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Another blast from the past that doesn't disapoint

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 23 / 23
Date: November 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Square Enix is going back in time with their latest Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS titles. First we had Final Fantasy 1 and 2 on the GBA which were brilliant recreations of the original Nintendo Entertainment System titles that started the Final Fantasy series way back when. Then last year we had the first SNES Final Fantasy game in Final Fantasy IV Advance on the GBA which recaptured the fun that really made the series a house hold staple keeping the game the same as we remember with extras added in to make it even more fun then we remembered. Final Fantasy III which was a Japanese only exclusive NES game is now on the Nintendo DS introducing a new yet old game to fans old and young.

Now with thier next title in Final Fantasy V, will Square Enix again capture the magic that made their old games so much fun? The answer is absolutely yes!

This game is a great example of why the job class system, that Final Fantasy has become well known for, is so much fun to interact with. You start out with a team of four who have to save four special elemental crystals from being destroyed. Every time a crystal does happen to be destroyed the crystals will lend the would be heroes it's powers letting them change thier classes into more powerful fighters, magic users and specialist in the hopes of saving various worlds from a great evil in the name of Exdeath.

The story can be a bit on the weakside. Besides the point of fighting evil just because they are good guys and that's what good guys do there is not much more to the story then your typical Final Fantasy situation. The real draw of the game is the idea of building your dream team of characters in the classes you want to build them into. Some of the classes most will be familiar with if you have played a Final Fantasy Tactics game. There are some new and unique ones but over all they all have their pro's and con's and let you switch between them easy enough while being able to use previously learned abilities from one job into another job.

There are your typical classes in the Knight, Black Mage, White Mage, Monk and Thief. While there are more obscure job titles like Berzerker, Dancer, Beastmaster and Bard that add a lot of originality and newness to the game as it lets you be classes that you may have never thought of being in a Final Fantasy world.

A lot of the game will focus around you leveling up due to the fact that the only way to learn new skills for your current classes are to gain job points by winning battles. Also it can get quite expensive buying equipment for all the different classes as a lot use very specific weapons like whips bows and axes while most use swords and daggers. So this game is not one that you will be able to rush through quickly if you want to get the full experience out of it.

Overall this is a great addition to any fan of a good RPG series both young and old. The story is the only weakness as it could have been a bit better but the fun of the game and your own ability to choose what type of fighters you want to use at any given time make you forget quickly of the story going on and keeps you focused on the action and having fun with the many classes to find.

With three worlds, over 20 class choices, bonus classes and dungeons not found in the original games and so much more to do in this game you definitely can't go wrong picking this up. A very worthy, yet not as well known game in the long running Final Fantasy series.

Especially with Final Fantasy VI Advance on the way, this is a great way to pass the time until it becomes available. This isn't the greatest Final Fantasy game, but it seems to fit in perfect to the portable setting it has been put into. Get it today so you too can max out all the job abilities for all the characters.

Not the Best in the Series but Still Good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: November 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The first time Final Fantasy V was releasd in America was with the Final Fantasy Anthology package. Now the game is where it belongs. On a handheld system. The GBA is pretty much at the end of its life, but it still manages to get a satisfactory game every now and then. Final Fantasy V is by no means the best in the series, but it is, for the most part, an RPG that deserves appreciation and acclaim.

Final Fantasy V begins with a character named Bartz witnessing a meteorite come hurdling to the ground. When he goes to investigate he meets up with Lenna. Lenna is searching for her father who has gone off to the wind shrine to check on the wind crystal. Lately, the wind has been weak, and it can only be because something is wrong with the wind crystal. In addition to meeting Lenna, Bartz also meets Galuf, a man who has lost his memory in light of the meteorite crashing. All he can remember is his name, and that he too must also go to the wind shrine. Eventually Bartz decides to travel with them, and so your adventure begins.

In truth, Final Fantasy V doesn't have a good storyline... at least when compared to Final Fantasy IV and all the Final Fantasy games that appeared after the fifth installment. It's pretty basic and generic. This is obvious by how fast you'll meet your main party, and how much more emphasis is put on gameplay. These characters are not well developed nor is the story full of unbelievable plot twists. Except Final Fantasy V was not meant to be about storyline. It's all about the gameplay, and that's where Final Fantasy V excels the most.

As with Final Fantasy IV before it, Final Fantasy V uses the ATB battle system. All your characters stand on one side of the screen while all the enemies stand on the other. When a character's ATB gauge fills up, you'll be able to issue commands. The game then plays out in turn based fashion. Final Fantasy V is simple, yet it's a lot of fun, and it also provides a challenge. The gameplay is enhanced even more by the games complex job system.

The job system is extremely complex, even by todays standards. As you progress through the game you'll obtain job classes for your characters. There are plenty of jobs. Monks, thieves, white mages, black mages, and plenty more. Each of them learn several different abilities all of which can and will be useful to you on your journey. When you select a job with a certain character, you'll have to battle to earn ability points so that they can learn all the abilities they can. Some abilities are more useful than others, and the possibilities are endless. Also, once a character learns an ability, you can change jobs and have them equip it. So a black mage could, in fact, use white magic, provided he's learned the ability to do it.

You'll spend a lot of time on the field battling to get ability points. The more abilities you learn, the more ability points you'll need for the next. This is fine and all, but most enemies don't give up loads of ability points. So the game puts a huge emphasis on battling. This is also seen by the low amounts of experience enemies also give off. Leveling up is a slow process. The good news is battling is fun, especially with the job system in place. Unless everyone's jobs are the same, there's a nearly endless possibility of commands you can give in the middle of battle.

Final Fantasy V Advance sports the same extras as all the previous Final Fantasy re-releases on the GBA do. An extra dungeons and some extra bosses, and that's about it. Nothing too big, but worth the price nonetheless. It'll probably take you 20-30 hours to complete Final Fantasy V. It's not filled to the brim with secrets like future Final Fantasy titles, but mastering all the jobs will really keep you busy for several hours alone. It's also cool because along with the extra dungeons and bosses, you'll get four new job classes. This only adds more to the already complex gameplay.

Graphically, Final Fantasy V is a little dated, even by GBA standards. It looks far better than it did in Final Fantasy Anthology. It's much smoother and does have a little bit of an update, but it doesn't go the extra mile it could've. Enemies still only flash to attack your characters, and they're hardly animated. At least the game has a great soundtrack. Final Fantasy V goes on to show why the Super Nintendo era for Final Fantasy music was one of the best in the series. The game just sounds really good.

Final Fantasy V is a golden treat for Final Fantasy fans. It may have a weak storyline, but what it lacks in story it more than makes up for in gameplay. It's not the best in the series, but it's still a really fun game.

The Good

+It's a lot of fun to play
+The job system makes for a lot of variety in your party
+Great music
+The minor graphic updates are welcome
+Bonus dungeons and bosses
+There's a huge emphasis on gameplay

The Bad

-Not enough of a graphical update
-Weak story and characters

Square once again strikes GBA gold

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Over the past couple years, Square has been releasing ports of their beloved older Final Fantasy games to the GBA, with results ranging from great to excellent. Final Fantasy V Advance is no different, once again offering superb and classic RPG action that does the GBA proud. If you remember the Final Fantasy Anthology that was released for the PS1 years back, you'll remember this game, and when playing it on the GBA, you'll notice a few slight differences, most notably in the game's story and dialogue. The graphics look like you would expect a 16-bit Final Fantasy game to look like, with fluid animations and environments to boot. The lengthy quest is quite challenging as well, offering up a great amount of replay value which help you get your money's worth with this game. If there's any downsides to Final Fantasy V Advance, it's the typical kind you'd expect from the older games in the series: the horde of random battles that you'll across will grate on your nerves, and newer RPG players probably won't dig the dated presentation. Not to mention that for a Final Fantasy game, the game's story doesn't grab you and make you want to keep playing just to find out what happens next. Despite all that, Final Fantasy V Advance is another wonderful port of the classic series to Nintendo's undying handheld system, and the better news is that the best game in the series, Final Fantasy VI, is on the way to the GBA too.

BEST GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I love this game! I think it is awesome to play and anyone who loves traditional rpgs will love it too. I think the music is great and fun to listen to. The storyline is long and very funny and there are 20+ bosses. I really enjoy the job system where you can mix and match abilities and I am sure you will spend hours with that. Unlike the other reviewers, I really like the graphics and I love these new remakes of snes games. Honestly, I prefer that over 3-D. I give this game 5 STARS!!!!!

Final Fantasy V Advance........

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

You'd think, after playing the first four Final Fantasy games(FF III taking the longest to finish), I'd be done burn out on the series. Well, thankfully, I did have a little break in there by playing Scurge: Hive & it was enough for me to recharge my batteries and get ready to play part 5. While I'll admit, it isn't my most favorite Final Fantasy...it is, however, the best Final Fantasy game I've played. No wonder it's the one Final Fantasy that alot of future FF games were based upon gameplay conceptwise. The game holds up very well by todays' standards. It's definitely worth adding to the collection.

The story is something like this....When the wind crystal suddenly shatters and causes the wind in the world to simply stop, Princess Lenna sets off to discover exactly what happened. It's not long before she's joined in her quest by Bartz, Galuf, and Faris. Together, they set off to try to prevent the world's other elemental crystals from shattering.

It's one of those RPGs that true hardcore RPG gamers shouldn't miss. I highly recomend it.

The wonderful and amusing translation makes FFV Advance the best release of FFV to date

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

In keeping with their tradition of re-releasing their SNES Final Fantasy games on the GBA, Nintendo has repackaged Final Fantasy V. The result is nothing short of spectacular, as Final Fantasy V Advance turns out to be the best version of FFV to date. The main reason being that the game has been re-translated and augmented so that the script is now very tongue in cheek and full of humor. Pop culture references are abounding, and game makes fun of its rather simplistic and cliché storyline. The result is a fresh and witty take on what was originally a simplistic and unoriginal story.

For players unfamiliar with the rest of Final Fantasy V, it can be quickly summarized as follows: The emphasis of the game is not on story, but on fighting. The game requires the player to spend more time leveling up and building up abilities than it does the player reading text and figuring out puzzles. As a result, the game is actually somewhat easy, since the player will most likely "over level" their party in order to have a team of characters to their liking. Beyond the emphasis on leveling, anyone can see why the game originally had a rather unoriginal and overall boring story. Thankfully, the aforementioned "script update" has helped remedy this issue greatly.

As for the game's combat, Square has added 4 new jobs that the player can acquire, but three are only accessible towards the end of the game (and the last after the game is beaten). Still, the new jobs do add some variety to game play as well as replay value. The jobs themselves are not "overly powered" as some players might be lead to think, and in comparison, the original 15 jobs can be more powerful than the new 4 if used properly. Still, the new jobs do make life easier when it comes to leveling up thanks to the abilities that they introduce to the game. Ultimately, the new jobs add some needed additions for players who have already beaten FFV in the past.

As for other additions to the game, the most noticeable are that the game has more colorful and better-drawn graphics. The soundtrack has been remixed, and is now far superior to the original SNES game. The game also has an optional 30-room dungeon and a boss survival mode for players seeking more action after the game is over. Suffice to say, the additional content easily plays on the game's emphasis on combat and not on story telling. Other additions to the game include a bestiary, so that players can look up the stats of the monsters that have been defeated. In addition, the game has a music player mode for those who enjoy the music of Final Fantasy V.

The only drawback on Final Fantasy V Advance is that some players will find the new content to be "not enough". Where as the original Final Fantasy V could be completed at about level 36-50, the additional content can be beaten at 50-60, depending on how much time the player has invested into the job system (and how much outside assistance they utilize.) Still, with the new translation, FFV Advance is a worthwhile experience, even for players who have already played FFV in the past.

A noteworthy game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: December 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I will not cover a lot of information since that has already been done excellently.I personally did NOT like FFVII to give you an idea of my choices. The story was compelling but there were quite a few annoying things about that game.To me FFV is classic role playing fun.The story is just right for the game. I even found a few laughs, within, which surprised me.I have not finished playing it yet but so far am I not disappointed since this is not a boring game.I would suggest using the Nintendo guide for the maps, jobs and abilities help if you like to get as much as you can from a game.

awright gimme five!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

FF5 will always hold a special place in my heart as the red headed stepchild of the series. In this updated version there are even more reasons to let it out of the basement! First off they added something which I thoroughly enjoy! Portraits. This may not seem like much but now you get to see why Galuf gets ragged so much about being old! Oddly enough he doesnt have brown hair and beard in his portrait...but thats ok we love his sprite anyway! There is much better character interaction, and the party actually seems to have developed a sort of personality. Bartz cracks Groany jokes that will make you slap your forhead. In fact there is even a very bizarre Red Lobster reference in the game... You will fall in love with Gilgamesh all over again as he incompetantly tries to thwart you repeatedly throughout the adventure. Farris is not quite so rediculously cliche as a pirate, but still cliche enough to make sense and be loveable, and her portrait helped you understand how the characters found her foxy a little more than the purple haired creature you were familiar with. X-Death is still the lamest bad guy of any FF game, but its almost kind of endeering in a way...and yes he still harnesses the ultimate power to become a....tree at the end.

The class system is left more or less unscathed but for the addition of a few new ones which are dumb at best. Canoner was not somethign any of us were waiting for ff to add. Necromancer has never been the MO of the FFs and the bizarre weather oracley person just kills your party most of the time. Nice guys! It makes you wonder why they didnt throw in some FF staples that were missing. It might have been nice to have a paladin or something remotely FF thrown in there, but whatever, thats small potatoes...

Its still a blacksheap but you will find the game much more playable now, and the characters dont simply clam up half way through the game like they did before! Go grab this one and get your party full of monks ready to wreak some havoc!!

4.5; Got lots of free time?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I first played Final Fantasy V when it was released with VI with Anthology for the Playstation. Being one of the few installments that didn't get a stateside release (along with III which is here on the DS), a lot of people loved playing V mainly for the gameplay since storywise they're just wasn't anything there. While it does feel like they're releasing the games over and over for money, most can't even find the original Anthology release anyway so we have V being released separately which is a good game in its own right but it might not be as well-rounded as VI or the later installments.

Story: Same ol' really but here it goes: King Tycoon is off to the Wind Shrine to check on the Wind crystal which he fears is in danger. Princess Lenna follows him only to be blocked by a massive meteor that hits the ground. Meeting traveller Bartz as well as Galuf, an old man with amnesia, the 3 travel to the Wind Shrine and with the help of Faris the pirate, have to save the world and protect the crystals from evil.

Graphics: Nothing that stellar really but this is a Gameboy Advance title so it's easier to forgive. The graphics look more cleaner but don't expect major overhauls to the graphics to make them more advanced or impressive, they're just more...polished. Character portraits as always have Amano's artwork which is always a welcome though it's kind of odd, but not distracting, to have characters with certain features like Faris' grey hair in portrait to have purple hair in game. But it's always been like that so whatever.

Sound/Music: V's soundtrack is sandwiched inbetween IV and VI, the latter being arguably his finest soundtrack. V's is also impressive with memorable tunes and melodies and some well-known ones like Dear Friends or Battle on the Big Bridge but on the other hand, other tracks are just iffy. They're nice and all but there was never a moment during IV or VI where a bad song suddenly showed up when you entered a new area but in V it's more like it's good music then all of a sudden "hey, this theme's cool".

Gameplay: Unlike IV and VI which had specific classes, in V you can be anybody and the fun comes from mix and matching. Instead of only bringing out certain characters because they're more useful in battle, you can customize your character however you want. Sure you can be a Thief and rob enemies but what if you want to Cure as well? No problem: just learn White Magic, be a Thief and put White Magic in ability menu and poof, now you can nab helpful stuff along with curing your party. Some classes are incredibly useful and even fun to use while others are just quirky and you'd probably only use them for completion purposes.

The Anthology release was fun though frustrating to play since levelling up was kind of a must with many times needing to level up your characters in order to not get slaughtered and the GBA one is just as tough though it's slightly more lenient let's say. Just toughen up your characters and you'll be fine. Also, there's not a lot story wise to the game since it's basically crystals in trouble, warriors come together to stop evil with a touch of character development now and then (i.e: characters waking up in the middle of the night to have a monologue). It's not the most deepest RPG storywise and aside from Lenna and maybe Faris, the characters are not as endearing as a Rydia or Kain.

I'd recommend V since it's an addicting game to master Job classes though for a more well-rounded game with story and characters, seek VI out but when you're finished with that, by all means give V a go.

THE BEST FINAL FANTASY OF ALL

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: December 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

What is wrong with the people who say "Not the best..." "Not here" and "Not that", heck!!! by far, this one and Final Fantasy VI are the best FFs ever done. To me, the franchise died after Square did that faillure called Final Fantasy VII, but that is another stroy. The importan here is that Final Fantasy V is maybe the best in the series and the job/class system works sweet.

Back in the day, when Final Fantasy V first came out, it was not released in the United States for the SNES because japanese executives thought "americans" were not smart enough to understand the game. Now is the time to prove them wrong. Buy this beautyful piece of videogame art!

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