Final Fantasy IV
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, often abbreviated to FF4, is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Co., Ltd. in 1991. Its first North American release was called Final Fantasy II, as it was only the second game in the series to reach the North American market, but the original numbering was restored on later re-releases. Originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the game was subsequently re-released for the PlayStation, the WonderSwan Color, and the Game Boy Advance.
The story recounts the journey of Cecil, a Dark Knight from the kingdom of Baron, in his journey to defeat Golbez and free the land (and later the world) from his control. His lover Rosa, his best friend Kain, and many others will join him during the long trek.
Final Fantasy IV was a landmark game in the Final Fantasy series, with many innovations that would become staples of the series, and of RPGs in general. Because of its emotionally intense character-based plot, the very effective use of the new technologies available on the 16-bit game systems (such as Mode 7 graphics), and the famously beautiful scoring by Nobuo Uematsu, this game has been considered by many players and critics as one of the greatest video games ever made.
Gameplay
Gameplay in Final Fantasy IV is standard computer role-playing game fare. Players assume the roles of various characters as they traverse an overworld to fulfill requirements of various quests. Along the way, the characters use towns to replenish strength, buy new equipment, and discover clues. During overworld travels and dungeon quests, characters fight monsters at random intervals.
Final Fantasy IV introduces Square's Active Time Battle (ATB) system, which differs from previous Final Fantasy games and most RPGs up to that time in that players must give orders to their characters in real-time. The ATB system would appear again in the next five games in the series, as well as making appearances in other games produced by Square, including Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy X-2.
In battle, each character has certain strengths and weaknesses, including either spellcasting powers or other special abilities. Like other Final Fantasy games, characters gain abilities as they gain battle experience. Magic is divided into several different categories: "White", healing and support magic; "Black", offensive magic; "Summon" (or "call") magic, used to call forth monsters to damage the enemy or perform some special function for the party such as healing; and "Ninjutsu" magic, a specialized type of offensive and support magic used exclusively by an individual character. Spellcasters, which account for eight of the twelve playable characters, gain magic spells at preprogrammed experience levels or fixed events in the story; for this reason Final Fantasy IV's ability development system is considered the simplest of any game in the series.
Final Fantasy IV is a very linear game; at most points in the game players may advance through the story in only one way, with limited opportunities for side quests or alternate paths. However, some small side quests can be undertaken. For example, there exists a secret room where characters representing the game's programmers can be found. Additionally, in the basement of Castle Baron, the party can encounter an enemy, who, if defeated, can later be summoned as an ally. One rather large subquest involves traversing a cave underground that leads to the land of Summoned Monsters.
Story
The most powerful nation in the world, the monarchy of Baron, begins utilizing its unparalleled air force called the "Red Wings", to attack peaceful nations in search of four Crystals, each corresponding to a different classical element. However, this disruption will soon spiral into a disaster spanning multiple civilizations.
Cecil Harvey, a Dark Knight and captain of the Red Wings, begins to question the king's motives after being forced to steal the Water Crystal from the wizards' town of Mysidia. Upon questioning the king, Cecil is stripped of his rank and sent, along with his friend, the dragoon Kain Highwind, to deliver a package to the Village of Mist, on the way defeating a powerful dragon. However, when they arrive, they discover that the package contains explosives. The bomb destroys the entire town and kills most of its inhabitants. In the ensuing chaos, Cecil and Kain encounter a young female survivor named Rydia, who is standing over the body of her mother. Not killed by the flames, it turns out that she was the one controlling the Mist Dragon, and Cecil and Kain, in defeating it, have also in turn killed her. Infuriated, the girl summons a massive Titan, which smashes the mountain, destroying the passage east, cutting off the three from the road back to Mist and knocking them unconscious. When Cecil awakens, Kain is gone and the girl is lying hurt on the grass. He carries her to the desert oasis town of Kaipo and places her in the inn to rest. During the night a trio of Baron Guards attempt to kill Rydia; Cecil dispatches them, and sensing that the Dark Knight isn't truly evil, Rydia joins Cecil. The next day, Cecil encounters his lover, Rosa Farrell in the town. When Cecil disappeared, Rosa left to find him and, in crossing the desert to Kaipo, came down with a deadly desert sickness that can only be cured with a Sand Ruby. Cecil vows to retrieve one for Rosa, but needs the help of the royal house of Damcyan to find it. Cecil and Rydia head north, to the Water Cave. Inside the cave they encounter an elderly wizard, Tellah; he is on a journey to stop his daughter, Anna, from marrying a cowardly, spoony bard in Damcyan named Edward Chris von Muir. He cannot proceed alone because a large Octommama is blocking the path. The trio defeat the beast and approach Castle Damcyan just as the Red Wings obliterate the castle. Rushing inside, Tellah finds Edward standing over the broken body of Anna. He goes crazy, whacking Edward repeatedly. Rydia intercedes, reminding them that they all have lost someone close to them. Tellah, uninterested in the quest for the Sand Ruby, leaves to pursue Golbez, the new leader of the Red Wings. Edward gives Cecil and Rydia Damcyan's Hovercraft to cross the shoals and reach the Antlion's Lair, and accompanies them. The group acquires the Sand Ruby and returns to Kaipo, where they revive Rosa.
The group realizes that Golbez is executing a plot to acquire the crystals, and the next target is the monk sanctuary of Fabul. Along the path to Fabul the group crosses Mt. Hobbs, where they rescue a Fabul monk from ambush by monsters. He identifies himself as Yang Fang Leiden, who joins the party when he learns of Baron's intent to steal Fabul's crystal. They barricade themselves in Fabul, but are unable to stop Golbez' army and the Wind Crystal is stolen. During this attack on Fabul that they discover that Kain has apparently switched sides, and is now a subordinate of Golbez and the king of Baron; additionally, Rosa is captured by Golbez. Picking up the pieces after the attack, the group decides that the only way to defeat Baron is to attack the kingdom where it is weakest: the ocean. They board a ship for Baron, only to have the vessel swallowed by the sea monster Leviathan. With all his friends gone Cecil becomes stranded in Mysidia alone. Rebuked by the townspeople for his prior theft of their Water Crystal, Cecil is confronted by the town elder. He reveals that Cecil's Dark Knight powers are useless against truly evil creatures (including Golbez), and the only way for Cecil to oppose evil is to repent for his previous crimes is to climb Mt. Ordeals, pass the test at its peak, and become a holy Paladin. The elder summons the apprentice mages Palom and Porom, who accompany Cecil as he climbs the mountain. Along the climb, they encounter Tellah, who is attempting to acquire the legendarily powerful spell Meteo in order to exact revenge on Golbez for the death of Anna. The four scale the mountain. At its peak, they confront and destroy the Fiend of Earth, summoned by Golbez. Then, as his test, Cecil defeats a personification of himself as Dark Knight and becomes a Paladin. He gains the holy Legend sword that will allow him to fight Golbez and casts away his dark armor. Returning to Mysidia, the villagers are astounded that Cecil has managed to overcome his dark side and take the sword of light. Convinced that Cecil is now able to fight evil, the village elder unseals a magic transporter to Baron, and the group is transported to the kingdom.
As they infiltrate Baron, they reunite with Yang and rescue Cid Pollendina, discovering in the process that the king was an imposter, another elemental fiend. They destroy the fiend and escape on his airship, but Palom and Porom are killed in the process, turning themselves to stone to save the rest of the group. Cecil soon encounters the brainwashed Kain, who forces Cecil to retrieve the final Crystal in exchange for the life of Rosa. Kain then leads the group to where Rosa is being held by Golbez, where they unsuccessfully attempt a preemptive strike. During this attack, Tellah sacrifices his life trying to defeat Golbez using Meteo; this shatters Golbez' body and breaks the spell on Kain. Rosa is rescued and Kain joins the party, revealing that Golbez has not retrieved all of the Crystals. Four more, called the Dark Crystals, are hidden in the underground land of the Dwarves, and Golbez has already stolen two of them. With the help of Cid and the other allies, Cecil enters the underworld, attempting to secure the crystals, reuniting with a now-grown Rydia in the process. Golbez, however, follows the group at every turn and acquires the last crystals he seeks. The group invades the Tower of Babil in a last ditch effort to regain the crystals, with the aid of the ninja prince Edward "Edge" Geraldine. Golbez retreats to the planet's second moon. In order to discover what plan Golbez has for the Crystals and hopefully stop it, Cecil follows Golbez to the second moon using the ancient starship, the "Lunar Whale," hidden beneath Mysidia's ocean.
On the moon, Cecil meets FuSoYa, who explains that Cecil is descended from a race known as Lunarians. Cecil's deceased father was a heroic Lunarian named KluYa who visited the planet to learn more about its inhabitants. KluYa fell in love with a human woman, and had two children with her. KluYa was followed by more Lunarians, including Zemus, who desired to wipe out humanity in order to make the world suitable for Lunarian habitation. In order to achieve this, Zemus manipulated Golbez and Kain to obtain the Crystals needed to revive a giant destructive android, the Giant of Babel. Meanwhile, on the planet, the combined forces of dwarves and men are bravely attacking the awakened Giant. FuSoYa neutralizes the Giant of Babel's force field and Cecil's group breaks into the Giant. Inside, FuSoYa breaks Zemus' control over Golbez. Awakened from his controlled state, Golbez reveals, shocking Cecil's party, that his father's name is KluYa. Cecil had unknowingly been fighting against his own brother. As the Giant explodes, Kain, no longer mind-controlled, reappears to lead the party to safety, and rejoins them. Golbez and FuSoYa head to the core of the moon to attempt to defeat Zemus, and Cecil's party follows. Cecil watches Golbez and FuSoYa defeat Zemus, but as the party celebrates the victory, a dark shape arises from Zemus's body, calling itself Zeromus, the product of Zemus' hatred. Zeromus attacks and easily defeats Golbez, FuSoYa, and Cecil's party. It takes the united life force of all beings, combined with a special Crystal provided by Golbez, for Cecil and his party to defeat Zeromus. When Zeromus is defeated he claims that as long as there is evil still in the world, he will always exist. Cecil is bothered by what Zeromus told them, but FuSoYa tells him that as long as there is evil in the world, there will always be a good force to combat the evil, comforting him. Golbez and FuSoYa decide to sleep with the other Lunarians, as they wouldn't be welcome on the planet. After a year, the whole party reunites for Cecil and Rosa's wedding, and they become Baron's King and Queen.
Musical score
The musical themes of Final Fantasy IV are composed by Nobuo Uematsu, who has worked on most games in the Final Fantasy series. For this game, Uematsu composed many well-loved pieces, which he still uses in his Final Fantasy concert series. The track "Theme of Love" has been taught to Japanese school children as part of the music curriculum.
Three albums of Final Fantasy IV music have been released in Japan: ', the 44-track original soundtrack; ', a selection of tracks from the game arranged and performed by Celtic musician Máire Breatnach; and Final Fantasy IV Piano Collections, performed by Toshiyuki Mori, an arrangement of several tracks for solo piano, which began the Piano Collections trend for each successive Final Fantasy game. Several tracks from the game have appeared on Final Fantasy compilation albums produced by Squaresoft, including The Black Mages and . Independent but officially licensed releases of Final Fantasy IV music have been composed by such groups as "Project Majestic Mix", which focuses on recording video game music.
Development history
In 1990, after the completion of Final Fantasy III, Square intended to develop two Final Fantasy games, one for the Nintendo Famicom, and the other for the forthcoming Super Famicom. The Famicom title would be released under the name Final Fantasy IV, while the Super Famicom title would be released under the name Final Fantasy V.However, due to financial and scheduling constraints, Square was forced to drop plans for the Famicom game and to continue development of the Super Famicom version, which was retitled Final Fantasy IV. It is not clear how far development had progressed on the Famicom version before its cancellation. A mock-up screenshot was produced for a Japanese magazine, but almost no other information exists about the aborted title.
Graphical improvements
An early Super Nintendo game, Final Fantasy IV contained graphics greatly improved from those of previous Final Fantasy titles for the NES and even stood out from other Super Nintendo titles of the time. The Super Nintendo's Mode 7 technology was used to give magic spells greater visual impact and make airship travel more dramatic by scaling and tilting the ground.Releases
Final Fantasy IV has been ported to variety of different platforms. Each version tells the same story, stars the same characters, and features similar graphics, sound, music, and gameplay. Nonetheless, there are certain key distinctions between each version. To date, Final Fantasy IV has had an 'easy version' made for the Super Famicom, and has been ported to Sony PlayStation (in 1997), the WonderSwan Color (in 2002), and the Game Boy Advance (in 2005).Easytype
| Easytype | |
|---|---|
| |
| Publisher(s) |
Square Co., Ltd. |
| Release date(s) |
October 19, 1991 |
| Media | Cartridge |
Final Fantasy II (North America)
| Final Fantasy II (North America) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Publisher(s) |
/
Square Soft, Inc., Nintendo |
| Release date(s) |
/
November 23rd, 1991 |
| Platform | Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Media | Cartridge |
Because the previous two installments of the Final Fantasy series had not been released to North American audiences, Final Fantasy IV was instead released under the title Final Fantasy II for the purposes of maintaining continuity. Subsequent enhanced remakes of the game have been released in North America under the original title. The game was not released in Europe until the release of the PlayStation port as part of the European version of Final Fantasy Anthology in 2002.
Final Fantasy II was a translation of the Easytype version of Final Fantasy IV. The reason why Square chose to use this version, rather than the original, for the English port is unknown, since the original Final Fantasy had a fairly high difficulty level that was unchanged for the English release. The translation lost some content to Nintendo of America's censorship and poor translation when localized. Although the plot remains coherent and understandable, many odd or awkwardly translated lines of dialogue (such as "You spoony bard!") are frequently cited by players as examples of Engrish in video games.
The English script is somewhat condensed due to the space limitations of cartridges and the fact that Japanese text using kanji takes up fewer characters than its English equivalent. Some minor plot points, most notably a story about Kain's background and relationship to his father, and the motivations for Zemus's plans regarding colonization of Earth, were cut for space.
The logo for the U.S. version was also substantially different; instead of the underlined blue-on-white text overlaid on an artistically rendered Kain, the game's cover and title screen featured the font style and "sword T" emblem used in the Game Boy "Final Fantasy Legend" series.
Other changes included the removal of any overt Judeo-Christian religious references from the script and the graphics. The most notable instance of this is the renaming of the magic spell "Holy" to "White." This was in keeping with Nintendo of America's content guidelines at the time, and similar examples can be found in the original North American translations of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest and Final Fantasy VI (released as Final Fantasy III). All references to prayer are eliminated as well; the Tower of Prayers in Mysidia is renamed the Tower of Wishes, and Rosa's "Pray" command is dropped from the game. Direct references to death were not allowed, although several characters clearly die over the course of the game. Also in keeping with NOA policy, anything which seemed to be too risque was censored. The sprites of some female monsters were altered so that less of their chests were visible; dancers in the towns were given leotards instead of bikinis.
The Programmers' Room special feature (in which the player can find a "porno magazine" in a bookshelf, although the item does nothing) was also taken out.
The various differences between the North American translation and the Japanese original prompted an English language fan translation of the original script, produced by J2e Translations.
PlayStation
| Playstation remake | |
|---|---|
| |
| Publisher(s) |
Square Co./ Square EA |
| Release date(s) |
March 21, 1997/ June 28 2001 |
| Platform | Sony PlayStation |
| Media | CD-ROM |
This version is mostly identical to the original Final Fantasy IV. Some minor tweaks introduced in Final Fantasy IV Easytype have been left in, but they are extremely minor in nature. The most notable change in the PlayStation release is the inclusion of a full motion video opening sequence, the ability to "run" in dungeons and towns by holding the Cancel button, and the ability to perform a "memo" save anywhere on the world map.
The PlayStation remake was released in North America as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles, and in Europe as part of Final Fantasy Anthology The North American and European localization featured an entirely rewritten translation which addressed most of the discrepancies between the original game and the SNES Final Fantasy II, as well as fixing a few bugs from the Japanese version (mostly slowdown issues with the music). However, certain sections, such as the line "You spoony bard!", were kept intact, as many of them had achieved cult status.
WonderSwan Color
| Wonderswan Color | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publisher(s) |
Square Co., Ltd. |
| Release date(s) |
March 27, 2002 |
| Platform | WonderSwan Color |
| Media | 32 megabit cartridge |
However, a number of graphical enhancements were made to character sprites and backgrounds by providing additional details and color shading. The original character portraits were replaced with new, smaller portraits. Also, certain boss sprites were changed to those featured in the Japanese Easytype version of the Super Famicom game. The difficulty level was also noticeably different from either the Easytype or Super Famicom versions.
Game Boy Advance
| Gameboy Advance remake | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publisher(s) |
Square Enix |
| Release date(s)
|
/
December 12th, 2005 |
| Platform | Nintendo Game Boy Advance |
| Media | 64 megabit Cartridge |
The Game Boy Advance port titled Final Fantasy IV Advance was released in North America by Nintendo of America on December 12, 2005, in Japan by Square Enix on December 15, 2005, and in Europe on June 2, 2006. It had a rating given by the ESRB of (Everyone 10 and older) and by CERO for all ages, and utilized 64 megabit cartridge. In Japan, Final Fantasy IV Advance was sold alone and as a packaged bundle including both the game and a limited edition Game Boy Micro with a themed face plate featuring artwork of Cecil and Kain.
There are many differences between this version and the original SNES version, such as graphic improvements in the battle backgrounds and in the conversation boxes for player characters, enhanced music and sound effects from the WonderSwan Color version, new locations to explore, and greatly improved translations of the dialogue. The story reads much more naturally and many details that were not clear in the original translation have been added. Some minor bugs can be found in the game, notably in the battle system, possibly as a result of merely porting the game from an existing platform instead of fully optimizing the game for the GBA hardware. Several of these bugs were fixed in the European version.
Also added to the game was the ability to change characters among Edward, Yang, Porom, Palom and Cid after completing the Giant of Babel; Cecil must be in the party at all times. There are also two new dungeons: a new cave at Mt. Ordeals where the five additional characters can gain their "ultimate weapons" and some powerful armor (the character must be in the party to fight the monster to get the weapon), and the Lunar Ruins, which can only be accessed at the end of the game; there are trials for all the characters, and these can only be accessed if that character has beaten Zeromus. This area contains some of the best items in the game, another version of Zeromus to fight (his alternate form from the Easytype version, dubbed Zeromus EG), a superboss named Brachioraidos, and lunar versions of the summons, much like the dark aeons in Final Fantasy X.
Reception
Sales were brisk in Japan, totalling over 1.77 million copies. Major reviewers, such as IGN and GameSpot, have called Final Fantasy IV one of the greatest video games of all time and the popularizer of many common computer role-playing game features. Famitsu, a Japanese game reviewer, released a reader poll ranking it as the sixth best game ever made Many criticized the original Final Fantasy II, Square's first North American localization, for the poor quality of its English language translation.The Game Boy Advance remake has been well-received by most reviewers, though a few have questioned how well the game holds up today in visual presentation, especially when compared to subsequent installments in the series, particularly Final Fantasy VI.
References
External links
- [Nintendo Final Fantasy IV Advance Official Site (English)]
- ()[Square Enix Final Fantasy IV Advance Official Site]
- [Square Enix Final Fantasy Chronicles Website - Includes an FF4 Overview (English)]
- [Gamespot.com - Greatest Games Of All Time]
- [IGN.com - Greatest Games of All Time]
- [ign.com Final Fantasy IV Advance Review]
- [gameplasma.com Final Fantasy IV Advance Review]
- [Final Fantasy Wiki category list for Final Fantasy IV]
- [Moby Games Final Fantasy IV Listing]
- [Collection of official game art at Caves of Narshe]
| Final Fantasy IV |
|---|
|
List of Final Fantasy IV characters - List of Final Fantasy IV locations Cecil - Kain - Rosa - Cid - Rydia - Tellah - Edward - Yang - Palom - Porom - Edge - FuSoYa - |
| Main series: | I — II — III — IV — V — VI — VII — VIII — IX — X — XI — XII — ''XIII |
| Compilations and collections: | I-II — Collection — Anthology — Chronicles — Origins — ' — Compilation of VII — ' |
| Direct sequels: | ' — ' — ' — ' — X-2 — Agito XIII — Versus XIII — Final Fantasy XI II (tentative name) |
| Spinoffs: | Crystal Chronicles — ' — ' — Mystic Quest — Tactics — Tactics Advance |
| Related series: | – Kingdom Hearts series |
| Film and television: | ' — ' — ' — ' — |
| More info: | Creatures — Characters — Designers — Items — — Magic — — Music — Races — [List of Final Fantasy weapons|Weapons] |
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