Cerise Magazine

In 1992, when I first moved to the house that my mother and our cats now occupy, I was a young lady of six. I was upset that my parents put the Nintendo in my brother’s room (it was his, after all) and knew that I had to have fun other ways. I began talking to my new neighbors down the street in hopes of finding a new hobby. The first thing my new friend showed me was her family’s SNES, all plugged in and ready to go. Sitting inside was a copy of Final Fantasy IV, or II as we knew it then, red label slightly peeled from a whole year of use. She handed me a controller and I eagerly began playing. I was so excited to find another girl who liked video games, and she and I are still good friends to this day.

Final Fantasy IV was the first game I ever really “got into,” except for Super Mario Bros. And now, as a young lady of twenty-one, I’ve picked this game up again (in its original North American SNES release form) and am attempting to find out why this game was so addicting when I was six.

The Story

The story of the game begins as a basic one. You control Cecil, the young commander of the Red Wings, the air force of a powerful nation known as Baron. His best friend, Kain, is the leader of the Dragoons, and Cecil’s girlfriend Rosa is a powerful white mage who follows him around everywhere. After expressing dissatisfaction with his orders to take other countries’ magical crystals, Cecil is fired from his position and sent on a journey to the village of Mist. Without revealing too much plot detail, Cecil is thrown on a journey of self-discovery and learns a lot of things about himself he probably didn’t want to. He also learns the meaning of loyalty as friends come and go.

The story, provided you don’t skip through it like my friend and I did when we were six, is pretty interesting once you get past the first couple hours. The myriad of new characters that show up periodically are enough to hold even a six-year-old’s interest, but to be honest, some of the characters fall flat. Edge the ninja has nothing else besides revenge, and Rosa is a substandard, typically weak-willed white mage whose life depends on Cecil. Kain, however, is my favorite Final Fantasy character of all time, interestingly enough. He is bitter and jealous, but loyal to the end, and is the most interesting character to watch over the course of the game. My bitterness over Rosa being such a weak character continues to this day, as I continually stick her in the back row and ignore her, only using her when I absolutely have to.

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty standard for Final Fantasy games. What a lot of people don’t know is that the ATB system, or Active Time Battle, was first introduced in this game - it’s the timers you don’t see behind your character’s hitpoints. It became the standard battle system for the series until Final Fantasy X was released ten years later. It makes for a bit more exciting battle than the turn-based system that was used in the first few games, especially during a boss fight when you held down A in order to get that one last attack in. Other than this, there is nothing exciting to report. You move around, interact with your characters through the classic Final Fantasy menu, and occasionally get to choose a response to questions. Easy to learn, especially for small children! Not really tough to master, though.

The game overall, playing through as a young adult, isn’t very hard, but that’s when I found out a fun fact about this game. The version that us North Americans saw is known as “Easytype” in Japan. After the release of Final Fantasy I on the NES a couple years prior, Square received complaints that the game was too hard. (And, honestly, it was and still is a very challenging game!) So, for the North American version of Final Fantasy IV, they decided to “dumb down” the game a bit. They took out a very large chunk of the story, mostly backstory about Kain’s decision to become a Dragoon and Cecil’s true past. They also made most of the enemies much easier, and instead of having one remedy potion for every ailment, they simply made a “Remedy” that would cure everything. Also, each character had a special attack or ability, and only a few of these remained in the US version of the game – most notably Kain’s Jump Ability and Edge’s Ninja magic ability. Honestly, it takes a lot of enjoyment out of the game knowing that it’s a dumbed-down version of the “real” game, and I have yet to play the “real” version that came out on the DS last year. I have a feeling the game would be so much richer.

Graphics

The graphics for the game are… for lack of a better term, “cute.” The teeny sprites march around the world map screen, and in battle they grimace with the most adorable poses as they get hit with enemy spells and swords. They’re good, but honestly nothing to write home about. Some of the enemy artwork, however, is wonderful, a testament to Yoshitaka Amano’s amazing and very unique style.

Bottom Line? Not only is it a classic Final Fantasy game, it’s a classic SNES game, period. Despite a bit of lackluster parts in the story and the less-than-exciting graphics, it’s a game that I think every SNES owner should play at least once, provided you can get your hands on a copy; it’s one of the most sought-after games (along with Final Fantasy III/VI) and undoubtedly one of the most expensive.

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Retro Review: Final Fantasy IV

June 2007 Issue

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