One of the misnamed but yet excellent Final Fantasy game remakes coming for the
DS, is it worth it?
Well of course it is! With revamped graphics and some remarkable add-ons this game will surely fulfill every player’s expectation. And don’t worry about not being a Final Fantasy fan; you don’t have to be one to enjoy the game.
In case you aren’t familiar with the Final Fantasy series let me explain to you why I call this a misnamed game:
The first Final Fantasy game was released in Japan first and was later released in America, something that happens with almost every video game. However, Nintendo developed and released a sequel named Final Fantasy II, which was only released in Japan, and never got to the US shores. The same thing happened with Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy V. And while Final Fantasy IV and VI were released in the US, they didn’t have the same name as the Japanese ones, as some games were skipped in the saga. In the end, Final Fantasy IV and VI were released in the US as Final Fantasy II and III, in order to keep continuity.
Console: Nintendo
DS
Release Date: Japan: December 20, 2007
North America: July 22, 2008
Australia: September 4, 2008
Europe: September 5, 2008
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix, Matrix Software
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E10+
Bad graphics, horrible gameplay and a poor plot… This game is the complete opposite!
As well as many other franchises, Final Fantasy is known for having top-quality games, and Final Fantasy IV does not differ in this at all. Revamped graphics make this game feel much better than the SNES version (Final Fantasy II) and on top of that, the great gameplay it had didn’t change a bit. Combine that with a few more changes that did only good to this title and you get one of the best games for the Nintendo
DS.
Cecil, commander of the Red Wings of Baron, the mightiest force in the world, is a Dark Knight who has just returned from stealing a crystal from the land of Mysidia. The habitants of Mysidia offered no resistance, but they still had to cut them down, as the King had ordered. Cecil is really worried about the King's actions lately, which are cold and evil, nothing like he used to be before So at the moment he relinquished the crystal, he questions the King's orders. Angered by Cecil’s distrust, he degrades him from commander of the Red Wings and orders him to go on a low rank mission by the morrow. His partner and best friend Kain, a Dragoon commander, tries to defend him, but the King won't budge, so he orders Kain to go to the mission as well.
After a series of disgraceful events on the next day’s mission, Cecil decides not to trust the King anymore, and separated by an earthquake from his friend Kain, he embarks on a journey for the truth and personal illumination.
An awesome plot with a more theatrical point of view than it was in the SNES version will make you live some of the best moments in gaming. Unexpected twists, shocking moments and romantic scenes are some of the things you can find in this story. One of the best out there in my opinion.
The game took a complete remake from 16 bit graphics on the SNES to a full 3D world on this installment, something very nice considering that they could have just made a port.
Anyways, the graphics are outstanding; models are detailed and look really nice. They also worked hard on shadow/light effects, which ended up being an amazing resource in the cutscenes. Yeah, cutscenes! These are very well made cinematic shorts that appear every now and then to denote a crucial point in the storyline. As I said, they are very well achieved, as cinematic effects such as camera angle and illumination were used in detail.
Lightning effects in battles, such as a spell’s light or a punch glow are really nice, each having a different effect depending on the weapon’s material or the spell. Menus are fairly simple yet not boring, just a blue background with white font. That’s all you need actually.
This Final Fantasy, like many others in the series, is an RPG. This genre is usually more about thinking and constructing strategies than action playing, and this game is no excuse. And something typical of the Final Fantasy RPG’s are the time-based battles, something I will explain further in this section.
You control the game with the Digital pad. To move around you use the control pad, A is the action button, hold B to run, X opens the menu and Y changes the leading character; really basic and easy controls. However, this is all in the overworld and when an enemy approaches, everything changes. If you are not in a safe area like a castle or town, enemies will randomly appear, engaging your team in battle.
While in a battle, you choose your character’s action, like attacking, defending, employing an item or using a special ability such as White Magic for mages or Darkness for Cecil who’s a Dark Knight. However, there’s a catch: The Active Time Battle system.
Each character has a Time Bar which starts filling at the start of a battle and you are only allowed to perform an action when that far fills completely. On top of that, once you chose an action, the bar will fill for the second time and each action you choose will also take different time to fill the bar. For example, a powerful spell will take more time than a weak one. So once you get the hang of this you can start to build your own strategies.
Speaking of bars and meters, let’s not forget to talk about the MP and HP. MP stands for magic points, and as you may have inclined, it’s the amount of Magic a character can use. Each spell (depending on how strong it) is consumes a different amount of MP, so you will always have to keep an eye on it. HP stands for Health points, and it’s the amount of life power a character has, as seen in countless games. When someone’s HP reaches zero, he/she gets knocked out. Each character has an individual amount of MP and HP, so you have to think wisely every time you could use the same spell with different characters, for example. Once you finish a battle you will earn Experience Points (or EXP for short), which will be shared among the standing characters. EXP is used to level up your character, the more EXP you gain, the faster they will grow, getting stronger and learning new spells in the process.
Out of the battle field again, we find ourselves in the equipment area.
Here you will be able to equip your character with stronger weapons, armor, shields, etc. which will affect its stats directly. Each hero will be able to use different types of weapons or tools. Cecil can use a sword, as he’s a knight. But Rosa can only use weapons like bows and staffs, since she is a White Mage.
The game itself is long, and it will take you days just to beat it for the first time. There are a few sidequests as well, which are dungeons which you can only access after some tasks.
Also, you have Whyt. He’s one of the game mascots that serves as a Summon for a special character but that can be customized at will. To do so, you have to talk to the Fat Chocobo, yet another mascot, to enter Whyt’s menu. Here, you will be able to play character-based touch minigames to raise his stats. The higher you score on one game, the higher his stat will get. You can also customize his look, drawing him a new face or changing his body. You can then have wireless battles against other Whyts, but that’s as far as you can get with multiplayer.
Gaining 100% completion will also take some time, as you will have to revisit dungeons and complete side quests.
The music in this game is good, but the way they used it in different ways to produce a theatrical effect is the best thing about it. It doesn’t feel repetitive, and that’s something good in any game.
Voice acting is excellent; voices are clear and you can really feel emotion in them. There's a fair amount voice-acted cutscenes in the game, which makes the storyline less tedious if you are of the type who doesn't enjoy reading.
Sound effects aren’t anything extraordinary, just a few hitting, magic-charging and explosive sounds to add affect to the battles. I actually find it fun how the sound of a defeated enemy resembles a bomb explosion in Super Mario Land for the Game Boy.
Here you have everything but gameplay together.
Over the years this game has turned into a classic, and with previous remakes or ports like the Game Boy Advance or the PlayStation ones we can truly say that this is an outstanding game. It’s a must-get if you are a fan of the franchise and a must-get if you like RPGs. An amazing game to get started on the Final Fantasy world, RPGs or just to pass the time, you don’t want to miss it!
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