BATTLE SYSTEM INTERACTION ORIGINALITY STORY MUSIC & SOUND VISUALS CHALLENGE MODERATE COMPLETION TIME 36 Hours OVERALL 3.0/5 Rating definitions

   "We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character."
--- Henry David Thoreau

   The story of Final Fantasy Adventure begins with the hero, a slave for DarkLord in the castle town known as Glaive. He was forced to fight monsters day in and day out. He escaped but not without getting knocked down a waterfall by the DarkLord's new associate Julius. The hero eventually meets the heroine who is heading to the holy city of Wendell. As many RPGs go, the story involves saving the world from a menace that threatens the very existence of humanity. Players of Secret of Mana will see similarities in some of the city names and locations as well as the legend of the Mana Tree and Goddess.

   The gameplay is wonderful. The enemies move around on screen and must be attacked and dodged in real time. Running away and avoiding enemies if your HP is low is also easily possible. For the boss fights, some are more difficult however there is one where the hero can head into an adjoining room, sleep, and replenish HP and then go back out and fight. Make sure to line up your spells as well and figure out what kind of area each one covers. Different weapons also have different ranges and abilities. The axe, for example, can chop down trees and the sickle reaps grass from out of your way.

Mmmmm Chocolate...

   Throughout your adventure, you meet other characters that use different abilities. Some of them use the abilities on their own but others you have to go the menu and ask them to use them. The abilities range from healing you, using fire spells, and changing the background music of a dungeon. The NPCs are gained one at a time and many are only with your character for one dungeon or a very small section of the game. NPCs include the chocobo of Final Fantasy fame and you can ride him around without getting hurt. The moogles also make an appearance in the form of a status ailment.

   The interaction is average for a game. The only real advantage of interacting with the characters around you is to find out where to go and small hints on how to find hidden exits but the majority of that is done through cutscenes in important places.

I Believe in Miracles!

   The originality came in the story. The story is one where you can relate to the characters and also the world around them. Even though this is a magic wielding world, you can sense the danger. There are a few revelations, which I will not divulge here, that hit you right at the end for an interesting plot twist that will be somewhat unexpected to new fans of the Seiken Densetsu series. Another point of originality comes in battle, you have to not only watch yourself but watch the NPCs as well.

   The difficulty was average and laying mostly in the battle system. Some of the boss fights can be difficult since you are maneuvering around the room in a Zelda-esque fashion. Choosing the right weapons for boss fights are the key and also knowing which spells work against the boss. The dungeons are similar to Zelda. They are essentially puzzles for the character to solve in order to reach the boss.

   In conclusion, the game's story was extremely strong. The hero and heroine each are having their moments within the story. The difficulty was average as was the music and visuals. The battle system is similar to Zelda which is a good thing. Not many games do that to begin with. Definitly a must to have in any RPG collection.