i enjoyed this game well enough on my first playthrough, but IV's main issue is that it's basically impossible to go back to after playing IV apocalypse (believe me, i've tried)

IVA just has so many QoL changes and better gameplay in general that, despite IV having the better story, it's really not worth going back to when IVA is right there

i will give IV this though, it has way better replayability than IVA, with the three alignments all having their own exclusive challenge quests (including NG+ exclusive ones)