An essay describing some of the basic mechanics and early strategy of the original Final Fantasy (Square, 1987).
Final Fantasy, the seminal 1987 RPG from Square is one of, if not the, first large scale graphic video role playing game(s). Taking inspiration largely from taple-top pen and paper games such as Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons and Dragons (1974), and other contemporaneous games like Dragon Quest (Chunsoft, 1986), the single player game features a party of four “light warriors” arriving to fulfill a prophecy, as the game’s first screen explains:
The world is veiled in darkness. The wind stops, the sea is wild, and the earth begins to rot.
The people wait, their only hope, a prophecy…
‘When the world is in darkness, Four Warriors will come…’
After a long journey, four young warriors arrive, each holding an ORB.
This simple prelude sets the stage for a complex narrative structure to unfold, one of the most central elements of the game, and a large part of what makes its storytelling so successful. From the outset, narrative is central to the emotional and cognitive immersion the game creates through its many high-level and low-level mechanics. The following short essay will analyze some of these mechanics, along with some of the most relevant of the game’s patterns (including character development, combat, economy, experimentation, exploration, game world navigation, luck and randomness, movement limitations and obstacles to overcome in order to complete certain predefined but initially unknown goals, replayability, level of difficulty and complexity, risks/rewards, and others). The game’s three act structure will be examined, as well as an explanation of how the game is played.
The first choice a player has to make when starting the game is what types of characters will comprise their four-person party. This is also one of the most important decisions the player will make as it will have ramifications towards the game’s difficulty, balance, and overall gameplay style. There are six character types or classes to choose from, three non-magic users (what we’ll call melee classes for the sake of simplicity—despite the fact that all classes may engage in melee combat), and three magic users. These classes include the Fighter, the Thief, the Black-belt, the White Mage, the Black Mage, and the Red Mage.
The Fighter excels at melee combat and the use of weapons and armour and has the highest Vitality statistic of all the classes (resulting in the highest health or Hit Points). The Thief is an agile melee character with a bonus to withdrawing or “running” from combat and dodging attacks, though at the expense of their toughness. The Black-belt excels at unarmed combat with a bonus to the chance of landing “critical hits” (increased damage) at the cost of a higher chance of missing when attacking, and a limited set of armour and weapons to choose from, at least initially. This can be either a pro or a con depending on one’s outlook as while equipment improves a combatant’s abilities, it also costs gold to purchase.
The White Mage’s access to weapons and armour is also limited, as is their combat prowess in general, though this is made up for by their ability to cast spells that can restore HP, as well as “buff” or boost a party member’s abilities in addition to a limited number of damaging spells. The Black Mage likewise can only use a limited selection of weapons and armour and has the lowest melee combat statistics (strength, vitality, and agility), though their advantage is higher intelligence than any other class and access to the most powerful offensive spells in the game. The Red Mage is a more balanced magic user who can also use a variety of weapons and better armour than the other magic users, though at the cost of not being able to learn the game’s highest level spells.
These different abilities benefits and drawbacks all contribute to the games balance, difficulty, and complexity. In addition, these abilities are not symmetrical, imparting further import to this decision. Further more, a player is not limited to only one of each class to form their four member group resulting in hundreds of different possible party combinations.
For example, a player may choose to create a purely melee combat based party of four Fighters which could make the game easier as the Fighter is the “toughest” class, while simultaneously lowering the complexity, and consequently—potentially at least—the degree of immersion in the game. This is due to the elimination of the possibility of magic use and limiting the player to the efficient use of only some of the many equip-able weapons and armor.
Similarly, a player might select a group of all magic users which would create a party that is more complex and flexible in battle, however this would likely increase the overall difficulty of the game because of their increased vulnerability and the fact that outfitting four magic users with enough spells to be competitive would be very expensive (spells are generally among the most expensive purchasable ability increases in the game). All classes share the same five basic statistics (strength, vitality, agility, intelligence, and luck) which each impact their character’s four combat statistics (damage, hit percentage, absorption, and evade percentage) as well as their chance at doing increased damage with a critical hit, their number of hits, and their chances of successfully running from combat.
Act I Combat basics, the economy, experience, exploration, and navigation.
When a player starts a new game, after the initial screen outlining the story in very vague terms, they are presented with an avatar of the lead member of their party (more on party order in a moment) on the main map outside what appears to be a town with a castle overlooking it. If you exclude the user manual the game comes with, which includes detailed instructions on how to progress through both the first and second acts, the game gives no instructions about how to proceed. A player might choose to enter the town or castle by walking over the appropriate tile, or begin exploring the world map further.
If they choose to do the latter, it will not belong before they enter their first battle, likely with low level enemies such as imps or wolves. There are dozens of enemies or “monsters” in the game, and both the type and number of them in any given combat encounter is somewhat randomized. However the types of monsters encountered depends on their geographical location on the world map, with the result being that the player has to fight more and more difficult battles as they continue to explore and unlock new areas of the game. This has the additional affect of creating diminishing rewards (in the form of experience points) for fighting monsters of the same level of difficulty over and over again, encouraging the player to regularly seek out new areas and new more difficult monsters to fight.
Combat is turn based, and the party order governs when a character can take an action. The party leader is the “top” character in the group, with the other characters displayed vertically below them on the combat screen. Choosing which character will be the leader is an important choice, as they will face the brunt of the monsters’ attacks. As such, it is a good practice to have the toughest character in the party be the leader. The party order can be adjusted by pressing the select button on the controller and selecting two party members to switch positions. Other factors to consider regarding party order are when in a combat sequence a player would like to be able to cast spells, use items, and when or if a character will be able to resort to running away from combat.
The party members’ avatars are always displayed on the right of the battle screen, facing left, with boxes containing their names, health, and current status if any status affect applies to them, behind (ie to the far right of the screen) for each of them. Directly below the party in the bottom right is the action menu where the player chooses what action each character will take on their turn. The five actions the player can choose for any given character are, in order, Fight, Magic, Drink, Item, and Run. The monsters the party is battling are displayed on the left of the screen, facing right.
Below the monsters in the bottom left of the screen, text is displayed with information about the battle as it unfolds. The name of the current attacker is always displayed directly above the name of the current defender, regardless of which side of the battle they are on. In addition, spells cast, items used, damage done, number of hits (or a missed hit), status changes, and (if applicable) critical hits are all displayed here.
The Fight action is fairly straightforward, and one of the simplest low-level mechanics in the game. It allows a character to attempt to deal melee damage to one of the current enemies, which the player selects after choosing to take this action. Which monster is targeted by which character, and when, play an important role in strategic decision making during combat. For example, if two characters target the same monster on each of their turns, but the first character kills (or in the game’s parlance, “terminates,”) the monster before the second character’s turn in the sequence, the second character’s action will have been wasted. It is therefor important to be able to estimate how much health a monster has at any given moment.
This is information hidden from the player, and which—like many other elements of the game—can only be learned through experience and experimentation, trial and error (again, disregarding information external to the game itself like the manual or online walkthroughs). Likewise, it is important to be able to estimate how much damage a given character is likely to do to a monster. The AI with which the game decides which monster will attack which character is also opaque, and seems to involve some degree of chance. Although, as stated above, more often than not the party leader will be the target of an attack.
Magic can only be wielded by one of the three magic using classes, and even then only after having purchased a spell from one of the two types of magic spell shops in the game; white and black. As one might expect, the White Mage can only use white magic and the Black Mage can only use black magic. The Red Mage is unique as they are able to wield some, but not all of the spells from either “school” of magic, and are also limited in terms of the level of spells they can learn (level five spells being the maximum). White magic focuses mostly on healing and increasing the defense of the player’s characters, black magic on the other hand focuses on dealing damage and disabling the enemies’ defenses.
The number of times a magic using character can cast a spell is governed by that character’s level, growing steadily as they continue to gain new levels. The limited number of available spell castings a magic using character has before their depletion forces the player to think carefully about when and how to use a spell. If the player is not prudent, it is quite easy for a magic user to run out of available spells, especially on an extended excursion into the world. This can leave both the character and the party vulnerable as magic users tend to do both do less melee damage, and take more damage from melee attacks.
Spells can only be replenished by paying to rest at an inn in a town, or by using certain expensive items like, “House,” which also fully restores the entire party’s health. Resting in this way is also how the game manages the player’s access to save points in the game. The caveat to this is that it may be difficult to return to a town after an extended period of exploration and combat, and items like House can only be used on the main map of the game, not locally inside of dungeons. This forces the player to constantly balance the risks and rewards of pressing forward with their adventure versus returning to a town (or the main map in the case of an item) to rest.
Drink is the third option available to the player in the action menu during a battle, and is allows a character to use consumable items like healing and purification potions. “Heal,” potions restore a relatively small amount of health to one player. “Pure,” potions nullify the poison status effect (which gradually reduces a character’s health per turn during a battle—or while moving around in main map—in which case it is also accompanied by a very harsh grating sounds for each tile the player moves the party while one of its members are under this effect). There are additional consumable items like, “soft,” which reverses the petrification status effect (only out of combat however), and others, though these are mostly available in later acts of the game. Of note regarding the Drink option is that any character can apply the effects of a potion to any other party member, adding further complexity to how and when they are used during a battle.
The Item option in the action menu available on the combat screen allows the player to access other non-consumable items with specific purposes. Again, these are mostly used in the later stages of the game and as such won’t be discussed in detail here. One point worth mentioning regarding non-consumable Items outside of battle, specifically items which allow a player to progress through the story by accessing a new area of the map, is that a distinct sound will play when the player completes the goal required to obtain them.
The final option available in the action menu during combat is the Run option, which—like Fight—is fairly straightforward. When selected on a character’s turn, it will allow the character to attempt to flee from battle, however its success is not guaranteed, and if it fails it will have caused that character’s turn to be wasted. Exactly what governs the Run mechanic is another aspect of information that is hidden from the player, though it seems to be governed by some combination of the agility and luck statistics, as well as by chance. This is another important strategic consideration for the player as they must weigh the reward of successfully running from a losing battle versus the chance that a Run attempt will fail. Additionally, even if a character’s attempt at running away is successful, and experience points that would have been earned during the battle will be sacrificed.
The experience system in Final Fantasy is another important element of the game that has a central role in governing character development. Unlike their abilities and statistics, the distribution of experience points awarded for victory in battle is symmetrical regardless of a character’s class. The same monster type will always award the same amount of experience to each party member at the end of a battle (as well as the same amount of gold—more on that in a moment). The limiting factor here is that if a character is dead at the end of a battle they will not receive the experience points they would have otherwise. As a result of this mechanic, a well balanced party will tend to have its members achieve new levels at roughly equivalent, though usually not identical times.
How much time a player spends developing and equipping the characters in their party is another key strategic decision, particularly early on in the game. In general, it is unwise to head off into the wilderness without first learning of a specific predefined goal. While it can be useful–even essential—at times to, “grind,” (to seek out combat for the sake of acquiring experience and gold resources), it is generally a good idea to know which direction you are heading in and why. For this reason, at the start of the game, rather than immediately begin wandering around lost in the woods like children from a German fairy tale, it is wise to enter the town that the player starts beside.
Talking to one of the first NPCs the player is likely to encounter (achieved by standing next to an NPC, facing their avatar towards them and then pressing the A button) will reveal that the town is named Coneria, the Dream City. In general the player should make a point of talking to everyone they can as some of them will reveal important clues about what the player’s current goal is. Exploring Coneria, the player will also discover an inn, a magic shop of each type, a potion shop, a weapons shop, an armour shop, and a clinic. Clinics allow deceased party members to be revived in exchange for gold, so it is also a good idea to keep some reserve gold on hand.
The party will always begin with 400 gold, and deciding how to spend this resource will have a significant impact on the ease with which they will be victorious in combat. A party with one or more magic users may want to spend some of their initial gold on learning spells. Alternatively, a party that focuses more on melee characters will likely benefit more from spending gold on weapons and armour with which to equip them in order to increase the party’s overall combat prowess. For any party it is also a good idea to purchase a healing potion or two.
After initially outfitting their party, the player should proceed to the castle located at the northern edge of the town. Here, after talking to one of several NPCs including the King, the Queen, and one of their daughters, the player will learn that Coneria’s Princess Sara has been kidnapped by a disgraced knight named Garland. Talking to one of the castle guards (located on the top floor of the castle in its southwest region) will inform the player of the general location of Garland’s hideout (The Temple of Fiends), somewhere to the northwest on the main map. This is an example of how the game integrates clues about how to progress into the game’s narrative. Armed with this new information it is now time to head out into the wilderness.
Both on the main map, and in various local maps, the game uses obstacles like mountains, rivers, trees, and various other landscape elements to guide the player’s movement in certain directions. Once the player has successfully navigated their party to The Temple of Fiends (no doubt also fighting several battles along the way), they must enter a room where Garland sits waiting to face the Light Warriors. After he is defeated the game will automatically return the party to the castle of Coneria where a grateful king rewards them by building a bridge north of the city allowing the player access to more of the continent. Talking to the Princess will also grant the party another item, a lute, though its purpose is not immediately clear. As soon as the player sets foot on this bridge, the opening credits play, and thus ends Act I.
Act II The adventure continues.
Exploring the new geography now open to the player, they will eventually discover two key locations both of which will give them additional clues and abilities. To the north is the Cave of Matoya, a friendly which who is seeking her lost crystal. To the east is the town of Pravoka, where Bikke the Pirate lies waiting to ambush the Light Warriors. After defeating his band of swashbucklers he gives the party his boat. This further opens up navigation across the sea. The player should also use this opportunity to replenish their supplies and perhaps purchase some new equipment and/or spells. Heading southwest over the open water, the player will soon discover Elftown, and the sleeping Prince who possesses the mystic key. In order to wake him, the player must complete an additional series of goals in order to gain possession of a magic herb. During this time is a good opportunity to earn additional gold and experience and further develop their character’s equipment and abilities. Once they return the herb to the sleeping Prince’s mother, they will be rewarded with the Mystic Key, allowing them to return to several previously accessed locations and open doors that were locked.
Act III The end game.
How much time the player spends exploring and developing their party in the second act is largely up to them, though of course the more they do the more capable they will become and the easier it will be for them to complete the additional goals in the game, some of which are optional and others which must, similarly to in Act II, be completed in a particular order to progress the game’s story.
Timothy Case 