Quite possibly the most underrated Final Fantasy title, Final Fantasy IV was a great foray into storytelling for the fledgling series at the time. It does some pretty surprising story beats, especially late in the game, at least in terms of where the party goes - iykyk.

More importantly, though, Final Fantasy IV is simply engaging to play throughout. It never feels like it's dragging, it never feels like it's holding your hand too much, and it keeps you on your toes as well with how many instances of party swapping it does through the plot. You probably won't have a truly consistent party until you're getting ready for the final dungeon, at least beyond Cecil, and I appreciate that it does that.

I'd definitely recommend the PSP version - not only does the spritework look nicer imo, it also includes The After Years and the Interlude episode if you liked this game enough. However, the Pixel Remaster is a good way to go as well. Final Fantasy IV just has an ungodly amount of ports so it can be overwhelming to decide. Regardless, I highly recommend it.

Score: 91

This game seems widely celebrated, and considering how many references Final Fantasy XIV has from it, I felt like I should finally give this game a go. While I don't think it's a bad game, it doesn't resonate with me at all like other Final Fantasy games. The music and the story are pretty awesome, but the cast of characters that comes in and out of your party really makes it a challenge to care about anyone as you travel. Unlike III and V, IV doesn't have a job system and it really makes the combat feel simple to me.

Often lauded by long-time FF fans or oldschool JRPG connoisseurs as the peak of the series, I've been wanting to play this game for a LONG time but happening upon a copy in a retro game story finally gave me that chance.

In many ways, FFIV is the template on which modern JRPGs are built. It was one of the first with a big, sweeping story with high stakes, multiple "worlds", and a party of characters who, gasp, have actual personality and development! While the plot and character arcs are hardly ground-breaking these days, I'd imagine they were amazing for their time, featuring themes of redemption, overcoming trauma and even a few major deaths.

This is all aided by an excellent re-translated script by Tom Slattery. In fact this script is why I chose to experience this version first, as it lacks the censorship and rampant mistranslations of the SNES version (where characters "swoon" or "fall down" instead of die, I wish I was making that up) or the awkward pop-culture references of the GBA/PSP version. It's very flowery, think Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, which might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it.

Gameplay-wise, it's interesting. The DS version is the most difficult iteration of FFIV by far, to the point where the iOS and Steam ports made its default difficulty the "Hard Mode". And I admit, there were many, many times the game kicked my teeth in: as just one example this version turns the first Golbez battle from effectively an interactive cutscene into a brutal fight you actually have to win, that comes DIRECTLY AFTER ANOTHER BOSS. (And starts with 3/5 of your party KO'd) And the enemies in the final and optional dungeons are... something else.

At the same time, this is a rare old-school FF where strategy actually matters and buffs and debuffs are vital. The best tip I can give is Slow works on every boss. Always, always use it. For many dungeons or bosses, I'd get wrecked the first time, but come back the next day with a new strategy and find they weren't so bad.

The core party members all have clearly defined roles and are very good in said roles, the White and Black Mages feeling especially fun later on. The DS version's main addition to the gameplay is "Augments" but... I'll cover that in the negatives section.

Something great about this game that I've missed in modern JPRGs is it goes for "quality over quantity" in its sidequests. I'd estimate there's no more than 10 total sidequests in the game, but all (besides the ongoing Namingway meetings) involve a new area or dungeon, end with a unique boss fight, and give a VERY worthwhile reward. Either a strong item, a new skill for a character (such as a powerful summon) or closure on the fate of a guest party member. I'd take this over a hundred "gather 20 bear skins" missions any day.

But no game is perfect, and I've got a few clear negatives to discuss. The first pertains to both story and gameplay: FFIV REALLY loves temporary party members. I guess it was a limitation of the old party systems, but you'll be meeting a ton of playable characters who don't stick around, and most get enough development that you'll wish they did. There's a few who were so developed I was shocked and saddened to find they were temporary. And not in a good way (see FFVII), I mean I would've vastly preferred them in both story and gameplay to...

Edge. Edge is the one party member I never "clicked" with and him being part of the "final five" felt like a waste to me. His relevance to the plot is over after one dungeon, his gameplay role isn't much beyond "he's really fast and has some ailments I guess", and he's clearly meant to be a comic relief character but that's hard to tell when he gets next to no scenes. It's telling that most of his pause screen dialogue boils down to "I have no idea what's going on but I guess I'm stuck with these guys." Out of everyone, THIS is the guy who gets to stay?

For gameplay, there's the Augment system, which lets you assign new skills to party members (and also influences their stat growth, not that the game ever tells you this...). Giving up to 2 Augments to temporary party members rewards you with more augments when they leave. On paper, this is supposed to ensure you aren't punished for giving Augments to someone you didn't know was temporary... the problem is that all the best skills in the game are locked behind doing this, meaning you have to carefully "ration" your Augments to avoid missing them, and it can be VERY tight. For example, missing ONE optional Augment early on prevented me from getting the amazing Dualcast. Also, every Augment uses up one of your character's menu slots, even passive skills like MP +50%. It's a great idea in theory but... it shouldn't be this easy to miss out on the best tactical options in such a difficult game.

And as I mentioned, the difficulty can be frustrating. It's usually well-designed, but there's one or two enemy types (looking at you Red Dragons) that feel unfair, mostly summed up as "if they decide to spam their AoE attack you're DEAD, if they don't they're no problem."

Overall, I can see why this game is held in such high regard, and the DS version is a great way to experience it, provided you're okay with the difficulty.

Everytime I replay this game, the story gets worse. It's a 1991 game, so I won't go into detail about the plot.

Now, this is the 3rd version of FFIV I've played (Advance and PSP before this one), and it's definitely my least favorite, for one major reason: the difficulty feels overtuned and out-of-balance.

In the 2D remakes, later dungeons would give me a hard time, but a save point would show up just at the right time to restore my party. This 3D remake is about the same, except that they turned some enemies into the banes of my existence.

There are a couple of foes that throw party-wide elemental attacks at you - they deal a ton of damage, and are likely to kill your weaker characters (...Edge...). If you encounter a group of 2 or more, start praying to RNGesus that they won't spam these attacks on you.

Shout out to this asshole in the moon that self-destructs when close to dying, giving you zero exp and gil. Are you fucking kidding me.

I also wanna mention the final boss. He's mostly the same, only now they have buffed his Meteor for some God-forsaken reason: it now hits your entire party, and deals as much damage as Big Bang.

Here's the thing though, he shakes when he's about to cast Big Bang, so you can properly defend and tank the damage. For Meteor though, fuck you - once again, pray to the RNG. Why do this?

I do wanna praise the rest of the bosses though, they are almost always intense, satisfying battles, being given new strategies and skills that make the fights more interesting. It's just Zeromus that they decided to fuck with the player for some reason.

Another criticism I have are the Augments, which is a cool idea on paper, but the execution ends up feeling more like a bonus side-content, rather than a core mechanic. 90% of the Augments require a guide to acquire, and the passive abilities still require being equipped in your command list, which is a big "huh?" to me.

I also wanna point out that, since the game isn't 60fps, menus during battles feel somewhat clunky.

The rest of the game is still the same old FFIV I love, it's just that poorly balanced difficulty that makes this version only worth it for people who are already fans of the game. For your first playthrough, I recommend the PSP version, the definitive version to me.

I got to the final dungeon, too busy to finish now, I know what's up so feel comfy with stopping here.

This game has better scenario design than Final Fantasy 16 which is so funny to think about. FF16 is certainly /trying/ for something like this, but it's baffling to notice that this game has better female characters and more consistent plotting. It's hard not to compare the two, with both games having very thin characters with singular strong concepts and a narrative focused on moving from cool image to cool image. But... one is a game from 1991 and the other from 2023 which makes the extent to which the comparison is unfavorable downright strange.

The use of the battle system as a narrative space-time (and TIME is important, it's "Active Time Battle" after all) is breathtaking today as historical curio as it would have been as a formal innovation at the time. Such a masterful understanding of games as theatrical works, battles as stages, command based gameplay as directing a play. Certainly an aspect lost within the move towards action combat, even in half-steps like the FF7 Remake series or even FF13.

Final Fantasy IV is probably the title in the franchise with the most amount of ports, remakes and expansions only if we don't consider the seventh installment, which at this point might be a franchise on its own. Why is that?

Final Fantasy IV might be considered the first proper Final Fantasy in story beats, characters and presentation. I won't give you an history lesson but this game was kind of a big deal and cemented FF's position in JRPGs: if the 1st to the 3rd were considered experiments, 4th is THE Final Fantasy we default to when thinking about the series, like Metal Slug or King of Fighters with SNK and Trails in the Sky with Falcom.

This port is accessible, holds a lot of minigames and cute side content the original didn't have but most importantly fixes a lot of issues with the game's balance, since the IV on DS is much harder than the original. I remember reading guides to beat some bosses and it was standard to begin every battle with Slow and Haste, otherwise you'd easily be beaten. Not only, but the most important parts in the story are animated and rendered beautifully, with honest to God gorgeous voice acting and animation. The game presents itself wonderfully and the maps are alive and greatly represent its world.

Sore note: the battles are slower and despite being rendered in 3D they don't impress as much as they should thanks to its slow framerate. I played it on the original hardware, I have no clue if the framerate gets better on mobile or PC, but the DS port didn't really color me surprised. I'd add the GBA port has much more content that is exclusive to that version and it's sadly missing here. Not only that, but the story being very linear means you'll have some characters during certain story sections you might not really want and no job system means you'll have your tools handed to you without any real choice. Also really? Getting a Lv.1 character at Lv. 25 does suck a bit.

So, which version should you play? Remastered, SNES original, DS port or PSP? I have no clue honestly, each has its pros and cons and playing each version to see the differences is not something I'd recommend to everyone. You really have to like the characters and the mood of Final Fantasy IV and it's not for everybody. This port? It's fine enough to get you through the story with some cool New Game + elements, but it doesn't have the most amount of content and if you really don't want to replay a game just for the additional content, I would avoid this port. If you get the PSP version you'll also get access to The After Years, but I don't know if that's a plus or not, so really pick your poison.

Man, this game rocks even in 2023. I played the 3D remake simply cause I found the graphics to be charming, and I did not end up being disappointed. The story, despite being simple, is still endearing to this day, and I grew to enjoy the characters more than I expected the longer I played. The 3D remake having voice acting in most major cutscenes was an unexpected plus, along with the 'thought bubble' system, in which you would open your main menu and see your character's current thoughts; this minor feature in particular was very endearing, and was used expertly throughout the game to either provide hints, give insight into a characters motivations or foreshadow incoming events. The general look of the game from the 3D models to the UI is also lovely, and the combat, of which I played in the action-time system, is as classic and enjoyable as ever.

The game did have a few issues, however. Some of the writing hasn't aged well (looking at the final party member in particular,) and some of the story beats feel a bit contrived. Also, mechanically the game is very difficult, which I personally enjoyed but I know is not for everyone; this is apparently an issue with the 3D remake in particular. Beyond these points though, there was little I had any problem with.

Although not my absolute favorite in the series, Final Fantasy IV is an excellent RPG and a very fun game, one that I can wholeheartedly recommend to any fan of the series and to most looking for a classic fantasy adventure. Oh, and turn your music up. This soundtrack is a banger.