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Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジー, Fainaru Fantajī?) is a console role-playing game developed and published in Japan by Square (now Square Enix) in 1987 and published in North America by Nintendo of America in 1990. It is the inaugural game in Square's flagship Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy has been remade for several different video game consoles and handheld systems. The game has frequently been packaged with its follow-up, Final Fantasy II, in collections such as Final Fantasy I-II, Final Fantasy Origins, and Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls.[1]

The story begins with the appearance of the four youths called the "Light Warriors", who each carry one of their world's elemental orbs, which have been darkened by four Elemental Fiends. Together, they quest to defeat these evil forces and restore light to the orbs, thus saving the world.

Final Fantasy was one of the most influential and successful role-playing games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and played a major role in popularizing the genre after Dragon Quest.

Gameplay

    The following refers to the original Famicom/NES version. For changes in subsequent remakes, see Development.

Gameplay in Final Fantasy is similar to that of many other console role-playing games. The player controls a party of four player characters, called Light Warriors (or "Warriors of Light" in later editions), who explore towns and dungeons as they travel across the world map. The goal of the game is to defeat four major enemies called Elemental Fiends or Fiends of Chaos. Along the way, the player travels to towns where he or she may shop, acquire information, and rest. While traveling, the player encounters monsters which must either be combated or fled from. Winning battles earns the player experience points, which strengthen player characters, and gold (gil in later versions) currency to buy new equipment.

The player begins Final Fantasy by creating the Light Warriors. As is typical of computer role-playing games of the era, player characters are passive participants in the story, with their names and abilities relevant only during battle. Characters are determined by four-character (i.e. four-letter) names (more in later editions), certain numerical attributes, and their class. A character's most basic attribute is its level, which is numbered between one and fifty. (The maximum is ninety-nine in later editions.) A character's level is determined by how much experience it has, and higher level characters are more powerful than lower level characters. Gaining a level increases the character's attributes, such as their maximum hit points (HP). HP represents a character's remaining health, and when a character reaches zero HP, they die. Additional attributes such as "Strength" govern other aspects of the character.

Each character has a character class, which affects the character's attributes and abilities. There are six classes, three of which are physically oriented and three of which are magically oriented. During the game, the player has the option of completing a quest which changes and upgrades each character to a different and more powerful class. With the exception of this upgrade, character classes cannot be changed once the game has begun.

The "Fighter" ("Warrior" in later editions) uses heavy weapons and armor, and can be upgraded into a "Knight", who is also able to use low-level White Magic spells. The "Black Belt" (or "Monk") is skilled at fighting armorless while empty-handed and upgrades to a "Master." The fast and agile "Thief" can upgrade into a "Ninja", which may use low-level Black Magic spells. Of the three magical classes, the "Red Mage" is a decent fighter and can use a mixture of White and Black Magic. The Red Mage upgrades to a "Red Wizard" who can use more powerful equipment and spells. The "White Mage" can cast defensive and curative spells and upgrades to a "White Wizard," while the "Black Mage" can cast offensive spells and upgrades to a "Black Wizard." Both the Black and White Mages/Wizards are comparatively weak at physical offense in exchange for their powerful magic.