Moon Fantasy IV is a sizable step up from Final Fantasy III in regards to narrative and character ambition. Giving each playable character you come across a name, class, and history in part of a larger story outside of simply collecting the crystals to save the world is what the series needed to keep itself fresh in the early 1990's. While the story pails in comparison to what the series would later have in FFVI/VII and beyond, I was shocked at the amount of effort put into making this piece of antiquity a memorable experience. Cecil as a protagonist was actually pretty alright, having a simple hero's journey from dark to light and a responsibility to protect those around him that he held so dear. Kaine's evolution as his sidekick was well done, Rosa as Cecil's effectively betrothed was a good inclusion for overall character depth, Rydia having a background of her own with the summoners is a great way to give a character out of the initial limelight some depth, and Edward despite not being playable for much of the latter half acted as a great voice of valor and motive. For a game that came out when it did, this was a much better plot experience than I initially thought after knocking out the Pixel Remaster of FFIII however many years ago. The overall story isn't too in depth, there is a big bad that has a sinister motive that uses other big bads to do his bidding, but it was enough to keep me going from one destination to the other. Outside of the improvement to the story, the music (as per usual with FF) was top notch and the pixel remastering of the sprites and world was again well done.
Where the experience waned for me occurred in a few places. One major issue being that the frequent party switches interrupted a lot of ryhthm and preferential party makeups throughout the game. There were times where I felt like I didn't have enough melee options, then not enough magic options, and had to constantly equip and re-equip party members that would be leaving and coming back. While I liked this story more than FFIII, I felt like the ability to level in III towards the end game made more sense and was overall easier. I got my jobs in III all to the level I needed and pretty much waltzed through to the final boss. In FFIV I spent a decent bit grinding just to be at an acceptable level for the game's final dungeon, which was adequate but made me sweat a little more than I'd like. Outside of those slightly minute detractions, the world was pretty bland across the main map, underworld, and moon. I know this is partially evidence of the system and time, but man it's hard to run around these towns and areas and have any sense of belonging or want to spend any extra time in this fantasy world. FFVI came out just three years later and greatly improved upon making these areas mildly enjoyable. The world in FFIV was devoid of flavour and greatly bland. In relation to that, making it from point a to point b in dungeons and on the overworld was a grand chore because of the annoyingly high random encounter rate.
Overall I'd recommend Final Fantasy IV as a necessary stepping stone for fans of the Final Fantasy series. It's a good time generally speaking and has some memorable moments, sounds, and characters held within.
Where the experience waned for me occurred in a few places. One major issue being that the frequent party switches interrupted a lot of ryhthm and preferential party makeups throughout the game. There were times where I felt like I didn't have enough melee options, then not enough magic options, and had to constantly equip and re-equip party members that would be leaving and coming back. While I liked this story more than FFIII, I felt like the ability to level in III towards the end game made more sense and was overall easier. I got my jobs in III all to the level I needed and pretty much waltzed through to the final boss. In FFIV I spent a decent bit grinding just to be at an acceptable level for the game's final dungeon, which was adequate but made me sweat a little more than I'd like. Outside of those slightly minute detractions, the world was pretty bland across the main map, underworld, and moon. I know this is partially evidence of the system and time, but man it's hard to run around these towns and areas and have any sense of belonging or want to spend any extra time in this fantasy world. FFVI came out just three years later and greatly improved upon making these areas mildly enjoyable. The world in FFIV was devoid of flavour and greatly bland. In relation to that, making it from point a to point b in dungeons and on the overworld was a grand chore because of the annoyingly high random encounter rate.
Overall I'd recommend Final Fantasy IV as a necessary stepping stone for fans of the Final Fantasy series. It's a good time generally speaking and has some memorable moments, sounds, and characters held within.