Interesting Episodic Format. Play as a hero to explore backstory of the Final Fantasy IV game. This is a bit herky jerky though. You constantly have NPCS join (and leave) your party. You Can do combined attack Moves (referred to as 'band' attacks) that become unlocked as you party together. However, it seems all aspects of this game are cut short. You play episodic structure, your team metes come and go, it feels very temporarl. Exploring and levelling up isn't rewarding in this like it is in any other RPG. The focus is on the 'story' (which lets be honest, isn't exactly a strong point in these kinds of JRPGs...) each episode last about 2-4 hours. Map areas and exploration are more linear. Dungeon pathing is very stripped down and simplified. Exploration isn't a factor. I tend to skip chests.

In time, you get to appreciate these characters more. I would be lying if I said i did not remember these characters (such as Cecil and Rosa) and get a feel for the cahracters in this game. It does jog my memory despite not having played it for a few years. Sort of a prequel kind of feel. The game expands on the events of the last game, despite being called 'after years' it is more like a prequel that explores underlying plot and caharacters. OK, lets be real. plot and character isn't really a strong focus of FF. This game seems to focus and fixate on that quite a bit, which isn't bad, just very different. I still dont quite grasp some of these characters and the nature of their conflict, such as Kane

Combat and exploring of the world is a bit dull and monooonous. Pretty sure all the enemies are the same. I think some of the maps/hidden areas are even the same (Baron Castle) Most of the music is the same. It is very much the same as FF4. And the FF3 remake as well. These are all so-so games, They essentially run in an emulator of sorts for windows. One thing that irks me a bit is TEXT in JRPGs that has something wrong with it. Whether that is blurry or a hard to read font. In this game the text is actually some kind of image file and you can see the defects in the text. It's faint and not glaringly obvious but gets on my nerves. There is a patch for it on steam. Still, there are scenes that use the most hideous comic sans like font to introduce new characters. Really, the person who did typefacing in this couldn't have done worse.

I found myself not liking this episodic structure. It makes it feel very strange, doesn't really suite the idea of RPG. They did do some interesting things though, such as character/party transitions, adding cahracters into combat and things like that. Sometimes you go solo for extra challenge... So, that mixes it up and makes a different pace for it to be interesting... It still just doesnt really feel right to me. You simply are to get through the story rather than build and level, etc. I feel its not a very strong title. It adds some interesting ideas and elements, but doesnt feel altogether. It also takes too damn long and does not provide the player with much of a reason to develop party. This is actually somewhat nice in that it feels like it is (faster) and more story focused (less grindy), however the later chapters really slow down, almost painfully and take this very much in the other direction (very grindy). You also seldom get opportunity to actually explore characters in combat, for the most part its generic. I decided to not complete the last chapter, due to time investmenet (it stacks up, and dtracted from the 'faster'). However, Supposedly the characters get to party together and are affected by how much progress you made within the game. There are some cool ideas like that in this game, but as you play it, it is a bit awkward. I found the cool retro Japanese styled box art character concept art at the close of each chapter, rewarding. One screen/spoiler:

Adding variety by mxiing up your party frequently is nice, but you do not really have a large incentive to learn moves, combos or even gear them up.

Adds backstory, but lackluster game in itself. Impressive CG intro video and nice N64 like geometries in rest of the cut scenes.I at least like them.

Ultimately, the game deserved better, and had a nice premise (a prequel/backstory/type revisitiation) but what came out was very much a mix of things not all there, that feels rushed. FF fans can only hope if square does something like this again they spend some more time on it rather than just churn something out.