An original video animation produced in 1994 called Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals serves as a sequel to the events depicted in the game.

Final Fantasy V has been praised for the freedom of customization that the player has over the characters, achieved through the greatly expanded Job System.

The player can traverse the overworld by foot, Chocobo, hydra-guided ship, wind drake, or airship, depending on the situation.

Most towns contain scattered inns for resting, shops for purchasing equipment, and people from whom the player can gain information.

A menu-based management system allows the player to equip, heal, and change each character's selected job outside of battle as well as to save the game's progress.

[4] This system is an improved version of the one in Final Fantasy III; several older jobs were either reused or revamped for V, such as the Black Mage and Thief.

Once the player gains access to the job system, characters begin to earn a separate form of experience—Ability Points—in conjunction with regular experience points.

The nature of these abilities varies; while some serve as special commands in battle, others may be innate to the class or activated automatically when conditions are met, such as the Thief's "Caution" skill, which prevents rear attacks from enemies.

[11] Nearly a thousand years passed without incident, and both worlds prospered due to the powers of their Crystals of Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth.

However, a sinister force was stirring in the second world—ever since the Void incident, malicious demons had been sealed inside a tree in the Great Forest of Moore.

The other Warriors of Dawn, Dorgann Klauser (Bartz's father), Kelger Vlondett, and Xezat Matias Surgate, play important roles.

The party wins a victory against Exdeath's lieutenant Gilgamesh, but are blown to a distant continent when a magical barrier is activated during their escape.

The game's ending varies based on how many party members are still alive at Neo Exdeath's defeat, detailing the events after the world's resurrection.

[2][26] The Job System was designed by Hiroyuki Ito, who worked on the game as a battle planner alongside Akihiko Matsui.

In total, Square employed a team of 45 people to create the game, and 16 Mbits of space were used to accommodate the sprites, animations, and detailed background.

A third attempt was made to port the game to Windows-based personal computers for North American release by developer Top Dog Software, but this was canceled.

[36] The song "Clash on the Big Bridge" would later be arranged by Hitoshi Sakimoto for the Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack in 2006.

[41][42] The PlayStation version boasted two new full motion video opening and ending sequences and a "memo-save" feature, but the game otherwise remained unchanged.

[45] As early as July 1998 there was media coverage[46] of a port to the PC by Square Enix Europe (then Eidos Interactive) that was never officially released.

Screenshots of the cancelled Eidos version include English dialogue that appears to be based on the North American localization[46] that would not be released until September 1999.

[52] Similar to the Game Boy Advance re-releases of its predecessors, this version features updated graphics, though the changes are very subtle.

In early 2010s, Square Enix considered developing a remake of Final Fantasy V for Nintendo DS, but was concerned that the technical issues would prevent it from happening.

[62][63] The story focuses on four warriors, one of them the descendant of Bartz,[64] protecting the Wind Crystal from the villain Deathgyunos, who pursues it to achieve godhood.

[65] It was localized by Urban Vision in 1998 and released in two VHS volumes for North America under the title Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals.

[83] Final Fantasy V topped the Japanese sales charts in December 1992[84] and January 1993,[85] selling 2 million copies during its first two months of release.

[22] Allgame's retrospective review shared similar sentiments regarding the storyline and job system, adding praise for the addition of hidden events and items for players to search for, giving the game a score of 3.5 out of 5.

[73] RPGamer gave it a mixed retrospective review, stating that the game improved on the visual presentation, menu system, and overall field navigation of Final Fantasy IV, but the "maddeningly high encounter rate", "average sound selection", and "washed out" color palette hurt the game's presentation, giving it a score of 5/10.

[10] IGN called Final Fantasy V's graphics "dated" but cited "incredibly engrossing" job system as the game's highlight and praised its music.

GameSpot's review regarded the game more favorably than its PlayStation counterpart, calling it "better than ever" and citing the strong localization of the script and extensive special features.

[77] Nintendo Power wrote that "while playing Final Fantasy V is a chore on the PlayStation, it's good fun on the GBA because of the vastly improved translation and new features", further calling it the "definitive" version of one of the series' best titles.