5 is SO underrated. I agree that Bartz is forgetable but Galuf is awesome and makes up for it. The Job system is the overall most successful one in that franchise in that they keep using it as in FFT and FFX-2. The problem is that it is probably one of the hardest as well as longest games in FF series. What i suggest to you impatient folk is to get this game on an emulator so you can frame skip some of the random battles, because you actually do NEED to train your characters to get them strong enough. The characters aren't that complex but i think the story is one of the darkest of the FF series as well, in that things just keep getting worse. It's rewarding if you put your time into it.

There's absolutely nothing to look at as far as storyline or characters go, so let's turn our attention to gameplay..where the need to grind becomes apparent. That's right, the game pretty much forces you to run back and forth fighting random battles over and over again. Is it possible to play through the game without grinding? Probably. Would it be extremely difficult? Yes. So basically you've go no story, no good characters, and gameplay that almost feels like work. I've played through the entire game, you're not missing much if you pass it by.

Except that you are missing much, the characters are not as dynamic as some other titles but are still memorable minus Bartz, the storyline is nothing? bah! very compelling but can't give the example i want tobecause it would be a major spoiler. The battles are not a grind, you only have 4 characters but how many jobs? like 16? once things get a little dull, make a job change and use different strategies to win. play it for yourself people!

I've got mixed feelings about V. It's probably the first "Love it or hate it" games in the series waaay before the likes of VIII or XII.

There are potential in the characters but they are not developed very well. We have a boy exploring the world who later finds out he had a very important father. "My father was?....oh cool". He doesn't seem bothered that he is essentially half alien (remember they don't find out that the two worlds were actually one until much later in the game). We have a Princess and her long lost sister who has grown up to be the Captain of the local Pirate gang. "Faris are you really my sister?" "we have same pendants, we must be" "oh ok, I luvs you missing sis who has just randomly came back into my life. now lets continue our journey". Galuf was probably the best but what annoyed me was how he got his memory back a little too quickly. "OMGZ IM NOT OF THIS WORLD!!!....well toodles chaps I'm pissin' off home now". They needed to focus on the characters just a little bit more to make them less boring and dumb, instead it feels as if Square were having too many fag breaks and ended up rushing the game to meet the deadlines and concentrate on the mass orgasmic sex bomb that is FFVI.

Main story-wise it wasn't too bad. Evil force is returning, save the crystals, fail saving the crystals, mad-man wrecks havoc (not sure about the whole 'being a tree' thing though), two worlds collide, dimension jumps n'shizzle....classic FF. A step down from IV's but adequate never the less.

Game play was the best in the series up to that point. More side quests, extras, and the battles required more tactic than anything in IV ever had. The Job system allowed to to 'make' your team instead of being forced to have certain classes at one time. This was different for many players at the time because III, which had first used a similar system, hadn't been released outside Japan and so were not accustomed to having 'choice'. Some found it great others found it annoying and tedious.

Personally I've come to like it better than I have done previously but I still find it annoying at times. Its certainly a good game and worth playing but has nothing on the two installment's on its either side.

Well I don't necissarily hate it .....

However - The characters all round suck (with exceptions of Faris, Galuf and Krile (I don't care what any one else says she made the second half of the game bareable)).

The story is very lacking. Has great ideas but nothing really makes it be great. The gilgamesh is probably the best thing in this game, probably the best boss that you fight over and over in any FF game. With more character development this game could have been great.

The job system. The system used is very flawed in this game, well I felt that way. It is slow and boring. Job levelling up takes away the fun, except in the early stages of the game. However the ability to use another jobs abilities seemingly works most of the time.

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Now I shall compare it to ffIII and IV
(for III I Will be mostly comenting on the job system and the overall story.)

First the character development from IV, sure it isn't all that great. At least you could connect with some of them, unlike V I felt nothing with Bartz (I even forgot his name after like a week from finishing it.) III characters aren't worth talking about ....

The overall story of III is amazing, is so much that when I thought about V again I was like ... did they even try. These two games are a similar, yet where V fails to be well any thing ... III just kept geeting more interesting. A floating continent through to the world of darkness, gathering jobs from the crystals or whatever (wasn't paying to much attention).

The job and battle systems of III, is generally hard due to no save points other than the world map and the fact you can't buy pheonix downs. Has huge strategy elements, selection what job to use what magic you give each person. The job system is limited to only that job, main flaw, however it doesn't take forever for each job level to go up. V is also harder than most others in the series .... yet it's job system is probably more well thought out than III

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Now more than likely I repeated my self up ^ cos I wasn't paying all that much attention.

V should have been the best game in the the originals (i don't see FFVI as one of the original/ legacy, as it is more closely related imo to the playstation games). However Square decided not to create great characters, if Bartz and Reina (or what ever the princess is called in your version) had actually some point to the story, well more of a point, other than being in the party it would have been more interesting. Having characters leave the party for awhile should of happened more frequently, with them learmning some info etc.

Well I've went on like this for too long, I could go on about III and V more but well ya

The main downfall of FFV were the characters, in my opinion. The most memorable character in the game was a cross-dressing, supporting-character Pirate.

I believe if FFV revolved more around Faris than on the easily forgettable main characters, the game could have been better.

I actually think FF5 was alright. Sure, Butz (or Bartz, or whatever) was pretty bland, but it was still pretty good
It greatly improved the job System from FF3

For long time i didn´t like FFV but now much later I have started to like it I´m going to get FFV advance. Characters aren´t so good compared to IV and VI but I like team because it is very unordinary team.Yeah there is princess and boy scout hero but I would like to be Bartz because he travels with three girls and no other dudes. That is awesome.No other FF game has team were over 50% of the group is females.

Characters are bland but story is still pretty entertaining and cool and battle system is good and super hard bosses are big plus. VI weak point is that bosses are too easy but V has no that problem.