Final Fantasy V is a 1992 role-playing game created and released by Square for the Super Famicom. It is the fifth main game in the Final Fantasy series. The story begins with a traveler named Bartz who investigates a fallen meteor. There, he meets other characters, one of whom explains the threat to the four Crystals that control the world’s elements. These Crystals keep Exdeath, a powerful sorcerer, sealed away. Bartz and his group must stop Exdeath from using the Crystals to return to power.

The game was released with small changes on Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance. A 1994 animated movie titled Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals follows the events of the game. It was made available on the PlayStation Network in Japan on April 6, 2011. An improved version with better graphics and a touch screen was released for iPhone and iPad on March 28, 2013, for Android on September 25, 2013, and for Windows on September 24, 2015. A more improved version, part of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series, was released on November 10, 2021, for Android, iOS, and Windows, and on April 19, 2023, for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. It was also released for Xbox Series X/S on September 26, 2024.

Final Fantasy V is known for allowing players to customize characters in many ways through its expanded Job System. The Super Famicom version sold over two million copies, even though it was only released in Japan at first. The PlayStation version has been labeled "Greatest Hits," with sales exceeding 350,000 copies.

Gameplay

Final Fantasy V includes common role-playing game features and updated elements from earlier Final Fantasy games. Players move around a map that connects different towns, dungeons, and other areas. Players can travel on foot, by Chocobo, a hydra-guided ship, a wind drake, or an airship, depending on the situation. Most towns have inns for resting, shops for buying equipment, and people who provide information. Players can also complete side quests that become available as the story progresses. Characters gain strength by earning experience points from battles with monsters on the map or in dungeons. When enough experience is earned, characters "level up," which increases attributes like health and magic power. A menu system lets players change jobs, heal characters, and save game progress.

Final Fantasy V is the second game in the series to use the Active Time Battle (ATB) system, where time moves continuously for both players and enemies during battles. This system was first introduced in Final Fantasy IV, but players could not see which character’s turn would come next. In Final Fantasy V, a visible time gauge—or "ATB Bar"—shows which character’s turn is next. The gauge fills based on the character’s speed. When a character’s turn arrives, the player can choose actions like attacking, using an item, or changing the character’s position in battle. This ATB system with a gauge was used in the next four main games and remains a key feature of the series.

A major part of Final Fantasy V’s gameplay is the Job System. Players can assign different jobs, or "classes," to characters, allowing them to learn special abilities. Characters can master up to 22 jobs (26 in the Game Boy Advance version). Each character starts with the "Freelancer" class. To unlock new jobs, players must collect crystal shards. This system improves on the one in Final Fantasy III, where older jobs were reused or updated, such as the Black Mage and Thief. The game also introduces new jobs, like the Blue Mage, Time Mage, and Mime, which appear in later games.

After unlocking the Job System, characters earn a separate type of experience called "Ability Points" (AP) along with regular experience. Characters gain job levels by collecting AP, and the amount needed increases with each level. AP and job levels are not shared between classes. As job levels rise, characters learn new skills. These skills can be used in battle or activated automatically under certain conditions. For example, a character who learns the Knight job and later gains levels as a Black Mage can use both Knight and Black Mage abilities. Some skills act as commands, while others are automatic, like the Thief’s "Caution" ability, which stops enemies from attacking from behind. This system allows players to customize characters in many ways.

Plot

The story of Final Fantasy V is told in parts through scenes and conversations with characters you cannot control. One thousand years before the main story, a powerful wizard named Enuo used the power of a bad creature called the "Void" to harm the world. People fought back by using twelve special weapons to stop Enuo, but they could not destroy the Void. To protect the world, people split the world's four elemental Crystals into two groups, creating two separate worlds. The Void was then locked inside a space between the two worlds.

For nearly a thousand years, both worlds were safe and strong because of their Crystals of Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth. New cities and towns grew, and ships helped people trade and talk with each other. However, in the second world, a dangerous force was growing. Since the Void incident, bad spirits had been trapped inside a tree in the Great Forest of Moore. These spirits joined together to become Exdeath, the main enemy of the game. When Exdeath tried to take over the world, a group of heroes called the "Four Warriors of Dawn" (Galuf, Xezat, Dorgann, and Kelger) trapped him in the first world using its Crystals. Peace lasted for thirty more years.

Final Fantasy V has five characters you can control, but only four can be used at the same time:

• Bartz Klauser – A brave adventurer who travels with his Chocobo friend, Boko. Bartz gets involved in the story when he investigates a meteorite and meets Lenna and Galuf. His element is Wind, and his best trait is Strength.
• Lenna Charlotte Tycoon – A princess who follows her father to study the Wind Shrine's Crystal. She meets Bartz and Galuf at the meteorite site and joins their journey. Her element is Water, and her best trait is Spirit.
• Galuf Halm Baldesion – An old man who has lost his memory. Bartz and Lenna find him near the meteorite. He joins the group to find his past and learn about the enemies he once fought. His element is Earth, and his best trait is Stamina.
• Faris Scherwiz – A pirate captain who captures Bartz, Lenna, and Galuf when they try to steal her ship. She hides her identity as a woman at first, but the group learns the truth. Her element is Fire, and she is strong in all areas.
• Krile Mayer Baldesion – Galuf's granddaughter and a princess of Bal. She follows her grandfather to Bartz's world. Like Galuf, her element is Earth, and her best trait is Magic.

During the story, the player characters meet many other characters. The other Warriors of Dawn, Dorgann Klauser (Bartz's father), Kelger Vlondett, and Xezat Matias Surgate, are important. Other characters include engineer Cid Previa, his grandson Mid Previa, and turtle sage Ghido. One of Exdeath's helpers, Gilgamesh, appears as a recurring enemy in the second part of the game. Gilgamesh has also appeared in other Final Fantasy games. All character designs were created by Yoshitaka Amano.

King Tycoon leaves to check on the weakening Wind Crystal at the Wind Shrine. Bartz sees a meteor fall to Earth. He meets Lenna, King Tycoon's daughter; Galuf, the amnesiac old man; and Faris, the pirate captain. They travel to the Wind Shrine to find Lenna's father. There, pieces of the broken Crystal give them new powers. A vision of King Tycoon appears, saying the Crystals have chosen the four adventurers as their protectors.

The group learns the Crystals keep their planet safe and also trap Exdeath, a powerful sorcerer. They try to save the Water, Fire, and Earth Crystals but fail each time, gaining new powers from the Crystals' pieces. After Exdeath is freed, he defeats the group and returns to his world. King Tycoon, who was controlled by Exdeath to destroy the last Crystal, sacrifices his life to save others.

Krile arrives by meteorite, helping Galuf remember his past. He recalls he came from the same world as Exdeath and decides to go back with Krile, Bartz, Lenna, and Faris.

On Galuf's world, Exdeath is causing chaos to take the world's Crystals. The group defeats Exdeath's helper, Gilgamesh, but is sent to another continent when a magical barrier activates during their escape. They fix the barrier with help from Galuf's allies. The group then goes to Moore Forest to protect the Crystals there. Exdeath tricks them into destroying the Crystals' guardians and takes the Crystals for himself. Krile arrives to help but is trapped by Exdeath's power. Galuf saves the others by giving his life, passing his abilities to Krile, who joins the group. The group fights Exdeath at his castle, defeating Gilgamesh again and then Exdeath himself. The Crystals break, merging the two worlds.

For a while, it seems Exdeath is truly gone, and the group celebrates in Tycoon. But a thorn appears on Krile's hand, becoming Exdeath again, now fully in control of the Void. He destroys towns and kingdoms, throwing them into a space between worlds.

The merged worlds reveal paths to ancient places where powerful items are hidden. The group enters the space with help from a changed Gilgamesh and finds Exdeath at the center, seeking the Void's power. They fight Exdeath first as a demon tree and then as Neo Exdeath, who wants to destroy everything, including himself. The heroes defeat Exdeath and use the Crystal pieces to trap the Void again, restoring the world and its Crystals.

The game's ending depends on how many characters are alive when Neo Exdeath is defeated, showing what happens after the world is saved. In the end, the group visits Moore Forest and finds the fallen characters have returned to life.

Development

Final Fantasy V was directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series. Before Final Fantasy IX was released, Sakaguchi called Final Fantasy V his favorite game in the series. Yoshitaka Amano, a series illustrator and image designer, created the game’s images and title logo. Kazuko Shibuya designed the characters and character sprites, while Tetsuya Nomura designed the monsters. Amano later said he considers his designs of Faris from Final Fantasy V and Terra from Final Fantasy VI among his favorites. The scenario text was written by Sakaguchi and Yoshinori Kitase together. Sakaguchi created the plot, and Kitase added humor to make the story less serious. The Job System was designed by Hiroyuki Ito, who worked as a battle planner with Akihiko Matsui. Mode 7 effects were used in the airship scenes, making the planet appear to rotate as the airship moved. Square employed 45 people to make the game, and 16 megabits of space were used for sprites, animations, and backgrounds. In a May 1993 issue, GamePro reported that Japanese officials asked Square not to release the game on school days because students might skip class to buy it.

The official English translation of Final Fantasy V started soon after the Japanese version was released. The game was originally planned to be called "Final Fantasy III" in North America, but this plan was canceled. Square later said the game’s tone and difficulty were different from other games in the series, so they would release it as a standalone game with an undetermined title. This plan was also canceled. Translator Ted Woolsey said in a 1994 interview that the game was too difficult for most players. Rumors said a second attempt to translate the game would be made, with the title "Final Fantasy Extreme," but this was canceled too. A third attempt to port the game to Windows computers for North America was done by Top Dog Software, but it was canceled. Another attempt by Eidos Interactive in 1998 may have been the same version or a new effort. These repeated cancellations upset fans, leading to a complete fan translation of the game.

The game’s soundtrack was composed by Nobuo Uematsu and includes 56 tracks. A two-disc album with 67 tracks was released with the game. Uematsu originally planned more than 100 songs but reduced the number to 56. The song "Dear Friends" became the title piece of the 2004 concert tour "Dear Friends – Music from Final Fantasy," reflecting Uematsu’s appreciation for his fans. "Clash on the Big Bridge" was later arranged by Hitoshi Sakimoto for the Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack in 2006.

The album Final Fantasy V: 5+1 was released in 1992 and included five songs from the original game and a previously unreleased Super Famicom version of "Matoya’s Cave" from the 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System game. In 1993, additional releases included Final Fantasy V Dear Friends (a 13-track disc), Piano Collections Final Fantasy V, and Final Fantasy V: Mambo de Chocobo (a remix collection). Many original songs from Final Fantasy V were also included in the North American Final Fantasy Anthology Soundtrack, which combined tracks from two games.

Ports and remakes

Final Fantasy V was released on the Sony PlayStation in Japan on March 19, 1998, after being ported by Tose. It was later included in the 1999 Final Fantasy Collection, which also featured Final Fantasy IV and VI. The PlayStation version had two new full-motion video sequences for the beginning and end of the game, as well as a "memo-save" feature, but the rest of the game remained the same. Square released 50,000 limited edition copies of the collection, which included a Final Fantasy-themed alarm clock. In 1999, Square released Final Fantasy Anthology for the PlayStation in North America, which included Final Fantasy V and the PlayStation version of VI. This was the first time the game was published outside Japan, nearly seven years after its initial release. In 1998, there were reports of a planned PC version by Square Enix Europe (then Eidos Interactive), but it was never officially released. Screenshots from this canceled version showed English dialogue similar to the North American localization, which was released in September 1999. In 2002, Square released the game in Europe and Australia, this time alongside Final Fantasy IV. The English version had changes, such as giving the character Faris a Cornish "pirate" accent and using different names for characters, like "Bartz" instead of "Butz" and "Gill" instead of "Guido." These were the official names in Japan. The game was re-released in 2012 as part of the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box in Japan.

After the PlayStation 2 was released, Sony reported that the new system had compatibility issues with the Final Fantasy V portion of Final Fantasy Anthology. A bug caused a graphical error when players tried to save their progress. Square stated that the save screen’s appearance was corrupted, but saving was still possible. Players could fix the issue by repeatedly entering and exiting the save screen. This problem was later resolved in the PAL and Greatest Hits versions of Final Fantasy Anthology.

Final Fantasy V was ported again by Tose to the Nintendo Game Boy Advance as Final Fantasy V Advance. It was released in Japan on October 12, 2006, in North America on November 6, 2006, and in Europe on April 20, 2007. This version had updated graphics, though the changes were small. It also included four new jobs (Gladiator, Cannoneer, Necromancer, and Oracle), a new dungeon called "The Sealed Temple," and a new optional boss named Enuo, designed by Tetsuya Nomura, the original game’s monster designer. Additional features included a bestiary, quick save function, music player, and new equipment. The game also had a new English translation.

The original version of the game was released on the Virtual Console for the Wii in Japan in January 2011, for the Wii U in March 2014, and for the New 3DS in August 2017. The PlayStation version was re-released as a PSOne Classic on the PlayStation Store in Japan and Europe in April 2011 and in North America on November 22, 2011.

In the early 2010s, Square Enix considered remaking the game for the Nintendo DS but worried about technical challenges. The Nintendo 3DS was also considered for a remake. An iOS version, developed by Matrix Software, was released on March 28, 2013, on the Apple App Store, with an Android version released on September 26, 2013. This version had new high-resolution graphics, movement in eight directions, auto-battle, and included the Sealed Temple and super-boss Enuo from the Game Boy Advance release. A remastered version was released on PC via Steam in September 2015.

Tetsuya Nomura, director of Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Kitase, producer of Final Fantasy VII Remake, have both expressed interest in remaking Final Fantasy V and VI. A 2D pixel remaster was released for Steam, iOS, and Android in North America on November 10, 2021. This version omitted some features from the Game Boy Advance remake. The Pixel Remaster was later released for PlayStation 4 in 2023 and for Xbox Series X|S in 2024.

Sequel

In 1994, Square created a new animated story that follows the first game, Final Fantasy V, titled simply Final Fantasy. The anime was made by the animation company Madhouse and released in Japan as four 30-minute VHS tapes. The story takes place 200 years after the game and follows four warriors, one of whom is the descendant of a character named Bartz. Their mission is to protect the Wind Crystal from a villain named Deathgyunos, who wants to use it to become a god. In 1998, the anime was adapted by Urban Vision for North America and released as two VHS volumes under the title Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals.

Reception

Final Fantasy V sold about 900,000 copies in Japan within a day of its release. This made the game worth ¥8.8 billion (about $69 million at the time, or $158 million when adjusted for inflation). It sold about 4.5 times as many copies as Final Fantasy IV (1991) did on its first day and was close to the 1.3 million copies sold by Dragon Quest V (1992) on its first day. Final Fantasy V reached the top of Japan’s sales charts in December 1992 and January 1993, selling 2 million copies during its first two months. It was Japan’s fourth best-selling game in 1992, following Street Fighter II, Super Mario Kart, and Dragon Quest V. Final Fantasy V was the second best-selling game of 1992 in Japan, behind Dragon Quest V.

In total, Final Fantasy V sold 2.45 million copies for the Super Famicom in Japan. It was also a commercial success in South Korea, where it was the second best-selling game of 1992, after Street Fighter II. The Japanese Game Boy Advance version sold nearly 260,000 copies by December 2007. Final Fantasy Collection sold over 400,000 copies in 1999, making it the 31st best-selling game of that year in Japan. The North American version of Final Fantasy Anthology sold 364,000 copies by 2004.

The original Super Famicom version of Final Fantasy V received positive reviews when it was first released. Famitsu’s four reviewers gave it a score of 34 out of 40. The first GameFan Golden Megawards awarded it for Best Import Game and Best Music (Import Game) of 1992. Later reviews noted that while the game’s story was weak, its gameplay was praised, especially the job system and the ability to combine abilities from different job classes. One review gave it a score of B−, and another gave it 3.5 out of 5. RPGamer’s review said the game improved on some features from Final Fantasy IV but had issues with the game’s encounter rate, sound selection, and color palette, giving it a score of 5 out of 10.

Critics had mixed reviews for the Anthology version of the game. GameSpot praised the job system but criticized the weak characters and clichéd plot. They also said the translation was poor. IGN called the graphics outdated but praised the job system and music. Electronic Gaming Monthly agreed that the job system was a highlight but noted long load times.

The Game Boy Advance version of Final Fantasy V received mostly positive reviews. GameSpot said it was “better than ever” with improved translation and special features. They gave it a score of 8.5. Nintendo Power called it the “definitive” version of the game and said it was more enjoyable on the Game Boy Advance than on the PlayStation. IGN gave it a score of 8.5 and called it a “must-own” for the portable system. 1UP.com said the Game Boy Advance version was “rock solid” and noted that the story improved over time. GameDaily gave it a score of 7 out of 10, saying the game felt repetitive at times due to high encounter rates and the need to battle constantly to gain abilities.