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Boss Fight Books #18
Final Fantasy V
When Final Fantasy V was released for the Japanese Super Famicom in 1992, the game was an instant hit, selling two million copies in the first two months alone. With its groundbreaking job system and seemingly endless character customization, FF5 appeared to be a shoe-in for North American distribution. But the game, unlike Final Fantasy IV and FF6, was dubbed -too hardcore- for a Western audience and was swapped out with Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, a simplistic role-playing game tailor-made for Americans. That didn't stop a teenage Chris Kohler from tracking down Final Fantasy V. The young RPG fan got a Japanese copy of the game, used it to teach himself Japanese, and with the help of some internet companions created the first-ever comprehensive English-language FAQ of the game. As the cultural gap between the East and West shrank a little every year, the game was eventually translated into English for the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and iOS, and fans in the West finally have finally learned what all the fuss was about. Now the acclaimed author of the bestselling Power-Up and a longtime editor for Wired, Kohler is revisiting the game that started his career in games journalism. Based on new, original interviews with FF5's director, Hironobu Sakaguchi, as well as previously untranslated interviews with the rest of the development team, Kohler's book weaves history and criticism to examine one of the FF series's greatest and most overlooked titles.
56 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2017
18 people are currently reading
296 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
January 3, 2026
A tight and fascinating love letter to a Final Fantasy installment I've never watched or played. Now, should I? :)
A few highlights along the road:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
A few highlights along the road:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
April 24, 2018
I started playing Final Fantasy with the I&II compilation released for the GBA, followed by each game in succession until the GBA ran out of titles (with one quick side trip to the DS for the III port). I had very little knowledge of the franchise, so I went into each game without much expectation aside from my homegrown hype built from playing the previous title. I didn't know as FFV charmed me with its job system and numerous optional cutscenes that Western gamers gave it a lukewarm reception. Since it's not often my favorite Final Fantasy entry gets lavished with love like IV and VI and VII do, I had to snap up a whole book dedicated to it.
If you're not intrigued to read one gamer's personal journey with Final Fantasy, this might not be the most compelling book, but I kept turning pages of Final Fantasy V (the book, not the game) long after I first said "just one more page." On top of describing the author's experience with FFV (in which he plays a large role in the early Internet fandom), it weaves in gaming history, mechanics analysis, creator interviews, and FFV recap, switching between topics just enough that none of them drag too long. It reads a bit like a very, very long gaming journalism article: engaging, accessible, informative, and competently written.
Kohler covers extensive information on how Final Fantasy was created, from the sneakier battle tactics to the soundtrack, peppered with interview quotes from the game's production team to give a fuller appreciation for what they created. I can't say what it's like to read this book without having played the game, but for the record 1) Kohler covers a lot of basic details to keep the reader on track, and 2) he spoils the heck out of the story, so be prepared for that.
The book also offers a window into 90's geek culture, for those of us who missed it (or need their memories refreshed). I had no idea how gamers of that era imported Japanese cartridges or learned to mod their SNES to play them. Fansites play a large role in FFV's early and tiny Western fandom, as do the birth of emulators. Even anime fansubs get a surprising nod. Western nerds of Japanese media were very resourceful, if also a bit cringy in retrospect.
The third section of the book is where I found it starts to lose track of itself. The first two sections chronicled and analyzed the game's story progression to partly justify naming each section "World 1" and "World 2," but once it reaches "The Merged World," almost all references to the endgame story are abruptly dropped, which costs the book some of its cohesion. While it's appropriate that the final section is where the book touches on FFV's eventual US releases and modern reactions to the game, it also feels like the dumping grounds for bits and bobs that don't flow with anything else.
That's a pretty minor gripe on the whole, though. This book satisfied my cravings to see FFV get a little positive attention for once and proved to be educational on topics that hadn't even crossed my mind before. Now I need to go digging for my old GBA cartridge.
If you're not intrigued to read one gamer's personal journey with Final Fantasy, this might not be the most compelling book, but I kept turning pages of Final Fantasy V (the book, not the game) long after I first said "just one more page." On top of describing the author's experience with FFV (in which he plays a large role in the early Internet fandom), it weaves in gaming history, mechanics analysis, creator interviews, and FFV recap, switching between topics just enough that none of them drag too long. It reads a bit like a very, very long gaming journalism article: engaging, accessible, informative, and competently written.
Kohler covers extensive information on how Final Fantasy was created, from the sneakier battle tactics to the soundtrack, peppered with interview quotes from the game's production team to give a fuller appreciation for what they created. I can't say what it's like to read this book without having played the game, but for the record 1) Kohler covers a lot of basic details to keep the reader on track, and 2) he spoils the heck out of the story, so be prepared for that.
The book also offers a window into 90's geek culture, for those of us who missed it (or need their memories refreshed). I had no idea how gamers of that era imported Japanese cartridges or learned to mod their SNES to play them. Fansites play a large role in FFV's early and tiny Western fandom, as do the birth of emulators. Even anime fansubs get a surprising nod. Western nerds of Japanese media were very resourceful, if also a bit cringy in retrospect.
The third section of the book is where I found it starts to lose track of itself. The first two sections chronicled and analyzed the game's story progression to partly justify naming each section "World 1" and "World 2," but once it reaches "The Merged World," almost all references to the endgame story are abruptly dropped, which costs the book some of its cohesion. While it's appropriate that the final section is where the book touches on FFV's eventual US releases and modern reactions to the game, it also feels like the dumping grounds for bits and bobs that don't flow with anything else.
That's a pretty minor gripe on the whole, though. This book satisfied my cravings to see FFV get a little positive attention for once and proved to be educational on topics that hadn't even crossed my mind before. Now I need to go digging for my old GBA cartridge.
August 15, 2017
(Full disclosure: FINAL FANTASY V author Chris Kohler and I both have books being published by Boss Fight Books. The publisher distributes a free digital copy of each new book to its stable of authors prior to publication. I read my copy of FINAL FANTASY V of my own volition, without being asked to leave a review.)
At this point, anyone remotely interested in video games has heard of Square's Final Fantasy series even if they haven't played one. Final Fantasy V isn't typically one of the entries you hear about in mainstream outlets, however. FF15 is all the rage as of this writing, by virtue of it being the most recent installment. FF7 is perhaps the most popular entry in the franchise, and one of, if not the most popular JRPG ever made. What, then, made FF5 so beloved to Chris Kohler that he set out to write a book about it?
Kohler explores every aspect of FF5's development, threading his personal connection to the game through years of research—he co-authored the first FAQ for the game when the primordial ooze of the Internet was spreading, becoming a public pool for the world at large—and an extensive interview with franchise creator/director/producer Hironobu Sakaguchi. Both Kohler and Sakaguchi admit that FF5's story, a core component in later games, was basic. Its gameplay was the draw, centered on a job system that let players swap special abilities between their characters as they saw fit, effectively allowing and encouraging them to create their own classes rather than rely on cookie-cutter archetypes like warrior, magic, and so on.
That emphasis appealed to me on a fundamental level. I may come to certain games for their stories and characters, but I stay for their systems. I want to break molds and be given options to play with, not herded down a linear path. Between Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne, I'll take DS2's gobs of spells and armor sets and weapons over Bloodborne's more immersive setting but shallower pool of items any day.
Reading Kohler's book, I got the impression that FF5 was a similar type of experience. One of my favorite parts was an account of a semi-regular challenge where fans of the game are given certain in-game jobs and tasked with completing the game using only abilities stemming from those jobs. Myriad combinations exist, and all are viable.
Kohler's telling of his history with FF5 is just as interesting as development anecdotes gleaned from his interviews. That history has a catch-as-catch-can feel to it, from learning how to import the then-Japanese-only game and modifying his SNES to play the cartridge, to venturing onto America On-Line in the service's nascence where he met other fans and worked with them to translate the game and write its first guide.
But Kohler's best trick is FINAL FANTASY V's (the book) narrative structure. It too is evocative of an off-the-cuff style, structured according to FF5 the game's three worlds. In each "world" of the book, Kohler jumps smoothly from topic to topic, sharing an anecdote from his past, then seguing into a related snippet of his conversation with Sakaguchi, which brings him to a memory of one of his many trips to Japan, to how that all connects with FF5's mechanics or the growing presence of "otaku" culture in the US.
The ending ties all of these threads together neatly and expertly, and left me excited to give FF5 a try and learn more about its dedicated and passionate subset of the larger FF community.
At this point, anyone remotely interested in video games has heard of Square's Final Fantasy series even if they haven't played one. Final Fantasy V isn't typically one of the entries you hear about in mainstream outlets, however. FF15 is all the rage as of this writing, by virtue of it being the most recent installment. FF7 is perhaps the most popular entry in the franchise, and one of, if not the most popular JRPG ever made. What, then, made FF5 so beloved to Chris Kohler that he set out to write a book about it?
Kohler explores every aspect of FF5's development, threading his personal connection to the game through years of research—he co-authored the first FAQ for the game when the primordial ooze of the Internet was spreading, becoming a public pool for the world at large—and an extensive interview with franchise creator/director/producer Hironobu Sakaguchi. Both Kohler and Sakaguchi admit that FF5's story, a core component in later games, was basic. Its gameplay was the draw, centered on a job system that let players swap special abilities between their characters as they saw fit, effectively allowing and encouraging them to create their own classes rather than rely on cookie-cutter archetypes like warrior, magic, and so on.
That emphasis appealed to me on a fundamental level. I may come to certain games for their stories and characters, but I stay for their systems. I want to break molds and be given options to play with, not herded down a linear path. Between Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne, I'll take DS2's gobs of spells and armor sets and weapons over Bloodborne's more immersive setting but shallower pool of items any day.
Reading Kohler's book, I got the impression that FF5 was a similar type of experience. One of my favorite parts was an account of a semi-regular challenge where fans of the game are given certain in-game jobs and tasked with completing the game using only abilities stemming from those jobs. Myriad combinations exist, and all are viable.
Kohler's telling of his history with FF5 is just as interesting as development anecdotes gleaned from his interviews. That history has a catch-as-catch-can feel to it, from learning how to import the then-Japanese-only game and modifying his SNES to play the cartridge, to venturing onto America On-Line in the service's nascence where he met other fans and worked with them to translate the game and write its first guide.
But Kohler's best trick is FINAL FANTASY V's (the book) narrative structure. It too is evocative of an off-the-cuff style, structured according to FF5 the game's three worlds. In each "world" of the book, Kohler jumps smoothly from topic to topic, sharing an anecdote from his past, then seguing into a related snippet of his conversation with Sakaguchi, which brings him to a memory of one of his many trips to Japan, to how that all connects with FF5's mechanics or the growing presence of "otaku" culture in the US.
The ending ties all of these threads together neatly and expertly, and left me excited to give FF5 a try and learn more about its dedicated and passionate subset of the larger FF community.
September 27, 2017
Wonderfully "fantastic" book and a fascinating look into what makes Final Fantasy V so special!
August 21, 2017
Disclosure and Disclaimer
My thanks to Boss Fight Books for sending me an advance copy of this book for the purpose of review.
Up front I feel like I need to admit to some things about Final Fantasy V and the book of the same name.
I was one of those people who enjoyed the fan translation of this game in the late '90s that Chris mentions. But I didn't just enjoy the fan translation, I loved it.
I had played the other Final Fantasy games available at the time (also via emulation), but Final Fantasy V is still clearer in my mind than Final Fantasy IV and VI. I was also a blooming otaku back in the '90s. Given these two facts, I feel like I am the exact target audience for this book and the following review reflects this.
The Review
In his book Final Fantasy V from Boss Fight Books, Chris Kohler artfully combines the story of a blooming '90s otaku with that of the development of the “Lost Final Fantasy”. Kohler manages this blend of stories largely by shifting between them in a way that makes each inform and enrich the other.
This combination of video game and personal writing is the raison d'être of Boss Fight Books, a publisher that tries to get people to write about games and the emotional/psychological/social connections that they have with them. But unlike the other books that I've read from this publisher (Earthbound, Super Mario Bros. 2, Chrono Trigger, and Baldur's Gate II), Kohler manages to shape his connection with his game of choice into a complete story in the classical sense. Both his own story and that of Final Fantasy V get off to an engrossing start, have a period of heightened interest and climax, and ultimately come to a satisfying conclusion.
Unlike with a few of the other titles I've read from Boss Fight Books, I wasn't left with the sense that Kohler just wrote about a part of his life that happened to intersect with his initial interactions with Final Fantasy V. Instead, I could clearly see how influential Final Fantasy V had been on Kohler himself and the wider fan community, despite its window of broad relevance quickly fading after the release of Final Fantasy VI and the rest of the series.
Speaking of his personal story, I found it relatable and compelling. From his introduction to Japanese culture via Nintendo games, his importing Final Fantasy V, and his collaborating on a walkthrough for Final Fantasy V, it's a story that I think will resonate with a lot of '90s gamers. In particular, though, I think that Kohler's coverage of the freedoms and limitations of the mid-'90s internet is a great example of the shape of '90s fandom.
The other arc that Kohler follows is that of Final Fantasy V's development. This is where the book truly shone for me, since I found his interview with Hironobu Sakaguchi about working on Final Fantasy V intriguing and insightful. I also appreciated how the other material that Kohler pulls in fleshed out the story of Final Fantasy V's development and eventual localizations.
To top off the construction of these two arcs, Kohler writes in an easy, conversational style. All in all, this is a fairly strong book.
Except for one thing. The summaries of Final Fantasy V's plot slow the book down.
I admit that when Kohler is writing about how the game's development team combined party dynamics and gameplay with major story beats this kind of summarizing is necessary for context. But when he's summarizing elsewhere it seems like too much of a wind up for nothing more than segues. Cutting these sections out in favour of leaner transitions would have made the book much stronger, I think.
All of that said, Chris Kohler's Final Fantasy V is among the best -- if not the best -- of the books that I've read from Boss Fight Books to date. If the upcoming wave of titles from Boss Fight Books is of the same quality of writing about video games and the impact that they've had on people's lives, then it's not to be missed.
My thanks to Boss Fight Books for sending me an advance copy of this book for the purpose of review.
Up front I feel like I need to admit to some things about Final Fantasy V and the book of the same name.
I was one of those people who enjoyed the fan translation of this game in the late '90s that Chris mentions. But I didn't just enjoy the fan translation, I loved it.
I had played the other Final Fantasy games available at the time (also via emulation), but Final Fantasy V is still clearer in my mind than Final Fantasy IV and VI. I was also a blooming otaku back in the '90s. Given these two facts, I feel like I am the exact target audience for this book and the following review reflects this.
The Review
In his book Final Fantasy V from Boss Fight Books, Chris Kohler artfully combines the story of a blooming '90s otaku with that of the development of the “Lost Final Fantasy”. Kohler manages this blend of stories largely by shifting between them in a way that makes each inform and enrich the other.
This combination of video game and personal writing is the raison d'être of Boss Fight Books, a publisher that tries to get people to write about games and the emotional/psychological/social connections that they have with them. But unlike the other books that I've read from this publisher (Earthbound, Super Mario Bros. 2, Chrono Trigger, and Baldur's Gate II), Kohler manages to shape his connection with his game of choice into a complete story in the classical sense. Both his own story and that of Final Fantasy V get off to an engrossing start, have a period of heightened interest and climax, and ultimately come to a satisfying conclusion.
Unlike with a few of the other titles I've read from Boss Fight Books, I wasn't left with the sense that Kohler just wrote about a part of his life that happened to intersect with his initial interactions with Final Fantasy V. Instead, I could clearly see how influential Final Fantasy V had been on Kohler himself and the wider fan community, despite its window of broad relevance quickly fading after the release of Final Fantasy VI and the rest of the series.
Speaking of his personal story, I found it relatable and compelling. From his introduction to Japanese culture via Nintendo games, his importing Final Fantasy V, and his collaborating on a walkthrough for Final Fantasy V, it's a story that I think will resonate with a lot of '90s gamers. In particular, though, I think that Kohler's coverage of the freedoms and limitations of the mid-'90s internet is a great example of the shape of '90s fandom.
The other arc that Kohler follows is that of Final Fantasy V's development. This is where the book truly shone for me, since I found his interview with Hironobu Sakaguchi about working on Final Fantasy V intriguing and insightful. I also appreciated how the other material that Kohler pulls in fleshed out the story of Final Fantasy V's development and eventual localizations.
To top off the construction of these two arcs, Kohler writes in an easy, conversational style. All in all, this is a fairly strong book.
Except for one thing. The summaries of Final Fantasy V's plot slow the book down.
I admit that when Kohler is writing about how the game's development team combined party dynamics and gameplay with major story beats this kind of summarizing is necessary for context. But when he's summarizing elsewhere it seems like too much of a wind up for nothing more than segues. Cutting these sections out in favour of leaner transitions would have made the book much stronger, I think.
All of that said, Chris Kohler's Final Fantasy V is among the best -- if not the best -- of the books that I've read from Boss Fight Books to date. If the upcoming wave of titles from Boss Fight Books is of the same quality of writing about video games and the impact that they've had on people's lives, then it's not to be missed.
September 14, 2017
Final Fantasy V is the first book of the latest season of Boss Fight Books, written by Kotaku editor Chris Kohler.
In many ways, the author's experience with FFV and Japanese only titles in general mirrors my own. Personally, the first time I went through it was in Japanese. I learned about the different colors (ao-mahou was my favorite, Blue Magic), I found that it was actually still possible to finish a game without understanding the plot in its entirety. I say "still because the first game that I played and beat in Japanese was a Dragon Ball game. Knowing the anime and manga, as well as most gameplay systems of the era, my friends and I deduced many of the words we saw, especially hiragana and katakana. Kanji had us beat and we could only memorize so much. The game was a lot of fun nonetheless, it followed rather faithfully the show's narrative, so we got the gist of it and filled in the rest with our imagination or simply creating the related dialog with funny anime voices of our own. It was only after finding the fan translation that I could truly experience the narrative of FFV on my PC using emulators. The story was crazy as always and very interesting. Nevertheless, it could not beat the greatest feature of this game no matter the language you play it in the JOB SYSTEM!
The book does very well in explaining the system, it even goes as far as unveiling just how one can go about and create the ultimate team, able to mow down anything and anyone in-game in as little rounds as possible. Those strategies require some time and dedication nonetheless and should be expected to be quick cheats such as the famous Konami Code. Knowing the job system intimately is the first aspect of building the uber-party, the second: patience...
Overall, Chris Kohler did a good job not only retracing the history of Final Fantasy V but mostly getting first-hand information and comments from members of the team working on it. Simultaneously, much insight is given about all other titles of the series up to Final Fantasy XIII. Many of my, and his, generation, will find that reliving those moments, their recollections of the general emotions and dreams of the time echo his own. It is a very nice read for a great game, written in a passionate voice that lends well to the structure and pacing of both the game and the well researched recounting of both the real life stories of Chris and Square (now Square-Enix) over the years, centered around the point in time when Final Fantasy truly became the Hail Mary the company needed to succeed.
I received an early copy of this in e-book format as a backer of the season 4 of Boss Fight Books Kickstarter.
In many ways, the author's experience with FFV and Japanese only titles in general mirrors my own. Personally, the first time I went through it was in Japanese. I learned about the different colors (ao-mahou was my favorite, Blue Magic), I found that it was actually still possible to finish a game without understanding the plot in its entirety. I say "still because the first game that I played and beat in Japanese was a Dragon Ball game. Knowing the anime and manga, as well as most gameplay systems of the era, my friends and I deduced many of the words we saw, especially hiragana and katakana. Kanji had us beat and we could only memorize so much. The game was a lot of fun nonetheless, it followed rather faithfully the show's narrative, so we got the gist of it and filled in the rest with our imagination or simply creating the related dialog with funny anime voices of our own. It was only after finding the fan translation that I could truly experience the narrative of FFV on my PC using emulators. The story was crazy as always and very interesting. Nevertheless, it could not beat the greatest feature of this game no matter the language you play it in the JOB SYSTEM!
The book does very well in explaining the system, it even goes as far as unveiling just how one can go about and create the ultimate team, able to mow down anything and anyone in-game in as little rounds as possible. Those strategies require some time and dedication nonetheless and should be expected to be quick cheats such as the famous Konami Code. Knowing the job system intimately is the first aspect of building the uber-party, the second: patience...
Overall, Chris Kohler did a good job not only retracing the history of Final Fantasy V but mostly getting first-hand information and comments from members of the team working on it. Simultaneously, much insight is given about all other titles of the series up to Final Fantasy XIII. Many of my, and his, generation, will find that reliving those moments, their recollections of the general emotions and dreams of the time echo his own. It is a very nice read for a great game, written in a passionate voice that lends well to the structure and pacing of both the game and the well researched recounting of both the real life stories of Chris and Square (now Square-Enix) over the years, centered around the point in time when Final Fantasy truly became the Hail Mary the company needed to succeed.
I received an early copy of this in e-book format as a backer of the season 4 of Boss Fight Books Kickstarter.
July 8, 2018
cute and very detailed.
May 18, 2022
It's really no surprise how much I enjoyed a book about a game that I've loved since I was 16, which I only played through once but thought about nearly every day since. What you get here though isn't just an objective kind of encyclopedia entry about Final Fantasy V, giving you the facts about how it came to be and who worked on it, but rather you get the author Chris Kohler's personal experience with the 1992 Super Famicom game. And his experience was cool - he details how he had to scrounge around for information online in the 90's about Final Fantasy, which led to him putting faith in random internet strangers to do stuff like copy fan-dubbed animes onto VHS tapes or collaborate on the first Japanese-to-English walkthrough of the game, ultimately contributing to his love for it. Eventually he makes some good points about the value of collaboration, human interaction, and shared interests. This is a really nice, succinct little postcard about how important this game is to a lot of people. It takes the history of Final Fantasy and the Japanese video game industry into context, painting a clear picture of how exactly this game to be at that moment in time, all the while weaving in a personal narrative with a positive message. I suppose you need to have some level of familiarity with the game to fully appreciate the book, as a lot of the pleasure I took from reading it was reacquainting myself with plot details, reading names I hadn't read in a while, and understanding the game's metaphors in a way that I didn't when I was 16. I also loved that despite all the re-releases and remasters of the game, he still contends that the fan-translated ROM is the definitive way to play FF5. But for even a casual reader, there's a lot here.
Some other stuff I liked: He addresses the criticism about the story being shallow, noting how the gameplay mechanics sort of FORCED the game to be shallow: since you're the one assigning jobs/classes to all the party members, essentially determining their role, it's very hard for the writers to build a character around them, like they could do for Locke in FF6 for example, whose role as a thief was essential to his character. Kohler also interviewed a lot of the developers of FF5 which lead to some great quotes, such as legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu saying "I've been getting deeper and deeper into Irish trad, and now it's the only thing I listen to," and series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi reminiscing on achievements in gameplay, remarking "We cherish the save data on our cartridges. It's our treasure." There's even a quote about the insane difficulty of the last dungeon in Final Fantasy III, something I've been waiting 10 years for an apology for. That's really great work.
You know, I just finished up my master's degree, and for the last four months I've had hardly any time for, much less interest in video games. I'm concerning myself more with classic literature, having been reading Anna Karenina, a 700+ page behemoth. I thought the dream might finally be over, now that I need to read a lot of literature for work. Despite still lamenting the old "video games are just for kids" attitude, at 32, reading just feels like a more beneficial use of my time. Last week, while looking for something lighter to read alongside Tolstoy, I tossed this book, which had been sitting on my shelf unread for a few years, into my backpack, knowing that if I was out and about and had a few minutes to kill, I could read a page or two about good old FF5 (and since lugging around a 730 page tome didn't feel like such a fun idea). But you know what? Thanks to this book and the fact that I've got free time again, I just might start up a new save file. Maybe there's a little magic left.
Some other stuff I liked: He addresses the criticism about the story being shallow, noting how the gameplay mechanics sort of FORCED the game to be shallow: since you're the one assigning jobs/classes to all the party members, essentially determining their role, it's very hard for the writers to build a character around them, like they could do for Locke in FF6 for example, whose role as a thief was essential to his character. Kohler also interviewed a lot of the developers of FF5 which lead to some great quotes, such as legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu saying "I've been getting deeper and deeper into Irish trad, and now it's the only thing I listen to," and series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi reminiscing on achievements in gameplay, remarking "We cherish the save data on our cartridges. It's our treasure." There's even a quote about the insane difficulty of the last dungeon in Final Fantasy III, something I've been waiting 10 years for an apology for. That's really great work.
You know, I just finished up my master's degree, and for the last four months I've had hardly any time for, much less interest in video games. I'm concerning myself more with classic literature, having been reading Anna Karenina, a 700+ page behemoth. I thought the dream might finally be over, now that I need to read a lot of literature for work. Despite still lamenting the old "video games are just for kids" attitude, at 32, reading just feels like a more beneficial use of my time. Last week, while looking for something lighter to read alongside Tolstoy, I tossed this book, which had been sitting on my shelf unread for a few years, into my backpack, knowing that if I was out and about and had a few minutes to kill, I could read a page or two about good old FF5 (and since lugging around a 730 page tome didn't feel like such a fun idea). But you know what? Thanks to this book and the fact that I've got free time again, I just might start up a new save file. Maybe there's a little magic left.
January 1, 2020
(click the image below to watch the video review)
I’m reviewing all of the Boss Fight Books releases, so subscribe to my YouTube channel to be sure you don’t miss future reviews.
Chris Kohler's Final Fantasy V opens with an engaging analogy that compares the presence of Japanese manga books in a few mid ‘90s American comic book stores to magical portals that gave the author a window into Japan when he was a young boy. These portals were rare, yet he had one in his own hometown. Though we have such portals everywhere today—manga is stocked at every bookstore in every town no matter the population—Kohler's analogy makes me feel like this very book is such a portal, and therefore that I'm a mid ‘90s kid with dreams of visiting Japan. He presents his book like it’s a special artifact, which made reading it all the more special. Very smart, Kohler. Very smart.
The portal analogy is used throughout the book as Kohler becomes more and more enamored with and eventually immersed in Japanese culture. He contributes to an online Final Fantasy V FAQ long before their proliferation on the internet, and he imports anime long before Crunchyroll was an option.
I am familiar with the Final Fantasy series. I played Final Fantasy VII on the PlayStation when it was released. I watched my roommate in college play through Final Fantasy 10, or X, I'm still not really sure what it's called. And I vividly remember that when Final Fantasy XV was announced to feature real time combat instead of the traditional turn-based combat, everyone in the world crapped their pants.
But I know little of the lore and less of the individual character arcs. And frankly, I don't care to know them. So given the book's opening and Kohler's proud otaku status, I worried I'd be drowning in fanboy muck for the duration of the read. But I should have known better. Kohler is a professional. He’s currently a features editor at Kotaku and he’s authored the book Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life. He knows the difference between crafting a narrative and simply summarize one, and he knows that the former is much more engaging than the latter. He digs into character backstory only when relevant to another point and he never spends too much time there.
The book spends a lot of time detailing the difficult journey the game went through to arrive on American shores, focusing a lot of time on the translation issues. Perhaps because I only speak one language, the nuances of translation interest me greatly. I loved reading about what localization teams have to go through to get a game translated and localized for an audience outside the native developer’s primary audience. There’s a lot more to it than one might think.
Anyone looking for a comprehensive encyclopedia about Final Fantasy V should look elsewhere. Anyone looking for an engaging story of a childhood spent in awe of and in search of Japanese culture, threaded by his hunt for an elusive video game, peppered with stories of the game’s development and shaky export to the West, should definitely read this book.
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Chris Kohler's Final Fantasy V opens with an engaging analogy that compares the presence of Japanese manga books in a few mid ‘90s American comic book stores to magical portals that gave the author a window into Japan when he was a young boy. These portals were rare, yet he had one in his own hometown. Though we have such portals everywhere today—manga is stocked at every bookstore in every town no matter the population—Kohler's analogy makes me feel like this very book is such a portal, and therefore that I'm a mid ‘90s kid with dreams of visiting Japan. He presents his book like it’s a special artifact, which made reading it all the more special. Very smart, Kohler. Very smart.
The portal analogy is used throughout the book as Kohler becomes more and more enamored with and eventually immersed in Japanese culture. He contributes to an online Final Fantasy V FAQ long before their proliferation on the internet, and he imports anime long before Crunchyroll was an option.
I am familiar with the Final Fantasy series. I played Final Fantasy VII on the PlayStation when it was released. I watched my roommate in college play through Final Fantasy 10, or X, I'm still not really sure what it's called. And I vividly remember that when Final Fantasy XV was announced to feature real time combat instead of the traditional turn-based combat, everyone in the world crapped their pants.
But I know little of the lore and less of the individual character arcs. And frankly, I don't care to know them. So given the book's opening and Kohler's proud otaku status, I worried I'd be drowning in fanboy muck for the duration of the read. But I should have known better. Kohler is a professional. He’s currently a features editor at Kotaku and he’s authored the book Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life. He knows the difference between crafting a narrative and simply summarize one, and he knows that the former is much more engaging than the latter. He digs into character backstory only when relevant to another point and he never spends too much time there.
The book spends a lot of time detailing the difficult journey the game went through to arrive on American shores, focusing a lot of time on the translation issues. Perhaps because I only speak one language, the nuances of translation interest me greatly. I loved reading about what localization teams have to go through to get a game translated and localized for an audience outside the native developer’s primary audience. There’s a lot more to it than one might think.
Anyone looking for a comprehensive encyclopedia about Final Fantasy V should look elsewhere. Anyone looking for an engaging story of a childhood spent in awe of and in search of Japanese culture, threaded by his hunt for an elusive video game, peppered with stories of the game’s development and shaky export to the West, should definitely read this book.
December 31, 2021
I read&watched 8 Bit Christmas earlier this month, and I found the running narrative in Final Fantasy V Boss-Fight Books to be similar, yet much more relatable to me. It's a true story about a boy who wants nothing more than to get his hands on a video game in his favorite series that was teased in the magazines but was never released outside of Japan. Unlike the author, I didn't import it and try to learn Japanese (although I would later do this for Final Fantasy VIII) although the advent of emulation in the late 90s and the process of fan-translating the game did give me my first exposure to the game, which I would finally beat in 2005 when it came out (in properly translated English!) on Game Boy Advance. This book gives a good history and summary of the game (lots of spoilers if you haven't actually played it yet), with a couple of very familiar faces to me making appearances, since I sort of ran with the same mid 90's internet Final Fantasy crowd. After devouring this book in less than 24 hours, I really want to go back and play the original Super Famicom version!
September 7, 2025
nice control of themes, weaving personal and technical/business stuff into one "merged world" (how apt) - his personal story was a cool slice of history i'm not really versed in, being a little too young to appreciate the north american otaku boom. also kind of put in perspective how recently the boom had kicked off when i did semi-plug in as a tween. like, i know date-wise that such and such hit american shores in this or that year, but this was like a really vivid snapshot and it's taking place 5-7 years before my exposure so idk it is messing with my perception of time in an interesting way. nothing more to say about that. i'm not sure how many more of these books i'll read since a lot are about games i don't care about, but i was happy i read this one. btw i also like that he included parts of an interview he conducted with sakaguchi but didn't let that stop him from recommending playing the game as a rom. i, too, pirate stuff made by people i know. respect!
November 29, 2017
Light, breezy book on one of my favorite games of all time. Like many people in the US that grew up playing Final Fantasy games, I didn’t have a ton of respect for Final Fantasy V. I remember wondering where it was, being excited about finally being able to play it when it came to the US, and ultimately being disappointed in it after finishing it. The book briefly discusses the Four Job Fiesta, which I take part in every year, and which also gave me the appreciation I have for FF V today. I’m studying Japanese right now, and I’m roughly the same age as the author, so the book hit a lot of notes with me because of the various similarities between my life and his. If you’re interested in Final Fantasy, or things from Japan, or stories about how hard we had it in the mid to late 90s getting our hands on stuff from overseas in the fledgling days of the Internet, this book is for you!
May 16, 2021
Really enjoyed this deep dive into FFV and the gaming era that surrounded it. I just beat FFV the other day and didn't really love it, but reading this gave me a much greater appreciation for it. As Kohler says, the story really isn't the best here. It's a bit flat and broad, but the system underneath it all is quite impressive.
Also made me realize something I've been wrong about. I usually mark FFVII as the point when Square became obsessed with graphics and this led to other aspects of the series starting to corrode. But this book makes it clear that Square had always been on the forefront of technology and graphics.
But, yeah, a great book length essay on a game, what it means to be a fan, what the gaming world was like in the early 90s, and how games, like film and literature, can change and shape a life.
Also made me realize something I've been wrong about. I usually mark FFVII as the point when Square became obsessed with graphics and this led to other aspects of the series starting to corrode. But this book makes it clear that Square had always been on the forefront of technology and graphics.
But, yeah, a great book length essay on a game, what it means to be a fan, what the gaming world was like in the early 90s, and how games, like film and literature, can change and shape a life.
July 16, 2019
The best book I've read in the Boss Fight Books series yet. Chris Kohler not only goes into the details of FFV's history, the important of the game to FF, and the relation of FFV to western audiences, he does it from the point of view of a kid who was actually pivotal in bringing the game to the west originally - he, along with a couple others, wrote the original FFV guide on the legendary gamefaqs website. It's a truly unique story and one you will rarely find reading about video games. His love of the game, and the series, is clear and his quality as a writer and story teller is strong as well, I'm sure in large part due to its refinement over years of video game writing, particularly on Kotaku, maybe the best gaming website ever.
May 25, 2020
Fun little book written by a guy who as a teenager in the 90's bought the Japanese-only Super Famicom version and worked on the internet with college students to make an English translation.
I love the Final Fantasy series, though I've really only passed 2 or 3 of the old ones because I don't have the time at this phase of my life. The author briefly outlines the history of the series and company and the Nintendo to Play station changes along with his personal history of pioneering a lot of online video game community stuff with this game and then more. He also nerds out with lots of specific details, story, and tips about specifically FF5.
It's quick and fun if you are into video games and/or the Final Fantasy games. There is some language as he talks pop culture.
I love the Final Fantasy series, though I've really only passed 2 or 3 of the old ones because I don't have the time at this phase of my life. The author briefly outlines the history of the series and company and the Nintendo to Play station changes along with his personal history of pioneering a lot of online video game community stuff with this game and then more. He also nerds out with lots of specific details, story, and tips about specifically FF5.
It's quick and fun if you are into video games and/or the Final Fantasy games. There is some language as he talks pop culture.
October 15, 2017
Even though I enjoyed Final Fantasy IV, I didn't try FFV until much later in college; even then, I only dabbled in it. The author weaves together his personal experiences of the game with interviews from members of the development team. A serviceable accounting of the history of one of the gaming industry's oddballs: not officially released in the US despite outselling it's US-released predecessor by over half a million copies, etc. Thanks to this, I expect I'll make a little more earnest attempt at the game in the future when I've got some more free time.
November 11, 2017
Excellent book, really enjoyed reading it to the point that it was hard to put down. I never played FF5 to completion but it was really interesting reading about it and the systems it had in place. Chris Kohler breaks down the game and its history really well and his personal stories really add to the overall narrative behind the game's English release.
February 11, 2025
A unique history of the trials and tribulations of the localization history of Final Fantasy V, peppered with personal anecdotes of being a Final Fantasy fan in the early 90s, plus bits of interviews and stories of behind the scenes goings on. Overall a short, interesting read about my favourite 2D Final Fantasy game.
February 23, 2025
This book made FFV much better than I remembered it. I never knew there was such a cult following of this game and the possible item hacks that changed the game completely. It captured the soul of the game in a way I would have never seen it myself because I was coming in backwards from growing up on FF4 and 6.
November 14, 2017
Excellent view of ff history
This reads really quick and is half history and half (excellent) fan service of the personal connection to the series. If you haven't played ffv or haven't in a while but enjoy old or new rpg's its a good reminder of old school gaming.
This reads really quick and is half history and half (excellent) fan service of the personal connection to the series. If you haven't played ffv or haven't in a while but enjoy old or new rpg's its a good reminder of old school gaming.
January 6, 2019
I’m no longer a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise of games considering their current direction, but the classics are special to me. This is worth reading for anyone who appreciates the franchise’s golden age; an ode to a misunderstood and deceptively complex classic.
January 31, 2025
Outstandingly written, weaving personal memories and recollections with history of the development and culture of the time and the impact this game made. One of the better books in this series for sure.
September 28, 2017
Great read! Loved all of the backstory behind its creation and the unique connection Chris Kohler had with the game in the 90s! Kept looking forward to reading more. Thanks for writing this!
October 16, 2017
A well-written, detailed account of the creation of the game, beloved in Japan even more than FF VI.
December 25, 2017
Actually a good history for the whole FF series -- the story behind Yoshitaka Amano, the rivalry with Dragon Quest, the English translations for FFV, etc.
December 12, 2017
Borrowed from a friend that lived through a remarkably similar situation. A relatable story about a teenage otaku in the '90s and his passion and ingenuity in a world of early internet culture.
January 10, 2018
It's a good book! I'm just not quite the audience for it.
September 9, 2018
Short, breezy read on the history of Final Fantasy V - one of the more underappreciated games in the series.
December 31, 2018
I near perfect dissection of what FFV is, but also what it became, and what it represented to fans on both sides of the Pacific. An absolute winner.
January 2, 2019
Amusing and informative retrospective on one of my favorite games.
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