A remake of Final Fantasy IV
FINAL FANTASY IV is a 3D remake of the classic Japanese RPG that was first released for SNES as FINAL FANTASY II in the North America. Unlike the many subsequent ports (to Playstation, GameBoy Advance, etc.), this release is a full remake, programmed from scratch with real-time 3D graphics. The characters have a "super-deformed" touch. There is also voice acting during cut-scenes. A new option has been added to the menu, which allows the player to read a conversation between party members and receive advice from them. It also features many gameplay additions. The difficulty level has been increased, not only beyond the difficulty of the Western SNES release (which was reduced compared to Japanese original and subsequent ports), but even beyond the original difficulty. The party members are still bound by class, but they can now hunt for so-called "augments", which can be found or stolen from enemies and which grant the characters additional bonus abilities, resistances, spells that their class would normally not allow, etc. Beside those major changes, there are also plenty of minor additions. It is possible to obtain bonus items after exploring every corner and filling 100% of an area map; Rydia, the summoner girl, has a new monster summon who can be customized in various ways; there is a new quest involving the "naming" moogle of the original game, etc.
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This game has better scenario design than Final Fantasy 16 which is so funny to think about. FF16 is certainly /trying/ for something like this, but it's baffling to notice that this game has better female characters and more consistent plotting. It's hard not to compare the two, with both games having very thin characters with singular strong concepts and a narrative focused on moving from cool image to cool image. But... one is a game from 1991 and the other from 2023 which makes the extent to which the comparison is unfavorable downright strange.
The use of the battle system as a narrative space-time (and TIME is important, it's "Active Time Battle" after all) is breathtaking today as historical curio as it would have been as a formal innovation at the time. Such a masterful understanding of games as theatrical works, battles as stages, command based gameplay as directing a play. Certainly an aspect lost within the move towards action combat, even in half-steps like the FF7 Remake series or even FF13.
it got yuri lowenthal tho