What is the best Final Fantasy game? Is it the very first? The sixth installment? The seventh? The tenth? The Twelth? Well, many fans argue which is the best to this day, however no one can deny that Final Fantasy IV is one of the long running series’ finest achievements. Released in NA as the second installment (it is very complicated how Square messed up releasing FF games in the states) FFIV was dumbed down for American gamers (like Super Mario Brothers 2 was changed for American gamers into a doki doki panic ripoff) with mass censorship in the script. American gamers were cheated out of a full FFIV experience. This game tries to right those wrongs, and to a certain extent does, but this game falls short of sheer excellence. Why?
Graphics: The graphics are ok, but im not too particularly fond of them. They look like average PS1 graphics, and I know that this system is capable of making better quality. The game also has beatifully rendered cutscenes, but those are few and far between. Many of the actually cutscenes are with the blah in-game graphics. To me, they could have done better.
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C
Sound: Beautiful soundtrack that does justice to the 16 bit era. Many different orchestral themes and sound effects round this title out. Also, there is voice acting in this game, which is a nice step up from reading text. however, there isnt alot of talking and its kinda dissapointing, because there is alot of text. Imagine Metal Gear Solid with no voice acting in cutscenes, its boring as hell.
B+
Story: Very intriguing story line. You play as a dark knight Cecil, who is the adopted son of the king of Baron and Captain of the Red Wings (no not the hockey team) . He is kicked out of the Red Wings when he questions his kings’ orders to retrieve a crystal. Im not going to spoil anything but trust me you will like it. All in all, an engaging plot with cool characters and we have a story worthy of Final Fantasy.
A
Gameplay: Well, its an early FF game so that mean turn based combat. But dont worry, its not bad. Your characters have a diverse set of comands and actions in battle that gives the game more strategy than just selecting “Attack” over and over again. the game is hard, which is good because grinding is very hard early on. The difficulty is what makes this game good. So many FFs i have played where i died maybe 2 or 3 times in a playthrough and when into boss battles instantly killing them with little challenge. Here, bosses (and even random encounters if you are careless) will gring you into dust and make you there bitch if you dont strategize well.
A
Replay Value: This game is epic with its story and gameplay, but the graphics and the need for more voice overs bog it a little bit. Mixed Bag
B
Overall B.
Final Comments: Buy it if you can, you will enjoy it for your DS, however there are flaws and it isnt perfect. one of the most recent must haves on the DS
I agree that Final Fantasy IV is an awesome game. I played this many years ago on SNES and loved it. Great story, music, and graphics for the time.
I have to disagree with the graphics and sound part, though. As far as DS games are concerned, it looks pretty neat to me. The DS isn’t known to be a graphical powerhouse, so I never thought of this as ugly for the DS. The 3D change makes the game look different and is a nice experience for fans of the SNES version.
I didn’t expect any voice at all in the game, so the fact that there is any at all is quite surprising. Cartridges are limited in size, so I doubt they would cram voice work for everything in there, especially on a handheld game. Many console games aren’t even fully voiced over, instead having a blend of the two. That is simply just too much voice work record. That also takes time, money, and voice actors to do. That’s something I doubt they are willing to pour into a DS remake. With that said, I expected to have text to read, and quite frankly it doesn’t bother me at all.
This game looks great, and I will most likely pick it up soon to relive my favorite moments of the past.