Very rare competition game (Only two copies of this version exist in the world)
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Final Fantasy IV,[a] known as Final Fantasy II for its initial North American release, is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in 1991, it is the fourth main installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game's story follows Cecil, a dark knight, as he tries to prevent the sorcerer Golbez from seizing powerful crystals and destroying the world. He is joined on this quest by a frequently changing group of allies. Final Fantasy IV introduced innovations that became staples of the Final Fantasy series and role-playing games in general. Its 'Active Time Battle' system was used in five subsequent Final Fantasy games, and unlike prior games in the series, IV gave each character their own unchangeable character class.
Final Fantasy IV has been ported to several other platforms with varying differences. An enhanced remake, also called Final Fantasy IV, with 3D graphics was released for the Nintendo DS in 2007 and 2008. The game was re-titled Final Fantasy II during its initial release outside Japan as the original Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III had not been released outside Japan at the time. All later localizations, which began to appear after Final Fantasy VII (released worldwide under that title), used the original title.
The various incarnations of the game have sold more than four million copies worldwide. A sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, was released for Japanese mobile phones in 2008, and worldwide via the Wii Shop Channel on June 1, 2009. In 2011, both Final Fantasy IV and The After Years were released for the PlayStation Portable as part of the compilation Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection, which also included a new game, set between the two; Final Fantasy IV: Interlude. Ports of the Nintendo DS remake were released for iOS in 2012, for Android in 2013 and for Windows in 2014.
Gameplay[edit]
A battle scene from the Super NES version of the game: the party engages a Blue Dragon on the Moon
In Final Fantasy IV, the player controls a large cast of characters and completes quests to advance the story. Characters move and interact with people and enemies on a field map, which may represent a variety of settings, such as towers, caves, and forests. Travel between areas occurs on a world map. The player can use towns to replenish strength, buy equipment, and discover clues about their next destination.[2] Conversely, the player fights monsters at random intervals on the world map and in dungeons. In battle, the player has the option to fight, use magic or an item, retreat, change character positions, parry, or pause. Certain characters have special abilities.[2] The game was the first in the series to allow the player to control up to five characters in their party; previous games had limited the party to four.[3]
Player characters and monsters have hit points (HP), with the characters' HP captioned below the main battle screen. Attacks reduce remaining HP until none are left, at which point the character faints or the monster dies. If all characters are defeated, the game must be restored from a saved game file.[2] The player can restore the characters' hit points by having them sleep in an inn or use items in the party's inventory, such as potions, as well as using healing magic spells. Equipment (such as swords and armor) bought in towns or found in dungeons can be used to increase damage inflicted on monsters or minimize damage received.[2] The player can choose whether characters appear on the front line of a battle or in the back. A character's placement impacts damage received and inflicted depending on the type of attack.[2]
Final Fantasy IV introduced Square's Active Time Battle (ATB) system, which differed from the turn-based designs of previous RPGs. The ATB system centers on the player inputting orders for the characters in real time during battles.[4] The system was used in many subsequent Square games.[3]
Each character has certain strengths and weaknesses; for instance, a strong magic user may have low defense, while a physical fighter may have low agility. Like other Final Fantasy games, characters gain new, more powerful abilities with battle experience. Magic is classified as either 'White' for healing and support; 'Black' for offense; or 'Summon' (or 'call') for summoning monsters to attack or carry out specialized tasks.[2] A fourth type, 'Ninjutsu,' consists of support and offensive magic and is available to only one character. Magic users, who account for eight of the twelve playable characters, gain magic spells at preprogrammed experience levels or fixed story events. The game includes balanced point gains, items, and rewards to eliminate long sessions of grinding.[5] Due to the Super NES' greater processing power, Final Fantasy IV contains improved graphics when compared to previous Final Fantasy titles, all of which were released on the NES. The game employs the Super NES' Mode 7 technology to give enhanced magic spell visuals and to make airship travel more dramatic by scaling and tilting the ground for a bird's eye view.[6]
Plot[edit]Setting[edit]
Most of Final Fantasy IV takes place on Earth, also known as the Blue Planet,[7] which consists of a surface world (or Overworld), inhabited by humans, and an underground world (or Underworld), inhabited by the Dwarves. An artificial moon orbits the planet, upon which the Lunarians live. The Lunarians are a race of beings originally from a world which was destroyed, becoming the asteroid belt surrounding the Blue Planet, and are identified by a moon-shape crest on their foreheads. They created the artificial moon, resting until a time when they believe their kind can co-exist with humans.[3] A second, natural moon orbits the Blue Planet as well, although it is never visited in the game.
Characters[edit]
Final Fantasy IV offers twelve playable characters, each with a unique, unchangeable character class. During the game, the player can have a total of five, or fewer, characters in the party at any given time. The main character, Cecil Harvey, is a dark knight and the captain of the Red Wings, an elite air force unit of the kingdom of Baron. He serves the king alongside his childhood friend Kain Highwind, the commander of the Dragoons. Rosa Farrell is a white mage and archer, as well as Cecil's love interest. The Red Wings' airships were constructed by Cecil's friend, the engineer Cid Pollendina.[3]Total war warhammer long loading.
During his quest, Cecil is joined by others, including Rydia, a young summoner from the village of Mist; Tellah, a legendary sage; Edward Chris von Muir, the prince of Damcyan and a bard; Yang Fang Leiden, the head of the monks of Fabul; Palom and Porom, a white mage and a black mage, twin apprentices from the magical village of Mysidia; Edward 'Edge' Geraldine, the ninja prince of Eblan; and Fusoya, the guardian of the Lunarians during their long sleep.
Zemus is the main antagonist of the game. He wishes to destroy the human race so that his people can populate the earth. He uses Golbez to do this by controlling him and Kain with his psychic powers to activate the Giant of Babil, a huge machine created to carry out the genocide.
Story[edit]
The Red Wings attack the city of Mysidia to steal their Water Crystal, and return to the Kingdom of Baron. When Cecil, Captain of the Red Wings, afterwards questions the king's motives, he is stripped of his rank and sent with Kain, his friend and Captain of the Dragoons, to deliver a ring to the Village of Mist.[8] There, Kain and Cecil watch in horror as monsters burst forth from inside the ring and lay waste to the village. A young girl, Rydia, is the only survivor and summons a monster named Titan in anger. This monster causes an earthquake, separating Cecil and Kain.[9] Cecil awakens afterward and takes the wounded Rydia to a nearby inn. Baron soldiers come for Rydia but Cecil defends her,[10] and she joins him on his journey.
It is revealed that Rosa, Cecil's love interest, had followed him and is extremely ill with a fever. Soon after this, Cecil and Rydia meet Tellah, who is going to Damcyan Castle to retrieve his eloping daughter, Anna.[11] However, Anna is killed when the Red Wings bomb the castle. Edward, Anna's lover and the prince of Damcyan, explains that the Red Wings' new commander, Golbez, did this to steal the Fire Crystal for Baron as they had stolen the Water Crystal from Mysidia.[12] Tellah leaves the party to exact revenge on Golbez for Anna's death.[13] After finding a cure for Rosa, the party decides to go to Fabul to protect the Wind Crystal. Here they meet Master Yang, a warrior monk serviced to the kingdom and the protection of the crystal. The Red Wings attack, and Kain reappears as one of Golbez's servants. He attacks and defeats Cecil; when Rosa intervenes, Golbez kidnaps her and Kain takes the crystal.[14] On the way back to Baron, the party is attacked by Leviathan and separated.
Cecil awakes alone near Mysidia. When he enters the town, he finds that its residents deeply resent him for the prior attack on their town. Through the Elder of Mysidia, he learns that to defeat Golbez, he must climb Mt. Ordeals and become a Paladin.[15] Before embarking on his journey, he is joined by the twin mages, Palom and Porom. On the mountain he encounters Tellah, who is searching for the forbidden spell Meteor to defeat Golbez.[16] Casting aside the darkness within himself, Cecil becomes a Paladin, while Tellah learns the secret of Meteor. Upon reaching Baron, the party discovers an amnesiac Yang and restores his memory. The party then confronts the King, only to discover that he had been replaced by one of Golbez's minions, Cagnazzo.[17] After defeating him, Cid arrives and takes them to one of his airships, the Enterprise. On the way, the party enters a room booby-trapped by Cagnazzo, where Palom and Porom sacrifice themselves to save Cecil, Tellah, Cid, and Yang.
On the airship, Kain appears and demands Cecil retrieve the final crystal in exchange for Rosa's life,[18] which the party obtains with assistance from a bedridden Edward. Kain then leads the party to the Tower of Zot, where Rosa is imprisoned. At the tower's summit, Golbez takes the crystal and attempts to flee. Tellah casts Meteor to stop Golbez, sacrificing his own life in the process. However, the spell only weakens Golbez, ending his mind control of Kain.[19] Kain helps Cecil rescue Rosa, who teleports the party out of the collapsing tower to Baron.
In Baron, Kain reveals that Golbez must also obtain four subterranean 'Dark Crystals' to achieve his goal of reaching the moon.[20] The party travels to the underworld and encounter the Dwarves, who are currently fighting the Red Wings. They defeat Golbez thanks to a sudden appearance by Rydia, now a young woman due to her time spent in the Feymarch, the home of the Eidolons. However, the party ultimately fails to prevent Golbez from stealing the Dwarves' crystal. With the help of the Dwarves, they enter the Tower of Babil in order to obtain the crystals Golbez has stored there, only to find that they have been moved to a surface portion of the tower. Yang later sacrifices himself in order to stop the tower's cannons from firing on the Dwarves (though he's later revealed to have survived). After escaping a trap set by Golbez, the party flees the underworld aboard the Enterprise, with Cid sacrificing himself to reseal the passage between the two worlds and to prevent the Red Wings from continuing their pursuit (he, too, is revealed later to have survived).[21] The party, now joined by Edge, the prince of Eblan, travels back to the Tower of Babil in order to take back the stolen crystals. Upon reaching the crystal room, however, the party falls through a trap door to the underworld. Meeting with the Dwarves once again and finding Cid to be alive, the party sets out to retrieve the eighth crystal before Golbez can. When the crystal is obtained, Golbez appears and reveals he still has control over Kain, while taking the crystal for himself.[22] After learning of the Lunar Whale, a ship designed to take travelers to and from the moon, the party is rejoined by Cid. They travel to the surface and board the Lunar Whale.[23]
On the moon, the party meets the sage Fusoya, who explains that Cecil's father was a Lunarian.[24] Fusoya also explains that a Lunarian named Zemus plans to destroy life on the Blue Planet so that the Lunarians can take over, using Golbez to summon the Giant of Babil, a colossal robot.[25] The party returns to Earth and the forces of the two worlds attack the Giant, including Palom and Porom, who have been revived. After the party breaks the robot, Golbez and Kain confront them, only to have Fusoya break Zemus' control over Golbez, in turn releasing Kain. Cecil learns that Golbez is his older brother.[26] Golbez and Fusoya head to the core of the moon to defeat Zemus, and Cecil's party follows. In the moon's core, the party witnesses Golbez and Fusoya kill Zemus, but then quickly fall to his resurrected form, the spirit Zeromus, the embodiment of all of Zemus' hatred and rage.[27] Back on Earth, the Elder of Mysidia commands all of Cecil's allies and friends to pray for the party, which gives Cecil and his allies the strength to fight and slay Zeromus. Following the battle, Fusoya and Golbez opt to leave Earth with the moon.[28] Cecil, at last accepting the truth, acknowledges Golbez as his brother, and bids him farewell.
During the epilogue, most of the cast reunites to celebrate Cecil and Rosa's wedding and their coronation as Baron's new king and queen, while Kain is seen atop Mt. Ordeals, having vowed to atone for his misdeeds.
Development[edit]
After completing Final Fantasy III in 1990, Square planned to develop two Final Fantasy gamesâone for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the other for the forthcoming Super NES, to be known as Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V respectively.[29] Due to financial and scheduling constraints, Square dropped plans for the NES game and continued development of the SNES version, retitled Final Fantasy IV. A mock-up screenshot of the cancelled title was produced for a Japanese magazine, but little other information exists about it.[29] Series creator and director Hironobu Sakaguchi has stated that the NES version was approximately 80% complete and certain ideas were reused for the SNES version.[30]
Final Fantasy IV was lead designer Takashi Tokita's first project at Square as a full-time employee. Before this, Tokita wanted a career as a theater actor, but working on the game made him decide to become a 'great creator' of video games.[31] Initially Hiromichi Tanaka, the main designer of Final Fantasy III, was also involved in the development of the game. However, Tanaka wanted to create a seamless battle system that had no separate battle screen and was not menu-driven, and since Final Fantasy IV was not going in that direction, he changed development teams to work on the action RPGSecret of Mana instead.[32] According to Tanaka, he originally wanted Final Fantasy IV to have a 'more action-based, dynamic overworld' but it 'wound up not being' Final Fantasy IV anymore, instead becoming a separate project that eventually became Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana), which was codenamed 'Chrono Trigger' during development.[33] The development team of Final Fantasy IV contained 14 people in total, and the game was completed in roughly one year.[34]
Initial ideas were contributed by Sakaguchi, including the entire story and the name of Baron's royal air force, the 'Red Wings'.[1][35] The Active Time Battle (ATB) system was conceived and designed by Hiroyuki Ito when he was inspired while watching a Formula One race and seeing racers pass each other at different speeds. This gave him the idea of different speed values for the individual characters.[36][37] The system was developed by Kazuhiko Aoki, Ito and Akihiko Matsui.[38] As the game's lead designer, Tokita wrote the scenario and contributed pixel art.[39] He stated that there was a lot of pressure and that the project would not have been completed if he did not work diligently on it. According to Tokita, Final Fantasy IV was designed with the best parts of the previous three installments in mind: the job system of Final Fantasy III, the focus on story of Final Fantasy II, and the four elemental bosses acting as 'symbols for the game' as in the first installment.[34] Other influences include Dragon Quest II.[40] The themes of Final Fantasy IV were to go 'from darkness to light' with Cecil, a focus on family and friendship among the large and diverse cast, and the idea that 'brute strength alone isn't power.'[35] Tokita feels that Final Fantasy IV is the first game in the series to really pick up on drama,[34] and the first Japanese RPG to feature 'such deep characters and plot.'[41]
The game's script had to be reduced to one fourth of its original length due to cartridge storage limits, but Tokita made sure only 'unnecessary dialogue' was cut, rather than actual story elements. As the graphical capacities of the Super Famicom allowed regular series character designer Yoshitaka Amano to make more elaborate character designs than in the previous installments, with the characters' personalities already evident from the images, Tokita felt the reduced script length improved the pacing of the game.[34][42] Still, he acknowledges that some parts of the story were 'unclear' or were not 'looked at in depth' until later ports and remakes. One of the ideas not included, due to time and space constraints, was a dungeon near the end of the game where each character would have to progress on their ownâthis dungeon would only be included in the Game Boy Advance version of the game, as the Lunar Ruins.[34]
Music[edit]
The score of Final Fantasy IV was written by longtime series composer Nobuo Uematsu. Uematsu has noted that the process of composing was excruciating, involving trial and error and requiring the sound staff to spend several nights in sleeping bags at Square's headquarters. His liner notes were humorously signed as being written at 1:30 AM 'in the office, naturally.'[43] The score was well received; reviewers have praised the quality of the composition despite the limited medium.[44] The track 'Theme of Love' has even been taught to Japanese school children as part of the music curriculum.[45] Uematsu continues to perform certain pieces in his Final Fantasy concert series.[46]
Three albums of music from Final Fantasy IV have been released in Japan. The first album, Final Fantasy IV: Original Sound Version, was released on June 14, 1991 and contains 44 tracks from the game. The second album, Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon, was released on October 24, 1991, and contains a selection of tracks from the game, arranged and performed by Celtic musicianMáire Breatnach. Lastly, Final Fantasy IV Piano Collections, an arrangement of tracks for solo piano performed by Toshiyuki Mori, was released on April 21, 1992 and began the Piano Collections trend for each successive Final Fantasy game. Several tracks have appeared on Final Fantasy compilation albums produced by Square, including The Black Mages and Final Fantasy: Pray. Independent but officially licensed releases of Final Fantasy IV music have been orchestrated by such groups as Project Majestic Mix, which focuses on arranging video game music.[47] Selections also appear on Japanese remix albums, called dÅjin music, and on English remixing websites such as OverClocked ReMix.[48]
North American localization[edit]
Because the previous two installments of the Final Fantasy series had not been localized and released in North America at the time, Final Fantasy IV was distributed as Final Fantasy II to maintain naming continuity.[49] This remained the norm until the release of Final Fantasy VII in North America (after the release of Final Fantasy VI under the title of Final Fantasy III) and subsequent releases of the original Final Fantasy II and III on various platforms. Final Fantasy II has since gone under the title Final Fantasy IV.
The English localization of Final Fantasy IV retains the storyline, graphics, and sound of the original, but the developers significantly reduced the difficulty for beginning gamers.[50] They have released the US version in Japan as 'Final Fantasy IV Easy' Square was worried that western fans would find it difficult to adjust to the game's complexity due to not having played the previous two entries, so decreased the overall depth considerably.[51] Other changes include the removal of overt Judeo-Christian religious references and certain potentially objectionable graphics. For example, the magic spell 'Holy' was renamed 'White', and all references to prayer were eliminated; the Tower of Prayers in Mysidia was renamed the Tower of Wishes. Direct references to death were also omitted, although several characters clearly die during the course of the game.[52] The translation was changed in accordance with Nintendo of America's censorship policies (at a time before the formation of the ESRB and its rating system).[53]
Re-releases[edit]
In addition to its original release, Final Fantasy IV has been remade into many different versions. The first of these was Final Fantasy IV Easy Type, a modified version of the game which was released for the Super Famicom in Japan. In this version, the attack powers of weapons have been enhanced, while the protective abilities of certain accessories and armor are amplified.[50] The American release is partially based on Easy Type.
A PlayStation port debuted in Japan on March 21, 1997. Ported by Tose and published by Square, it was designed and directed by Kazuhiko Aoki, supervised by Fumiaki Fukaya, and produced by Akihiro Imai.[54] This version is identical to the original game, although minor tweaks introduced in the Easy Type are present. The most notable changes in the PlayStation release are the inclusion of a full motion video opening and ending sequence, the ability to move quickly in dungeons and towns by holding the Cancel button, and the option of performing a 'memo' save anywhere on the world map.[54] On March 11, 1999, this version was released a second time in Japan as part of the Final Fantasy Collection package, which also included the PlayStation versions of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI.[55] Fifty-thousand limited edition copies of the collection were also released and included a Final Fantasy-themed alarm clock.[56]
The PlayStation port was later released with Chrono Trigger in North America as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles in 2001 and with Final Fantasy V in Europe and Australia as part of Final Fantasy Anthology in 2002.[57] The English localizations feature a new translation, although certain translated lines from the previous localization by Kaoru Moriyama, such as 'You spoony bard!', were kept, as they had become fan favorites.[58] A remake for the WonderSwan Color, with few changes from the PlayStation version, was released in Japan on March 28, 2002. Character sprites and backgrounds were graphically enhanced through heightened details and color shading.[59]
Final Fantasy IV was ported again by Tose for the Game Boy Advance and published as Final Fantasy IV Advance (ãã¡ã¤ãã«ãã¡ã³ã¿ã¸ã¼IVã¢ããã³ã¹Fainaru FantajÄ« FÅ Adobansu). It was released in North America by Nintendo of America on December 12, 2005; in Japan by Square Enix on December 15, 2005; in Australia on February 23, 2006; and in Europe on June 2, 2006. In Japan, a special version was available which included a limited edition Game Boy Micro with a themed face plate featuring artwork of Cecil and Kain.[60] The enhanced graphics from the WonderSwan Color port were further improved, and minor changes were made to the music. The localization team revised the English translation, improving the flow of the story, and restoring plot details absent from the original.[50] The abilities that were removed from the original North American release were re-added, while spells were renamed to follow the naming conventions of the Japanese version, changing 'Bolt2' to 'Thundara' for example.[52] A new cave at Mt. Ordeals was added featuring powerful armor and stronger weapons for five additional characters, as was the Lunar Ruins, a dungeon accessible only at the end of the game.[50]
Final Fantasy 2 Psp Sprites
The game was remade with 3D graphics for the Nintendo DS as part of the Final Fantasy series' 20th anniversary, and was released as Final Fantasy IV in Japan on December 20, 2007, in North America on July 22, 2008, and in Europe on September 5, 2008.[61] The remake adds a number of features not present in the original, such as voice acting, minigames, and some changes to the basic gameplay. The game was developed by Matrix Software, the same team responsible for the Final Fantasy III DS remake, and was supervised by members of the original development team: Takashi Tokita served as executive producer and director, Tomoya Asano as producer and Hiroyuki Ito as battle designer. Animator Yoshinori Kanada storyboarded the new cutscenes.
The original version of the game was released on the WiiVirtual Console in Japan on August 4, 2009 and in PAL regions on June 11, 2010.[62] An enhanced port for i-mode compatible phones was released in Japan on October 5, 2009. It retains features introduced in the Wonderswan Color and Game Boy Advance ports, while incorporating enhanced character graphics on par with those found in The After Years, as well as an exclusive 'extra dungeon' available after completing the game.[63]
Along with Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, the game was released for the PlayStation Portable as part of the compilation Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection. This version used updated 2D graphics, as opposed to the 3D graphics seen in the DS remake. The collection also includes a new episode called Final Fantasy IV: Interlude, which takes place between the original game and The After Years. Masashi Hamauzu arranged the main theme for the game.[64] It was released in Japan on March 24, 2011, in North America on April 19, 2011, in Europe on April 21, 2011, and in Australia on April 28, 2011.[65] On December 18, 2012 the PlayStation port was re-released as part of the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box Japanese package.[66]
In December 2012, the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy IV was released for the iOS and Android (June 2013) mobile platforms, introducing an optional easier difficulty level.[67] On September 17, 2014, with no prior advertisement, Final Fantasy IV was also released for Microsoft Windows.[68]
The PlayStation version was released as a PSOne Classic in Japan on June 27, 2012 compatible with PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation Portable.
The Super Famicom version was released on the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan on February 19, 2014 while the Game Boy Advance version was released on April 13, 2016.
Reception[edit]
The game was critically acclaimed upon release.[81]Famitsu's panel of four reviewers gave it ratings of 9, 9, 10, and 8, adding up to an overall score of 36 out of 40, one of the highest scores it awarded to any game in 1991, second only The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.[76] In its November 1991 issue, Nintendo Power proclaimed it set a 'new standard of excellence' for role-playing games.[85] They praised the battles as being 'more interesting than in previous RPGs' because the player 'must make snap decisions' and the 'enemies don't wait for you to make up your mind,' and concluded that the 'story, graphics, play and sound will keep fans riveted.'[81]Electronic Gaming Monthly' panel of four reviewers gave it ratings of 8, 9, 7, and 8, out of 10, adding up to 32 out of 40 overall.[74] In its December 1991 issue, Ed Semrad, who gave it a 9, stated that 'Square has just redefined what the ultimate RPG should be like,' noting the 'spectacular Mode 7 effects, outstanding graphics and a quest unequalled in a video game,' concluding that it 'makes use of all the Super NES has to offer' and is 'the best made to date!' Ken Williams (as Sushi-X), who gave it an 8, stated that it is 'a totally awesome RPG,' the 'storyline is actually coherent and the plot moves along with a combination of speaking sequences and battles.' On the other hand, Martin Alessi, who disliked role-playing games, gave it a 7. They gave the game an award for 1991's Best RPG Video Game, stating that the 'Mode 7 is great here and Square does a spectacular job in using it to zoom in and away from the planet' and that the 'quest is huge and also one of the most difficult ever attempted in a video game.'[81]
GamePro rated it a perfect 5 out of 5 score in its March 1992 issue.[69] The reviewer Monty Haul stated that it 'truly redefines the standards for fantasy adventure games,' proclaiming that 'one-dimensional characters, needless hack 'em combat, and linear gameplay will be things of the past if other RPGs learn a lesson or two from this cart,' concluding that it 'is one small step for Square Soft, and one giant leap for SNES role-playing games.'[81] In the November 1993 issue of Dragon, Sandy Petersen gave it an 'Excellent' rating. He criticized the 'stylized' combat system and the graphics as 'inferior' to Zelda, but praised how every 'spell has a different on-screen effect' and the difficulty for being 'just about right' where bosses 'nearly beat you every time' unlike other RPG's such as Ultima where enough 'adventuring' makes it possible to 'trash' enemies 'with ease.' He praised the 'great' music, preferring it over Zelda, stating what it 'lacks in graphics, it more than makes up for in sound.' He praised the story in particular, noting that, in a departure from other RPGs where the party always 'sticks together through thick and thin,' the characters have their own motives for joining and leaving the group, with one that 'even betrays' them. He stated that it is like 'following the storyline of a fantasy novel,' comparing it to The Lord of the Rings and Man in the Iron Mask, concluding that, because 'the characters often spoke up for themselves,' he 'got much more attached' to the party 'than in any other computer game.'[73]
Retrospectively, major reviewers have called Final Fantasy IV one of the greatest video games of all time, noting that it pioneered many now common console role-playing game features, including 'the whole concept of dramatic storytelling in an RPG.'[77][78] Reviewers have praised the game for its graphics, gameplay and score,[50][77] and have noted that Final Fantasy IV was one of the first role-playing games to feature a complex, involving plot.[5][44] However, retrospective reviews have heavily criticized the game's original SNES release for the poor quality of its English-language translation.[44][50]
It has been included in various lists of the best games of all time. Nintendo Power included it in the '100 Greatest Nintendo Games' lists, placing it ninth in 1997's issue 100,[86] and twenty-eighth in 2005's issue 200.[87]IGN included it in its top 100 lists of the greatest games of all time, ranking it #9 in 2003, as the highest-ranking RPG,[88] and at #26 in 2005, as the highest rated Final Fantasy title on the list.[89] In 2007, it was ranked at #55,[90] behind Final Fantasy VI[91] and Final Fantasy Tactics.[92]Famitsu released a reader poll in 2006 ranking it as the sixth best game ever made.[93] It was also listed among the best games of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly in 2001[94] and 2006,[95]Game Informer in 2001[96] and 2009,[97]GameSpot in 2005,[98] and GameFAQs in 2005,[99] 2009[100] and 2014.[101]
Final Fantasy Collection sold over 400,000 copies in 1999, making it the 31st best selling release of that year in Japan.[102]Weekly Famitsu gave it a 54 out of 60 points, scored by a panel of six reviewers.[56] The Game Boy Advance version, Final Fantasy IV Advance, was met with praise from reviewers,[70] although a few noted the game's graphics do not hold up well to current games, especially when compared to Final Fantasy VI.[50][103] Reviewers noted that some fans may still nitpick certain errors in the new translation.[77] The Nintendo DS version of the game was praised for its visuals, gameplay changes and new cutscenes.[104][105][106] It was a nominee for Best RPG on the Nintendo DS in IGN's 2008 video game awards.[107]
Legacy[edit]
In Japan, 1.44 million copies of Final Fantasy IV's Super Famicom version were sold.[108] The PlayStation version sold an additional 261,000 copies in Japan in 1997.[109] By March 31, 2003, the game, including the PlayStation and WonderSwan Color remakes, had shipped 2.16 million copies worldwide, with 1.82 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 340,000 abroad.[110] The Game Boy Advance version of the game sold over 219,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2006.[111] As of 2007 just before the release of the Nintendo DS version, nearly 3 million copies of the game had been sold around the world.[3] By May 2009, the DS version of the game had sold 1.1 million copies worldwide.[112] According to Steam Spy, another 190,000 copies of the PC version were sold by April 2018.[113]
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, the sequel to Final Fantasy IV, is set seventeen years after the events of the original. The first two chapters of the game were released in Japan in February 2008 for NTT DoCoMoFOMA 903i series phones, with a release for au WIN BREW series phones slated for Spring 2008. The game revolves around Ceodore, the son of Cecil and Rosa, with most of the original cast members returning, some of whom are featured in more prominent roles than before, among other new characters.[114][115] After the mobile release, it was hinted that The After Years would be released outside Japan.[116] On March 25, 2009, an announcement was made by Satoru Iwata during Nintendo's GDC 2009 Keynote speech that the U.S. would see The After Years released later that year on the Wii's WiiWare service.[117] The first two chapters were released on June 1, 2009 in North America and June 5, 2009 in PAL territories, with the additional chapters being released in the following months.[118][119]
A two-volume novelization of Final Fantasy IV was released in Japan on December 25, 2008.[120][121]
See also[edit]Notes[edit]References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Final_Fantasy_IV&oldid=904360318'
ROMs » Nintendo Entertainment System » F » Final Fantasy VII (C)Nintendo Entertainment System / NES ROMsHow to Play this Game ? Quick Navigation:Game Description & Reviews:Falcatox says:
To begin with, this is the original Japanese copy of the game. In 2005, a company (wont be named) created a bootleg version of Final Fantasy VII for the NES. There are many scenes omitted, the game is incredibly unforgiving, and need to grinding is high. There are no airships, and the only vehicle you have is only for a short time. The weapons and huge materia quests are omitted as well. Oh yea, and Yuffie and Vincent are gone too :(. The chocobo races, summons, and limit breaks are also gone. And all gear can be bought from shops. This version mainly uses sprites from the first three NES Final Fantasy games.
Falcatox rates this game: 3/5
Final Fantasy VII NES was a bootleg game created by Shenzhen Nanjing tech using sprites and music from the first three final fantasy games. The game is almost a complete remake of Final Fantasy 7 for PS1, but with some minor differences. To begin with, there are no summon materia, and while we are at it there are only about 7 materia in the game, and they are simple basic elemental materia. Vincent and Yuffie are both in the game, but are not obtainable. Speaking with Vincent will not work and Yuffie just runs a shop in Costa Del Sol. There are also no airships in the game, and the huge materia quest is omitted. Fort Condor is also gone, and the only vehicles you get are the one from the Gold Saucer and the Tiny Bronco, which is shot down immediately after you get it. The game is also incredibly hard, and the need to grind is very high.
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06-11-2010, 08:43 PM (This post was last modified: 06-16-2010, 07:48 PM by FelixFlywheel.)
Here are a bunch of the different spells & skills in the game that I've ripped.
I set them up in categories best to my judgment, and will be adding more. If need be, I may re-organize them. !White Magic: Used by White Mage. Cure, Cure 2, Cure 3, Cure 4, Life (Full-Life, Auto-Life), Regen, Protect (Protect 2), Shell (Shell 2), Wall, Esuna, Holy. !Black Magic: Used by Black Mage. Fire, Fire 2, Fire 3, Fire 4, Bolt, Bolt 2, Bolt 3, Bolt 4, Ice, Ice 2, Ice 3, Ice 4, Poison, Frog, Death, Flare. !Time Magic: Used by Time Mage. Haste, Haste 2, Slow, Slow 2, Stop, Don't Move, Float, Reflect, Quick, Demi, Meteor. !Yin Yang Magic: Used by Oracle. Blind, Spell Absorb, Life Drain, Pray Faith, Doubt Faith, Zombie, Silence Song, Blind Rage, Foxbird, Confusion Song, Dispel Magic, Paralyze, Sleep, Petrify. !Elemental: Used by Geomancer. Pit Fall, Water Ball, Hell Ivy, Carve Model (Local Quake), Kamaitachi, Demon Fire, Quicksand, Sand Storm, Blizzard, Gusty Wind, Lava Ball. !Bio: Used by Apanda. (used under !Impure by Impure King.) Bio, Bio 2, Bio 3. !Holy Sword: Used by Holy Knight. (used under !All Swordskill by Holy Swordsman.) Statis Sword, Split Punch, Crush Punch, Lightning Stab, Holy Explosion. !Dark Sword: Used by Dark Knight. (used under !All Swordskill by Holy Swordsman.) Night Sword, Dark Sword. !Mighty Sword: Used by Divine Knight. (used under !All Swordskill by Holy Swordsman.) Shellbust Stab, Blastar Punch, Hellcry Punch, Icewolf Bite. !Truth: Used by Heaven Knight. Heaven Thunder, Asura, Diamond Sword, Hydragon Pit, Space Storage, Sky Demon. !Un-Truth: Used by Hell Knight. Heaven Thunder Back, Asura Back, Diamond Sword Back, Hydragon Pit Back, Space Storage Back, Sky Demon Back. !Draw Out: Used by Samurai. Asura, Koutetsu, Binzen Boat, Murasame, Heaven's Cloud, Kiyomori, Muramasa, Kikuichimoji, Masamune, Chirijiraden. !Limit: Used by Soldier. Braver, Cross-Slash, Blade Beam, Climhazzard, Meteorain, Finish Touch, Omnislash, Cherry Blossom. !Ja Magic: Used by Angel of Death. (Despair 2, & Return 2 are not used by Angel of Death, but are used under !Saturation by Arch Angel) Toad 2, Gravi 2, Flare 2, Blind 2, Confuse 2, Sleep 2, Despair 2, Return 2. Dimension Magic: Used by Regulator. Melt, Tornado, Quake, Meteor. -More to come-
Thanked by:Rhyme, TomGuycott, Davy Jones, Ultimecia
Visions of Fantasy From 8-Bit to Realtime CGI
Final Fantasy video games have long dazzled us with their state-of-the-art computer graphics. Back in the 8-bit days of pixelated sprites, they charmed us. So here's a fun look back at Final Fantasy graphics, a celebration of how far computer graphics have come in the past 20 years.
In the graphics survey below, I've neglected Final Fantasy spin-offs and sequels on hand-held consoles and phones, because there's so many FF releases that by the time I'd finished reviewing them all, a new Final Fantasy would be released.
Note: All Final Fantasy games are © Square-Enix (or, originally, Squaresoft). Screencaps from games on this page are believed to be Fair Use for purposes of commentary and critique.
Final Fantasy I: 1987
A long time ago on Famicon and NES: adorable pixelated sprites!
I remember the tedium of having to program sprites in binary, when there were only white, black, red, green, and purple in hi-res graphics. I think by this time we were up to a whopping 128 colors -- woo hoo! -- and something like 640x480 resolution for a standard computer screen. It looks primitive now, but these were about the best graphics you could get back then.
Battle formation for about the next ten years: Everybody stand in a line.. say cheese!
This is getting a little ahead of myself, but I finally had a chance to play Final Fantasy I remade for iOS in 2013. Someone did a great job of playing homage to the original while spiffing up the retro graphics:
Final Fantasy I: iOS Remake
Trivia note: did you know that Square actually patented the Active Time Battle system and menu layout? Here's the diagram for Final Fantasy's ATB patent. Cool!
Below is a video clip showing the 1990 Nintendo (NES) port, the first Final Fantasy game available in English. The graphics are identical to the original Famicon version. For more screencaps from the original Final Fantasy game, see this fantastic Final Fantasy I Shrine / Walkthrough with lots of screencaps.
Also notice the Main Theme of Final Fantasy, present from the beginning. Nobuo Uematsu has made Final Fantasy sing for 25 years.
Final Fantasy I PlaythroughFinal Fantasy II Graphics: 1988 - Only Released in Japan
Confusingly, Final Fantasy II and III were only released in Japan until recent remakes. Final Fantasy IV and VI were originally released as Final Fantasy II and III in the U.S.
The original Final Fantasy II stars the main character of Firion, whom I call Mr. Cardboard since all his friends and most of the NPCs have more personality.
I think that Final Fantasy II really established the series, not least in the unusual premise that the numbered releases are not actually sequels of one another: they simply carry over, reinvent, and ring changes on the game system, building up a stock of recurring whoosiwhatsits like chocobos, black mages, summons, dragoons, -aga spells, and so on. More importantly, Final Fantasy II had PCs and NPCs with basic personalities and plot. (There's a lot of FFII in FFXII, from Princess Hilda/Princess Ashe to Leon/Gabranth).
Below are the original 1988 graphics compared to the iOS/Android remaster (which I loved). Also see this commentary/playthrough of the original FFII hacked with a fan translation, so you can see original gameplay.
Final Fantasy 2 UsThe Onion KidsFinal Fantasy III (1990)
Four generic Warriors of Light, young orphans, bump into a glowing crystal that sends them off on a quest to save the world. The 2006 Final Fantasy III remake for Nintendo DS gives the four heroes a lot more personality (and names) and offers better gameplay with fun 3D retro graphics, but the original game of course followed closely on the previous two: stand in a line and say cheese!
See my own Let's Play Final Fantasy III for a video of the original FF3 plus my own 'revenge of the cute!' screencaps of the 3D remake, which was upgraded for iOS and converted the soundtrack from fun to fantastic.
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Final Fantasy IV (1991)
With Final Fantasy IV, Square began experimenting with more realistic ways to represent the setting and world. They tried different angles, different views depending on the needs of the scene, and more elaborate backgrounds. Character sprites in Final Fantasy II had shown some individuality, but now they began to wear costumes (III had job class sprites, but not unique PCs) that represented character and personality.
Battle formation: Standing in a line was now old school. We're going to stand in a ZIG ZAG! (And have five party members fighting at once.. I don't think we've seen that since.)
As I noted above, Japan's Final Fantasy IV was originally released in the U.S. as Final Fantasy II, easily recognizable by Rydia's green hair. FFIV received a dramatic 3D remake on Game Boy Advance in 2004, recently ported to iOS, using the original storyline while improving graphics and gameplay, fleshing out characters with thought balloons and motivations, and adding voice acting.
Below is another video walkthrough of original FFIV (English version, FFII) by HC Bailey. Skip ahead to about 2:00 for an example in-game battle scene.
Final Fantasy V (1992)
The English localization now calls the main character of Final Fantasy V Bartz, but the earliest translations called the poor guy 'Butz'.
Following the trend, FFV was re-released on Game Boy Advance in 2006 (with VASTLY better translation than the PS1 'Final Fantasy Anthology' version).
Slowly but surely, the game environments and characters were becoming more detailed, with more head-scratching, finger-wagging, eye-popping and other body language. This game also added even more special effects like shimmering forcefields, shooting sparks, walls (or at least tufts) of flame.
The iOS remake has clearer graphics and the zany GBA translation, but unfortunately, everyone's been stretched vertically like Fisher-Price people. There's also a surreal mismatch between the in-game sprites and Amano's concept art portraits on dialogue boxes.
Here's the final boss battle for FFV with the original graphics. Yes, obligatory cracktastic landscapes for the ultimate showdown are a Final Fantasy tradition!
Final Fantasy VI (1994)
FFVI came out a year after photo-surrealistic MYST was released: but then MYST was basically a glorified (and marvelous) slideshow stitched together, whereas RPGs like Final Fantasy were doing things realtime. This is why pre-rendered FMVs look so much better than in-game graphics. But FFVI hadn't gone the pre-rendered route yet (at least, prior to the 2007 Final Fantasy VI: Game Boy Advance Remake).
However, in-game graphics were going along by leaps and bounds. Final Fantasy VI was the last of the 'old school' Final Final Fantasy, pixellated sprites placed against a background with as many effects and gestures as possible. Riding chocobos, the opening cutscene, and a few other cutscenes experimented with a kind of bird's eye 3D perspective also seen in FF5's closing FMV.
The original intro to FFVI is quite epic even without the remake's CGI. Note the faint echoes of FFVI in FFX: it's almost the anti-FFVI, as far as '1000 years ago, magic, no, wait, machina, was abolished.'
Final Fantasy VII: (1997)
Old-school gamers hated it. A new generation of gamers fell in love with it. Twenty years later, Square-Enix is still milking the wildly popular game and world Final Fantasy VII.
For the first time, physical 3-D models of characters were being rendered on the fly, so that you saw different sides of their heads, limbs, arms as they turned and gestured. Backgrounds were somewhat 3D as well.
As this demanded a lot more of the game engine, the graphics almost look simpler than the pre-drawn pixellated sprite predecessors of old school games. It was a start.
There's an odd mix of graphics here: in battle, the characters are fairly realistic, while the field map (wandering around exploring) and in-game cutscenes use large-headed small-bodied chibis, and then the FMVs do a more realistic, pre-rendered version that's closer to the battle models.
From Final Fantasy VII onwards, lengthy and over-the top summons and 'limit break/overdrive' animations also became obligatory.
Final Fantasy VIII is one of my favorites, although a lot of folks hate it. The graphics were like the battle scenes for Final Fantasy VII: realistically-proportioned polygon people. However, the details on clothing and faces were better.
There was an interesting juxtaposition between real-time rendered 3D polygon characters and lavishly drawn backgrounds which were 3D images, but like the background cells of a good animated movie.
Animation was now becoming a major part of Final Fantasy. It was already there in bits and snatches in FFVII, with Cloud imitating Zack's push-ups and various characters snapping fingers, exhaling in relief, or wiggling with laughter, or chocobos dancing. But in FFVIII, characters really had physical mannerisms, to the point that Rinoa could drive Squall nuts by mimicking his mopey body language. Even Sorceress Edea's window treatment seemed to have a mind of its own (the flapping veils suspended from an odd frame behind her shoulders).
And of course the FMVs had by now become quite epic, although the gulf between pre-rendered cutscenes and in-game graphics was as wide as it would ever be.
Final Fantasy IX (2000)
After two games of dystopic urban grunge, old Final Fantasy fans were buzzing like hornets over the move away from FF's sword-and-sorcery D&D roots. Squaresoft heard and delivered an old-school style Final Fantasy game with the latest 3D graphics, complete with oversized heads: Final Fantasy IX.
Predictably, the attempt to give the fans exactly what they wanted met mixed reviews, although I think in recent years, it's been embraced more by fans.
It was also the swansong for the PS1. It pushed that old graphics engine to the max, with floating camera angles, excellent animations, and about as much visual detail as you could cram into a realtime, traditional Playstation I game. Zidane's tail punctuates the fact that animation and movement had become integral to FF graphics.
Final Fantasy X Graphics: (2000)
The Playstation 2 game engine was the first built to handle realtime 3D graphics of the type dimly attempted in Final Fantasy VII.
Final Fantasy X blew us away. To underscore the fact that 3D, realtime graphics were now possible, the opening cutscene dispensed with the usual pre-rendered FMV, and dropped us into actual in-game graphics. 'Low polgyon' models were used for regular gameplay and most cutscenes, but for key moments when emotion and facial expression were important, the in-game graphics would jump to 'high poly' for closeups.
There were some casualties, too. With old bit graphics, it was cheap and easy to tile a vast world map and let you run around on the map with a representative icon of your airship, chocobo, or character sprite. Now we lost the overhead world map and just chose destinations from a static map with a menu. However, on the ground, we had a 3D character running in actual 3-D, fully rendered environments. Camera angles were pre-set and could not be changed, but changed in battle.
In 2014, Square-Enix released a long-awaited HD remaster of Final Fantasy X, with models and textures rebuilt. On the one hand, the HD backgrounds are gorgeous. If you remember how fuzzy the game looked back when we were stuck using fuzzy old CRT televisions, before the days of LCD screens or emulators, it's an astounding change.
On the other hand, the character faces suffered. I think they started with the 'low poly' models and upscaled them, to be consistent across the boardâ after all, none of the npcs had 'high poly' models. However, I preferred the 'high poly' models of the original game. Worse, the facial expressions lost some emotion in the FFX remaster.
[Below: go to 4:35 to see Yuna's 'high poly' model of the original vs. the remaster.]
Final Fantasy X Original vs. Remaster GraphicsFinal Fantasy XI (2002)
At long last, Square and Final Fantasy XI joined the world of online gaming, going up against Everquest and WoW. It had decades of game mechanics, design, and details like chocobos and summons to draw on.
It also had the PS2 game engine. This was just powerful enough to let it take Final Fantasy X style graphics (improved, as ever, with each new FF iteration) and let the realtime engine interact with other people's characters and AI monsters, summons, and a rich 3D environment.
Also at long last, 'Everybody stand in a row and say CHEESE!' battle had disappeared for good (or had it?)
Final Fantasy XII (2006)
All the 3D, realtime, free-range-of-movement, camera-controlling goodness of FFXI was brought to bear in this the most visually complex of the Final Fantasy games on Playstation 2: Final Fantasy XII.
Square had spent years refining and pushing every ounce of graphical detail out of the game engine, and had reached a Byzantine level of ornamentation, hair, fabric, motion capture, facial expressions, weather, and lots and lots of moving parts on the screen at the same time. (Now and then in the Necrohol of Nabudis you can get too many bogywhatsists and spell animations going off, and the game engine begins to struggle.)
Like the old PS1 games before it, the mastering of graphics allowed Square to indulge in copious amounts of worldbuilding: you can literally take hours to have your character run from one side of the continent to the other, with shops, cities, caves, and lots of nooks and crannies to explore. This came at a cost: unlike old-style bit graphics, every room and area required hours of development and rendering.
The only complaint I have about the graphics of this game is that critters that were beautiful in previous games (coeurls, chocobos) suddenly got hit with an ugly stick.
Final Fantasy XIII (2009)
22 years after the first whimsical sprites first appeared under the Final Fantasy moniker, Square-Enix -- now with very few of the original crew left -- launched into the brave new world of Playstation 3 and XBox360 with Final Fantasy XIII.
Lordie lordie, how far we've come. Fabric that moves naturally, weather and water and motion capture that's getting close to realistic, photo-realistic fabric and skin textures, tons of animation going at the same time: we take it all for granted, but just a few years ago, this was the kind of animation where you'd do a rough skeleton of the animation on your work station, plug in all the textures and lighting parameters and other variables, and then leave your state-of-the-art renderer to crunch the numbers all night long and deliver you a finished animation (you hoped) the next morning. That's how animations like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films were done. The PS3 is doing it as you're playing, and doesn't break a sweat.
The only problem is that this does come at a premium: a gazillion hours of graphics design and testing. Therefore, while it's extremely well disguised, we're back to 'everybody pick a spot to stand during the battle and say CHEESE!' (but not in a line, at least). More importantly, since it takes enormous amounts of work to design the graphics and 3D environments, they are only there for plot and movement.. there are no side quests until late in the game, almost no shops or rooms to putter around in, and no recurring npcs: you'll never be able to go back to a town and see how the resident barfly is getting on, e.g. You are playing a role in a movie. A gorgeous, Avatar-rich 3D environment and movie, but still. It's a different kind of gameplay.
As a graphics aficionado, I adore it. But I can understand those who want more freedom to chart their characters' choices and explore the world.
Tip: this game is best played with good cover-the-ear sound-reducing headphones. It takes immersion to a whole new level.
Final Fantasy XIV (2010)
FFXIII looked great. The next challenge was creating graphics of that quality for an MMO, where there may be dozens of characters on screen all performing complex attacks, spells, and gestures controlled by players around the world. Final Fantasy XIV had a rocky beginning, enough that Square-Enix revamped it extensively and put a ton of work into addressing early criticism. The version people are now playing is almost an entirely new game.
From everything I have heard and seen, Squeenix has more than redeemed FFXIV, making a rich, vibrant world, with intricate 3D landscapes, well-crafted arms & armor and costumes to suit player tastes, plenty of gestures, fantastic special effects. I gaze at screencaps from Tumblr friends (mostly Livvy) with awe, and I'm afraid to play it lest I never get anything done. About the only complaint I can see is that people look a bit plastic, due to simplified skin textures (streamlining, I assume, to speed up rendering when lots of characters are onscreen).
[Below: go to about 3:00 for close-ups of a few races of characters.]
© 2011 auronlu
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