Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection Review

• System: PSP
• Year: 2011
• Region: North America
• Developer: Square Enix
• Publisher: Square Enix

Final Fantasy II on the Super Nintendo was one of the best RPGs of the 16-bit generation, and also the beginning of the Golden Age of SquareSoft. Unfortunately, I completely missed out on this version of the game. I went with the Genesis, and none of my friends that had a SNES played RPGs. My first experience with this game was with Chronicles on PS1, which used the original Japanese name of Final Fantasy IV. This isn’t my original copy of the game, I bought this one during a sale on the Square Enix website a few years back.

The game arrived in very cheap shrinkwrap that actually looked worse than the re-wrap jobs you might find on Ebay or at some retro shops. I should have filmed the unwrapping, but I decided to open it because one of the discs was flopping around and I needed to make sure it wasn’t damaged. This led to something very surprising, the discs were silver on the bottom. I thought all Playstation 1 games were black, but recent Squenix reprints seem to be silver now. Had this come from a shop or someone on Ebay, I definitely would have questioned if this game was legit. Oh yeah, don’t bother trying to play this one on a PS3, unless you’re really into having seizures.

I never finished the game back in the day. At the time, I was still somewhat of an RPG noob, and the extreme difficulty of this particular version was a bit much for me. So I ended up shelving it, and didn’t play Final Fantasy IV again until 2008, when the DS remake came to North America. This time, I played through the entire game and loved it. A lot of people claim that this is the most challenging version of the game. I actually found it to be a little bit easier than the PS1 port for a few reasons. The first being how you now had access to a map in dungeons, which of course cut down on getting lost. Another reason is that you get items for completing 100% of a dungeon map. The final thing that made this game easier was the Augment system, which would grant a party member of your choosing extra abilities. Even though I did find this version easier than the PS1 port, it doesn’t mean this game is a cakewalk. Careful strategies had to employed quite often against the bosses and even some of the random encounters.

A few years later, the game was remade once again, this time for the Playstation Portable, and it included the mobile sequel, The After Years. They also added a short 3 hour interlude in between the games called, well Interlude. Unfortunately I was not able to get my hands on it when it was released in North America. Luckily for me though, a good friend that I met through YouTube named Pondering Ghost gave me a copy of the game along with Final Fantasy I and II. I’ve heard many people claim that this is the definitive version of Final Fantasy IV. So, let’s pop this bad boy in and see just how good it truly is.

The plot of Final Fantasy IV revolves around the Dark Knight Cecil, or seh-sil if you’ve played Dissidia. They also pronounce Zidane, “zi-don”, so I can’t take their pronunciations too seriously. Anyways, Cecil is the commander of the royal air force called the Red Wings. After returning from a mission to seize a crystal from a peaceful kingdom, he begins to question why it was necessary. When he confronts his king about this, he is promptly relieved of his command of the Red Wings, and given a new mission, delivering a ring to the Village Of Mist. He travels there with his good friend, Kain, and when the duo arrive, tragedy befalls the village. They find a young summoner there who has lost her mother, and Cecil vows to protect her.

This was the first time in the series that so much care was put into the story. While Final Fantasy II on the Famicom did try to make each member of your party feel important, there really wasn’t much character development to speak of. This game introduced a cast of unforgettable characters that each have an important role in the story.

The graphics have been completely redone for the PSP, and they look fantastic. Square decided to stick with the classic 2D look of the original, but of course with sharper and more deatiled sprites and backgrounds. I really enjoyed the 3D look of the DS remake because it reminded me of Playstation 1 RPGs like Final Fantasy 9, but I definitely prefer the PSP graphics. In addition to the sprites and backgrounds, the spell effects have also been updated and they take full advantage of the PSP’s power. There really isn’t anything I could complain about in the visual department.

The combat in Final Fantasy IV is excellent. This was the first game in the series to use the Active Time Battle. Instead of selecting commands for all the characters at once and watching their turns play out, each party member now has their own individual turn gauge and can act once it fills up. If you decide to attack or use items it will happen instantly, but if you opt to use magic, the spell will have to charge briefly before it is cast. It’s a really fun and sometimes tense variation to the classic turn-based system. A couple other nice features of the battle system are the 5-person party and the use of rows. Party members in the front row will deal more damage through physical attacks, but will also receive more damage from the enemy’s attacks. The back row is of course better suited for magic users with weaker defense.

You’ll be getting into these fights frequently since this game has an annoyingly high encounter rate. There are many times where you will walk about 3 steps and get into a fight. This can be really frustrating when you’re trying to find your way through a dungeon and are starting to run low on healing items or MP.

One of the big things that people talk about with this game is it’s difficulty. Every version released in North America outside of the original Super Nintendo version has a punishing, yet fair challenge. This game will chew you up and spit you out if you’re not careful. You can’t just go through every battle holding down the attack button. It’s crucial to learn things like enemy weaknesses, hit points, and any counterattacks they may posess. Not doing so, will send you to the game over screen again and again.

While some may find the high encounter rate to be the most annoying aspect of the game, I found talking to NPCs to be even more frustrating. The main reason being that their walk cycles are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast. Everytime you get close enough to talk to one they walk away. So then you try again, only to have the same thing happen. Half of your time in towns will probably be spent attempting to get close enough to speak to NPCs.

Much like the story and characters, the soundtrack has also been taken to the next level, with Uematsu composing the best music in the series at the time. Every single track in the game is great, and fits in nicely with whatever is happening on screen. Some of my favorites are “The Red Wings”, and “Another Moon”. This particular version features a brand new arranged soundtrack, which sounds amazing. But if that’s not your thing, you can always turn the arranged music off and enjoy the original compositions.

Overall, Final Fantasy IV is one of the best games in the main, numbered series.

Now, before we get into the other 2 parts of the review, I must give a warning. Since the events of Interlude and The After Years take place after the events of Final Fantasy 4, there may be some spoilers for the main game. So, if you’ve never played Final Fantasy 4 before, you may want to stop reading right here. Anyways, let’s take a look at Interlude.

The party is reunited in Damycan Castle celebrating the reconstruction of the castle, when Yang is told about some monks that have been attacked on Mt. Ordeals. After dealing with the monsters on the mountain, the group rushes to Fabul Castle to welcome Yang’s newborn daughter into the world. Just as everyone is getting ready to return to Damcyan, Cid arrives in his airship, with some troubling news about monsters pouring out of the sealed cave. The party decides to investigate, and starts to notice some weird things happening in the peaceful world. The game ends when the party finally meets up with Rydia in Babil Tower.

Other than that, there isn’t much to say about Interlude. It’s a short, linear adventure that will most likely take you about 3 hours to finish, and it plays exactly like 4 does. The nice thing about it is that you don’t have to complete the main game to unlock Interlude or The After Years. This is great if you’ve already played 4 on another system and want to dive right into the new content.

Now, let’s check out the final portion of this collection, The After Years.

The story takes place 17 years after the events of Final Fantasy IV. The heroes are older of course, and some of them have children who are following in their footsteps. The story is divided into chapters, with each one focusing on one of the heroes. Chapter 1 begins in Baron, with Cecil and Rosa’s son, Prince Ceodore. Is it “seh-o-dor” or “see-o-dor”? Either way, it sounds kind of dumb. Anyways, he must travel with Biggs and Wedge to the Adamant Cave and retrieve the Knight Emblem in order to become a Red Wing. After passing his trial, the game cuts back to his parents at Baron Castle, who suddenly find themselves under attack from airborn enemies. When Ceodore finally makes it back to the castle, things seem peaceful, but something appears to be off. Ceodore then travels to the Mist Cave to try and figure out just what is going on.

I enjoyed the story of The After Years, although at times it seemed to follow a bit too closely to the plot of the original Final Fantasy IV. Things do become more interesting after playing through all the different tales and seeing how everything comes together in the final chapter. On a side note, if you played the WiiWare version of the game when the online service was still accessible, the game ended after playing through Ceodore and Kain’s tales, and forced you to buy other character’s chapters. All the chapters are included in this collection though.

It’s very important to save each character’s progress in a separate file. The After Years treats each character as a separate game with their own stats, configuration settings, inventories, and even time played. If you’re on of those psychos that likes to roll through RPGs using only one file, you’re going to run into problems when you reach the final chapter and have no way of importing your character’s stats and items. The game warns you of this frequently and also gives you 40 save slots, so there’s really no excuse if you mess this up.

The battle system plays out very similar to the main game, although a couple of things have been added. There is a new moon phase, which affects how strong attacks or magic are for both your party and enemies. This can heavily factor into your battle strategy. If you’re facing a lot of monsters with strong physical attacks, just use a tent or stay at an inn to change the moon phase. It’s an interesting addition for sure.

The other new aspect of the combat is a multiple character attack called Bands. Some of these are learned at various points in the story, while others are unlocked by experimenting with them in combat. To use one of these bands, the party members must have enough Ether points, and not be performing an action already. The bands are pretty cool, but I didn’t use them much since I found it better to just use each character’s actions individually.

The After Years is a really nice sequel to Final Fantasy IV. While not quite as enjoyable as the main game, it’s definitely worth playing through.

Before closing out the review, I must mention the extras of this collection. First off is the art gallery, which features a ton of great Amano artwork. There is also a music player, which lets you listen to both the original and arranged versions of every track in the game. There is also an option to install the game, which cuts down on load times.

Overall, Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection is a fantastic compilation that belongs in every RPG fan’s library. The graphical and sound upgrades, along with all the bonus content, make this a great way to play one of the best entries in the series. If you’d like to buy this game, it seems to hover in the 15 to 25 dollar range, and it’s worth every penny.