The Evolution Of Turn-Based Battles In Final Fantasy I-III

In this article, we'll take a closer look at the battle mechanics that defined the original games. We will uncover the similarities and differences between them, and how they set the stage for the intricate systems that followed in later installments. By understanding these foundational elements, we can appreciate the depth and complexity that has come to characterize the Final Fantasy series.

The name "Final Fantasy" is a bit of an oxymoron, considering there have been fifteen mainline installments and countless spinoff games, movies, anime and more since the first game came out in 1987. According to an urban legend, Square Co. gave the game its name because the company was struggling financially and didn’t look like it would survive past this last title. As it turns out, series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi simply wanted the game to have the “FF” initials, and as the game was a fantasy RPG, Final Fantasy was born.

Though far less epic a beginning than many fans assumed, the series became a phantom train hurtling towards the future, and the mainline (i.e., numbered) installments would constantly evolve its mechanics, graphics, storytelling methods and more as each new game was released. Interestingly, the core battle systems in the series initially didn’t change much from game to game -- at least, not on the surface.

Between the first nine entries, Square only used two basic battle systems for their long and elaborate adventures. The last handful, however, have constantly changed how the player fights monsters, and no two mainline installments have been the same in that regard. We’ll go over thirteen entries in total (sorry Final Fantasy XI and XIV – you’re great, but MMO battle systems just aren’t quite the same as in single player RPGs) and discuss how their battle and leveling systems changed from game to game. In this first part, we dig into the original three Final Fantasy games and look at the subtle but impactful differences between each of their battle and leveling systems.

Traditional Turn-Based Battles: Final Fantasy I-III

The first three Final Fantasy games all shared the same basic, turn-based battle system. In them, the player would command the characters on screen to issue an attack, cast magic, defend, use items and sometimes more. Players would give these commands to each of their characters at once and could take all the time they needed to do so. Then, depending on the speed or agility stats of the characters and enemies on screen, those participating in the battle would trade blows. Whoever had the highest speed or agility stat would attack first, and eventually, whoever had the lowest speed or agility stat would attack last. These numbers also influenced how many “hits” a character or enemy got off during a single turn.

Akitoshi Kawazu was primarily responsible for creating this battle system. He included many western RPG elements in the mechanics of the early Final Fantasy games, like elemental weaknesses and the ability to choose each character's class at the beginning of the game. Other major designers like Hironobu Sakaguchi and Koichi Ishii were instrumental in shaping this battle system as well.

The first three Final Fantasy games were released on the Famicom in Japan, but only the first was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the west. Final Fantasy drew inspiration from Dragon Quest and other trailblazing RPGs that came before it, but those often gave the player a first-person perspective during fights. In those games, players couldn’t see their own characters; instead, they looked head-on at enemies. But in Final Fantasy, the battle screen displayed an overhead, third-person point of view, so the player could see enemies on the left side of the screen, and the characters on the right. This basic set up would be kept essentially until Final Fantasy XII, which was the first Final Fantasy to use a free-moving camera in battles.

Final Fantasy I (1987)

In the original NES version of Final Fantasy I, the battlefield was separated into two discrete boxes: the one on the left housed enemies, and the one on the right was home to player characters. The left box could hold nine small enemies, four large enemies, or a mixture of two large and six small. All-in-all, there were 128 unique enemies in the game, and a potential of 256 enemy groups. Bosses typically filled up the entire left side of the screen, as they were intended to be portrayed as massive in scale. Some enemies, like the Mindflayer, could confuse player characters. Others, like the Hellhound, relied on elemental strengths and weaknesses to fight the party.

There were four characters in the party throughout the game, each named by the player: they were known as the Warriors of Light. These four characters could be any one of six classes: Warrior, Thief, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage or Red Mage. Warriors specialized in wielding heavy weapons and armor, acting both as an offensive and defensive class. Thieves were quick, evasive and had high luck stats, allowing the party to flee battles with ease. Monks were trained in the martial arts, and were best at fighting empty-handed, saving the team’s gil (i.e., money) to spend on equipment for other characters. White Mages specialized in curative magic, but were terrible physical attackers. Black Mages were similar, except they cast offensive, elemental magic. Red Mages were jacks-of-all-trades and masters of none, as they could learn some (but not all) white and black magic, and could equip a decent amount of equipment, giving them solid attack and defense stats.

These base classes were determined at the beginning of the game and could not be swapped unless the player started over from square one. Because two classes had to be left out of the party, picking out an efficient lineup was essential to prolonged success – would the player focus on magic, having all three mages in their party and only one offensive class? Would they instead try to power their way through the game with only axes and swords? Players could even pick four of the same class if they chose to do so, but this made the game much more of a challenge. To this day, players attempt all-Thief or all-White Mage parties to make repeat play-through games more interesting.

Late in the game, if the player gives the Dragon King Bahamut a Rat’s Tail (don’t ask), he would upgrade the party’s classes. Warriors became Knights, who were stronger and capable of low-level white magic. Thieves became Ninjas, who could wield almost all weapons and were casters of some black magic. Monks became Masters, who if kept empty-handed, were capable of dealing more damage than any other class. White Mages became White Wizards, which opened up every possible white magic spell in the game. Black Mages became Black Wizards, doing the same with black magic. Red Mages became Red Wizards, which basically encompassed each of these class upgrades, getting more white and black magic, receiving stat upgrades, and were made capable of wielding more weapons than ever before.

Both white and black magic spells were determined by charges, where lower level spells had more opportunities to be casted, and higher level spells had a very limited amount of charges. The number of spell charges would increase as the characters gained levels and could be restored if the party rested at an inn.