Technically I played this one 15 or so years ago, so it was never on my backlog… But I figure that was long enough ago that it’s mostly new to me. Anyway, this is my blog, so I get to make the rules! And then immediately break them!
This is the fourth instance of Square being told they should have picked a different title for their flagship series, following from my personal favourite Final Fantasy 4. Where 4 changed things up a lot by taking a far more story-heavy approach, 5 rolls things back a little and takes a new direction.
The crystals are shattering, and four regular people just happen to be here to witness it, unwittingly becoming The Light Warriors in the process. FF5 plays very similarly to FF3(J) in that each Crystal that shatters gives your party a slew of new classes to choose from, which you can change at any time without penalty. Where it differs is that a character who spends an extended period of time in one class will learn skills which they can then continue to use while using a different class. So, you can give Butz a couple of levels in White Mage, swap him over to Knight, and have a self-sufficient tank. Or, put some time into Black Mage, and then swap over to White Mage so your healer has some firepower.
With over 20 classes, there’s a great deal of customisation available, although unfortunately a lot of the abilities are kind of worthless, and you can only equip one extra on each class. Still, there’s something satisfying about seeing a wizard punch an enemy to death with their bare hands using their Monk-gained Brawl power.
Fin or Bin:
I already did finish it, long ago… and I’m actually writing this having reached the final dungeon. I spent a lot of time wondering if I should even bother writing something for FF5. But why not, right? Fin!
(Steam)