As I've been continuing to ride the hype of Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy, I've been making a point of it to go back and play through all the titles I never finished previously. One that I owned for years but kept avoiding, though, was Final Fantasy V.

I've been hanging around Final Fantasy fan spaces for over 20 years and for a long while one thing seemed consistent: it's the black sheep of the series. It didn't have the greatest reputation and it kept me from playing it over other more beloved titles in the series. As these things go, though, time has been far more kind to the game and it's gotten a lot more love in recent years. Heck, there's even silly speedrun events dedicated to it nowadays!

So, I was admittedly eager to get to this game once I had the time. I'm glad I did because it was an absolute delight. I wouldn't call it peak storytelling like some other games in the series, but it boasted some of the best RPG gameplay to be found and a nice light story to go with it. Now that I've had the opportunity to play it, let's talk a bit about the lore behind the cards from the latest Magic expansion.

I spoke a little bit about Bartz and Boko during the preview stream, but admittedly I kinda glossed over it with a basic rundown. Now that I've played the game fully, I think I can do a bit better! Bartz is a young traveler from the town of Lix. His mother died when he was young, and his father - one of the legendary Dawn Warriors - died a few years later. Bartz now travels on adventures with Boko - his beloved chocobo - until he's pulled into the quest to save the crystals, leaving Boko sidelined for much of the game.

Toward the end of the game, the player can take up a sidequest to ride Boko across the entirety of the merged world. Travel the Overworld is a great representation of this moment, though can be used in a much broader sense as well.

The Gaelicat is just a simple example of a basic monster you can run into on your adventures. This particular one can be found on Northern Mountain, where it attacks you typically in groups of three. A Magic Pot, however, is a much more iconic enemy that shows up in a variety of ways throughout the series. In V and VII, players must give them rare Elixir items to be able to defeat them, but when they do they're rewarded with tremendous amounts of experience.

Cure, Cura, and Curaga are absolute staples of the Final Fantasy series. I'd go so far as to say that when it comes to the non-summon spells, these are some of the most important in the entire series, as they keep your party well healed in the process. This art depicts the character Krile (which can be determined by the cat ears) as a White Mage casting the spell to heal the party.

The Coral Sword is a simple example of one of many weapons throughout the game. There isn't very much special about it, other than it deals lightning damage rather than normal non-elemental damage, making it useful for certain scenarios.

At one point in the game, the players seek out the town of Gohn after hearing rumors that King Tycoon, the ruler of the kingdom you start out near, was seen there. To get there, the players must pass the Desert of Shifting Sands and are able to do so by walking over the corpse of a Sandworm they take down. At Gohn, the party falls into a trap set by a possessed Tycoon and find themselves in the Catapult, where they obtain an airship with the aid of Cid.

As the party falls into the Catapult, the possessed Tycoon raises the ruins lying beneath Gohn that house the Earth Crystal within. The players reach it only for the possessed Tycoon to overload the crystal and destroy it, breaking the seal on the deadly Exdeath and bringing him back to life.

Exdeath is a bit of an unusual villain. While he bears the appearance of a sort of knight, in truth he's actually a tree that was corrupted by dark spirits bound within it. This allowed Exdeath to gain sentience and seek the power of the Void which he intends to use to destroy the world and create a new world for monsters. Eventually, he is consumed by the Void, merging with its essence and turning into Neo Exdeath and bearing the new objective of wiping out all of existence.

Much like Bartz and Boko, I gave Gilgamesh a modest reading last time when his main set card was shown off. I like to think I did a solid job there, but I think it's worth reiterating just how humorous this character is. A legendary samurai warrior, he's known for his quippy dialogue and comical moments such as thinking he obtained the mighty Excalibur only to realize he actually gained Excalipoor and loses the fight as a result. Gilgamesh is known for carrying his signature Genji armor - seen in Genji Glove - which the player can steal from him in battle.

Earlier in this article I mentioned the Dawn Warriors. I didn't mention much about them, however. This group are a team of four mighty warriors from a different world than the one you start in and battle against Exdeath, eventually sealing him away in the game's main world. With the seal broken and Exdeath revived, Galuf - one of the Dawn Warriors who you meet early on as an amnesiac - battles with Exdeath to his own demise. Even when his health depletes to zero, he keeps fighting until the monstrous villain is defeated, dying shortly after and transferring his abilities to his granddaughter Krile.

While Gilgamesh is frequently a goofy enemy players face throughout the game, Exdeath eventually becomes sick of his bungling and banishes him to the Void. When the Warriors of Light reach the Void, they run into Gilgamesh, who doesn't recognize them and attacks. After a short battle, he backs off, seeing them as equals and offering to fight alongside them. Later, when the party squares off against the monstrous Necrophobe, Gilgamesh joins up with the party and, after saying his farewells, self-destructs and takes the monster out with him in the process.

Final Fantasy V is probably one of the most misunderstood adventures in the whole series. It's a much lighter sort of story than the most lauded entries, but remains a fun romp all its own, with memorable characters and humorous story beats. Best of all is the top notch job system that has led to innumerable amounts of innovation among the greater gaming community. It's well worth your time and can be found on most gaming platforms to date. Give it a chance and I promise you won't be disappointed.

Paige Smith

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