Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
- Title
- Final Fantasy
- Developer
- Square
- Publisher
- Square, Nintendo
- Director
- Hironobu Sakaguchi
- Producer
- Masafumi Miyamoto
- Artists
- Yoshitaka Amano
- Writers
- Hironobu Sakaguchi
Kenji Terada - Composer
- Nobuo Uematsu
- Series
- Final Fantasy
- Platforms
- Nintendo Entertainment System
- Release
- December 18, 1987
- Genres
- turn based role-playing
- Mode
- single-player
Final Fantasy is a turn based role-playing game by Square. It is the first installment of the Final Fantasy series and was directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi.
Synopsis
Dragons and broadswords, mystery and adventure. Final Fantasy has them all!
An evil shroud covers the world in darkness. You must restore the powers of earth, wind, fire and water to the Four Orbs. Create your own band of 4 Light Warriors from fighters, thieves, martial artists, and magicians. You'll need all their skills to triumph in this massive role-playing adventure.
Your treacheroous journey takes you to all parts of a strange new world. Explore dangerous castles and dark caverns where deadly perils, and great rewards await at every turn. Hundreds of ferocious monsters block your path. With patience, skill and cunning you can defeat them.
Come, begin your quest. Enter an enchanted new World. Command your warriors!
Prepare to face the Final Fantasy!
A world shrouded in the darkness of evil. Your mission - to restore the light!
— North American box description of Final Fantasy
Setting
The world of Final Fantasy is determined by the state of four crystals, each governing one of the four elements wind, water, earth and fire. 400 years prior to the start of the game, the first crystal - the crystal of wind - went dark, followed by the other crystals, causing calamties across the three continents. A sage tells of a prophecy that four light warriors will come to save the world.
Story
Each of the four warriors of light carries one of the darkened crystals. After rescuing Princess Sarah from Garland, the King of Coneria builds a bridge so the Warriors of Light can access to the town of Pravoka. There they liberate the town from a band of pirates and receive a pirates' ship for their own use. The Warriors now embark on a chain of delivery quests on the shores of the Aldi Sea. First, they retrieve a stolen crown from the Marsh Cave for a king in a ruined castle, who turns out to be the dark elf Astos. Defeating him gains them the Crystal Eye, which they return to the blind witch Matoya in exchange for a herb needed to awaken the elf prince cursed by Astos. The elf prince gives the Warriors of Light the Mystic Key, which is capable of unlocking any door. The key unlocks a storage room in Coneria Castle which holds explosives. With this, they connect the Aldi Sea to the outside World[1].
From here, the Warriors of Light retrieve the Star Ruby, with which they can gain Sarda's Rod. With it they venture into the Earth Cave and destroy the Earth Fiend, Lich. After obtaining a canoe, and enter Gurgu Volcano, they destroy the Fire Fiend, Kary. After obtaining the Levistone, the northern continents can be reached by airship. With a special liquid from a fairy, the Warriors of Light are able to dive to the Sunken Shrine and defeat the Water Fiend, Kraken. There they received a slab, which can be translated with the help of Dr. Unne and teach the Warriors of Light the lefeinish language. The Lefeinish give the Warriors access to the Floating Castle where they can defeat the Wind Fiend, Tiamat[1].
With all four fiends defeated and the crystals restored, the Warriors of Light travel back 2000 years into the past to defeat the creator of the fiends. There the Warriors discover that they are part of a time loop: the four fiends had sent Garland - the archdemon Chaos - back in time. Then he sent the fiends to the future and by doing so, creating a time loop by which he could live forever. The Warriors of Light defeat Chaos, ending the time loop and return back to the present. But since the time loop is broken, no one remembers their heroic deeds[1].
References in Final Fantasy XIV
Legacy
- The server Cornelia and Melmond were references to their respective places and kingdoms.
A Realm Reborn
- The tank gear from the
The Labyrinth of the Ancients is inspired by the appearance of the Warrior of Light's artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.
- The helmet of this set is part of the Collector's Edition rewards for A Realm Reborn.
- The
Wind-up Warrior of Light is based on the Warrior of Light's artwork by Yoshitaka Amano. - The Minions spawned by the
Minion of Light are based on the Warrior, White Mage and Black Mage sprites.
Heavensward
- Matoya, Matoya's Cave and the theme "The Mushroomery" are a reference to Matoya in Final Fantasy.
- Matoya's Crystal Eye is the same item that Final Fantasy Matoya used.
Stormblood
- The
Wind-up Red Mage was available as a pre-order bonus for Stormblood. - Chaos in Alphascape V1.0 and Alphascape V1.0 (Savage) is a direct reference. The arena "Chaos Shrine" is a destroyed version of the arena in Final Fantasy.
- The Dark Crystal is a reference to a relic that could be found inside the Chaos Shrine.
Shadowbringers
- The
Mt. Gulg appears as a dungeon and is a reference to the area in Final Fantasy. - In the
The Seat of Sacrifice trial the Warrior of Light (Boss) takes the appearance of the Warrior of Light artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.
Images
-
Japanese Cover with art by Yoshitaka Amano -
Back of the NA box
References
- ↑ a b c "Final Fantasy Retrospective: Part I", via Wikipedia, 26.03.2026. "The Complete Story of Final Fantasy I" by Birds of Play, 26.03.2026