Before I played this game, I had a strange dream.

Some girl played Final Fantasy V on a computer, yet needed help finding Bartz in his hometown. I agreed to help. I search around using a girl who can collect rocks and roll up snowballs. I make some type of stone fire place eith what appears to be arrows that correspond to controller buttons.

When I turn around to the other side of the stone fireplace, I see a code. I tell this girl about the many different combinations. Two circles, two squares, and two triangles. I asked her what if she tried the reverse order. Looking at it in a certain way, it looks like arrows that I have to press. 

I press them and the stone fireplace burns up. I get a gold coin or gift. Yet we still haven’t found Bartz. I leave my room and tell he, if she needs help finding Bartz, I’ll try it out. I tell her I was on my break, and decided to help her. The graphics of the game looks like Final Fantasy Tactics, yet one could move freely around the towns.

Aside from Bartz’s hometown, this is nothing like the game.

Upon first playing Final Fantasy V, I noticed something about the color pallet right away. Was it…drab? No, that’s not it. The colors looked bright, but it was lacking in contrast. Final Fantasy VI had a lot of it, even though the game dark and gritty. Take a look at Terra’s green hair, against her red clothing. It really made most of the scene pop. The colors were much lusher too. In Final Fantasy V, everything seemed so flat and pale.

I had played Final Fantasy I, II, and IV on the PSP before playing this. In fact, I’d played their respective PlayStation versions: Origins and Chronicles, before moving to Anthology. And I couldn’t get over how much more cartoony the graphics looked. In fact, the graphics looked more grainy than Final Fantasy IV’s. Sometimes tells me Final Fantasy V was a Famicon game, upscaled for the Super Famicon. Underwhelming, I know. But graphics aren’t everything. What I played was actually really good.

This is the first time we see Boko. I swore he was going to be a playable character. Wouldn’t that be cool, a non-human playable character? We wouldn’t get one until Final Fantasy VI with Mog and Umaro. And then I noted how much more goofy Final Fantasy V was, compared to the previous games. Final Fantasy I – IV had humor, but none of them were poking fun at themselves. Final Fantasy V never got self-referential, but I believe it was trying to parody the series. From Exdeath’s “Muwhahaha” laugh to Bartz’s non-descript personality, it was like a satire on how cliche Final Fantasy had become.

What’s with trying to undress Faris? Jeez, guys, even if you think she’s a woman, have some decency. By the way, I thought she was the best character in the game. Either way, the corniness of the game made it a lot more fun. It was like an adventure but at the same time an adventure with friends. Ah yes, Gilgamesh. I heard of him before I played the game. I thought he would be an easy joke boss. He’s still comical, but a really formidable warrior. Don’t underestimate him. Ever. Final Fantasy V taught me that Gilgamesh is a fool, but not in battle. Oh, and he wants Faris to act more like a woman. Pretty insensitive.

I had a lot of fun exploring the job classes. One of my favorites were Geomancer. I wanted to see what environmental attacks that job would execute. Every new area leads to a different attack, which leads to more exploration. That’s one of Final Fantasy V’s strengths; it encourages you to explore jobs, the world, towns, etc. At one point, Sakaguchi claimed Final Fantasy V was his favorite game in the series. Before Final Fantasy IX, I guess Final Fantasy V captured what made Final Fantasy good.

In a sense, it was like Final Fantasy III, 2.0. An improved job system, piano playing, and exploration of two different worlds were all very similar. But the best was yet to come, with Final Fantasy VI!