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As the wind calms, chance will bring four together in an adventure deeper and more otherworldly than they could have ever imagined.
November 11, 2006 | 1:07 PM PSTby: Jeff Kennedy
Nearly a decade and a half ago came the continuance of the Final Fantasy series, but sadly only for those Super Famicom (SNES) owners who lived in the Land of the Rising Sun. Final Fantasy V for a great many years was for those who knew of it was known as the lost chapter of the series in the 16-bit era. Not until the 2 CD package put forward by Square very late into the Playstation’s life would English speakers on the whole know of this title and be able to experience it. Sadly for those who have tried out those packages many can attest to questionable translations, glitchy behavior (especially run in a Playstation 2), and general behavior from the game that showed of a very, very quick and dirty port from the old cartridge games. This year after 14 years the title has finally returned home to Nintendo, and on a worldwide stage which should be welcome to not just the Nintendo core player but even those who did have it on Sony but were displeased with the issues (such as me for one.) As with last year with Final Fantasy IV Advance, Nintendo has gone and moved with bringing out another Final Fantasy adventure as a fine Christmas present to the fans on Game Boy Advance. Personally, having the experience of handling not just the Sony port but also the original Super Famicom release I speak from experience when I say that this game is all that it could ever hope to be and more and has been very well worth the wait.
Facts and Features:
Uematsu, Amano, and More
Final Fantasy V both in its day on that hardware, and again now in the present on yet another cart format and piece of hardware really well taps the capabilities of the system to give off an excellent level of workmanship and ambiance. Whereas the original game worked with the strengths of its hardware, this release of the game does just the same and kicks it up just an extra notch. The musical composition of this game is typical Nobuo Uematsu fare which is nothing short of some of the best music you can find this side of a cart based system. All the original compositions of the old cart unlike in last years Final Fantasy release has not just been ported over, but from what my ears can tell me, especially through the use of my Game Boy Player is that this game has had its audio package entirely re-mastered and enhanced for the Game Boy Advance hardware. I can hear in the more commonly played tunes such as riding a Hiryuu (dragon), walking in the land, or the ever popular combat themes that different instruments, cleaner samples, and some strategically extra notes are played to enhance the breadth of the audio.
If that isn’t enough for an audiophile they also went as far as to create a very fluid stereo audio output you can hear quite well pan between speakers with varying effects. By in far this is not your average level of audio output you could find from your typical Game Boy Advance title as extra effort went into doing the audio right. Every aspect of the game from triumphantly riding upon the back of a Hiryuu (dragon,) to navigating an evil castle, or being rewarded to winning yet another battle each piece compliments the moment very well. And as each score compliments the moment as it should, the choice in what is played to do so ranges just as widely as well from a classical simple piece or a rocking upbeat accompaniment. While as great as the composing of this games music goes, not everything turns up smelling sweet as roses though. Not as much as a bad thing exactly, but more of where you can see effort was not as much put are the sound effects. To the best of my memory what I have heard as far as sound effects go are just the same samples borrowed from the original game so in that regard, a straight sound effects audio port. Maybe due to the expanded audio, or for some other reason to hit me yet, the sound effects just seem softer and more tame, but they could just be simply be drowned out by the audible compositions. I am at a bit of a loss why the team would choose to put so much effort into the music to be so flat and dry with the sound effects. No, I’m not expecting all new, but it would have been nice to have the effects be a bit more audible and richer sounding which could have come from a simple re-sampling and boosting of the volume on those effects. Needless to say it’s more of a note than a complaint, because unlike last year’s effort which appeared to be a Bandai Wonderswan port where some audio was just plain broken, that is not the case here.
With all being said I imagine by now the reader would have to wonder if the visual end of things have managed to be been handled in the same regard in quality. Thankfully the answer for the most part is a big yes. Final Fantasy V was a bridge title of sorts between two visual styles in the day with Final Fantasy IV being more 8-bit in nature but better colored, and Final Fantasy VI which went with more lush graphics and larger characters all around. Final Fantasy V sits well in the center between the two as it shares a bit with both worlds at the base level, but as with last years offering of Final Fantasy IV, this title too has seen its share of good upgrades as well.
Something new to the Final Fantasy world not found in the original release is the influence of the artwork of Yoshitaka Amano being used within the game itself and not just as colorful pieces found on your box and in the manual. Throughout the game formerly blue and white text boxes alone have been reworked to have his artwork of the various characters heads placed into that region to give the game a bit more character. Needless to say the visual upgrades don’t just stop at text boxes, but also have been pushed into some new sequences of the game, but also the general design and drawing of the static combat screens all battles take place upon. New to the title now is a replacement opening with a panning over the last in a pseudo-3D effect over the land followed by some scaled rotating crystals while telling an opening story immediately working to draw the player deeper into the game before even getting started. Combat areas as I expressed have seen a change as well for the better. In the old game you had a few colors and basic designs to let you know you were on a beach, a forest, the plains, and so on with lower detail. This release has redrawn visuals with a large forest (instead of like a couple trees) shown, detailing into blades of grass or grains of sand, nicer drawn stone work and more depending wherever you are at when that next random battle occurs. Upgrades like this are what have been done to bump up the game, but this isn’t an all around effort either making it visually a 50/50 port of sorts.
Dragons…
While those pieces have been touched the entire walk around map of the world, towns, and so on have remained the same as the original, which also was still in the basic style that Final Fantasy IV used too. In the end it really appears to be all about the small touches that go that extra mile where it really counts to give it more than the appearance of just a quick port, yet more could have been done to balance things a bit nicer across the board. Thankfully though, just like last years Final Fantasy IV, this game doesn’t suffer from the same graphical stuttering and sticking in the zooming/scaling sequences most commonly found when flying over the land at higher speeds.
Facts and Features:
- Experience FINAL FANTASY V in its purest form. Improved graphics, a new translation and a remixed soundtrack bring new life to Bartz, Lenna and Ganulf in their fight against the evil Exdeath.
- Explore the Sealed Ruin, a massive bonus dungeon filled with challenges, and fight the dungeon's newly designed boss using specially added jobs like the brutal gladiator, the sinister necromancer and the dynamite bomber.
- Players can expand their enjoyment with a detailed monster bestiary and a music player. They can study their foes and learn their weaknesses, or enjoy the enhanced FINAL FANTASY soundtrack anytime they want.
Uematsu, Amano, and More
Final Fantasy V both in its day on that hardware, and again now in the present on yet another cart format and piece of hardware really well taps the capabilities of the system to give off an excellent level of workmanship and ambiance. Whereas the original game worked with the strengths of its hardware, this release of the game does just the same and kicks it up just an extra notch. The musical composition of this game is typical Nobuo Uematsu fare which is nothing short of some of the best music you can find this side of a cart based system. All the original compositions of the old cart unlike in last years Final Fantasy release has not just been ported over, but from what my ears can tell me, especially through the use of my Game Boy Player is that this game has had its audio package entirely re-mastered and enhanced for the Game Boy Advance hardware. I can hear in the more commonly played tunes such as riding a Hiryuu (dragon), walking in the land, or the ever popular combat themes that different instruments, cleaner samples, and some strategically extra notes are played to enhance the breadth of the audio.
If that isn’t enough for an audiophile they also went as far as to create a very fluid stereo audio output you can hear quite well pan between speakers with varying effects. By in far this is not your average level of audio output you could find from your typical Game Boy Advance title as extra effort went into doing the audio right. Every aspect of the game from triumphantly riding upon the back of a Hiryuu (dragon,) to navigating an evil castle, or being rewarded to winning yet another battle each piece compliments the moment very well. And as each score compliments the moment as it should, the choice in what is played to do so ranges just as widely as well from a classical simple piece or a rocking upbeat accompaniment. While as great as the composing of this games music goes, not everything turns up smelling sweet as roses though. Not as much as a bad thing exactly, but more of where you can see effort was not as much put are the sound effects. To the best of my memory what I have heard as far as sound effects go are just the same samples borrowed from the original game so in that regard, a straight sound effects audio port. Maybe due to the expanded audio, or for some other reason to hit me yet, the sound effects just seem softer and more tame, but they could just be simply be drowned out by the audible compositions. I am at a bit of a loss why the team would choose to put so much effort into the music to be so flat and dry with the sound effects. No, I’m not expecting all new, but it would have been nice to have the effects be a bit more audible and richer sounding which could have come from a simple re-sampling and boosting of the volume on those effects. Needless to say it’s more of a note than a complaint, because unlike last year’s effort which appeared to be a Bandai Wonderswan port where some audio was just plain broken, that is not the case here.
With all being said I imagine by now the reader would have to wonder if the visual end of things have managed to be been handled in the same regard in quality. Thankfully the answer for the most part is a big yes. Final Fantasy V was a bridge title of sorts between two visual styles in the day with Final Fantasy IV being more 8-bit in nature but better colored, and Final Fantasy VI which went with more lush graphics and larger characters all around. Final Fantasy V sits well in the center between the two as it shares a bit with both worlds at the base level, but as with last years offering of Final Fantasy IV, this title too has seen its share of good upgrades as well.
Something new to the Final Fantasy world not found in the original release is the influence of the artwork of Yoshitaka Amano being used within the game itself and not just as colorful pieces found on your box and in the manual. Throughout the game formerly blue and white text boxes alone have been reworked to have his artwork of the various characters heads placed into that region to give the game a bit more character. Needless to say the visual upgrades don’t just stop at text boxes, but also have been pushed into some new sequences of the game, but also the general design and drawing of the static combat screens all battles take place upon. New to the title now is a replacement opening with a panning over the last in a pseudo-3D effect over the land followed by some scaled rotating crystals while telling an opening story immediately working to draw the player deeper into the game before even getting started. Combat areas as I expressed have seen a change as well for the better. In the old game you had a few colors and basic designs to let you know you were on a beach, a forest, the plains, and so on with lower detail. This release has redrawn visuals with a large forest (instead of like a couple trees) shown, detailing into blades of grass or grains of sand, nicer drawn stone work and more depending wherever you are at when that next random battle occurs. Upgrades like this are what have been done to bump up the game, but this isn’t an all around effort either making it visually a 50/50 port of sorts.
Dragons…
While those pieces have been touched the entire walk around map of the world, towns, and so on have remained the same as the original, which also was still in the basic style that Final Fantasy IV used too. In the end it really appears to be all about the small touches that go that extra mile where it really counts to give it more than the appearance of just a quick port, yet more could have been done to balance things a bit nicer across the board. Thankfully though, just like last years Final Fantasy IV, this game doesn’t suffer from the same graphical stuttering and sticking in the zooming/scaling sequences most commonly found when flying over the land at higher speeds.
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February 8, 2010
