Final Fantasy IV in many ways set the blueprint for the best of the series, but even still holds up as a great game in its own right.
Really good stuff, just ignore The After Years.
This was my first Final Fantasy. For my entire childhood I'd told myself not to bother with Final Fantasy until I was an old man suffering from carpal tunnel or something, wrongly assuming the whole series had generic turn-based battles with plots that didn't justify the effort.
Yeah, uh, so I was wrong. Turns out, a lot of them have a pretty neat little core gameplay mechanic called active time battle. And if this one is any indication, their plots are perfectly enthralling enough. Though looking it up online gives a lot of results of people criticizing it, I thought the active time battle system was fun! In JRPGs, I'm used to, you know, taking my time and carefully considering my next move. With this system, it gives you time to plot your moves while you're not in control. Because once that menu pops up, you'd better execute your plan as fast as you can... and hope that you pressed right hard enough to cast Curaja on the entire party, because there's no time to make sure your inputs registered! The enemy could kill you in that time.
As for the story, supposedly the game was influential for storytelling in the medium. While with that perspective it does feel like the first of its kind in a bad way, it still held my attention, with a chaotic start that gripped me instantly. While reviews often seem to shrug the plot off as rather trite, I thought that not knowing if it was going to be a fake-out or not only added to the chaos.
The music is also fantastic and has been stuck in my head. That boss theme REALLY pumped me up; the overworld theme instantly became one of my favorite overworld themes. One of the towns most important to the story has a theme that, in my opinion, really captured the awkwardness of the situation, but perhaps that's just me. These are just to name a few, it's a stellar OST.
Lastly, the PSP version in particular looks beautiful, and has definitely spoiled me before I play Final Fantasy V and VI. The spiraling blur as you transition into battles, the way the enemies disintegrate when you beat them... just pretty to look at. This version also comes with an optional redone soundtrack which, from what I've heard, is also excellent, as well as two other scenarios I haven't played yet. Regardless of the... less than positive takes I've seen of them online, I'm excited to come back to play them once I'm a bit more caught up on the franchise.
Yeah, uh, so I was wrong. Turns out, a lot of them have a pretty neat little core gameplay mechanic called active time battle. And if this one is any indication, their plots are perfectly enthralling enough. Though looking it up online gives a lot of results of people criticizing it, I thought the active time battle system was fun! In JRPGs, I'm used to, you know, taking my time and carefully considering my next move. With this system, it gives you time to plot your moves while you're not in control. Because once that menu pops up, you'd better execute your plan as fast as you can... and hope that you pressed right hard enough to cast Curaja on the entire party, because there's no time to make sure your inputs registered! The enemy could kill you in that time.
As for the story, supposedly the game was influential for storytelling in the medium. While with that perspective it does feel like the first of its kind in a bad way, it still held my attention, with a chaotic start that gripped me instantly. While reviews often seem to shrug the plot off as rather trite, I thought that not knowing if it was going to be a fake-out or not only added to the chaos.
The music is also fantastic and has been stuck in my head. That boss theme REALLY pumped me up; the overworld theme instantly became one of my favorite overworld themes. One of the towns most important to the story has a theme that, in my opinion, really captured the awkwardness of the situation, but perhaps that's just me. These are just to name a few, it's a stellar OST.
Lastly, the PSP version in particular looks beautiful, and has definitely spoiled me before I play Final Fantasy V and VI. The spiraling blur as you transition into battles, the way the enemies disintegrate when you beat them... just pretty to look at. This version also comes with an optional redone soundtrack which, from what I've heard, is also excellent, as well as two other scenarios I haven't played yet. Regardless of the... less than positive takes I've seen of them online, I'm excited to come back to play them once I'm a bit more caught up on the franchise.
This review is only for base FF IV.
Not a bad RPG. The ATB system is a lot of fun for battles and the music is pretty good. The characters and story aren't that special, but it works. Game has some fucked up level curves and difficulty spikes but SNES rpgs be that way sometimes.
Not a bad RPG. The ATB system is a lot of fun for battles and the music is pretty good. The characters and story aren't that special, but it works. Game has some fucked up level curves and difficulty spikes but SNES rpgs be that way sometimes.