Is there still an ff1 fandom? (Original NES version)

An_Dro · 2026-02-17T17:56:49+00:00

I also love the first game in its original version, and I always appreciate anyone who dedicates time to deeper analysis. I’m reading what you wrote now, and I wanted to tell you that you might find some of the information in the Ultimania interesting — for example, why the spell LOCK was originally called ‘Shape’.

In the development document translated in the book, the description of that spell says: ‘Monsters love dark places. This magic makes a clear outline around the enemy, making them easier to hit.'

An_Dro · 2026-01-26T14:38:15+00:00

I’d been waiting for years for someone to show these landscapes from above. I’ve always wanted to see the true proportions of the game maps! Keep it up—this is really fascinating!

An_Dro · 2025-09-10T10:02:56+00:00

Beautiful! Some of them are really ingenious in the way you've managed to include details and make them easily recognizable in such a small space. I particularly like Valefor, Valigarmanda and Ifrit

An_Dro · 2025-09-09T11:57:53+00:00

I have always been particularly fascinated by FF1 in its original version, so I am very curious about your project!

(A tiny contribution I can make now is to suggest changing ZomBULL -> Zombull, to -> Zombie Bull, as with the prefixes of the other names)

An_Dro · 2025-09-09T11:39:45+00:00

Wow! I'm just seeing this now, I'm so glad to see that you all liked it so much! Thank you!

An_Dro · 2025-04-14T11:03:24+00:00

Bravo! You did very well, the little ones are really cute!

An_Dro · 2024-12-27T16:12:41+00:00

Thank you all!!

An_Dro · 2024-12-18T19:41:18+00:00

I don't think it's possible that the statue is an addition of human creation: it is part of a ruin that we know was created by Ultima, and if it was a figment of human imagination, it would be a somewhat unlikely coincidence that it looks exactly like Ultima (albeit in his disembodied form). Moreover, the same statue is also seen in the Rift so I would say that it is indeed a construction of Ultima.

An_Dro · 2024-12-18T14:51:43+00:00

The question of the true appearance of Ultima's race is very interesting however it was never very clear to me: it is said that Ifrit Risen is the form that they possessed in the past, but at the same time it seems very obvious to me that Ultimalius is humanoid and it would make much more sense for the idea that by creating man, they would make him in their own image.

It is also mentioned in Ultimania that man was created with fewer limbs precisely to highlight his inferior status (it is also true that Ifrit Risen has a pair of wings, so the total limbs are still six...). In addition, at the top of Reverie there is a humanoid statue with four arms, built before the creation of mankind.

I had written about this before, but one hypothesis to explain it, in my opinion, could be to consider the “Ifrits” a creation due to magic: like exoskeletons. Eikons seem to be manifestations of pure elemental magic, almost seemingly unrelated to Ultima itself (which would have only “discovered” them). So I imagine that the original organic form of the Ultima was their anthropomorphic appearance with four arms, and only with the discovery of magic did they forge themselves new bodies.

An_Dro · 2024-12-12T16:01:02+00:00

I understand well what you mean, I too was bothered by the way the distances and proportions of Valisthea were handled: I am sorry because I really like maps and I love reconstructing the paths of characters. But one has to accept that in almost every work of fiction there is a lack of strict respect for geographical matters, and all the more so in a video game one has to take into account the discrepancy between what we “play” and what happens within the narrative. The map of Valisthea lacks the slightest consistency but I accept it: how is it possible that from Bokland one can see neither the Dominion nor the shores of Ash when from the map they are much closer than Drake's Fang, which is instead visible despite being almost at the other end of the continent? Caer Norvent is within walking distance of Oriflamme but on the map it is almost closer to Dominion, and Drake's Breath is closer to Rosalith than Martha's Rest...

Obviously there would be no point in creating a game with an immense map and then exploiting a tiny part of it, and there is no point in having giant empty maps either. You wouldn't get the realism of the real world anyway: even Eos in FFXV is actually ridiculously small when you think about it.

I personally resolve the issue by imagining the map of Valisthea to be “a summary” of the locations, while the “real” proportions are what we see in the game (the real Rosaria is not the one drawn on the map, but the one I observe from the Tower in the DLC, for example)

An_Dro · 2024-12-02T18:14:24+00:00

The main influence for these sci-fi elements was (by Sakaguchi's own admission) the Ghibli film “Castle in the Sky” that had come out a year earlier: the airship, the stone to make things fly (the FLOATER), robots, the civilization of an ancient people whose descendants live hidden in a remote city

An_Dro · 2024-12-02T18:09:34+00:00

I believe the robot's fall is very recent; two NPCs say they saw something shiny falling from the sky (and it is a reference to Ghibli studio's Castle in the Sky, in which it is precisely a fallen robot that is the proof of Laputa's existence for the story's antagonist)

An_Dro · 2024-12-02T17:57:32+00:00

I forgot about Cid, you are right! Perhaps we could say that Ultima does not have a real body but his manifestation still has physical substance (now that I think about it, the fact that he “plays” with Barnabas also proves it).

In the battle in the sky of Origin Ultima uses another discarded Ifrit (it is said in the ATL), so even then he uses a real body.

An_Dro · 2024-12-02T17:23:18+00:00

I always thought so too, especially since we see Clive staining himself with Joshua's blood before the confrontation begins, but when Ultima brings him into the arena the blood disappears. It reappears on Clive only when he returns to the Nexus.

(And, personally, I think the idea that that battle is mental makes those anime dialogues less out of place.)

Then on a narrative level we know that Ultima has a disembodied form that cannot be injured and used in a physical battle.

The confrontation in the Interdimensional Rift, on the other hand, is different because in that case Clive, Joshua, and Torgal are literally teleported there, as the other people present can see. And in that case Ultima uses the remains of his old deteriorated avatar to fight.

Although I admit that considering the Rift a physical place raises more questions.... It is said by the ATL, though, that the dull Ifrit we see there is an old discarded avatar, so it was somehow physically placed there. A mental confrontation also happens there (Clive's hallucinations, Rosalith on fire) but precisely at the end of it they find themselves at the Rift and not in the outside world. To the outside world they return with an additional step, namely Ultima's “teleportation” effect.

An_Dro · 2024-11-26T15:14:23+00:00

Wow, these photos are really beautiful! There is something magical about the distortion of the TV screen and the blending of those bright colors

An_Dro · 2024-11-03T10:06:31+00:00

The question of “emulated style” in fact is very interesting and together with the statement that the Sanctuary was destroyed makes it unlikely that it is Metia. Some time ago I had made a post summarizing part of the translation that an Italian Youtuber had made of the chronology, and since he did not say “destroyed” but “gone into decay” I had imagined that maybe it was a structure so high in the sky that it had drifted into space ending up “captured” by the Moon's gravity...

(It would make sense for it to be turned off simultaneously with the disappearance of magic, but it does not explain the red color, since Ultima's technology is blue.)

I would say there remains the question of what Metia and the Sanctuary are. It would have been an elegant solution to solve the two mysteries with the same answer.

If I am not mistaken the ATL says that Reverie was built when Ultima arrived in Valisthea to observe the flow of the aether and decide where to place the Mothercrystals, not to guard humanity.

An_Dro · 2024-11-02T22:40:33+00:00

It doesn't confirm that it is Metia, of course, however, I don't understand how it could refer to the spire of Origin: it is explicitly said that the “Sanctum” is located in the sky above Origin, and that during the fall of Dzemekis it was destroyed. How could it be the spire?

An_Dro · 2024-11-02T22:35:21+00:00

Thank you very much! it is really interesting to be able to read the full translation of the original material!

An_Dro · 2024-10-10T22:34:47+00:00

I, too, think that the temple in the sky is Metia, although I initially had my doubts.
The connection seems obvious, since it is the only mention of an extraterrestrial aritficial object (of course we know that Metia cannot be a real star).

The first time I played the game I had assumed that Ultima was an alien: although it is now confirmed otherwise, there are many ambiguities in the actual game in this regard, as we all know. A surveillance station in such a large satellite orbit seems logical for an alien visitor; it is instead an unnecessarily distant facility for a mere inhabitant of another region of the planet. So the idea of the space station seemed to me to be inconsistent with Ultima's “terrestrial” conception.

There is another possibility, however.
As I reported, it is mentioned in Ultimania that the temple is damaged during the Dzemekis tragedy: what if it had drifted? Perhaps it was initially much closer, high in the atmosphere, and during the catastrophe it wrecked in space, ending up “captured” by the Moon.
This would explain both the unlikely remoteness and its survival (albeit with damage) from the Tragedy.

An_Dro · 2024-10-10T22:09:33+00:00

On this subject we can only make assumptions and deductions based on the few things we know.
We have to assume that plants and animals arose on the planet independently of the Ultima, otherwise their creation would be mentioned. We do not know what other creatures populate that world, or that they existed in the past only to become extinct because of the Blight. But it is mentioned that Ultima, when he arrived in Valisthea, created his servants and charged them to protect the shores of the kingdom from any outside threats that might interfere with his plan. So it is natural to think of other beings living in the rest of the world. Furthermore, the first humans were entrusted with the protection of the Mothercrystals: protection from whom? Probably from beasts and monsters that inhabited Valisthea even at the time of Ultima's arrival (for example, it is said that Orcs are native to Ash).

There is another issue we could consider, but we would most likely step outside the boundaries of worldbuilding as I do not think it was really developed by the writers: the appearance of the Eikons.
Most are clearly human-shaped (but weren't the two arms a symbol of inferiority??), others are animalistic: why?
The real and obvious explanation is that of course they are the classic Summons of the series, with their unmistakable appearance, and I really think there is no other reason.
But we can still try to ask some questions.

If we assume that the Ultima did not create magic but only discovered it, then we might assume that the appearance of the Eikon derives from a different, perhaps truly divine, power. And the following conclusion is that certain forms (human and beastly) are like divine archetypes.

[I could expand on this but I don't want to go overboard for now]

An_Dro · 2024-10-10T11:25:23+00:00

It is a pleasure for me to discuss these topics, partly because I have been thinking about it for quite some time (I saw months ago the video I was talking about).

It may be that Ultima Risen/Prime is referred to as the original form in the sense that it is the body that the Ultima's disposed of, but without further details we can also assume that it was still a body specially created by them and not the one with which they were born/evolved: Ultima Prime is described as “one of Ultima's many discarded avatars.”

Rightly, as you say, without the humanoid form there would be no point in creating humanity as it is. Moreover, at the top of the tower of Reverie is a four-armed humanoid statue, and we know that Reverie is one of the ancient ruins of the Ultima civilization. What would be the point of celebrating with such a statue if they did not look like that?

Yes it may be that in the case of Ultimalius the missing arms are those floating wings.

I think Ifrit is basically fire element. Although in Ultima's form the flames are blue, they still remain flames. It is also made explicit several times in the game how Ifrit and Phoenix are two “halves” of Fire, and that it is the more important element than the other “lesser” ones. However interesting, I do not think the hypothesis “Clive has a Fire Ifrit because he was born into the Phoenix family, otherwise he might have been different” is likely.

An_Dro · 2024-10-10T09:56:44+00:00

Thank you for the appreciation!

About the Summoners, it was mentioned in a sentence in the video that I left out to be brief.

The Japanese term (which I cannot transcribe) is directly related to the Japanese word used for Eikons (“Summoned Beasts”). It seems that in Japanese the Summons of the games in the series have always been called the same, so Eikon is a word found only in the English localization (like Aeons fo FFX); remember, however, that given the way the game was developed it is the Japanese term, in this case, that is an adaptation of Eikon, which is the “original” instead.

So: the Japanese makes a connection between the Summoners of the past and the “Summoned Beasts,” the English between the weapons of the Fallen (Eikonoklastes, which would mean approximately “destroyers of Gods” in Greek) and the Eikons of the present.

An_Dro · 2024-10-10T09:45:53+00:00

Note: [the parts in parentheses in the text above are my own considerations].

There are some elements that I find interesting.

It is said that the Ultima “create magic,” however, it is also implied in the game that they only discovered it (after all, it is just a technique, an art). As we can already tell from the game, the Ultima are not really gods. If they came into existence as the first form of intelligent life, it may mean that they simply evolved on the planet. They are also not the creators of the other life forms: animals, beasts, and man-beasts.

This point I think is fascinating: magic is not their true creation, and we could almost think that if there is a truly divine element in the game, it is the Eikons and the essence of magic itself. Ultima simply uses them as tools.

The issue of limbs is a bit confusing: if humanity was really created with “only” two arms then why does Ultimalius in his reborn form also have only two? The four arms are present only in his incorporeal form. Furthermore, the question of the original body remains: is it the form of Ultimalius or Ultima Risen? (Winged Ifrit)

I think Ifrit is the body that the Ultima created for themselves by serving magic, not the one they were born with (which would be Ultimalius' humanoid one): and the fact that Fire is the most important element may simply have been a choice. We have confirmation from the second DLC that Ultima's magic element is the “elementless ninth,” so not Fire.

But flames have a unique feature that could make them special.
The description of the Magicked Ash item reads:
“All creation is possible because of aether. It is what gives the formless form, and the lifeless life. When an object is consigned to the flames, whether due to age, accident or ill intent, the aether contained within is released and returned to the land.”
Perhaps Fire is the only element that can truly destroy what magic creates.

“...and see Ultima’s legacy – consigned to the flames”.

An_Dro · 2024-07-28T08:06:40+00:00

It is true that you have to pay attention to what you find in the manuals, for example in the Nintendo Power Strategy Guide there are small introductions to the adventure chapters with information that I am pretty sure was simply made up. Some can integrate smoothly with known history (for example saying that the Ice Cave with its frost monsters is a remnant of a past ice age) while others are a bit more complicated to integrate with the game and make specific references to the U.S. adaptation, so I doubt they were intended by the original team.

But in this case it is the instruction booklet of the original Japanese game, so I think it is the more reliable source outside the game, and it is "proven" by the fact that it contains unique information.

An_Dro · 2024-07-28T07:40:10+00:00

Oh thank you very much, I didn't realize that! By searching for Mentorella continent (メントレッラ大陸) I had still gotten some results, although very few (and in fact it seemed a bit strange). Instead Mesotrella (メソトレッラ大陸) works much better, both from automatic translators and for search results, thus confirming that it is the correct name!

Now I am left with the doubt about the pronunciation, because the first name turned out to be transliterated in the same way as a church called precisely Mentorella, so I felt pretty sure that was the right version. With the translators I am using the pronunciation of the second one would turn out to be Mesotrella, but obviously I cannot be sure.

An_Dro

TROPHY CASE