Final Fantasy is a household name, as far as video games are concerned. There's hardly anybody on this planet who isn't in some way familiar with this franchise. Many sequels, spin-offs, and movies have come from this franchise and it all started here.
When I first played Final Fantasy, I was amazed at how unremarkable it was. The first game in the series is not a bad one, but it's nothing that special as far as presentation and graphics. The reason why it became so famous is because so few people in America were used to this type of role playing game. Aside from the Dungeons and Dragons fans, very few people were familiar with the strategy and leveling systems of Final Fantasy. This game introduced them to a whole new world and to a unique experience.
This is the only Final Fantasy game in the series where you can choose your characters by class. There are no characters forced on you. While the game is unique, it still doesn't look that great. While I understand that it was a Nintendo game released on an 8 bit system, the graphics were still average at best. The sound was somewhat annoying at times and the game play was sluggish. The spells had very vague descriptions and often weren't very effective. You also weren't able to save your game when you were in dungeons, so it was very annoying if you died after three hours of fighting in a dungeon. The game also did a poor job of explaining what you needed to do next. There's a difference between suspense and downright guesswork.
Even with the negatives, Final Fantasy is still a classic. I definitely recommend playing the Playstation version, released with Final Fantasy II as "Final Fantasy Origins", because of the many nice upgrades to the game. After playing this game and hopefully defeating it, you will definitely appreciate the many improvements Square-Enix has done to the Final Fantasy franchise.
