It is that time of the year again and Square Enix has put every premium (and the free to start with premium unlocks) Final Fantasy game on discount for a limited time. Today’s sale has all the mainline ones on iOS featured and the Dimensions games alongside the superlative Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions ($13.99) and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions for iPad ($15.99). If you’re not a fan of the old school games and only enjoyed the numbered PlayStation entries and got into the franchise with Final Fantasy VII ($15.99), this sale also has the games you’ve been waiting for.
Before getting into the games themselves and the discounts, I’m conflicted with how Square Enix has handled their flagship franchise on iOS for a few reasons. We still don’t have VIII or X and those two are the only mainline entries missing for the pre PS3 era. Square Enix is also pretty terrible with updates for these relatively expensive ports and a game like Chrono Trigger still hasn’t been patched on iOS or Android while the PC version has received multiple fixes. They have been good with controller support though.
Now onto the games. Final Fantasy IV ($14.99), Final Fantasy V ($14.99), and Final Fantasy VI ($14.99) are easy recommendations for picking up. I’m not fully sold on the 3D remake they gave IV on the DS which eventually got ported to iOS and Android but the game itself is fantastic. Final Fantasy IV: The After Years ($14.99) on the other hand maybe worth a skip unless oyu absolutely love everything about IV and want more. VI is something most Nintendo SNES gamers will love and the port is fantastic outside the visual changes that are hit or miss. V isn’t remembered as fondly but it deserves a purchase for the job system and for Gilgamesh. The port quality is basically the same as VI. You probably will end up picking up Final Fantasy I ($7.99) and Final Fantasy II ($7.99) just to complete your collection but they are still worth playing if you can stomache a lot of the old school design decisions. I’m not a fan of Final Fantasy III ($14.99) (and iPad ($14.99)) at all and III is from the Square Enix era of iPhone and iPad games being different apps on the Store.
It feels funny saying “new school" but the fans who started with VII and the PS1 games can also pickup both Final Fantasy VII ($15.99) and Final Fantasy IX ($20.99) discounted in this sale. Out of the spinoff games, Final Fantasy Dimensions (Free) is free to download and you need to unlock the game through in app purchases for all the chapters or individual chapters. The whole game unlock is currently around half off. The follow up, Final Fantasy Dimensions II ($14.99), is also heavily discounted and this is a premium game. A lot of these mobile ports ended up on other platforms like Steam and PS4 but the one that plays best and is a brilliant game overall is Final Fantasy Tactics which is also pretty heavily discounted.
If you’ve been waiting to fill in the gaps, now is the time to stock up. My wish for this holiday season (I doubt they will release either sadly) is they finally drop Final Fantasy VIII on the store so I can peacefully sleep at night knowing the excellent Final Fantasy X is next.
"and a game like Chrono Trigger still hasn’t been patched on iOS or Android while the PC version has received multiple fixes"
Huh? Chrono Trigger was updated at the same time as the game was released on Steam. It got a bunch of updates, including support for iCloud saves.
I think Mikhail meant to say that not all of the patch updates made on the PC version are made on the mobile version. Indeed, the mobile version was upgraded at the same time as the launch of the PC version. Due to the bugs and issues found, both versions are receiving updates even until now. But some of the updates of the PC version are not on the mobile version. I think that's the problem.
I wonder how many of the patches are needed on mobile though? Aren't most of them concerned with the UI, which worked better on mobile than on PC?
The one thing I want to see across all versions is an option to turn off the horrible, horrible graphics filters.
That's one of the main things lacking on the mobile version. They fixed the graphics filter on the PC version by giving you options to choose from. And that's not on the mobile version yet. They only *slightly* improved the graphics but the filter is still there.
I know this might have been asked, but where to start if a) one never played a Final Fantasy game before and b) one can hardly, as you said, "stomach" old design decisions. I'm looking for an easy entry game that won't likely put me off. Thanks in advance.
Try the mobile port of 15, first chapter is free
Thanks, I will do that.
First off, I will say that a general player can start anywhere.
There are two FF games you can try out for free for the beginning part of the games. One is FF Dimensions and the other is FF15: Pocket Edition. Though FF15 is not on discount now and it's pretty different from the other FF titles on iOS in terms of gameplay.
If you think you can't stomache old school design decisions but you want similar gameplay of classic FF games, you can try FF7 or FF9 which are some of the newer ones available on iOS. Apart from those, FF3 and FF4 on iOS are ports of 3D remakes so they don't look "old school". The sequel of FF4 is also the same but as stated in the article, only get it if you really love FF4 and you want to explore more of it.
FF Tactics has the "old school" look but has very different gameplay system. It's a tactical RPG instead of being a general RPG.
Thanks!
Try FFX remastered
Ive been doing the FFV Job Fiesta this week, having a lot of fun.
Honestly out of the list in terms of actual game/port quality my recommendations would be : 4,5,6,9 and the first Dimensions, all amazing games and amazing ports too IMO.
Hey by the way guys, most of the ratings/reviews on this article are wrong, they are linking to completely different games for the most part and the ratings are wrong (I noticed because I know Shaun loves FFV and would never give it a 3.5 stars rating... lol)
Yeah, I've noticed the thing about ratings and the issue is actually in many places in the site. I assume it has something to do with the migration of the site previously. To see the real and accurate rating, you have to go to the review article and look at the top for the categories. For example for FFV, it's 4 stars as reviewed by Eric: https://toucharcade.com/201...
I wish I could take advantage of the sale when it comes around every year... but I've bought them all!
Personally, my favorite is Final Fantasy IX. And currently, I'm loving Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition and really love the simplicity and grind of Final Fantasy Dimensions II.