Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 53
 a re-release of a classic December 13, 2005
diptoos (mississippi)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Final Fantasy IV was originally released here in the US, in an extremely edited form, as Final Fantasy 2. then later it was re-released onto the psx along with chrono trigger as Final Fantasy Chronicles. the PSX version had "new" features such as the restoration of most of the features cut out in our final fantasy 2. But enough of the past, let's get to this edition: this latest iteration features many new features that were not in any of the previous editions. for starters, they have increased the quality of the music and visuals. on top of that, they have added the ability to choose from several different characters to fight through the final dungeon, and to go along with them, new weapons and armor have been added. To top it all off, once the game is completed a new dungeon will be unlocked with 50 levels of randomized dungeons that will be tailored to your characters levels. all in all, my opinion is that if you already own any of the past models,it is worth picking this up and giving it a playthrough just to see some of the new features. if you have never played any of the others, and you like old school RPGs, definately pick this one up.
 The best Final Fantasy you've never played January 25, 2006
Charles B Valentino
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This title marks the point where the folks at Squaresoft finally hit their stride. Though previous FF titles offered battle systems, story elements, and world designs that were unique enough to sustain a loyal fandom, FFIV was the first home run.
Though FFIV, originally released in the U.S. on the Super Nintendo as "Final Fantasy 2", lacks the complexity of proceeding titles such as FF6 and on, this game offers much to RPG fans. I'll add that if you've never played an RPG before, FF4 is a wonderful choice as an introduction balancing challenge and simplicity well.
In this game you control Cecil and his band of warriors as they attempt to thwart a powerful dark wizard and a corrupt kingdom from unleashing ultimate destruction upon their world. Cecil is a conflicted character who must betray his own kingdom and his whole way of life to wield the power to fight evil. (I'm not giving much away here, you find this out in the first five minutes or so).
When I say world I mean world. This game was one of the first to enable you to explore a mode 7 "globe" complete with continents, landforms, and towns. As you seek new powers to aid you in your quest, you will also make new friends, discover new weapons, more efficient forms of transport, and you will add and (gulp) lose beloved party members along the way. A new player could spend 40-60 hours playing this game before reaching the end of this tale.
Ultimately, FF4 delivers well designed gameplay and an easy to use battle system, a compelling story, memorable characters (slashdot.com still uses Tellah and Edward as icons for their gaming articles), and beautiful music to keep you playing to the finish. Trust me, you'll like it.
 How did this game make it past the debug team? February 23, 2006
Grendel (Reykjavik, Island)
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
Though this is otherwise a remake of the SNES classic, "Final Fantasy II / IV," there are some things to consider before purchasing the game:
1.) There are many obvious bugs which will often ruin gameplay.
2.) These bugs never should have made their way past test play. The fact that they weren't even noticed / corrected during the North American localization leads me to wonder how lazy the developer really is, given the opportune amount of time to deal with such apparent issues.
I don't mean to bicker, though the technical issues completely ruined this re-release for me. First and foremost, there are a number of artificial speed-ups and slowdowns on the overworld map, and this is the first issue which I noticed during the opening sequence. Secondly, there is artifacting all over the map, which is the result of unproperly adjusting the map's proportions to fit the resolution of the GBA. (This shouldn't even be a problem, because any half-wit who knows how to use Photoshop can avoid artifacting.) Third, we move in to the newly-implemented battle system, which is an adaptation of the infamous ATB system. A few of the problems here are lag times, commands failing to register and shifty turns. These problems are quite annoying, and can make combat unnecessarily frustrating. I honestly don't know how other people manage to overlook these things...
Now, I have a few other serious issues with this game which aren't necessarily related to bugs. One of the new features, the bestiary, allows the player to add defeated monsters to its databank for later viewing. Simple enough? Well, it seems that the developers redid the encounter rates to make them pre-determined upon starting a new game. In this sense, there are no solid rare or common encounters, as the encounter rates become subjective to the individual game itself. Considering that I've played through the game roughly 3 times, I've never been able to complete the bestiary due to uncommon encounters being too common, and common encounters being too uncommon, vice versa. Doesn't make sense? It doesn't have to -- the developer took a cheap route to make players invest more time in completing the game.
Moreover, many of the new features are completely unecessary, ridiculous, or both. Without spoiling the game, I can say that the difficulty, though advertised as being based on the hard-type release, is significantly nerfed by these additions. Overall, the game barely resembles the original in this right. Albeit, I have no reason to detail much else about this release, as just about all the other details are generally covered in other reviews.
FF Legends returns! January 16, 2006
Reuben Gathright (United States)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
First, do not mistake this title with the Final Fantasy tactics gameplay engine. Final Fantasy IV was patterned off the Active Time Battle system. I was amazed with the quality of the graphics and sound in this game. The soundtrack is easy to listen to with a hint of digital.
As you play the game with your main character, other characters will join and leave. After eight hours of gameplay I am still
enjoying the game waiting for more level ups. The game has a strong plot line which keeps you involved.
I would recommend this game to any new or experienced gamers.
Pros:
1) The game is so well laid out, you will not need to read the manual.
2) Remixed audio from previous decade old Final Fantasy Legend gameboy titles!
3) Pushes the graphics for the GBA platform to the edge with no problems.
Cons:
1) Got time?
Old gold polished back to life... January 23, 2006
Icewind
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Back in the late 80's - early 90's a lone game developer was out of money, out of luck, and out of time. He was on his last leg, and wasn't getting anywhere. Seeing his current state, he decided to go for broke and produce his goodbye present to his small, and probably dying group of fans, and produce what would soon become the greatest legacy of games to hit the market for going on two-decades now. It was his "Final Fantasy."
Hironobu Sakaguchi produced the finest saga of games and now has the largest fan-base of any game series to date. This current work "Final Fantasy IV Advance" is an attempt to let his old-school fans relive some of their most memorable moments in the Final Fantasy series over again in an all new updated format, and a VERY successful attempt at that.
Final Fantasy IV Advance brings in new character sprites, updated background mapping, smoother textures overall, and revamped musical score...well more-or-less touched up and re-formatted. The new musical score is beautifal, and is one of the finer points of this game. The changes are so dramatic yet at that the same time suttle enough as not to totally change this classic, that this remake pulled off without a hitch.
The revamped Final Fantasy IV is excellent and will serve as a collectors item. The game itself is a legend in it's own right, if anyone thinks it was a bad idea to re-vamp it, I can tell you from first hand-experience it was a very good idea.
Square took an old, yet still very valuable piece of gold and polished it up like new. A fresh breathe of life to a great game. 5 out of 5, hands down.
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