In Final Fantasy

This week I have to post the Game of the Week on Sunday, because I won't be home all Monday.
The pick is Final Fantasy. Part 1. Please don't talk about other parts. Keep those for future posts when FF2 or 3 might be GotW.

Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジー) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Co., Ltd. for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1987, and is the inaugural game in Square's flagship Final Fantasy series. (...)
The story begins with the appearance of the four youths called the "Warriors of Light" who each carry one of their world's elemental Crystals which have been darkened by Garland and his four Elemental Fiends. Together, they quest to defeat Garland's forces, restore the light of the crystals and restore their world.
Final Fantasy was one of the most influential and successful role-playing games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and played a major role in popularizing the genre. Famitsu voted Final Fantasy the 63rd greatest game of all time on March 3, 2006.



After having Dragon Warrior as Game of the Week some weeks before it was time that Final Fantasy also got that honor.
Even by today's standards it's still a pretty decent game.
Also people on this board seem to enjoy Final Fantasy quite much.
Our FF champion OSG's quest is only one example.

Boxart time!




Again the question: Which do you like better?

Do you own FF? What versions?
I own the Famicom cart and the Wonderswan color version. If I see the GBA FF1+2 for cheap I might get that, too.

To tell you the truth, I've never been a big Final Fantasy fan, especially not with the first one. I mean, I like it, but it's not something I'd play more than once.

I feel obliged to post in this thread, but I'm way too tired to say anythin coherent.

So, uh, I actually don't think I can get enough of this game. I keep finding new ways to enjoy it, and new ways to play it.

Jap boxart is the best. and yes awesome Gotw

I was Hooked on this game before I ever owned it. I would read about it and look at all the pictures in Nintendo POWer over and over. It’s funny how the artwork and layout in NP would either get me either peak my interest in some games, or lose it in others. For instance, I hated the drab pages they did for Faxanadu, so it was a game that I immediately dismissed, but after trying it on an emulator once, I realized that I could have had some fun with that one. Back to Final Fantasy. They really hyped that one up, and luckily, I thought it lived up to that hype. One very funny memory I have… this was my very first RPG, and I played it for at least 3 days not realizing that you had to go into the menus and EQUIP your weapons and armor. Imagine fighting imps (8HP) for 3 days straight, and every attack your character does inflicts 1 (sometimes 2) damage. I loved choosing my characters, and my first party was the standard fighter, thief, white mage & black mage. They all leveled up at the same time, unless one of them had died and lost out on some experience. That was enough to make me redo some parts, because I really wanted them to all stay consistent. Because of this, I hated the Dark Elf, because in his first attack, he always cast Rub, which instantly killed off one of my characters. It was so fun battling the pirates to take their ship, meeting the dragon king to change classes, deciding which 3 spells your characters would learn for each level gain when there were 4 spells to choose from, and just watching the little animations where your character step forward, do their attack, and then step back. It was so cool to see the improvements with this simple battle system made on the SNES FF’s.