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Right after FFIII's launch, the developers learned of Nintendo's new console and started development on the franchise's first entry in the 16-bit era. For the fourth title, Square had a bigger development team and a bigger budget. FFIV sucessfully brought the series into the (then) new generation and to this day, it's still looked upon fondly by most fans. Let's take a look-see, shall we?:
The Story:
This game tells the story of a morally conflicted Dark Knight called Cecil. His king has been ordering him to travel around the world killing innocent people and taking their magical crystals (Mystical objects that keep the universe in balance). They don't even resist when they're being attacked. Cecil is baffled as to why the king is doing this, since he has known him since he was a kid, and back then, he was a very wise and good king. The final straw is when the king tricks him into releasing fire bombs in a village to kill all summoners. Soon after, Cecil and his friends join forces to try and start a rebellion against the king. The story is very good. Throughout the quest, you will encounter plot twists and new and well-developed characters. This game set the standard for storytelling in this series. It's a story of love, friendship, redemption and sacrifice. All of it is very well written, especially for its time.
8/10
The Gameplay:
The gameplay uses the already classic elements from the NES games, like a World Map full of places to explore, rewarding side-quests, tough battles against monsters, etc. My main complaint with the gameplay is that there is no new major element that sets this game apart from the rest of the series.
First, the good: The game has a much simpler development system, in which all spells and abilities are learned just by leveling up the characters. It makes things more simple so that players won't have to do much to make the characters stronger and are able to move on quickly. The game also allows you to have a total of five characters in your party simultaneously, which gives the player more to think about when buying equipment and issuing out battle commands. The only new gameplay mechanic is the "Active-Time Battle" system. In the NES games you selected all of your character commands before each turn and you would just sit back and watch what happens. In this game command selection is done in real time which means you can't just do stuff slowly. It forces the player to pay attention and makes combat more lively. It's a nice innovation.
Now, the bad: While I can appreciate that they tried to make the gameplay more accessible, it also means that you have very little control over how the characters develop, which, after the fantastic FFIII does feel like a step down. ATB is nice but not enough to make up for it. The game also has quite weird design choices. The one that stands out the most is that you can't freely adjust the characters from the back row to the front row and vice versa. Instead, you have to put the mages in the two back row spots and the warriors in the three front row spots. You can switch the line-up to three back row characters and two front row characters, but regardless of your options, there will be times when you will have parties in which one of them will have to be in a row you don't want him/her to be. It is quite frustating and inexcusable since FFIII didn't have this problem. There are also problems with item management. When you buy items in quantities of ten, instead of adding ten units to the item's slot in the inventory, the game instead fills an empty slot with those 10 items. In order to join all of the units in one slot you need to use the "sort" option. Combine this with the fact that the inventory is not very big and you get an annoying flaw that is constantly bugging you.
Overall, the gameplay is good, but it does have problems, one of them necessary and the rest very weird and inexcusable
7/10
The Music:
Uematsu gives us one of the franchise's best soundtracks. It's very emotional and memorable. It also, of course, has great battle themes, cool fanfares and catchy tunes. "Theme of Love" is the the stand-out track. It is beautiful.
10/10
The Graphics:
Since we're now in 16-bit territory, the graphics are a vast improvement over the first three games. The environments don't look as detailed as in the next two games, but are very good in their own right. The animations also received a huge upgrade. Monster and character design also benefits from the new and more powerful hardware. It certainly shows the talent of Square's visual artists.
8/10
Overall, the first golden age Final Fantasy is a great entry in the series, despite some problems.
With a memorable story, acessible gameplay and wonderful music, you can see why it's a fan favorite.
Final Grade: 8.3/10
Join me next time when the job system makes a return in the next game. See you later ;) .
