Final Fantasy IV (US SNES, Wonderswan Color, PSX, GBA, DS, VC, PSP)

I don’t think I like it.

The Final Fantasy series is fairly well liked, though the last three games in the main series have been met with both harsh criticism and high accolades depending on who you ask, with the exception of XIV which came out half finished. Square-Enix gets a lot of criticism for releasing the same game over and over, both in terms of recycled gameplay and actually releasing the same game over and over. To date, I have bought the PSX, GBA, DS and now PSP releases of Final Fantasy IV, widely believed to be the first Final Fantasy with a character driven narrative. The recent PSP release aims to be the definitive version, being bundled with its previously episodic sequel, The After Years.

Unsurprisingly, I’m going to start with the cover. This is something that a lot of people don’t give much thought to where games are concerned, but as a man who routinely switches the cases of his favourite games with those of less well-liked and less scuffed cases, I’d beg to differ.

Like the legacy edition of Dissidia 012, it has a cardboard sleeve, which may or may not be the true cover art. They’ve eschewed the traditional “logo on a white background” in favour of some full colour artwork of the main cast of The After Years by long time promotional; artist Yoshitaka Amano. It’s nice enough, but I’m not sure it’ll suck in people unfamiliar with the original.

I’m focussing the review on the Final Fantasy IV part of the game, since that’s all of managed to play so far. You might think this’d be the sensible option, but the majority of the manual is focussed on The After Years, and all the information for that game is before any mention of the original.

Since this game is only a few months younger than me, I’m not going to bother regurgitating the story. Suffice it to say that it’s surprisingly complex for a game that was originally in development for the NES. The majority of gameplay features seem to be based on the GBA version, though there seem to be a few tiny differences to keep it fresh. The massive difficulty spikes the game suffered from starting at the Tower of Zot seem to have been ironed out, though this could be due in part due to the erratic encounter rate. You could go through a map once without a single battle, and then go through the same map and have a back attack encounter every time you take a step. The bosses all require keen observation to take on effectively, particularly the Eidolons. This is the first time I’ve managed to actually complete the game, and the final dungeon is incredibly arduous if you lack cottages and dry ethers to restore MP.

When I got to the final boss, I was wiped out easily at first. After grinding up a bit, I went back to confront him, only this time, I discovered a shocking secret. Now, this being the future and all, I binged for a strategy to beat him, and as far as I’m aware, nobody else seems to have discovered what I have. Zeromus is so challenging because he can unleash to devastating attacks in quick succession. Except he’s vulnerable to slow. I’ll say that again; the FINAL BOSS is vulnerable to a STATUS AILMENT.

Obligatory Text-Box shot

The graphics have really been tarted up. Shading’s a LOT smoother, and everything looks all shiny. They’ve also FINALLY made Cecil’s sprite resemble how he’s supposed to look...except in battle he goes from having long flowing hair to short spiky hair as in every other version.  And sprite flipping is still used for walking left, meaning that character’s with asymmetrical hair cuts have their partings mysteriously flip to the other side when walking left. This was originally done to save space, but considering they found room for flashy new spell and summon animations (which ARE awesome), this smacks of laziness.

Briefly talking about The After Years, I’d say it’s better than the WiiWare version.  For a start, it’s cheaper, and comes all in one bundle, plus the enemy formations don’t look so oddly spaced (the WiiWare version was adapted from mobile phones, and used the low resolution sprites from the GBA).

I’m having trouble telling if I’m being overly negative in this review, and that about sums up my feelings for FFIV. It’s definitely not my favourite, but I don’t hate it. Hell, I spent the last week playing it pretty much non-stop, so that has to count for something. As a port, it’s pretty amazing. While the other PSP final fantasy ports suffered from immense slowdown (I know for a fact that the UMD version of FFII had actual LOADING SCREENS before random encounters), FFIV Complete Collection has a data install feature, although there isn’t much noticeable lag if you don’t use it, plus it comes with art cards (which...take up space?), a PSP screen cloth with Cecil on it (alas, too little too late for mine) and a costume for Cecil in Dissidia 012 based on his sprite art, PLUS the After Years PLUS an interlude section, PLUS the fact that both GAME and Gamestation had it on sale for £20, it’s not a bad buy.

If you like that sort of thing.

Which I might.