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Posted on February 8th, 2005 - 5763 Reads

Rated Everyone Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls Game Boy Review Silver Award

-- Written by Matthew Schock



 These two classics are back.

Square Enix has brought the classic Final Fantasy 1 & 2 onto the Game Boy Advance in one single, immersive game. These two games have been recreated including the addition of new items placed into the game. These two games are brought back in perfect representation, reminding use of the two classic Final Fantasies that started it all. The stories remain the same and these two classic games are brought back for a new generation of gamers.

The story lines in Final Fantasy games are always immersive, involving and entertaining. These two games are no different. In the first game, your task it to take your party, four warriors of light, in search of how to light their orbs in order to return order in the world. The story, though, changes for the second FF. This game revolves around the Palamecia Empire who, are trying to take over the entire world. You must fight with your party, which will include many characters you encounter throughout the game, to help good prevail over evil to save the world. Both stories involve you to a great extent in the games and help you shape your quests.

The gameplay in both of these games remain the same as they originally were in their first outings. I was unsure how they would incorporate the games into one cartridge, but they did it perfectly. The games were have had changes, but changes that only make the game more enjoyable. You start up the game and you are given a choice of Final Fantasy 1, Final Fantasy 2 or the Beastiary. The Beastiary shows you what monsters you have defeated including their stats such as HP. This can help you learn about the enemies you have defeated and to see what would be best suited to fight them. There is a full list of the monsters, so you will know when you have defeated all of them because the list of monsters will be full. Now onto the actual games. Both of the games are ports of the classic FF 1 and 2 titles. That is not a bad thing though, because the classic gameplay has been brought back exactly as it was before. Though, Square Enix has added new features and elements in the game. They have added features like being able to save the game anywhere you want, and even added new items into the game such as Phoenix Down, a potion to revive a KO'd party member. These two games play pretty much the game with few differences here and there. FF 2 includes a system to remember things told to you by using the learn function. You can then ask people questions about these learned terms when you talk to them to learn more about items you need to find. The gameplay, with the new added features is quite easy to pick up on with easy to use controls and menus. The gameplay remains fluid and new additions have been added to the game such as mini games at certain points, which can be found by pushing certain button sequences. The options are very easy to set up such as choosing your equipment, changing your party around. The menus differ between the two games, and the menus are even easier to navigate in FF2. The games include a great variety of items to use such as magic spells, weapons such as swords or axes, different types of armour and many different potions. There are new items created just for these two games, which make it even more fun than the previous versions. Other new items added include upgraded cut scenes using the power of the GBA to create even better graphics in this cut scenes relating to the story. The stories are un-touched and are still just as fun as the original versions of the game. The game plays very well with the party system and is exploring around the vast territory helps you to level up to face against those harder monsters.

The graphics in this game have been well done by Square Enix. The battle animations are great and depict the different attacks and moves very clearly. With the small screen, they created a game with a great amount of detail, which allows you to determine what everything on the screen is. The environments are very clear and crisp and the detail put into them is great as well. The cut-scenes have excellent graphics and have been added since the original versions of the games. This game has the classic look of the Final Fantasy series and looks great on the GBA despite its reconstruction.

The sound in this game is like every Final Fantasy game, great. The sound is very suiting for the Final Fantasy game and the sounds during other events such as certain events or battles, is very well done. The sound effects are very well placed and help you get into the game once you start playing. The music in the game sets the mood just like in all of the classic Final Fantasy games. The music is mild and not overpowering and contributes to the whole feel of the game.

This is a great package. It is like buying two great RPG's for the price of one. Both of these games play extremely well and are both very fun. Some of you might have already played the original versions, but this game is upgraded so much that it is well worth the time to play it. Square Enix has done an excellent job of bringing back these classic titles onto the GBA. After Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, this is another great reminder why they are so well known for their RPG's. This package is a great bundle of two great games that include hours upon hours of gameplay. There are many new features to discover such as hidden mini games and new dungeons, which means these classic RPG's are better than ever before.

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