In 1987, a dying company decided to put all its eggs in one basket and developed a title that would take the role-playing genre in a new direction. It was a bold risk and something that absolutely had to reap some sizeable benefits if the company wanted to salvage the smallest chance of surviving in the market. Thankfully, this title not only ended up selling loads of copies but also paved the way for a historic gaming series that is still going strong to this day.
Final Fantasy is one of the most legendary gaming franchises of all time, and it owes all its success to the first title, which pretty much sets the base for a brilliant title that would set the groundwork for future titles to constantly improve with new and interesting mechanics. So, it’s only a given that this historied title has been extensively researched by fans. However, given all the time they’ve spent looking at each and every aspect of this game, there are still 10 things about the title that have eluded the grasp of most fans.
10 The Game Was Rushed For A Christmas Release
Since Final Fantasy needed to sell gangbusters, to begin with, the game had to be released during a time when sales would be at their highest point. So, Square chose to keep its deadline for Christmas.
As a result, the game was rushed in the later stages of development, to the point where the game was shipped with several errors and bugs.
9 The Blind Status Effect Didn’t Work In The NES Release
The Blind status effect is one of the most iconic and effective status effects in the Final Fantasy series… so it might be surprising that its initial use was completely broken.
This status effect did absolutely nothing in the NES release because of poor coding, which is quite a surprising revelation indeed.
8 A Number Of Spells In The Game Are Broken… And Not In A Good Way
Normally, the term “broken” in the context of JRPGs is used to refer to abilities that are so powerful that they turn the entire game into a complete cakewalk.
However, in the case of the original Final Fantasy game, some of the spells were broken simply because they did not work — like Tmpr, Sabr, and Lock — or did the exact opposite of what the player intended — like how Lok2 actually increases the enemy’s evasion by 20% instead of decreasing it.
7 The Intelligence Stat Didn’t Work Because Of A Programming Error
Another error that led to a pretty important stat in the series being rendered completely useless was the Intelligence stat. This stat was supposed to govern the intensity of magic spells in the game but ended up doing nothing of the sort.
This led to ridiculous situations where a Red Mage would pretty much be superior for most of the game since their spells had the same power as a Black or White Mage.
6 A Number Of Weapons Have Special Abilities That Don’t Activate
A number of items were also affected by a rushed release, with special weapons being perhaps the most bugged of the lot.
Most special weapons had abilities that just didn’t activate. Notable examples include the Rune Sword — which didn’t affect magical enemies adversely at all — or the Xcaliber — which was supposed to be the best sword in the game but doesn’t do any extra damage to enemies.
5 It Was Heavily Inspired By Dungeons And Dragons
Any person well-versed with the basics of D&D would recognize the classes of Final Fantasy in an instant, even if they’ve never heard about the game before.
Along with this, the bestiary and combat of the first game were also inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. Honestly, it’s quite lucky for Square that TSR never thought about taking them to court.
4 Western Players Saw This Game For The First Time In 2003
Final Fantasy was one of the most legendary titles of all time, so one might assume that the first game was quickly released in the West to cash in on the hype of this franchise.
However, that wasn’t even remotely the case. In fact, most players in the West didn’t even get their hands on the first Final Fantasy until 2003, and it took even longer for the original NES version to arrive — five years, to be precise.
3 The Iconic Final Fantasy Prelude Was Made In Just Five Minutes
The prelude of Final Fantasy is one of the most iconic pieces of music ever composed, accompanying every Final Fantasy game ever since.
However, what most people might not know about is the fact that this prelude was made in just five minutes, making it one of the most rushed compositions in the entire series.
2 Yoshitaka Amano Was Initially Not Supposed To Work On The Game At All
Most people simply can’t think about Final Fantasy without attaching the name Yoshitaka Amano to it, who was a driving force in the early years of Final Fantasy and still designs the title logo of modern games to this very day.
However, during the early stages of Final Fantasy‘s development, Sakaguchi was actually against the idea of Amano working on the project since he had no clue about his mettle as an artist. This changed once he finally took a look at Amano’s brilliant artwork.
1 The Name Wasn’t Chosen Because Square Was Going Bankrupt
While Square was in dire financial straits during the development of Final Fantasy, that wasn’t the reason why the game was named this way.
Apparently, Sakaguchi just wanted the initials FF in his game, and the first thing that came to his mind was Fighting Fantasy. However, this name was already taken, and the name was switched over to Final Fantasy instead.
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