Final Fantasy V

Final Fantasy V, originally for the Super Famicon in Japan, was not localized at launch due to how long localization was taking at the time, also why we didn't get Final Fantasy 2 and 3 on the NES, and instead got IV and VI as II and III here. If you never had the chance to play it, and you a fan of IV and VI, you absolutely should give this one a shot.

Our first true job system where you could mix and match abilities from one job and apply them to a different job. Want to be a dual-wielding Ninja who also knows Time Magic? We can do that. A beastmaster wearing heavy armor? I don't know why you want to, but you can.

There's an elegance to the simplicity here. Excluding 2 special jobs, you will always have your Fight and Item ability, an active ability unique to your current job like Black Magic or Throw (Shuriken, etc.) or Sing (Spoony Bards), and possibly an extra skill if you equipped an active command from a different job (but you could also equip a passive from another one). Every battle you win will earn you XP and Gil like any other Final Fantasy, but also ABP (Ability Points) to master your jobs. Leveling up your jobs unlocks their abilities to be equipped on other jobs, and if you fully master the job, the passive abilities (with weird exceptions) are available for the special Mime and Freelancer jobs later, leading to absolutely broken combos.

That's really the heart of this game; finding broken combos and just goofing around with the job system. Blue Magic makes its debut in this game, and it's absurdly powerful if you take the time to learn your enemies' abilities. Many bosses can be trivialized by the right blue magic abilities; others can be defeated because they are weak to Petrify or only use magical attacks and can be silenced or have their own spells reflected. It's about planning for the boss (or abusing quick save and reloading when you fail), without the twitch reflexes of perfect blocks and timed dodges required by modern RPGs.

The story is good, but like all Final Fantasy stories, it's a little cliche. Save the world by finding the crystals, which you will fail to do in time and then have to make a plan B. What's really great about this game though, is that all of your characters have names, stories, personalities, and the animation team went above and beyond, creating so many unique poses and animations for every character in every job. Bartz as a black mage looks different than Galuf in the same job, and they can even have different poses for spellcasting. As usual for Final Fantasy, the music is top-tier too.

While the story may be cliche in its major beats, the moment to moment interactions and dialog are outstanding. Gilgamesh is a riot by himself every time he shows up, and he shows up a LOT.

Completionist notes:
All versions: There are over 600 collectibles from hidden items to treasure chests to blue magic spells to bard songs... a LOT of these are missable if you advance the plot too far. There are 8 pianos to play, but the first one becomes missable after a couple hours, while the 8th piano is only available in the final chapter shortly before the last dungeon, so you could easily not realize you missed one. If you want to go for all trophies (Pixel Remaster version), use a walkthrough.

Difficulty:
A good walkthrough helps a lot to prepare you for upcoming bosses. If you go in blind to the bosses, expect to die and need to retool. As long as you're rotating your party through different jobs, someone probably has an answer you can use. Challenge runs that restrict you to only using certain jobs can add a ton of replayability. The optional superbosses in the final dungeon are also worthy of the title, for sure. The PR version adds optional boosts for XP, Gil, and ABP -- I played with ABP on 2x until I got to the final save point, then I turned it up to 4x and spend another hour or two grinding out the last few jobs. XP I left on 1x to keep it from being a walk in the park, and Gil mostly stayed on 1x with an occassional bump to 2x, again, if you can just buy OP equipment without effort, it's not challenging anymore. Masochists can even set them down to 0x or 0.5x for extra "fun."

Played: ~32 hours on PS5 Pixel Remaster version to Platinum Trophy.