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An excellent collection

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 38 / 41
Date: May 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Circa 2001, Squaresoft made the rather smart move of rereleasing some of its classic eight and sixteen-bit RPGs on the Playstation, featuring new animated cut scenes, graphics, and play features. Three packages of this sort were released - Final Fantasy Origins (Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II), Final Fantasy Chronicles (Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV), and Final Fantasy Anthology (Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI.) Now, at long last, these collections have been rereleased as Greatest Hits titles. Read on for my review of Final Fantasy Anthology.

PROS:
-INCLUDED IN THIS SET IS FINAL FANTASY VI (previously released in America on the Super Nintendo as Final Fantasy III.) This game has often been called one of the greatest Super Nintendo RPGs of all time, but has long since been tough to come by. Now, at long last, Square has made it readily available again!
-ALSO INCLUDED IN THE SET IS FINAL FANTASY V (previously unreleased in America.) Although not a popular Final Fantasy game, or even one of the better games in the series, it's still a good game, and it's great to finally have it available in America.
-FINAL FANTASY VI FEATURES A NEW, MORE ACCURATE TRANSLATION. The original translation of Final Fantasy IV for the Super Nintendo featured edited dialogue (many a good RPG gets its dialogue butchered in the Japanese/English translation phase. Hell, they didn't get the TITLE of the game right when they originally translated it!) Now, at long last, the game has been translated into English the way it was meant to be experienced.
-THE COLLECTION FEATURES A NEW EXTRAS MODE. Now, as you play through and beat the games, you unlock an assortment of bonus features! These greatly improve the replay value.

CONS:
-IF YOU ALREADY OWN FINAL FANTASY VI FOR THE SUPER NINTENDO, THIS PACKAGE ISN'T REALLY WORTH BUYING. VI is by far the highlight of this package. V is a good game, but it's just not one of the better ones in the series. Accordingly, if you already own VI for the Super Nintendo, don't bother with this set (unless you're a die-hard fan of the series who finally wants to own an English language version of V.)

OVERALL:
Overall this isn't a perfect package, but it's still excellent. If you're a fan of classic RPGs, and you want two of the finest games of the genre, don't hesitate to pick up this package. It's really doubtful that this collection will fail to please any fan of games of the genre.

You'll Love This Package

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 38 / 46
Date: January 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is actually 2 games with a bonus music CD. Final Fantasy 5 was never released in the US, although some people reading this may have played an emulated version. It is a good game even without the graphical flare of Final Fantasy 6. It has a job system and it basically follows classic Square RPG format. Final Fantasy 6 is a better game and it probably set the mark for all RPG's following it. It's graphics, although now outdated, are still colorful and good. The music is awesome, simply put. You'll be humming these tunes at work or school all day. Every character has his/her own special skill which is a nice addition. The Esper system is easy to use and magic can be learned by all characters. The one point this game falls short of its SNES relative is loading time. It's not a big change, but it is noticeable....thats why only 4 stars. The new cut scenes pick up a little slack for the slow load time. The music CD is good but somewhat incomplete. There should have been more tracks on it.

All things included, this was MUCH more satisfying than Final Fantasy 8. Instead of releasing FF8, Square should have released this and made 8 better. If you liked Final Fantasy for the SNES, get this!

Blast from the past

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 26 / 32
Date: November 23, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I wasn't going to buy this game at first, but nostalgia got the best of me. I'll start of with the bonuses. You get a CD of game music along with the games Final Fantasy V and VI. I was really disappointed with this though. The tracks chosen for the bonus CD are boring and repetitive. What, no tracks for the Kefka theme, final battle themes, etc? A few were okay. Another thing I'd like to explain before I review the games is that Final Fantasy IV was included in the Japanese version of FF Anthology, but not ours. The FMV is amazing, especially for FFVI. It is less awe inspiring than FFVII but the style and design is less cold. The bonuses you get after beating FFVI (lists of monsters, espers, stats) are nice but anticlimactic.

FFV

This game was mediocre. The story is the weakest of all the final fantasies. Final Fantasy 8 has a much more interesting story than any installment, except possibly FF6. Characters are pathetically paper thin. It's the same old whoever controls the crystals, controls the world story. The pirate character has the irritating habit of saying "D'arrrrr" before every sentence. The only saving grace is the challenge.

FFVI

This, I believe, is where the series really gets good. Squaresoft took the whole Star Wars "Empire" plot but it stays fresh and interesting. The main villain, Kefka, is actually funny(and kind of fruity). It is a nice contrast to all the stereotypical "Darth Vader" type villains. If only Square had made this with current Playstation technology. The music is good but I disagree with all the FF freaks that think it is the best. The music is composed well but WAY too limited by the hardware. The loops are too small, thus making the music somewhat repetitive. I do agree that in newer installments the music is not "medieval" enough (but I feel the same way about how the theme in general has moved). As for gameplay, I like it better than the "job system" of FF5. I like how only one character can use certain special skills. I also like the emphasis at the end of the game on finding special items rather than so much boring level building.

My first real console RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: June 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Final Fantasy VI, or 3 on the Super Nintendo, was the second console RPG I played. (The first was "Lagoon" on the SNES, which was good.) I still believe that FF6 is one of the best of the Final Fantasy series. It has excellent character development, a good story, and for the first time, a villain with a background and personality. Up until this point, most RPG villains were "Mwa, ha ha, I'm Evil!!!" villains who were evil to have someone evil in the story. In FF6, Emperor Ghestalt and Kefka are deeper than that. One realizes too late that his greed has doomed him, the other is insane because he was the subject of magical/medical experiments. I have played this game six times, more than any other RPG.

Final Fantasy V was good. While I think FF6 was a little better, this is the first time FF5 was released in the US. It was interesting, and obviously the predecessor of the job system used in Final Fantasy Tactics. I think it was worth playing.

The Best Final Fantasy Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 17
Date: March 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Final Fantasy VI is the best Final Fantasy game of all time. And the Final Fantasy games are the best RPGs of all time. (It makes you wonder how Square could slip so quickly into the poor FF7). The graphics are old, but not bad. Both games suffer from terrible load times. Rumor has it that the reason the FF4 was not included in the US version is because the upsizing to Playstation was so bad that the game was practically unplayable.

FFV and FFVI don't have the same action feel as newer games, and they don't have the addictive quality that newer games have. However, the story line and character development far surpass anything else every created. FF Anthology is a great game that I suggest anyone who likes RPGs pick up.

One side note: I think the RPG fan base is split between those who like action, and those who like story and interactivity. The former group won't like this game as much as the latter. I only have a slight toleration for FF7 and FF Tactics. However, I love Crono Trigger, Saga Frontier, and the FF games before 7.

If you want characters and interactions that are so real you'd swear it's a novel with graphics, this is the game for you.

Gotta love retro-gaming

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: November 29, 1999
Author: Amazon User

It's nice when companies re-release the old games with a new twist. I loved these games when they were out on the snes and I love them now. The added bonus is that they added beautiful CG in to the story. Also they put a really good feature that I've wanted to see for some time...2-player combat. Instead of your buddy sitting and watching you play they can get involved and assist you in destroying your enemies. Hope you have fun with this one.

Even if your mildly interested in Role playing games, buy it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: May 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

"Final Fantasy Anthology" is, arguably, squares greatest role playing game release for the playstation yet."Final Fantasy Anthology" features three discs. The first disc is "Final Fantasy V", the second disc is "Final Fantasy VI" and the third is a collection of favorite tunes from both games. Both games contain epic plots, battles between good and evil, dragons, magic, insane evil, and other fantasy elements expressed at their best.

Final Fantasy VI

Many centuries have passed since the War of the Magi, in which god-like monsters with tremendous magical powers were used. Civilizations have been rebuilt with iron, machines, and technology. For years, the ancient Espers have existed only as lost lengends. Now an Esper has been discovered and the forces of magic are starting to return. The risk of another, more devastating war is about to surface.

Enter Terra. Shrouded in mystery, Terra is a young 16 year old girl stricken with amnesia. Imprisoned by the malicous villian Kefka, Terra is forced to joined his evil cause. She is the only being on the planet able to use magic, a talent which she she was born with. While exploring a cave, she unearths a Esper, and it kills her comrades, who hold her captive, allowing her to escape. Assisted by Lock, A wandering Theif, Celes, A traitor to Kefka, and many more comrades, Terra must learn the secret that is her past, and prevent the destruction of the planet.

The story and plot for this game is simply fantastic, and each character is engaging, with fascinating personalities. Each character has a interesting past, discovered and slowly revealed by clever plot twists. The story is, in my opinion, ingeniuis. Kefka wins my vote for best villian. Also impressive is the well written character dialouge. At times, it is extremely heart-rending and emotionanly charged; I personally find it refreshing for an modern day role playing game that does not fail to deliver well developed characters and touching writing.

It loved the depth of the characters. Many current Role-playing-games now adays tend to toss the character development in the dumpster. Even the newest final fantasy offering, "Final Fantasy VIII" suffers from shallow character personalities, but with "final fantasy VI" that is not the case.

If this game has one flaw, it is its weak graphics. The look is extremly dated. Even the beautiful movies inserted into this game do not help much, as they lack the quality of some of the newer offerings, such as "Final Fantasy VII" or "Final Fantasy VII", and are, for the most part, very brief.

The gameplay is excellent though. Each character has special talents used for combat,( Terra can turn into a Esper like being, Locke can pickpocket, Celes can absorb magic spells,etc). Characters can also equiqe Espers. The more battles you win, the stronger your esper becomes, and when it reaches a certain level, it will bestow a magic spell upon the bearer. It will also allow bearer to get bouneses to their attributes as they gain experence levels.

When you combine rock-solid game play, involving characters, twistingly clever storyline, terrifying villians, and more, the result is "Final Fantasy VI", a undeniable masterpiece that is, arguably, the greatest RPG of all time.

Final Fantasy V

The world thrived on the power of four particular crystals- Wind, Earth, Fire, and Water.With the power of Wind, people sailed ships. With the power of Fire, they began the industrial movement. With Water, people quenched their thirst, and from Earth, they received blessings.

One day, the Tycoon King, upon feeling an irregularity in the air currents, rushed to the Wind Shrine, only to find the Wind Crystal shattering to pieces right before his eyes. In addition to this catastrophe, an enormous meteor had fallen to the ground, causing earthquakes in the surrounding land near Tycoon Castle.

Unbeknownst to them, this event is about to bring four people fronm different walks of life together on a common journey. There is Faris, a pirate who felt the impending disaster of the Wind; Galuf, a mysterious old soldier who has lost his memory due to the force of the fallen meteor; Reina, a girl who has left Tycoon Castle in search of her father; and Bartz, a wandering traveler.

Why did the crystal shatter? What hapend to the missing Tycoon King? What meaning does the fallen meteor have?

The answers will start to unfold as this grand adventure filled filled with new encounters and many mysteries begins......

The first thing you will notice about "Final Fantasy V" is its rather dated look graphic-wise, a flaw that riddles "Final Fantasy VI" as well. for FF5 and FF6 time, however, the un-detailed sprite grahics by todays standards, but where considered decent when the game was released, and the monster design is somewhat decent, and tend to look pretty fierce.

But unlike "Final Fantasy VI", this game suffers from a rather weak plot. The plot lacks the clever twist and suttle magic of "Final Fantasy VI", and one may begin to wonder why this final fantasy was never previously released on our shores. Maybe its sucess was uncertain?

Also unlike "Final Fantasy VI" is the mediocre character development. All the characters seemed genuinely shallow and lacked enough depth to keep me satisfied. The only main character with a fair amount of depth was Ferris, a pirate.

However, what it loses in plot and character it makes up for with its solid gameplay. It's complexity is very high and it may puzzle and frusterate some and cause them to turn away, despite how good it could become. As soon as you pick up the first crystal shards, characters can select a certain such as a valent fighter, a spell-slinging magic user, a sly thief, etc. And as you battle the monsters and demons of this world, you collect more and more experence points. Eventually, you will be rewarded with new skills and powers related the class that you have chosen. While it may be a bore at first to level up your characters, as you learn more and more skills, the gameplay starts to enchant you as you attempt to level up your characters, and the gameplay then hits the borderlines of addictive.

"Final Fantasy V" is not, by any means, a flawless experence. The graphics are lacking. The characters are shallow. But due to the gameplay,"Final Fantasy V", is a RPG experence that is not to missed.

Final fantasy VI:***** (five stars)

Final fantast V:**** (four stars)

Music CD:***** (four stars)

Well, what are you waiting for? I will give several reasons why you should buy it.

1. Its cheap, price-wise.

2. The music CD is incredible. Track 21, Entitled "prelude" a.k.a the classic final fantasy theme, and the song "Terra" are some of the best video game songs I have every heard. The songs on the CD are melodic and beautifully composed.

3. "Final Fantasy VI" is still the pinnacle of Role playing games.

4. "Final Fantasy V" is much more entertaining than what many of the critics are saying.

5. JUST BUY IT!

Living in the Past: Squaresoft does it again!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: May 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Okay, so I thought that Square would enhance the actual game insome way or at least stick cinemas in at different places. I expecteda whole new gaming experience.

And I got one.

Sure, they didn't put in anything new, but taht can be just as good as bad. Playing the original Final Fantasy VI felt great...I just wish the music had been enhanced (especially for FFV). But let's take a more detailed look at it all.

Final Fantasy V

Square never released FFV here in the U.S. of A., and so the only way I've ever played it was on a translated ROM for my computer. A fairly difficult-to-beat game with lots of fun and surprises. This is where Final Fantasy Tactics' famous job-system got its start. This is where the Summoned Monsters and Guardian Forces came around for the first time. (Okay, so I laughed at them when I saw them in this game, but hey, they would've been awesome when the game was first released!) The challenge is medium to intense, the graphics are okay (enough to keep you entertained), and the story is fairly humorous, but definitely interesting. But music is where Final Fantasy V truly excels. The inclusion of the Final Fantasy Prelude (also known as the Crystal Song) and the Final Fantasy Anthem (played at the Elder Tree during the ending and during the credits of FF7 and FF8) bring the game to life and immerse you in the (for lack of a better word) WEIRD world of Final Fantasy V. Total rating on a scale of 1 to 10: 8.

Final Fantasy VI

Released in the USA as Final Fantasy III, the original was voted the best RPG of the year in its time. The remake does not disappoint. Would Final Fantasy Anthology sell without this one included? NO -- WAY. The level of improvement graphically and musically over FFV is amazing! The Anthology also includes opening and ending cinemas rendered with Square's best techniques, the same techniques that will be used for the Final Fantasy Movie. Overall rating on a scale of 1 to 10: 9.

In conclusion, this title is well worth the money to buy, but I do suggest you rent first to make sure you can put up with the out-of-date graphics, etc...

"Follow your dream always, and your regrets will be few." ~~Jacob Seth Kuntzman

Review

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: December 05, 1999
Author: Amazon User

The Final Fantasy Anthology is the re-release of two classic Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI (III in America). Both games are graphically dated, meaning that they use the Super Famicon (Super Nintendo) graphics - pixelated sprites...all 16 bits. Although it may not contain the same amount of eye-candy as the newer RPG's out there, these two games are simply two of the best in the genre. While the plot to FFV is very cliched, it's not the plot that makes this game shine. This game (not previously released in America) is known for its 'Job System'. This job system allows the player to customize their characters and let them learn new and different abilities, obviously allowing for different strategies for beating the game. FFVI is probably one of the best RPGs of all time, and certainly is much better than some of the newer game. This game revolutionized RPG's and set a new standard for how games in the genre should be made (although rarely followed nowadays). The game's plot is great, and really gets deep at some points. The plot of the game focuses upon a new Empire, seeking the lost knowledge of magic. The game's characters are heavily focused upon, letting the player get to know each of them. Gameplay is outstanding...with the fact that each character has their own set ability. Magic is done with magic points, and can only be used by learing them from Espers. Both these games contain great music, and the anthology contains a soundtrack which (is supposed to, but doesn't) has both games greatest music sets. Although there is a slowdown on FFVI (due to the fact that it's an emulation), it is nothing that can't be overlooked. Especially since this is one of the greatest RPG's. The only other problem with the anthology is that SquareSoft had not included Final Fantasy IV. Other than this, both games are great...even though they may not have as good graphics as other games.

The old is sometimes better than the new!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: December 11, 1999
Author: Amazon User

FF Anthology is a great collection of RPG Masterpieces. There is no doubt about that, But for people who focus their rating on a game for it's graphics, they will ultimately hate these games, because it's graphics are mediocre, compared to other 32-bit RPG's. That's because square wanted to keep the _classic feel_ in the game. Those who like graphics, and focus on that entirely, stop reading now. You will be dissapointed with this game. But for those who are familiar with the low-par graphics of most RPG's(except for FF7 and 8) keep reading.

This anthology gives you a re-dip into the best RPG of all time, FFVII(III in US). This game not only has decent graphics, but it also has great gameplay. By that i mean every character has different abilitys and skills. No two are alike, this seems to be a rarity in new RPG's(a la FF7 and 8) they have the _everyone can do everything_ motive which i despise. In FF6, the gameplay is suberb. You have to decide who you will want for the next battle, and yes, it does make a big difference who you pick. Unlike FF7, Tifa and Yuffie can have the same exact abilities and skills, which dulls the fun in the game. Time-wise, this game offers 50+ hours of non-stop challenges, 80+ if you want to find everthing. FF6 is by far the best RPG ever made. Now..About FFV.

Finally, in a 5 yr wait, US RPGmaniacs(like myself) get to experience the long lost RPG from Japan. Once again, for people who like graphics, just don't even think about playing this game. The graphics in this game are way below-par. They are terrible, but if you just bit your lip and take the graphics out of your mind, you will find the most unique battle-system ever, the Job Class System.(Yes Yes Yes! )

The Job Class System(a la FF tactics) lets you pick your characters _job_ or abilities from a long list of choices. Just picture Final Fantasy Tactics as a RPG and you have FFV in a nutshell. The only gripe i have is the redundant story line...(blah blah world is dying, blah blah save the world, blah blah destroy the evil one...) get my point? But you will be rewarded for your disspointment of the plot. There are FMV movies riddeled throughout each game!(Start dancing!) but you will have to deal with the plague of the playstation... loading time.(pause..then resume dancing!) all because they throw in a soundtrack with all your favorite songs from final fantasy. That enough to keep you dancing for a long time!

Overall, i loved this game, and if you look past it's little amount of flaws, then you will agree with me too, that the old is sometimes better than the new!

Jeremy, The RPG Monarch

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