FINAL FANTASY I - Series Analysis

(if you're here from the FFII video, hello! the timestamps you're looking for are 4:25 for version differences, and 17:22 for combat. thanks for checking this out!)

hello everyone! this is the first video in a series in which i will be going through every main series Final Fantasy game (and some others too probably) in order to give them a wee bit of in-depth analysis, and figure out what makes each individual FF game tick. i'll be focusing on various things like development history, gameplay analysis, and musical analysis, but i'll also be drawing from outside sources like linguistics and mythology to try and understand as much as possible why these games are the way they are, and why people love them so much.

even though this video is nearly an hour long, there's a lot i didn't talk about, or that i'd like to clarify:
- i didn't discuss level grinding and the Peninsula of Power. i couldn't really fit these in and tie them to any other interesting overarching points without it feeling forced, so i made the decision to ultimately leave them out. the game is pretty grindy, though.
- unfortunately, i didn't talk about some of the best songs in the game, like 'Castle Cornelia' and 'Matoya's Cave'. a lot of the music in this game is hard to analyse because it's quite simplistic and underdeveloped in comparison to later entries in the series, and i'm by no means an expert. this is partly due to old hardware limitations, but predominantly due to Uematsu's style shift as the music begins to match the narrative more and more as the games go on. i say it in the video, but it's FFIV where this really starts to take off. the music is still banging though.

if you're interested, the songs used in this video are:
Terra's Theme (FFVI) - 0:01
Overworld (NES) - 1:45
Shop (NES) - 3:52
Prelude (PSP) - 5:49
Church (PSP) - 7:14
Menu (NES) - 8:06
Town (PSP) - 9:31
Castle Cornelia (PSP) - 11:18
Chaos Temple (PSP) - 13:12
Main Theme (NES) - 14:43
Battle Scene (Black Mages) - 17:23
Battle Scene (PSP) - 21:37
Dungeon (PSP) - 24:03
Matoya's Cave (PSP) - 25:25
Mt Gulg (PSP) - 27:35
Airship (PSP) - 29:39
Ship (PSP) - 31:03
Matoya's Cave (Black Mages) - 32:15
Gurgu Volcano (NES) - 36:12
Dungeon (PSP) - 37:01
Victory Fanfare (NES) - 38:27
Sunken Shrine (PSP) - 39:40
Town (NES) - 43:04
Flying Fortress (PSP) - 44:34
Chaos Temple (PSP) - 46:50
Ending Theme (PSP) - 51:25
Main Theme (London Philharmonic Orchestra) - 52:42
sorry about some songs being used twice! there aren't many songs in FFI, and they're all super short.

as for sources for the interviews i used, you can find them here:

footage used throughout the video:
the rest of the footage was captured by me. but please check out the above videos and their creators!

also, i spelled 'slightly' wrong just after 5 minutes into the video. mortifying. get someone else to proof-read your work.

finally, a huge thanks to my best pal Joe, without whom this channel would be much worse off. Joe has done all the art for my channel from its inception, from the old logo to the new black mage logo, the old intro and all the outros, and most recently the incredible art for my Patreon tiers! he is an immensely talented artist and an absolute legend so check him out:

thank you all so much for reading this far and i sincerely hope you enjoyed the video!

- alastair x

[Veiwer]

I played the original on the NES mini. The best way I can describe it, it is like playing D&D with your friends for the first time. No one knows the rules so you ignore some mechanics, fudge the numbers in others(regular attacks deal way to much damage) and don't understand most spells. With that mindset it's a great time! My favorite out of the first three.

[Ara_Arasaka]

7:15
Uematsu’s importance is legendary. Not just to final fantasy but to video games in general.
His music can be felt in **every** game in some way, to date. Final Fantasy 1 proved to the world that a game can be more than just an arcade thing with a simple narrative. It was deep and sprawling. But it was silent.

The music told you how to feel. It spoke for the series that resonated through decades to come. And as Uematsu reaches his twilight years— Soken seems to be the one who is going to take on his mantle.

Uematsu has reached a level attained by few. Names who will be spoken hundreds of years from now like Mozart and a Beethoven and Bach.

You could make an hours long video alone going over how important that man is to video game music let alone music in general and still only be able to cover a fraction of his work.

That man deserves all the good that comes to him. He has made a soundtrack that I have had with me since I picked the series up in 98 when I was 10 with FFVII on the PSOne on Christmas Day.

[nullmoon]

As someone who's never been super passionate about this series with only a few exceptions (like Final Fantasy Tactics), it's interesting to see a series like this from the perspective of a more devoted fan.
given your health issues i hope this isn't taking too much of a toll on you. Take care of yourself.

[badwrongfun]

nice to see a non-LP video from you again. The wait was worth it. This is really the most in depth look at the game I really remember, with a lot of stuff I didn't even know or had forgotten about entirely. It's really obvious a lot of passion, work, and research went into it. Fantastic.

[AraMarkov]

Hey, just wanted to let you know how happy I am to find an analysis youtuber with as high production value and calming voice as you have. Gonna binge all these final fantasy videos while I'm stuck inside from the absolutely massive amount of snow that just got dumped on us!

[blazedehart]

The Prelude on the opening screen is just absolutely magical. ❤️❤️❤️

[DeviSerene]

Yay, I was looking forward to this! :) I really enjoyed the localisation analysis, I've always found those so interesting.

[shivamchouhan]

51:39 that music in the background was the end music and is a slowed version of the village sound. So memorable 😌❤️

[WillKrepelin]

Really well constructed, produced, and delivered. I really hope you maintain the motivation to see this series through because I will gladly sit through 15 hours of these. Well done, sir.

[Incubansoul]

I played the original Final Fantasy with my dad and brother when it first came out for the NES. Once I discovered emulators I play it at least once every year. I'm actually in the middle of a run right now.

[jedisalsohere]

This video convinced me to finally pick up a Final Fantasy game. Thanks, man.

[RisuYT]

This was an amazing video, perfectly put together, with great editing, I loved it. The fact that you took your time to check and explain the Japanese side of things and the localization is just the cherry on top. Thank you. I really cannot wait for your take on the other FF games.

[brianhuyck]

The original Final Fantasy holds a special place for me and yours was the greatest analysis and retrospective I have ever watched. Thank you for such an excellent, articulate, and thoughtful look at one of my all-time favorites!

[shinyrangerericson]

Dude, have been watching your FF videos this week and i fell in love with how detailed your work is. I can feel the passion you have for the franchise is as great as mine is and this is so good to know. Can't wait for the other videos on the other games. Thank you! :D

[jmh]

This series is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

[ErnestoJSilva]

What a great way to explain things. The passion is noticeable. Thanks and best of luck!

[robertmerges]

This video is deserving of more attention -- much more thoughtful a work of art criticism than the proliferation of plot-summary-retrospective video essays on YouTube these days!

[andyshouldbewriting]

I've recently subscribed because you're Final Fantasy series analysis came up. I absolutely love the series too and watching made me so happy! I can see the amount of effort you put into this so know that even so long after posting, people are still consuming and loving your content! You've gained a fan and I hope you continue to cover the series 😁

[tylertadpole]

I never leave comments on videos, but I would be incomplete in life if I didn't say how excited I am to see the rest of this series. I'm sadly playing through every game for the first time so I can't binge the 4 out now, but your essays are so incredible that I simply have to finish the games solely to watch.
Genuinely thank you so much. You're an amazing talent 👏

[mirtoandrian]

You made a whole documentary from one single game... and to be honest.. I started watching thinking I would face a Final Fantasy (series) analysis.. but I was really surprised with the quality of your material. Great content... hope there are more! And pls, keep your pace and clearly way of speaking.. for a non native english speaker, it helps us a lot! Congrats and tks!