Final Fantasy I & II Dawn of Souls: When Remakes Go Bad

Author's Rating:

Pros: Final Fantasy II has better balance, the new Final Fantasy II content

Cons: Final Fantasy I is really messed up, too easy, extra dungeons are monotonous

The Bottom Line: 
What used to be the better game of the two is now a snorefest. The second game while still with its shortcomings is now the only reason to buy it.

Author's Review
Those of you who remember some of my reviews from earlier years, might know that I really don't like it when a company messes with the dynamics of a proven game or series. This is exactly the problem with Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. I was expecting this game to be a Gameboy Advance port of Final Fantasy Origins for the PS1. Instead it's a cheapened hack dumbed down even more than the original Final Fantasy for the NES. Final Fantasy Origins was, and still is, the pinnacle of all the Final Fantasy I remakes. While the game itself could have been supported on older hardware, it still managed to maintain the gameplay of the original Final Fantasy while adding in some great enhancements. Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls tries to take that one step further by adding new content. The biggest problem being that the new content is poorly structured, and they made additional changes that completely restructured the style of the game. Now the original Final Fantasy is simply a walkthrough of a story rehashed a thousand times.

For those of you interested in where I'm coming from when I talk about this game, I suggest you read my review of Final Fantasy Origins and my review of the original Final Fantasy NES cartridge.


Story

The story for both Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II remain largely unchanged from both their original forms and the version portrayed in Final Fantasy Origins. The additional content for each game does add a little more to the story, especially in Final Fantasy II, but discussing the additional storyline in depth would spoil it for newcomers. The additional bits of the story does fit in well with the larger plot, however in the case of Final Fantasy I, the new content isn't discussed much in the main storyline.


Gameplay

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls is a remake of the first two Final Fantasy games that originally were released for the NES. While the first Final Fantasy was exported to US soil in the early 90's, Final Fantasy II never made it to the US in NES cartridge form, and only was formally released in the US a couple years ago for the original Playstation. Both games while short and simplistic RPGs, are very different in their makeup.

The original Final Fantasy underwent the greatest overhaul. In addition to the cosmetic changes present in Final Fantasy Origins, there are several modest gameplay changes as well. First, the magic system has been changed. Before, magic users were assigned a number of points per spell level. Now it's changed to a MP (or magic point) system. Meaning you could cast level one spells all day long until your MP runs out. However, once it runs out you cannot cast any spells. What this means is that you can devote your entire magic to cure spells, which is extremely useful in the Final Dungeon where there was small cap on curing yourself. Also it altered your battle strategy when you took into account your powerful undead killing spells shares a level slot with your cure spells.

That isn't the worst of it. While the magic system overhaul removes tougher aspects of the game, the diversity of items makes the game a breeze. The original Final Fantasy only had a few items to use, most of which were potions that either healed, or cured status ailments. Now you have two different types of healing potions, and an array of items that can do anything from increase your hit points, to cast spells in battle. Also there's now an item (phoenix down) that can revive your fallen party members. This means that a game balanced to support a small library of items with limited impact becomes much easier given your ability to sustain your party.

Wait, there's more. The amount of experience to advance to higher levels is now lowered. Meaning, you're at astronomically high character levels by the time you make it to later stages of the game.

So what does this all mean? It means that your party, even without the best equipment, can defeat any monster, and recover itself from particularly bruising battles. The challenge is no longer in surviving, but rather spending the time to crawl each dungeon. The game no longer gives me any sense of satisfaction. They should have added an option in the configuration menu to make your party impervious to damage.

The new content added to the original Final Fantasy instead of making things better, makes them much worse. After you defeat each elemental boss, a new dungeon opens up. The creatures in each dungeon are easier to defeat than the ones in the original elemental dungeon. In addition, there are more frequent random encounters. The levels are randomized, but the layouts remain the same. The worst part is when you reach the final floor. You're left to face one of four bosses. These bosses, despite the additional items and faster leveling up, are practically impossible to defeat until you've obtained the necessary equipment from all the other original elemental dungeons (3 ribbons, dragon armor, etc ...). So it's pointless to even enter the dungeon until you're almost finished the game. And by the time you're ready to face the bosses, your left to wade through puny monsters that can hardly even damage you. Sounds fun? The reward from these dungeons is new equipment and some of the new items. However, this equipment is only helpful if you obtain it as soon as the dungeon opens up. The equipment from the final original dungeons is more than enough to face the final boss.

SquareEnix tinkered with the game and now it's no longer fun. There is simply no challenge anymore. I played the original Final Fantasy when I was 11 years old, and I had a decent challenge, but it wasn’t too hard beating it. However, I think I could beat this game if I was four years old.

Final Fantasy II actually improved upon itself in this cartridge. The biggest issue with Final Fantasy II was the leveling system. As opposed to the standard experience point system, your character advances through battle experience. If your character takes a lot of damage, their maximum hit points will increase. Similarly if they use melee weapons in battle their success rate and damage will increase. The challenge wasn't so much in your strategic approach to fighting the monsters and navigating the dungeons, but rather enduring the long process of leveling up. Too much time was spent fighting monsters (or rather executing battle commands) that posed little threat to your party, while attempting to enter a new area where the monsters present were much too powerful. The battles became too repetitive and given the linear story and low replay value, Final Fantasy II did not endear itself well to veterans of the series.

The way this cartridge combats this is by rounding off the amount of work it takes to level up. Now the transition between areas takes much less time, but it still allows you to do some backtracking without fear of becoming way too powerful by the time you return to your original location. This makes it much more enjoyable to run through the game and you can take more pride in developing your characters in different ways.

Final Fantasy II also has additional content in the form of a new quest that supplements the ending. This new quest is executed better than the new dungeons in Final Fantasy I. The new quest doesn't increase the amount of monster encounters. In addition the monsters are more challenging based on your current character level. Like the new Final Fantasy I dungeons, the new quest for Final Fantasy II can take up an addition 5 hours of gameplay time. But unlike the new dungeons, those 5 hours are much more enjoyable. In the end, like the rest of Final Fantasy II, once everything is completed, you're content. There really isn't any yearning to replay the game.

In the realm of gameplay, Final Fantasy II is improved, however it still succumbs to the same built in flaws that plagued its original form. It's a thick coat of polish, but still a coat of polish nonetheless.


Controls

The controls for both games remained the same as all the other versions. The dpad, A and B buttons all were translated perfectly between the versions of the two games. This is good because it would drive me bonkers if I had to relearn a new control scheme with so many random battles.

Graphics

The graphics underwent the same overhaul as in Final Fantasy Origins. You can now walk around inside of stores and other buildings. The tiles and backgrounds have been revamped as well. Even the spites of the characters and enemies have been updated. One difference is that I noticed some new cutscenes that didn't make it into Final Fantasy Origins. This is something that was a pleasant surprise. However the new dungeons and quests simply reused the tiles and backgrounds from the original games.

One of the most disappointing things about the graphics is the lack of new sprites for the new monsters. The new dungeons and quests have new monsters, but only the bosses have new sprites. Instead, the new monsters are pallet swaps of the older original creatures. To me, this just re-emphasizes the laziness involved with this project. It's almost as if SquareEnix wanted to prove that their name would sell any piece of junk with a "Final Fantasy" tag on it.

One other aspect I should point out with the graphics is the game isn't very brightly lit. The gamma levels are so low that a person using an original Gameboy Advance unit might not be able to see it even in bright light. I recommend this game for people who have a Gameboy Advance SP unit or Nintendo DS because of the backlit technology. It really makes a significant difference in this case.


Sound

The sound is one of the few bright spots on this cartridge. While the music is roughly the same as Final Fantasy Origins, the fact that SquareEnix didn't edit it further is a good thing. The music is based off the original themes, but it implements more instrumental detail. And with the exception of a poor instrumental choice in the common enemy encounter theme, it was accomplished with perfect results. Even though the GBA speaker isn't that great, plugging in a pair of headphones allows you to lose yourself in the great music.

The sound effects are also pretty well done. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the sound effects is not their overall quality, but rather their improvement on the sound effects on the original NES versions. Some of the original sound effects were so high pitched that people with dental work would find themselves in agony. Now the sound effects, while decent in overall quality, are now much more tolerable. To me, that's a success.


Replay Value

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls has very little replay value. Final Fantasy I, the one RPG out of the two that had the most replay value in its original form, now has next to none. The game does not present a challenge. Using different party combinations is not terribly fun, nor is it terribly eventful. Besides, if the game is tedious to finish the first time around, then why would someone want to play it a second time? Final Fantasy II, while a much more solid game, is way too linear and static in terms of character development that the game plays out the same way each time you play it through. There aren't very many new areas or nuances that you notice each time through. Besides, this version of Final Fantasy II is so close to the one in Final Fantasy Origins that you're not going to get much more out of it. This is simply a one and done cartridge, which is a shame because I always enjoy playing Final Fantasy I with the different characters.


Conclusion

I think it's clear by now where I stand with this game. The first Final Fantasy is one of my most favorite games of all time. However, this cartridge is a travesty that exploits the current trend in video game remakes. What makes video game remakes so enticing to a gamer like me is the way most of them maintain the balance of the gameplay while enhancing the graphics and sound to create a more polished product. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind if SquareEnix changes the dynamics of Final Fantasy I as long as the game remained as challenging as the original version. However, the game was changed with very little regard for how the final product ended up. Challenging areas like the Ice Cave, the Castle of Ordeals, and the Temple of Fiends Revisited are all shadows of their former self. Powerful enemies like Gas Dragons, the Phantom, and the Lich are laughably easy. Yes, I might know where every powerful item is and how to maintain a powerful party, but I never once prayed for a Warmech-free trip across Timat's bridge. Instead after I disposed of Timat, I didn't leave, egging on a chance encounter with the once-powerful adversary. To me, not being scared of Warmech is the saddest part about this game. It's like watching you're favorite once-great athlete struggle while finishing up his or her career on a poor team. Like another Michael Jordan comeback, I hope that I never see another remake of these games. I'll be selling this cartridge, but I'll keep my Final Fantasy Origins CD.