Final Fantasy IV was the first Final Fantasy game I've ever played and it was the game that encouraged me to enter the world of Final Fantasy back when I was skeptical about the franchise,and man I'm glad I've played it ^_^
To this day Final Fantasy IV has to be my favorite Final Fantasy game of all time,I just can't have enough of this game,I've replayed it again and again and was never bored,almost everything in this game is blended perfectly with each other to make a simple yet incredibly magical experience
The story tells the tale of the dark knight Cecil Harvey,the captain of Baron's royal fleet the Red Wings who was sent on a mission to retrieve the crystal from Mysidia by his king who told him to kill anyone who gets in his way,Cecil wasn't comfortable with such orders as it goes against what he believes but he couldn't bring himself to disobey his king who raised him like his own son.When Cecil returned to Baron he delivered the crystal but without questioning the King's orders lately which angered the king who stripped Cecil from his command over the Red Wings and tasked him to deliver an item to the village of Mist,Kain tried to ask the king to forgive Cecil,only to be sent to Mist alongside him,and with this starts the epic story of love,betrayal and world saving adventure...I won't spoil much of the story because I want you guys to see it in case some of you didn't play it just yet
What I love the most about FFIV's story is the perfect pacing for events,it's one epic event after the other to keep you on your toes as you progress through the story,every character here is great and most of them have a decent character development especially Cecil,he starts his journey as a dark knight to redeem himself from his past sins and became a Paladin,which also affects your gameplay with him tremendously in a nice StoryGameplay integration.
What I also like about FFIV's story is that it's simple yet very epic,it doesn't take itself too seriously but at the same time it has many memorable moments like Cecil becoming a Paladin or the plot twist when you reach the Giant of Babil,the story can be very deep especially if you played the DS version which added some cutscenes which shed more light on Cecil's past,it's a very simple enjoyable story that you can go through casually with no problem but if you went out of your way and searched for more details about it you'll appreciate it even more.
It didn't need to complicate it's story to make it seem epic and it shows that you can still tell a great plot with very simple elements that makes the player more invested in the story since it's easy to understand without throwing the player into a needless journey of over analysis or a wall of text reading class to enjoy it.Cecil himself is one of the best elements in this story,sure he was tormented by a dark past but he wasn't angsty or emo about it like most protagonists of this kind of story(looking at you Squall & Lightning),and instead he sought the path of redemption and cleansed himself from his past sins and got the power he needed to save the world.That alone makes Cecil my favorite main FF protagonist of all time(alongside Zidane,Zack Fair and Cloud Strife).In short FF4's story is great and I hope everyone can appreciate it as much as I do
Now on to the Gameplay.
FFIV was the first game in the Final Fantasy franchise to utilize the ATB(Active Time Battle) system that the series is known for to this day in which instead of waiting for the enemies until they finish their turn,you can attack as soon as the ATB gauge of your party members is filled,which can allow you to attack multiple times before your enemies hit you if you've boosted your speed stats with spells like Haste,it's faced paced,it's fluid,it's strategic as you have to keep an eye on elemental weaknesses and use your buffs,debuffs and summons wisely, and it's very fun to play with and I'm glad later entries from IV to IX kept the battle system as it is but with their own unique twists on it.
The world of FFIV is balanced in that it;s not too small to suffer streamlined linearity but it's not too big to cause you to get lost,you can always go out of your way and explore extra dungeons like the Sylph Cave, the Feymarch & Lair of the Father or find hidden villages which can give you some really decent stuff like new summons that you may not find in the main dungeons of the plot like(Asura,Sylph,Leviathan and the awesome Bahamut) or powerful weapons like Excalibur.
There are some new features that were added to the Gameboy AdvancePSP version with the game like the choice to change party members(which is something that the SNES version didn't have) in Mysidia's Tower of Prayer and extra dungeons like the Cave Trials(which are there to help other characters to get up to the level your current party is in now by giving them new weapons once they finish their trial)and the Lunar Trials(which opens once you finish the game)
The main story takes about 12 to 15 hours to finish which for me is the fitting length for this game as it gives it more replayability if you want to do more playthroughs of it and it's not too long or too short,I've replayed this game almost more than 5 times and I've enjoyed each and every single playthrough I did
The only thing that I didn't like,which is only in the GBA and PSP versions,is how the Lunar Trials were handled.In order to unlock the trials of each character in the game,you have to beat the final boss with those characters,and you can't remove Cecil from your party,which means in order to unlock all 8 trails for all 8 characters,you have to beat the final boss three times to have them all unlocked.This method of unlocking was unnecessary as they could've made all the trials available right after you beat the final boss.As for the trials themselves,they're ok but they could've been handled much better.
But that's really a minor complaint as the lunar trials are optional and they're not in all versions since they're GBAPSP exclusives,so it really doesn't hinder the experience
As for the graphics the SNES version look decent enough since it's the first FF game on the SNES,but the biggest improvements that graphics have gotten are in the DS and PSP versions
Well,the DS version is obvious since it's a 3D remake which helped the game tremendously as they added voiced cutscenes that made the experience even more immersive and epic
But my favorite in terms of graphics has to be the PSP version,my god it looks BEAUTIFUL ^_^
The new sprites look detailed and beautiful,the environment looks crisp and clean,overall the PSP version is an absolute eye candy to look at and I can't get enough of it.It's so freakin gorgeous man ^_^
As for the soundtrack...........it's...freakin.....AWESOME ^_^
It's Nobou Uematsu so of course his music is gonna be awesome,both the original SNES soundtrack and the DS version's remixed soundtracks are amazing but I lean more towards the SNES original soundtrack
the soundtrack in general is so grand and epic and I love every single track in the game,from the epic Giant of Babil theme to the silly Palom & Porom theme...I love this soundtrack soooo much
Overall,Final Fantasy IV is an amazing experience that I can never forget,I enjoyed every moment in this game and I'm ready to replay it as many times as I can
It's so accessible to both RPG newbies and veterans and it's a great way to introduce new fans to the series with,if you're new to Final Fantasy and don't know which game to start with,start with this game,it's a great introduction to prepare you for what's to come in the future entries,and for other FF fans that haven't played it yet,play it now you won't regret it ^_^
The game is available everywhere on SNES,Ps1,GBA,DS,PSP,iOS,Andriod.....etc
But the versions that I recommend you to get are the PSP and DS versions
Especially the PSP version as it has both FFIV and it's sequel the after years alongside a the bonus Interlude episode
And the DS version of you want more challenge as it's way harder than SNESGBAPSP versions
Overall,my final rating for Final Fantasy IV is.......(and I know I've been giving a lot of those lately)
1010
This is just my personal opinion though so feel free to say yours
FFIV is one of my favorite video games of all time and it's still so far my favorite Final Fantasy game with FFVII coming very close to it alongside FFIX,and I highly recommend it to both newbies and JRPG veterans
As for my next FF game to review it'll be FFXIII-2 since it'll take me a while to finish VI and IX and I need to make something between those until I finish them
To see my other Final Fantasy reviews so far,click the following links
Final Fantasy IV was the first Final Fantasy game I've ever played and it was the game that encouraged me to enter the world of Final Fantasy back when I was skeptical about the franchise,and man I'm glad I've played it ^_^
To this day Final Fantasy IV has to be my favorite Final Fantasy game of all time,I just can't have enough of this game,I've replayed it again and again and was never bored,almost everything in this game is blended perfectly with each other to make a simple yet incredibly magical experience
The story tells the tale of the dark knight Cecil Harvey,the captain of Baron's royal fleet the Red Wings who was sent on a mission to retrieve the crystal from Mysidia by his king who told him to kill anyone who gets in his way,Cecil wasn't comfortable with such orders as it goes against what he believes but he couldn't bring himself to disobey his king who raised him like his own son.When Cecil returned to Baron he delivered the crystal but without questioning the King's orders lately which angered the king who stripped Cecil from his command over the Red Wings and tasked him to deliver an item to the village of Mist,Kain tried to ask the king to forgive Cecil,only to be sent to Mist alongside him,and with this starts the epic story of love,betrayal and world saving adventure...I won't spoil much of the story because I want you guys to see it in case some of you didn't play it just yet
What I love the most about FFIV's story is the perfect pacing for events,it's one epic event after the other to keep you on your toes as you progress through the story,every character here is great and most of them have a decent character development especially Cecil,he starts his journey as a dark knight to redeem himself from his past sins and became a Paladin,which also affects your gameplay with him tremendously in a nice StoryGameplay integration.
What I also like about FFIV's story is that it's simple yet very epic,it doesn't take itself too seriously but at the same time it has many memorable moments like Cecil becoming a Paladin or the plot twist when you reach the Giant of Babil,the story can be very deep especially if you played the DS version which added some cutscenes which shed more light on Cecil's past,it's a very simple enjoyable story that you can go through casually with no problem but if you went out of your way and searched for more details about it you'll appreciate it even more.
It didn't need to complicate it's story to make it seem epic and it shows that you can still tell a great plot with very simple elements that makes the player more invested in the story since it's easy to understand without throwing the player into a needless journey of over analysis or a wall of text reading class to enjoy it.Cecil himself is one of the best elements in this story,sure he was tormented by a dark past but he wasn't angsty or emo about it like most protagonists of this kind of story(looking at you Squall & Lightning),and instead he sought the path of redemption and cleansed himself from his past sins and got the power he needed to save the world.That alone makes Cecil my favorite main FF protagonist of all time(alongside Zidane,Zack Fair and Cloud Strife).In short FF4's story is great and I hope everyone can appreciate it as much as I do
Now on to the Gameplay.
FFIV was the first game in the Final Fantasy franchise to utilize the ATB(Active Time Battle) system that the series is known for to this day in which instead of waiting for the enemies until they finish their turn,you can attack as soon as the ATB gauge of your party members is filled,which can allow you to attack multiple times before your enemies hit you if you've boosted your speed stats with spells like Haste,it's faced paced,it's fluid,it's strategic as you have to keep an eye on elemental weaknesses and use your buffs,debuffs and summons wisely, and it's very fun to play with and I'm glad later entries from IV to IX kept the battle system as it is but with their own unique twists on it.
The world of FFIV is balanced in that it;s not too small to suffer streamlined linearity but it's not too big to cause you to get lost,you can always go out of your way and explore extra dungeons like the Sylph Cave, the Feymarch & Lair of the Father or find hidden villages which can give you some really decent stuff like new summons that you may not find in the main dungeons of the plot like(Asura,Sylph,Leviathan and the awesome Bahamut) or powerful weapons like Excalibur.
There are some new features that were added to the Gameboy AdvancePSP version with the game like the choice to change party members(which is something that the SNES version didn't have) in Mysidia's Tower of Prayer and extra dungeons like the Cave Trials(which are there to help other characters to get up to the level your current party is in now by giving them new weapons once they finish their trial)and the Lunar Trials(which opens once you finish the game)
The main story takes about 12 to 15 hours to finish which for me is the fitting length for this game as it gives it more replayability if you want to do more playthroughs of it and it's not too long or too short,I've replayed this game almost more than 5 times and I've enjoyed each and every single playthrough I did
The only thing that I didn't like,which is only in the GBA and PSP versions,is how the Lunar Trials were handled.In order to unlock the trials of each character in the game,you have to beat the final boss with those characters,and you can't remove Cecil from your party,which means in order to unlock all 8 trails for all 8 characters,you have to beat the final boss three times to have them all unlocked.This method of unlocking was unnecessary as they could've made all the trials available right after you beat the final boss.As for the trials themselves,they're ok but they could've been handled much better.
But that's really a minor complaint as the lunar trials are optional and they're not in all versions since they're GBAPSP exclusives,so it really doesn't hinder the experience
As for the graphics the SNES version look decent enough since it's the first FF game on the SNES,but the biggest improvements that graphics have gotten are in the DS and PSP versions
Well,the DS version is obvious since it's a 3D remake which helped the game tremendously as they added voiced cutscenes that made the experience even more immersive and epic
But my favorite in terms of graphics has to be the PSP version,my god it looks BEAUTIFUL ^_^
The new sprites look detailed and beautiful,the environment looks crisp and clean,overall the PSP version is an absolute eye candy to look at and I can't get enough of it.It's so freakin gorgeous man ^_^
As for the soundtrack...........it's...freakin.....AWESOME ^_^
It's Nobou Uematsu so of course his music is gonna be awesome,both the original SNES soundtrack and the DS version's remixed soundtracks are amazing but I lean more towards the SNES original soundtrack
the soundtrack in general is so grand and epic and I love every single track in the game,from the epic Giant of Babil theme to the silly Palom & Porom theme...I love this soundtrack soooo much
Overall,Final Fantasy IV is an amazing experience that I can never forget,I enjoyed every moment in this game and I'm ready to replay it as many times as I can
It's so accessible to both RPG newbies and veterans and it's a great way to introduce new fans to the series with,if you're new to Final Fantasy and don't know which game to start with,start with this game,it's a great introduction to prepare you for what's to come in the future entries,and for other FF fans that haven't played it yet,play it now you won't regret it ^_^
The game is available everywhere on SNES,Ps1,GBA,DS,PSP,iOS,Andriod.....etc
But the versions that I recommend you to get are the PSP and DS versions
Especially the PSP version as it has both FFIV and it's sequel the after years alongside a the bonus Interlude episode
And the DS version of you want more challenge as it's way harder than SNESGBAPSP versions
Overall,my final rating for Final Fantasy IV is.......(and I know I've been giving a lot of those lately)
1010
This is just my personal opinion though so feel free to say yours
FFIV is one of my favorite video games of all time and it's still so far my favorite Final Fantasy game with FFVII coming very close to it alongside FFIX,and I highly recommend it to both newbies and JRPG veterans
As for my next FF game to review it'll be FFXIII-2 since it'll take me a while to finish VI and IX and I need to make something between those until I finish them
To see my other Final Fantasy reviews so far,click the following links
Final Fantasy VII
Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII