Fainaru fantajî IV

I was not a huge fan of the first Final Fantasy game, however, I loved this game when it was released as Final Fantasy II. It was just vastly different at the time to anything I was used to. I loved the scenes where the characters acted own their own to add to the story, the music seemed great, and the story was very well played out. The fighting was good too, but this game was mainly story based as the story was more important than the fighting. Here it is turned based, and even though today it looks a bit odd seeing basically a picture blink to indicate an attack it is still great in its simplicity. The story follows Cecil who is a dark knight on a quest for redemption and to discover the mystery's of the crystals. He finds many comrades to aid him along the way, and villains to try and obstruct it. You have your basic element villains and other villains who seem to have connections with our heroes. There is nothing like this game still as the story still sparks emotion as there is a lot of self sacrifice to occur. You travel many lands in this one, including the lands of the drawf and you even get to fly into space. You have your humorous characters and you have your super magic attacks and summons. In this one the characters are also all rather unique unlike other final fantasy where there are no real differences between characters. So all in all still one of the best.

Final Fantasy II is probably the best RPG in existence. I've played it through numerous times and it has been an exciting adventure every time. The story is truly one to be recognized. Cecil, a dark knight, betrays his country once he feels that it's direction has turned more towards evil. During his quest to retaliate, he must face trials that bring him to learn that his ties between the ultimate evil and the ultimate good are more than he could have ever imagined. An excellent cast of characters and a musical score that is absolutely fantastic. A story that should be told again and again. Should be a movie by now.

Final Fantasy 1,2, & 3 are ok games I guess, but FF4 is the first one in the series to actually be good. There is an actual story, real character motivation, and a real RPG element gameplay.

The issue for me is that this game (along with pretty much JRPGs of the 90's) is super grind heavy. You pretty much have to spent a lot of time just battling, and these turn based battle systems are really boring and the worst parts of some JRPGs. It gets to a point where enemies become so strong you have no choice to spend time just walking around engaging in these boring turn based battles.

Anyways, play it on a SNES Emulator and just speed up the battles.

8/10

In 1991, a little known company gaming company known as Square(soft) in Japan released the fourth segment of it's Final Fantasy series. Little did they know (or maybe they did) where it would lead them.

I would call Final Fantasy IV the "sleeper hit" of the series. It was considered by the few who got their hands on it back in the early 90's their "favorite video game ever". It had rave reviews, and started to garner a cult-like rpg gamer following. And of course, in every aspect, it deserved it.

Hironobu Sakaguchi did a wonderful job in giving depth, for what can be disputed as the first time, to a video game rpg character. The main character of this video game "Cecil" starts out as a "bad guy" with a conscience. Of course, this may be considered cliche nowadays, but back in 1991, it was quite revolutionary. Cecil's predicament, although it may not be original, is a moving one.

Cecil, the dark knight, is the captain of the Red Wings, the Kingdom of Baron's "air force". His story starts with the war mongering of his liege in search for the all-powerful Crystals, which's purposes are shrouded in mystery. After a battle in the mage town of Mysidia, Cecil, torn between his duty and his guilt, confronts his King asking him why he is on this blood-thirsty conquest, and he is promptly banished from the Kingdom on an errand with his Dragoon friend Kain, to make up for this mistake. One must ask, will Cecil ever stand up to his liege and confront his inner demons? Here is where this epic adventure begins.

Following this neat intro, we are introduced to a vast array of different characters that Cecil encounters in his quest; to name a few, Rosa, Rydia, Yang, Palom, Porom, Tellah, and the first of the famous "Cid" characters in the Final Fantasy series. There is a HUGE world to explore (for a 1991 rpg) with many different terrains (even the moon), many different and interesting antagonists (Golbez, the Four fiends), and a mass of evil monsters to be destroyed.

Nubuo Uematsu shines with his inspiring music in this game. This was his first opportunity to show his composing skills and develop a full and rich soundtrack. I was amazed, when this game first came out, at how "orchestrated" a video game can sound...It is no surprise now that Nubuo is now a highly acclaimed composer, both in and out of video game music. If you are a fan, give this soundtrack a listen...These are his roots.

All in all, I give Final Fantasy IV a very biased 5 stars...Although it is reasonably disputed that Final Fantasy 6 and 7 are better overall games, this one will hold a place in my heart. It was the funder of 6...it shaped the things to come.

Final Fantasy IV was the first in the series to make it actually popular. Runned over by Dragon Quest series before it finally managed to rise to it's now known glory.

Story is finally descent without clichés (Final Fantasy II) or pointless wandering with little happening (Final Fantasies I and III). Cecil, a dark knight who left his position as the captain of royal air forces by moral reasons, tries with the help of his best friend Kain, girlfriend Rosa and many other interesting people to stop mysterious Golbez from using elemental crystals for evil. Plot has many twisting turns and exiting moments but it's main problem is that characters are quite distant. They are interesting but the members the group changes pretty quickly except Cecil who is probably the best character in this game to feel sympathy for. Also there's not told enough background information from certain characters like Golbez whose past and events that formed him evil would have brought more spice to him. And it annoys that most of the characters are so damn eager to sacrifice themselves.

Music is completely it's own chapter. Nobuo Uematsu's beautiful melodies gets their rightful epic feeling in Super Nintendo's sound chips. World Map-theme, trembling Tower of Babil and epic Final Batlle are just few of the many excellent music pieces. Graphigs are colorful and they have unique SNES charm that even time cannot ravage. There's not much to say about battle system because it's overly simple with it's strict character roles and picking from attack, item and some special properties.

Final Fantasy IV finally succeeded in that where it's predictors failed. Truly worth of playing even after 16 years.