Final Fantasy V Community Playthrough

[Jason Tandro]

Yes, you can make whatever team you want, and nothing is permanent, so you can't really mess anything up.

For instance, you can choose to play as a party of all Bards, and then you can realize what a horrible decision that was and never use Bard again.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Well.... my PSP version has decided to go full on corrupt. I hope its just that game and I'm not about to have a serious amount of data loss. Anyways, I will have to emulate. Again. And start over from the beginning....


GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

[AvecAloes]

Chapter 4

Discussion: I had a lot of trouble with this part of the game as a kid - it's where I stopped playing, in fact, because I couldn't beat the first boss of the chapter. What was your strategy? Did you manage to get everything from the castle? There's another hidden summon in this chapter (no pun intended) - did you find it? How much blue magic have you managed to learn, if any? Are you spreading it around your four characters or do you have a specialist blue mage?

Ok, so I definitely had trouble with the first boss, and not enough Phoenix Downs in my inventory merited me a Game Over. Whee. So then I went back and got the hidden summon from the previous chapter, and went back to try again. This time, I made it through, although Faris as my Thief was still dead at the end of the battle. Whoops. She just can't get any AP this game :/

I did not manage to get everything from the castle, although honestly, as easy as it was to beat the boss at the end of the time limit, I could have. Oh well.

I did get the next summon, although if it's

Spoiler

Ifrit

I don't think he's optional.

As for Blue Magic, I'm still only using Galuf. I have switched him to a Summoner, but I set the Learn ability, so I've gotten three additional skills - Aero, Flash, and Death Claw.

The last boss of this chapter didn't give me any trouble at all. I'm pretty sure he can wreck face, but I must have gotten lucky in that he either didn't use all of his dick-move abilities, or they didn't hit.

I've gotten Game Overs several times...I'm trying to remember if I had this much trouble my first time playing, but I think I did. I still enjoyed it greatly, though, and I'm so excited to keep playing

EDIT: Forgot to update my jobs!

Bartz - Mystic Knight (with two-handed!)

Lenna - White Mage (I had her bouncing between White and Black Mage during this chapter, depending on the abilities I thought I'd need - now I'm just trying to get the next level of White Magic so that I have all of the spells available even when it's set as my secondary ability)

Galuf - Summoner (with Learn set so that I can still grab Blue Magic)

Faris - Mystic Knight (which was super useful in the Library)

 

[Flintlock]

I guess I was wrong about Ifrit being optional. My bad, anyway, new chapter tomorrow.

 

[CrashOuch]

Spoiler: Chapter 3

I totally visited the castle. I thought I was being really sneaky and going places I wasn't supposed to but, nah, played right into the games hands. Anyway, I liked the wee cutscene, it was pretty much what I was expecting, which is cool. But I managed to miss EVERYTHING else haha summons and all. Oh well. I'm trying to manage without any walkthroughs or anything but I have had to look up maps a couple times cos I've managed to get hopelessly lost in some places. I let that wolf out. I thought I was being helpful but I've gone on far enough now to see how that's bitten me in the arse. I think I did ok-ish against Garula. If I remember right it was pretty quick and easy to kill but it also did a good job of killing me so it ended up being kinda a case of trying to just hang on in there. Went back to Karnak when I could and bought everything even though I had to do some Gil grinding. Also changed my jobs up around now. I made Lenna a Red Mage so she could do everything, and that freed Galuf up to be a Monk. I'm not totally ok with him being shirtless all the time though.

Spoiler: Chapter 4

Totally had to look up a map to get through the Fire Ship dungeon But the Liquid Flame boss was ok. It looked a lot scarier than it was; I kept thinking its different forms were going to do something to obliterate me or something and then it was dead so whatever. Had to go through the castle twice cos the boss on the door got me exploded the first time and I didn't get everything, but I think I got the more useful/important things after I looked it up to make sure I didn't miss anything life changing. I wandered into the desert and got my arse handed to me big time so then I carefully tiptoed round it to the library. LOVED the library. Fighting all the book monsters was really cool, I stole a ton of Ethers off them, and I thought the battle background was so pretty. Managed to get Ifrit without any problems but it did take me two goes to take down that Byblos guy. I changed up my jobs again after we got out of the library so Lenna is now a Blue Mage. I'm not sure I like it though so I've been switching her between that and Red a lot so we'll see. Oh and I made Bartz a Mystic Knight. Don't like that much either but it might come in useful for boss fights I don't know. Maybe I'll change him back too. Really enjoying the game though!

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Chapter 3

I did go to the castle and I did get the hidden summon. I'm using a "guide" that lists all the missable stuff in order and where it is, but not the events that take place in the locations. So I don't have to worry about going back for anything and I've got a rough idea of where to go next.

I find it interesting that Faris doesn't seem to care all that much about her birth family. I'm currently on the fence about if that will change or not later. So far the narrative isn't trying to pull anything surprising as far as narritive tropes go.

I decided not to let Lone Wolf go after I let the guy in the cell next to him go and it turned out he was crazy. Also, letting the "world's best pickpocket" go? I'm not that crazy.

Garula was... forgettable, which is how I like my bosses. Then again, I ground a lot in the tower trying to get Frog Song. The RNG was not giving me the right encounters for that until I went and got the secret summon.

Karnak was fun. Everyone's got new equips! Although... the fact that they walled up a library (sounds more like a college) because they didn't like what the researchers there were finding is a great indicator that somethings wrong with the city. Doing that is a great way to not get advance warning about the coming disaster.

Jobs/Character Info before Chapter 4

All characters are at Lvl 27.

All Jobs are at:

Knight: Lvl 5
Monk: Lvl 6
Thief: Lvl 6
Berserker: Lvl 1
Mystic Knight: Lvl 6
White Mage: Lvl 6
Black Mage: Lvl 6
Time Mage: Lvl 6
Summoner: Lvl 5
Blue Mage: Mastered!
Red Mage: Lvl 3

No, it's not an accident that all jobs are one level away from being mastered.

Thoughts on jobs... Mystic Knight looks like it's going to be very useful. All the elements/status effects of a Black Mage with much more well-rounded stats and knight equips. Red Mage is going to save me ability slots in so many ways.

Character Set-Up

Faris: Thief w/ Barehanded
Galuf: Monk w/ White Magic
Bartz: Knight w/ Two-Handed
Lenna: Black Mage w/ Time Magic

Part of the rational for this set-up is that Monk and Thief give the Freelancer class the highest stats when mastered in the game (Monk gives highest Strength and Stamina, Thief give highest Agility). They've also got a nice set of innate abilities. Black Mage gives freelancer one of the highest magic stats (Summoner is higher), and I kinda want to get that job out of the way as Summoner has better spells.

 

[Flintlock]

Chapter 5: Sinking in the Quicksand

Time: Monday 08/02 to Thursday 11/02 (sorry I'm posting it a bit late)

Target: After the airship has appeared.

In case you've forgotten what to do at the start of the chapter, go find Cid.

Discussion: This is uncharted territory for me - I've never played further than about a quarter of the way through this chapter - so I don't really have any discussion topics. If someone else wants to suggest some, that would be great, but otherwise, just answer this in as much or as little detail as you like: what did you think of this chapter?

Edit: it looks like the chapter after this one is going to be pretty heavy, and also something of a point of no return, so you might want to do your exploration with the airship at the end of this chapter to balance the load a bit.

 

[RedFFWolf]

Spoiler: Chapter 3

I had a spiel about this but I ended up closing the tab by accident (and before I could even safeguard with a copy and paste, which I normally do)

So, just a few short things:
Garula grabbed my attention in that I wasn't expecting such a string of attacks, but it was no trouble overall.

No sooner had we found Hydra (Slydra)...
Damn this game already!

I did not let Lone Wolf go. I really wanted to, bedamned the consequences, but because there is

Spoiler

nothing more but a note later in the game in the now empty chest saying "Lone Wolf was here", it just doesn't seem worth it

I knew this thanks to FFVI, which I had played a while ago before starting FFV, and the link on Lone Wolf showed me this at the time.

At the time, my playthrough was from the end of Chapter 2 till the collapse of Walz Tower, so my next playthrough encompassed the rest of CH. 3 and all of CH. 4. So I had not yet shopped in Karnak.

But to keep the content in CH. 3, I laughed at how the rest laughed at Cid's last attempt to break out. They're a fun and callous group, I'll give 'em that (I mean, they laughed at Bartz's fear of heights too)

Spoiler: Chapter 4

First up, I've learned no blue magic. I feel like having one character always on it so at least I know what is a spell and where I can potentially go back to learn it, but for some reason, like FFVI or FFIX, I just never cared to learn anything (and yet, with FFVII, everyone must have every Enemy Skill )

There are werewolves in this game!? That's a massive nod of approval from me

Some excellent items to acquire in the Fire Ship.
The boss was no trouble.

Werewolf...
Fucking hate this game.
At least the group tried to help him; I like them even more now. That's it, I'm freeing Lone Wolf now.

Got a Ribbon during my escape from the castle! No one can equip it yet [or maybe, thinking of it now, a Freelancer probably could, but that ain't worth it right now]

Library of the Ancient was an interesting spot. The boss was rather difficult in that my setup seemed to provide no distinct advantage against him, and it was a bit of an endurance test [especially when he kept casting Drain], but go through him with everyone alive to receive the ABP.

I know I have to go back to Karnak, where Mid will be there, I assume.
Before I left for the library, I went back to the Fire Ship and spoke with Cid. There was a small scene, and I went to the town and found him upstairs in the pub, and there was another small scene. Were these optional scenes? Had I not done these, and went to the library first and then back to Karnak, would it have been straight on to whatever I expect will happen with Mid and Cid [and, perhaps, elsewhere]?

Characters at level 19
Bartz = Monk [LV. 5, I think]
Reina = Geomancer [LV. 2, after leveling up to 3 with Black Mage and 4 with White Mage]
Galuf = Knight [LV. 4]
Faris = Thief [LV. 5]


I have over 20,000GP, and I've bought all the latest equipment and magic - I don't buy a lot of items, but I haven't needed many, especially with inns being so cheap. So I wonder will this be like FFVI where I've always more than enough money for anything.

EDIT: Forgot to say I discovered you can shove NPCs out of your way to some degree. Just hold on running into them and they'll quickly move. That's been very handy so far.

One thing I really appreciate about this game is there being some difficult enemies in early areas. The ridiculous Jackanape/Harpy in the castle basement. The Quadrharpy in the desert area between Karnak and the library - definitely beatable, but packs a heavy punch [and nets you a nice 250EXP each and 3ABP]. Even the Bandersnatch at the very beginning area were a bit of a shock to the system.

I'm enjoying the game, even if it's managed to "upset" me more than once already - So I'm looking forward to CH. 5

Spoiler

I went past the library at one point to a desert area I couldn't cross, so I wonder what this will be about

 

[Roger]

Chapter 5: Sinking in the Quicksand

Time: Monday 08/02 to Thursday 11/02 (sorry I'm posting it a bit late)

Target: After the airship has appeared.

In case you've forgotten what to do at the start of the chapter, go find Cid.

Discussion: This is uncharted territory for me - I've never played further than about a quarter of the way through this chapter - so I don't really have any discussion topics. If someone else wants to suggest some, that would be great, but otherwise, just answer this in as much or as little detail as you like: what did you think of this chapter?

Edit: it looks like the chapter after this one is going to be pretty heavy, and also something of a point of no return, so you might want to do your exploration with the airship at the end of this chapter to balance the load a bit.

Did most of my exploration with the fire-powered ship and the chocobo. Did some Job levelling in Jachole, the Skull Eater is worth 5 ABP and runs away in most encounters. He kills a partymember with every attack, is hard to hit and magic makes him multiply but you can steal Tents from him pretty easily, even without the Thief Gloves and so keeping near the entrance and healing up is cost-free. Turned Faris into a Monk with Steal, Galuf back into a Black Mage but now with Summon, Butz into a Red Mage with Counter, Lenne stays a Knight (she's got lvl. 1 in Berserker but it wasn't worth it, I doubt level 2 will get me anything worth the 400 ABP it takes to get there) None too soon either, the Sandworm is the first fight you really need White Magic for. Butz has gone from n00b to quite competent pianist in this chapter. Tracked down a monster, dressed as an old man, who is actually an old friend in the forest near Istory Falls.

Also visited Nix, Butz' hometown. I like that they subverted the expected father walks out on young son while he's sleeping trope, then the mom passes away later, you see in many anime and JRPG. Actually the mom passes away while he's leaving and Butz and his dad spent a few more years travelling the world together. And so Butz has no daddy issues at all.

The fight that gets you the airship was pisseasy, by the way. Party's only at level 17. Barely seemed like a bosd.

 

[Jason Tandro]

And here I am after having to RESTART THE GAME Finally finishing Chapter 3:

Read My Journal / Hate Rant here

 

[ForceStealer]

^I disagree, I find "Reina" kinda awkward to say. Lenna is much easier. They could split the difference with Layna, I suppose. Lenna is definitely closer to the katakana but I hesitate to make that argument given that I am more than happy with the "Bartz" alteration.

Chapter 3: Every Game Has One

Discussion: This is quite a short chapter - I'd make it longer, but I don't want to break up the next part of the game, which can be a bit tricky. There are some optional things to do in this chapter, however, which I'll hint at: you can visit a castle you saw earlier in the game, and you can unlock a hidden summon. Did you do either of these things? If it's your first time, did you find them yourself or did you follow a guide? What did you do about Lone Wolf, and why? How did your battle with Garula go? What do you think of your new jobs? Did you do any shopping in Karnak?

I intend to catch up tonight, or at least get through Chapter 4, but I finished 3 on Saturday. I did go back to Tycoon, saw the scenes and explored, but i didn't get the summon yet. I wanted to get Fira at Karnak first. I stopped as soon as I did that, but I'm going to head back and get her first thing. I did not use a guide my first time through the game, so I am taking a look at one from time to time now, I don't know if I'll explicitly follow it or not though
I did not release Lone Wolf. Yet, anyway, I like my treasures. And yeah...I spent all my money on armor and some spells. Hopefully the process of going back for the summon will build up my gil a bit.

No huge changes on jobs, I switched Bartz from White Mage to Thief briefly in order to get the Mythril Swords from the Tower of Walse. I'm thinking I'll move him to Summoner (with White Magic) and Faris to Mystic Knight once she learns Two-Handed. I'm not sure yet what direction I want to take Lenna (Monk) or Galuf (Black Mage)...

 

[Jason Tandro]

When I think Reina I think of this bombshell from DeFranco's crew:

Showed her to my wife and her first comment was "I want her, can we keep her?"

 

[AvecAloes]

Showed her to my wife and her first comment was "I want her, can we keep her?"

NO, SHE'S MINE!

 

[ForceStealer]

When I think Reina I think of this bombshell from DeFranco's crew:

I have no idea who this person is. But I suddenly feel strangely compelled to rescind my comments RE: the name Reina.

 

[Claymore]

Chapter 4: The Great Fire of Karnak

Liquid Flame was super easy because Butz is a Mystic Mage - two hits with Ice2 activated and it was over. So I was pretty confident as I ran through the Ancient Library that Ifrit would be a breeze ... but he targeted Butz! Since I was playing around with the new jobs, Lenna had taken on a Geomancer role so her healing wasn't as great, and I soon found myself with a Game Over.

However, a quick restart - and changing Lenna back into a Red Mage for this battle - and I had him quickly beat. Byblos, I found, was a heck of a lot easier. He didn't give me any trouble at all.


End of Chapter 4 Job Status

Butz - Mystic Knight Lv.3
Lenna - Red Mage Lv.3
Galuf - Ninja Lv.1
Faris - Geomancer Lv.1

 

[Flintlock]

Just a quick update: I've now divided the rest of the game up into chapters, and it looks like the whole playthrough is going to take seven weeks, not the six I originally intended. There will be 14 chapters - chapter 13 will be a sidequest/catch-up chapter.

JT, I know you normally do 10 chapters for your Retrospective games, so if you want to stick to 12 chapters, I recommend combining the sidequest chapter with either chapter 12 or 14, and maybe combining 7 and 8 as well. I'm not sure how much my recommendation is worth, mind you, since I haven't played the whole game. I'm just basing it on a chapter-divided walkthrough I found.

Those who have completed Final Fantasy V before can click the spoiler tag below to see a list of chapter targets for the whole game.

Spoiler: This really is a spoiler - you've been warned

1. After Wind Shrine
2. After North Mountain
3. After meeting Cid
4. After Library of the Ancients
5. After getting the airship
6. End of Butz's World
7. After Underground River
8. After gaining control of the Wind Drake again
9. After Barrier Tower
10. End of Galuf's World
11. After Pyramid
12. After Easterly Falls
13. Sidequests
14. End of X-Death's World (end of game)

That's subject to change, of course. Our estimated completion date is the 13th of March.

 

[Jason Tandro]

^ I've already decided I will follow your Chapters. Honestly the 10 Journal thing kind of happened by accident before becoming a tradition so it doesn't bother me to go over for sake of keeping "on task".

 

[Tennyo]

Just finished chapter 2

Spoiler: Thoughts

This was a fun chapter.

I did know that Faris was a woman before I started the game. What I didn't know is that at first she pretended to be a man. I also felt kind of sad that she left her crew behind. They were kind of fun.

I also felt kind of sad about Hydra being sucked into the whirlpool. I hope he isn't dead.

I really enjoyed the ship graveyard. Especially the music. I almost didn't want to leave this section. Siren was a pretty easy boss fight, though. But what grabbed my attention most is that Faris did not have anyone appear before her, but instead joined Lenna (I think I really do like Reina better than Lenna) at the image of her father. I'm thinking Faris and Lenna might be sisters...? I kind of had an inkling that this was the case earlier in the game but I thought it might be a bit too on the nose.

Anyway, that kid running around saying the flowers are poisonous on the mountain wasn't kidding. I nearly died because I didn't catch on at first. haha

Another easy boss fight. But in any case, the dragon is pretty cute. Especially on the world map.

Now I have to go replay that last boss fight because I didn't save before going to explore in the castle of Walz. I ventured down into the basement and got killed by a harpy...

 

[Flintlock]

If you haven't been killed by a Harpy in Castle Walse at least once, you haven't truly played Final Fantasy V.

 

[Jason Tandro]

And here we go: My thoughts on Chapter 4.

Read my journal here.

 

[Flare]

I downloaded the game over last weekend and finally FINALLY started playing the darn thing. Major thanks to Force for giving me the links early on to get this game, even if I didn't do so until recently

This is my first time playing V, so I'm looking forward to it. It's not every day you get to start a 'new' numbered FF game.

Spoiler: Chapter 1

After playing this chapter, what are your first impressions? If this is your first time playing the game, what are your expectations? Do you have any plans for your newfound jobs or will you just play it by ear?

First impressions - I like the four characters so far, and their dialogue can be amusing at times, I love it. Like others have mentioned here, the story does seem more light-hearted than other FF games somehow, at the moment anyway. Seems like an easy game to jump right into, and doesn't take long to move the story along, at least in this chapter. I went through it in just over an hour, even with purposely doing extra battles and visiting Tule. It's fun playing a 2D FF game again, definitely nostalgic.

Expectations - Not really sure, TBH. I think the story will get 'darker'; I couldn't imagine it staying lighthearted all the way through. I do expect it to continue being fun to play.

Plans for Jobs - Just touching the tip of the iceberg here, I suspect, but it seems interesting so far. I gave everyone a job and then saved and stopped playing for now. I like that you can master a job and then pick another one to play as, but still able to use the mastered job's abilities with it.
I don't really have any plans since it's still really new, so I'll be playing it by ear and trying them all out, I suspect.

So far I have~
Bartz - Blue Mage
Lenna - Thief
Galuf - White Mage
Faris - Knight

Seemed like a fun combo, I'll see how I like it further on. I almost made Lenna a White Mage since she seems suited for it, but changed my mind in the last minute and made Galuf one instead. Almost made Bartz a Knight too but switched that one to Faris and made Bartz a Blue Mage to see how that job works.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Hey I knocked out TWO tonight. And I'm caught up!

Here are my thoughts on Chapter 5

 

[Lex]

Alrightey, I'll be catching up so I can join in with the hangout tomorrow and stream, apologies for being absent last week folks, life caught up with me <3

 

[Flintlock]

Chapter 6: The Last Crystal

Time: Friday 12/02 to Sunday 14/02

Hangout: Saturday 13/02 at 15:00 Los Angeles, 18:00 New York, 23:00 London - click here to convert to your timezone. A link to the Hangout will be posted in this thread shortly before it starts.

Target: When you find yourself on this mysterious island. Save as soon as you arrive.

Discussion: What did you think of this chapter?

 

[ForceStealer]

Chapter 4: The Great Fire of Karnak

Discussion: I had a lot of trouble with this part of the game as a kid - it's where I stopped playing, in fact, because I couldn't beat the first boss of the chapter. What was your strategy? Did you manage to get everything from the castle? There's another hidden summon in this chapter (no pun intended) - did you find it? How much blue magic have you managed to learn, if any? Are you spreading it around your four characters or do you have a specialist blue mage?

So, first I went back to get Shiva with my newly obtained Fira. No problems there. Then I headed to the fire ship, I did vaguely remember the deal with this boss (I also remember fighting it more recently in Record Keeper, haha). Blizzara and Shiva made good work of it (I forgot which form was immune to magic and wasted one Shiva cast, though), but it still managed to kill Lenna right before I finished it off. That was annoying and I considered reloading, but I decided against it.
I didn't strategize my escape through the castle very well, so I wasn't able to get everything, but I managed to get all the loot I was interested in (Ribbon, Main Gauche) and a few elixirs but had to leave some elixirs behind. It was so damn close. I got out with 5 seconds to spare. Some sphincter clinching in that last fight, I'll tell ya.

At the library, I did accidentally happen upon the summon almost immediately, I didn't remember in being so soon. Also, I don't think I ever put much time to figure out how Mystic Knights work in my previous playthrough. Mystic Knight Faris was obliterating things. I have not gotten any blue magic. I know it's always super useful, but I also always cba...

I started chapter 5, so by tomorrow I expect to be caught up again. Stupid busy season :/

Bartz: Summoner (White Mage)
Lenna: Ninja (Monk)
Galuf: Time Mage (Black Mage)
Faris: Mystic Knight (Knight)