Superboy

This labor of love from Square is more of a fan disk than a real game or a worthwhile compilation. Both games are extremely dated in every sense of the word; the stories are shallow, the characterizations non-existent, the battle systems bare-bones, the graphics are OK but nothing special, and the game is almost totally linear. The good? the music is surprisingly good and the CG cinemas are some of the best seen on the PSX. If you have a PS2 i highly recommend this game.

Tigger

Finished FF2 two weeks ago. Great game. I played FF1 when it first came out and fell in love with it. The stories are basic and shallow, but take a look at it from when it was released. these games had more story that 95% of the others out. The updated graphics help alot, now that I'm playing FF%, FF2 looks much better in alot of ways. Their restoration with CG, Effect animations and interface really helps. FF2 was alot of fun and I also recommend it. Back to FF5.

Now if Nintendo would only do what Square is. Definately for the fans!!

Superboy

Actually, if you've played Phantasy Star, it has one of the best storylines of it's time as well as being one of the best RPGs even today. It's combat system is pretty bare bones but the dungeons rule.

When you put Final Fantasy up to Phantasy Star, there's one clear winner...

US!

Superboy

Oh yeah, one more thing: If they added FFIII, it would have made my collection of PSX Final Fantasy games complete! it's the only game missing from this epic saga.

Tigger

Superboy.. agree completely... Phantasy Star is truly one of the best RPG's. It's a toss up for me. FF3 needs to come out. We are so fortunate to have been given so many good RPG's.. but also so many terible ones. I'm just glad FF1 is now mine again. Anytime I wanna play. LOVE that game.

William Wallace

FF2's story is shallow? All the reviews so far talk about how it's the first FF game to have an interesting plot.

madara

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Must remain civil, must remain civil. Perchance your in early teenager, aka having grown up with PSX?

Cuz we all said and done most expect FX-2 to be fan disk and this to be real deal for FF this year.

Cuman

ahh, i remember ff1...well sorta, i was a bit too young to actually enjoy the game when it came out, i just remember it being really freakin hard....never went back to it, but from what i've read and heard about the compilation, i think its time to give it another shot.

PixyJunket

Ah.. I reckon many a people are going to be mighty pissed off when they pick this up and find a GAME inside.

fujishig

I don't really understand why people think the older rpgs have better stories. Don't get me wrong... I loved the first Dragon Warrior (free with Nintendo Power!) and had a fixation with console rpgs since very early on. But it's true that playing through them again, besides the nostalgia factor, the storylines just aren't that compelling.

I've never played FF2, but FF1 basically had no characterization (since you could pick anybody for your party) and had a pretty straightforward plot. I can appreciate how the first three Dragon Warriors fit together, and I like the class system of DW3 a lot, but they're still very linear games. And though I absolutely adored Phantasy Star 2, playing through the collection on GBA makes me realize that there really wasn't much to it. I mean, Phantasy Star 1 was basically go from one dungeon to the next, collect your party, collect the items you need, defeat the boss.

Sure, console rpgs are still pretty linear. But there seems to be a rift between "old school" rpg players and players who started playing around FFVII on PS1. The older players say that the old games were better, and the new ones are just graphic candy. The new ones say the old games are boring, because they don't have the same nostalgia factor the older players have.

spainlinx0

Well I don't know if I would classify it as an oldschool RPG, but I thought FFVI (3) had one of the most engaging and well done storylines. I will always love Square for giving me my favorite SNES games such as Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, and FFIII. I play those today, and I still love them, especially the music. Of course my friends sit there and go "god look at those graphics." They just don't understand.

Superboy

I'm a young 'un, only 20, but i've been playing since Nintendo and Master System days. I'm not against new RPGs, but IMO the FF series went downhill with VII...

Superboy

Oh yeah, i'm also looking forward to FF X-2...but that's only because i got to play FFX International.

madara

Okay you redeemed yourself I agree those statements, hehe

FF1 deserves more respect then alot are dishing out though, it started it all(well at this for Square) and saved Square financially many moons ago. I dont understand bothering to review a game like this that makes huge point its collection of classics and then think its okay to give it like 2 because of its comparison to todays games. To me its like if Special Edition of Citizen Kane came out on dvd today and got dumped because there is not as much color as todays movies(lol) and sounds does not compare. It like doh, you miss whole point.

toogood

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Superboy

Hm, i would agree with Official US PS mag's review: they gave the game a 3.5 out of 5, but they said that you should ignore the technical score and just get the game.

And the game did not save Square financially, at least not in the US. RPGS were never a big seller in the US until FFVII. That's why we missed out on 3 earlier games in the series. In fact, Square's US division went under after the poor sales of The Secret of Mana.

William Wallace

Well, the reason they called it "Final Fantasy" was because it was their last game before giving up.

Kyo

Erm. I think you mean Secret of Evermore. Mana is one of the most beloved games on the SNES...

Superboy

Yeah, i mean Evermore. =p

madara

Aye, it totally saved Square in every sence of word. MTV generation that only knows Final Fantasy series by FF7-FF10 would have never of known them without it and is very limited in all these FF. Actually so revered are they that kids dedicated years of their lives to english translations of these long before company itself did. And thankfully so, playing FF2, 3, 5 and 3rd Mana was such magical experience back then, but sorry no CG scenes were included in them, giggle. Hey! Speaking of which whatever happened to FF 7, 8 and 9 remakes for next generation? Gah thats been years since was reported If anything is actually dated and hard to play it would be them, sprites are beautifull setting, blocky legos are not.

Gideon68

I thought Square canned the remakes of 7-9.

Superboy

switching gears right now, am i the only one right now who thought that FFVIII was genius, not insanity? =P

Anyways, why would they want to remake those games? they would just spend years on games that millions of people already bought just to buy it again for full price for prettier graphics. And before someone says "Resident Evil" it didn't sell all that well.

FF Anthology, Chronicles, and Origins is enough for me.

RocShemp

I thought FFVIII was terrible. It had a good technical concept (the junction system and paramagic WERE good ideas) but it was all terribly implemented. Let's face it, if the whole story was that certain characters genuinely were sorcerers then there should have been learned magic for only those characters and paramagic for everyone. Not that the sorcerers did a little more damage (or could cause more healing if that were the case) with paramagic. it just didn't make them seem all that special and gave the game this whole "we had a great idea but we had no time to develop it" kind of feel. Also, I felt Square went to cinema crazy instead of actually polishing the story so that the cinemas would have a greater impact beyond simply looking cool. The characters were way too two-dimentional (even for a videogame) and things fell into place way too conveniently (). I also hated playing as Squall and felt that his change of heart towards the end of disc three was way too abrupt. And what little respect I had for Rino was dashed to pieces when she called Squall a "meanie." Now I didn't expect vulgar language or anything but that was downright pathetic for a game that was taking itself so darned seriously.

If there was a remake of any of PlayStation era FF games I believe FFVIII is the best candidate. Not to update the graphics (though you know that would obviously be done if such a remake ever were to happen for either the PS2 or PS3) but rather to fine tune the story and the magic system. But the latter should not be altered too much as I still stand by the opinion that the junction system and use of paramagic was very innovative and the two best things in FFVIII.

Superboy

I liked FFVIII because it was so different, and there were many things about it that coudn't be ignored as genious. It's kinda like the FFII and VI - different from all the other games in the series.

RocShemp

Superboy,

I agree, certain aspects of FFVIII are nothing short of genious. But the game really needed to be polished further before it was released. This is one case where Square should have pulled a Working Designs and taken forever before they released the game. Now I'm not saying that everything from Working Designs is golden but the "let's take all the time we need to get it right" attitude could have really suited Square and truly benefited FFVIII to a point where I believe it would have certainly become the Final fantasy that all final Fantasy games would be measured against instead of the overrated Final Fantasy X.

Don't get me wrong, I don't regret purchasing FFX but it's sickening how everyone I see talks about how great the game is and how it's the first time they've ever seen a good RPG because the graphics were so cool. What? I know graphics help but as far as RPGs go good graphics should be considered a bonus not a reason for greatness.

in that sense I have to agree with pixiboi as I'm suremany PS and PS2-era gamers will be very disappointed when they find that Final Fantasy Origins features two games with very little of the trappings found in post PS FF games.