Fainaru fantajî IV

This is truly THE BEST game ever made. It was the first RPG I ever played... I have never seen a game this good. Other games have come close, but this is THE BEST EVER. EVER!!!! I can't believe how cool the story and the characters are. Everything about this game is PERFECT!!!!!!!! IF YOU CAN FIND A COPY, BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!

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

As one of the older Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy IV (originally released as FFII in the U.S.) is one of those early games mostly neglected by the surge of Final Fantasy fans that came in after FFVII. As a game, this installment is set in the more traditional fantasy sense, where there's less emphasis on technology and more on the mystical. Each character has their own specified job, and contrary to what most people who give negative reviews for this game suggest, each one has a distinct personality that really shouldn't take much time to notice. While you're not given a huge in-depth look on the past of most characters, that's not the point of the game. This entry in the series focuses on the journey, the struggle to overcome obstacles to reach the intended goal. All characters must endure and push through some kind of handicap, and each comes out stronger for it.

The traditional modes of transportation exist in this game: foot, chocobos, and airship. However, there are many permutations of each, some of which reappear later in the series. The same can be said of key locations, items, equipment, and concepts: many started with this game that come back later in the whole set of Final Fantasy games. This does not mean this game eventually turned Final Fantasy into the powerhouse it is today, it simply means that it had a big hand in shaping the direction it went.

Music in this game accurately portrays the overall mood, as Nobuo Uematsu often does in his compositions. Fights feel that much more exciting, while sad seems are that much more emotional. Meanwhile, the graphics are fairly well-developed and colorful despite the fact that this was one of the games before the Playstation introduced polygons in place of pixels.

For fights, the traditional Active Time Battle system is in place in this period. Unlike some later Final Fantasy games, each character has a definitive, specific role for each battle, rather than a minor suggestive direction by the game creators. One character mostly uses Black Magic and excels at it, while another has a particular battle skill. The abilities of Fight, Black Magic, White Magic, and Item are commonplace for specific characters throughout the game, but not all characters have all 4 of these choices. In actuality, only two of the four are on every single character: Fight and Item. This game doesn't lend the characters to flexibility, and while that may seem bad to some people, it indirectly adds a sense of identity to the characters. White Magic infers that the character is very caring and self-sacrificing, for instance. This game, unlike many others, actively involves the battle system itself as important to the overall experience, rather than turning it into just a fun thing to do on a Saturday morning.

For the person who simply wants to kill monsters, be entertained by fancy graphics, and doesn't like to think too intently on the subject matter, this one is not for you. But for those who enjoy thinking about their gaming experience more deeply and are heavy in philosophy, this might become one of the shining gems of your collection if you choose to play it.

Once again, the Final Fantasy series holds true to form and comes out with an astounding video game focusing on Magic and Hit Points and discovering weapons and hidden treasure. This game does a fabulous job of making the player understand Cecil's internal conflicts, and how all of the other characters relate to him. The various characters rotating in and out of the main plot is very well done. The return of familiar spells and effects is embraced as well. All in all, this is a worth-your-time game. Plus, it is here that Cid makes his debut (at least for the American series...).

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.