HonestGamers - overdrive's Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls review

dagoss Jul 30, 2021

With the release of the pixel remakes, I was curious how this game was received.

I actually don't think FF1 is easier here--it's just easy in a less frustrating way. I've beat FF1 on NES more than once, and I typically resort to buying 99 potions and just running from all the fights in dungeons so I have a fully functional party for the bosses. While the magic system might seem strategic at a glance (similar to Wizardry), too many spells are bugged or don't work as expected.

In Dawn of Souls, I played the dungeons like normal dungeons--you know, participating in fights and such. It was easy, but on the other hand the original game might be easy too if spells like Temper actually worked.

I haven't finished the Dawn of Souls version of FF2 yet. I made it to the dreadnought dungeon but got distracted. It's more playable, but I had a hard time forgetting how to cheese the systems (e.g. hitting your own party and such).

honestgamer Staff Jul 30, 2021

I wonder how Dawn of Souls compares to Final Fantasy Origins. I played Origins on the PlayStation, which makes the game ludicrously simple compared to the NES original, to the point where most of the original game's appeal (which comes from the difficulty of exploring, surviving and eventually conquering a hostile world) is almost completely lost.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world

dagoss Jul 30, 2021

Dawn of Souls is significantly easier. It's closer to Origin's easy mode, but the change to MP (instead of spells per level) and the permanent removal of "ineffective" missed attacks make the game very easy.

As a GBA game, I personally like that it's easy though. I played through it last year, during my son's nap times (he went through a phase where he'd only sleep if someone held him... for like 2 freaking hours) and being able to blaze through it without any grinding is fun. It cuts the play time down to a couple of hours, which makes sense for a handheld (that I was playing one handed). I actually did a Black Mage only run, and it wasn't a grind fest like doing the same in the original.

One thing I find funny is that in the original game, Temper did nothing; in the GBA version, Temper rips all enemies to shreds.