Final Fantasy (PSP) Review: "Humble Beginnings" | Tome of Silver

Own the birth of a generation. Hello everyone, and welcome to Chapter 39 of the Tome of Silver. The show where I randomly select a game from my collection, review it and add it to an ever-growing ranking list.
The Final Fantasy series is truly one that needs no introduction to anyone with even a passing familiarity with video games. This line of anthological fantasy role-playing games is one of the single best-selling series of video games ever made. It continues to hold strong today, with its most recent titles, Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth both being met with massive praise. This is no small feat, especially for a franchise that’s been around as long as FF has, dating all the way back to its original title in 1987, Final Fantasy, for the NES. Despite receiving massive amounts of praise upon its release, these days, I find the NES original a very difficult game to recommend. Aside from its “Nintendo Hard” levels of challenge and tedium, it also has a bunch of bugs and glitches that make several mechanics not work as they’re supposed to, to greater and lesser degrees of frustration. The channel Project MUTT Entertainment has a great and super comprehensible video on these bugs, so if you’re curious, I strongly recommend you go check it out. Link in the description.
There is always merit to going back and experiencing something as it originally was, and the NES game is more than playable. That said, that combination of difficulty alongside the cavalcade of minor gripes can make the NES game messy, and not particularly attractive for causal audiences wishing to experience Final Fantasy’s roots.
Luckily, Final Fantasy has had quite a few remakes and remasters over the years. Many of these, outside of just improving the visuals, cleaned up many of the bugs and made it much more accessible to a general audience. This extends from the PlayStation all the way to modern consoles with the pixel remaster. As to which of these is the defacto superior way to play Final Fantasy, I couldn’t say. Some may love Dawn of Souls port to the Gameboy Advance for its additional content, while others criticize it for being too easy, and flock instead to the Final Fantasy Origins version on Playstation 1. If you’re looking for a breakdown between the many different ports, that is not what this video is about, and there are plenty of videos and discussion forums on the topic. For this video, we’ll be focusing on the version released on the PSP, referred to as Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Edition. So ready your crystals, face the forces of Chaos, and let’s turn the page to Final Fantasy for the PSP.

Glitch Delve: Final Fantasy 1 by Project MUTT Entertainment:    • Glitch Delve: Final Fantasy 1  

NES Gameplay Footage:    • Final Fantasy (NES) playthrough ~Long...  

Dawn of Souls GBA Gameplay Footage:    • Final Fantasy I - Dawn of Souls (GBA)...  

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:41 Story & Setting
06:49 Gameplay
16:31 Conclusion & Ranking