Final Fantasy Adventure

Original Release: Gameboy, 1991. Version Reviewed: Gameboy, 1991.


THE PLOT:

In a land ruled by the iron fist of The Dark Lord, one prisoner forced to fight in the arena learns of a plot. The Dark Lord seeks a key to the Mana Sanctuary, plotting to control the Mana Tree that sustains all life. The prisoner escapes and is brought together with a young woman, a descendant of the guardians of the Mana Tree. But the Dark Lord's spies soon learn of her existence and capture her, leaving the hero to try to rescue her and save the source of the planet's life energy from the Dark Lord's evil plans!


CHARACTERS:

For an original Gameboy game, the characterization isn't at all bad. The hero and heroine are unnamed (or rather, the player gets to name them), but both have a hint of an actual character arc. The hero goes on a fairly traditional hero's journey, even doubting himself after a major failure around the game's midpoint. Given the limits of the Gameboy system, even this fairly rudimentary character work is appreciated - and goes a long way toward keeping things involving.

Taking a break at a wilderness village.

GAMEPLAY:

I've seen this game dubbed Final Fantasy Zelda, and there is some truth in that. Unlike the main range Final Fantasy games, there really aren't random encounters. Instead, the enemies are constantly visible on the world map, as they are in the original Zelda game, and you are left to run up to them frantically hitting them with your sword and other attacks. Combat is in real-time, not turn-based, so rapid controller movements are the key to survival. I'll be honest in saying that I actually prefer the turn-based combat of Final Fantasy I - III to the frantic button mashing of this game, but I certainly wasn't bored by it.

The rest of the gampelay largely consists of following in-game clues to locate the site of the next quest. Sometimes, this is quite easy. A character references something to the north or south, and you travel in that direction to find it. Other times, in-game clues are far more obscure, leaving you to wander aimlessly for a while in hopes of triggering something. I will admit to referring to online walkthroughs at times to locate my next destination, which I would rank as my single biggest complaint.

Battling the Medusa, who will turn you to stone!

THOUGHTS:

Final Fantasy Adventure is one of four Gameboy JRPGs released to the West with the Final Fantasy label in the wake of the original game's success... Despite it not technically being a Final Fantasy game.

This one at least was made with deliberate links to the series, featuring Chocobos (complete with Chocobo theme), airships, and a spell that will briefly turn your character into a Moogle. However, the story's emphasis is definitely different than the main-range titles, with the Mana Tree forming a noticeably different type of mythology than the crystals so embraced by the Final Fantasy series. This game ended up forming the basis for a series of its own - The ongoing Mana series.

Final Fantasy Adventure is startlingly ambitious. The game strives to tell an epic story within the constraints of the original Gameboy. It succeeds in being an enjoyable adventure with a fully coherent storyline... Though it's often clear that the developers want certain moments to have more impact than can actually be fully conveyed (likely why the game has since been remade, as Sword of Mana). I was impressed with how much this game attempted. This feels like a labor of love, and I always have more respect for projects that are perhaps too ambitious for their format, as opposed to those that are content to play safe.

It may struggle against the Gameboy's constraints, it still manages to wring a lot out of the simple handheld. The tiny screen is often stuffed with artwork - from wriggling enemies, to your characters, to the environment of the game world. And my jaw drops at the music. It's 8-bit game music, and sounds like it. But there's a lot of music here, a variety of scores. I looked up the soundtrack on YouTube, and was startled by how many separate tracks there were - Each track evoking a slightly different atmosphere (and the main overworld theme is quite catchy; it will get stuck in your head).

Lest I raise expectations too far, Final Fantasy Adventure is the definition of a retro game. Original Gameboy means a very small screen and quite basic images. But once you adjust to the limits of its age and system, it remains an enjoyable experience, and more sophisticated in many ways than might be expected.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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