Final Fantasy 4
It’s probably necessary to clarify the game’s title a bit, as the peculiar Final Fantasy numbering system seems to cause much confusion. When the game was first released in the US on the Super Nintendo, it was called Final Fantasy II. This is because it was only the second game in the series to be release here. But in actuality, it was the fourth Final Fantasy game made. Which is why when it was re-released for Final Fantasy Chronicles on the PlayStation, it was called by it’s correct name: FFIV. This latest version of the game also has some gameplay changes and a re-translation of the story. But the basic experience is the same in both versions.
The game stars Cecil, a Dark Knight of the land of Baron and commander of the Red Wings (airships). After questioning the king due to guilt about his last mission, he is relieved of his post with the Red Wings and told to deliver a package to the town of Myst. His friend, the Dragoon Kain, accompanies him, and one of the best stories in the series begins. The game is especially effective at telling this tale because it focuses not on 10 or so characters all at once, but rather on the ones in the party at a given time. It lets these characters get developed, and when their part in the larger story is over, they leave the group in one way or another. There are lots of great moments, and one of the only problems is that things get a little slow for a couple of hours after the introduction. There’s also the fact that the game seems to try too hard to surprise you with certain events, but its really impossible to elaborate on that without spoiling things.
There are many playable characters here, but as I was saying, many of them only stay in your party for a short while. Even near the end of the game, there is no option to decide which characters are in and which are out. You just have to take what the game gives you at any particular time and make the best of it. This actually adds some strategy, as you aren’t always going to have a team of powerful fighters, and sometimes magic isn’t readily available. It also forces you to actually use everyone and learn how to use each to your advantage. I can remember several other games where I’d pick one party and never use anyone else during the game, probably missing out on some interesting experiences in the process. Although even I have to admit that there are one or two party members here that come pretty darn close to being useless in combat.
This was the first Final Fantasy to use the Active Time Battle system, where enemies can attack you while you’re still entering commands and using items. You can partially disable this feature, but it adds some excitement to the more challenging boss encounters. If you go through the game without excessive leveling up, you can expect some exciting and really challenging boss battles. Random battles, at least at average to high levels, tend to be pretty basic, and don’t benefit much from the ATB setup.
As in Final Fantasy VI, each character has a unique ability to use during battles. Cecil can fire a wave of dark energy at the cost of some of his HP. Kain can use a jump attack. Palom and Porom, the magician twins, can use a special combo attack to do high magic damage. These keep combat from becoming highly repetitive and some are genuinely useful. It should be noted that some of these abilities are not present in the SNES version of the game, but most of the useful ones are available.
This is a fairly challenging game at times, with some powerful random encounters, especially later in the game, and many highly powerful bosses. Things never seem to reach the point of being frustrating, as its never tough to level up when you want to, and there are locations to save and restore HP inside most dungeons. And for those who want to get the full experience, there are also several optional (and even more difficult) challenges to face before taking on the final boss, including battles with familiar enemies Odin and Bahamut.
Because this was one of the earlier SNES titles, its not a highly impressive game visually. But that’s not to say it doesn’t look nice. The overworld areas are nicely detailed, and actually rather large. The quality is especially noticeable during airship flight. The characters are all very distinctive and have quality designs for the most part. As with most games of this era, battles are where the highest quality graphics appear. With nicely detailed battle sprites, large enemies, summons, and flashy spell effects, combat can sometimes look nearly as good as in FFVI.
Its my opinion that this game has the second best soundtrack in the series, with only the music in FFVI being noticeably. There are lots of high quality, memorable songs, and its tough to think of anything that’s actually bad.
This game never really seemed to get the level of attention I felt it deserved. It could simply be that it’s been overshadowed by the excellent Final Fantasy VI, or maybe the poorly done translation of the SNES version has something to do with it. But I think that anyone who’s enjoyed a Final Fantasy game from any era should consider giving this one a try. Its an all around highly entertaining experience, with a great story and rewarding gameplay.
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