FINAL FANTASY

For the humble beginnings of Final Fantasy, this was a fun little distraction! I appreciate the ability to build your own party in this game and it's surprisingly easy to follow without a guide given how old the original is. I just thought this game was neat!

Final Fantasy – A Timeless Classic That Once Saved Square Enix
To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of JRPGs. However, the Final Fantasy series is one of the oldest and most iconic in gaming history. I tried playing the first installment multiple times via an NES emulator but never got past the Elf City. Now, thanks to this remaster, I’ve finally experienced the game in full.
The pixel art is fantastic. Pixel graphics, in general, have a timeless charm - it never really age. I wish there were an option to switch between the original NES visuals and the enhanced 20th-anniversary edition, but either way, the game looks great.
The soundtrack is divine - both the original tracks and the remastered versions. Seriously, this might be the best OST I’ve ever heard.
By modern standards, the gameplay is fairly simple. But considering the era and platform it was made for, Final Fantasy was way ahead of its time - both in mechanics and scale. I spent over 10 hours on a game that originally came out in 1987. Yes, this version has quality-of-life improvements, but at its core, it’s still the same NES game.
The biggest upgrades are the map feature and the ability to disable random encounters. Admittedly, the map trivializes dungeon exploration (since most of them designed as labyrinths), but for someone with my terrible sense of direction, it was a lifesaver. Plus, you can always turn it off.
As for disabling random battles - it’s a controversial addition, but anyone who’s played this game knows how frequent and frustrating they can be. Seriously, I wouldn’t have finished it without turning them off during the caravan and fairy quest.
The plot itself isn’t groundbreaking - a classic high-fantasy tale about the Warriors of Light gathering elemental crystals. But where the game shines is its lore. Each town is inhabited by different races, enemy designs hint at their origins, and characters like the witch with the glass eye make the world feel alive. The story may be simple, but the world it’s set in is anything but - and that’s a huge plus.
The overall experience is incredible, thanks to the nostalgic pixel art, enchanting music, and immersive world. The game is just fun - it’s not bogged down by excessive mechanics like many modern titles, and its puzzles and world design remain engaging. As I mentioned, I never finished the original, but this time, I was able to completed it without help of any guides because the game and quests structure is well-designed.
Final Fantasy is truly a timeless classic. Even if you’re not a fan of the genre, I’d recommend playing it just to experience a piece of gaming history. It’s a heartfelt, magical adventure.

When the original Final Fantasy was out, on the NES, I never actually got into playing it. I'm glad I grabbed this remastered version for my Steam Deck. It was a great experience. I was able to lower the Steam Deck's TDP down to around 5W-6W and get a lot of battery life while playing the game. Story was fun. The final boss fight was kind of a challenge. I had to do some level grinding to get my characters powerful enough to survive his attacks. I'll definitely be getting Final Fantasy 2 remaster the next time it goes on sale. If you like JRPG's, and retro games, you'll enjoy this.

This game is great, one of my favorites in the whole series. I played dawn of souls and the psp version before this one and my favorite version would have to be the psp version. With that being said features like turn off encounters make this game ridiculously easy pretty much the whole way through until the final boss who gave me a lot of trouble. 10/10 recommend for turn based combat lovers like myself.

Having never played a Final Fantasy title, I decided I would play through them recently. Obviously I started at 1. I wasn't sure what to expect from a near 40 year old game, whether it would hold my interest, if there was any story or plot at all, if it would even make sense. I will say this, there is something magical about this game. The soundtrack is phenomenal, the turn-based fighting is iconic and nostalgic feeling. Graphically, I was actually impressed, although it is obviously an older title. The story made sense and I knew the entire time what the next goal was, it was simply a challenge of how to achieve that, which I loved. All-in-all, I highly recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind this type of game and are looking to get invested in the Final Fantasy franchise, like myself. 8.5/10

I only really recommend this for Final Fantasy megafans. It's cool to see where the series came from and how far it has gotten but there's not much going for this game elsewise.

The first few hours of the game feel very stacked against you compared to most RPGs. The encounter rate is high. Inns + curatives are expensive relative to your income. On top of that, stuff will hit you decently hard.

It's cool that you can pick your party member classes but it sucks that you are locked in to your choices and can't swap classes later. Additionally, gear is extremely limited for most classes. Also, the game is very short and the story is extremely bare bones.

nice and simple little rpg. doesnt take long to beat but its a nice time killer.

I wish I could give this game a good review but the controls for reason unknown to me would act like the controller is being pushed up and to the left with a turbo and was unplayable. I at times had to restart the computer and sometime it wouldn't do it, but at the end it never stooped no mater what i did. sad...

the classic game on your computer or tablet. still good all these years later!>

Pretty sure this is the first FF that I ever beat. Of course its much easier then the NES version and I had to play with a guide, but still haha

Pretty faithful to the old game with a lot of tasteful QOL stuff. "Boost" and infinite gil is a bit much, but if you avoid those, stuff like the auto battle is nice, it speeds up the grinding a lot.

nice classic update music update is ok

A Classic That Still Holds Up

I’ve played multiple remakes of this game over the years, and while it’s a pretty basic JRPG by today’s standards, it still holds up and remains enjoyable.

The Pixel Remaster does a great job of modernizing the presentation while keeping the core experience intact. The sprite work looks clean, the soundtrack is fantastic, and the quality-of-life improvements like auto-battle, helps smooth out some of the more dated aspects of the game.

The gameplay is simple but effective, classic turn-based combat, an open-ended party system, and a straightforward story that serves as the foundation for what Final Fantasy would become. If you're used to more complex RPGs, this might feel a little too simple, but there's a certain charm in its simplicity that makes it fun to revisit.

Overall, if you're a fan of retro RPGs or just want to experience where Final Fantasy all began, this is a great way to do it. It’s a nostalgic trip that still manages to be a good time even decades later.

This is my first entry into the series. I am writing this review freshly after obtaining this game's Platinum/Completion trophy. While I am new to the turn-based style of play and the world of 8-bit gaming, this was an easy entry point to build my interest. I don't know if I will want to play this game again, but it was a memorable experience that I recommend to any curious soul.

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.