Not the best experience in gaming, considering I played it in 2023, but its amazing how good this game if we consider its quality and that i was released 33 years ago in 1991.
It invented the ATB system, had "properly" written characters for the first time, an iconic villain and so much more.
My main complaint is how the game baits you with some certain events that end up not happening, and well, I also dislike the last plot twist.
Such a pity! but anywayyys, its a great game! very iconic and memorable :)
It invented the ATB system, had "properly" written characters for the first time, an iconic villain and so much more.
My main complaint is how the game baits you with some certain events that end up not happening, and well, I also dislike the last plot twist.
Such a pity! but anywayyys, its a great game! very iconic and memorable :)
Pretty cool game that's ruined due to the egregious lag in the menus which makes battling feel horrible. The constant lag slows the game down and eats inputs mid battle. The ATB system gives the enemies more turns the longer your in the menus but you cant go through the menu fast as your inputs will be eaten and you will end up picking the wrong attack/spell/target. I'm gonna just assume this is exclusive to the GBA version and the other versions aren't as horrible to play.
Despite the gameplay the story, characters and music were still solid although I found it wasn't as interesting as the first 3 games in the series
Despite the gameplay the story, characters and music were still solid although I found it wasn't as interesting as the first 3 games in the series
The ATB system is broken beyond credibility it's not even funny. Glad all the extra contents returned in the PSP 20th anniversary remaster/remake.
Definitely one of my least favourite versions of the game. But it does has its GBA charm beside everything.
Definitely one of my least favourite versions of the game. But it does has its GBA charm beside everything.
cecil? more like 🤔
Boring. ATB was a mistake.
This review contains spoilers
My first mainline Final Fantasy is still my favorite 2D game in the series. The story holds up well even today, with a great balance of humor and heartbreak. The first iteration of Active Time Battle was fun and challenging, especially if playing on fast Active settings. As with every other game in the series, Nobuo Uematsu was totally in his element when putting this soundtrack together.
It's a great game and the one that really introduced me to the franchise. The story didn't age very well, but at least it's admirable for its time.
It lacks some things of a normal RPG, since it is oriented mainly to new players, as there is no customization, the difficulty and exploration are at a level a bit too "basic", but it's still great and quite fun. For example, the strongest swords are given to you for free in the dungeon chests instead of having to buy them. The gameplay is very good, although it gets really interesting when you are more advanced in the game, because as for the difficulty, the game is too easy for me, although that's because I already have experience in this kind of games.
This GBA version features a reworked interface and some quality of life improvements to the game. It feels like a mini version because of the font and sprite size, but it's actually quite the opposite, as it's a version with extra content and without any cuts. The music sounds great and the graphics were improved a bit, the backgrounds of the battles for example were completely redone and look very cool. Although as a negative aspect, this version presents lag in menu navigation, which is not annoying most of the time, but it does in the final battles where you have to choose fast and well your commands.
Perhaps the only detail that makes it less outstanding than some other games in the series, is that the game lacks customization as I mentioned at the beginning, and that is something that all Final Fantasy games before and after this title have. However it does have the merit of introducing the ATB system, something very cool that although it's not really perfect and can be tedious at times (you can't skip character turns), it's still a great and very innovative alternative for its time that many future Square games would use as a base.
Conclusion
It's a good game that doesn't stand out much today, though I still recommend playing it for its historical importance and how entertaining some bosses can be at the end. I really enjoyed revisiting this game, my first Final Fantasy, on my Game Boy Advance.
It lacks some things of a normal RPG, since it is oriented mainly to new players, as there is no customization, the difficulty and exploration are at a level a bit too "basic", but it's still great and quite fun. For example, the strongest swords are given to you for free in the dungeon chests instead of having to buy them. The gameplay is very good, although it gets really interesting when you are more advanced in the game, because as for the difficulty, the game is too easy for me, although that's because I already have experience in this kind of games.
This GBA version features a reworked interface and some quality of life improvements to the game. It feels like a mini version because of the font and sprite size, but it's actually quite the opposite, as it's a version with extra content and without any cuts. The music sounds great and the graphics were improved a bit, the backgrounds of the battles for example were completely redone and look very cool. Although as a negative aspect, this version presents lag in menu navigation, which is not annoying most of the time, but it does in the final battles where you have to choose fast and well your commands.
Perhaps the only detail that makes it less outstanding than some other games in the series, is that the game lacks customization as I mentioned at the beginning, and that is something that all Final Fantasy games before and after this title have. However it does have the merit of introducing the ATB system, something very cool that although it's not really perfect and can be tedious at times (you can't skip character turns), it's still a great and very innovative alternative for its time that many future Square games would use as a base.
Conclusion
It's a good game that doesn't stand out much today, though I still recommend playing it for its historical importance and how entertaining some bosses can be at the end. I really enjoyed revisiting this game, my first Final Fantasy, on my Game Boy Advance.
You can't go wrong with this. Final Fantasy 4 defines what a solid RPG is. Action-packed, mysterious and scary at times. I praise soundtrack, gameplay and environments. The score blends very well with the colours, especially during battles.
It may be too hard in some sections to the point of actually giving up. However, this is solved by paying attention to resource management and monster properties. For example, I found out that Toad and Confuse (which I rarely use) are extremely useful in the Underworld.
Check it out!
It may be too hard in some sections to the point of actually giving up. However, this is solved by paying attention to resource management and monster properties. For example, I found out that Toad and Confuse (which I rarely use) are extremely useful in the Underworld.
Check it out!
I didn't really notice any slowdown or chugging in this port, but it's been awhile since I've played through it. I really enjoy the original dungeons and bosses. Has the same audio issues that the other GBA ports suffered from. This isn't even the third version of this game I would recommend to someone, thankfully FF4 is a good enough game where you could play four different ports (over the course of a few years) and not want to stick a fork into an electrical socket.
kind of a let down
La primera versión que jugué del que es uno de los FF favoritos. He de admitir que en esta versión no lo disfruté tanto como cuando lo jugué después en DS, pero aun así me encantó. Fue una época maravillosa en la que mi primo Carlos y yo nos intercambiábamos cartuchos conforme los íbamos acabando para probar juegos nuevos. Yo me había terminado Golden Sun y él entonces me dejó este juego. Y, como lo jugué tras Golden Sun... Lo sentí un pelín "arcaico", pero eso no hizo que me arruinase la experiencia. Empaticé desde el minuto 1 con el personaje de Cecil, se convirtió instantáneamente en mi protagonista favorito de la franquicia DE LEJOS, estaba absolutamente obsesionado con el personaje. Además, el elenco no se queda atrás, con personajes tan interesantes como Rydia, Rosa, Caín, Cid, Edge... Todos y cada uno con una jugabilidad propia, con unas habilidades asociadas a cada personaje que daban mucha personalidad y una función específica a cada uno. Además, la banda sonora es una maravilla, por el maestro Uematsu.
Siento que Final Fantasy IV fue el primer Final Fantasy que sentó las bases para lo que posteriormente entenderíamos por un "Final Fantasy". Creo que es el primero que tiene esa "esencia", esa magia, no sabría decir con claridad qué es, pero lo tiene. De hecho, cuando me preguntan por cuál juego de la franquicia empezar SIEMPRE recomiendo Final Fantasy IV, precisamente por lo que acabo de explicar.
En fin, que lo juguéis, carajo.
Siento que Final Fantasy IV fue el primer Final Fantasy que sentó las bases para lo que posteriormente entenderíamos por un "Final Fantasy". Creo que es el primero que tiene esa "esencia", esa magia, no sabría decir con claridad qué es, pero lo tiene. De hecho, cuando me preguntan por cuál juego de la franquicia empezar SIEMPRE recomiendo Final Fantasy IV, precisamente por lo que acabo de explicar.
En fin, que lo juguéis, carajo.
This review contains spoilers
Finished playing final fantasy 4 advance.
This is probably going to be the last game i finish in 2023 and we are ending with a banger! The main protagonist is Cecil who at the start of the game was a dark knight and the captain of the red wings. The king of baron ordered Cecil to commit evil actions so he goes into this journey to redeem himself and to stop the new captain of the red wings Golbez. You will meet many characters that will join your party to help you on your quest where you travel around a world visiting towns and exploring dungeons, each character have their own unique abilities and thankfully none of them are completely useless.
Cecil when he was a dark knight had the dark ability which is an attack that hits all enemies but it costs some hp, when Cecil becomes a paladin later on he gains a few white magic abilities such as cure and esuna.
Kain joins you at the start of the game but he gets controlled by Golbez twice and he rejoins your party twice. Kain is a very helpful party member, he doesn't have any magic but he has got a good amount of health and can deal a great amount of damage with his jump ability.
Rydia is a summoner who lost her mother because Cecil and Kain had to deliver something in the village she was living in which caused a little chaos. Rydia is obviously mad at you at first but later on she forgives Cecil. Rydia is a decent party member at first but when she returns after getting separated she becomes an EXTREMELY helpful party member due to her summons. There are a few more summons that she can learn the most helpful one being bahamut which can deal a massive amount of damage.
Rosa is in love with Cecil and she is a white mage. She joins your party once you cure her from desert fever and rejoins when you save her from Golbez. You will mainly use her for healing party members.
Cid is an engineer who is a very helpful character in the story because he helps with airships and at one point the mad lad sacrifices himself to help the others but he ends up surviving! He is not bad in combat encounters either, he can deal a good amount of damage with his normal attacks and has a decent amount of health.
Tellah is a sage who has both white and black magic making him very useful. Tellah wanted revenge on Golbez for the death of his daughter Anna but gets defeated when he fights him because he casted a powerful attack called meteor and then dies because of his desire for revenge.
Edward is the prince of damcyan and he was in love with Anna. He joins your party to help you get an item needed to cure Rosa's desert fever. He is probably the least useful party member but his normal attack being able to confuse enemies is pretty helpful and he has an ability where he can just hide. At one point in the game he helps you defeat a boss fight by playing on his harp and he also helps you in the battle with the giant of babil.
Palom and Porom are both mages that helped Cecil become a paladin. Palom is a black mage and Porom is a white mage. They sacrifice themselves to save your party but they somehow get revived later on in the game?Idk why anyone would use them when you have Rydia and Rosa on your team but they were pretty useful before their sacrifice.
Yang is a monk who joins your party once you help him. He even has a boss fight where he attacked you because he lost his memory or something. He is an amazing party member with his normal attacks dealing a great amount of damage and he has a ton of health.He has the kick ability which hits all the enemies and the power ability which deals a ton of damage. He sacrifices himself to save everyone but somehow ended up living and he helps you in the battle with the giant of babil. You can switch him back at one point in the game.
Edge joins you pretty late in the game but he is still extremely useful. His normal attacks deal a great amount of damage, he has a decent amount of health, he can steal from enemies, he has some magic abilities like blitz and his throw ability can deal a ton of damage.
Finally we have Fusoya who just like Tellah has both white and black magic but he has a few more abilities. He has a regen ability and you can use meteor with him. He isn't really in your party for long tho.
I really liked the story and some characters especially Cecil and it had a great balance between comedy and serious moments but i personally did not like Golbez very much🤷 in my opinion he is pretty damn generic and the only thing i remember about this dude is that he is Cecil's brother and how he got manipulated by Zemus. The turn based is really great, it is very strategic, it doesn't feel slow and imo the combat shines on the bosses i really liked how it forced you to make good use of your characters abilities and not just spam basic attacks. Speaking of bosses they are awesome!
My favourite ones are Zeromus, Rubicante, Demon wall, Asura, leviathan, Eblan king and queen, Barbariccia, Cpu and Dark dragon. The graphics are pretty damn solid and the ost is great, my favourite songs being: Crystal, the final battle, within the giant, the airship, mt. ordeals and fight 2.The game has a lot of enemy variety but there are 3 of them that i found annoying af which are the malboro , the frogs and those fucking bats. I don't really mind random encounters in games as long as the encounter rate isn't too bad which is not the case for this game the random encounters got annoying pretty quickly. The inventory system is pretty much perfect, it has the right amount of space and it never gets flooded with items. I personally found the difficulty to be perfectly balanced the game never felt too easy or too hard and the game also isn't that confusing to navigate.
I personally had 0 issues with how linear the game is but i did not like how it required some grinding and is it just me or are random encounters less frequent when you need to grind?
The advance version adds character portraits, new items, a re-translation, slightly improved graphics and switching party members.
Overall while it may have some issues like the random encounters, Golbez being a generic antagonist, grinding, very few characters i did not care for and those 3 annoying ass enemies final fantasy 4 is an amazing game in my opinion that still holds up to this day
9/10
This is probably going to be the last game i finish in 2023 and we are ending with a banger! The main protagonist is Cecil who at the start of the game was a dark knight and the captain of the red wings. The king of baron ordered Cecil to commit evil actions so he goes into this journey to redeem himself and to stop the new captain of the red wings Golbez. You will meet many characters that will join your party to help you on your quest where you travel around a world visiting towns and exploring dungeons, each character have their own unique abilities and thankfully none of them are completely useless.
Cecil when he was a dark knight had the dark ability which is an attack that hits all enemies but it costs some hp, when Cecil becomes a paladin later on he gains a few white magic abilities such as cure and esuna.
Kain joins you at the start of the game but he gets controlled by Golbez twice and he rejoins your party twice. Kain is a very helpful party member, he doesn't have any magic but he has got a good amount of health and can deal a great amount of damage with his jump ability.
Rydia is a summoner who lost her mother because Cecil and Kain had to deliver something in the village she was living in which caused a little chaos. Rydia is obviously mad at you at first but later on she forgives Cecil. Rydia is a decent party member at first but when she returns after getting separated she becomes an EXTREMELY helpful party member due to her summons. There are a few more summons that she can learn the most helpful one being bahamut which can deal a massive amount of damage.
Rosa is in love with Cecil and she is a white mage. She joins your party once you cure her from desert fever and rejoins when you save her from Golbez. You will mainly use her for healing party members.
Cid is an engineer who is a very helpful character in the story because he helps with airships and at one point the mad lad sacrifices himself to help the others but he ends up surviving! He is not bad in combat encounters either, he can deal a good amount of damage with his normal attacks and has a decent amount of health.
Tellah is a sage who has both white and black magic making him very useful. Tellah wanted revenge on Golbez for the death of his daughter Anna but gets defeated when he fights him because he casted a powerful attack called meteor and then dies because of his desire for revenge.
Edward is the prince of damcyan and he was in love with Anna. He joins your party to help you get an item needed to cure Rosa's desert fever. He is probably the least useful party member but his normal attack being able to confuse enemies is pretty helpful and he has an ability where he can just hide. At one point in the game he helps you defeat a boss fight by playing on his harp and he also helps you in the battle with the giant of babil.
Palom and Porom are both mages that helped Cecil become a paladin. Palom is a black mage and Porom is a white mage. They sacrifice themselves to save your party but they somehow get revived later on in the game?Idk why anyone would use them when you have Rydia and Rosa on your team but they were pretty useful before their sacrifice.
Yang is a monk who joins your party once you help him. He even has a boss fight where he attacked you because he lost his memory or something. He is an amazing party member with his normal attacks dealing a great amount of damage and he has a ton of health.He has the kick ability which hits all the enemies and the power ability which deals a ton of damage. He sacrifices himself to save everyone but somehow ended up living and he helps you in the battle with the giant of babil. You can switch him back at one point in the game.
Edge joins you pretty late in the game but he is still extremely useful. His normal attacks deal a great amount of damage, he has a decent amount of health, he can steal from enemies, he has some magic abilities like blitz and his throw ability can deal a ton of damage.
Finally we have Fusoya who just like Tellah has both white and black magic but he has a few more abilities. He has a regen ability and you can use meteor with him. He isn't really in your party for long tho.
I really liked the story and some characters especially Cecil and it had a great balance between comedy and serious moments but i personally did not like Golbez very much🤷 in my opinion he is pretty damn generic and the only thing i remember about this dude is that he is Cecil's brother and how he got manipulated by Zemus. The turn based is really great, it is very strategic, it doesn't feel slow and imo the combat shines on the bosses i really liked how it forced you to make good use of your characters abilities and not just spam basic attacks. Speaking of bosses they are awesome!
My favourite ones are Zeromus, Rubicante, Demon wall, Asura, leviathan, Eblan king and queen, Barbariccia, Cpu and Dark dragon. The graphics are pretty damn solid and the ost is great, my favourite songs being: Crystal, the final battle, within the giant, the airship, mt. ordeals and fight 2.The game has a lot of enemy variety but there are 3 of them that i found annoying af which are the malboro , the frogs and those fucking bats. I don't really mind random encounters in games as long as the encounter rate isn't too bad which is not the case for this game the random encounters got annoying pretty quickly. The inventory system is pretty much perfect, it has the right amount of space and it never gets flooded with items. I personally found the difficulty to be perfectly balanced the game never felt too easy or too hard and the game also isn't that confusing to navigate.
I personally had 0 issues with how linear the game is but i did not like how it required some grinding and is it just me or are random encounters less frequent when you need to grind?
The advance version adds character portraits, new items, a re-translation, slightly improved graphics and switching party members.
Overall while it may have some issues like the random encounters, Golbez being a generic antagonist, grinding, very few characters i did not care for and those 3 annoying ass enemies final fantasy 4 is an amazing game in my opinion that still holds up to this day
9/10
A solid way to play the game, though it has the usual trappings of not feeling like explaining anything - this was one of the first 'proper' RPGs I played as well as my first Final Fantasy, and the obtuse nature of it meant I quickly grew fed up with running into walls.
In hindsight, it was the folly of youth that stopped me from making any progress, but now the Switch version is out, I don't see much of a reason to return to this one.
In hindsight, it was the folly of youth that stopped me from making any progress, but now the Switch version is out, I don't see much of a reason to return to this one.
A very bad version of an excellent game because of the amount of bugs the NA version had back in the day.
The game's "fantasy" feels quite final, just like its predecessors. Quite dramatic. 4.5/5 Very enjoyable.