Before the Main Menu

Wait!!! Don't skip the opening screen yet. Hear the song and learn to like it. Here we have one of Final Fantasy most remembered elements: The Prelude. Who would ever imagine that a music composed in 10 minutes, added in the nick of time, could make such a change in a large franchise. Learn a good lesson from it, people: if you think something should be done, just do it, no matter how trivial (or on the opposite, impossible) it seems!

Unless this thing you are planning to do is dangerous or harmful, in these cases you should ask someone for help or advice and... Oh, sorry for the lecture. I'll guard it for when I write my first self-help booklet. Anyway, let's move on.

The prelude is indeed a great song in the fact that it is both pretty and simple. We can also easily note its evolution throughout the series, gaining new elements and evolving into an unique melody. For those interested, here is a video showing all the main series Preludes, where we can see the differences:

(Really) Basic Controls, Battle system & Characters

WARNING!!!! I'll be very serious about this: anyone who doesn't understand this section has a severe problem in their cognition, and should ask for help on the issue. Actually, normal people can skip this section entirely without any sort of problem or damage to their experience if they want to.

When doing this game, Sakaguchi's team were all at a big depression, because Square was falling apart and most of them already thought their career was a failure. The name of the game means it: the FF's creator was going to make his last game and go back to the university. Add to this the tecnological limitations of the NES era if compared with ours: it is indeed a surprise they actually came up with such a good game.

For the above reasons, we can expect this game's mechanics to be extremely simple. First, the controls: the directional buttons allows you to direct your characters or commands at menus (duh!), the A button makes the character search on the map and selects commands, while the B button cancels these commands; the Select button displays a screen where the players decide either to put their characters in the front or back row in battles and the Start button shows up the menu.

The first FF uses the traditional turn-based battle system, common on the first RPGs ever made. It is like this: the player walks through the world map until they find "randomly" a monster. The game will turn to the battle screen and everyone can choose an action to take for every turn; everyone can take only one action per turn until the battle is over. I'm not even going for the battle commands, don't be lazy and see them all for yourselves.

Last, but not least, the characters. Remember those characters that we all can remember very well? Characters whose personality matches so well with our own? Or on the opposite, characters that we love to hate? Well, drop all of these, because our heroes are not like that. Reality isn't so kind, and our characters doesn't have a personality at all; I'd rather believe that when doing the game, Square thought that we would imagine ourselves as the heroes while playing, and that's why the main crew don't express themselves. Anyway, you meet all the four warriors at the start of the game, and they are your group until the very end, so treat them well.

The Job System

After the opening screen, you should select the "New Game" button, where youll be taken to meet the main characters. You shall name them whatever you want, because unlike later FF games, there are no canon names for them, so you can just go wild, as long as you respect the four letter limit. But the most important thing in this screen is that you have to choose which job each of your members will have. Do this by clicking the directional buttons, and then confirming the job you want. Nobody can change their jobs during the game, so one's supposed to choose well. Fortunately, you have this benevolent and gracious being that can shed some light on the subject.

First of all, let's see which jobs the game brings to us:

Like stated above, later games have expanded A LOT how many jobs exist in FF games. In this one we'll have only the basic ones, so I'll just present you to your new friends:

Fighter (a.k.a Warrior): I think Dissidia's Warrior of Light was based on him, so it technically makes him the hero among heroes (although you can play the game without a Fighter: not reccommended, but possible). As expected, he is the physical guy, very strong in both attack and HP, and he also has some other tricks later in the game. Definitely take him for your quest.

Thief: Our quick fellow, unfortunately, cannot plunder our enemies this time, but is a great ally of the running players, so if you like to escape the random encounters when they get too annoying (and they will), this is your man. He starts pretty weak, but later in the game he gets a great boost *(People who played Shining Force II know what I mean (Slade)), so choose him if you like the treasure hunter style.

Blackbelt (a.k.a Monk): This one doesn't like weapons, because he shaped his body to become one, using his fists to damage his foes. In other words, he is the cheapest member to have, as you don't have to buy him weapons or magic. Initially, he's not as good as the others above in Attack and Defense, but some say he becomes very powerful at high levels, so just give him a try if you want to see all this power for yourself (or if you just want to keep all the money for yourself).

White Mage: If the Fighter is an important member, this one is vital. HAVE ONE MEMBER BE A WHITE MAGE IN YOUR GROUP, UNDERSTAND?! Healing is important; this does not mean you'll never complete FF without a White Mage, but it makes things a lot more easier for us all the way. Also, do not go crazy on the opposite side. Having more White Mages than needed is worst than having no one at all, and I'll state more about this below.

Black Mage: Do not let those pretty yellow's eyes fool you, he is a cold killer. While the White Mage does all the healing and support, the Black Mage attacks and kills everything on his way with his magic. Both magic classes have low HP and Defense, but both are great members to be with. Oh, and one more thing: If you decide to take him (you will do so), name him after Vivi, or else you can't keep reading this walkthrough.

Red Mage: Like our Wiki page says, he follows the "Jack of all trades, master of none" way. He is average in basically everything, can wield some of the Fighter's weapons and cast low and middle white and black mage. Although he can be marvelous at the start, he is not that great in the endgame, and that's why I usually leave him behind; however, if you like people that evolve multiple abilities, though not all so well, take him.

From here, you can combine your jobs pretty much the way you want, but you should always have in your mind that a balanced party is at most times the key to success. That's why I'll be taking for this walkthrough 1 Fighter, 1 Thief, 1 White Mage and Vivi (Black Mage), as I think this one can give me ways of attacking the enemy, be faster than them and running when needed (although I'll try at max not to do it) and restoring my party. I've seen many good groups were formed by placing another physical job in the Thief's place (B.Belt/Red Mage/another Fighter), and many others that just took some unusual formations and emerged victorious. Just don't do drugs, kids...

Do you know the worst challenge in all the FF series? Emerald Weapon? Easy. Yiazmat? Laughable. Any of these "low level" playthroughs? Not at all. The most difficult thing in all the series is trying to beat this game with all the four members as White Mages. You've got no Attack, no Defense, and low HP all the way. Seriously, if any of you manage do that, you're either:

1) A RPG genius

2) Someone without a life that decided to overlevel only to win the game this way and make people think you're a genius.

Now, I think we can start the serious business, the Crystals are waiting.

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