Final Fantasy Adventure (1991)

Solid game but comes with the trappings of an older Gameboy action/adventure...decent yet fairly generic story, controls a bit janky, and level design that can make it difficult to figure out where to go next.

The difficulty is manageable, but I did waste a couple hours navigating where I needed to go so a guide may be good for those that don't want to deal with that.

Would recommend for those that like retro games similar to the original Zelda in feel.

Preliminary: Welp, after 6 years, we are back to here. I think I might have a stronger appreciation for this since it predates Link to the Past and Link's Awakening. And this title screen and beginning tune bodes well!

And this reminds me of Pokemon so much

Early Game

Things are moving surprisingly fast for this era. Nice. The storyline is interesting so far. And I love the sword swipe movement. Your character certainly moves faster than I expected.

Now that I'm really going this is very blatantly the first Zelda on Gameboy haha. But hey, they did it first. And it feels smoother and , so far, more fun than the first Zelda tbh. And gasp, there's an actual plotline! Haha. Unfortunately, the clunkiness and mediocre collision masks are becoming more noticeable, but it's still good so far. And I'm liking the music a lot.

I'm really enjoying this so far. Just did my gfirst grind to afford the new Helmet, and got 2 levels along the way. This is solid. Can't believe I found it just average the first time I played it. Well, I loved it, but kept comparing it to Link's Awakening wihch really isn't fair. Plus this has a strong plotline and true RPG elements/leveling up. Nice.

These jumping and flying enemies are a bti annoying (I know that's the point, but still, this angle isn't great for depth and whatnot... or at least let me jump too! That would've been cool). but I'm still loving the item retrieval and adventure elements. The later Zeldas are so akin to this (wow even the pots and the house near a marsh, so many memories coming back), tho this obviously borrowed heavily from the first 2 Zeldas too.

It could have benefited from a stun/blowback feature when you successfully hit an enemy, quite unclear with this setup and gets a bit annoying when entering a screen etc.

The map sure could use some work, but again reminds me of the later Zeldas namely Link's Awakening and the other GB ones :-p

Lol this random guy in the Marsh Cave looks a whole lot like a Red Mage >.> The music really had been impressing me, with both Zelda vibes and sentimental FF vibes, but last few tunes have just been annoying FF dungeon vibes.

Positive: Dang I keep flying up levels! Negative: Switching between Items to equip is a bit annoying, like Keys and the Mattock etc. The first real boss was a bit annoying, mostly due to the iffy collision masks. I'm still enjoying the game but it's definitely starting to get a bit chore-esque, as some action-adventures do. Hopefully the music or plotline boosts back up.

The collision masks continue to be quite bad and annoying. And I get needing a variety of tactics for enemies but these enemies that can only be damaged by magic... I don't get nearly enough MP (tho maybe that's also cuz I am mostly training Power at level ups haha)

Dang I just got an item that raised my Wisdom a bunch :-p (oh it was only temporary). But ehhh really considering stopping. It's like, I have to give this credit for being the genre I normally love and clearly doing a lot of things before Link's Awakening but... Link to the Past is coming up, and this one has so many faults in the gameplay... it's super cool to see the dungeon designs and layouts/Looks of the blocks look exactly like Link's Awakening released 2 years later, but I dunno. Not only the collision masks but also the way you have to switch to Magic and Items to use, very tedious for an action-adventure it should've been more fluid.

Oooo I love the Chain Flail, reminiscient of the Hookshot in later Zeldas but also a Castlevania whip heh. Ugh, to continue or not... So many great firsts/precedents, but not having that much fun in an era that I should have high standards.

Yeahhh I'm moving on. I had just saved Fuji (the femme character) and was heading back to the beginning of the dungeon. Just wasn't having enough fun and the incorporation of spells into the action-adventure was not as well-done as it could have been.

Look: 7.5/10 I'll never not love the Gameboy color scheme, and this had a clear influence on so many later beloved games. But I can't claim it was spectacular or truly ahead of its time.

Sound: 7.5/10 I really really liked some tunes, but it was devolving into the usual gameboy dungeon-y sound

Play: 7.5/10 So much potential here, and a lot of great ideas. Just falls flat in actual gameplay. Especially the collision masks, the tedious way of switching between usable Items and Spells, and the enemy mechanics. A big positive is the speed of menu controls though, and everything felt quite fast-paced which is a nice change of, well, pace.

Feel: 8/10 Start of the Mana series, an action-adventure FF game, lots to Feel good about this. Even the plot and ideas are really good, doing a lot of firsts for games I love.

Attachment: 8/10 I mean I had beat it once before, and still returned to it. Sad to say it didn't hold up as well as I had hoped: in some ways it was positive in that I saw that it hadn't copied Link's Awakening, instead it predated it. It also was faster-paced and had great concepts for its time. However they really fell short in the nitty gritty of the Play. Part of my wanted to keep playing, keep finding walls I could break through etc, but most of me remembers I don't love the first Zelda's enemy mechanics, and this adding the can-only-be-hurt-by-X mechanics only worsened that. Much better executions of these ideas to come!

Overall: 7.7/10

Completion: Freed Fuji from Kett's dungeon

Playtime: ~1h 30m

Managed to pry myself away from Tears of the Kingdom for long enough to finish the final boss of Final Fantasy Adventure! I've given the Seiken Densetsu franchise many chances, because as a Zelda fan, it just felt natural that Square's action-RPG series would be down my alley. But despite trying to start Secret of Mana several times, it has never been able to catch my interest for more than a few hours. I tried the remake of Trials of Mana, which got me to stick around for quite a bit longer, but I eventually lost interest and never beat it as well.

Final Fantasy Adventure, the first title of the Seiken Densetsu series, is far from the first game in the series that gets recommended online. Strangely enough, though, it has become the only entry in the series that has thus far kept my attention for a full playthrough. Perhaps that is because of its relative short length and simplicity, because it's far from a perfect experience.

This game is most similar to the original NES Legend of Zelda. Like in the original Zelda, you explore an expansive overworld and delve into labyrinthine dungeons. You grow your character and collect items that not only help you in combat, but also help you reach new areas of the overworld. Dungeons can be confusing mazes that require you to find breakable walls, and while there are a few puzzles here and there, they are very simple in nature. Combat is the focus of this adventure.

Final Fantasy Adventure sets itself apart in a few key ways. It's heavily story-driven and linear, much more so than any of the early Zelda games. For a Game Boy title, you might not expect much from the dialogue, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of emotional impact I felt from some of the story beats, and most especially from the ending. The linearity of the overworld works pretty well for the first half of the game, but in the game's later acts, it can be very confusing to find your next objective, and I was forced to consult walkthroughs at times. It doesn't help that the overworld map offered by the game is pretty useless for navigation.

There is basic RPG-style character progression on offer, where you collect experience from killing monsters to level up your stats. It's a simple, but functional system. You have access to several magical spells as well, but I found most of them to be pretty useless except for the Cure spell that heals your HP. Friendly characters sometimes join you in your adventure as the story requires, but their behavior feels completely random and they never felt helpful.

This all comes together into a game that feels relatively primitive compared to something like Link's Awakening. But if you consider that Final Fantasy Adventure came out in 1991 before even A Link to the Past, it becomes a little easier to cut it some slack for its many dated elements. And there are many--whether it’s the 4-directional movement, menu-heavy inventory management, dull enemy behavior or janky combat. Final Fantasy Adventure is a neat slice of gaming history and was ambitious for its time, but ultimately it is far from the strongest game of this type for its era. Definitely worth a try if you're interested in the action-RPG or action-adventure genres, but don't expect the cream of the crop.

God did not intend for Square to make Final Fantasy Adventure for the Game Boy. They dashingly misstep while constructing a console-scale adventure, action, and roleplaying game. The friction between the game and its physical medium results in something beyond and tethered to the realities of a handheld title.

The game is immense, containing over 225 map tiles and a dozen sizeable dungeons. The story hustles to keep up with the scale, shuffling you between subcontinents before opening up in the finale. Multiple, short characters arcs are fulfilled while navigating multiple, long mystery threads. You'll use an armory of primary weapons with unique special moves and supplemental magic. About the only rpg wishlist items missing are customizeable characters and non-linearity.

Everything listed is tempered by hardware and pride. Menu's for weapons, magic, and ally abilities are slow and frequent. You'll spend more than half of the game using just the Morning Star solely to avoid pressing Start. Only the sword has unique special attack behaviors. A mere two stat progressions seem viable, but you'll progress so quickly that even binary choice won't matter. Ice is the only unique magic and luckily is used for nearly every puzzle. Bosses are the only unique enemies and luckily the final dungeon only repeats bosses three times.

Ultimately, the game is long. Dungeons are long, with limited sprite pallets and plentiful but spiritually similar enemy types. The story hustles to match, with repeating concepts, worldwide backtracking, and plentiful but indistinct NPCs.

Final Fantasy Adventure is loud, verbose, and, if humans were destined to play only one game a year, may have even been eloquent. Square decided to box God, bloodied His nose, and lost the bout, but goddamn... who wants to see the rematch?

Thanks to the Collection of Mana on Switch I now have access to Final Fantasy Adventure, a game that I haven't ever played, but seemed to have potential.

Final Fantasy Adventure is a Gameboy game, so it has a lot of the issues that games from that console have, slow text boxes, relatively simple story, and mediocre at best dialogue.

But, there is a lot to love in this game if you can look past the faults of its era.

The music is surprisingly good, especially for Gameboy. It's main tracks nail the exploration vibes and the boss fight track is awesome. The "dramatic scene" track falls a little flat, but this is more due to the scenes themselves I think.

The game play is where the game shines, you have an impressive array of weapons to choose from throughout your journey, each with different advantages and weaknesses, as well as "super" attacks. As you continue your journey you find upgraded versions of these weapons, some of which have perks of their own.

This makes the relatively simple D-pad and A button combat feel more rewarding, because you can plot out which weapons and powers to use.

There is also a magic system, it's ok, I basically used it to spam heal, as I found the combat spells were too hit or miss to warrant the drain on MP.

Perhaps the coolest thing is the vast range of boss fights in the game, each with solid designs and unique attacks. If 50% of the game is exploring and slaying random beasts, about 20% of the remainder is fighting epic bosses throughout the stages.

I think the biggest weakness of the game is how much of the progression of the story is hidden behind secrets that would be really tough to find. I played with a walkthrough open the entire time, so that I wouldn't hit points of frustration with the game, and this made it a fun experience. But, if you don't want to use a walkthrough, and you get frustrated by confusing map sequences and quest goals, might not be the game for you.

Overall, I had a blast playing Final Fantasy Adventure! It actually has me excited to dive into Secrets of Mana down the road now.

Story (3.5/5) | Characters (3/5) | World (4/5) | Gameplay (3.5/5) | Visuals (3.5/5) | Music (3.5/5) = 70% Overall Score

Going back and playing a Gameboy game that I never played when I was younger was a little difficult at first; however, after the first hour, I was having a lot of fun. Both the story and the characters are pretty basic; however, I really enjoyed the variety of different NPCs that would join you (even if many of them were useless) and the story was enough to keep me going throughout the game.

The part about the game that I enjoyed the most was exploring the world and using the different weapons to unlock new areas. Gameplay was engaging enough to be fun, but it got repetitive at times.

Visually the game was above average compared to other Gameboy games, probably the most impressive was the different bosses and how large they were (a series staple). The music was enjoyable, but the songs were often too short and got repetitive.

Time to Complete: 15 hours

Favorite Chill Theme: Mana's Mission

Favorite Action Theme: In Search of the Sacred Sword

Pros: Had a cute story / Music was really good / Quick game (life got in the way and it took me longer to finish than it actually should have) / Chocobo!! Cute as always 😍 / Very minimal level grinding needed

Cons: Repetitive / Boss battles were too easy (could very easily just hack'n'slash the bosses. No real strategy was needed) / (Not really gameplay related) I played on a GameBoy Color and the dark screen was annoying

Overall, a decent game that is worth playing through at least once.

Started playing because I'm a Mana saga fan (earlier ones, at least) and wanted to know how everything started. Storywise, it delivers, but you don't get an introduction or anything, you just get thrown into it, learning tiny pieces along the way and in the end you finally know what's the deal with the mana tree. Gameplay wise, it is surprisingly good despite its date and, well, graphics and the like. Probably the option to "choose" how to level up sets it aside from a zelda game, even though it looks very similar to earlier ones. Quite easy, though: boss levels aren't that challenging, with the exception that they hit you harder and harder the more you progress. Great GB game, after all.

And as a hint, always carry more keys. Got trapped inside a castle and had to reset the whole game after 10 hours or something like that. Well, that or have multiple save states.

At first I was really impressed with this action adventure for the game boy. There are some fun early JRPG mechanics: keys, breaking walls, magic, different weapons, and an action RPG on the game boy is something of a rarity.

However after about 5 hours the loop of dungeon, prize, dungeon, prize got pretty stale. The numbers for the armor were going up, the numbers for the weapons were going up, everything else was basically in repetition.

The story is pretty much what you'd expect from a 1991 game boy JRPG, i.e. uninspired. Stopped playing, but definitely appreciate what they were able to do with the game boy platform.

Doing this set on retroachievements.org was really fun. I never actually played this game until recently, but I have Sword of Mana on GBA and it is essentially the predecessor of that game (originally Seiken Densetsu) Probably ranking near the top of the list in terms of fun for a Game Boy game from my perspective, FFA is a top down action/RPG where you set out on a journey to bring the downfall of the Glaive Empire, which then escalates into an adventure based on more than just revenge. Great game, good for another replay if you wanted to base one file on being a warrior and another on being a mage, but the best course is to level all your stats up evenly.

Rating: B+

Difficulty: 4/10

My Playthrough (Part 1)

History:

I've never played this game, but I loved Secret of Mana.

Expectations:

I've been leery of this game for a while, and I'm honestly not even sure why. Like I said, I really loved Secret of Mana back in the 90's and I shouldn't have any reason to have a negative outlook on Final Fantasy Adventure. It's gonna be great!... I hope...

Day 1:

Boy they just throw you straight into the action here!

I didn't get to play as much as I would have liked to today, only getting as far as the first town after the intro sequence. I can say that my initial impressions are... mixed...

They try throw you straight into the story. You and your friends are prisoners under Dark Lord (name not title!) and forced to fight in the coliseum. Your best friend Willy dies, muttering something about Gemma Knights and Mana, prompting you to scream his name and then almost literally casually walk out of your arena prison... Then Dark Lord pushes you off a waterfall.

The problem is that by this point, I absolutely could not care less about Willy or Dark Lord or anything else in the world. Obviously I'm not going to let that deter me from pressing forward, it just makes for a really awkward starting experience. I'm sure that by the end of the game I'll have forgotten all about it.

Speaking of "the game", this one feels familiar in a lot of ways. Not only are those crazy rabbit puff monsters from Secret of Mana here, but the gameplay itself bears an uncanny resemblance to Legend of Zelda. Hell, even some of the map layouts are nearly identical. Combat is okay, though it leaves you feeling pretty weak in the beginning. I've already died a few times from the really questionable hit detection, but otherwise everything feels pretty decent.

Day 2:

First thing's first! I got a capture device, and now I can finally start supplying some quality screenshots!

Not only is the quality more consistent, but since I'm pulling images out of recorded videos I can finally get some decent action shots without having to worry about the game having the right pause system! Anyway, moving on...

So the story's still not grabbing me, even after progressing through it. I've pretty much just gone on autopilot and am just rolling with the flow of the game. This may come to bite me later on, but for now it's probably fine. Speaking of the story...

...Nope... Don't care about your dead friend, but you're welcome to come along! Not that you actually do anything, but hey. We eventually came across that Gemma Knight I was sent to find who gave me a mattock so that I could break through stones. My initial reaction to this was "The hell is a Mattock!?" then I remembered getting the same item in Faxanadu! Yep... I looked it up...

mat·tock
noun
an agricultural tool shaped like a pickax, with an adze and a chisel edge as the ends of the head.

And there it is, mattock is a fancy term for a type of mining pick. There more you know!

Mattock in hand I was able to navigate my way to the marshes, where I received my first new weapon!

I should add, the game starts off pretty brutal! I quickly got into the habit of saving every tie I'd gain a level as dying was just too easy. When you level you can choose what stat you want to increase. My first several levels all had me increasing my Stamina, giving me more HP, which made the game much more manageable.

We stopped for rest at this totally not creepy looking keep in the middle of the swamp where, wouldn't you know it, the girl was kidnapped... I was informed by one of the guests at the keep that I would need to visit the Marsh Cave in order to unveil the mysteries of the keep.

Oh! Hey there Red Mage!

With some magical assistance I was able to navigate the cave and eventually confront the game's first boss...

Took some time, but the dragon did eventually fall and the magic mirror was mine, revealing the keep was under the control of a vampire! Oh and I got fire magic...

Mirror and magic in hand I made my way through the depths of the keep, realizing just how much this game takes from Zelda. I actually like this game a lot more than Zelda, truth be told, and I'm actually really enjoying my time spent with it.

There's even a hookshot!

Different types of weapons have different secondary effects. The Sickly can cut through plants and busses, the axe can cut through certain trees, and my newly found chain can pull items to me or pull me across chasms. It's a neat system, especially since each weapon also has a different attack pattern. Once I finally found the girl it was time to square off with the vampire...

Almost lost this one a few times, didn't realize each of his attacks was taking about a quarter of my life! He did go down though, and I called my quest a day in the next town.

Day 3:

My lady friend was kidnapped AGAIN from the city I was staying in, and this time I'd have to enlist the help of the Dwarves to save her.

So it was off to explore the local Totally-Not-Hyrule forests in search of the Dwarf Cave which, incidentally, was not too hard to find. The worst part of navigating the forest was dealing with all the enemies that could poison, and some new ones that could blind you. Still, not too bad.

In the Dwarf Cave I learned that I would need to pass through the Gaia Cave to reach my destination. Unfortunately, in order to do that I would need Silver, and to find Silver I would need to search the Mines, and to navigate the Mines I'd need to buy Oil!

The Oil was easy, which isn't to say it was cheap. A nearby vendor was selling it for 500g. With the Oil I was able to lube up the minecart in the Mines which zipped around the tracks while I used my chain to flip switches as I rode by, eventually leading me deeper into the Mines where I met Watts, the Dwarf.

After my new ax-throwing buddy and I located the Silver, being guarded by an angry Megapede naturally, it was back to the surface...

Watts said he could use the Silver we found and fashion it into gear for me! Fantastic, I though. Rally-Ho little buddy!

...Oh.

With that, I emptied my wallet on a full set of Silver armor and a new sword, and continued on to find my companion.

Day 4:

I'mma Moogle!

After boarding an airship whose internals were suspiciously identical to those of the vampire's keep, I was reunited with my lady friend and given a magic amulet, only to quickly lose said lady then said amulet... Then I found a baby Chocobo.

I don't not like this game, but it's not doing a lot to keep me interested. I've made sense of the story, not that it was very complicated to begin with, and that's probably my biggest point of contention. The whole thing reads exactly like something I would have hobbled together back in the 90's on RPG Maker: There's all these character who sound important, but as a player I don't know these people, have no back story, and really couldn't care less about them! Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't good enough to allow me to completely look past the mediocre story. It's fine, it's just not enough.

...We'll see where this damn bird takes me...

Day 5:

And so we arrive at the desert town of... Jadd... where I have been informed that I had better behave myself.

To recap a little on yesterday, after falling off that airship I found myself crashing through the roof of a house that belongs to a girl in a town who's name I honestly can't remember. I remember the girl's name though, Amanda. I know her name is Amanda because her and the main character have a long and sordid history together. Rivals, friends, lovers... Until eventually the ravages of war tore them apart, putting them on opposite sides of a never-ending conflict. It wouldn't be until years later where they would meet again, on the battlefield. To avoid taking the life of his beloved Amanda our hero surrendered, sacrificing his freedom to the bowls of the arena...

...I made all that @#$% up...

Here's the actual conversation that went down:

Amanda: "Jeff? Is that you?"
Amanda takes the amulet and exits scene
Jeff: "Where am I? I thought I heard Amanda's voice..."

AND THAT'S @#$%ING IT!

So, I'm now tasked with going to the Medusa Cave. I'm given a hint that goes thusly: "Palm Trees and the Number 8"

Okay cool, so I find a map that has eight palm trees on it, or I break through the eighth palm tree in a row of palm trees... NOPE! After wandering aimlessly for 30 minutes I pulled up the walkthrough...

To find the cave, I have to walk a figure eight around those two palm trees...

My rage is palpable...

Amanda and I reunite in the Medusa Cave to get the Medusa Tears to lift the curse on her equally unimportant brother.

We find Medusa. We kill Medusa...

...Amanda becomes Medusa, and she cries, and I stab her and take her tears... This concludes Amanda's story arc...

So, fine. I take Amanda's tears (The name of the item in your inventory is a potion bottle labeled "Amanda" which is hilarious) back to Jadd and use them to uncurse her brother, who is a bard turned bird.

Word.

I really want to believe they fist bumped after this short exchange. Until I hear otherwise, that's what happened...

Let's talk about Final Fantasy Adventure dungeon philosophy real quick. Here's the rundown:

1. Make every dungeon look like every other dungeon and ever cave look like every other cave.
2. Make sure every room in copy/pasted from Legend of Zelda.
3. Make sure the main route through a dungeon is hidden behind breakable walls so that the player must attack every wall in the dungeon and listen for a special sound, then use a consumable item to break through it.
4. Between all those hidden walls, make sure there are locked doors that require consumable keys.
5. Make sure every dungeon has a confusing route layout that will assuredly send the player back to the beginning on the dungeon at least three times before finding the correct route.
6. Finally, make sure those hidden and locked doors which require consumable (finite) items to get through CLOSE BACK UP when the player leaves the screen because HA HA @#$% YOU!

...

Conclusion:

I've given this game no less than 7 hours of my time and all it's given my in return is an uncontrollable twitch above my right eye...

I honestly don't know why I'm getting so worked up about this game. I mean there's nothing horribly offensive about it. It's not unplayable. The combat is fun enough and the game systems don't do much to get in the way of enjoying the game itself. I think it just pushes all my wrong buttons, and I don't really know what to say that I haven't already screamed about in the body of the post.

Now, I really appreciate it for kickstarting the Mana series of games, and I'm genuinely interested in playing Sword of Mana now, which was a remake of this game. Since it's not on the GBA list for this project, I'll probably pick it up and start taking it on the go with me. Even still, I can't help but feel like whenever I sit down to play this game, all it's doing is wasting my time.

Liked:

- Clever use of different types of weapons makes for fun exploration.
- Combat was fun enough, though sometimes you couldn't tell if you were actually hitting your target.
- Leveling and stat allocations were straightforward, and you could feel the improvements you chose immediately.
- Lester.

Disliked:

- The story, or rather the way it was told, was just awful and the gameplay itself wasn't enough to carry it.
- The dungeons and caves in the game were extremely repetitive and formulaic, and the previously described design quirks to them were infuriating.
- While Zelda was the gold standard for top-down adventure games back in '91, I don't feel like this game made enough design (mostly visual and mapping designs) to distinguish itself from its inspiration.

Personal Score: