November 30, 2004 - In the off chance you missed last year's excellent PlayStation One compilation Final Fantasy Origins, Square Enix's latest reinterpretation of its 8-bit dynasty could be one of the most surprisingly enjoyable pick-ups of the season. Though it's not as complex or attractive as the more recent GBA RPGs like Golden Sun and the Mega Man Battle Network series, Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls still maintains the most important element needed towards becoming an awesome videogame: it's fun plain and simple.
Now I'll be the first to admit that this two-game anthology isn't exactly something we haven't played before. The original version of the game was released in 1987 after all and the chances that someone in your gaming circle has played in it in the meantime are pretty great. Nonetheless, Dawn of Souls still manages to include a few new extras that make owning it a little more enticing. Of course, the most appealing aspect of them all is the fact that we're getting a portable version of Final Fantasy I & II in first place. Before this, they were previously only available for the rarely seen import handheld system WonderSwan before being ported over to the console market for the aforementioned Final Fantasy Origins.
Players expecting to play a rehashed version of Origins may be in for a bit of a surprise. Though it has incorporated the same dash button and bestiary feature that the PSOne game had, most of the others extras have been removed. Art galleries and cinematic FMV sequences would have taken up far too much cartridge space, for example, so those have been scrapped in favor of brand new in-game cutscenes, a better translation, and more important gameplay-oriented fixes. The translation work in particular is extremely well done and offers the best English interpretation of the storyline of any previous version. Loose plot threads that were only hinted at in the NES and PlayStation games are now given more obvious conclusions, and in some cases have been added completely from scratch. It's a nice touch.
Final Fantasy II isn't quite as modified as the first game, but it does have a few new additions worth mentioning. The most significant of which is the fact that leveling up is a lot more forgiving than it was before (FF2 works on a proficiency system that upgrades your abilities the more you use them) and you won't have to resort to attacking your own teammates as much just to level up your hit points. There's even an all-new storyline that takes place after the original ending that adds almost 20% more time to the experience (cool!). Honestly, though, most players probably won't even notice this change as this is only the second time in history that FF2 has ever been released in the United States (the game we knew as Final Fantasy II on the Super NES was actually Final Fantasy IV).
Both Final Fantasies in the collection also boast several new dungeons and nearly 70 new enemies taken from the latter NES and Super NES sequels and as expected, are more difficult to fight through than the other sections of the games. Still, they offer up some really cool battles that add a lot to the experience and you can even fight such classic enemies as Gilgamesh, Atomos, and the Revenant. Also nice is the addition of quick naming for your characters at the outset (look for several familiar names) and Super NES-quality graphics and sound that give both titles a much sharper presentation compared to their NES counterparts.
Closing Comments
It's truly a testament to the quality of Final Fantasy I & II that both games still play brilliantly even after all these years. Though neither one of them are groundbreaking by today's standards, they're still fun, still addictive, and still worth the price of admission -- especially for budding Final Fantasy freaks that never had the chance to play them the first time. Of course, gamers that picked up last year's PSOne compilation Final Fantasy Origins may not have as much of an incentive to snatch Dawn of Souls up, but the added dungeons and slightly better translation is a strong bonus for the already appealing idea of portable Final Fantasy. Either way, it's great stuff and is definitely worth a look.
| Rating | Description |  |
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| out of 10 | click here for ratings guide |
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| 8.0 | Presentation An enhanced translation, faster movement, and brand new cutscenes add strength to an already great collection of games. |
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| 7.0 | Graphics Since Dawn of Souls was originally programmed on the WonderSwan it may not look as impressive as most of today's more elaborate RPGs, but style goes a long way. |
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| 8.0 | Sound The soundtracks for both games are solid and the audio effects are classic precursors to the bits we've grown to love in modern console games. |
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| 8.5 | Gameplay It's simplistic and straightforward, but it's still a whole lot of fun. The new additions are nice touches too. |
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| 8.5 | Lasting Appeal Between the two titles, there's plenty of role-playing to be had here. The bestiary and added dungeons are worth their salt as well. |
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| 8.5 |
OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average) |
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Rating Info
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