Final Fantasy V – The Best of Both Worlds

The middle child of the series’ 16-bit era, Final Fantasy V doesn’t share the same lofty legacy as its immediate predecessor and successor. Final Fantasy IV was a game-changer for the franchise and RPGs on a whole while Final Fantasy VI is still regularly considered one of the greatest games in the series and on the Super Nintendo, but audiences far too often neglect the big bridge between them. Final Fantasy V deserves to be held in the same regard and for good reason. V strikes a perfect balance between the gameplay heavy Job-based titles (I & III) and the denser, story-focused (II & IV) games in a way that neither IV nor VI accomplish.

Philosophically, Final Fantasy V combines the player-driven customization from the odd-numbered entries with the narrative and thematic ambitions of the even-numbered games, albeit not by design interestingly enough. In a 1992 developer interview from Famicom Tsuushin (now Famitsu), series creator and FFV director Hironobu Sakaguchi rejected the idea that V was an intentional culmination of what came before, 

“Distilling the essence of Final Fantasy into a single game was not our intention. We created this new job ability system in order to carry forth and further iterate on the good ideas we had in FFIV. In that sense it was a distillation. But rather than summing up all of what Final Fantasy has been, it’s more that we simply wanted to give players a kind of fun they haven’t experienced yet. That doesn’t necessarily imply that we wanted to cut out the good parts from FFIV, though.”

In practice, V takes what works from previous games, but redefines everything to fit its own identity. The Job system has been heavily tweaked to offer greater customization options, while memorable character arcs and dramatic story beats tend to drive the plot forward over pure exploration: it’s the best of III and IV with none of the worst. The kind of “fun [players] haven’t experienced yet” means that everyone will go through the same motions more or less, but no two playthroughs need ever be alike: narrative linearity plays off mechanical flexibility. Even though FFV’s story moves in a fixed fashion like IV, players are afforded an incredible amount of freedom when it comes to building their party courtesy of the revised Job system. The end result is an RPG that will always feel fresh.

The gameplay variety in V is still genuinely impressive to this day. Parties are scaled back down to just four members, but everyone can learn any skill and fulfill any role with enough effort. Every party member starts as a Freelancer who can then be reclassed between 22 Jobs (26 in the GBA port). Party composition is less of a puzzle ala FFIII and treated instead like a proper character building system. Bartz, Lenna, Faris, and Galuf all begin as blank slates, but will very quickly fall into different gameplay roles based on how you choose to train each character. The lack of CP (Capacity Points) also means you can swap Jobs whenever you want.

Party members can actually learn and equip Job specific abilities in V. You can mix and match abilities with different Jobs, essentially creating hybrid classes suited to your gameplay interests. Make mages deal barehanded damage like Monks, Monks who attack eight times in a single turn with Rapid Fire, or singing Summoners whose summons and Bardsongs turn them into full-blown utility characters capable of dishing out heavy damage, restoring health, and changing the flow of battle with buffs & debuffs. Where FFIII encourages you to upgrade Jobs with each Crystal, V wants you to find the Jobs you like most and go wild having fun. 

FFV is well designed enough where sticking with a single Job is perfectly viable, even if challenging. There’s no wrong way to play according to V’s Battle System Designer Akihiko Matsui, 

“There’s so many different jobs, and we decided to make them all viable. Players are free to make any kind of party they want. Player A and Player B might have completely different parties, but ultimately any party can make it to the last boss. After players beat the game, I recommend trying a party that caters to your aesthetic sense.”

Character and Job levels are still separate like in III, but Jobs have had their level caps reduced from a flat 99 to between 1 and 7 depending on the class. Jobs start at Lv. 0 and level up by earning ABP (Ability Points) from completing battles. How much ABP a Job needs is determined by its current level. Lv. 0 Jobs typically only need 10 for their first level, while fully mastering a Job regularly requires hundreds. Since ABP is earned at a slower rate than EXP, ability progression is a gradually paced process. Early encounters will often only yield 1 ABP despite fighting a full team of enemies. 

You’re better off relying on boss battles and mid- to late-game battles to master Jobs as enemies will drop more ABP the further you get into the game. You can grind, but simply following the story and getting the abilities you get by playing naturally saves a lot of time in the long run. It’s smarter to go with the flow than to grind for hours off low ABP encounters. At the same time, ability acquisition gives grinding its own rewarding loop and low ABP drops do mean that you can power-level Jobs without necessarily becoming overleveled. Either play style works just fine without completely curbing the difficulty curve. 

Each Job level teaches the assigned party member a command, passive, or innate ability that can then be equipped on the Ability screen in the menu. While every Job learns a diverse enough set of abilities to keep them handy, the goal is ultimately to experiment and synergize your party with different abilities. Party members do not learn new spells or abilities by just leveling up, so you need to make use of Jobs to maintain a sense of permanent character progression. Most Jobs can only equip a single ability alongside their class command, while Freelancers have access to two ability slots and Mimes have three at the expense of needing to equip Attack and Items as proper abilities. Ability limits force you to approach Job combos strategically and carefully consider your party’s many options. 

V’s Job variety is frankly nothing short of excellent. Job acquisition is fast-paced and you’ll have access to almost every Job before the halfway point. This gives you plenty of time to experiment and find the Jobs best suited to your preferred play style. V also strikes a healthy balance between Final Fantasy mainstays and creative additions that make the gameplay loop even more diverse. Freelancers learn no new abilities, but can equip anything and inherit innate abilities along with stat benefits from mastered Jobs. A perfect Freelancer can inherently dual wield weapons, spot traps in the level design, be able to sprint with B, and counter attacks automatically. A common goal for the endgame is mastering as many Jobs as possible to create the ultimate Freelancer. 

The Wind Crystal unlocks the first set of Jobs. Knights can equip some of the best weapons and gear in the game, letting them function as a primary damage dealer and tank. Knights also automatically redirect attacks to themselves when allies are at low health and learn to two-hand Swords, Katanas, or Axes which inflict double damage at the expense of a Shield. Monks have a narrow equipment spread, but are cheap to outfits, always attack twice, counter enemies when struck, and deal heavy damage even without weapons. Their barehanded ability synergizes particularly well with mages, since it allows them to deal decent damage that circumvents their poor weapons spreads. 

Thieves have the highest agility in the game, which often means they’ll move first in battle. They can Steal from enemies, later learning the ability Mug, which lets them deal damage while robbing baddies blind. Thieves can also comfortably flee from most encounters, spot hidden passages in the level design, and sprint inside of dungeons & towns by holding B. White Mages play a primarily supportive role by using White Magic to restore HP, heal status effects, and inflict status ailments. Spells are not learned and instead purchased from stores. Purchased spells do not have to be consumed by individual characters and instead apply to the whole party innately. Each Job Level improves the White Mage’s magic capabilities, which is consistent with all magic-based Jobs. Black Mages are squishier than White Mages, but compensate with powerful Black Magic. They play an offensive role, being able to take advantage of elemental weaknesses and status vulnerabilities. 

Blue Mages are a new Job created for FF5. Blue Magic cannot be purchased at stores and must instead be learned during battle. Blue Mages learn an ability called Learning that, when equipped, teaches the party any Blue Magic spells enemies use on them. The one caveat is that the attack must connect for it to be learned. Not every attack can be learned, but several enemy spells are obscenely overpowered. Level 5 Death instakills any enemies with a level divisible by 5 and Aqua Breath deals heavy water damage to all enemies on-screen. Regular Blue Magic acquisition and a great spread of attacks makes the Blue Mage one of the most fun Jobs in FFV. 

The Water Crystal unlocks five more Jobs once it shatters, with a sixth locked behind an optional dungeon in the final overworld. Time Mages are another new magic-based Job, but they inherit pre-existing magic from previous games. Spells like Haste, Slow, Comet, Float, Teleport, Return, and Meteor are all now considered Time Magic. In practice, Time Mages can use their wide variety of spells to comfortably deal damage, support the party, and debilitate enemies. Summoners can use a wide range of Summon Magic to fulfill different gameplay roles. Summons can deal elemental damage, heal, inflict buffs or debuffs, and the strongest wipe out most enemy encounters with relative ease. While some Summons can be bought at stores, most are tied to side quests and must be found by exploring the overworld & dungeons. 

Red Mages can use low and mid tier White & Black Magic in the same ability slot. The best they can cast are -ra spells, but since the best -ga spells are locked off until closer to the end of the game, Red Mages end pulling their weight for quite a while before falling off. Mastering the Red Mage Job is a lengthy endeavor, but ultimately pays off by teaching Dualcast — a borderline overpowered ability that lets them cast two spells in a single turn. Pairing Dualcast with any type of high level magic is one of the best combos a mage could ask for. 

Mystic Knights can buff their weapons with Black Magic or Holy via the Spellblade ability. Once enchanted, Mystic Knights combine magical damage with the regular physical capabilities to take advantage of elemental weaknesses or inflict status ailments without compromising attack power. They also automatically cast Shell on themselves at low health to increase their magical resistance. In the right hands and paired with abilities like Rapid Fire and Two-Handed, Mystic Knights end up extremely powerful. Berserkers are an especially unique Job in that they get no active command slots in exchange for dealing considerably buffed damage. While Berserkers can still equip an ability, they cannot be controlled in battle, which limits their overall utility. Berserkers have a great weapon spread, but they need to synergize with the rest of your party well enough to overcome their lack of command slots. 

The Fire Crystal unlocks three Jobs right away and then two more once the party explores Black Chocobo Forest. Ninjas are strong, fast, and can dual wield weapons. The Throw command lets them toss items and elemental scrolls at enemies for extra damage, giving them great coverage in combat. Beastmasters can tame, catch, and control different monsters. Controlling a monster gives you full access to their commands. You can make them damage themselves to death or intentionally teach your party rare Blue Magic. Weakened monsters can also be captured and then released in battle, unleashing different attacks depending on the monster. Geomancers fight by altering the terrain with the command Gaia. Their attack types change based on the environment you’re fighting in, along with the character’s level, giving them an impressive amount of gameplay variety. Having a Geomancer in the party will also save you from falling into pit traps and nullify any damage tiles.

Bards make for fantastic utility characters thanks to their variety of Bardsongs. New songs are learned by speaking with NPCs and playing pianos in different towns (like a proper bard!) Singing can buff the party or damage groups of enemies. Songs like Requiem let you lay waste to undead monsters at the cost of 0 MP. Rangers are bow wielders, which means they can deal full damage from the back row. The Aim command increases their accuracy and overall damage, but unlike Rosa from FFIV, bows no longer need individual arrows as ammo. The main benefit to the Ranger class is its mastered ability Rapid Fire, which deals for weak attacks in one turn and pairs excellently with Monks, two-handers, or dual wielders. 

The Earth Crystal unlocks the final four Jobs in the original release (sans Mime). Dancers are weaker than other Jobs comparatively, but get by thanks to their unique Dance ability and great access to accessories. Dancing triggers one of four random effects in battle, either confusing enemies, absorbing MP, absorbing HP, or dealing damage. They’re also the only class besides Freelancers who can innately equip Ribbons, which nullify all negative status effects. Dancers on a whole are reliant on equipment to be functional. Gear like Lamia’s Tiara and Red Slippers help raise the chances of Dancers dancing the Sword Dance, turning them into solid attackers. Dragoons are limited to spears and knives for weapons, but have a great equipment spread otherwise. Their abilities let them function as reliable damage dealers who can survive lengthy battles. Dragoons can Jump to temporarily avoid damage mid-air and attack enemies by landing. Lance also drains enemies MP and HP, which pairs well with Mages. 

Samurai learn some of the best commands in the game while having access to powerful weapons and gear. With the right set ups, they can obliterate the difficulty curve. Mineuchi is basically a regular attack that sometimes paralyzes enemies. Zeningage lets you throw Gil to deal massive damage. The more Gil you have and the higher your level, the more damage is dealt. Shirahadori raises evasion, turning your party member into a dodge-tank, and Iainuki simply insta-kills most enemies at the cost of requiring two turns to use. Chemists are great support characters designed all around items. They can brew new concoctions mid-battle by mixing different ingredients to different effects. Your existing items can turn into an attack, heal your party, or temporarily buff everyone’s level. Chemists can also drink special potions that buff their stats, and restore more HP & MP by using Potions & Ethers than other Jobs. 

The Mime Job can be unlocked by exploring Walse Tower underwater in the final overworld. Mimes are the core of the Job system condensed into a single Jon. They inherit some mastered abilities innate (not all), and have three ability slots that let you fully customize each party member. You can even remove commands like Attack and Items in favor of other abilities. Mimes can also mimic any move used by the previous party member at no MP cost and without consuming items. The Mime makes a great alternative to Freelancers, especially for magic-oriented characters. 

Final Fantasy V Advance introduces four extra Jobs. Three of which are available as soon as you unlock all 12 Legendary Weapons and visit the Sealed Temple, with the last unlocked after defeating the Temple’s boss. Gladiators are powerful melee fighters with access to strong weapons and armor whose commands help them make short work of enemies. Oracles are the strongest magic-based Job in the game, but their main command Condemn has a chance of randomly healing enemies, so they’re not the most reliable beyond their stat benefits. Cannoneers can deal full damage from the back row and can combine ingredients together to make new items and the final Job Necromancer learns unique Dark Art spells from enemies like a Blue Mage with Blue Magic. Albeit fun to play with, the GBA Jobs enter the picture too late to actually have an effect on character building. 

Overall, V’s Jobs are incredibly fun to play around with and offer a consistently rewarding gameplay loop that lasts the whole playthrough. The early game encourages you to diversify your party, the mid-game pushes you to mix & match dozens of different abilities, and the endgame rewards you for mastering Jobs by letting you customize Freelancers and Mimes into bonafide powerhouses. The Job system gives FFV an incredible gameplay flow that keeps combat and exploration fresh all the way to the credits.  

V’s battles flow at a great pace. The ATB (Active Time Battle) system returns from FFIV, albeit with an on-screen bar for each party member that refills and signifies when they can make a move. Taking turns in real-time lends combat a sense of urgency and pressure, especially in boss fights. The difficulty curve is never so high where you’ll be overwhelmed by lightning fast enemies, but V tends to require more strategy and thought than IV on average — although mainly on a prep level. Battles challenge you to diversify your party’s abilities while rewarding you for experimenting with Jobs. Low EXP payout compared to previous games keeps parties from overleveling. The focus is on earning AP, learning abilities, and creating hybrid Jobs. 

Enemies are vulnerable to a lot of different elements and status ailments across all types of magic and abilities. Trying with different spells and debuffs usually pays off. There are more status effects to contend with, with some particularly dangerous ones for the party. Old slowly lowers the affected character’s stats. Dischord halves the target’s level. Zombie turns a character against the rest of the party. Smart Job synergy lets you blitz through most random encounters, but you’ll often run into stronger enemies or packed parties that’ll keep you on your toes. It’s not uncommon to fight an army of weaker enemies battling alongside a considerably stronger monster. FFV doesn’t share I or III’s Vancian Magic system despite being a Job-based game, instead maintaining the MP system from FFII and FFIV. MP still needs to be managed to some extent since the best spells require quite a bit of MP to cast, especially Blue Magic.

Combat’s fast and sometimes frantic pace ends up mirroring the game’s overall progression. Final Fantasy V wastes no time opening up. The status quo is always changing and you unlock new Jobs surprisingly quickly. V cycles through three overworlds just like IV. They’re not as striking as Earth, Underworld, and Moon trio, but feel more cohesive. The game begins on the protagonist Bartz’s world, shifts to party member Galuf’s world, and ends in a merged overworlds that’s an amalgamation of both worlds. The story is fairly linear up until the last world where the game finally lets you explore at your leisure. Most of the final dungeons can even be done in any order, most of which are actually optional. V sports more methods of transportation than the average Final Fantasy and cycles through them often, trapping you in specific areas with unique restrictions. 

You ride on a Chocobo, set sail on a ship led on a hydra, fly on a dragon’s back, sail a fire-powered boat, fly a Black Chocobo through the air, pilot an airship, and submerge a submarine underwater. The fact you’re always engaging with the overworld in a new way keeps progression fresh and reminds you that anything can change. Some towns disappear and you lose access to them over the course of the story. Multiple dungeons are one-time trips. There are actual consequences to in-game actions. Once you’re done with an overworld, you’re done. There’s no jumping between worlds like in IV. The world permanently changes and stays changed. The space you’re interacting with and how is always being altered. V isn’t the first Final Fantasy with real consequences, but it’s the first one where those consequences fundamentally reshape your experience beyond just locking away a few key areas. 

Towns themselves are packed with colorful NPCs who do a good job at directing you. Ancillary dialogue often sets up later story beats or just fleshes out the world in small yet significant ways. V’s game-long side quests encourage you to talk with everyone and hunt the overworld for secret summons and optional dungeons. V’s towns are generally well designed with enough secrets to keep you exploring, but dungeons are the real star when it comes to level design. FFV’s dungeons aren’t as long as III or IV’s, but they’re a healthy length and set pieces are consistently memorable and engaging. There’s a good mix of traps, gimmicks, and environmental variety. Every dungeon feels creatively distinct. 

The Ship Graveyard is an early standout, as you explore debris from ruined ships on open water, jumping from wreckage to wreckage. The Library of Ancients features a prominent bookcase maze. Bookshelves move around as you explore the library, opening up seemingly dead-ends and keeping your own navigation confused and claustrophobic. You have to walk into nooks to let the bookshelves collapse back in, creating new ways to traverse the room. The Phoenix Tower is a 30 floor gauntlet with no save points, you only have seven minutes to explore a sunken Walse Tower before you drown, and the Great Sea Trench is filled with damage tiles and pit traps. 

The four Tablet dungeons do a great job at closing out FFV on a fight, with the Pyramid serving as a great introduction to the endgame. You only have three party members at this time, which makes things notably harder, but the dungeon itself is packed with different gimmicks. Branching paths lead to chests with monsters ready to ambush you. Sarcophagi that double as secret passages hiding mummies. Wall switches let you deactivate traps and unlock doors. Spike traps block your path and snakes jump out from walls to trigger battle on contact. Mecha Heads patrol the upper floors, and floor tiles that move around every few seconds drop you down to the floor below if you’re not quick enough. By the time you reach the Rift, you’re ready for everything the final dungeon has to toss at you. 

V’s presentation really helps bring different set pieces to life and is a big step up from IV. Environments are rich with detail, playing with depth perceptive to add some welcome spatial depth to the level design and using unique effects that help foster atmosphere. Exdeath’s Castle is overflowing with thick fog, dark areas warp the visuals around you, and knee-deep water rushes through Istory Falls. The game’s spritework is nothing short of fantastic. Enemies are the best they’ve ever looked at this point, and each character has a unique battle sprite for every single Job  — all of which play to your party members’ distinct personalities. FFV also sports one of Nobuo Uematsu’s most underrated soundtracks. Lenna’s theme is a beautiful song, Fate in Haze is a haunting dungeon tune, and Clash on the Big Bridge is one of the most blood-pumping battle themes in the series. The score has a wide musical range, and is as emotional as it is energetic and ambient. 

The scope of Final Fantasy V’s story isn’t as emotionally charged as IV, but it’s no worse for wear. Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yoshinori Kitase worked on the story together, both leaving their own personality behind in V’s script, 

“Sakaguchi was in charge of the overall plot, and because FFV was a relatively serious story, I wanted to be sure to inject spots with a little bit of comic relief and humor.”
– Yoshinori Kitase, Scenario Writer

The end result is a plot that knows when to be dramatic and when to cut loose a little. Final Fantasy V is just as comfortable letting Bartz and Faris share a tender moment at his parents’ grave as it is having the party’s main rival have a very tongue-in-cheek redemption right before the final battle. V is a Final Fantasy with a sense of humor and a sense of heart. 

One particular point in the story’s favor is its modern English localization. While V’s original English translation on PSX left much to be desired (to say the least), the revised Game Boy Advance script plays to the story’s natural charm and stands out as a strong localization altogether. Characters joke around together and interact with each other often, playing off each other’s unique personality traits. Bartz is a few men short of a full crew, Leena is an all-loving princess, Faris is a headstrong pirate with a sensitive side, and Galuf & Krile are usually the game’s go-to when it comes to injecting some humor and pathos into the plot. 

Character development is gradual in V, trading IV’s big beats for several smaller interactions amongst the cast that help flesh out their relationships, backstories, and motivations. By the end of the game, V’s party of four feels more defined than IV’s cast of a dozen. Little moments highlight their growth as opposed to life-changing events. Bartz and Galuf build a mutual respect for each other over their journey, and share a man-to-man drink in Regole. Lenna and Faris are two sisters torn apart at birth who reconnect throughout the game and mourn their father together. Krile gets to know the party and forms a bond with everyone before replacing Galuf. Bartz, Lenna, Faris, and Krile feel like a close-knit group of friends when all is said and done. 

While the crux of FFV’s story is a fairly traditional “good versus evil” plot, the narrative is bolstered both by strong characterization and some light but tight theming. Nature is dying due to man’s abuse of natural resources. The four Crystals are sapped of their energy, draining the world of its elements. The wind will stop, the air will stagnate, the birds will fall from the heavens and drop dead as seas dry up and fires die out. The fact Exdeath is actually a tree can even be read as nature rejecting humanity and wiping the slate clean as a consequence. The story doesn’t really push the theme beyond the surface level, but that it’s present at all gives the plot a minor layer of depth. 

Big gameplay moments to advance the story aren’t as frequent as IV, but they’re as impactful and V has more cutscenes in the grand scheme of things. The Battle at the Big Bridge throws constant enemies at you to build tension during a major turning point for the story. Gilgamish interrupts a fight with an entirely different boss and superseding their battle theme with his own. Galuf’s death and final duel with Exdeath uses the battle system to emphasize Galuf’s sheer force of will. Exdeath peppers you with powerful attacks, but Galuf refuses to die even at 0 HP. You can feel Galuf’s determination and desperation translated through the gameplay loop as he survives Flare, Holy, and Meteor back to back to back. Watching him fight to the very last inch of his life justifies it when the party can’t help him with Curaga, Raise, Phoenix Downs, or Elixirs. Galuf’s death feels painfully earned narratively and mechanically. 

Exdeath is a great villain, both in spite of and because of his outlandishly cartoonish malice. He’s outlandishly cartoonish, laughs maniacally, takes every opportunity to torment the party, and has no real ulterior motives beyond his evil. He’s chaos personified, which is perhaps fitting considering how FFV echoes FFI’s story in several respects. Exdeath also stands out for being an active antagonist whose role isn’t taken over by a last minute villain who was secretly pulling the strings all along. He’s nothing special in the greater context of Final Fantasy villains, but Exdeath serves V’s story well. 

Between an incredibly charming story and a fantastic gameplay loop, Final Fantasy V is nothing short of one the best games in the series. It’s a perfect marriage of Final Fantasy’s two distinct styles, combining the character-driven storytelling from II & IV with the gameplay diversity of I & II while giving both halves of the experience enough depth to thrive. The story’s stakes are high, the cast is very likable, and the lighter tone gives the plot a strong identity without undermining its drama. The Job system offers an amazing amount of replay value and is freeform enough where there is no wrong way to play. Impressively memorable dungeon design and an ever-changing status quo lend the impression that you’re on a genuine adventure with real stakes. Addictive, endearing, and brimming with heart, Final Fantasy V is a near flawless RPG and one of Square’s finest 16-bit achievements.