Of Smoke and Fog (Day 215)

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been replaying Final Fantasy V with a friend of mine. It's impossible to avoid comparisons between it and 4 Heroes of Light since I've been playing them concurrently. It's mindboggling just how much more effectively FFV tackles the job system. Even all these years later, it's just so much more fun. Even though I've played through the entire game before, I really became engrossed in the gameplay--especially during the game's latter stages.

I've likened the job system of 4 Heroes of Light to a toolkit on multiple occasions and highlighted that as a strength of the game. The weakness, of course, lies in the fact that you don't really feel like you're developing your characters over time. Aside from stat growths, you don't really inherit anything from your jobs as you level. In the case of FFV, you can use your jobs as a toolkit as well. Thieves are required (or at least heavily recommended) in certain sections of the game. Geomancers make traversing certain dungeons much much easier. Heavily armored targets are susceptible to axes (and the Berserker is the only class that uses them). Many bosses attack very quickly and are thus susceptible to the Time Magic Slow.

At the same time, you develop your characters over time. By the time you reach endgame, you have the potential to mold your characters into unstoppable juggernauts. Cara--that adorable little girl--was a berserking, double-grip axe-wielder equipped with Running Shoes who frequently attacked three times before anyone else in the part had a chance to do anything at all. In 4 Heroes of Light I just can't reach anywhere near this level of power. Everything just sort of feels bland and oversimplified.

Final Fantasy V honestly has some of my favorite gameplay of the series and I thoroughly enjoyed replaying it. It's highly likely that I'm going to be revisiting some other classic games of the series but it's difficult to imagine any other title would overtake it in terms of gameplay. I've always felt Final Fantasy VI represented the total package as far as the series goes, but we'll just have to see how I feel after playing it once more. One issue I've always had with it was the extremely low difficulty--which is why I"m going to be playing ROM hack that significantly increases it.