4/5 ★ – NiGHTS108's review of Final Fantasy IV.

Honestly, you know what? I’m surprised to say it but Final Fantasy IV is like, really good. Like, genuinely really great. Okay maybe this time I really am stretching the definition of “surprised”, between this being the first of the three Super Nintendo games as well as the second Final Fantasy to make it out of Japan on release after FF1, it’s kind of no wonder that FF4 is a real smash hit. In this marathon, FF4 is definitely the most interesting game relative to the previous entries in this series so far. I’ll start by talking about the gameplay again, this one doesn’t really have a bold new direction for the gimmick to be honest. I suppose the gimmick is the Active Time Battle system, which remains a constant throughout the turn based Final Fantasy games but it originated here. I love this thing. It’s honestly such a simple system but it can add more depth to combat than you may realise. Instead of moves being selected and then happening in a set order, a meter has to fill up before being able to select and use an attack. It can make even simpler and easier battles feel intense and exciting. It’s very much worth noting I feel this is the first Final Fantasy game that actually has a pretty good story! I mean, alright, it’s not incredible or anything. We’re still an entire console generation away from FF7, but for what it’s worth I really like it. Our main character here is Cecil, a dark knight who feels disillusionment with the violent duties his kingdom forces him to participate in. Right off the bat, I love that the villain is at least framed in a different way here. Instead of it being JUST some unholy deity, it’s framed in a way that gives our protagonist more personality by giving him something to directly rebel against. In quite a few ways, Cecil gives me big Cloud vibes. Not that he’s as good, very few protagonists are, but he has a heroic spirit that’s quite uplifting! Cecil is also the only party member who stays with you the entire game. That’s right, FF4 is building on the rotating party member system from way back in FF2. You’ll almost never keep the same party for very long, tons of characters are always coming and going as the story demands. It flips the script on FF2’s system, where this time instead of only one party member shifting, the entire cast EXCEPT one party member shifts. It’s… honestly pretty great! It’s a case of Final Fantasy IV using its gameplay to elevate the plot and for my money, I think it works super well. All characters are set to a specific class, so whenever someone leaves, you really do feel the impact on the gameplay. If there is one criticism I have with it being set up like this, it’s that I do think the gameplay itself suffers just a little. None of the characters end up permanently dying, so it would have been really neat if you could switch between them at your own will for the ending or after you beat the game. I’m not sure how possible that would have been, but it would have been a nice quality of life improvement. One other minor issue I have with the gameplay is the fact you control FIVE party members for once. This itself isn’t a bad idea, but I don’t think it goes super well with FF4’s ATB system to be honest. Having 5 characters with their own timers to juggle, while fun and frantic, can feel overwhelming and I’d recommend new players use the slower ATB speeds, at least to get acclimated. I think these mostly come down to quality of life improvements, and it’s something of an inevitability given FF4’s richer focus. I just kinda miss the innovations FF3 brought to the table this game ends up sacrificing. This game’s story in general just feels deeper and more creative, despite it being pretty breezy compared to the later grim affairs of FF6, 7 and 8, you really do feel for the characters! It’s simple but effective in ways I honestly can’t describe. I’d also like to give a huge shoutout to Nobuo Uematsu’s music for this game, he really needed the SNES hardware and the SNES really needed him. The soundtrack is just amazing, feeling so, for lack of a better word, fantastic, while being so catchy and memorable at the same time. I’ve been humming along to the overworld music and battle themes for days now. It’s funny, I kind of view this game as something of a more direct sequel to FF2 in particular, with a story more revolving around a political conflict and characters moving in and out of the story as the plot demands, but in tone it actually feels quite different. There’s a big loss of all the death and despair, and in its place is actual relationships and nice characters. FF4 is a very comfort food entry in this series for me, it’s lighter, easy going, yet still feels complete and genuine. In some ways the first “real” Final Fantasy game for me. It truly feels like the first time this series gets to flex its creative muscles. It has a greater scope and focus that allows it to really feel like a complete experience for the first time. Just like what the Super Nintendo is to the Nintendo Entertainment System, Final Fantasy IV is an utterly super Final Fantasy game. If a game like this doesn’t raise the bar, then I don’t know what does. We’re rapidly approaching Final Fantasy’s golden age, and if this is a sign of things to come, I for one can’t wait to see what’s next. Grade: A Difficulty: B