My forgotten Final Fantasy.

What is Final Fantasy V? I've played it a few times and enjoyed it, but I remember very little of it. I only played it a few years ago, though, so I can't blame depression. I'm pretty sure all the games I played during my Dark Ages have been replayed, so why have I forgotten so much about FFV? Was it actually good? Let's skip me waxing proseettically and get down to it! I'll be playing the Playstation One version because I bought Final Fantasy Anthology long ago. I was looking for it for years before I found a copy at K-Mart in a city I didn't live in. And it has been sitting for years waiting for this moment?

The PSX version had an opening CGI cutscene. It shows a girl in a regal robe talking to a dragon, a man on a pirate ship, and another man in a cave. A meteorite is approaching the planet, which is never a good thing. I've played Star Ocean Two!

When we cut to the graphics of 1994, a man in blue walks toward a dragon. His daughter, Lenna, asks him about the wind that's dying. The King is heading to the Wind Shrine to investigate, but Lenna doesn't want him to go. But, it's his job to do so.

We cut to a man and his chocobo around a fire pit. All is calm until the world starts shaking. The camera pans to the skies above us, and we see a chocolate chip cookie crash into the planet. I'm pretty sure it's a meteorite, but you can't tell with 1994 graphics. The man climbs onto his chocobo, Boko, who puts out the fire. I'm glad to see fire safety is well taught here. The two of them head east to the landing area. When there, the man investigates and finds two goblins dragging away a woman. It's Lenna! He jumps into to save her, and we get our first battle. It's as simple as can be now, but it'll explode in time. It's enough to tell us FFV had a similar battle system to FFIV, the ATB gauge. All we can do is "fight," but it's hard to lose.

Lenna wakes up and thanks the man, who we get to name. The SNES translation has his name as Butz, but I'm a boring adult, so he's Bartz. Lenna tells him she must hurry to the Wind Shrine and carries on her way. Bartz is a vagabond, so he asks no further questions. As they leave, they hear someone moaning. Finding the source, they find an old man beside the meteor. He has lost all his memory, but he manages to remember his name is Galuf. Rather than take him to a local medical facility, Lenna is more dedicated to getting to the Wind Shrine. Suddenly, Galuf remembers that's where he's going too. Without thinking about this strange old man's intentions, Lenna offers to take him there. She asks Bartz if he'll come too, but he turns her down. Bartz returns to his campsite. We cut to the King at the Wind Shrine just as disaster befalls him. The crystal breaks!

Later that day, the earth begins to shake. Bartz and Boko rush north because there's nowhere else to go. When they reach a chasm, they hear Lenna and Galuf scream. Boko rushes us across the sinking earth while Bartz fights off more goblins. In time, they find Lenna and Galuf unconscious, and they drag them away. Later on, we see Bartz standing guard while Boko tries to wake them up. Lenna comes first and thanks Bartz for a third time today. They discuss the rising frequency of earthquakes before realizing the path to the next town is out. With nowhere else to go, Bartz joins the two of them, but just to help them out. Galuf begins to wake and says Bartz joined because he has the hots for Lenna, which he doesn't deny. But our three piece team has to find a way to Tule!

East of them is a new cave entrance. Boko has to stay back while everyone goes inside. There's a healing spring near the start if you want to get a few levels. We still have no secondary commands, though, so I kept going deeper. We'll stumble upon a pirate in the back and spy on him as he opens a secret door. Following the pirate attacks takes us to his hideout, Lenna wonders if we can ask them for a ride to the Wind Shrine, but Bartz tells her that's not how pirates work. In response, Galuf says we can sneak onboard. Everyone is asleep, so getting on is easy. Bartz tries to set sail, but the lack of wind makes it impossible. But we saw a scene where the ship moved without wind a moment ago? Suddenly, the pirate captain shows up. Faris is none too pleased, but Lenna tries to commission a voyage anyway. She introduces herself as the Princess of Tycoon and flashes her emblem. Galuf and Bartz are shocked because this is the first time she said anything about being royalty. And to a pirate, nonetheless. Faris' tune changes, but he throws everyone into the brig anyway. We see the team talking in a humous scene. They ask who came up with the idea to steal a pirate ship and remember it was Galuf. He reminds them of his amnesia. The camera cuts to Faris, saying he had an emblem just like Lenna...

In the morning, Faris tells his men to release the party. For reasons not stated, he offers to take us to the Wind Shrine. But how are we to travel without wind? Faris calls for his best friend, a sea serpent named Hydra. Hydra will tow the boat across the sea! As we leave the pirate bay, one of the crew members offers to just take us there. There are no encounters at sea, the Tule isn't worth the visit now, so you might as well.

Members of the King's retinue are on the bottom floor. They inform the heir that the King went to the top and hasn't returned. Others wonder if the machine that amplifies the crystal is breaking it? There's a healing vase at the bottom of the room, and one of the men gives us five tonics. Climbing the tower is easy enough, which is rad because we still only have the fight and item command. But we get some basic tutorials here; save points, hidden walls, more battle system stuff. Why can't we skip turns? But on floor three is the boss. I forgot its name, but there's a strategy here. The boss starts by hitting everyone. Use to tonics if a character drops below thirty HP. I didn't attack when their wingspan protected him, but I don't know if it matters. There will be another AoE when the wings drop.

Behind that is the crystal room. Pieces of it are around us, but the King isn't here. Suddenly, the world reacts. We see the other crystals shine, and a light emerges from the three of them. The lights travel across the world and collide with us.
Faris gets the power of fire, courage.
Lenna gets water, kindess.
Galuf gets hope from the earth.
The power of wind, quest, goes to Bartz.
After this, the King appears and tells us to protect the other crystals or a great evil will return to the world. A purple field of magic surrounds him as he disappears before us. All four of us agree to do what we can. The nearest crystal is in Walz to the east. To get there now will take us through the monster infested canal, though. The wind, somehow, kept this place safe, but that's dying down as the crystal broke. Speaking of which, the shards of the wind crystal poof around us. They grant themselves to us, and we get our first jobs! Final Fantasy V's combat is the job system, similar to FFIII. We have the warrior, monk, white mage, black mage, blue mage, and thief. Bartz will take knight because I'm into JRPG stereotypes. This is also why Lenna is the white mage and Faris is the thief. I usually make Galuf a monk, but I made him a blue mage for now.

The canal is locked, but Lenna knows where to find the key. A man named Zot in Tule has it. When we reach the city, Faris and the crew raid the bar. Peacefully, of course. There's a scene where Bartz and Galuf fall in love with a sleeping Faris. How progressive! But Zot lives in the back of town. He won't give us the key, though, because it's too dangerous. But he lets us spend the night. Bartz can't sleep, so he gets some air. The idea of crystals reminds him of a childhood memory. Bartz was lying in bed one night while his parents talked about the crystals. His dad said, "if something happened to Papa Bartz, Bartz would be in charge of protecting them," something his mom wasn't into. When Bartz returns, we see Zot creeping on Lenna. She mumbles about her dad as Zot leaves. He sees Bartz and gives him the key. In the morning, we head out. This was a weird scene. As we leave Tule, Faris tells his men to stay here. They insist on joining their captain, but Faris is resolute. In time, they agree and remain in the bar forever.

The canal is opened, and everyone asks where Bartz got the key, but he doesn't answer. It's still weird. Hydra takes us around the waterway until a whirlpool appears. Hydra can't pull us out, so we enter the second boss fight. Karl isn't too bad so long as you bought Cure and equipment in Tule. He likes to focus on one character at a time for a while and can bring them to a single digit HP with a move. Despite us winning, the whirlpool is still here. Hydra manages to get us out, but he can't flee its pull. Hydra is sucked down, and we're now set adrift. Faris just saw his best friend die, so he becomes depressed.

In time, the ship floats to the ship graveyard. We now have to make our way across the rotting hulls of ships that've drifted here. We'll need to swim, jump, and walk across precarious ledges. After the swimming part, the team decides to dry off. Lenna gets her own room because she's the only woman here while the men dry off together. They need to remove their wet clothes, but Faris is hesitant. After some interaction with Bartz and Galuf, it's revealed that Faris is a woman! Lenna joins us for the exploitation, which is Faris was knocked into the sea as a child and saved by the pirates. She's been masquerading as a man since to lead them. Pirates don't take orders from no women, you see. Everyone goes to bed, still in wet clothes. It doesn't matter what Faris is to Bartz because "Faris is Faris."

Grab the world map as you leave, but the graveyard has one more secret for us. A ball of light appears, and Stella, Bartz' mom, ushers him over. Another light shines, and King Tycoon appears. For some reason, Faris is enthralled by this. But a third appears, and a small girl is there. She calls for her grandpa, but Galuf has no idea. Suddenly, a woman appears and tells the aether her plan to steal our souls. But since Galuf isn't affected, Siren says he can go free. But Galuf has grown attached to his friends and saves them with a few slaps.

The fight against Siren has two forms. In her normal form, she can paralyze a character. Use basic attacks here. But she can also become undead. Her defense goes sky shy high, but she's vulnerable to Cure. Let Lenna spam that, so I hope you brought tonics. There's no way to get more in this dungeon.

We're back to the world map and need to find a way to Walz. The village to the south is isolated because the winds are gone, so we'll need to find another way. A man in the pub says he saw a dragon fly north. Lenna thinks it's her dad's! It's also airborne and a perfect way to reach the water crystal. So we'll do that...

... tomorrow!

Day one plot dumps! I thought that Faris's reveal was deeper into the story. I don't know if it's a scene that aged well in the last thirty years or not. I wonder how the trans community feels?