Final Fantasy V Community Playthrough

[Flintlock]

AKA "Finally Fantasy V"

What is this?

Members of the Lifestream community are going to play through Final Fantasy V at the same time and discuss it as they go along. It's open to everyone, whether or not you've played the game before.


How do I take part?

I've divided the game up into about a dozen chunks, which we call chapters. Twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, I'll post the details of one such chapter in this thread. Each chapter post will contain a target - a specific point in the game which you should aim to reach before the next chapter is posted. They may also contain discussion points, though probably fewer (and crappier) than in our previous playthroughs because I'm not really an expert on this game.

You can play the chapters at any time, either on your own or while chatting with others. In previous playthroughs, we've usually played together on Saturday afternoons/evenings/nights for those in US and European timezones. I expect that will happen again, and I'll be pushing for Google Hangouts rather than Skype, because it's as easy as starting a call and posting the link in this thread.

You don't have to stick to the schedule - you're welcome to play ahead, or if you need more time to play, that's fine too. However, I can say from previous experience that the longer you can stay on schedule, the more chance you have of completing the game. Each chapter should take from two hours if you're rushing to three if you're playing normally or four if you're being thorough.

After playing each chapter, post a report in this thread with your experiences and answer the discussion topics, if there are any.


How do I get the game?

Final Fantasy V originally came out on the SNES / Super Famicom in 1992, but it's been ported to a number of consoles. The original game is available on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan only. The PS1 port, available on PSN for PS3, PSP and Vita, is virtually unchanged from the original. The Game Boy Advance port has an updated translation and a few extras (like job classes and an optional dungeon) which have been carried over to subsequent ports. Those ports are on iOS, Android and Steam (for Windows) - they have updated sprites, fonts and textures, but you'll have to decide for yourself if you think they're improvements on the original or GBA versions.

If you want the game for free, I recommend emulating the GBA version (instructions below), but if your conscience objects, choose whichever version you like the look of, since they play the same.


How do I set up an emulator?

I'm going to give instructions for setting up VBA-M on Windows. It's also available on Mac and Linux, but you'll have to look for a guide yourself. Or just wing it - it's pretty straightforward. Other emulators are also available.

Step 1. Download VBA-M here. The download is a .7z file - if you don't have 7-Zip, you'll either need to download it here and install it, or download this .zip repack I made instead (click the down arrow in the toolbar at the top).

Step 2. Extract the contents of the .7z file or .zip file. You should see a file called VisualBoyAdvance-M.exe. This is the program - it doesn't need installation.

Step 3. Put the .exe file in its own folder, because it will create some files when running. Launch it up. I'll let you figure out the settings that work best for you - you can probably leave most of them alone - but the two you'll definitely want to check out are "Options - Input - Set - Config 1...", since that's where you can see or change your controls, and "Options - Speed - Throttle - 100%", to stop the emulator running at light-speed. God knows why that isn't the default.

Step 4. Download a Final Fantasy V ROM. Linking to ROMs isn't the done thing (for legal reasons), but you should be able to find one very easily. Send me a PM if you're having trouble.

Step V. In VBA-M, click File - Open GBA... and select your ROM. That's it!


Where are the chapters?

Chapter 1 is in the very next post! The list below will be updated with all the chapters as they're published.

1. Warriors of Light
2. Animal Companions
3. Every Game Has One
4. The Great Fire of Karnak
5. Sinking in the Quicksand
6. The Last Crystal
7. Enough Expository Playthrough
8. On a Wing and a Prayer
9. Leap of Faith
10. Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires
11. Pyramid Scheme
12. I Keep On Falling
13. Hold On a Minute, Exdeath!
14. The Path We All Must Take

 

[Flintlock]

Chapter 1: Warriors of Light

Time: Monday 25/01 to Thursday 28/01

Target: When you reach the room pictured below with your party.

(It also appears in the intro, but that would be a very short chapter! Target screenshots might be a bit hard to come by for this game, but we'll make do.)

Discussion: After playing this chapter, what are your first impressions? If this is your first time playing the game, what are your expectations? If you've played it before, what are you looking forward to? (Use spoiler tags if necessary.) Do you have any plans for your newfound jobs or will you just play it by ear?

 

[Lex]

Between having to play FFIV because I promised Vader, this, and IX's imminent release on steam, it's going to be a classic FF-heavy gaming period for me for a while XD

Set up a google hangout and I'll stream! Whenever you like (not wednesday please XD)

 

[Ryushikaze]

Consider my resumed gimmick run as my participation in the game.

 

[Lex]

Oh for the record I'll be using a SNES emulator to play the classic version of the game (with a fan retranslation that IMO is pretty good, as long as I can avoid one that calls the dragon "Hiryuu" for no reason) because it does magical things like allow me to grind AP at like 6x speed and I don't want to sink a massi number of hours into grinding.

I would play the GBA version, but I hear the music is utterly butchered in that version.

 

[Ryushikaze]

Less the music, more the speakers.

 

[Ami]

Looks like I have no choice now.

Going into this never having played the game, but I downloaded it from PSN two years and three days ago (yes, it says 23/01/2013 on my games list ) and haven't touched it.

Watch this space.

Edit: Ok, it was three years ago. I'm still in 2015 clearly...

 

[Jason Tandro]

Well I'm at the Underground in FFIV on my playthrough for the Retro Pod. But V is (obviously) next on the list. So my plan is to give IV the old bum's rush and finish it super quick so I can move on to V and play along with not only with the retro pod but also youse guise.

 

[Tennyo]

Eep we only have until Thursday to do part one? I don't know if I'll manage that. :/

But I could probably have it do e by the weekend.

 

[Flintlock]

There'll be another chapter for the weekend but you're welcome to do them together; just think of them as being one long chapter.

This event is currently scheduled to take six weeks, and I don't want it to drag on much longer than that, so that's why the chapters are a bit beefy.

Lex, I'll organise hangouts on Saturdays, feel free to stream the Monday-Thursday chapters whenever you want and post the links here.

I should also play FFIV for the pod, maybe I'll try to do it in one day in a semi-blind speed run of the GBA version (I've only played the DS version before).

 

[Lex]

booooo saturday boooo

(I should be available on Saturday)

 

[AvecAloes]

Suuuuuper excited about this! I think I'll start my playthrough on Wednesday.

 

[Flare]

I think I'll be able to start it this weekend.... a little late, but I'll see what I can do.

 

[Ryushikaze]

I should also play FFIV for the pod, maybe I'll try to do it in one day in a semi-blind speed run of the GBA version (I've only played the DS version before).

You can definitely do the GBA version in under a day if you rush it. It's significantly easier than the DS version.

Meanwhile, must get back to the Damcyan waterways on that one.

 

[CrashOuch]

I made it to the end of the first chapter!
Downloaded it this morning and managed to do a little bit while I was waiting for the bus aaand yeah it seems really fun so far but I know exactly nothing about it haha.

 

[Roger]

I've finished Chapter 1. I gotta say, though you don't get as strong of an impression of these characters right of the bat as Cecil's or Terra's crew perhaps, the game says a lot about itself by starting you off with the chocobo and giving you the ship right up front, something you gotta work for in other FFs. Let's you know what kind of adventure this is.
Other observations:
I wonder if the implication is suppose to be that Faris has huge breasts and in her undies they're quite prominent or that she just sleeps in the nude.
GBA version's translation sure has a problem with trying to make the characters sound hip but the sound comes through fine, mostly. The dungeon theme in particular still grabbed me. FF's dungeon themes generally do.
Though I went around to the town first I didn't buy anything other then three more Leather Caps. I haven't decided on my jobs yet.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

So I'm playing the Steam version. I find it very funny that nearly all the "problems" people mention in the reviews of why they don't like the game and don't recommend it are all graphical and sound related. Apparently people were expecting it to be something other then a GBA/iOS port for PC. Also, the modding community has been at it again and has come up with several easy to install post-process fixes for the worst of the graphical problems; I'm playing at 1080p fullscreen and the game looks gorgeous. Most graphical glitches can be chalked up to it being magnified a ton and aren't glaringly obvious anymore.

The only major bug I did find was that the Cancel/Back/Sprint key stops working if it's remapped from the Backspace key, but as everything else can be remapped successfully, it's no biggy.

Funnily enough, the characters, storyline, battle system and class system are never mentioned in the reviews that say the game isn't recommended...

First off the bat, I've never played FFV, so this is all new to me. So I'm trying to not pull my usual "spoil myself by researching everything there is to know about the game" act. Fortunately for me, there's some good spoiler-free guides on Steam that lists all the missable content (treasure chests, beastiary, etc.) without giving away what happens on the maps which is one of the main reasons why I research games before I play them anyway. The other thing I research is the game mechanics, which look interesting for this game.

-------------------------------

As far as the game itself goes... my first impression is that the story is going to be playing a lot of adventure story tropes straight. Or at least, straighter then later FF games will. You've got the four strangers that mesh together nicely fairly quickly even though none of them know each other. It's obvious that one of them is keeping secrets from the others and has some sort of prior relationship with another even if none of them know exactly what it is. You've got the three MacGuffins the characters have to go find or else the world is probably doomed, etc. and it turns out that they're all the chosen ones. All it needs now is the villain who destroyed the first MacGuffin to show up so then they know who to stop... The fact that the set-up is so... average, for an adventure game, I mean... makes me wonder if it's going stay average or if it's using this all as set-up to turn the tables on the player later.

This is a contrast to some of the later FFs where a large percentage of the party knows each other already or when they don't get along well right at the start of the game. It means that the emotional conflicts are most likely going to come from outside the party rather then from within it. Which actually is kinda nice for once. Given how angst-ridden a lot of modern game protagonists are right at the start of the game, it's refreshing to see some main characters that aren't dealing with a lot of emotional baggage as part of their default personality. Of course, this also means that when the angst does kick in it, it'll actually be something to pay attention to...

Ahh, jobs... the first thing I did was switch everyone over to Blue Mage and get Goblin Punch, Aero and Vampire and get everyone up to Lvl 1 in that job as the Ability you get from that is pretty good for the early game (knowing monster's HP is good) for the other classes. It also needs the lowest amount of AP to master, so I'm thinking I might as well get it out of the way, and that way I'll never have to bother with it again.

Currently though, I have Bartz as a Knight, Lenna as a White Mage, Galuf as a Monk and Faris as a Thief. I figure I should get all of them up to Lvl 2 (or 3) in all the jobs as that doesn't need very much AP (compared to mastering jobs) while still giving a lot of useful abilities for when they do start specializing. After that I'll probably master the Blue Mage job. And I have no problem doing early-game grind-fests if it makes the rest of the game easier.

As far as equipment goes, I've gotten 4x of all of the equips available at Tule as well as all the Black/White magic spells. I'm also not in the habit of selling equips, especially in games that reward you with gold for killing monsters. Given how jobs limit what equipment can be used, I'm thinking this is a good idea for this game.

 

[Claymore]

Chapter 1: Warriors Of Light

Though I have played through Final Fantasy V a few times before, I only really have a very vague recollection and outline of the characters and events within the story. Unfortunately, I believe that this is due to those areas being weak and unengaging - compared to other FF games - rather than any specific memory problems I might have. I mean, I could tell you a lot about the characters and story of IV or VI in a heartbeat, but V ... yeah, I really struggle. On the plus side however, I remember the battle system being at least fun, so that will be my driving goal in this playthrough.

I initially attempted to try the Android version - then quickly remembered why I ditched it in the first place. The awful graphics and controls put me right off! So instead, I downloaded an SNES emulator and am playing it on that. Immediately, the game is a heck of a lot more satisfying.

Butz.

Quickly hit the target area of the Crystal Chamber and was granted my first selection of jobs. I haven't played beyond that yet. Like Engineer, I've finally settled on:

Bartz as a Knight, Lenna as a White Mage, Galuf as a Monk and Faris as a Thief

But might change that up since Engineer has some good thoughts on the Blue Mage abilities that I might try out. Will probably grind for a little bit gaining AP until Friday's next chapter release.

 

[ForceStealer]

So I'm playing the Steam version. I find it very funny that nearly all the "problems" people mention in the reviews of why they don't like the game and don't recommend it are all graphical and sound related. Apparently people were expecting it to be something other then a GBA/iOS port for PC.

I don't know about people's wider expectations, but the problem is the iOS version looks awful (the sprites, specifically). The GBA is less jarring but is obviously rather old. As I've said before, I personally wish it (and all of the 2D FFs, really) would get the Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection treatment. Now that's a gorgeous upgrade of a 2D game.

Spoiler

FFIV Complete (PSP):

FFV iOS/Steam:

 

[Obsidian Fire]

^See, I don't find the sprites all that bothersome... but then, most of the games I played as a kid were Game Boy Color era games. Then I took a very long break from gaming and when I got back into it it was all 3-D PC gaming. So my standard of good pixel art isn't that high. So long as there's not a lot of "jagged edges" I'm good.

Update/Thoughts on Jobs...

Knight: It looks like the Lvl. 3 ability, Two-Handed, is the best ability for people with Swords, for now at least.

Monk: The Lvl. 2 ability, Barehanded, does insane damage for an early-game ability, particularly if mages equip it as their early-game weapons don't effect their spell casting anyway. They might as well get the free damage boost for when they don't want to use MP. It works really well on the Thief as well.

Thief: The amount of utility they bring for dungeon exploring is great. In the Steam version, their Sprint ability does work on the World Map which makes getting from free HP/MP regen spots to grind spots easy. I'm

Black/White Mage: I find it interesting that you have to buy spells in this game, but you can level up these guys as much as you want. I'm stopping at Lvl. 2 as there's not much reason to get any higher when I don't have the corresponding spells.

Blue Mage: As all of their abilities can be equipped by other jobs, it makes sense to master this job and just equip their abilities (Learn especially) as needed. It is interesting that this mage class can equip swords and shields though, so their non-MP related damage isn't as bad as the Black/White mage. Actually, probably the best way to get damage out of them early game is to give them a sword and the Knight's Two-Handed Ability and then use Goblin Punch. The damage bonus from Two-Handed does work with that ability, while the second hit that Barehanded gives does not.

Currently I've got everyone with the following Levels.

Knight Lvl. 3, Monk Lvl. 2, Thief Lvl. 3, Black Mage Lvl. 2, White Mage Lvl. 2 and Blue Mage Mastered. My setup is Bartz/Knight w/ Two-Handed, Lenna/White Mage w/ Barehanded, Galuf/Monk w/ Black Magic and Faris/Thief w/Barehanded.

 

[Flintlock]

Chapter 2: Animal Companions

Time: Friday 29/01 to Sunday 31/01

Hangout: Saturday 30/01 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 return to the World Map after this scene.

Discussion: What did you think of the character reveal in this chapter, and did you see it coming? One of my feelings about this game is that the way its story is told isn't very nuanced; as The Engineer wrote above, things are played pretty straight. Do you agree, based on what you've seen so far? The boss on North Mountain is probably the toughest you've faced up to this point - did you have any difficulties?

It would be nice if people shared their job setups when they write their reports but I'm not going to keep asking about it.

 

[Octo]

ok so I'm up to the

Spoiler

ship graveyard. I'd already figured something was going on with Faris, and I was certain that he was related to Lenna somehow.

I haven't really done anything with the job system yet, I'm guessing I'm going to have to do something soon. TBH I've never liked the idea of jobs/classes in rpgs, never really saw the point - except to restrict you. Maybe I'm wrong.

I really liked the music, seems familiar and yet not. And I think it would be awesome to see this story updated with modern graphics - or the intro sequence at least.

Can't say I'm particularly invested in the characters yet, but I like the overall idea. And whats up with the descrepancy between Amano's art and the sprites? I mean obviously you can't capture it exactly in blocky little sprites but they don't even attempt to get the colour schemes right.

 

[Flintlock]

I made a front page article inviting people to join us.

Octo, if you don't utilise the job system, you're going to struggle with some parts of the game (unless you grind levels). Final Fantasy V's system is anything but restrictive: you can switch at any time, and abilities you've learnt in one job can still be used in other jobs. Give it a try!

 

[ForceStealer]

Yet another thing I don't like about the aesthetics of the iOS/Steam version. The Amano portraits in the message boxes are a nice idea, but they look SO different from the sprites it's distracting.
(EDIT: Apologies to the iOS/Steam version. I forgot that the GBA version did this two, although they're not nearly so huge.)

 

[Shinra'sMostWanted]

Im getting a late start as well, waiting on a ps1 memory card to come in the mail