Current Events > Rate and Discuss - Final Fantasy 5 *spoilers*

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Welcome to my series of topics where we discuss and rate every single main line Final Fantasy title, as well as Tactics!

How would you rate Final Fantasy 5? Which version did you play?

Ahhh Final Fantasy 5. You are oh so wonderful to play for every reason except narrative and character, and have one main problem with your combat engine.

The narrative is pretty generic. I mean, sure, having the sorta environmentalist message behind it is unique, and Gilgamesh is awesome, but in comparison to the dramatic story telling of 4, 5 was just not as engaging. Also, how they dealt with Galuf was kinda weak, as the end of his story was not really anything consequential. Farris was a cool revelation, but it was a cool moment and that was it. Not a lot changes for our characters, and the narrative is basically just a way to make you play through the JOB SYSTEM! (Imo)

The job system is fucking awesome. Even now I would place it as one of the better uses of the Job system. So many jobs are useful and interesting, and the combinations are vast. You want to make a magical powerhouse? Go for it! You want someone who will beat the shit out of people with bare hands, but also heal others? Yeah, why not? Whatever you want to try, go for it!

However, this all kinda flies out the window when the game gives you relic weapons to use that are tied to different jobs. This ultimately places those jobs as more important than other ones, since they have weapons that are just better. You have to sort of... force yourself to use other stuff instead? (This is how I remember it, it's possible that I am wrong about this). This started a trend with nearly all job systems in the FF series and beyond that some jobs are just going to be better in so many ways than others. This is fine, but it narrows your focus for the job system on a casual play.

That being said, I love to play it. It's kinda short for a FF game, and you just get out of it what you want in terms of gameplay. It is easy to replay, it is light enough to replay often, and that is kinda the legacy of 5, I feel like?

Imma give it a 7/10

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Final Fantasy 1 Stats

Average Rating: 5.96 (29 votes cast)
Most Common Rating: 7/10 (9 of 29 votes)

Final Fantasy 2 Stats (Famicom, not SNES)

Average Rating: 4/10 (38 votes cast)
Most Common Rating: 3/10 (10 out of 38 votes)

Final Fantasy 3 Stats (Famicom, not SNES)

Average Rating: 5.8777/10 (30 votes cast)
Most Common Rating: 8/10 (8 out of 30 votes)

Final Fantasy 4 Stats

Average Rating:7.92/10 (37 votes cast)
Most Common Rating: 8/10 (12/37 votes)

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9/10

My time to shine! I only played V for the first time... last year? Or maybe it was 2018... anyway, I bought it for like three bucks in a PSN sale. Started it up "just to check it out" and couldn't put it down.

The job system is delightful and ripe for being broken open to abuse. The narrative is a bit bare, but I still liked it. It's definitely the kind of thing I would have loved as a kid; just enough character to latch onto, but enough room to let your imagination run wild with the possibilities. Also, I love the idea of Faris being a male pirate, though it's pretty funny that her crew knew the whole time.

As a random thought, some of the official art depicts Krile as looking like an adult, but I always thought she was supposed to be a little girl.

I personally feel like the final boss was a significant spike in difficulty. I had to cheese it with a mimic and double summon setup.

Also, I played the PS1 version with the bad translation and my FAVORITE enemy in all of Final Fantasy: Karl Boss

Finally, "Clash on the Big Bridge" is an absolute banger. GOAT

https://youtu.be/6CMTXyExkeI

Easily the most underrated of the mainline FF games in the US. Story is basic but fun and silly, modern translations give the characters some personality, nice gameplay, and good music. If FFIV is an 8 by yesterday's scores this should be an 11 - it's that much better.

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One of the few games I replay a lot.

I sometimes participate in the Four Job Fiesta that happens every summer.
Really, the job system is great and is perfect for that kind of emergent gameplay.
Or just humiliating Omega with the right mix of job abilities.

The plot is competent enough, and Gilgamesh is incredible.

Loved the job system, Gilgamesh, clash on the big bridge. Story is light and fun. Not too in depth but I enjoy it most for the gameplay.

It would have been better if Cara joined early

Feel bad giving a six 'cause i know loads of people love it and maybe i just don't get it.

But i tried it a few times and could never really get into it. Maybe one day.

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6/10.

Lacked severely in aspects that I generally look for in a JRPG(story, characters, soundtrack).

But the job system was super fun and creative. My astonishment when I switched to Geomancer and the lava didn't burn me anymore. I would have rated it 7/10 but the end just felt like such a slog that my enjoyment dipped quite a bit.

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Man, this game is great and fun, easily one of my favorite FFs. The thing is, this game is actually extremely popular in Japan, even more than FF4, yet it got "meh" in US is still beyond me. If only Square releases FF5 instead of FF Mystic Quest back then the whole story would be much different.

10/10. The high point of the franchise.

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8/10

Meh as fuck. The job system is over rated as hell. Galuf was cool but the rest of the cast & the story are fucking lame.

Best thing about it is the Dear Friends CD.

hardy3786 posted...

The thing is, this game is actually extremely popular in Japan, even more than FF4, yet it got "meh" in US is still beyond me.

Square thought it was "too hard" for some reason.

I'm going to just say, and this might be a GROSS generalization, I feel like a lot of time the Japanese gaming community doesn't care AS MUCH about narrative as they do about gameplay.

FF5 can be beloved in Japan, but I've heard a lot of them like it better than 6, which I think is just absolutely bizarre. Then again, playing a game arguably should focus on gameplay rather than narrative excellence.

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hardy3786 posted...

Man, this game is great and fun, easily one of my favorite FFs. The thing is, this game is actually extremely popular in Japan, even more than FF4, yet it got "meh" in US is still beyond me. If only Square releases FF5 instead of FF Mystic Quest back then the whole story would be much different.

It was actually the game that ensured that the franchise was Square's biggest series. The SaGa series and FF were about neck and neck in sales (Japan wise, of course) until FF5 came out, and achieved Dragon Quest levels of success, which SaGa never matched.

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Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

I feel like a lot of time the Japanese gaming community doesn't care AS MUCH about narrative as they do about gameplay.

i knew i liked japan

9/10. the first truly great ff title. love the music, the gameplay, the world, and the cartoony vibe the game has. i still think it has the best sense of adventure in the entire series and getting new jobs was always pretty exciting.

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Absolutely an underrated gem. 9/10.

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i found it boring

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It's grown on me over the years, but not to the point I'd take it over IV and VI. The big draw is the job system as it's more involved than how it was in III, but it isn't overly complicated while providing some incentive to keep pushing ahead with the game. It needs it as I always find myself being bored by the time the story shifts to the "second world." The world never grabs me. The characters are alright and I like them all, but don't stand out much either. The graphics and music are just different enough from IV that it has its own identity, but are still comparable.

I'm giving it a 6.

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9/10

So fucking good, one of the more fun FF's to play.

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Bump!

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4/10, PS1 version.

Story sucked, most characters sucked, villain super sucked, statuses were confusing, the famous job system wasn't all that great (3's was better tbh), and the graphics were worse than 4's somehow.

But it did have a couple of creative bosses and I did like Gilgamesh and Galuf. Plus it had one of the best ddeath scenes in the medium. But these things don't completely make up for an otherwise bad game.

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DevsBro posted...

4/10, PS1 version.

Story sucked, most characters sucked, villain super sucked, statuses were confusing, the famous job system wasn't all that great (3's was better tbh), and the graphics were worse than 4's somehow.

But it did have a couple of creative bosses and I did like Gilgamesh and Galuf. Plus it had one of the best ddeath scenes in the medium. But these things don't completely make up for an otherwise bad game.

^ Pretty much exactly how I feel.

9. Job system is great with the ability to equip sub abilities coupled with mastery bonus when you're back in the suppin class.

Characters and plot are pretty shallow, but the gameplay is so great with high replayability idc.
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Easy 10.
The job system is great, and plot never really gets in the way of the game.

DevsBro posted...

the famous job system wasn't all that great (3's was better tbh)

how can that be possible when v's job system is a direct upgrade.

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its pretty good
krile's forehead is huge

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8/10

Pretty much agree with what a lot of people have already said. The job system is definitly where the game shines. Best implementation in the series. The story is....fine. not good, not bad, just okay.

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Frogles posted...

how can that be possible when v's job system is a direct upgrade.

Simple, the jobs themselves weren't as cool/fun. Many of them were usable and all but the only ones I had any fun with were Ranger and Monk. 3 had like the dark dragoon, and the bard and the scribe and stuff, and didn't have the weird animal one or the afwul mystic or whatever (the one who specializes in magic swords).

In fairness, I might being comparing apples and oranges since I played the 3 remake vs the 5 original but that was what I did so.

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except that on the nes the only jobs worth using at end game in FF3 were ninja and sage
2 ninja and 2 sages was the end game team otherwise you were just making things harder for yourself

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DevsBro posted...

In fairness, I might being comparing apples and oranges since I played the 3 remake vs the 5 original but that was what I did so.

You're comparing apples (FF3) to a fruit salad (FF5).

FF5's job system isn't about the jobs themselves, but mixing them together.

yusiko posted...

its pretty good
krile's forehead is huge

Bruh

You're not wrong. Poor girl lol

8/10

The job system pretty much carries the entire game, but everything else it's lacking in isn't that bad by any means either.

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7.75/10

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yusiko posted...

except that on the nes the only jobs worth using at end game in FF3 were ninja and sage
2 ninja and 2 sages was the end game team otherwise you were just making things harder for yourself

To be fair, if you're doing anything other than Dualcasting various magics with the Mime class, and Two Handed + Rapid Fire on a mastered Freelancer, you're just making the end of FF5 harder.

Mind you, all of that takes some work to achieve.

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IShall_Run_Amok posted...

To be fair, if you're doing anything other than Dualcasting various magics with the Mime class, and Two Handed + Rapid Fire on a mastered Freelancer, you're just making the end of FF5 harder.

Mind you, all of that takes some work to achieve.

That's the fun of the Four Job Fiesta: being limited to four random jobs makes things harder.
I mean, unless you get something like White Mage/Summoner/Geomancer/Chemist, of course.
One run I got Knight/Berserker/Monk/Dancer. That...was a bad time.

Questionmarktarius posted...

You're comparing apples (FF3) to a fruit salad (FF5).

FF5's job system isn't about the jobs themselves, but mixing them together.

I know but none of them were any fun

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DevsBro posted...

I know but none of them were any fun

Then go look into Blue Dragon, which is essentially dropping sliced fruit into a cooler full of Everclear and Kool-Aid.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Then go look into Blue Dragon, which is essentially dropping sliced fruit into a cooler full of Everclear and Kool-Aid.

Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey(best RPG of it's era) make me want to buy a 360.

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Thanks to this topic, I'm gonna give the game another run. It's been several years so maybe my opinion will change for the better.

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IMO this is where the franchise starts to take off. Jobs make a return and are actually interesting and fun to mess around with, at pretty much every point I feel like this is a significant improvement from IV. I gave it 8

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I actually enjoy V more than VI.
sure,VI has better story, but V felt more fun somehow.


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I'm surprised that this one has gotten so many votes; I was always under the impression that V was one of the least popular titles in the series (due to being one the "classic" style games and generally being overshadowed by IV and VI).