I dedicate this fantasy to the bois

[AnonymousSpeed]

I decided to give Final Fantasy 1 a try, specifically the Dawn of Souls remake on GBA. The cool thing about FF1 is how flexible your starting party is, since you can name the four warriors anything you want and put them in any of the six starting classes. Ever seeking inspiration and cheap memes, I decided I'd name my party after people on the forum.

There...are the bois.

@Jotari @SoulWeaver @Benice @Acacia Sgt

With apologies to the remaining bois I didn't name anyone after.

I decided to use a Red Mage instead of a White Mage since I heard a speed runner say high level white magic wasn't very useful.

Spoiler

As per usual, we start by buying some weapons and beating up imps goblins for experience. One change this game makes is forcing you to visit the castle after you first enter the town- a little annoying, but not very troublesome. I don't spend much time in the castle, since I think I need the Mystic Key to unlock all the treasures anyway.

HP gains are still quite high in the remake- for physical classes, at least. Even the Red Mage is only gaining a few points of HP, whereas I could swear black mage got 20-some HP on hitting level 2 in the NES game.

I don't pay much attention to Jotari's HP and let him get a little too low. Thankfully Soul has cure-

Although perhaps not the fastest casting times.

Reviving cost 40 gold, so you be better be thankfully Jots.

Although it's a lot less expensive than Pheonix Downs, which are 500 gold.

Barehanded monks are pretty powerful, this is some of the highest damage my party can deal in a single action. I don't remember if monks actually use armor in the remake. In the NES game they do better without it at higher levels, but the remake fixes/changes a lot of oddities.

We head towards the Chaos Shrine and find this. I don't think was in the NES version.

Not much to do here, alas. I guess we can come back after defeating Lich?

More mystic key doors to come back later.

A battle like this may look intimidating, but unlike the NES game, this one will redirect attacks that were sent after dead enemies. This means I can basically mash A while holding the fast forward button, since even the black mage can deal alright damage with a knife. However, I don't pay close enough attention to his HP and-

Yeah.

After reviving Acacia and heading back to the chaos shrine, we see Garland looming over an unconscious girl, which is a fairly uncomfortable thing to walk in on.

I decide not to heal up before attacking him. It'll be fine, probably.

Not very adept at tough talk. Now, had he said he'd "knock us all down", then I'd be intimidated.

After two rounds of physical attacks and a couple level 1 spells, we put Garland under the magic pencil's eraser.

I can't help but wonder if this is supposed to be dramatic irony concerning later revelations.

We get warped back to the castle and receive due recognition for our efforts.

How about no.

Oh, wait, I can't skip it.

Which I suppose is alright.

Try to leave the room and get stopped. What is it now?

Oh right, that. I need that. Probably good the game doesn't let you leave without it.

Final levels for the day. Jotari and Acacia are a level lower thanks to missing on some fights, on account of being...y'know...dead.

We close out by stepping into the light.

And we get to see this iconic scene.

I don't know though, I kind of liked how it looks on NES better. Maybe it's just appreciation for the history of it? Or perhaps the colors, more strong blues and less soft purples. I admit to liking the music in the NES game a little more too, I like the punchiness of those boops and beeps, but it's an alright trade-off for a semi-functional game.

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Oh, haha, this will be interesting. The Black Mage, eh. Does feel it would be the most fitting for me perhaps, haha. Temper+Haste gogogo!

6 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

We head towards the Chaos Shrine and find this. I don't think was in the NES version.

Not much to do here, alas. I guess we can come back after defeating Lich?

Your first time actually playing a version with the bonus content? Wish I'd know why they took it out for the Android port, and only that one since it's there in the iOS. Or used to be, since they removed those ports just to sell the Pixelated one. Sheesh... 

[Benice]

Spoiler

 

26 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Nice.

27 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I don't pay much attention to Jotari's HP and let him get a little too low. Thankfully Soul has cure-

...

I'm in danger, aren't I?

28 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

However, I don't pay close enough attention to his HP and-

Yeah.

I am in danger.

29 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

AnonymousSpeed and the Death Road to Canada.

30 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I like the pretty purple.

 

 

[AnonymousSpeed]

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Temper+Haste gogogo!

This supposedly does good damage with Masamune, especially with Saber.

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Your first time actually playing a version with the bonus content?

Ye.

41 minutes ago, Benice said:

I am in danger.

Ye.

Shame they took the bonus content out of the Android port. I mean, I guess, I don't know if it's good content or not.

[Acacia Sgt]

11 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

This supposedly does good damage with Masamune, especially with Saber.

Pretty much. Of course, that'd be three turns setting up, so it all depends if who you want to buff.

[Jotari]

I'm actually only familar with the NES version, so this'll be interesting for me, I'm pretty sure they do actually let you leave without the Lute in the NES version. I'm also reasonably sure you have a pathetic four character limit for names in the NES version which would put all of us right out.

[Acacia Sgt]

Hmm, let's see...

JOTR, SWVR, BNIC, ASGT

Well, it's something. I mean, just look how they handled spell names...

Edited November 21, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[SoulWeaver]

...Well then. Hope I can live up to the task you've assigned me here, I assume that's...double-type magic duty? I dunno, my only knowledge of the term 'red mage' comes from the Bravely Default demo.

On 11/21/2021 at 11:11 AM, Benice said:

I'm in danger.

Considering both my aforementioned knowledge of my role and my current track record in game within that role...

On 11/21/2021 at 11:56 AM, AnonymousSpeed said:

Ye.

 

[Malfaria]

@SoulWeaver Red Mage is basically the Mage Knight/Tactician class that is good with Black and White magics along with Swords, though sadly they don't get all the spells in each category. (Or Doublecast.)

[AnonymousSpeed]

On 11/21/2021 at 3:20 PM, Jotari said:

I'm actually only familar with the NES version, so this'll be interesting for me, I'm pretty sure they do actually let you leave without the Lute in the NES version.

You can miss the lute. It kills runs.

On 11/21/2021 at 4:13 PM, Acacia Sgt said:

Well, it's something. I mean, just look how they handled spell names...

I actually like the NES spell names quite a bit. LOCK, RUB, NUKE- the shorter names are quite punchy when they're not unreadable, like ALIT.

On 11/27/2021 at 2:08 PM, Malfaria said:

Red Mage is basically the Mage Knight/Tactician class that is good with Black and White magics along with Swords, though sadly they don't get all the spells in each category. (Or Doublecast.)

They also get some decent armor, but not as heavy as the warrior. They're like a diet version of the other classes all wrapped into a single package, a true jack-of-all-trades and master of none.

Spoiler

We cross the bridge into the continent and immediately run into some stronger monsters.

They give decent experience, I guess? Gets our levels evened out.

https://imgur.com/IRDcdkUhttps://imgur.com/IRDcdk

We stop by Matoya's Cave for some, uh...whatever's here, I forget.

Hints, apparently. "B button select".

Ah, a map! This should prove helpful, given my general need of directions.

Indeed, who would ever steal from a vision-impaired old woman?

Certainly not me.

We adventure back out and get wrecked. That attack was quite a bit stronger than I expected. Thankfully, the Gigas Worm has fairly low HP, and now I know to take it out early.

We get a level up off that battle, and imbalance is restored.

So disgusted by this failure, I run back to Corneria to revive and heal and save and such.

On our way back, we encounter a famed Native American general. Benice brutally murders him with his bare hands.

We arrive at the next town, which is afflicted by pirates.

The immediate sufferings of the common man aren't my problem though, so I stock up on potions and buy some armor first. No weapons, though. I figure they aren't as much of an improvement. I base that on the fact that the attack number doesn't go up as much, rather than any accurate understanding of damage calculations.

While navigating the town, this jerk paces back and forth through a one-tile passageway, forcing me to wait behind his slow butt until he shuffles past.

Oh my, how'd they get away with that one?

Crunchatize me, cap'n!

We kick Bikke in the Dikke, vanquishing him and his crew to the world of honest labor.

He kindly offers us a ship in exchange for his kneecaps.

Now the world is at out fingertips. I become overwhelmed with options I don't fully remember.

 

[Benice]

3 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Crunchatize me, cap'n!

I did not expect a Cap'n Crunch reference.

3 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

On our way back, we encounter a famed Native American general. Benice brutally murders him with his bare hands.

I am a true Canadian colonist/politician now.

[Jotari]

6 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

You can miss the lute. It kills runs.

I actually like the NES spell names quite a bit. LOCK, RUB, NUKE- the shorter names are quite punchy when they're not unreadable, like ALIT.

They also get some decent armor, but not as heavy as the warrior. They're like a diet version of the other classes all wrapped into a single package, a true jack-of-all-trades and master of none.

  Reveal hidden contents

We cross the bridge into the continent and immediately run into some stronger monsters.

They give decent experience, I guess? Gets our levels evened out.

https://imgur.com/IRDcdkUhttps://imgur.com/IRDcdk

We stop by Matoya's Cave for some, uh...whatever's here, I forget.

Hints, apparently. "B button select".

Ah, a map! This should prove helpful, given my general need of directions.

Indeed, who would ever steal from a vision-impaired old woman?

Certainly not me.

We adventure back out and get wrecked. That attack was quite a bit stronger than I expected. Thankfully, the Gigas Worm has fairly low HP, and now I know to take it out early.

We get a level up off that battle, and imbalance is restored.

So disgusted by this failure, I run back to Corneria to revive and heal and save and such.

On our way back, we encounter a famed Native American general. Benice brutally murders him with his bare hands.

We arrive at the next town, which is afflicted by pirates.

The immediate sufferings of the common man aren't my problem though, so I stock up on potions and buy some armor first. No weapons, though. I figure they aren't as much of an improvement. I base that on the fact that the attack number doesn't go up as much, rather than any accurate understanding of damage calculations.

While navigating the town, this jerk paces back and forth through a one-tile passageway, forcing me to wait behind his slow butt until he shuffles past.

Oh my, how'd they get away with that one?

Crunchatize me, cap'n!

We kick Bikke in the Dikke, vanquishing him and his crew to the world of honest labor.

He kindly offers us a ship in exchange for his kneecaps.

Now the world is at out fingertips. I become overwhelmed with options I don't fully remember.

 

Nuke is a superior spell name to flare. Flare has too much fire association for a spell that is inherently meant to be neutral in type. Nukes are neutral though. Its just pure power and conveys thr feelong of using the spell.