Now, I want to acknowledge my bias going into this review. While this is my first time playing this version of Final Fantasy IV, this was not my first time with Final Fantasy IV. I played the DS remake of the game years ago, and this is where my bias comes in. Final Fantasy IV was the first Final Fantasy I ever played, and I absolutely loved it. At the current moment, with the Final Fantasies I’ve played (I, III, IV, VI, and VII), Final Fantasy IV is my favorite Final Fantasy. I had the urge to finally go and replay Final Fantasy IV, especially cause I really wanted to give it a proper review. Instead of the DS version, I was given a patched version of the SNES version, which is meant to make it more like the original Japanese release, from what I hear, the western release of Final Fantasy IV is ridiculously easier in comparison. Even though my original experience with Final Fantasy IV is the DS version, I’d say with confidence that I love the SNES version just as much.
Now, before I get into the actual content of Final Fantasy IV itself, I really want to compare a certain aspect of my experience with the DS version, and the experience I had with the SNES version. Particularly, and most obviously, the difficulty. I don’t know how best to describe why this is the case, even with the patch that made the SNES Final Fantasy IV have the original difficulty, the DS version of the game was noticeably much harder. This can best be seen when comparing the hours it took me to beat the game. When I played Final Fantasy IV DS, it took me a total of around 45 hours to beat the game, while the Final Fantasy IV SNES took me only about 21 hours, less than half of the time total. I think that may be in part to Final Fantasy IV DS being a somewhat slower game, but I also remember long bouts of grinding, sometimes all my time in a day was spent level grinding. When it comes to this, I can see myself more likely replaying the SNES version than the DS version, the difficulty is more manageable, and I can beat the game in less than half the time. Another minor thing that differentiates Final Fantasy IV DS and Final Fantasy IV SNES is that the inventory in the DS version is unlimited, while the SNES version isn’t. While that is, of course, limiting, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, the inventory was generally manageable throughout the entire game. I know there’s a way to store items, but I never needed it.
Now onto the actual game proper, god I absolutely love Final Fantasy IV. To what I know, Final Fantasy IV was the first Final Fantasy game to introduce the Active Time Battle system. An alteration to turned based combat where enemies and the characters you play as all have a set amount of time before they can act, instead of acting specifically in turns. Especially in the case of Final Fantasy IV, there’s a really good sense of tension with Active Time Battle. You can do your best to prepare for attacks that enemies can throw at you, but since you don’t know when enemies are going to attack, you don’t know how much time you have to prepare. And for harder battles, it can be really tense. The one thing I miss when comparing Final Fantasy IV SNES to the DS version is the lack of a noticeable meter to know when your characters can act. It seems like there is one in the game, as pressing a certain button (I’m honestly not confident to which button it is) switches showing the health to a meter that fills to 100%. While that itself would be a “noticeable meter”, I can’t see myself ever using it specifically as seeing the health is so much more important.
Final Fantasy IV is also the first Final Fantasy to really try and focus on its story. I mean, prior Final Fantasies did have stories, but none have properly focused on them as much as Final Fantasy IV did. It truly feels like I’m playing a proper cast of characters, and especially due to Final Fantasy IV being the first I’ve played of the series, I find the all rather memorable. I really love the sort of underdog story that Final Fantasy IV has, as the villains always seem to be ten steps ahead of the main cast. I love Cecil’s journey as the main character, and how that is impacted in the actual gameplay of the game itself. Even further, while it may frustrate some, I love how party composition is constantly changing throughout the game. Characters join and leave the party over and over, and many sacrifice themselves in order to allow the party a way forward. There’s a powerful struggle in the story of Final Fantasy IV, which I really adore. Final Fantasy IV is not too unique of a story, but it’s executed amazingly, I feel.
On top of it all, I really love the differences that come with each playable character. To me at least, Final Fantasy IV is where a lot of the major RPG classes really get solidified. Rydia has always been one of my favorite characters in the game. Searching for all her summons, and fighting powerful bosses to obtain them, it’s really fun. It really allows to make Rydia particularly one of the most powerful characters. From what I remember, Final Fantasy IV is the first of the Final Fantasy games to use a proper MP system, instead of spell slots, and as well, characters learn spells through level up instead of buying them in stores. With how party composition changes over time, it really allows you to try out all of the major characters throughout the game, which I really appreciate. In later titles like Final Fantasies VI and VII, while I love the main cast of both games, I never utilized all of them and stuck with the ones I like. Final Fantasy IV on the other made me feel like I properly tried out every single playable character, especially since many have noticeably different playstyles.
Yet again, while the first version of Final Fantasy IV that I did play was the DS version, I still love this version of Final Fantasy IV just the same. It’s still the first Final Fantasy I ever played, so even though it’s noticeably easier, and it has a different art style, it’s still the game that I love to bits. It’s hard to imagine that any future Final Fantasy game that I play will ever beat my love for Final Fantasy IV, it’s definitely a nostalgia bias for sure, but that’s fine. I can definitely see myself replaying this version of Final Fantasy IV multiple times in the future, it’s just that good to me.
Now, before I get into the actual content of Final Fantasy IV itself, I really want to compare a certain aspect of my experience with the DS version, and the experience I had with the SNES version. Particularly, and most obviously, the difficulty. I don’t know how best to describe why this is the case, even with the patch that made the SNES Final Fantasy IV have the original difficulty, the DS version of the game was noticeably much harder. This can best be seen when comparing the hours it took me to beat the game. When I played Final Fantasy IV DS, it took me a total of around 45 hours to beat the game, while the Final Fantasy IV SNES took me only about 21 hours, less than half of the time total. I think that may be in part to Final Fantasy IV DS being a somewhat slower game, but I also remember long bouts of grinding, sometimes all my time in a day was spent level grinding. When it comes to this, I can see myself more likely replaying the SNES version than the DS version, the difficulty is more manageable, and I can beat the game in less than half the time. Another minor thing that differentiates Final Fantasy IV DS and Final Fantasy IV SNES is that the inventory in the DS version is unlimited, while the SNES version isn’t. While that is, of course, limiting, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, the inventory was generally manageable throughout the entire game. I know there’s a way to store items, but I never needed it.
Now onto the actual game proper, god I absolutely love Final Fantasy IV. To what I know, Final Fantasy IV was the first Final Fantasy game to introduce the Active Time Battle system. An alteration to turned based combat where enemies and the characters you play as all have a set amount of time before they can act, instead of acting specifically in turns. Especially in the case of Final Fantasy IV, there’s a really good sense of tension with Active Time Battle. You can do your best to prepare for attacks that enemies can throw at you, but since you don’t know when enemies are going to attack, you don’t know how much time you have to prepare. And for harder battles, it can be really tense. The one thing I miss when comparing Final Fantasy IV SNES to the DS version is the lack of a noticeable meter to know when your characters can act. It seems like there is one in the game, as pressing a certain button (I’m honestly not confident to which button it is) switches showing the health to a meter that fills to 100%. While that itself would be a “noticeable meter”, I can’t see myself ever using it specifically as seeing the health is so much more important.
Final Fantasy IV is also the first Final Fantasy to really try and focus on its story. I mean, prior Final Fantasies did have stories, but none have properly focused on them as much as Final Fantasy IV did. It truly feels like I’m playing a proper cast of characters, and especially due to Final Fantasy IV being the first I’ve played of the series, I find the all rather memorable. I really love the sort of underdog story that Final Fantasy IV has, as the villains always seem to be ten steps ahead of the main cast. I love Cecil’s journey as the main character, and how that is impacted in the actual gameplay of the game itself. Even further, while it may frustrate some, I love how party composition is constantly changing throughout the game. Characters join and leave the party over and over, and many sacrifice themselves in order to allow the party a way forward. There’s a powerful struggle in the story of Final Fantasy IV, which I really adore. Final Fantasy IV is not too unique of a story, but it’s executed amazingly, I feel.
On top of it all, I really love the differences that come with each playable character. To me at least, Final Fantasy IV is where a lot of the major RPG classes really get solidified. Rydia has always been one of my favorite characters in the game. Searching for all her summons, and fighting powerful bosses to obtain them, it’s really fun. It really allows to make Rydia particularly one of the most powerful characters. From what I remember, Final Fantasy IV is the first of the Final Fantasy games to use a proper MP system, instead of spell slots, and as well, characters learn spells through level up instead of buying them in stores. With how party composition changes over time, it really allows you to try out all of the major characters throughout the game, which I really appreciate. In later titles like Final Fantasies VI and VII, while I love the main cast of both games, I never utilized all of them and stuck with the ones I like. Final Fantasy IV on the other made me feel like I properly tried out every single playable character, especially since many have noticeably different playstyles.
Yet again, while the first version of Final Fantasy IV that I did play was the DS version, I still love this version of Final Fantasy IV just the same. It’s still the first Final Fantasy I ever played, so even though it’s noticeably easier, and it has a different art style, it’s still the game that I love to bits. It’s hard to imagine that any future Final Fantasy game that I play will ever beat my love for Final Fantasy IV, it’s definitely a nostalgia bias for sure, but that’s fine. I can definitely see myself replaying this version of Final Fantasy IV multiple times in the future, it’s just that good to me.