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This was... not nearly as draining as Phantasy Star 4 ended up, oddly.
Maybe it's because I didn't try to play by its rules - I kept maps open to see where I was going, I played the GBA remake instead of the NES original (which had a few quality of life upgrades like a traditional MP system, auto-retarget if you're primed to attack a corpse, and the ability to save anywhere), and even playing through a GBA emulator I made frequent use of the fast forward button.
FF1 is a slow game, even if it's incredibly light on the content compared to more recent RPGs. I don't just mean that in game-speed (though even on the GBA, things seemed oddly plodding with attack animations and the like). The thing is, it was totally designed that way. Bringing back the "this was someone's D&D campaign" from the PS4 snippet, this game is totally a member of the Gygaxian "dungeon as obstacle course" mindset. Each and every dungeon is meant to be a careful balance of your resources and abilities. Enemies are obstacles - battles are rocket tag, but they aren't always over quick in your favor, since random encounters adore raining status effects down on you in droves. It was rare to get through a random battle in this game without at least one of my party members paralyzed or poisoned, at least until I started finding ribbons. Every action, in battle and out of it, has a cost that needs to be weighed. Things are, surprisingly, mostly balanced... at least in the version where all the early NES bugs got beaten to death. You know, bugs like 99% of the stat-buff spells just flat out not working.
Oddly, bosses were... not as much of a threat as randos,ass toastAstos excepted. Sure, they did a lot of damage and soaked quite a few hits, but they generally weren't crippling my party with mass petrification or paralysis or the like. It was also one single boss at a time, as opposed to Nine Obnoxiotrons all trying to murder you at once. It's kind of interesting, in that it's a complete and total inversion of my usual FF fare (aka FF5), but that's just my own thoughts on it.
I can see why the game got a lot of love and support and remakes across the 30 years it's existed. Why it has a healthy fanbase and even its own Randomizer Romhack now. It's not perfect by any means, but it lends itself well to toying around and seeing what you can do.
But, eh. I don't particularly see myself going back to finish the bonus dungeons with the cameo bosses from later in the series, or trying other runs. It's good for what it is, just not really for me.
Maybe it's because I didn't try to play by its rules - I kept maps open to see where I was going, I played the GBA remake instead of the NES original (which had a few quality of life upgrades like a traditional MP system, auto-retarget if you're primed to attack a corpse, and the ability to save anywhere), and even playing through a GBA emulator I made frequent use of the fast forward button.
FF1 is a slow game, even if it's incredibly light on the content compared to more recent RPGs. I don't just mean that in game-speed (though even on the GBA, things seemed oddly plodding with attack animations and the like). The thing is, it was totally designed that way. Bringing back the "this was someone's D&D campaign" from the PS4 snippet, this game is totally a member of the Gygaxian "dungeon as obstacle course" mindset. Each and every dungeon is meant to be a careful balance of your resources and abilities. Enemies are obstacles - battles are rocket tag, but they aren't always over quick in your favor, since random encounters adore raining status effects down on you in droves. It was rare to get through a random battle in this game without at least one of my party members paralyzed or poisoned, at least until I started finding ribbons. Every action, in battle and out of it, has a cost that needs to be weighed. Things are, surprisingly, mostly balanced... at least in the version where all the early NES bugs got beaten to death. You know, bugs like 99% of the stat-buff spells just flat out not working.
Oddly, bosses were... not as much of a threat as randos,
I can see why the game got a lot of love and support and remakes across the 30 years it's existed. Why it has a healthy fanbase and even its own Randomizer Romhack now. It's not perfect by any means, but it lends itself well to toying around and seeing what you can do.
But, eh. I don't particularly see myself going back to finish the bonus dungeons with the cameo bosses from later in the series, or trying other runs. It's good for what it is, just not really for me.
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