I've played a lot of fan games. A lot. And I know that if there's one thing that fan-games strive for, its faithfulness to the source. In that regard, this game gets a AAA+ because it has nearly EVERYTHING that past Final Fantasy titles had. I'm talking about the good old titles like FF 1 to 6. The best thing about it is that it really improves upon all those aspects instead of just copying them. Without further regards, lets get to the meat of it.

Story: 4/5

From the summary you might not get a lot of info about what's going on, but trust me, it gets better. A major part of the story is just following their journey to the Whispering Caves and has an adventure feel to it. But when you actually reach your destination, things get really interesting, the whole story is turned around in a way that is really unique for a fan rpg. Without spoiling much, you end up having to explore different time-lines looking for the big bad. It's like a totally different game and yet its the same game. Yes it's THAT good.

The story begins rather unusually as compared to most rpg's. Instead of you waking up in your room with someone saying "wake up Crono", you start with some totally unknown character who is already a walking tank (so to speak). After decimating random encounters you face a hard boss battle (which you CAN win with planning) and following that the real game starts. (You do eventually find out who the first person was, at the end of the game. And I mean at THE END).

The story follows two separate parties of heroes, Cloud's team is one and Tidus' team is another, with you playing from both their point of views (Which is genuinely interesting and refreshing). Their journeys cause them to meet up several times (but going their separate ways again until much later when they join forces).

Characters: 4/5

Where to begin, so many characters! Let's start with the heroes. Yes it's Cloud aka Mr Infamous. BUT the unique thing about FFD is that it has the characters, and the characters personalities from their games, (Like Clouds "I don't care" attitude, Squalls "whatever" (and also his face palm which was cool) but it doesn't have any relation to their stories. It's like FF7 or FF8 never existed, the characters just know each other because they happened to live in the same town.

There is a lot of character development for the heroes (not so much for Tidus group oddly) but its enough. There is a particularly sad scene that should be given mad props.

(And for the fangirls (and boys) there is NO MENTION of Sephiroth WHATSOEVER. Nary a hair of him is seen which I thought was really cool).

For Tidus' team, it's the same. Tidus, Yuna and Auron know each other, they have the same relationships as in FFX, Yuna is even a summoner and Tidus and Auron are like her guardians (not stated though) but again, there is no mention of FFX whatsoever. (Nor seymore or sin or anyone). A majority of other FF heroes make up for the NPC's, shop keepers etc.

Gameplay: 4/5

The battles in this game are really interesting. It's so much more then MASH SPACEBAR TO WIN, (you'd be dead if you tried). There are just so many many features from FF games that it boggles my mind. We have a working Bushido system for crying out loud! There are summons with full length animations and with a system like FFX. There are limit breaks like FF7. There are little accessories that give certain commands like "Kamikaze" (Insane damage traded for loss of one character from battle), Auto-Phoenix that immediately throws a Phoenix Down on a dead character, and so on. The balance is well adjusted also and the fights don’t drag out like many rm2k3 games.


Mapping: 3/5

Mapping was decent. It wasn't great, (and there was a case of directly ripping don miguels ship) but I think the mapping was okay. The world maps in particular (there are FIVE of them!) were excellent. Each had many many things hidden around and EVERY BIT of the worldmap had some kind of purpose.

Music: 3/5

Same old same old. If you've played any FF, you'll most likely hear a tune in here somewhere. The arrangement and placing of the music though, that deserves props.

Custom Systems: 5/5

The game has a CMS! I think the CMS was very well done. Features like limit break were very well implemented. There was a lack of information regarding a certain useful feature which caused me to not even know about it, but it was later fixed with a patch.

Mini Games: 5/5

My. God. This game has TONS of mini games. IT HAS A WORKING VERSION OF SNAKES AND LADDERS. It has a puzzle game where you have to solve it within 7 clicks. It has racing games (2 player!!), it has hang gliding, it has rope climbing and much more.

Side Quests and re-playability: 5/5

Again, like mini games, this game is FULL of side quests. Later in the game, you get a diary that has records of which quests you have done and which are left. But these are mostly major ones. There are many many smaller ones in the game not even covered in the diary, (like one where you can help someone build a bakery in a village and get a very nice reward out of it).

There are so many optional bosses and dungeons. (Sadly no Ultima or Omega weapons but decent (or harder!) substitutions instead) There is also a village where you can make your own potions and elixirs using alchemy and a village where you can trade your airship for a black chocobo which allows you to land in forests and is actually the only way to do certain quests. (You can return the chocobo and get back your ship).

There is a new game+ feature available after the game is finished which enables you to replay the game from the beginning with all the items and equipment you collected (your level gets reset but with all those powerful equipment, who cares?). Definitely great replay value

OVERALL: 4.5/5

A definite MUST HAVE for anyone who dares to call themselves a fan of Final Fantasy. Trust me, you are at a loss if you haven't played this. The game doesn't exactly have a good track record with lots of reports of bugs and glitches, thankfully though I haven't encountered any major game breaking ones.