This review contains spoilers
FINAL FANTASY MARATHON RANKED:
https://www.backloggd.com/u/fragilant/list/final-fantasy-marathon-ranked/
This is gonna be my most controversial take if I had to guess.
I remember not liking IV that much when I first played it, back in 2012, but I figured I'd go with a version a lot of people find superior to the DS version, but it still left a pretty underwhelming taste in my mouth.
I think IV starts and ends very well, but any sense of plot progression after Cecil becomes a Paladin halters until you reach the moon at the end, and pair this with pretty uninspired yet pretty annoying dungeons, IV just kind of left me with a feeling of just wanting to get through it so I can get to V, which shouldn't be happening when playing one of the most beloved games in a franchise.
The characters are expectedly bare-bones, but the issue is that there are some solid character arcs that just get resolved within an instant of a character slapping them in the face or just asking them pretty please to forget their trauma.
There's a lot of props to be had for laying the groundwork for great storytelling and characterization to come later in the series, and for gaming as a whole, but going back to it now, it's very hard to get attached as it feels like I'm playing an RPG Maker game made by 13 year old me.
The gameplay in this game is pretty good, though.
Bosses have much more strategy to them, making them feel very distinct and fun to fight, and each character having a set role is the way I prefer my Final Fantasies, despite also loving the job system, but the way the characters are handled in the story makes the characters in gameplay pretty insufferable to use.
The one thing I completely forgot about IV is that you never get to choose your party, as the story chooses them for you, and they do this by "killing" characters off in insane ways over and over again.
I don't mind this as much as I probably should from a story perspective as they do it so much that I just laugh my ass off everytime a character just decides to kill himself for no reason, but from a gameplay perspective, it just means my grinding of my party is absolutely meaningless as Cecil is the only party member that is there from start to finish and half your party isn't even there for the final boss.
This has to be the worst part of this whole game, and it feels awful going back to a system like this when no other Final Fantasy game suffers from this gameplay aspect, except for 2 to a much lesser degree.
On the topic of stupid character decisions, these characters are fucking moronic, which actually made me appreciate them more because of how stupid it made the plot.
So many moments made me unintentionally laugh, due to how incompetent they are at doing their job. Golbez's hand slowly creeping up to the crystal while Cecil just stands there straight up jorking it will live in my head rent-free.
Overall, I think IV is fine, it has a much more dynamic and fun battle system, but the way the story is handled in and out of gameplay is draining, and it also just doesn't have the same charm as 1-3 had when I look back at them, so I am still a Final Fantasy 2 head. It will never be beat. (It will be beat).
https://www.backloggd.com/u/fragilant/list/final-fantasy-marathon-ranked/
This is gonna be my most controversial take if I had to guess.
I remember not liking IV that much when I first played it, back in 2012, but I figured I'd go with a version a lot of people find superior to the DS version, but it still left a pretty underwhelming taste in my mouth.
I think IV starts and ends very well, but any sense of plot progression after Cecil becomes a Paladin halters until you reach the moon at the end, and pair this with pretty uninspired yet pretty annoying dungeons, IV just kind of left me with a feeling of just wanting to get through it so I can get to V, which shouldn't be happening when playing one of the most beloved games in a franchise.
The characters are expectedly bare-bones, but the issue is that there are some solid character arcs that just get resolved within an instant of a character slapping them in the face or just asking them pretty please to forget their trauma.
There's a lot of props to be had for laying the groundwork for great storytelling and characterization to come later in the series, and for gaming as a whole, but going back to it now, it's very hard to get attached as it feels like I'm playing an RPG Maker game made by 13 year old me.
The gameplay in this game is pretty good, though.
Bosses have much more strategy to them, making them feel very distinct and fun to fight, and each character having a set role is the way I prefer my Final Fantasies, despite also loving the job system, but the way the characters are handled in the story makes the characters in gameplay pretty insufferable to use.
The one thing I completely forgot about IV is that you never get to choose your party, as the story chooses them for you, and they do this by "killing" characters off in insane ways over and over again.
I don't mind this as much as I probably should from a story perspective as they do it so much that I just laugh my ass off everytime a character just decides to kill himself for no reason, but from a gameplay perspective, it just means my grinding of my party is absolutely meaningless as Cecil is the only party member that is there from start to finish and half your party isn't even there for the final boss.
This has to be the worst part of this whole game, and it feels awful going back to a system like this when no other Final Fantasy game suffers from this gameplay aspect, except for 2 to a much lesser degree.
On the topic of stupid character decisions, these characters are fucking moronic, which actually made me appreciate them more because of how stupid it made the plot.
So many moments made me unintentionally laugh, due to how incompetent they are at doing their job. Golbez's hand slowly creeping up to the crystal while Cecil just stands there straight up jorking it will live in my head rent-free.
Overall, I think IV is fine, it has a much more dynamic and fun battle system, but the way the story is handled in and out of gameplay is draining, and it also just doesn't have the same charm as 1-3 had when I look back at them, so I am still a Final Fantasy 2 head. It will never be beat. (It will be beat).