History VideoGame / FinalFantasyV

* BilingualBonus: The boss "Azulmagia". His name consists of two Spanish works, "azul"="blue", "magia"="magic". See PowerCopying below

* Krile, a young spellcaster

FFV is also one of the few games of the main series, and certainly the earliest, to have its universe expanded. In 1994 a four episode OVA entitled ''Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals'' was released, set 200 years after the events of the game and focusing on Bartz's descendant.

You can read a full synopsis here: Synopsis/FinalFantasyV

** The Chicken Knife. You may think it's not worth using at first, but it actually increases in power the more you run from battles, eventually becoming one of the most powerful weapons in the game. An inverse of this is the Brave Blade, which ''decreases'' in power the more you run from battles... Meaning that if you've run from only a few fights (if any at all), the Brave Blade can be the strongest weapon in the game for you. Strong enough that "Brave Blade" is the finishing blow for Bartz's LimitBreak in ''Dissidia''.

** The GBA translation is ''full'' of these, ranging from references to ''AStreetcarNamedDesire'' to ''{{Pokemon}}''.

* SpoonyBard: Some of the classes are more or less useless, such as Geomancer (with the exception of the Safe Step passive ability), Dragoon (due to the low quantity and quality of spears in the game), and Berserker (because of its lack of control and low speed). Ironically, the Bard class is fairly useful if you collect all the songs for it, but this can be a bit of a chore. Despite this, even those classes have their uses. Dragoon (or its skills on a Freelancer) is arguably the best class for fighting one of the Bonus Bosses and is a good [[SelfImposedChallenge Solo Job Challenge]] class, Berserker gets a powerful, [[OneHitKO Instant Death]]-afflicting axe early on, and Geomancer is a useful job to learn for its passive abilities.

* BilingualBonus: The boss "Azulmagia". His name consists of two Spanish works, "azul"="blue", "magia"="magic". See MegaManning below

* MegaManning: This is the first game in the series to feature Blue Mages. Also inverted by a boss in the final dungeon - ''he's'' also a Blue Mage, so any blue magic you use against him will immediately be used by him, save two, provided he doesn't already have access to it.
** The battle script displays a message saying he learned it.

* GameBreaker: Dual wield rapid fire with spell blade (This results in 8 casting of your favorite attack magic, and it doesn't take the MP casting it 8 times does) is so well known for being this, ''{{Dissidia}}'' makes it Bartz's LimitBreak as an AscendedMeme [[invoked]].
** To a less-known extent, the Mix command can be game-breakingly overpowered as well. Potions, Ethers, and Phoenix Downs suddenly become highly effective restoratives instead of last-ditch desperation items. Toss in the ability to artificially boost your level, cure negative status conditions, put up positive status conditions, and do massive damage with relatively common items that don't get hampered by Reflect status, and Mix is basically the ultimate game breaker.
** And a lesser known breaker; but utilizing the Time Mage's "Meteor" and "Quick" and a Red Mage's "Duel Cast", a single character can unleash a wave of destruction until his/her MP is depleted, without the opponent ever receiving a turn.
** Another lesser known example; if the player is fighting a non-boss monster with an elemental weakness, and uses a high-level spellblade to attack them with that element, the attack may [[OneHitKill instantly kill them]]. This instant kill effect still occurs when using Rapid Fire, making it possible to quickly mow down large groups of enemies who share a common weakness.

* NonElemental: Several spells, including Comet and Meteor, the Flare family, and, even more bizarrely, Aquabreath.

** The game itself is a big homage to the movie version of the NeverendingStory. Being spread out over so many [[FetchQuest gopher quests]] (and limited by SNES era graphics) is what keeps it from being too obvious.

* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler: ''Completely averted'', a rarity for a Final Fantasy game. There's no ManBehindTheMan, no [[TheStarscream Starscream]], no DragonAscendant, etc. (Although Enuo may count as the BiggerBad, and is indeed fought as a BonusBoss in the GBA version.) Exdeath is introduced as the villain early on, and remains the BigBad all the way to the end.]]

[[RecurringBoss Gilgamesh is also fought no less than five times]].

* ArcNumber: 5. This is the ''fifth'' installment in the main series, it has five playable characters, and each of them have five-letter names, at least in the GBA version. [[RecurringBoss Gilgamesh is also fought no less than five times]].

This game featured the return of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'''s job class system, as all your characters were basically carbon copies of one another in battle (Each character has his or her boost of 2-4 points in a stats, but it doesn't really affect anything beyond who moves first when sharing a job). You were allowed to assign them various jobs (Knight, Dragoon, White Mage, etc.) to give them varying skills. As expected, it was a Thief's job to steal, a [[SummonMagic Summoner]]'s to summon, etc. This was also the first incarnation of the job system that let you assign skills "learned" from other jobs to the character regardless of current job. Mastering any job would give the character ''all'' of the job's passive skills ({{Counter|Attack}}, [[BarehandedBladeBlock Sword Clap]], DualWielding) ''and'' stat boosts when switched back to "freelancer/bare". Active skills such as magic would still need to be equipped.

FFV is also one of the few games of the main series, and certainly the earliest, to have its universe expanded. In 1994 a four episode OVA entitled ''Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals'' was released, set 200 years after the events of the game and focusing on Bartz's descendant. ([[YourMileageMayVary ... If]] [[FanonDiscontinuity you like]].)

* [[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Heroine]]:

* BonusBoss: Omega and Shinryu. They have ''[[BeyondTheImpossible upgraded versions]]'' in the GBA-exclusive BonusDungeon.
* BossInMookClothing: The Red / Blue / Yellow dragons, when you first encounter them: they've all got upwards of 6,000 HP at a point when the party is dealing about 500 per hit. That's not too bad, but they can hit back ''really'' hard.

** The [[TheBerserker Berserker]] job, which is fairly powerful when you get it (''very'' much so if you give one the monk ability for unarmed attacks, which lets it attack twice for a low JP cost, and for better damage each hit than weapons as well at this point), even when you get it, even considering the drawbacks, but they can't compete with ninjas' DualWielding and [[LightningBruiser high speed stat]], or the [[GameBreaker game breaking]] MagikarpPower combos that become available later in the game.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Torna Canal, an early area, has a monster population that consists entirely of squid and octopi. They only [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean target]] your female party members.

** Holy Lance, the Legendary [[BladeOnAStick Spear]]. [[HolyHandGrenade Holy-elemental]] and increases Strength by 3.
** Rune Axe, the Legendary [[AnAxeToGrind Axe]]. Consumes MP to deliver an automatic CriticalHit.

** Fire Lash, the Legendary [[WhipItGood Whip]]. [[PlayingWithFire Fire-elemental, and has a chance of casting Firaga upon attacking.]]

** Sage Staff, the Legendary [[SimpleStaff Staff]]. Casts Raise when used in battle, [[ForMassiveDamage deals extra damage to Undead]], and [[AmplifierArtifact increases Holy-elemental damage]].

** [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything The battle script displays a message saying he learned it.]]

* MetalSlime: The 'Skull Eater' enemy is nearly impossible to hit, has a remarkably high attack, and is generally nigh-impossible to defeat unless [[GameBreaker you use a Geomancer's ability - and get lucky]], use the Blue Mage's "1000 Needles" attack, or use Control to make it eat its own skull ([[MST3KMantra don't think too hard about how that works]]). Its encounter also gives 5 AP, more than any other non-boss monster [[spoiler:in the first world.]] Oh, and it also [[MookMaker summons 4 more]] if you attack it with a magic based attack that can't kill it.

* MultipleEndings: Unique in that depending on which of the four characters are left capable of fighting at the end of the final battle, the ending changes, with any actions taken or abilities gained before that point having no bearing on the ending whatsoever. Any characters who were Dead or Petrified at the end of the fight lack the strength to actually escape the void with the rest of the party. While the actual graphics for each ending are similar (many are scenes with the same general movement), the [[UnfortunateImplications implications]] behind each scene [[BittersweetEnding change]] [[DownerEnding drastically]].

* ParrotExposition: [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Ghido when Bartz starts doing it to him, prompting him to notice, "It seems there is quite the echo in here."

* PowerAtAPrice: In the backstory, Enuo lost his invulneribility when he gained the PowerOfTheVoid, allowing [[HeroOfAnotherStory heroes]] to defeat him. [[spoiler:When Exdeath is defeated in his tree form, he loses control of the PowerOfTheVoid, transforming into OmnicidalManiac OneWingedAngel Neo Exdeath, he probably also lost his HealingFactor]].

* RolePlayingGame: [[CaptainObvious duh.]]

* RulesOfTheGame / LetsSplitUpGang: In Fork Tower, the party splits up to climb two towers. In one of the towers, everyone has incurable silence status, making them incapable of using magic. In the other tower, every monster automatically counters any physical attack by resetting the battle [[spoiler:unless you disable their counterattacks with the Berserk spell]].

* SchmuckBait: A side path in a cave where the player seems to randomly acquire 1 gil, and double the previous amount every few steps if they continue (2, 4, 8, 16, etc.) may lead {{greed}}y[=/=][[GenreBlindness genre blind]] newbies right into the maws of the [[TurtlePower Gil Turtle]] - an optional boss that, while manageable if you know what to expect and prepare accordingly, is sure to catch said newbies off-guard.

*** The game's ending copies the movie's as closely as copyright laws allow it. The world has been [[spoiler:consumed by Nothing, leaving the heroes floating through [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace space]]. Luckily the [[MacGuffin macguffins]] they had with them the whole time restore it. Cue flash forward with sequences of zooming across the landscape on a dragon, complete with waving to friends on horse(?)back.]]

* UnresolvedSexualTension: [[spoiler:Bartz]] and [[spoiler:Faris]], strictly speaking it was all on [[spoiler:Bartz]], he became a suitor when he found out SamusIsAGirl after Galuf, by this rule Galuf could be accounted as a suitor but his reaction was more of a surprise than anything, and nothing came out of that later. The clear hint that [[spoiler:Bartz]] became infatued with [[spoiler:Faris]] was when she wore a dress fitting of her princess status, the guy became love frozen when he saw her... and that's all; after these events there's no further development, making FinalFantasyV the BlackSheep in the series as FinalFantasyIV pretty much marked the must-have Romance Plot that would follow in all subsequent main games. Unsurprisingly they're the couple who get considerable focus in fanart.

** BareFistedMonk: [[CaptainObvious Monks.]] Giving this ability to anyone makes it a DiscOneNuke.

* {{Nakama}}: The party, helped by the fact that there isn't any switchout as there is in later games. [[spoiler:At least, not in the same way.]]

* UnresolvedSexualTension: [[spoiler:Bartz]] and [[spoiler:Faris]], strictly speaking it was all on [[spoiler:Bartz]], he became a suitor when he found out SamusIsAGirl after Galuf, by this rule Galuf could be accounted as a suitor but his reaction was more of a surprise than anything, and nothing came out of that later. The clear hint that [[spoiler:Bartz]] became infatued with [[spoiler:Faris]] was when she wore a dress fitting of her princess status, the guy became love frozen when he saw her... and that's all; after these events there's no further development, making FinalFantasyV the BlackSheep in the series as FinalFantasyIV pretty much marked the must-have Romance Plot that would follow in all subsequent main games.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: [[spoiler:Bartz]] and [[spoiler:Faris]], strictly speaking it was all on [[spoiler:Bartz]], he became a suitor when he found out SamusIsAGirl after Galuf, by this rule Galuf could be accounted as a suitor but his reaction was more of a surprise than anything, and nothing came out of that later. The clear hint that [[spoiler:Bartz]] became infatued with [[spoiler:Faris]] was when she wore a dress fitting of her princess status, the guy became love frozen when he saw her... and that's all; after these events there's no further development, making FinalFantasyV the BlackSheep in the series as FinalFantasyIV pretty much marked the must-have Romance Plot that would follow in all subsequent main games.

* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler:After the party nearly kills Necrophobia, Gilgamesh appears and uses Exploder to him off Necrophobia, apparently killing himself in the process... [[OrIsIt O]][[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI r]] [[FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears d]][[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI i]][[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII d]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX h]][[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII e]][[DissidiaFinalFantasy ?]]]]

At its time of release, Squaresoft was hesitant to release ''FinalFantasyV'' outside of Japan, believing the game to be far [[ViewersAreMorons too complicated for western audiences]]. At one point, there were plans to release the game as ''Final Fantasy Extreme'', being specifically marketed as a "hardcore" ''FinalFantasy'' game to contrast ''FinalFantasyMysticQuest'', a game created specifically for the western market. The original Super NES version was only available to the English-speaking fandom as a fan-translated ROM, and when it finally received a PS1 release, the terrible loading times and BlindIdiotTranslation pretty much prevented anyone from really enjoying it the way it was meant to be enjoyed. The GBA version ''finally'' gave us a [[{{Woolseyism}} great translation]] that runs with the story's lack of seriousness with added humor (see page quote for an example), fixed what needed to be fixed and, along with Bartz's and Exdeath's appearance in ''DissidiaFinalFantasy'', made ''FinalFantasyV'''s increasingly positive reception possible.

* ChronicallyCrashedCar: In a way. Let's just say that you go through vehicles in this game at the same rate that you do characters in FinalFantasyIV. Having your current mode of transportation get destroyed [[BrokenBridge tends to keep you going]] [[RailRoading where the story wants you to go]], but it's still irritating when the ship you just got three minutes ago is fated to be lost right when you reach your intended destination.

* ItGotWorse: The game's plot. The heroes ''always'' get everywhere just in time to see the villains screw everything up before their eyes, meaning both that the world is screwed as the elements die ''and'' the BigBad is freed from his prison. One of your party [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice dies fighting him]]]], and said villain [[spoiler:gains the power to suck up existence into a big vacuum of nothing]]. However, none of these failures [[{{Determinator}} ever discourage the heroes]]. Amusingly, the basic "heroes lose every time" structure of the plot very closely resembles ''FinalFantasyIV''.

* LethalJokeCharacter: Geomancers retain their mook-shredding abilities from ''FinalFantasyIII'', albeit toned down, and they make Exdeath's Castle a little easier to traverse. On that same note, chemists die in two hits from a stiff breeze but their action ability contains several {{Good Bad Bug}}s.

* LighterAndSofter: Compared to its [[FinalFantasyIV predecessor]] and [[FinalFantasyVI successor]], but it still isn't ''all'' happy.

** Bartz's Dragoon outfit resembles [[FinalFantasyIV Kain]] almost exactly. His and Galuf's Magic Knight duds also resemble [[FinalFantasyII Minwu's.]] White Mage Krile also resembles a [[FinalFantasyIII Devout.]]
** FinalFantasyTactics has a few shout-outs to Faris and Bartz in their designs. FinalFantasyTacticsA2 is heavily inspired by this game, as well, featuring nearly all of its classes, including the rarely seen since Berserker and Cannoneer.
** Faris resembles a purple haired pirate girl from a previous game, Leila from ''FinalFantasyII''.

* SelfDeprecation: In the GBA version, an NPC mocks Square's racing game ''Chocobo Racing'' and/or the tedious LuckBasedMission minigame of ''FinalFantasyX'':

* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler:After the party nearly kills Necrophobia, Gilgamesh appears and uses Exploder to him off Necrophobia, apparently killing himself in the process... [[OrIsIt O]][[FinalFantasyI r]] [[FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears d]][[FinalFantasyVI i]][[FinalFantasyVIII d]] [[FinalFantasyIX h]][[FinalFantasyXII e]][[DissidiaFinalFantasy ?]]]]

** Another lesser known example; if the player is fighting a non-boss monster with an elemental weakness, and uses spellblade to attack them with that element, the attack may [[OneHitKill instantly kill them]]. This instant kill effect still occurs when using Rapid Fire, making it possible to quickly mow down large groups of enemies who share a common weakness.

FFV is also one of the few games of the main series, and certainly the earliest, to have its universe expanded. In 1994 a four episode OVA entitled ''Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals'' was released, set 200 years after the events of the game and focusing on Bartz's descendant. ([[YourMileageMayVary ... If]] [[DisContinuity you like]].)