Boco, The Wonder Chocobo!

Final Fantasy V begins with a lengthy sequence that does its best to insinuate that the game will actually have a story. Little does the player know that they are in for some disappointment.

The epic tale of valiance and honor in the face of danger begins with the King of Tycoon heading off on his dragon to figure out why the wind stopped. Apparently, he believes that this is the result of something happening to the Wind Crystal, meaning that, for the fourth time in five games, the plot once again revolves around finding these magical objects. Oddly enough, while the other people in the world notice that the wind has stopped, nobody other than the King of Tycoon really seems to concerned about this happening.

The opening sequence introduces some of the game's main characters. We see that Reina, Tycoon's princess, is rather worried about her father. In the original emulated version of the game, Reina's name was Lenna. I actually prefer Lenna to Reina, and I am a little sad that they changed the name. We also see an androgynous pirate captain (heck, all the characters were androgynous in those days. Edge was the only member of FFIV's final party whose hair did not go down to his shoulders or beyond. And then we also see some random old guy who, with orangish/brownish hair, has to be labelled "old guy" so that we know he is old.

It all comes to a head when a wandering traveller named Bartz (thankfully changed from the original "Butz") and his chocobo sidekick witness the crashing of a meteor. Think all this sounds discombobulated and unorganized? Yeah, me too, and the game's story really never improves past this point.

The chocobo sidekick, though, is by far one of the coolest characters to grace a Final Fantasy title. He is Boco, the Wonder Chocobo! Able to run faster than the wind (which is easy once the wind has stopped), more clever than any other Chocobo (thus far), and able to leap over randomly appearing pits as if it were no big deal, Boco truly makes Final Fantasy V. If the chocobo were not in this installment, I probably would not have been hooked the first time I played the game.

Boco also happens to be the first Chocobo in the series that is actually owned by anyone. While you do see a couple chocobo stables in III and IV, they appear to be no different from a ranch, where the birds are only being taken care of and nothing more. Boco is more like the average horse, faithfully aiding its master with intelligence and charm. No character before Bartz had a chocobo to roll around on, and this begins a transformation of sorts from the olden days to the more modern worlds of the later installments.

I suppose that Boco is also the first regular chocobo to figure prominently in the series. Sure, you got a prize for riding III's bird around the island. And in IV, the black chocobo was a necessary story feature. For the most part, however, the birds have been optional creatures that had little impact on the story. Even the black chocobo's usefulness ended after leaving the Magnetic Cavern. Boco, right from the very beginning, places the Chocobo in a new light. The beasts are now friendly companions, and Square was pointing out that they could have prominent effects on the game's story. This set in motion all the popular Chocobo mini-games now seen as common place among the series. Boco is also the name that Square has since given all of its major chocobos since Final Fantasy V appeared.

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past week. I have been extremely busy, and have not had much time to sit down and play.