Welcome to the ファイナルファンタジー Club!
This is the main thread for playing through Final Fantasy 1 as part of the Beginner Final Fantasy Club.
Start Date: 2025-08-31T15:00:00Z
Vocabulary sheets, transcriptions etc.:
I’ll make a weekly post with the next stopping point, as well as some tips and tricks when necessary (the game can be a bit obtuse at times, owing to its age).
Schedule
I’m aiming for a beginner-friendly pace. Based on my scouting ahead, I expect that it should take us roughly 20 weeks to finish the game, perhaps a bit less (especially if we ramp up the pace when the participants become more comfortable with the game). We’ll be able to adjust all that as the club progresses through the game of course, speeding up or slowing down as necessary to keep everybody on board.
Mild progression spoilers ahead
This is a rough outline of how I image we could progress, trying to keep a reasonably even, beginner-friendly pace and balancing combat and dialogue sequences as best as I can.
After Hearth Cave the game opens up a bit, so we’ll probably want to create polls to decide in what order we do things from that point onward.
For instance here I propose that we do Ice Cave before Mount Gulug which I believe is not the “standard” order but my reasoning is that Ice Cave is shorter and as such would make a good weekly combination with all the dialogue in Crescent lake, while Mount Gulug is a much bigger dungeon and as such is better left off to its own week.
| Week | Main content | Optional content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro + Cornelia town/castle (gear up, level up etc…) | |
| 2 | Chaos shrine + Cornelia | |
| 3 | Bridge + Matoya + Puraboka | |
| 4 | Elf town/castle | Dwarf cave |
| 5 | Swamp cave | West castle (before swamp cave) |
| 6 | West castle, Matoya, Elf castle | |
| 7 | Backtrack using key, dwarf cave, Melmond | Optional backtrack dungeons |
| 8 | Hearth cave | Giant cave (pre hearth cave) |
| 9 | Giant cave, Sage cave, Hearth cave redux | |
| 9 | Crescent lake, Ice cave, levitating stone | |
| 10 | Mount Gulug | |
| 11 | Dragon caves + Trial castle | |
| 12 | Onrac, Desert, Gaia | Gaia pre-desert |
| 13 | Onrac, Sunken temple | |
| 14 | Melmond, Lufein, Waterfal cave | |
| 15 | Mirage tower, Flying fortress | |
| 16 | Excalibur, crescent lake, final preparations | |
| 17 | Final dungeon |
Which version should I play?
There are many versions of Final Fantasy I: ports, remakes, re-remakes, ports of remakes that add new things, ports of remakes of ports that remove things… If you want the full details you can watch this comprehensive (and spoiler-free) video and this page on the fanwiki.
Feel free to use whichever version you prefer or is most easily accessible for you, the script is similar enough that it shouldn’t matter much. If you’re in a hurry and don’t want to compare and contrast everything yourself, here’s a quick overview or what I think are the most relevant versions:
Quick overview of the original game and the Pixel Remaster
Final Fantasy I on Famicom (NES in the USA)
This is the original version. If you’re a purist, this is the biblically accurate Final Fantasy 1. It’s very easy to find ROMs online (it’s even on the Internet Archive!) and any toaster can emulate the Famicom these days.
There are a few things of note in this version however:
- The game is in full kana
Due to hardware limitations, most Famicom/NES games are devoid of kanji and this one is no exception:
If you’re very weak at kanji this may actually turn out to be a positive feature, but given that this is Wanikani I expect that many people here will prefer to read kanji text.
- The game is not only retro, it’s also dated. Inventory management, combat system etc… It can quickly become tedious, and many of the remakes and ports have tweaked the menus and game mechanics to make them less finicky and generally more enjoyable.
- It’s extremely buggy. Many spells, pieces of gear and spells don’t work as expected. Most of these issues have been fixed in subsequent versions.
In other words, this is not the most accessible version and I don’t recommend it if you’re not already a retro-JRPG veteran willing to read a lot of full kana Japanese.
I would argue that these days it makes more sense to play one of the remakes first and then play this version as a 2nd playthrough once you know how the game works.
Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster
This is the latest “remaster” produced by squeenix, and it’s a pretty solid one. It’s reasonably faithful to the original art style while adding many, many quality of life improvements as well as a revised script that has more text and is written in natural Japanese using kanji:
The game is available on many platforms (Steam on PC, Nintendo Switch, Android, …) and supports many languages including the original Japanese.
This version of the game is generally a lot more comfortable to play, and there are even built-in “cheats” that let you boost your XP and gil as well as to disable random encounters. Pretty useful if you want to focus on the Japanese and not on the combat system. It will make the game much easier and casual if you’re not super into JRPGs.
If you’re not sure what version to go for, the Pixel Remaster is a very solid choice and available on many platforms, and the built-in “booster” options will help you if you struggle with the old-school JRPG mechanics.
Where to buy
Courtesy of @ChristopherFritz:
See inside
Digital buying options
As of early July, there’s a big sale going on on most stores for FF1 (and also bundles containing all 6 Pixel Remasters), so now could be a good time to buy. See for instance: FINAL FANTASY | Deku Deals
Note: Links are for US digital stores. You may need to switch to your local region to purchase.
Beware: Not all sites list which languages are supported. I’m assuming they all support Japanese, but we can’t know unless we get confirmation from buyers.
Pixel Remaster Collection
Includes remasters of the first six Final Fantasy games, originally released on NES and SNES.
- Windows PC: Steam
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 4/5
- Xbox Series X|S
- iPhone/iPad
- Android: Not available?
Final Fantasy 1
Pixel Remaster
- Windows PC: Steam
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 4/5
- Xbox Series X|S
- iPhone/iPad
- Android: Google Play, Amazon
Physical Buying Options
The Pixel Remaster bundle is available physically for the following platforms:
- Nintendo Switch
- Amazon US: First Release, Rerelease
- Playstation 4 (compatible wth PS5)
May also be available from other local retailers, such as Best Buy in the US.
Older Releases
Releases prior to the Pixel Remaster include:
- Nintendo Famicom (1987)
- MSX2 (1989)
- Ported to WonderSwan Color (2000)
- Mobile Phones (in Japan, 2004)
- Sony Playstation (in Final Fantasy Origins, 2002)
- Gameboy Advance (in Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls, 2004)
- Playstation Portable (2007)
- iPhone (2010)
- Pixel Remaster
Good luck trying to secure a copy of anything other than the Pixel Remaster!
Will you be playing with us?
- Yeah!
- I’m not sure yet
- Not interested
- Yes, but I’ll start late
- I’ve played this before in English and will join the discussion
- I’ve played this before in Japanese and will join the discussion
Tell us which version you’ve picked
- Original Famicom version
- MSX2
- Wonderswan Color/PlayStation
- Game Boy Advance
- PlayStation Portable
- Nintendo 3DS
- Pixel Remaster (Steam, Switch, Android…)
- Other
Note that some versions (notably the GBA and PSP ones) have additional, optional dungeons not present in the original (or the Pixel Remaster for that matter). This club won’t cover this content.
How familiar are you with Final Fantasy?
- I have never played Final Fantasy games before
- I have only played modern (XIII onward) FF games before
- I have played old-school FF games before but not this one
- I have played this game before (in part or in full)
Don’t flame me for the XIII cutoff point for “modern”, I had to make the call. You could probably draw the line anywhere between X and XV.
I’m really excited to get going. I wasn’t sure how to answer the poll above because I played part of a game forever ago on my Vita and I barely remember it. I’ve always wanted to try the series, but keep getting distracted by other games.
) … not sure what’s more important, reading, writing, speaking, games 
