LogFAQs > #980831247

#13. Final Fantasy V (1992)
Total Points: 46
List Appearances: 21
First Place Votes: 1
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Write-up provided by Bitto
FFV took a bit to get to its currently held status. It was only in Japan for a long time and, even when released to the US, it was considered a bit of a black sheep for its focus on gameplay in a story-driven series. The Four Job Fiesta, which started around 2011 and has been an annual event since then, has largely changed this perception. Final Fantasy V focuses on a job system and is still arguably the best job-swapping RPG out there. There are 21 jobs to choose from, each giving a set of weapons, passives, and actives. Leveling up lets you permanently get a skill. This allows for creating broken skill combinations by the end of the game. It's only appropriate that FFV is the first Final Fantasy to properly introduce optional superbosses in the series with Omega and Shinryu.

While I have only done Four Job Fiesta for two years, it's easy to see the appeal. You receive four jobs to use for the entire game. As a result, you explore the nuances of these four jobs and there's a lot to find in each run, as you can cheese the bosses in a lot of unexpected ways. What's especially nice is that the final boss is immune to most cheesing strategies, creating a great challenge to cap off the game.

FFV's story isn't as held up as the other FF games, but I've always really liked it. The characters are all fun, with Gilgamesh being the highlight. I'm surprised that so many modern games with job swapping use generic models with a head swap when FFV hit the gold standard by every character having a unique design for every job, with Dancer being the clear highlight. Despite the lighthearted tone, it doesn't pull punches on the emotional moments, with one moment in particularly being one of the best in the series. Exdeath is an absurd villain, but he's certainly memorable and I appreciate the game poking fun at him. The pacing is really strong. Act 1 lets you discover all the jobs and Act 2 lets you play with the jobs and start combining them. Act 3 is largely optional with a mandatory boss rush, requiring you to be set in your skill selection. The bosses are mostly well-designed too, with a few still being really memorable to me, like Liquid Flame, Archeoaevis, Atomos, the Guardian Crystals, Minotaur/Omniscient, and Neo Exdeath.