Final Fantasy V is best described as a hybrid of Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV. Where the third game supplied total control of character development, and little in the terms of distinct character personalities, the fourth addressed this in exchange for characters with a unique story and distinct roles in combat.
The fifth game combines these two strengths - characters with a personality, who can be crafted into whatever role you see fit in combat. On top of this, their roles in combat can be customised by using skills mastered from different roles (or jobs, as they're called) which means you can create a hybrid mage who fires off destructive magic with equal skill to how they tend to your party's wounds.
This allows for some awesome and very interesting hybrids in combat, enabling an almost Dungeons and Dragons style of freedom to craft your fighting party into whatever forms you see fit.
As you progress through the game there's a variety of increasingly powerful jobs at your disposal, which ensures that you're constantly discovering new things about the game's combat mechanics.
So. Combat is awesome, as is character development. So what about that story?
Well, it isn't as powerful or poignant as Final Fantasy IV, which so far, has contained the most memorable characters of the series in my play-throughs of the early titles. This will no doubt change as I move into the PlayStation era Final Fantasy games, which will be coming up soon.
There's a narrative surrounding crystals (as all these early Final Fantasy games seem to follow! And the destruction of these crystals may lead to the destruction and death off all life on the planet - which is certainly not a good thing.
There's a somewhat interesting cast of characters, but they're not memorable - the only real advancement here is the fact that the sprites are very charming, filled with over-exaggerated animations which serve to express a greater ability to read character emotion in story sequences.
There's no 3D here, only sprites and text, so it takes a bit more suspension of disbelief to become more fully immersed into the story.
Regulars like Cid make a return to the game, with airships and the like; even though Cid is a completely different individual in each and every Final Fantasy title in which he appears. In 3,4, and 5 - there's a limited amount of Ether floating around (and I don't refer to the cryptocurrency) - but this does limit your ability to use magical attacks and summons - meaning you have to resort to wandering back to inn after grinding, or spending gil on tents and cottages to ensure you can keep a party of mages well satiated as they blast through the monstrous enemy hordes.
This is probably done in the interests of balancing the game - and to ensure you don't power through the world too quickly. Still, there's around thirty odd hours of game play on offer, with a fair bit of that reserved to grinding and pursuing secrets scattered around the world map.
Final Fantasy V was marred somewhat by expectations. It also has a rather large legacy to live up to, being the title that proceeded the excellent Final Fantasy VI, and everything that followed it. As a result, it is probably the only game in the series (And now, I can say I've played a third of them - that I would not recommend off the bat.
As such, a third of the way into the series, my order of recommendation would be:
- FFIV
- FFIII
- FFV
- FFII
- FF1
This may change as I dig deeper into the series, but right now I'm very keen to get started on a marathon play through of Final Fantasy VI.