The NES introduced the world to RPGs with Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. While the games were simple, the new genre concept was revolutionary. It would really come into effect in the next console generation when RPGs could take full advantage of newer hardware and software. The Super Nintendo was a fountain of brand-new RPG franchises that led to plenty of amazing new methods of gaming. It also allowed for older franchises to build on their older ideas and make something bigger and better than before. That was the case with Final Fantasy IV.
The Role You Play
You mainly play as Cecil, a Dark Knight who is on a quest for redemption. He seeks to rid himself of his Dark Knight powers and atone for the sins of his past. During his journey, he renounces his title of Dark Knight and becomes a Paladin who wields holy powers, can use healing magic and can protect others from danger. He is joined in his journey by several others including but not limited to Kain, a Dragoon who wields a spear and can leap onto his enemies, Rosa, a bow-wielding white mage with healing powers, and Rydia, a summoner who uses black magic that can be used to battle enemies.
Plot
The King of Baron has ordered his two most loyal knights, Cecil and Kain to gather the crystals of the different kingdoms. When Cecil questions the morality of the mission, he is stripped of his command of the Red Wing fleet of airships and sent on a new mission to destroy a town of summoners. From this moment on Cecil means to make amends for his misdeeds and stop whatever plot the king is a part of involving the crystals.
Gameplay
Final Fantasy IV uses a very straightforward turn-based combat system. Every character has their own designated class and with it their own unique set of abilities. Each character takes turns to either attack, use magic, special abilities or items. The enemies also take turns attacking or using magic or special abilities to attack your party.
Your party members change often throughout the game so you have to regularly adjust your strategy in battle to accommodate what new strengths and weaknesses you have.
Length
Final Fantasy IV is a very linear game. When you are guided on where to go next, there are rarely ever alternate ways to go or side missions to pursue until near the end of the game. When you do get closer to the end of the game, you can try to acquire stronger armor and other summons. You might also need to take time to grind for experience or money to get past a difficult boss, as they are rather challenging. With that said, Final Fantasy IV takes around 15-20 hours to finish.
Music
Final Fantasy has always had exceptional music and Final Fantasy IV is no exception. It has a classical feel while setting the proper tone for each setting and matching the surrounding atmosphere perfectly. There are also three different battle themes used multiple times that ascend in intensity to match the difficulty of the impending battles.
The Pixel Remaster has allowed for the soundtrack to have more recognizable instruments not limited by the original SNES hardware. As a result, each track has more diverse instrumentation and it all sounds more crisp and clear than ever before.
Notable Features
Final Fantasy IV keeps its story, dialog and gameplay pretty closely intertwined. Party members regularly enter and leave your party for different plot reasons, and this in turn changes your party makeup and gameplay strategies. The issue with this is that the plot points can often be very jarring and dark. It can include characters being swallowed whole being blown up to turning themselves into stone. These events aren’t very common, but when they do happen, they happen pretty suddenly and are usually pretty unsettling.
The Talking Parts
The dialog for the most part exists to advance the plot and little else. However, it regularly gets a boost from the music and the gameplay. There are dialog scenes that have battle scenes mixed in with them that add weight and stakes to the conversation. The music also does a good job of adding to the tone of the dialog, helping to convey the expressions of the characters. When these elements are put together it makes for some unbelievably heartfelt and memorable scenes.
Z…We’ve Reached the End. Anything Else?
The Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy IV has a lot of new features. These have been introduced into different RPGs since Final Fantasy IV was first released. In addition to the updated graphics and text, all of the spell and ability names are updated to work much more effectively. You can walk faster and do so automatically. There is also an option to turn off random enemy encounters to make traversing dungeons easier.
These are common features today, but they were not available in the game originally, so they give an older game a more modern feel.
Final Summary
Final Fantasy IV is and always will be a classic of the Final Fantasy series. It has great characters, a fantastic story and an absolutely wonderful soundtrack. Any Final Fantasy Fan or fan of classic turn-based RPGs should definitely give this one a try.