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Final Fantasy I and II Are Coming To the iPhone and iPod Touch
jonasvdc tips an announcement by Square Enix that Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II are being developed for the iPhone and the iPod touch. The graphics and UI have been modified to look and run better on the touchscreen devices, but everything from Cecil to the classic Black Mage is clearly recognizable. The announcement did not include any information on a price or release date.
Cecil isn't in any of the screenshots...because he isn't in either of the games mentioned. That's Final Fantasy IV, which has been known by that name in every release except for the US SNES version.
I can see being confused by the renaming, but how do you see a character in the screenshots who just isn't there?
Are we talking about I and II, or I and IV?
Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
Final Fantasy 1 was THE game that got me into the RPG genre, and solidified my Nintendo Fan-boi-ism for many,many years to come, but now having seen my favorite game ported to Sony PSP and now iPhone/iPod without seeing an NDS remake is just boiling my oil. and also to Square/Enix, don't forget about those of us who saved your now-wretched company back then when Final Fantasy was almost your swan-song, We'd like a way to play this game on a console with bloodlines to the original, without having to resort to emulators to do so. I've been waiting since i heard of the PSP version for a DS port/remake to come out, looks like I still have to keep waiting :\
Olo
So how long till it makes its way to Droid - if ever at all? I don't mind exclusive deals, but it'd be nice if they wore off after a few months.
I personally never played any of the FF series, only because I hadn't heard of it until like 7 or 8 came out, and I thought I'd have a lot of backstory to catch up with (though people have reassured me that I really don't). So, if these become available at an affordable price on a device I already have - then I'd probably purchase.
Higher res and more colors doesn't always mean better. I'd still rather play the NES original on an emulator.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
These seems like as good a time as any to ask...is the iPod Touch worth buying just for games available on the platform? It seems like there are a ton of cool games out there for it, but I don't really want to plunk down the cash if it isn't worth it from a gaming point of view...
Opinions?
Living With a Nerd
After all these years I still think the original Final Fantasy is still my favorite video game of all time. Two Fighters, a Black Mage and a White Mage.
My Web Site - www.ocean-liners.com
This will surely cause an epidemic of people's legs falling asleep as they have a much more in depth game to play on the toilet at work.
Who cares I have it on my palm pre using Visual boy
"So how long till it makes its way to Droid - if ever at all?"
:)
I assume you mean aside from playing it through NESoid? I'm currently in the middle of a game of Nobunaga's Ambition on my Nexus One. (I might have started up a game of FF1 instead, except i was already playing that on the Wii Virtual Console =) Even if you want to be entirely ethical (since you apparently don't already have an old copy lying around) i personally wouldn't feel any qualms about buying a copy for some other system (even an old used copy) and then d/ling the rom.
"I personally never played any of the FF series, only because I hadn't heard of it until like 7 or 8 came out, and I thought I'd have a lot of backstory to catch up with (though people have reassured me that I really don't)."
I wouldn't suggest playing FF1 for the first time now unless you're already very familiar with how clunky those old NES games could get. FF1, along with Dragon Quest 1, were both exploring how to do RPGs on the console format, and there's a lot of UI issues that got resolved in later versions. (In particular, having to buy each item one at a time, no descriptions for any items, no way to view stats without equipping an item and switching to the status screen.) And even aside from the difficulties the UI imposes it's probably the most challenging game in the FF series. (It's hard to say if the fact that attacks targeted on enemies that die before that character's turn don't get re-targeted to another enemy is a UI bug or just an unneeded increase to the difficulty, but in either case they got rid of it in later games.)
I still think it's a great game despite all that, but i admit that i come pre-equipped with a pair of rose-tinted glasses which you would be lacking
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
haven't we seen final fantasy 1/2 on pretty much every platform ever? I'm fine with remakes in general, but I think that Square is milking FF1 for what is by current standards, a pretty bad game.
Don't get me wrong though. I'd love to see other nes era games up on the iPhone.
Now look, I understand that Square Enix republishing games for new platforms is both financially savvy and also a boon for those of us that may have lost our old games, but really? FF1 has been published for no less than 3 platforms already (NES, GBA, PS-nevermind emulators), and I still have copies 2 of them (NES and GBA, though to be fair the GBA version was to get the first official US version of FF2).
I have nothing against exploiting existing intellectual property if it'll make you money, especially when it'll make people happy, but you'd think-at least on a place like slashdot-that there would be a significant percentage of people that boxes up their old games the same way "normal" people box up old pictures and such (like me). If you do that, and you have the urge, then you don't have to pay for the new version. Of course, then you have cases like Chrono Trigger for the DS which has a new ending; of course you have to give in then. (That said, I still have my original SNES CT cartridge in my closet.)
Boy Apple is behind the times. I've had them on my Droid for months.
The dude at the top IS Cecil. It's him after becoming the Holy Knight. That is in fact Final Fantasy IV, which as you've already said was FF2 in the US.
After playing the Final Fantasy Games on the DS and Wii and after replaying the originals in emulation, I've found that even though I have pleasant memories of those games from my childhood, everything in that franchise before FFVII -- with the notable exception of Final Fantasy Tactics -- is very very VERY (and did I say "very") boring and usually annoying.
So, this time, I think I'll just pass.
(Please don't kill me for saying that.)
The sad part is that I have been alive for all of these and have purchased over 50% of them!
Source: Final Fantasy Release Info
I'm going to chaulk this up to either your age or your preference for a greater emphasis on technology over fantasy.
I don't think I've ever heard the earlier Final Fantasies (ESPECIALLY Final Fantasy VI) described as "boring and annoying".
Living With a Nerd
that said, I'll probably still end up buying this version, too :(
We can party like it's 1987! Everyone get out their pastel clothes!
Modding "-1, Troll" is not a proper response if you disagree with me. Try reason.
Ermm, FF 1&2 have been available for iPhone for ages. Through NES, SNES, GBA, etc emulators.
You must not get out much.
I replayed FF in college, and while it's still a fun game, there definitely are a lot of old RPG characteristics that would qualify as "boring and annoying". The amount of walking in circles fighting random encounters for exp and gold is way beyond what it is in later games in the series. There's only a couple times in IV or VI that I ever (felt I) needed to "grind". That's most of the game in FFI, just like it is in most computer RPGs of that era*. Then there's the annoying interface. Need 99 health potions for the final dungeon? Have fun buying them all one at a time! And then again!
Most of the annoyance was gone by the time of the SNES games, which were much more polished and match later games much more closely. My guess would be they never played VI.
I think you are the only one who cares about the tech vs magic balance so much. ;) Both were present to varying degrees in all the games.
* Now recreated in MMOs. Ah, progress!
The enemies of Democracy are
I remember loving Destiny of an Emporer on NES 1, but played it in emulation a while back, and couldn't for the life of me remember what the attraction could have been.
...
final Fantasy IS boring and annoying. You take 3 steps. Ooo, you've been attacked. 3 imps. Fight them off. 3 more steps. 3 wolves! Fight them, well, now you're pretty beat up. Go back to town, heal up and try again.
The Nokia N900 has emulators to let you play these games right now. No hacks required.
As of Dec 2009 the iPhone has had 78 million sales, and this number does not include millions of iPod Touch out there.
Er, yes it does. If you RTFA: Apple (AAPL) will have sold nearly 78 million iPhones and iPod touches worldwide.
On top of that, wow, you're comparing all of Apple's phones in total, to a single Motorola phone (their RAZR alone sold 110 million!) Motorola have far more of a market share than Apple. Or if you're looking at it from a platform point of view, you need to compare to all Android phones.
Anyhow, Nokia shipped 100 million Symbian phones by 2006, before the first Iphone was even released ( http://www.thesmartpda.com/50226711/six_years_of_symbian_produces_100_models_and_100_million_shipments.php ), and by early 2009, they had sold 250 million Symbian phones ( http://news.softpedia.com/news/Symbian-Foundation-Adds-New-Member-Nuance-117209.shtml ).
The Iphone is a niche player (as is Android too currently, in fact). That's a fact. Even if we did add in the Ipod Touch numbers, which doesn't really improve matters, by that argument we should now throw in netbooks, since the market is now "handheld devices" not "phones", and there's a big market of Windows netbooks (of the order of tens of millions).
Would you make a program for 1% of the platforms, or 99%?
Are you seriously suggesting that Droid and Iphones are the only two phones in existence, and that Apple have 99% of the market? You need to step out of your RDF and check out some actual market data.
but when you see everyone and their 1 yr old baby with an iPhone
I don't see everyone, or many at all, with an Iphone. So there's one person with an Iphone, according to your link - wow! Now show me some actual market figures.