Captain X has his anime reviews, and reviewing shit seems to be the new internet fad, so I'm saying "Fuck It" and throwing my hat in. Now, I'm no professional reviewer so I'm probably going to play around with formatting a bit til' I find a style that works. Also, SPOILER ALERT! so don't bitch. For my first review I thought I'd start with a game that isn't that well known, but dear to me, Final Fantasy Adventure for the Game Boy. For those of you in Europe/UK, the game was released as Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (I WILL review the SNES MQ later if this catches on for me), and is best known as the Genesis of the Mana series of games. As this is an early game, the main character is nameless, so for the sake of the review I shall call him Jack. You also get to name the main female protagonist, so she will be referred to as Jill. (there is a 4 character limit on names) FF Adventure starts you off in a boss battle. After beating the boss, it is revealed that Jack is a slave, forced to fight daily for the amusement of Dark Lord. After the death of his friend, Jack escapes Dark Lord's castle, only to run into Dark Lord and the wizard Julius talking about destroying the Tree of Mana to take over the world. Jack is chased down by Dark Lord and thrown off a cliff in front of a waterfall. Fortunately this is a Final Fantasy game and falling a great distance only means skinned knees. Jack wakes up on the shore next to the base of the waterfall. On the way to the nearest town, you rescue Jill, who is being attacked by monsters. Jill is on a mission to contact a man named Bogard. Bogard is a private man and initially refuses to talk to you, until he notices Jill's pendant, and reveals that he is the last Gemma Knight. Jill stays with Bogard and Jack quests around for a bit. Eventually Jack runs into Jill again, who is a prisoner aboard Dark Lord's Airship. Jill gives Jack her pendant, and as they make their escape, the couple is stopped by Julius, and once again Jack takes a harmless mile high fall. More questing and a Chocobo later Jack finally makes his way back to Dark Lord's castle, and after an epic battle Jack kills Dark Lord. But not all is well in the Kingdom of Glaive, as the wizard Julius has mesmerized Jill, and is off to the Tree of Mana. Bogard reveals that only a Gemma Knight can make it up to the Tree of Mana, and for Jack to become a Gemma Knight he must travel to the 4 temples and acquire the sword Excalibur. 4 temples and 4 fiends later Jack is a Gemma Knight and can enter the Temple of Mana. Jack reaches Julius at the tree and it is too late, he has absorbed the tree's power. Jack kills Julius, and in doing so, he destroys the Tree of Mana. It is revealed that Jill's mother was the tree, and Jill must become the new tree, and as she is the last of the Mana family, she will be the last Tree of Mana. Jack, who loves Jill, and is a loyal Gemma Knight, spends the rest of his life at her side. There is A LOT more to the plot, and several side plots, but if i wrote it all out this review would be a mile long. Gameplay wise, Adventure plays like a Zelda game. The game is in a top down perspective and you move room to room. There is a JRPG element in the form of a level system. You get EXP for killing monsters. Kill enough monsters and you level. Your stats get a general increase and you can choose to further boost one set of stats. There are several weapon types that all act differently. Some weapons are required to solve puzzles, like the chain is needed to cross gaps. You have a meter at the bottom of the screen, when it fills you can use your weapon's special attack, which is different for each weapon type. Spells are learned from scrolls and are equipped like consumable items. At times you will be given a second character which will attack enemies at random, and you can ASK them to perform a special ability through the menu, such as healing, riding the Chocobo, ect. The story and the gameplay are both excellent, the one weakness this game has is a crappy map system and it is easy to get lost. Overall this game gets 5 out of 5.
I'm playing the final fantasy 7 trilogy right now, if anyone here knows where I can get an English translation of before crisis, let me know, please.
