First Final Fantasy I played. The graphics and soundtrack were great. I only played the main story, since people were saying the rest was pretty bad, and it was pretty good but a bit generic for today's standards. Also, Cecil is a great protagonist and his development is some of the best in any JRPG out there. Definitely would like to see a remake of the game though (I do know there's a remake in the DS but I'd like to see one similar to FFVII Remake). Overall, it was a good game and I definitely would recommend it to anyone who is thinking of getting into the series (Especially this version of the game).

Pleasantly surprised they brought it back home after the slog of game that was 3, 4 is pretty tight and the ATB system is a lot of fun for its first tenure, its a bit janky however. There is rarely any indication of which party member will get their turn first and it can really fuck with you at times.
Unsure of the exact quantity of extra content included in this edition but its fairly different from the DS remake counterpart where this one is a lot more like the original title and doesn't set out to really change anything (Aside from obvious balance changes final boss no longer spams big bang in a weird pattern).
Though man if I had one complaint the weight system is garbage lol the idea is you're supposed to sell or discard your old Armor pieces but (and this is likely my fault) in the endgame you get so much shit from chests and drops that you're having to stop occasionally when on a looting spree to drop anything overall it adds very little to the experience and I don't really think back well on this inclusion. But yeah solid game.

I remember really liking the ff4 story when i was young, it was my favorite. Where a lot of RPG's have parts where it's just padding until something of note happens, this game is a rollercoaster all the way through. Barely any wasted storytelling (and still clocking at a respectable length), every location has a big action moment and the party switches around more than you can count.
This is the game that made me fall in love with the franchise and defines it for me. No wonder ff14 took so many things from this entry. While replaying it now i do notice the dialogues not being as eloquent as i remember, But that is easily forgiven, as it has it's own unique charm to it. You feel the passion the developers had for this game, especially when you find the ingame developers room.

The after years was a really weird experience. I couldn't imagine a sequel to this game because it closes with no open ends. After years showed me that it can be imagined and could even be interesting. The new villain works and makes sense, it's something threatening but different from the main game. The looks for the old en new characters are awesome, creative good looking design is what ff always excels in. Playing ff4 and the after years back to back, i don't see a problem in the writing department. The dialogues don't feel like a fanfiction of the original game to me, it's just the same style, and a lot of the callbacks make sense (like how one of the Red Wing soldiers was really mean to Cecil's son because of the warcrimes he had to inflict under Cecil's orders like the Mysidia purge.) How the characters end up after FF4 is believable and did hold my interest. The challenge dungeon and boss in each chapter was actually really fun, they felt harder than anything the maingame has to offer. The final boss here is harder than the one in ff4 as well!

What i see as the main problem for the After Years is the fact that they rethread the same grounds (literally|) as the original. Your main plot can be really original (that it was good shines through at the end and in small ways at the earlier parts, it's honestly really interesting), but if you do a lot of unnecessary padding in the exact same dungeons with the exact same events as the main game, then that annoyance is the feeling that is going to stick. Re doing the same dungeons 4 or 5 times in the after years alone is a cardinal game design sin. ESPECIALLY terrible for this game because like i mentioned, ff4 was a game where padding was kept to a minimum, and this is one of the worst games of the padding kind.

This sequel could and would have worked if they just had the characters visit new places in the ff4 world , like a new continent. The moon was really underutilized as a location in the main game. They could have so easily expanded on there with a new continent like world, and it would make perfect sense with the new villain. I really think new locations and bosses to explore would fix 90% of the problems people feel this has. They should have gone all in with the effort for this, or don't make it at all. I know they made a lot of character chapters to sell them separately for max profit, but those character chapters could have worked like it did in octopath traveller. Interesting explorations into new area's for each character chapter and then coming together for the final dungeon//boss (with free switching of characters in and out). It could work, but you need enough NEW places to explore for each part. With having separate parts per character it asks for even more new stuff to make them all interesting. But instead they all have ZERO new areas to explore. What a unbelievably terrible gamedesign choice. Pure greed and the least amount of effort.
For the potential the designs and villain/main plot had my heart cries.

The interlude i was better off not playing at all. Absolutely nothing happens that you wouldn't know just playing the main game+ after years, and you have to do the sealed cave again for no reason than padding (you already have to do it in the main game and multiple times in after years as well). It was only 2 hours but felt like 20. For the love of god skip it!

Only played this for the base FF4, neither of the extras added.

Really happy with the way each Final Fantasy game just seems to get better in my eyes without ever feeling like just a case of "the previous game but a tiny bit better and more refined", they've each felt pretty different so far, and while I might prefer the vibe of FF3 to an extent, I just cannot deny that this is my favourite FF as a whole so far. Everything here just feels more impressive in scale, so much more carefully refined, more nuanced, takes more advantage of this underlying complexity, just, so much cooler on the whole, I love it. After the more sprawling adventure of 3 that focused almost entirely on the world surrounding the player, having another more deeply character-driven narrative here is also a nice change of pace.

The character-driven nature of FF4 is particularly interesting with the way it plays around with its game conventions to craft this slightly offbeat tone throughout the story to me. The biggest example of this is that while this game is mostly very easy like the previous games, once again feeling like a bit of a power fantasy with all the big numbers and the way you're often able to completely end fights in a couple of turns, especially early on, but having some more interesting thematic elements that contrast with this very well. The sheer brutality of Cecil in the beginning sections of the plot, along with the actions taken, make the power at your fingertips almost feel wrong to have, with this self-reinforcing theme of the dangers of unimaginable power being ever-present as time and time again it clearly ends up being the cause of strife for all involved. It takes multiple forms too, whether it's Cecil's power being used the way it is in the opening section or the game, Tellah becoming more reckless once he believes he can take down the object of his vengeance, or even how the main antagonist's perceived superiority over humanity led them to a sense of entitlement over how they should be led forward. It's all a great way of tying in core gameplay elements with story and I think that the way it's handled here is wonderful at making everything feel that little bit off without ever fully dwelling on it for too long in such a context.

Gameplay and story also nicely overlap in a few other ways, my favourite of which being the dynamic gameplay and story that ends up being revealed to the player through the revolving door of party members you meet throughout. It not only adds to the variety of what happens due to being able to interact with a mainly different cast at regular intervals, but it also leads to a lot of more engaging scenarios due to the unconventional team setups that the player will find themselves in. My favourite of these is pretty early in the game, where you're a dark knight with 3 mages on your side, but all the enemies are undead, so your melee fighter can do almost nothing to them, forcing you to make tactical use of your party's mp while occasionally being clever with healing items and the like. There are a few other sections that put you into some inherently difficult to immediately vibe with situations, but it never gets difficult enough that it walls you either, more of just a way to really force players to more deeply engage with the systems at their disposal. I also love the way abilities are handled, with each character having one or two specifically related to them, bringing another way to further reinforce elements of characterisation while lending itself more to a varied gameplay experience at the same time.

I feel like a lot of the game is built upon idiosyncrasies like this revolving door of characters however, and while I love most of it, I also understand the downsides that could be perceived as well. The ATB is the biggest one of these to me, as I dunno if it changes how it feels in future entries, but it felt very frenetic here at first to the point where it felt as if it was a bit too fast at first, affecting any decision making that could be made as carefully due to the comparative lack of control over battle cadence. That said, I definitely got used to it by the end and found that it added a lot of little interesting elements to how the battles felt, particularly with how enemies using absolutely massive attacks, while usually pretty devastating, would also come with the upside of that extra long animation that basically all the powerful spells have providing you that tiny bit more time to plan out your next move once you're able to input commands again. I also liked the way it added a greater sense of weight to some of those stronger attacks, seeing this slow moving bar go up as your other party members continue to fight, just waiting for the all powerful spell to finally be unleashed. Little bits and pieces like this added a lot more to the moment to moment gameplay, and when combined with encounters that more readily took advantage of the various use cases of some of the tools present in the game, it made for a really fun time.

My favourite of all this is the way that there were so many ways reflect could be used due to its effects applying to both defensive and offensive spells, meaning that certain situations would actually benefit from making enemies immune to all magic, or to have reflect cast on you be a bad thing. There were a surprising amount of encounters that seemed to just keep escalating this one idea, along with there being a surprising amount of cases where I felt the need to put in just that tiny bit of strategy beyond attack spam to succeed, while still allowing enough of the random fights to feel mindless enough to never feel especially taxing as a whole either. I also liked the increased focus on moments of spectacle, with a few more immediately recognisable setpieces than before, with them being usually of far higher quality as well. One of my favourites of these was the Fabul siege with the way it was able to convey such a strong sense of hopelessness even if you were able to destroy the waves that were sent your way, constantly feeling on the backfoot, knowing that even if you're winning your own battles, those surrounding you haven't been quite so fortunate. It all serves to add that bit extra to the story that I feel hadn't been conveyed quite as strongly in any of the previous games, even if the town destruction of 2 is still the most impactful individual moment of the series so far to me.

With all this said though, one thing I do feel wasn't quite up to scratch for me was the way the narrative of the 2nd half of the game just, kinda fell apart in a lot of key areas, particularly with the redemption story that was so core to Cecil's early characterisation feeling a bit lost after a certain big event. The more introspective nature of the first half ends up feeling a bit lost after a certain big event occurs and then you're back to a more typical journey to find the crystals and defeat the evil spooky bad dude, even if the cast of characters this time, along with some incredible setpieces and pacing bring it up a notch when compared to the previous entries. It feels like a shame because I personally believe that Cecil's arc hadn't really been completed and had more just entered the 2nd stage of proving oneself to have actually improved, and while that technically happens throughout, it feels as if the entire internal conflict that spurned on so much of the early stages of the game just fizzled out. It didn't ruin the experience or anything, but it definitely felt like a weak point that made it unfortunately a bit harder than I'd have liked to actually connect with some of the events that took place beyond thinking that certain ideas were insanely badass.

As a whole, I love the world of Final Fantasy already, but this is the first game in the series that felt as if it really solidified this love beyond just a vague aesthetic appreciation. I was excited to keep going through the series before, but this really has intensified that a lot, even with its problems becoming increasingly clear the longer I played. Maybe a good place to start in the series regardless? Hard to say at this point considering that I haven't played much, but this definitely at least vibes as an alright starting point.

This was the version I played FF4 on, and I feel like I would've liked this a lot more if I were born earlier. This game's story, characters, etc. felt way too generic for someone in 2021. While there were really good highs, such as the entirety of Cecil's development, I did think most of this game was a slog as the narrative and characters were definitely not up to par with later entries in the series. Still, I do think that this is a great starting point for someone who just wants to get into Final Fantasy.

A few notes going into this review:
To be honest, this is really just covering the psp version of Final Fantasy 4, not The After Years. I enjoyed my time with 4 enough- but as I'm going through the FF games I didnt really feel much of an itch to try out the other half of this collection just yet. I'll probably edit this review whenever I do get around to that but for now I'm just sticking with prime FF4. Secondly, this isn't exactly my first time touching FF4. My first experience with a Final Fantasy, let alone 4 was actually the DS version of this game, several years ago. I didnt get too far (Cagnazzo walled me as a teen) so I tried that version again when I got around to playing 4 again. After opening the DS again and messing around with that version I just decided to play this edition instead. Said DS editions bosses and overall gameplay just wasn't what I was looking for, although I don't mind the 'cuter' aesthetic and it was cool seeing a ds game with voice acting and that kind of direction.
As for this edition, and FF4 in general, it's alright. It's definitely the first FF in the series that feels genuinely 'Final Fantasy' despite me generally liking 1 and 3 as well. Its interesting going through these chronologically as you realize tiny details that might seem commonplace picking this game up weren't actually in prior games or might have been picked up/tweaked from a prior game. Hell, it's weird to think this is the first FF game without 'fully' customizable characters (unless you count Cecil's class change), or that its the first with a truly expanded roster. It's really interesting going through and seeing this game as a culmination of the prior 3 games' ideas melded into one cohesive package. The issue is really how well it holds up.
Despite this intrigue, when actually going through the game I didn't find myself caring all too much about the game as it actually was. I think a good chunk of this is just how often you switch party members that are kinda so-so to begin with. Cecil, Yang, Rydia are probably the only ones I really liked, the rest are kind of just okay or are Edward who I completely forgot existed when revisiting this. I don't dislike any of the team members but some of them just kinda exist, like I don't know how much i really cared about Cid as far as his battling prowess went. Tellah and Fusoya are cool for the hour you have either of them. Edge is okay but I kinda wish I just had Yang the entire game (I have a bias for monks). Its a pretty alright cast overall but hey, it's more of a cast than 3 or what I can remember from 2.
Additionally the story's just alright. I definitely feel like it peaks WAY too early, Cecil only being a dark knight for about a fifth of the game. Otherwise its just dealing with Golbez's shenanigans across the map, dealing with fake character deaths and some side dungeon stuff for cool rydia summons.
Although one big complaint I did have throughout is god I hated managing inventory in this game (also, I do think the devs were being a bit cheeky with some of the hidden passage hunting but maybe thats just me).
I'm definitely glad I finally finished this game, despite not being the original version I had growing up. There's a bit that could be talked about but I think I can just sum it up with 'its fine'.

First entry in the Final Fantasy series that I played and finished– sequel not included.

I have if not close to none, several recollections of FFIV and the first thing that always comes to mind is the love triangle between Cecil, Rosa and Kain. Second is the genius of Nobuo Uematsu's musical score and how the soundtrack enriches the emotional distinction of each of the characters. Any futile attempt of elaboration to this take would suffice, so just go to Youtube or Spotify and listen to the Theme of Love and Melody of Lute.

As this was my first FF game, the excitement and curiosity of going from point A to point B were priceless and very rewarding. Getting lost between explorations is inevitable though, so I had to resort to online guides. Also, I found it very annoying as to how you have to be meticulously precise on where to land your airship.

The way the turn-based combat flows caught me by surprise because I was used to Pokémon's passive mechanics. It's just the way that the foes attack you if you take too long to decide on what to do next is what adds more spice to the combat.

Overall, I would say that starting with FF4 is a fantastic way to get into the series. I finished FF1, again on the PSP, months after this playthrough and I'm still planning to proceed to the second title.

Final fantasy IV was an overall great time, but part of me wishes I had played the American snes version, commonly more known as the "easy type" version for my first time playing this game. I didn't find this game to be hard by any means but the end game did rub me the wrong way. The game as whole was paced fairly well I didn't find any reason to grind as me just fighting encounters as they showed up was proving to give me more than enough exp for me to comfortably get through the game... that was till the endgame. Look I understand that the final dungeon needs to be a challenge but why, WHY did they think it was a good idea to make normal encounters have that much health. I was fighting what was probably the most common enemy in the final area and dealt the damage cap to it 3 times in a row and it was still alive even after that and in return in nearly one shot 2 of my characters and this was after me leaving the place to go grind. I did enjoy this game but that ending section is just a huge slog, which is why again I wished I had played easy type so that I would have had a more comfortable experience during that ending portion. Now i played ff3 through the pixel remaster so maybe this is why I feel this but that ending portion was way worse than the the crystal tower by a long shot and it's why this game is a 7 rather than an 8. I can definitely reccomend this game as up until that point with the exception of another area (lodestone cavern) this game was a great time, it's just that last stretch is a slog. Try to play easy type if you're gonna play this one.

For full clarity despite listing this version I'm only talking about the base game of FF4. I don't have enough care to list any thoughts about Interlude, and The After Years will get its own separate review cause otherwise I'd be rating this a lot lower.

Anyways, this is the first Final Fantasy usually credited for having a good story and I think part of the reason for this besides just the time it was released is cause this is the second FF game we got in the west and so by the time we learned of the existence of FF2 it was already well past the years that game was considered impressive. The story in this game isn't terrible, in fact moments like Mount Ordeals and the beginning village segment are still high quality enough that I think about them. The villain design has always been great as well, but in this game the Four Fiends and Golbez are just so iconic and it's honestly not hard to see why. But despite all of this, the story honestly isn't very great by standards today. There are a lot of really shallow characters (regretfully, despite having multiple female party members none of them really do anything on their own or develop negatively) and awkwardly executed moments, which is unfortunate cause the settings in this game have the ability to be so much greater.

The gameplay is solid though, it's the only FF game to date that lets you run around with 5 active party members as the trade-off for the fact you don't really have much team customization until the very end (and even then depending on the version you play). The debut of the ATB system really changes the game for jRPGs in general by giving speed an extra element than just dodge chances and who attacks first in a chain. It also solidified a bit of job identities that were kinda up in the air previously, specifically Dark Knight, which in 3 doesn't play like the Dark knights here on out who take damage to deal damage. It's also the first game to start using scripted battles to tell parts of the story which is something the series starts mastering even by the next entry.

Like in FF3 the music of the series has only gotten better. While I don't hold as much nostalgia for the game as whole like I once did, I do hold a lot for the Hyadain Appearance of Golbez's Four Lords of the Elements cause it's one of the first videos I saw after discovering Final Fantasy beyond 10 in 2011, and by extension really like the Four Fiends from this game.

I'm losing the sauce a bit the longer I go on, so to wrap it up I think FF4 is a game that once nostalgia and filling in the blanks with fan theory are removed it doesn't quite hold up in every aspect, but is still a fun game worth trying out to see how you might enjoy it.