


Here it leads into a striking (albeit dated) intro sequence, something that remains a series staple. There’s still nothing quite like playing through the game’s first dungeon, a quest to defeat a dangerous warlord on behalf of a kingdom that feels like the end of another game. Streamlined but still difficult, it is the best preservation of the strange role-playing that made the series a success. In order to experience the elegant, challenging, and admirably simple Final Fantasy 1 under the best circumstances, the PS1 Final Fantasy Origins version is the best. Some re-releases, like the gorgeous but far too easy Game Boy Advance and PSP versions, aren’t ideal either. The NES versions are nearly unplayable by modern standards due to bugs, unfriendly design, and brutal level grind requirements. How to play Final Fantasy 1 and 2 today is a complicated question.
