Final Fantasy V Advance: - Get a Job? I've Got Twenty Five of Them!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Charming Graphics, Excellent Soundtrack, Huge Amounts of Customization, Challenging, New Jobs

Cons: A Few Cheap Skills, Weak Storyline

The Bottom Line: 
Final Fantasy V is one of the greatest role playing games ever conceived and this is the definitive version. Get it.

Author's Review
Final Fantasy V was one of three games in the series that was not originally released outside of Japan. It wasn't until the release of the Final Fantasy Anthology collection that the game was actually released in English. I instantly fell in love - as the follow up to my favorite game of all time (Final Fantasy IV) the fifth installment of the series carried over much from the one before it. At the same time it stands on it's own as the last and most complete 'job system' based classic styled game in the series. On top of this, part V is, what I consider to be, the last completely old school game in the series and is also the final entry to focus significantly more on gameplay than on story and presentation. Years ago I was ecstatic to learn that the game was being ported to the Gameboy Advance handheld system with several enhancements. Long after it's release it's still one of my favorite games on the handheld. Make no mistake - this Advance iteration is the definitive version of Final Fantasy V which was already one of the best role playing games ever.

The story takes place fantasy world with very little techonology - the world is still ruled by the sword and magic is prevalent. In this world exists four crystals that govern the four natural elements; Fire, Earth, Wind, and Water. It is foretold that were these crystals ever to shatter an immense evil force would be released from a magic induced slumber. Already these magical items are on the verge of breaking. Four warriors, the adventurous nomad Bartz, the kind princess Lenna, a swashbuckling pirate named Faris, and an old man named Galuf who is stricken with amnesia must all join together in order to save the world. While the scenario is standard FF fare the execution is a few notches below the series standard. The gameplay, specifically the job system, more than makes up for this.

As a classic FF game Final Fantasy V's gameplay, on the surface, is very standard for the genre. The gameplay is strictly 2D making use of an overhead camera as you wander across a vast world map, through dangerous dungeons, and around towns interacting with various people for hints and general info. While traversing the world your party (composed of the earlier mentioned characters) encounters monsters which you will have to do battle with. All battles (save for scripted fights) are randomly activated as you wander about. Upon engaging the enemy the screen will suddenly transition to a battle scene in which your characters appear on the right side and enemies on the left. From here you take turns inputting commands (which include the ever popular Attack, Item, etc.) while exchanging blows with your opponents. To the right of each characters hit points is the ATB bar which, upon filling, will allow you to input a new command for said character. In traditional style all damage is calculated numerically and each member of your party has their own set of stats (including hit and magic points, strength, defense, agility, magic, etc.) that determine their abilities in battle.

Where the game really shines in comparison to other role playing games is in it's job system. The five characters who join your party (you will only ever have four at once) have no exclusive magic, special skills, or useable weapons. Instead they can all use all the same abilities. Which skills they do learn is determined by which 'job' you assign them. In the beginning everyone starts out with the 'freelancer' job but very shortly into the quest you gain the ability to assign them as something else. The first batch includes the rather traditional Knight, White Mage, Black Mage, Blue Mage, Monk, and Thief. As you progress you will unlock more interesting and diverse jobs such as the Summoner, Mystic Knight, Ninja, Samurai, Dragoon and many more. You are given full control over this system and can give any character any job provided you've unlocked them which happens naturally as you progress the story.

What's interesting about the job system is that the game encourages experimentation with it. On top of gaining experience points from battle (which add up to increase your party's statistics) you are also awarded with ability points, or ABP. Every job has specific skills within it that can be permanetly learned through acquisition of a set amount of these points. By learning the skill you can use it no matter which job you assign this character because they will never forget a learned ability. This means that you can have a Knight with the powers of White Magic, or a Monk that can summon monsters in  battle. This system is limited in that you can only set one learned skill to your character when he/she is set to any of the standard jobs, but as a freelancer you can assign up to two learned skills. This adds a huge layer of strategy and planning that is unmatched by any other game in the series.

Trust me when I say that you'll constantly be switching around your jobs - this is one difficult and unforgiving game. Things start off easily enough but somewhere around halfway through the main quest the challenge seriously ramps up. This will, often times, force you to do some hardcore experimentation so that you can enemy weakness or simply use more strategy. Thankfully you can come up with some pretty creative skill combinations. For example, if you've mastered the Monk skill 'barehanded' you can opt to equip this on a Knight character. You won't be stuck barehanded because the Knight's main weapon is the sword, but you will still gain the huge attack power bonus that comes from the skill. While the game is one of the more balanced Final Fantasy titles you will find that it still has one skill that's a cut above the rest and one that you could even call 'cheap.' I speak of the money toss ability learned by the Samurai. While using it does deplete your funds it is capable of causing maximum damage against every enemy on the screen. It's easily the cheapest skill in the game and I don't like to use it. It's still helpful when you're stuck though.

Along with the main game that we've all come to love, Square-Enix has included a host of new additions in this package. First off, the game features four brand spanking new jobs that you can unlock at the end of the game. These jobs include the Gladiator, Necromancer, Cannoneer, and the Oracle. Of these I most like the Gladiator and Necromancer because of their high attack and magic respectively. The Cannoneer is a bit strange to me and I've not been able to make effective mixes for ammunition for their cannons yet. The Oracle is plenty strange in that it is used to tell the future. This can have bad effects for your party or wipe out all the enemies. Along with these new jobs comes a brand new dungeon complete with it's own storyline centric boss. Personally I didn't much enjoy the new dungeon but the new boss fight is quite interesting and challenging. Fans of the game will be excited to see who it is.

The game's graphics have been upgraded very little since the Super Famicom version with only the battle scene backgrounds featuring any added detail. Everything else looks pretty much the same with the only other notable upgrade being that the text boxes now display pictures of important characters when they are speaking and the art depicted is based on the original works of the character designer behind the early entries in the series; Yoshtaka Amano. Final Fantasy V looks like what you would expect visually from a 16-bit RPG - the game is very colorful and makes a lot of use out of the mode 7 graphics for sprite rotations the GBA and SNES are so well known for. What's quite impressive is that each of your characters changes appearance based on what job they have, and considering that there are 25+ jobs and four different characters this is a great touch. The game looks very good on the DS/GBA.

The Super Famicom version of Final Fantasy V features one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, and I'm happy to report that the replication of it is nearly perfect on the GBA with there being only a few problems related to the pitch of certain notes. This is quite the accomplishment given how bad the sound hardware is on Nintendo's older handheld. As one of Nobuo Uematsu's greatest soundtracks this game also contains some of the most memorable tracks in the series. The theme of Gilgamesh is probably the best song of the bunch with it's pounding drumline, but Ahead on our Way as the main theme of the game perfectly matches the mood and atmosphere of FFV. The sound effects are pretty standard but given the vast array of different types of weapons it's impressive that they used different sound bytes for most types. Overall the game fares very well in the sound department.

Controls are pretty standard fare - you've got an accept and cancel button as well and move around by using the directional pad. For the most part that's all that you have to worry about. Because this game makes use of the active time battle system (enemies don't wait for you to input commands before they act) you will have to make your selections quickly in battle. The interface is surprisingly intuitive for a game with such complex mechanics. My only complaint here is that each time you change a character's job you have to re-assign any skills you were previously using - it would far less annoying if they simply carried over after switching. Changing equipment has the same problem but this is a more acceptable nuisance given the fact that each job has specific weapons and armor to use. The game does a nice job of easing you into the job system and because of this it's very easy to grasp.

Overall Recommendation
Final Fantasy V is one of the best RPGs of all time, period. This is the best Final Fantasy game based around the job system, and this Gameboy Advance edition is far sweeter than the version released for the Playstation in the Anthology collection. This game is an essential play for any fan of the series and any one that is a fan of the genre. I give Final Fantasy V Advance my highest recommendation.