12th June 2007, 6:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 12th June 2007, 6:25 PM by Dark Jaguar.)
Nope. In fact all the stats for all the enemies are the same. The only real difference is evade handles evading physical attacks instead of magic evade, as it was meant to be. However, that's not really going to have that much of an effect. The reality is, this is actually a very easy game, on par with FF7 in terms of difficulty. Your suspisions are correct. The reality is your running around to encounter all the enemies (which I made a habbit of on many repeat playthroughs of the game just to get all of Gau's rages the older versions allowed one to get) IS in fact making you strong enough to easily beat pretty much whatever is around the corner.
This is contrasted with FF1's various remakes over the years, which have done very notable things to make the game progressively easier. The Wonderswan and PS1 versions weren't so bad in this regard. They changed up the way enemies handled attacks (no longer a direct line up of move lists where you would always predict exactly what move was next based on the previous moves, but rather a simple RPG AI script for each enemy), and they also changed up how items were handled (instead of limiting equipment so you could only carry 4 weapons and 4 armor pieces per character, they did the standard "infinite item pool" method). Further, they fixed a LOT of glitches and adjusted some damage formulas, making some spells, for the first time, actually do things (making them worth buying). However, to balance this, they increased stats here and there, the most extreme of which is doubling the HP of all bosses in the game. It balanced out to pretty much the same experience. "Easy Mode" on the other hand did exactly that, make enemies easier to kill and increase the level cap to 99 (from 50). The GBA version did a lot more than that though. Almost everything was totally overhauled in that version (graphics and sound were nearly identical though). Not only did they make things cheaper all around, items shops had a lot of things added to them, namely stuff that never even existed in the original game. This includes restorative items and equipment. For that matter, the entire magic system was overhauled. Instead of having individual spell "levels" which each had their own MP pool (max of 9 in each and a spell in any level couldn't use up points of any other level, but on the plus side every spell cost exactly 1 point), they gave everyone their own universal MP pool and all spells got an MP cost to reflect what they would cost in other games. This MP pool quickly added up to giving you WAY more castings than the old pool ever would, and that alone made it much easier. Further, enemy stats were all based on the Easy Mode, as well as the max level cap being 99 just like in easy mode. Further, the instant death attacks (death, stone, and so on) had so many ways to nullify them, and had their chance of hit reduced to such a point, that enemies that you used to pretty much have to run from unless you had certain items that gave immunity now were handled pretty much the same as anything else with little for you to fear. Indeed, one of the big changes was phoenix down alone. There were many other little things like letting you cast life inside battle or use softs in places you otherwise couldn't (oh right, golden needles, whatever). In the PS1 version these other little changes could be adjusted in a special menu but that menu is nonexistant in the GBA version. However, all that said, they did stick in the 4 dungeons that pretty much required all those adjustments to survive them and beat their super bosses (basically a smattering of bosses from various later FF games, from 2-6).
In the end with FF1 they pretty much overhauled the game to the point where only the setting remained unaltered, and the gameplay was another beast altogether, a much easier beast. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind a "total overhaul" remake, but when they do that I would at least like a "classic" gameplay mode to be included so that I can experence the unaltered original as well as the remake on the go as well. Metroid Zero Mission did it right, by including the original NES game right in there (though actually I think they should have included the Famicom version what with it's 3 save files instead of just one password slot and a save state remembering that password). Also, XBox Live Arcade remakes all tend to include the original version (and my only complaint there is sometimes they put this updated menu that blocks the main screen, the worst offender being the Ninja Turtles Arcade Game, where the menu blocks the entire opening animation). It's not like space is a big concern these days. Those old games take up less than 1/1000th of the space available on today's cartridges, they aren't exactly pressed for space as much as they used to be. There are texture files that take up more space than many old NES games, for example. With the rererererelease of FF1 and FF2 (can't speak to the gameplay differences in the second one, that one having never been released stateside until the PS1 remake) on the PSP, and the over 1 gig of space available on those disks, not including FF1 is pretty much not excusable. It's not like they don't have a million and one open source NES and Famicom emulators out there, and it's not like big companies haven't already made their own internal ones many times before. They could easily stick both the english and japanese versions in there and not even crack a meg. As it stands, I do love these remakes when they are done well, but if they are going to make substantial gameplay changes, I like having the original game there.
Sadly, I'm pretty sure at least with FFIV on the DS, they won't be sticking the original SNES game in there (or the GBA partial remake, despite them not even needing to emulate that one) simply because they can still make money selling the GBA game and the DS game at the same time.
This is contrasted with FF1's various remakes over the years, which have done very notable things to make the game progressively easier. The Wonderswan and PS1 versions weren't so bad in this regard. They changed up the way enemies handled attacks (no longer a direct line up of move lists where you would always predict exactly what move was next based on the previous moves, but rather a simple RPG AI script for each enemy), and they also changed up how items were handled (instead of limiting equipment so you could only carry 4 weapons and 4 armor pieces per character, they did the standard "infinite item pool" method). Further, they fixed a LOT of glitches and adjusted some damage formulas, making some spells, for the first time, actually do things (making them worth buying). However, to balance this, they increased stats here and there, the most extreme of which is doubling the HP of all bosses in the game. It balanced out to pretty much the same experience. "Easy Mode" on the other hand did exactly that, make enemies easier to kill and increase the level cap to 99 (from 50). The GBA version did a lot more than that though. Almost everything was totally overhauled in that version (graphics and sound were nearly identical though). Not only did they make things cheaper all around, items shops had a lot of things added to them, namely stuff that never even existed in the original game. This includes restorative items and equipment. For that matter, the entire magic system was overhauled. Instead of having individual spell "levels" which each had their own MP pool (max of 9 in each and a spell in any level couldn't use up points of any other level, but on the plus side every spell cost exactly 1 point), they gave everyone their own universal MP pool and all spells got an MP cost to reflect what they would cost in other games. This MP pool quickly added up to giving you WAY more castings than the old pool ever would, and that alone made it much easier. Further, enemy stats were all based on the Easy Mode, as well as the max level cap being 99 just like in easy mode. Further, the instant death attacks (death, stone, and so on) had so many ways to nullify them, and had their chance of hit reduced to such a point, that enemies that you used to pretty much have to run from unless you had certain items that gave immunity now were handled pretty much the same as anything else with little for you to fear. Indeed, one of the big changes was phoenix down alone. There were many other little things like letting you cast life inside battle or use softs in places you otherwise couldn't (oh right, golden needles, whatever). In the PS1 version these other little changes could be adjusted in a special menu but that menu is nonexistant in the GBA version. However, all that said, they did stick in the 4 dungeons that pretty much required all those adjustments to survive them and beat their super bosses (basically a smattering of bosses from various later FF games, from 2-6).
In the end with FF1 they pretty much overhauled the game to the point where only the setting remained unaltered, and the gameplay was another beast altogether, a much easier beast. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind a "total overhaul" remake, but when they do that I would at least like a "classic" gameplay mode to be included so that I can experence the unaltered original as well as the remake on the go as well. Metroid Zero Mission did it right, by including the original NES game right in there (though actually I think they should have included the Famicom version what with it's 3 save files instead of just one password slot and a save state remembering that password). Also, XBox Live Arcade remakes all tend to include the original version (and my only complaint there is sometimes they put this updated menu that blocks the main screen, the worst offender being the Ninja Turtles Arcade Game, where the menu blocks the entire opening animation). It's not like space is a big concern these days. Those old games take up less than 1/1000th of the space available on today's cartridges, they aren't exactly pressed for space as much as they used to be. There are texture files that take up more space than many old NES games, for example. With the rererererelease of FF1 and FF2 (can't speak to the gameplay differences in the second one, that one having never been released stateside until the PS1 remake) on the PSP, and the over 1 gig of space available on those disks, not including FF1 is pretty much not excusable. It's not like they don't have a million and one open source NES and Famicom emulators out there, and it's not like big companies haven't already made their own internal ones many times before. They could easily stick both the english and japanese versions in there and not even crack a meg. As it stands, I do love these remakes when they are done well, but if they are going to make substantial gameplay changes, I like having the original game there.
Sadly, I'm pretty sure at least with FFIV on the DS, they won't be sticking the original SNES game in there (or the GBA partial remake, despite them not even needing to emulate that one) simply because they can still make money selling the GBA game and the DS game at the same time.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)