Current Events > Rate and Discuss - Final Fantasy 4 *spoilers*

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Welcome to my series of topics where we will discuss and rate every single main line Final Fantasy title, as well as Tactics!

How would you rate Final Fantasy 4? Which version did you play?

As the first FF game on a new system, I do feel like it was a good leap forward in graphics and audio. The sprite work is great, and they made great use of the SNES audio ability for the time.

The narrative was really intriguing, as you play a self doubting hero throughout. He has to forgive himself of his past deeds and come to grips with shedding the old persona he so desperately clings on to in favor of becoming who he knows he must. It was cool that people were being manipulated, and the revelation that your true enemy was on the friggen moon? What?

It wasn't necessarily all sunshine and rainbows for the game though. A weird decision to change some things for North America saw our version of the final dungeon be significantly different than the one made for Japan. Also, the revolving door of 5th characters made it hard to invest fully in a lot of the guest characters. The plot device of mind control did eventually go a little nuts, and went real hard on the surprise final boss that has little to no build.

So much about the game is great. A lot of it is superb. Too bad you could argue that the next two for the same system (sorta) eclipsed it in significant ways (at least for me). Playing it somewhat recently it felt kinda lack luster. For its time it was brilliant, but the more times I go back to it (I've played it for many different systems) the less I have come to really enjoy it.

I give it a 7/10.

Final Fantasy 1 Stats

Average Rating: 5.96 (29 votes cast)
Most Common Rating: 7/10 (9 of 29 votes)

Final Fantasy 2 Stats (Famicom, not SNES)

Average Rating: 4/10 (38 votes cast)
Most Common Rating: 3/10 (10 out of 38 votes)

Final Fantasy 3 Stats (Famicom, not SNES)

Average Rating: 5.8777/10 (30 votes cast)
Most Common Rating: 8/10 (8 out of 30 votes)

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Best SNES era FF IMO.

The dawning of Uematsu being able to flex his musical muscles with improved tech.


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amazing

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Good ass game, but the DS version's difficulty is crushing. Worth noting is that FFIV pretty much laid the blueprint on how to write a JRPG story for years to come.

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7 for me. It was sorely lacking in the gameplay department, but the story was good

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i think 7. i always thought it was just an ok game with a stellar soundtrack and great characters.

i did really enjoy the gba version with all the extras though. maybe i'd give that version an 8.

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7/10
Has its ups and downs, its highs are high and its lows are stupidly low.
When I think of Final Fantasy, I think of FF4. It's THE Final Fantasy IMO. Not the best Final Fantasy, but it's the best overall representative of the series, if that makes sense.

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Ving_Rhames posted...

When I think of Final Fantasy, I think of FF4. It's THE Final Fantasy IMO. Not the best Final Fantasy, but it's the best overall representative of the series, if that makes sense.

that's weird. When I think FF, I think 6

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I haven't actually played this one, so I can't vote. I did buy it as part of the "Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection" for like five bucks during a PSN sale a while back. I've always heard that people thought V was a letdown after this, but your opening post seems to indicate you find it the opposite.

I do like that no one is mentioning the sequel from what I can tell lol

it's worth playing rinku, and I dont' like it all that much

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_Rinku_ posted...

I do like that no one is mentioning the sequel from what I can tell lol

The After Years is basically Chrono Cross lite...

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SNES "FF2" 8/10
Super Famicom FF4 9/10
FF4DS 0/10
FF4 PSP 11/10

malenz posted...

it's worth playing rinku, and I dont' like it all that much

The sequel is worth playing? I'll definitely play it once I get around to playing the main game! That might just take a while though...

Ving_Rhames posted...

The After Years is basically Chrono Cross lite...

Okay, so I'm familiar with the fact that a lot of people hate Chrono Cross, but I haven't played it myself. So, if the comparison goes further than that, it's going over my head lol

_Rinku_ posted...

I haven't actually played this one, so I can't vote. I did buy it as part of the "Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection" for like five bucks during a PSN sale a while back. I've always heard that people thought V was a letdown after this, but your opening post seems to indicate you find it the opposite.

I do like that no one is mentioning the sequel from what I can tell lol

I look at V as being vastly superior in gameplay, but a step down in plot, characters and music.

And since I hold the latter three above gameplay in JRPGs, I consider IV to be a much better game. The job system is still pretty damn fun in V.

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_Rinku_ posted...

The sequel is worth playing? I'll definitely play it once I get around to playing the main game! That might just take a while though...

oh I thought you meant the original. don't know anything about the after years or whatever

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_Rinku_ posted...

Okay, so I'm familiar with the fact that a lot of people hate Chrono Cross, but I haven't played it myself. So, if the comparison goes further than that, it's going over my head lol

tldr don't play The After Years.

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BettyWhite posted...

I look at V as being vastly superior in gameplay, but a step down in plot, characters and music.

And since I hold the latter three above gameplay in JRPGs, I consider IV to be a much better game. The job system is still pretty damn fun in V.

I also thought V had a relatively bare bones story. You gotta admit that "Clash on the Big Bridge" is a banger though.

I feel ya on the importance of things other than gameplay though. One of my favorite JRPGs has an extremely basic turn-based combat system (and one of my least favorite mechanics in RPGs: where the main character dying in battle is an automatic game over), but its world and characters elevate it to being something amazing.

malenz posted...

oh I thought you meant the original. don't know anything about the after years or whatever

Well, sounds like the main game is still good, so I'll have to bump it up on my backlog.

I'd give it a 9/10. It may not be one of my all time favorite games now, but I honestly can't point to any piece of media that had a larger impact on my life. Playing FF4 in elementary school is basically responsible for my interest in fantasy, videogames in general and rpgs in particular. That combination of interests led me to get into D&D in middle school which has been a pretty important part of most of my friendships.


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I wouldn't say it's GOOD, but you should play it. If you have more pressing matters you could probably skip it and not be worse off for it.

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Clash on the Big Bridge and the uhh.. sad song..uhh.. are the only 2 songs from V I jam to.

Gotta search for the name of the sad song.

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BettyWhite posted...

Clash on the Big Bridge and the uhh.. sad song..uhh.. are the only 2 songs from V I jam to.

Gotta search for the name of the sad song.

wrong FF game. please be more patient

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malenz posted...

wrong FF game. please be more patient

I was responding to a comment that arose from comparing the two games.

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Sorry, I prematurely introduced FFV discussion in the FFIV topic.

_Rinku_ posted...

Sorry, I prematurely introduced FFV discussion in the FFIV topic.

Nothing wrong with comparing games.

The fact that I didn't quote you just made it appear like I was making a stand alone comment.

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BettyWhite posted...

Nothing wrong with comparing games.

The fact that I didn't quote you just made it appear like I was making a stand alone comment.

If you highlight the text in a post and then hit quote, it should just copy that portion of it (at least, that's how it works on mobile). I'm assuming you didn't want to clog up the topic with a second copy of that gigantic post I made lol

_Rinku_ posted...

Sorry, I prematurely introduced FFV discussion in the FFIV topic

Never apologize for FF5.
It did everything FF3 tried to do, and got perfected with Blue Dragon.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Never apologize for FF5.
It did everything FF3 tried to do, and got perfected with Blue Dragon.

Ohhhh? I didn't realize Blue Dragon had any similarities with FF3 or 5. I honestly always thought it was like an offshoot of the Dragon Quest games.

_Rinku_ posted...

If you highlight the text in a post and then hit quote, it should just copy that portion of it (at least, that's how it works on mobile). I'm assuming you didn't want to clog up the topic with a second copy of that gigantic post I made lol

Ah damn.

Didn't know you could do that.

Thanks for the tip my friend.

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My favorite Final Fantasy. Love the story, the characters, everything.

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_Rinku_ posted...

Ohhhh? I didn't realize Blue Dragon had any similarities with FF3 or 5. I honestly always thought it was like an offshoot of the Dragon Quest games.

Blue Dragon is a fucking terrible JRPG, and the only reason to play it is exploiting the hell out of the job system.

If you want story, look elsewhere.
If you want number porn and combinatorics, oh hell yes.

The battle theme is, in my opinion, top five in the series. It really worked that SNES bass in amazing ways. The whole soundtrack is real good, with the standouts being the Four Fiends boss theme, the overworld theme and the underappreciated Chocobo theme.

As a kid, this was my first real foray into RPGs and I thought it was really hard. Of course, the North American SNES release of FFIV is now notorious for being super-easy so that shows how much I sucked at it. The furthest I got as a kid was just after Mt. Ordeals, and that was trying.

I know it's a point of contention, but I like how the party fluxuates and changes so much in the original release (as I know in the GBA and PSOne and PSP releases you have more agency over your party). The original felt like a real crazy adventure because of all the in-and-out. It's also very strange to go back to it and fight active-time battles without the bar.

I think my favorite release is the GBA version, despite the awful font they chose. Seriously...the GBA screen was already cramped, why pick a font that so easily turns into a garbled mess? I also liked the DS version, but it's very different and so goddamn hard I can't really go back to it as easily.

Still, I have a ton of good memories with this game. Remember the demon walls!? Remember the Dark Elf!? Remember Kain betraying you then doing it again? Remember Cid exploding himself!? The whole game is full of now-iconic Final Fantasy stuff. To me, this is when Final Fantasy really found its own.

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BettyWhite posted...

Ah damn.

Didn't know you could do that.

Thanks for the tip my friend.

No problem!

Questionmarktarius posted...

Blue Dragon is a fucking terrible JRPG, and the only reason to play it is exploiting the hell out of the job system.

If you want story, look elsewhere.
If you want number porn and combinatorics, oh hell yes.

Truly, a ringing endorsement! I've always been put off by the artstyle anyway...

I'll be honest. FF4 fucking sucks. And I mean it REALLY sucks. It has a decent story but even the story part is kind of shit.

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_Rinku_ posted...

Truly, a ringing endorsement! I've always been put off by the artstyle anyway...

Blue Dragon is one of my favorite JRPGs, just because the job system is broken as hell.
Characters and plot are completely terrible.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Blue Dragon is one of my favorite JRPGs, just because the job system is broken as hell.
Characters and plot are completely terrible.

I'm glad you still found some enjoyment in it! I'm usually the opposite: willing to slog through terrible gameplay for a good story.

_Rinku_ posted...

willing to slog through terrible gameplay for a good story.

Willing to slog though abysmal plot for exploitable gameplay.

This is why I love Disgaea.

FF4 is one of my favorites, I prefer DS to PSP

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FF4 sucks but it has badass themes

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Questionmarktarius posted...

Willing to slog though abysmal plot for exploitable gameplay.

This is why I love Disgaea.

Oh nooo, I actually just bought Disgaea 5 because it was on sale

It's interesting to see all the different thoughts on FF4, almost all positive. It is the quintessential FF experience for both good and bad.

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It's the first FF I played. CE had me play the DS version. I loved it. Tied for my favorite FF along with FFVI.
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_Rinku_ posted...

Oh nooo, I actually just bought Disgaea 5 because it was on sale

You may have, uh, won here?
Disgaea 5 is essentially a VN with number porn.

Questionmarktarius posted...

You may have, uh, won here?
Disgaea 5 is essentially a VN with number porn.

99999
99999
99999
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Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

It's interesting to see all the different thoughts on FF4, almost all positive. It is the quintessential FF experience for both good and bad.

I'm sorry I've sidetracked some of the discussion; I'm gonna have a ton to say about V at least!

Questionmarktarius posted...

You may have, uh, won here?
Disgaea 5 is essentially a VN with number porn.

Oh, lucky me! It's the best of both worlds.

I got a lot to say about 5 as well. I have a lot to say about the entire series. The most recent ones I have played are 9 and Tactics, so expect a BUNCH on those.

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My favorite JRPG, ever, is Brave Dungeon.
Busty bluehair wants an undefined MacGuffin - that's the entire plotline.

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/brave-dungeon-3ds/
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/brave-dungeon-and-dark-witch-story-combat-switch/

I'll make a little pros and cons list off the top of my head. I haven't played it in awhile though so it's not too fresh in my memory.

Pros
-Cecil and Rydia are the best developed SNES FF characters by a long shot
-Quality music, Theme of Love is one of my favorite FF songs.
-Golbez is great until they fuck it all up at the end

Cons
-Moon shit and everything that goes with it.
-I can't remember a single thing about the battle system that set it apart from the rest

I really need to play it again because I can't recall enough to critically analyze it. In order of most recent play throughs it's towards the bottom despite my love for it.

I think it's been about a decade since I've played it. Played I, II, III and then IV in succession all about 10 years ago.

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It's a solid JRPG and one that I played numerous times growing up (SNES). The graphics are colorful and vibrant, there's the party order system to add in a little bit of strategy, each character has a unique skill to make him / her stand out (in the non-SNES versions). The pace isn't too quick, but it isn't a slog either. Grinding isn't necessary other than a few places. Living in the U.S., this was a huge change from the first game and having to hang out Elf Land for eternity before learning of the Peninsula "trick". Oh, and that music:
https://youtu.be/M3Yi69qxgD0
I just love that bass in the intro. Regular battles have that extra kick to them. All of the battle themes rock.

Then there's the story. You start off as a Dark Knight commanding a fleet of airships that are killing innocent people. Huh?! Then your character goes through a change to become literally a Light Warrior. The characters each have their own motivations. There wasn't much of this in JRPG's at the time which sounds silly now. Just when you think the story is drawing to a conclusion because of the Light Crystals, you learn there's a whole other world to explore with more to come.

It's not all gold, however. Golbez is an imposing villain for much of the game although comparable to, well, most stock baddies in games. Little motivation other than he's just "bad". It's why I don't have a problem with Zemus appearing. It isn't until we learn about him does Golbez receive any kind of backstory.

What is lazy is re-using a story device a second time---mind control. Golbez controls Kain and it's great to watch unfold as it seems it hinge on drawing out Kain's inner desire for Rosa and to be seen with greater reverence than Cecil. Good stuff. Later, it's discovered that Zemus is controlling Golbez because he needs a puppet and there's a Lunarian connection. It's weak.

My other gripe is how the game takes two steps back to the fates of certain characters. For the longest time, things get bleak. Characters are dying left and right just to try and help Cecil keep up with Golbez's actions. At the end, everyone comes back except one character. It's ok at first, but then feels like an inside joke that the audience isn't privy to.

All in all, solid entry and one that made me a fan of JRPG's in general. It's short and concise with memorable characters, some of the best music and an entertaining story (for the most part). It's a bit standard in customization in regards to characters, but the revolving roster keeps things fresh. I'm giving it an 8. It may be a stock experience, but it's good at what it offers.

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The first truly great game in the series imo

8/10

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