Final Fantasy V

| genre = Role-playing

| modes = Single-player, multiplayer

is a 1992 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. It is the fifth main installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game begins as a wanderer named Bartz investigates a fallen meteor. There, he encounters several characters, one of whom reveals the danger facing the four Crystals that control the world's elements. These Crystals act as a seal on Exdeath, an evil sorcerer. Bartz and his party must keep the Crystals from being exploited by Exdeath's influence and prevent his resurgence.

It has been ported with minor differences to Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. An original video animation produced in 1994 called Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals serves as a sequel to the events depicted in the game. It was released for the PlayStation Network on April 6, 2011, in Japan. An enhanced port of the game, with new high-resolution graphics and a touch-based interface, was released for iPhone and iPad on March 28, 2013, for Android on September 25 the same year and for Windows on September 24, 2015. A more enhanced re-release of the game as part of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series, was released on November 10, 2021 for Android, iOS, and Windows, for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on April 19, 2023, and for Xbox Series X/S on September 26, 2024.

Final Fantasy V has been praised for the freedom of customization that the player has over the characters, achieved through the greatly expanded Job System. Despite being released only in Japan at the time, the Super Famicom version sold more than two million copies. The PlayStation version has earned "Greatest Hits" status, selling more than 350,000 copies.

Gameplay

thumb|A battle with Gilgamesh taken from the PlayStation version, the rerelease port of the original Super Famicom version with the official English translation

Final Fantasy V includes many standard role-playing elements as well as renovated features introduced in earlier Final Fantasy games. Players navigate from a top-down perspective; a traversable overworld connects the various towns, dungeons, and other points of interest. The player can traverse the overworld by foot, Chocobo, hydra-guided ship, wind drake, or airship, depending on the situation. Most towns contain scattered inns for resting, shops for purchasing equipment, and people from whom the player can gain information. The player may also embark on several side quests that become available as the story progresses. This plan was quickly aborted. Translator Ted Woolsey explained in a 1994 interview, "[Final Fantasy V is] just not accessible enough to the average gamer". Square released 50,000 limited edition copies of the collection which included a Final Fantasy-themed alarm clock. Kitase, who produced Final Fantasy VII Remake, also expressed a desire to remake Final Fantasy V.

A 2D pixel remaster was released in North America for Steam, iOS, and Android on November 10, 2021. Unlike the previous remake, many of the features added in the GameBoy Advance remake are absent from this version. The Pixel Remaster version was later released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X|S in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Sequel

In 1994, Square released an original video animation sequel to Final Fantasy V, simply titled Final Fantasy. Produced by animation studio Madhouse, the anime was released in four 30-minute VHS tapes in Japan and was set two hundred years after the game.

| RPG = SNES: 5/10

| TA = iOS: 4/5 Final Fantasy V topped the Japanese sales charts in December 1992 and January 1993, selling 2 million copies during its first two months of release. and ended the year as the second best-selling game of 1992 in Japan (below Dragon Quest V).

Final Fantasy V went on to sell a total of 2.45 million units for the Super Famicom in Japan. The Japanese Game Boy Advance version has also sold nearly 260,000 copies as of December 2007. Regarding later import western reviews, 1UPs staff claimed that, while the game's story was "very weak", the gameplay was "another story", heavily praising the job system and the feature to combine abilities from different job classes, and gave it a score of B−. with CGMagazine additionally lauding it as "the best translation to date". RPGFan considered the Pixel Remaster as "the best the game has ever looked". Siliconera praised the updated visuals and more detailed backgrounds. They also gave praise to the addition of re-orchestrated version of the soundtrack, but noted that "some tracks didn't have that same kind of punchiness as the original songs" and that "some of the re-orchestrated music could be very hit-or-miss for those fond of the original release". They likewise called the reimagined pixel artwork "hit-or-miss for die-hard fans". CGMagazine called Final Fantasy V "a criminally underrated Final Fantasy game", and considered that "the Pixel Remaster is a great version of it", remarking how "formative" it was, having evolved and melded the Job system of I and III with the heavier storytelling of II and IV; and noted that its expanded gameplay, presentation, and expressive animations all paved the way for future entries, ending by stating that "V walked so VI, VII, could run".

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External links

Official Final Fantasy V website (US Anthology version)
Nintendo's Official Final Fantasy V Advance website
Official Final Fantasy V Advance website (Japanese)

Gameplay

Sequel

Further reading

External links