FINAL FANTASY

This is one hell of a nostalgia trip from playing this in the family living room as a child. The update is nice, lots of QOL things, like your warriors won't swing at empty air if their target goes down before they get to go, you can save anywhere, which may have implications later on considering how gatekept that was. Names make more sense now that they have more characters to work with, but overall it doesn't detract from the charm of the game, while enhancing the experience.

Nice remake of the original, but don't expect an exact copy. Better graphics, better soundtracks, it introduces slight changes for quality of life, the likes of which were seen in the SNES era. Monster balance, equipment tweaks, new items. Overall, a fresher experience that keeps the core of what made Final Fantasy the game it was all those years ago.

I am a bit of a purist, but was very happy with the QoL improvements added to this game. Having the option to switch from the new and original OSTs was a huge plus for me. Recommended.

Final Fantasy 1 came out in 1987 and revolutionized the RPG genre, and you can tell from the way that it is. The port is alright, the cool new music and graphics are nice, although I do wish there was an option for the original graphics of the original game, rather than the remastered graphics from a different port of the game that this port takes from.

The game itself, is Final Fantasy 1. The game came out in 1987 and that should tell you everything about the way it is. It feels more like the bare skeleton of a game than the great RPG series Final Fantasy is known for. The scaling isn't great, the plot is somehow both barely existent and also convoluted, and the gameplay is just not all that interesting. As my first Final Fantasy game, I really hope this is the bottom of the hill.

My first time playing it and i think it is a pretty solid game for its age. You shouldn't expect too much though.

The story is confusing as hell but its somehow still enjoyable to play

The start to the series and oh boy is it a glorious one at that. Definitely prefer the handheld versions of it, especially the psp one due to the designs, but this version isn't one to scoff at by any means. The ability to switch between both amazing soundtracks was nice, although the classic will always be my preferred one with the this entry. Getting those class upgrades will never not be breathtaking, and i don't know if it's just me being silly or bad luck but I actually struggled a little with the end boss at first which was actually quite nice as I had to employ a bit of a strategy. Probably the best one for beginners to start with due to the mechanics being easy to digest and as long as you're paying attention to the story and map you should know where to go most of the time, even when lost there's not really any area that'll destroy you like some later entries. You can take in as much as you're able to reach which allows a great amount of freedom in such a simple yet beautiful world. Yet also a treat for veterans who want another take on the epic tale of the four heroes, as though there aren't any story differences from other versions, the updated visuals and mechanics make each version of FF1 just as good as the last, and as someone who grew up on a lot of Square Enix, especially Final Fantasy, I'll gladly play each and every version.

The beginning of it all.
Very simple and straightforward gameplay, a few confusing parts with navigation and quest locations, but over all a very fun and solid game.
Playing without Auto-Battle can take ages, however.

Best modern way to experience the classic Final Fantasy.

One of the games that kind of started it all!

Still a really good time, if you're looking for a fairly simple and straightforward JRPG. It's really great to see the updated "Pixel Remaster" graphics, though I would LOVE to see an HD remake like they did with the first few entries in the Dragon Quest series.

Every bit of music is memorable and catchy. The monsters have great designs, and the controls are easy. If you want a really breezy time you can even set it to "auto-battle" to speed things up. You'll rarely have to grind for levels, as the game is pretty well-balanced ... until the final boss! Then you might want to spend a couple extra hours in that final dungeon to prepare, just FYI.

This one's a classic for a reason! I would definitely recommend it.

I have played and replayed FF1 numerous times over the last 30 years. Best edition ever.

While I have found memories of playing FF1 on NES as a child, going back to play it again as an adult shows it's complete lack of respect for the player's time. It's a slow grind when constant, pointless random encounters. Sure you can disable the encounters and increase the XP/Gold multipliers to as QOL settings, but the base game just isn't good in 2025. Yes it was ground breaking in the '80s, those times are gone.

It's final fantasy one. It is an rpg by all technical means of the term but it's held up quite well for it's age (disregarding the bugged spells and other little hiccups from the nes version that are fixed in pixel remaster)

If you're looking for a bit more content or the spell slot system in the game throws you off there's also the gba release which features a bit more content and matches the modern games spell system which might make it more comfortable to people familiar with the newer games.

After 25 ish hours (4 of which were grinding to get Warmech to show up for bestiary completion) the game is a fun little nostalgia trip albeit a small pain to 100% if you really care about the achievements. If you can pick it up on sale it's a good way to spend a weekend.

The start of a long series of installments. It's great to go back and see the origins. FF has remained true to its core throughout.

Absolutely loved it. I got into the Final Fantasy series much later (VIII+). Now playing through the entire series from I -> XVI, and man, this was still a great experience. Much simpler, much shorter than newer editions, but by no means is that a problem.

- Does not feel like an almost 4 decade old game (QoL and remaster helps A LOT)
- Pixel Graphics looks clean
- Did not experience any major bugs
- Easy 100%

Good game, confusing music track list

This remaster is great and is a must-have if you enjoy JRPGs or have any interest in the original Final Fantasy! I don't have anything original to say about the game itself, so I'm going to use the rest of this review to talk about the confusing music track list:

As of writing, there are 2 music DLCs for this game, one of them is a pre-order/bundle freebie with just 3 tracks, the other is the full 33 track OST for $14.49. The in-game music player sadly has only the first 27 tracks. I almost recommend the beautifully remastered OST, but I'm disappointed that it doesn't also include the original Famicom music.

Speaking of, the game features an 8-bit chiptune track for the opening cutscene, which didn't exist on the original Famicom game. I love it and if this old school track was created exclusively for this remaster, then I wonder why this wasn't done for all the other tracks that weren't on the Famicom...such as the various battle and building themes. If that sounds too much like a nitpick, then I'd argue that this could have given the game more replay value to experience it with both the chiptune and remastered music.

My final verdict is that this game is worth 1 play-through, but make sure you choose pixel text and remastered music in the settings menu. Please wait to buy the OST unless Square Enix updates it.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. All of the modern QoL improvements make it really easy to play. The new BGMs are cool, but the classic music being included was a nice touch.

I had the Final Fantasy 1 and 2 pack on the Gameboy Advance and could not get into it. I don't know I just have not been able to get into RPG's. The pixel remaster though is very nice and has amazing quality of life improvement (maybe if a little overboard.) What always got in the way for me in RPG's is the grinding to fight bosses, I always thought it dragged out the experience and makes the game overstay its welcome. The remaster adds in a way to increase your leveling up by either doubling or quadrupling your experience points. I do really like this but the one thing that kind of holds it back is that once you do that, the games challenge falls apart (except for the final boss.) The story is nothing to write home about but it was one of the first of its kind so I will cut it some slack. If you have problems getting into RPG's or if you are interested in starting them, the remaster will be perfect to start off with.

Solid foundation for the series that holds up pretty well. Short and sweet, easy to 100%

love most for the the game. but the final boss is a little bit cheese to beat. But i need meat it again and it just take very long. but overall fun 7.8/10 (Plus music is amazing. PEAK sounds of my Ears)

3.5/5 - Great to see where the series started, with some familiar themes and music! Can easily sit down and play through this in a few hours.

Crazy how a game this old is still very enjoyable. FF has the formula down pat form the start.

Takes me back with the nostalgia of it all but with some slight quality of life improvements that make the game feel more fluid in playability

A cute little game that deserves your attention and praise for both it's simple jrpg fun and historical significance. This remaster makes the first final fantasy much more accessible to play and nicer to look at. I had fun, got all achievements, and ended in 20 hours.

A really faithful remake of the original, and for someone who has begun to binge all of the Final Fantasy games, this game was truly an amazing introduction to the franchise. Good world building,sound design and art style all culminating into a cohesive well thought out story line that never fails to keep you wanting more of it. Highly recommend, 10/10. Cannot wait to play the sequel after this gem of a game.

8/10

Chill game, felt nostalgic even if I never played the original.

There are a lot of hints that come from npcs so it's important that you speak to everyone or you may even miss some key items needed for the story to continue. I can imagine that if you couldn't access google for some of these hints then the game would have taken way longer back in the days.

You can definitely tell that this game/series had a massive influence on a lot of games even if it is relatively simple. Nothing is particularly hard and you can for example find all the chests by yourself needed for 100%. This remaster comes with many quality of life improvements from the original game but the game could still in my opinion had more detailed systems in the battles, but since it's a remaster of a very old game by this point I understand and could put myself into not caring as much about that.

Only thing I feel could be better is the price ratio. This game came out almost 40 years ago by now and just because it is a remaster I don't feel the bundle of these games should cost as much as they do, and they very rarely go on sale which just feels greedy.

This is probably a good version of FF1, though i prefer the art style of the PSP one. It's a full remake of FF1 in the art style of its successors, yet almost as barebones as the original version. There are no quest markers so at times you just run around, wondering what you're supposed to do. The quality of life improvements are welcome but they could have done more. The story of four guys kicking ass is nice i guess, but you never get to know these people. It's clear to me now after playing FF1 that the brand got as big as it is because of its later itterations, not this game in particular. There's no reason to play FF1 today or even this version. But if you're curious, go check it out.

At first it is a very funny game with an old school feeling but after few hours it turns extremely repetetive with hundreds of unavoidable fights.

The game is still a little rough around the edges, but with the amazing QOL changes that the pixel remaster brings it is still an amazing game

This game has been my introduction to Final Fantasy and it is amazing. It is far from perfect, but as an introduction to this franchise I feel that it fulfills it's purpose amazingly. Besides that I feel the game is bare, which is expected as it's the first game and is old, it is amazingly paced and I had a lot of fun exploring areas. I'm going to attempt to 100% it.

Fun and interesting game. Wasn't too hard but had some fun challenges along the way. Final boss was a kicker though lol.

Very bare bones both in terms story and gameplay, this game hasn't aged as well when compared to newer final fantasy games, but this version has some good quality of life additions like being able to toggle random encounters on and off, which makes exploring dungeons less tedious. I still like this game despite its flaws and older game design and its lack of meaningful story. It's a good game if you just want a basic rpg without the story slowing you down. It's a very short game and can be beat in 10 hours or less, but there is replayability by starting a new game and choosing completely different classes.

I'd recomend to get it on sale if you're a final fantasy fan or just want a short and cozy rpg to play for a bit.

The first time I completed this game, was in 20 minute intervals in the handicap stall where I worked in 2012.

The Pixel Remaster has some nice QOL, such as turning off random encounters and boosts to EXP and Gil gain. However, my favorite part of this game is that you can pick what your party is. Whether it be a team that's useful or just 4 of the same class, it's up to you. The story itself is very simplistic and the game is short, but it's a very enjoyable experience and a great start to getting into JRPGs.

My only complaint was that if you don't have a knight, then you miss out on using most of the items. It seemed like nearly every equipment I obtained from chests was exclusive to the knight class.

8/10

So, this is the game that started the series with the most ironic game in history...does it hold up?

It has a rather nice enemy design with quite well-drawn bosses. The gameplay is fully turn-based and whether you like it or not depends on you.
What I personally don't like is that this game has (almost) no story and characters making the only reason you would like to restart the game a run with other classes. With 6 classes, that's not that big of a motivation, especially considering I know that Thieves are a pain.

TL;DR: I will recommend the game since it's a nice, but I would suggest that you rather buy FF 4, 5 or 6 before this one, unless you really want to see the series from the start and even then, I will recommend that you will skip FF2 which is the worst in the series (I will die on this hill). I rate it a 6,5/10 (for 1987 it would probably be an 8/10)

It has a unique charm in that this is more a Dungeons and Dragons game as anything else. I appreciate that about it and that it doesnt try to be something it isnt. While this is not my favourite release of this entry I feel that, unlike some of the other pixel remasters, this version does offer a slightly different experience from any other version of FF1. It uses the classic spell slot and level charge system one would expect from D&D and uses remade sprites of the original famicon/MSX designs which no other version deigned to use as they all seem to base everything off the PS1 release. There are some changes from the original however, and the game feels a fair bit easier as a result. That said, I do not miss having characters swing at empty air if another member takes a target out first. I would probably still recommend the Dawn of Souls or PSP versions over Pixel Remastered but it is unique enough of a release that fans of old non-final fantasy RPGs may find this version coming out ahead.

This is the first Final Fantasy game I have ever beaten.

I thought the game was fairly easy all the way through it until I came upon the final boss.

I was humbled very quickly. Super satisfying to see him go down though after multiple attempts.

The original and the best! The game that spawned the biggest and best RPG franchise that continues to soldier on and impress.

No words can describe the awesomeness this game is, it speaks volumes already for itself.

Such a classical game and the Pixel Remastered version is solid. It’s easy to play with both a Gamepad or with a keyboard. Having the option to play it your way is great. The only issue that I faced was with trying to figure out how to change the resolution of the game. However, once I figured it out, it was AMAZING!

For me, it’s 10 out of 10 for the OG classical Final Fantasy game.

I have played this through many times on the Nintendo. It was one of the highest rated games on that system. This version is a bit easier. The Money comes faster. You do not have to wait for soooo long after fighting to get back to movement. Music sounds much better. This is one of the classic RPGs. It is a good starter game for younger people or a re walk through our youth for us older Gamers. A good starter game to learn the RPG genre. Most of these RPG games sprung out of D&D or Utlima or the Wizardry series. I remember watching in school on the Apple II someone older than me playing Wizardry. Then I was able to play Telengard eventually. Atari 2600 was out the same time as the Apple II. Few years later we saw our first Nintendo and we marveled over the graphics. LOL A game does not always have to be cutting edge to be good or enjoyable. Enjoy this little Gem. There are informational guides, maps, manuals and such for versions of this game.

I started my FF adventure with the 4th FF game for SNES about a year ago (which I thought was FF2, learned about the confusion soon after). Everything about it was captivating, especially the story telling and lovable characters. Upon completion I knew I had to start from the beginning, and here I am.

So far, soooooo good.

Have to say. If you've played the original version of this game, the changes made to the remastered version take some time to get used to. The fact they switched the magic system to more of a D&D version (I.E. can only cast a certain # of spells per level) rather than the original MP system is kinda annoying. I much preferred the option to either spam a bunch of low level spells rather than being limited to a specific# of level 1, specific# of level 2, etc. really changes the difficulties of the battles. I'm still early enough in the game (just got to the pirate town) that I'm not sure of other changes to the basic game mechanics compared to the original.

If I'd never played this game before, I don't think I would have had an issue, but I remember buying it when it first came out and basically locking myself in my room and spending nearly 40 hours straight playing it (and living off a diet of blocks of cheddar cheese and ruffles potato chips) and maxing everything out, finding all the hidden weapons, and then playing it a few more times in a row after that first playthrough, coming back to it and finding changes to the basic game mechanics a little disorienting.

This is, unfortunately, not a good game.
(TL;DR: 1. Play with a walkthrough, 2. Ditch the Thief, 3. Even then, the game is somewhat mediocre.)

Essentially, it all boils down to extremely outdated game design that makes the experience quite unsavory.

One of my biggest gripes is the obtuse structure of the game. I have been playing it without a guide, and it has required many poorly postsigned small triggers:
- Figuring out what to do once you have the Earth Crystal is a bit hard. I had found the next important town, but see next bullet for why I was stuck anyway...
- Got stuck because I did not notice that in Crescent Lake, if you go behind houses in the top-right corner, there is a small passage that leads to a whole other small area.
- Had to look up online whether what turned out to be the Levistone was obtainable, since it looked important but was not clearly reachable. It turns out, while most breaking ground tiles are bad, one breaking ground tile gets you there, but it's not clear which one that would be from the geometry of that level.
- Figuring out what to do with the Levistone is extremely obscure. You have to remember that an NPC was very vague in one town, and to guess that you should talk to him again now that you have the Levistone.

In general, while at the beginning of the game a dancer character helps you know where to go next if you're stuck, from some point onwards she just seems to say "heh, whatever". And at this point the game has opened a lot and there are multiple things to track, this would be the best time to have a helper...

My second biggest gripe is that the game systems just seem badly designed.
- Dungeons are very long, I guess this forces you to stock up on items and use them, so maybe that's better than many other FF games. The maps in this version are a godsend, because the dungeons are full of long empty corridors that would waste a lot of time exploring without a map.
- The Thief class is garbage. My Thief is just a bad Warrior.
- Elemental stuff doesn't seem well thought out, sometimes it might not even be implemented? The Fire Sword has worse stats than the Ice Sword, but in the ice dungeon, it seems best to keep the Ice Sword because elements just don't seem to matter.
- Most fights are best fought with auto-attacks from everyone, to save MP. The only reason to waste MP is large fights where auto-attacks are too slow.

Now on to the good points:
- The game is absolutely charming.
- The music is iconic, and has not aged poorly. (unlike the grating Dragon Quest themes)
- The QoL adjustments are welcome, taking this extremely tedious game to a fairly tedious game.

Overall, I'm having an okay time, but I would never recommend this game as "a good time".

I really liked this game alot as a start to my chronological journey to final fantasy its a really basic game but surprisingly holds up well with its story.
-very short game only took 15 ish hours to 100% all the achievements
-lovable little story Classic

Inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, Final Fantasy is a simple RPG in terms of story, battle mechanics, and leveling up. There is also a job system where the player must choose four out of six possible jobs. The jobs cannot be changed once picked, but they can be upgraded.

The high encounter rate can get annoying. However, the player can turn off the random encounters in the settings to avoid battles whenever he or she wants. The controller enable option is also great for those who prefer to play with a controller instead of the keyboard.

Overall, it is not the strongest game of the classic franchise. However, this is decent game and a must play for any Final Fantasy fan who has not played it before.

The original FF game, and still a fun ride. In my opinion, the definitive way to have a first experience of this game. It is missing the GBA/PSP content, but my recommendation is to play that version supplementary if you really love this game. In terms of visuals, music, and quality-of-life, this is the best version of FF1, and those factors should come first in a FF game over bonus content that is mostly superfluous. You only get your first experience once.

This game is definitively better in every way than the original. The graphics are way better than original, and there is an auto battle system that is VERY nice. Honestly, the only thing I didn't like was the price tag. I have never seen the game go below 30% off ever. Otherwise, the game is a very solid remake of the original.

These games are way too expensive for what they are. Love the franchise, but even on special these nearly 40 year old games are ridiculously priced. I'd pay 20$ for the 1-VI bundle, not the 100$ current price, which is more expensive than most modern triple AAA games with thousands of supporting staff, high end graphics, and millions of lines of code larger. Sad to see Square Enix be so greedy. MHO.

I love final fantasy. and i love the idea of returning to basics. But, there does really need to be an option for the anniversary content as well as the psp visuals.

Fun game, too bad it's the final fantasy. Sounds like they won't make any more after this one.

I've been a fan of the series for a while but I've never got around to playing all of the mainline games until recently. I decided in the brainrot year of 2025 that I would attempt to play them all and review them starting from the first entry.

Starting with the Story, it feels extremely barebones and straightforward as if it was pulled from someone's homebrew D&D campaign and can get really vague when telling you where to go next. Some of the major villains that aren't exactly the "Big Bad" feel lackluster with the Earth Fiend being "Lich" and the Water Fiend being "Kraken" with no added context. The ending wasn't groundbreaking but the time loop with Garland was satisfying enough to be fulfilling at the end of the game.

The Music is a big highlight and gives you a remastered soundtrack with the option to have the original music as well. The battle theme never felt old even after the multiple hours of grinding.

The Gameplay is classic Final Fantasy from the get go. The locations are unique and add some variety to the game with nothing feeling rehashed or recycled. The party system is customizable to a certain extent and can give you a little bit of variety and replayability to the game if you want to explore different builds.

The Pixel Remasters are a great way to get into the older entries of the series and can offer some nice changes like a world map or some XP boosts for those that can't handle the grind. I wholeheartedly recommend this game if you want a classic RPG that's short and sweet to go through although I would probably have a guide not too far away in case you get lost.

8/10