[Ginkasa]

Knocked out Final Fantasy V Friday night. Looking back at my prior post from 10 years ago, I was more positive on V than I recalled being, so I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed playing it this time. I guess I was misremembering my experience. The Job system in this one is a lot of fun and it really doesn't take that much time to build up a job, especially later on. I would like if they added a fast forward feature (at least) like I understand they have in some of the re-releases of the later games. It kind of feels like some of these earlier titles have gotten short shrift in the PC port department compared to the PS titles.

Speaking of, there is a lot grousing around the internet about the visuals of the FFV and VI, VI in particular. Having now played through V and a good portion of VI (I basically marathoned my way to the WoR over the weekend) I'm okay with it. They don't look as good as FFIV does in the PSP complete collection, but I wouldn't say they are unfaithful. My biggest issue is really the UI which was very clearly built for mobile phones. You get used to it, but I would definitely prefer they made these ports with a controller in mind rather than a touchscreen.

As mentioned, I did fiddle about with the A World Reborn mod for FFVI that is meant to make it look "better", but ultimately I disagree with how they went about it. You have the option to use the original SNES sprites, which are fine, but I don't think they are necessarily better than the new sprites outside of nostalgia. Otherwise, they do more to change the artistic vision rather than just, say, bump up the resolution or fix actual issues. Some may prefer their redesigns, but I do not. The UI, although differing somewhat aesthetically, is ultimately still the designed for mobile phones version regardless so I found no use in the mods in the end.

Regarding FFVI as a whole, even though I haven't yet beaten it once more I've played it enough times in the past that I don't have any particular new thoughts. I guess I could say my perspective has shifted some. If I were to categorize these games into eras previously I probably would have just stuck with console eras, but now I think differently. FFI-V come together as one era with common themes and design philosophies (with maybe II being the exception). Each game (minus II) deals with elemental crystals and has the Job system in some form - either directly involved with the player's choice as in I, III, and V, or ingrained directly into the story and characters in the case of IV. There is a clear line of progression through these games.

VI breaks from that line and, I would say now, starts the era that stretches on through VII, VIII, IX, and maybe X. There is a clear escalation in the cinematic ambitions of the series starting with VI. The game stretches the seams of what was possible with the SNES and reaches out with all its might to grab hold of what would soon be possible with the new disc based consoles. There are multiple scenes in VI that are screaming for FMV treatment and you can feel the frustration of the developers at being limited by the technology. I can practically how they might have intended some of these scenes to play out in 3D.

Further, the magicite system is much more reminiscent of materia, of the Junction system, or abilities in IX than it is of the Job system from the prior games. A clear break from tradition. There are still some holdovers with some character still aligning pretty well with Jobs, but overall it is in this game where we see a lot of those abilities disassociated from jobs and added into equipable items like, in this case, Relics.

I'll probably have VI beaten by this weekend, but can't say for certain. Looking forward to VII and going back through that one since I finished the remake. In this case I do think I want to try out some mods. I don't want to get too crazy, but there's a retranslation mod (Beacause) I'd like to try as that is my main concern with the original game. There's a couple of mods out there that upscales the FMV backgrounds. I had thought about doing something with the character models, but I think I'll leave that alone. That presume too much regarding the artistic intent, similar to my concerns about the FFVI mods.