Final Vision

By: Derek Yu

On: November 5th, 2007

Final Vision is a nifty little mash-up of Final Fantasy and platform games. Pick from one of four classes (Fighter, Red Mage, Summoner, and Dragoon), and visit the requisite towns and dungeons – only this time from a side perspective.

Unfortunately, it’s only a few hours long, and the story elements are paper thin. Still a pretty fun ride while it lasts!

(Source: Indygamer)

Posted in Freeware, Platformers, RPG, Windows

Mischief Maker

The story is paper-thin? How is that any different from all the rest of the Final Fantasies?
Carlz0r

MM, I like your style! You make a good point.
Dusty Spur

I liked this game’s story better than FF12’s story. I think that says something!

Just beat it as a Dragoon, very fun as a break from all the Neverwinter Nights 2 I’ve been playing. And much shorter than I anticipated. Going to try as different classes soon. Being a Dragoon, I didn’t even get to try out magic.
Derek

I didn’t NOT like the story, I just thought it could have been a little more developed! Like the rest of the game. Just my wishful thinking.
Mr. Trianglehead

Why there is an option to play as a non-job class character is beyond me. It’s essentially void of every ability. But I guess that’s the fun and challenge of it.
alspal

Thank you for the mention. Appreciated.
Tim

Sorry about the site being offline ~ our hosts’ server was hacked the other night :(

Still, thanks! ^_^
Izaak

Looks like I’m stuck….how do you get free from the first part, the prison? >_>

-Izaak, Lord of the Lotus Clan.
http://akktivecarbon.uw.hu !CE-9

story? there was a story?

apart from some bugs & stuff it was pretty fun (and damn easy) to play. there are evensome secrets (same easy to find). it’s not bad, especially that it’s made by 17 year olds.

Izaak: keep “left” pressed and jump.
http://akktivecarbon.uw.hu !CE-9

oh btw I could skip the last part (beyond where “no man can go”) and go straight to the hideout… it really shouldn’t happen IMHO.
Fishy Boy

It’s pretty fun, but it kinda gets boring quick ‘cuz all the enemies simply walk back and forth, maybe swing at you. Different patterns of movement or attack would make it much more interesting.
Melly

There were some Final Fantasy’s (VI, for example) that had some pretty compeling plots. Though, admitedly, most others either have simplistic plots or try to be epic, falling very short and ending up with the same tried-and-not-so-true formula of “rebelious group fighting evil empire or evil despot taking over empire with hidden all-consuming evil to battle yadda yadda”. And yes, VI was somewhat like that too, but the characters were interesting at least.

Gonna try this one and then I’ll post my thoughts.
BeamSplashX

This game had a fairly original role. I don’t know of many games where you play as a king getting revenge for two assassination attempts.

I played for around 2-3 hours and completely annihilated the final boss. I want more! Also, the fact that the best sword in the game is poorly defended by one enemy near the end kinda bites, since I spent a lot of time saving up for the most expensive one. Definitely my favorite game by alspal so far, though.
Naphistim

It crashes immediately when I save. Am I the only person this happens with?
Dusty Spur

BeamSplashX: I was disappointed about the final weapon as well. Kind of sucks saving up all that gil (I had been using the cheapest weapon from the first store for the entire game) only to get the HOLY LANCE after killing that weak knight.

Naphistim: Really? Never encountered that problem. Did you extract it before playing?
Naphistim

Yep. Regsvr’d the DLL too just in case.
Naphistim

Just ended up beating it without saving.

I’m really compelled to extend this game, so I’ll definitely be speaking with the creator to see if maybe we could collaborate on something. :D
Eudaimon

Just finished beating the game a second time. Man, summoners are bad. It does make it a bit more challenging, though all I ever had to use were Shiva and Chocobo. I beat the game before I ever got a chance to use Bahamut thanks to the strangely low amount of MP I had. I guess you aren’t supposed to beat the game at level 16?
Dusty Spur

I’ve beat it with every class except Red Mage and yeah, Summoners have surprisingly low MP. I had enough to use Bahamut once, but I pretty much just used Shiva all the time.

Also, I’d really like to see the game extended.
Naphistim

I’ve sent an email to the creator regarding my wishes. I’ve already made a ton of mockups, so I’m kind of hopeful. I don’t know why, but the game’s sheer smoothness makes it so fun to play and puts it up above indie classics even such as Guardian of Paradise for me. So, I’ll be really glad if I can work on this.
Derek

The easiest way to build levels with the Summoner is to get to those harpies(?) at the end and use Chocobo on them over and over again! Just buy a bunch of Ether and go to town on those poor things. :)
OD

Oh dear. I believe I broke it.
Eudaimon

Dragoons are incredibly strong. Used one on my third playthrough and beat the game in 10 minutes, at level 10.

I’m curious as to what’s behind the pillar. Has anyone found how to get past it? I assume it’s probably triggered by being level 100 or something, though it might involve being a normal class.
alspal

Naphistim where did you send an email?
http://[email protected] Ben

Actually there’s nothing behind the pillar! It’s a tease.

@ Naphistim: I’m not sure how often Alspal checks his email, I’ll tell him to check it when I next chat to him.

Oh and sorry about any downtime guys, our host’s being silly.
BeamSplashX

The sequel should have rare monsters and item drops. An improved combat system would be great as well. That’s pretty much all I could ask for from this game. More job classes is icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned (no need for specialized mages, just give Time and some variant of Blue abilities to the Red Mage and you’re set).
Phasma Felis

Mischief Maker, have you ever played an FF game? The problem is the opposite, they’ve got piles of incomprehensible story and no gameplay.

As for this…well, it looks neat, but the controls are wonky, it plays in a tiny squinty-eye window (and looks bad when maximized), you can’t tell where you’re going in the airship, and I beat it in 45 minutes without really trying. So…not exactly thrilled. A considerably cleaned-up and extended version might be fun.
http://ithamore.blogspot.com/ ithamore

I played it, beat it, and don’t want an extended version. I’d rather have a series of Final Vision games. The game is so short and simple that I don’t think it would be too hard to develop a new every month or so. I wouldn’t always want to play as a “king”, but it is a nice change for an RPG-ish game. Each game in the series could have a similarly unique main character with a different story. The world could change each time or it the games could exist in the same world of overlapping or non-overlapping stories.

I was wondering, why does a “king” start out with the stats and money purse of a commoner? If I had started out with some decent stats and a lot of money, I would have thought it was an interesting deviation from typical RPG heroes and would have wondered why. Then, when I discovered he was a king, the character would have suddenly made more sense. Instead, I’m being told he’s a king, but the facts and dialog don’t suspend my disbelief.
Melly

If you’re a king, you should have shitty-ass stats and a TON of money. What, picking up the quill and signing treaties pumps your arm muscles or teaches you fireball spells now? :P (by the way I’m totally just being silly with ya).
Pyrrhon

It’s a nice try, but it does not go all the way. The most obvious problem is the bad enemy design. The game goes basicly like this:

1. Grind enemies
2. Sleep at inn
3. Repeat 1&2 until you can buy the best stuff in shops.
4. Go to next area and repeat 1,2&3

The enemies are basicly all the same, they just walk back and forth.
motus

fun game, combat is a bit restrictive… doesn’t exactly flow gracefully… I’ve played it through with summoner and dragoon. albeit a little short my game experience was fun and slightly annoying. I would think combat like zelda 2 on the nes would be a bit better..
Naphistim

Sent it to the “Contact” location at your website. :)
Melly

After finishing the game as both Dragoon and Red Mage (tried Fighter, but he’s kinda sucky) here are my thoughts.

For a very short, simple game, it’s quite a bit of fun while it lasts. Sure, it’s completely based on grinding, and the battle has no depth whatsoever, but it’s amusing in the sense it, for me, seems to parody FF games quite a bit, with its overly simplistic and somewhat senseless plot and repetitive battle mechanics.

The game obviously has some big issues. There are some huge balance issues with spells, mages don’t seem to get nearly enough mana to go without stocking up on dozens of Ethers, and the challenge is practically moot for most classes if you don’t charge headfirst onto enemies, which is usually certain death. For some odd reason I still found it fun, maybe because it was way too short to wear out its welcome (which it did after the second time).

Could use a lot more work, but has potential.
Exoduster

Does it bother any one else that Red Mages are basically just Mages? Aren’t they supposed to be a mixture of Mages and Fighters?

Granted, my expectations were based entirely on 8-Bit Theater.
Lailoken

Wow did I ever break this game. Beat the game at lvl 10 with red mage. Didnt buy a single thing other than ethers and poison. ran around hitting things with my stick. Poisoned the first boss, then just hit the ghosts with my stick till he died. Got the airship and flew to the black night, which i just poisoned and waited for him to die. Got back on airship, flew to the end. My plan was to flare ether flare ehter like mad in the hopes i could kill him real fast, but during these efforts I realised you cant be hurt while in the menu. So, while I did flare him 10 or so times, it turns out you can just poison him, open the menu, and wait. He will die soon enough.

I think the game has lots of potential, but it seems like a demo. It’s short, the abilities are kind of weak (dragoon jumps higher.. yay), it’s really easy to skip whole sections, there is no plot, all weapons/armor looks and behaves the same way, the enemies all do pretty much the same thing, etc. Great idea anyways.
http://[email protected] Ben

@ Naphistim: Well… That’s checked by Tim, so he’ll have to forward that on. But we have no plans for a sequel right now.

Thanks everyone :)
Lailoken

@ Exoduster: Late game red mages were pretty useless in combat. The real point of a red mage is that it can cast black and white magic, as opposed to one or the other.

I just wanted to add that despite its shortcomings, I had alot of fun playing it.
Tim

Hey, sorry if anyone couldn’t download the game due to the server being down – Host got hacked a couple of days ago -_-

It’s all back now, thankfully.

@ Naphistim: please email

tim[at]silvernova.co.uk

~ I have been getting tonnes of spam sent to the address that the contact form uses, I’ve JUST emptied the junk folder!

Sorry XD If you still need to contact us, please do so using that email address. Thanks!
saiko

oh my god, when I played this game I found sonic… where’s mario?
TheDudeAbides

Woot, managed to beat it at lvl 2 in 9 minutes.
PeaCe

my downloaded version cant play musics
i try ctrl+M but still no music
plz help !
thnx