Final Fantasy V Part #1 - Bartz vs. A Giant Rock

Part 1: Bartz vs. A Giant Rock

The Playstation 1 has a couple of things to set it apart from the other versions. The only one that's really a positive is a couple of FMV's, including an introductory one.

This guy took the trouble to render the damn thing in HD. The FMV itself isn't really that great, mainly just recreating the game's intro. Let's get to the game proper, shall we?

Ah, here we go. Nice little reflection effects that allowed people to make "is this ffx" jokes, at least until the actual FFX came out.

There's also a little intro sequence set to some pretty nice adventurin' music. Certainly a flashy intro for its time. All the big names you're familiar with are part of this, of course.

As for the music, I'll be using the SNES version of the soundtrack, as from my comparisons it sounds slightly better. Yes, the SNES version sounds better than the damn PS1 version. It's not the best port, you may notice.

And it even fades out in a nifty little way.

Speaking of which, expect lots of GIFs, as this game can be pretty damn expressive. Hell, it's probably the most expressive game of the series.

Same music for this menu, which is the PS1 menu. Memo is a temporary memory save, which you can do anywhere but is erased when loaded. Slots 1 and 2 are your memory cards, which each can hold quite a few saves. This menu will also have a random character from the game pop up when you start the game up. This time we've got a Chocobo.

For now, let's select New Game.

This game starts as all other games should, with a king visiting his pet dragon.

This dragon lets out a nice, 16-bit roar. While not as distinct as a certain villianous clown's laugh, it's still enough to stand out in the memory.

Unfortunately, though, I can't find the sound for it and my sound recording didn't catch it. I'll be sure to post it later if I run into it.

...And we get to our first big change. In the original translation, this pink-haired woman was named Lenna. In fact, the GBA translation changes it back to Lenna, and she's pretty much called Lenna everywhere else. It's close enough, I guess, but I myself prefer Lenna.

But I...

I'm going to the Wind Shrine... there's something wrong with the wind...

I feel it too. But if you're alone...

Don't worry, dear.

No real differences between the three scripts so far. In general, I won't really point anything out unless there's a difference worth showing.

And so the King flies off...

The wind... stopped...

I'd better hurry! The wind's stopped!

A couple flashes to random characters, and...

The wind stopped... I hope father's all right...

What in the...?!

-----

And we go from an exploding crystal to...some guy camping with his Chocobo.

Only for them to be slightly disturbed by an incoming meteor.

Of course, the duo decide to check it out because it beats chilling in the forest.

So now we're in control of the Chocobo. First off, this is our overworld tune. In a way, it sets the tone for our crazy lighthearted goofball adventures.

In another way, it kinda sucks.

The only place to go right now is the giant meteorite.

From here on, we'll be walking as our "protagonist," as much as this game really has one.

Weight can affect your speed, and the exclamation points in front of Fight and Item denote that they're commands that can be used in battle. Otherwise, everything works pretty much as you expect.

Also gonna fiddle with a few things.

Uh-oh! Better step in on this!

Gotta love that PS1-era battle transition. I prefer the pixelation of the SNES myself, but this ain't shabby either.

So this is our first fight with a couple of Goblins.

There's little to this, so let's kill the other guy and move on.

Every time we win a battle, we get...this. It's an odd way to end a battle, but eh. It's not the weirdest this translation gets.

This is the other major name change in this game, and one that persisted to the Game Boy Advance version. You see, in the RPGe translation, this guy's name is Butz. Of course, having a guy named "Butts" is not too ideal, so they changed it to something a tad more sophisticated.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist that one.

Actually, in-game there is no default, but this guy's officially recognized over here as Bartz. Good enough, and at least you can change his name to whatever, unlike Reina.

I'll be sticking with Bartz on this playthrough, unless you guys come up with something really fucking clever to name him instead.

Bartz...

This thing just fell out of sky... I passed out in the storm.

Looks like a meteorite!

Meteorite? I wonder if this has anything to do with the wind?

Only major difference is there's no "storm" in the other two versions, which is a bit out of place here as well. The other translators figure, "Well, a giant fucking rock slamming into earth is enough to knock a nearby girl unconscious." The PS1 translators weren't satisfied with such a flimsy excuse, however.

But you see, right now I'm in a hurry...

"In exactly what context do you want to show your appreciation?"

Over there!

And now Reina joins us for a few seconds, until we check the nearby guy.

Though we also have time to explore the area and get some hidden loot.

...And we can just leave the person in trouble and go fuck off elsewhere. Of course, there's nowhere to go and we can't do anything until we advance the plot, so...

Let's go help an old man.

Where...am I? Ow! ..ooh...my head...

What's wrong with me? I can't remember a thing...

You hit your head...It's probably amnesia.

And...?

...and... ...that's all! Can't remember anything else.

Where to?

The Wind Shrine.

Wind Shrine?! I think that's where I was going, too! Take me with you!

Well, I don't know...

Ahahaha. Of course the young woman's skeptical about going alone with an insistant old man, so she immediately jumps to Bartz, hoping he may join in as well.

No luck there, of course. Not that he really has a reason not to go, or anywhere he's actually going to.

So they just decide to go off before just remembering to say farewell.

Awww.

We can't actually go north past the meteor, so we can only go northwest for now.

They probably could've fit that W in a bit better, or at least not put several together. Just say "OW!" or "OUCH!" like the other translations.

This was back in the day when Chocobos said "Wark!" instead of "Kweh!" It's kind of sad I actually know this.

I know, you're worried about the old man and the young girl...

The other translations, Bartz mentions the goblins being a potential problem. I guess here, he knows they're too big a joke to bother with.