Final Fantasy V

Final Fantasy V is the fifth installment of the popular jRPG series, launched in 1987 by Square. Like the previous parts of the series, the title was originally published on consoles from the Nintendo family (the SNES edition was released in 1992). Six years after its release, the game was converted to Sony PlayStation and released in the USA and Japan as part of Final Fantasy Anthology.

Plot

Final Fantasy V takes place in three fantastical lands that have grown in prosperity over the years thanks to the power of four magical crystals: wind, water, fire and earth. The story begins when a meteorite of unknown origin falls near King Tycoon's castle and the monarch goes to the nearby Wuther Temple to see if the crystal there has been damaged. While following her father's footsteps, Princess Lenna is attacked and saved from oppression by the main character - Bartz Klauser. During the journey, the characters also meet a man named Galuf, who is affected by amnesia, and a captain of pirates, Faris, who is hiding a secret. In this way, the fates of four seemingly unrelated characters come together, and the task of the newly formed Warriors of Light is to stop the evil sorcerer Exdeath from destroying the crystals with which he wants to take control of the world.

Mechanics

In terms of mechanics, Final Fantasy V is a typical Japanese RPG, in which we control a four-person team, traverse the world and fight encountered opponents in a turn-based system. One of the biggest novelties in the game is the development of the job system (or simply classes), known from the first and third installments of the series. At the beginning of the game, we only have access to a few of them, but as the game progresses the number grows to 22. Each of them is developed separately, allowing players to create characters with different skill combinations. The key to success in the game is skillful management of classes throughout the game.

Technical aspects

In terms of graphics, the production is on a similar level as its predecessor and thanks to its debut on much more efficient hardware platforms it looks much better than the original trilogy released on NES console. Noteworthy is also the much greater interaction between the characters (than, e.g. in Final Fantasy IV) and the soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu.

Last updated on 11 September 2015