Final Fantasy IV (1991)

Preliminary: At last another FF. And time to move on from the NES era for FFs! I know I was frustrated with the new ATB system since I've always preferred lazy turn-based grinding while not really paying attention etc while watching something lol, but I also remember that this really grew on me and became a 5 star/well-loved. We shall see. It seems there are many differences between the NA release (even tho only a few months later) and the original Japanese release, with the NA release more closely mirroring the "Easy" Japanese version. Hmmm, in order to stick to the chronology project, I should find a fan translation of the original version. However, since it was released surprisingly soon afterward in NA (compared to the other early FFs), it wouldn't be a big deal since it's only a matter of months difference. I'm more curious about any content or critical gameplay changes. If no significant content censorship or gameplay changes, I may go with the official NA version since I read it fixed a bug. Booo just read "One of the most well-known changes in Final Fantasy II and Easy Type is the removal of the Developers' Office. " Ok fan translation it is :-p Nice I found one that works for my needs!

Ahhh right off the bat that classic Final Fantasy tunnnnne. They thought this cutscene situation at the beginning was soooo advanced haha. And I love it, of course, but compared to the Ys remake from 2 years prior or the Phantasy Stars... lol.

Yeah as excited as I am for this, and as much as I recognize I will surely be playing through it regardless, and I also recognize that I have nostalgia for the RPG Maker Look, this does just seem so dated for 91. The Look and Sound are just... yea, dated. Luckily, I almost always get hooked to FFs, as with most RPGs. And the storyline is supposed to be the highlight here. Nice, the music got better after the King screws you over. Welp, regardless, here goes nothing

Early Game

It's nice that there are actual helpful hints from the people in this castle. Already so much of the game is coming back to me--the Look of Cecil in the menu screen, the Baron Castle layout and stockpile of treasures reachable over time, etc.

It's definitely got the NES era issue of sluggishness (well, Genesis etc RPGs had that too) of movement and dialog and sooo many transition screens in this initial castle. Why so many stairs lol. It's interesting how, with this chronology project, the early FFs don't have that flawless nature to them where it was hard for me to criticize them , since I now know more about what could be expected from their eras. I do, though, recognize that all RPGs at this time were quite slow with movement, dialog, etc.

Whenever I get meh about the music and consider muting it, a good tune comes on (e.g., most of the Baron Castle had a meh tune, but this nighttime scene with Rosa has that classic Final Fantasy nighttime music vibe. Dreamy) And at last, the adventure really is beginning. That intro was meh, but it did set that precedent of an epic plot-building intro or whatever for the later FFs

And the Look is having those next generation of console colors I love. So gotta recognize that

Despite some disappointments and datednesses, I am noticing more and more QoL things. Love that you can change to buying 10 at a time of an item. Love that there are settings you can change (including the menu color, tho the default was my preferred). Love that there are no menus needed to search/open a chest.

Nice, it certainly starts off with more of a bang than the earlier FFs and most its contemporary RPGs. Already a boss! And woops, it's gonna be hard taking screenshots. Almost forgot about the ATB factor! Haha. Oh dang, and the plot got spicy real fast

So many of the classic jingles are popping up more and more and the Sound is definitely growing on me. And neat feature of having save/tent/rest points in dungeons. And yay for return of the Fat Chocobo system! Lol I love the Chocobo Summon too. More and more I'm realizing how modern and truly-FF this is, even if I may have expected a bit more.

As always I'm super hooked. Putting off my ironman goals for this argh! Haha. Ooo the Zuu enemies. I think after I complete the Trial part (I keep remembering so much about this game, it stands out in my memory, which says a lot), I will consider it mid game. Tho I don't think it really is lol

Palom and Porom remind me of the jesters in FF9, I hear songs that are remade for FFX, and so many other connections to the later FFs. Like FF2 and FF3, tho, I don't like the large variety of status effects. Have to carry such a large number of items to cure them.

Mid Game

Cute character animations. And the music, tho typically not spectacular, keeps giving me nostalgia vibes of later FFs. I also like that the grinds seem very doable, I have used Fast Forward, but not every grind. And I dunno, just feels generally more balanced (tho this is likely because it was the later 91 "Easy Mode" release this is derived from, and this version sped up some of the loading/transition parts, so I have to keep that in mind).

Dang this is a slow moving airship :-p But it still sure is nice to have!

The fact I have to combine the items to organize my inventory is quite silly. That seems like a pretty basic QoL feature for 91. And even with the Fat Chocobo, inventory feels very limited with how many characters and classes come and go. I love the Chocobo Village music tho :-p

Omg I forgot this had the Magus Sisters!

I loved how they helped each other as a team and talked to each other. Super cute touch. And I like the telescope :)

Lol the Developer's Room is a cute touch/idea. The Break Room was particularly cute, tho I'm a bit iffy about the lustful magazine (whatevs). I like that there aren't many false rooms/waste of spaces, it almost always felt worth exploring different areas of dungeons. Far too many RPGs from this era relied on the "got ya" effect of wasting time in dungeons.

Some cool boss sprites as I near end game , the King and Queen Eblan were cool sprites but it's always a hassle getting screenshots. So I got the next boss Rubicante :-p (speaking of the King and Queen, there sure are a lot of storyline/faux-boss battles)

Dang, Rydia can't stay alive for that boss battle! Lol.

The bestiary item is a neat idea, much alike the spell Scan.

Late Game

Ngl I'm burning out a bit in late game. It's still an excellent game but it's just getting so difficult and intensive for every dungeon when I want to just sit down and play a bit. And the status ailments are getting much more brutal etc. I guess I just need to take it in smaller chunks and accept that this is a 10s of hours, multiple weeks, type game even with fast forwarded leveling grinds.

Okay taking it in chunks is working better. Sealed Cave has a cool Look to it, tho the [at first good] music is getting a bit old/repetitive at this point. Been muting it more and more , not just during leveling grinds. And the difficulty is insane at this point, but at least I have enough money to just have a ridiculous number of Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs heh. (Oh, but the Crystal Room tune never got old.)

The storyline is a step up from most its contemporaries but it's getting a bit repetitive/predictable. Oh surprise, Kain is taken over again and another Crystal is taken heh.

Yay! The item retrieval/exchange quests with the Frying Pan and Rat Tail in endgame are helping with my burnout! Good ol adventure game parts!

I think Mysidia has to be my favorite of the tunes so far. I keep saying I am going to stop playing for the night since I told myself to take it in chunks, but I am reinvigorated during this Lunar section.

It's cool that there are a bunch of super rare and secret items etc, but I'm not feeling motivated enough to do that. Back in my heyday, I couldn't resist such a grind, like in KH or FFX etc! The Giant of Babil is super epic tho

The Inside the Giant of Babil music is great. Also the music after the boss battles there seems new and great too. Endgame is really picking up the slack of mid game! Super cool how you make the Adamant Armor with the super rare items etc. I didn't go for it in this playthrough, but super cool. and a trope I look for in future RPGs.

Jeez this final dungeon is long! And brutal! So many equipment upgrades too. And thank goodness for mid-way save points too. I like the way the ultimate weapons you get here are presented in a dramatic way not just in a chest. E.g.,

The many people you've met along the way praying for you reminded me of Mother :-p And yesssss when you get DarkMatter on only your 2nd Steal, lucky! And at last! Finished! Never a big fan of wedding endings, but it was so much more than that too and lol with the Moon just darting off. Several good ending tunes and decent credits tune, and some good screens :-p Yessss, Star Wars text movement, you better v idyllic Not my favorite of the retro FF ending screens but still good.

Look: 8.5/10 Tho I expected more of an upgrade from the NES era, it was very vibrant and the battle animations were great for its time (plus I just can't deny the FF menus, the FF aesthetic, the FF battle viewpoint etc.)

Sound: 8.5/10 Some real good tunes, tho sometimes a bit too repetitive as often happens with RPGs. It didn't change the game, but continued a legacy of great FF music, with some new vibes esp in the late game tunes that added more of an electronic music feel.

Play: 9/10 Even tho I kinda expected a bigger update compared to the NES FFs, I still just love the FF battle system compared to its contemporaries. It doesn't have the first-person perspective with 13 of each enemy, instead it's a reasonably sized group with mechanics of varying complexity. I got the RPG hook, and this is such a HUGE game in terms of gameplay, it's epitomal NES/SNES era JRPG.

Feel: 9/10 So many things that give me a strong Feel, like Dark Matter and summons and the songs that I believe are reused in a way in FFX etc. Plus it kept my favorites of the earlier games like Fat Chocobos <3

Attachment: 9/10 Of course, I've played it fully through twice now so that says a lot. I like that the plotline really added a lot compared to the prior FFs, really making you know and care for the characters. I think as I continue to replay it, and perhaps its remakes and sequels and other media and whatnot, I will develop an even bigger attachment to the characters. Now that I've returned to the early FFs, in the context of their contemporaries, it oddly really makes me want to play the later 3D and whatnot remakes. The NES and SNES era Look is super nostalgic to me, reminding me of RPG Maker games I made, but I was still primarily of the PS1 3D era. I dunno how to explain it, but I went from passing off any remake to now being curious about them after replaying the original versions.

Overall: 8.8/10 Unless I enjoy FF2 more the next time I replay it (since I loved it the first time), this is my favorite of the first 4 mainline games so far!

I quite enjoyed this one. Despite buying a Switch two weeks ago, I haven't even started playing it because I was playing this, and that was perfectly fine with me because Final Fantasy IV is a solid game. Like, I literally bought my Switch, plugged it in, and got it set up, then immediately turned on my SNES to play FF4.

The battle system in this one is very similar to FF6, but slightly downgraded because you can't see the turn bar filling up between attacks. Gameplay is just your standard JRPG, nothing too out of the ordinary here. Like other older RPGs, it gives you very little information about items and magic, which is always annoying; I never end up branching out of my main strategy because I don't know what anything does. You don't even know if new armour is going to be better than your current armour. But all of these things were just par for the course in 1991, so I'll let it slide.

The story is pretty simple, but still charming and fun. You're still hunting for the MacGuffins, but so is your enemy, and it's not exactly the same thing we've seen a hundred times. There's some nice character development with both the protagonists and antagonists, so that's nice. The problem is that the technology was too limited to really make emotions sink in like they did with FF6. The graphics aren't as good, and the English translation is pretty bad, to the point where most lines just sound childish, and some are downright unintelligible.

Those are my only complaints; they're pretty minor overall. I had fun with this one, and I recommend it to fans of the series. I know it's a classic and all, but it's slightly more rare than some of its OG counterparts, so I feel like a lot of people missed out on it. I've now played 1, 4, and 6, and I think I'm ready to try the post-SNES era of Final Fantasy.

Gameplay, Story and Value:

Disclaimer: For the sake of this review and project, Final Fantasy II and III for the NES do not exist. Final Fantasy IV is being reviewed as the western release of Final Fantasy II on the SNES and will assume that it is the direct sequel to the first Final Fantasy game on the NES.

For the western JRPG fan whose most recent exposure to this series was the first Final Fantasy on the NES, Final Fantasy IV can be seen as something that is both familiar, and also radically different.

From the music, menus, bright colors (title screen...) you'll immediately recognize this game as the successor to Final Fantasy. This time, however, instead of building a party of rent-a-heroes and being sent of seemingly arbitrary quests, you're thrown straight into the story of Cecil, Dark Knight and leader of the Red Wings, as he comes to terms with his recent actions in the name of his kingdom. Soon after you'll begin meeting interesting characters who will join you on your journey. What starts as a fairly simple premise quickly escalates to the point where the fate of worlds lies in your hands. Allies come and go, villains show layers of complexity. and everything unfolds at a brisk at mostly satisfying pace.

It's weird praising a JRPG simply for "having a story", but for many people up until now the only exposure to the genre has been the "Take your sword and get out" approach of Final Fantasy I and Dragon Warrior. As a kid, I couldn't believe the constant twists and turns. To have character joins up with me just long enough to get attached, only be lost was incredibly surprising to me, and I know I was not alone at the time. The moment Cecil renounced the Dark Sword and became a Paladin was, for a long time, the pinnacle of RPG storytelling for me!

Playing the game now, nearly 20 years later, I can't help but notice some issues with what's mostly a great story. Specifically, I feel like the way FF4 handles introducing (and writing) off many of its main characters caused some major pacing issues. As a character, Rosa was more or less an afterthought. Kain's mind-controlling shenanigans were just a bit over the top, or at least could have been handled differently. Palom, Poram, Edward and Yang should have all been pulled back into the fold after their later "reveals", as the surprise ended up being somewhat lackluster. Tellah served his purpose and Rydia was easily the most interesting and well-realized character of the group. Edge appears far too late in the game and comes off as feeling simply "tacked on" at the end... Even so, it's very easy to just relax and enjoy the game's story for what it is. Characters and locations are memorable and it all ends in a satisfying conclusion.

Mechanically speaking, Final Fantasy IV more or less set the baseline for 16-bit JRPG's. There's nothing incredibly impressive or unique going on with any of it's systems; no classes to manage or interesting ways to learn abilities or anything like that. Instead, each character has a special ability unique to them, and characters who are able to learn black or white magic simply do so at predetermined levels. FF4 also introduced a proper MP system to the series, coming off of FF1's daily use system based on P&P RPG's.

Final Fantasy 4 is often heralded as the first RPG to use the Active Time Battle (ATB) system for combat. This works great for the most part, but not having ATB gauges can make planning in combat somewhat difficult, leaving a bit too much to chance in some cases. Aside from that combat is pretty fun and the game allows for a decent amount of strategy in various encounters. One very minor complain I had was by the end you'll end up with a ton of spell bloat, as you'll find that despite having access to several magics, you'll generally only use 4-5 spells in total.

The later portions of the game allow for some exploration and sidequests which often result in powerful equipment and abilities. Some of these things are completely missable, but it's well worth going out of your way for them. I will say that the random encounters can get a little out of control at times, and it didn't take too long before I'd start running from every encounter once I was appropriately leveled for the area. Also notable in this regard was that no less than half of my encounters were either back attacks or surprise attacks...

Presentation, Music and Sound:

While Final Fantasy IV certainly doesn't have the best graphics in an SNES RPG, what it does have are perfectly serviceable. Tiles all connect nicely together and there's still a certain charm early visual styles of JRPG's. Colors are bright and while sprites don't have much in the way of detail characters are still unique and easily discernible from each other. My only complaints with the games presentation would fall be with a few UI quirks. I already lamented the lack of an ATB gauge in combat, but the menus could have handled using spells and items outside of combat a little easier. I also hate having a limited inventory space, though have item storage to compensate for that is a nice touch. Also a nice added convenience is the ability to rearrange spells! It was a great time saver being able to move my more powerful abilities to the top of the list for quick access, rather than having to wade through a bunch of now-useless ones to find what I needed.

I almost feel bad for not being able to gush over the music, but for the most part I just find it to be "very good". Now, very good means very good, and even at its worst the music in Final Fantasy 4 is still very good. I think, for me, it just doesn't resonate like tracks from other Final Fantasy games do. Sure, every track is almost immediately recognizable, particularly the Baron theme that's playing at the start of the game, but they don't really stick with me after the console's been turned off. The exception here is, of all things, the battle music. I don't know whether this speaks to the quality of the tune or to the amount of time I spent in combat, but whenever I try to think of Final Fantasy battle music FF4 is the first to pop into my head.

Sounds were perfectly fine, and more or less exactly what you'd expect from this sort of game.

Afterthoughts:

It's kind of cool to be able to point to this game and say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this is THE game responsible for my love of JRPG's, specifically those of the 16-bit variety. Before I moved to California, my only exposure to video games was by way of Super Mario, Mega Man, Sonic, Castlevania and other platforming and action classics. I remember a friend talking to me about Final Fantasy II and me having no idea what he was going on about. When I told him I'd never played it he practically threw the cartridge at me. I took it home and beat it after a few days... and I needed more. From there I was lent Breath of Fire, then Final Fantasy III, then Chrono Trigger, then anything I could get my hands on! I was hooked on the genre, and it was all thanks to this one game.

Playing through it again so many years later was interesting. Because of my innate love for this game, and all the memories I have attached to it, it's the smaller issues that really stand out for me. Way-too-high encounter rates, mostly useless treasure chests, questionable character and story developments, problems with the UI... All minor things in the long run, but things I couldn't help but notice.

All that said, for my first complete playthrough of Final Fantasy IV since I last rented it from Hollywood Video in the 90's, I had a great time.

Review:

Playthrough:

This is difficult, to say the least. There isn't much left to say when it comes to Final Fantasy IV - either you loved it or you didn't. I happen to be in the former category. But I'll be the first to admit my opinion is through rose colored glasses. Do I think it's the best game ever? No. Do I even think it's the best in the series? Also, a no. However, it is a game everyone should play at least once; Lunar Whale and all. I'll try to focus on the SNES version of the game, but it's been a long time since I've actually dusted off my copy, with all the newer (better) versions available.

With the jump from the NES to the new Super Nintendo, battles were updated from the turn based style that fans had become accustomed to to the now famous Active Time Battle System. While in previous games players could take their time to plan their attacks accordingly - players now no longer have that luxury. This by no means implies the game became more difficult, it just meant that players couldn't go get a drink, or answer the door, or swap laundry loads while in battles. Well, unless you pressed the pause button... If you by chance forgot to press pause, you would more than likely come back to a game over or close to it. The idea behind the Active Time Battle System (ATB) was that your enemies wouldn't wait for you to come up with a strategy, forcing the player to make battle decisions at a faster pace. Because Final Fantasy II and III were not originally released in the west until late 2002, the SNES version of Final Fantasy IV was instead released as the first successor for Final Fantasy; making it seem leaps and bounds ahead of the first game in the franchise. Unfortunately, Japan thought the game might be too difficult for western players and dumbed down the difficulty, which was thankfully remedied in the (better) re-releases of the game. Luckily, magic points made a return from II, instead of the "charges" from I and III. Experience points also became a staple of the franchise instead of the stat based system from the second game. Battles are still limited to random encounters, but they aren't nearly as frequent as in the NES counterparts.

The story is much stronger than any game in the franchise made up to that point. It's unfortunate that the job class system had to be shelved for the game, but as much as I like character customization, I have to admit the story was better for it. The characters are locked into specific classes from the start of the game, and this helps to progress the plot line. Even though the player cannot change the classes assigned to the cast of characters, there are enough characters, and the game shuffles through them frequently enough, that the player doesn't feel roped into playing a class they despise for long. The only complaint I have is really a personal nitpick; the story gets a little wonky towards the end. For me, at that point, I was already invested in the characters and was able to shrug it off. I have known people who have breathed a huge sigh of frustration and a mumbled "really?" at where the story settles.

The graphics are beautiful when compared to NES sprites. Which can be attributed more to color variance than anything else. Personally, my favorite type of 2D graphics are from the Super Nintendo era. I think they age fairly well. They're clear but overall simple. While I'm not a big fan of the newest 3D remake's graphics, I did like the PSP's 2D sprites. The game's music is one of the most memorable in the franchise. Many might argue that it's the best (nope that would be VI :P). The biggest difference in the score was that Nobuo Uematsu wanted the music to help move the story along, instead of being just background noise. In my opinion it worked. Without the musical score to help set the mood, I'm not sure some of the scenes would have been nearly as memorable.

I have to admit, I loved this game. I would probably place it somewhere in my top 10. There are certainly better games out there, and definitely more challenging (even with the difficulty rate fixed in the newer versions), but there aren't many RPGs that can boast as many re-releases or remakes. There was even a sequel released for it (Final Fantasy IV: The After Years). Fans still want to relive the time they spent with the game, even after nearly 25 years; Lunar Whale and all.