Final Fantasy V Advance for Game Boy Adv Reviews by Gamers

I had seen a few user-reviews on this title prior to renting it saying it was one of the worst Final Fantasy games ever, that it did not live up to the franchise name, etc. I am happy to say this is not true. The story in this game is solid - it is not near as 'intense' or 'dramatic' as others in the franchise, it is a lot more light-hearted and also pretty funny, so maybe that is why. The characters are all solid with decent back-stories, the battle system is good, so are the graphics and of course the music is classic - but what I really like is the fact that this is one of the FF's with the JOB SYSTEM. I love the job system because it allows you to balance your team out however you choose, you can have a solid attack-based group or defensive or both or whatever and it adds a lot of tactics to the already-well-built battle system. To me, this game is better than III on the DS simply due to well rounded characters, a surprisingly good story, and a little more depth with the jobs. With FINAL FANTASY, you cannot go wrong and this game is no exception to that rule. A +.

As many Final Fantasies are (Excluding FF XII, and FF VII DoC), FF V is not amazingly fun battle wise, and its richness lies solely in its story. You have a few main characters, who all turn out somewhat special, and many plot twists. It's not too predictable, and is often quite entertaining or interesting. You may pick from multiple classes as you progress through the game, each with its own skills, and mix and match to make your own customized characters. Then, as you fight, you gain points allowing you to level up your class, allowing the use of stronger skills. This mixing and matching aspect can be quite entertaining, and you will probably quickly find your favorite classes. As the story progresses, as does the battle difficulty. The sort of "bar" turn based battle system is going to either be very easy or very hard. It often requires you to go off into the wilderness and just "grind" by killing monsters over and over to become stronger. All in all, despite the frequent lapses of monotony, the games story earns it a sturdy 6.

In my opinion, this is probably the weakest of the Final Fantasy games released. It's just a stale boring romp that feels dated.

I bought Final Fantasy IV last year for the GBA and I played it non-stop until I beat it. FF4 was a real joy to pick up and play, but FF5 feels more like a chore.

Final Fantasy V is regarded for having the infamous job system that's known throughout the Final Fantasy franchise. It is a great idea to have your party learn different jobs and abilities. However, it takes forever for your characters to learn these abilities. It becomes as I said, "a chore."

If the Final Fantasy franchise is known for anything, it's the epic storylines and deep character development that goes into the game creation. As stories go, FF5 has the most boring, uninteresting, and cliche storyline of the Final Fantasy series. You're a group of chosen heroes who must defeat an evil wizard who plans to take over the world. I'm serious, it doesn't get anymore simpler than that. On a side note, the evil wizard's name is EXDEATH! Ooo scary.

The characters you play as are one dimensional card board cut outs. You have Bartz the adventurer, Lenna the princess, Galuf the amnesiac, and Faris the cross dressing pirate. All these characters have a background story that can be summed up in a sentence or two. You can't relate to them, probably because they have nothing to offer the player to care about.

Now it's not fair to compare FF5 to Final Fantasies 6 through 12. They came after 5 so it goes without saying that they would be better. In comparisson to FF4, FF5 has a subpar story, charcaters you could give two s4its about, and an annoying ability system that isn't fun to play.

Overall, Final Fantasy V is not a good game. I don't recommend it to even the most hardcore of RPG fans. If you desperately need a Final Fantasy game for your GBA, play FF4 instead. Or wait till FF6 comes out, which is definately one of the better gems in the series.

one of the great things about this final fantasy is because of the job changing ability. So you only need four people to have a good party

Well I'm a huge fan of FF games and V didn't dissapoint. It had a pretty good story line but what I really liked was the job system. I enjoyed leveling up and mixing jobs together to get some pretty BA combinations. Overall I reccomend it for any FF fan but remember it's an older game and for GBA so don't except amazing graphics.

Amazing, Simply Amazing.

In this title, Square was at it's best. The story is compelling, and you really get interested in your characters.

Game play is classic FF, but with total freedom. The Job System is beautiful, Allowing you to choose your job, and any ability you have unlocked from another job with it.
As a White Mage you can use Black magic, Or as a Knight you can use Jump, Or as a Dancer your can equip Armor...

Mana Costs are excellent. At lvl 30 I have 200-300 Mana and the highest costing spell I have is Raise at 29mp :D Nice. The monsters are awesome, And there are areas they throw in a very strong monster to add some fun, and possible death into the game. Only died once.

Overall, This is how I wish they made games now a-days... But they are to worried about it looking good and selling to the masses... So, if you want a real good, RPG Rent it. And if you've played it before, They thought of you too.

Get it.

Playing this game brings back memories. I never had a chance to play it on the SNES, but no one did except the Japanese, but, as soon as I started this game I felt like I was 8 again. It reminded me quickly of my favorites in the Final Fantasy series, the old SNES ones. It was a good game overall. The story was good, but not as good as 4 or 6 I would say. The character development was also pretty good. I cared for all 4 of them. The Job system was an interesting change of pace. I know it wasn't the first game it was used in but it's the one that used it best. All in all if you played and loved 4 or 6 and are like me and think that the newer Final Fantasy games aren't as good as the older ones then there is no reason not to give this a try.

I only have one or two complaints. There was a few times in the game where I didn't know what to do next. It wasn't really spelled out for me. Which isn't a huge problem, but one that I noticed. The other was the ending. I won't go and spoil it for anyone but it left me not feeling as accomplished or satisfied as I would have though. I would suggest going to a FAQ site to learn about the jobs because there is a whole part of it that was never explained in game that has to do with mastered jobs and stat boosts on the mime/bare class.

If you're looking for a classic game that won't eat up too much of your time give this a whirl. It took me a little over 20 hours to beat without going level mad.