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!
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!