The Video Game Revue

Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy IV, which was released in America for the SNES as "Final Fantasy II", was a huge milestone for the Final Fantasy series. Not only was it the first 16-bit game in the series, but perhaps most significantly, it was the first Final Fantasy to feature a real-time battle system, as opposed to a simple turn-based system. The importance of this development cannot be overstated since following Final Fantasy IV, the real-time battle system became a signature feature of Final Fantasy games--a feature that made Final Fantasy especially fun and addictive, and put FF IV far ahead of other RPG titles available at the time. I'm not saying that FF IV had the first real-time battle system of any RPG or any console RPG, but it certainly brought the addictiveness of console RPGs to a whole new level in its day.

Final Fantasy IV's other major features--including the 16-bit graphics and sound, the size and detail of the game world, the colorful cast of characters, and the dramatic story--are all things that RPG fans today take forgranted by comparison to the console RPG fans of old. RPGs weren't always artistically stunning, didn't always have epic musical scores, and didn't always necessarily have interesting characters or a good story to them. FF IV was one of those console RPGs that was pushing the envelope at the time and helped to evolve the genre into what it is today.

I would especially like to draw attention to the character and plot in FF IV. What's really amazing about this game is it's almost theatrical quality, what with the themes of love, questioning one's loyalties, betrayal, rebirth, and friendship. FF IV features round characters (not characters with a circular geometry; rather characters who "come around" in the story and end up someplace personally that they did not begin), character foils, irony, and other such literary devices. Even though the plot is not a particularly complex one, it is rich in ways that were rare in video games at the time, and that contributed to future Final Fantasy titles having quality plots as well (although some of those games were obviously better for that than others.)

Given that Final Fantasy IV is the source of so much of what Final Fantasy has become for millions of fans, it's easy to see why it is such a great game. I know that there are many Final Fantasy fans out there who have not played it--if you are one of them, you really should! It can't help but deepen your appreciation for the more modern Final Fantasy games, as well as Final Fantasy in general.

posted by Parappa @ 4:36 PM