.
The characters themselves are capable of personal growth. Not only can they acquire weapons, armor and other items of aid throughout the game, they also accumulate experience points in battle. After so many points, each character “levels up,” or reaches a new level status that makes that character able to attack harder, take more damage and perform other feats. Later in the game, each character undergoes a “class change” where his sprite matures and he gains the ability to use weapons and magic that he previously could not use.
The characters are also capable of an unprecedented level of interaction with NPCs for the time. The characters talk to NPCs to gain clues about their next task, learn more about the surrounding environment or the history of the world, or engage in commerce. Different NPCs offer different bits of dialogue, prompting the player to talk to all of them to get the full story.
Final Fantasy’s storytelling is linear but more flexible—and thus more true-to-life—than most video games of the time. The player has some control over the order in which he or she explores the world, and he or she can sometimes put the main objective on hold to complete optional side quests. Enemies often appear from invisible hiding locations, adding an element of randomness to the game.
Further Information:
Final Fantasy Wiki: Final Fantasy
Wikipedia: Final Fantasy
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