Final Fantasy IV
| Final Fantasy IV | |
| Missing image Ff4logo.jpg FFIV original logo. | |
| Developer(s) | Square Co., Ltd. |
| Publisher(s) | Square Co., Ltd. |
| Release date(s) | July 19, 1991 |
| Genre | Role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) (PlayStation) |
| Platform(s) | Super Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation, Wonderswan Color |
| Media | 8 megabit cartridge, CD-ROM (PlayStation) |
Final Fantasy IV (FF4) is a computer role-playing game developed and published by Square Co., Ltd. in 1990. Originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the game was subsequently rereleased for the PlayStation and the WonderSwan Color.
A modified version of the game was released for the Super Famicom in Japan in 1991 under the name Final Fantasy IV Easytype. While the game retained the storyline, graphics, and sound of the original game, the game engine had been modified so as to make the game substantially simpler, and the finished product was marketed at "beginning" gamers. This version of the game was ultimately translated into English by Square's North American subsidiary SquareSoft, where, because the previous two installments of the Final Fantasy series had not been released to North American audience, it was released under the title Final Fantasy II. The PlayStation rerelease of the game (which was derived from the original version of the game) was retranslated and rereleased in North America as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles under the title Final Fantasy IV (where it was packaged with Chrono Trigger). The game did not receive an official European release until the release of the PAL version of Final Fantasy Anthology for the PlayStation in 2002 (where it was packaged with Final Fantasy V).
| Contents |
Release dates
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- April 19, 1991 — Super Famicom (Japan)
- October 19, 1991 — Super Famicom (Final Fantasy IV Easytype) (Japan)
- November 23, 1991 — Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Final Fantasy II) (North America)
- March 21, 1997 — Sony PlayStation (Japan)
- March 11, 1999 — Sony PlayStation (as part of Final Fantasy Collection) (Japan)
- June 29, 2001 — Sony PlayStation (as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles) (North America)
- March 27, 2002 — WonderSwan Color (Japan)
- May 17, 2002 — Sony PlayStation (as part of Final Fantasy Anthology PAL version) (Europe)
Story
On the unnamed planet that is the setting for the game, astronomers begin to notice that one of two moons is beginning to glow a reddish color. This revelation occurs in conjunction with increasing numbers of hostile monsters throughout the world. The most powerful nation in the world, the monarchy of Baron, begins utilizing its unparalleled air force (the "Red Wings") and its legions of Dark Knights to attack peaceful nations in search of four Crystals, each corresponding to a different classical element.
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Cecil Harvey, leader of the Dark Knights, begins to question the king's motives after forcibly stealing a Crystal from the wizards' town of Mysidia. Upon questioning the king, Cecil is stripped of his rank and sent, along with his friend Kain Highwind, to deliver a package to the village of Mist, which is known for its population of "Callers", wizards capable of summoning powerful monsters. On his way, Cecil defeats a Mist dragon. Cecil reaches Mist, only to find that the package is magically rigged to generate a firestorm that would destroy the village. Shocked, Cecil finds a young girl, Rydia, calling to her prostrate mother. Kain explains that her mother summoned the Mist Dragon, and killing the dragon meant that she died, too. Furious at the Dark Knight, Rydia summons a Titan who causes a massive earthquake, altering the landscape.
Cecil recovers from the quake to find Kain gone and Rydia unconscious. Cecil carries Rydia to an oasis where he finds his lover, Rosa Farrel, who followed Cecil on his journey but fell ill in the desert. On his search for a cure (the SandRuby, which is made by the eggs of the Antlion, a monster whose cave was under the control of the Kingdom of Damcyan), Cecil meets an eccentric old wizard named Tellah, who is searching for his daughter, who eloped with the Prince of Damcyan. The party reaches the castle of Damcyan just in time to see it obliterated by the Red Wings. Tellah finds his daughter dead and her fiance Gilbert (name changed to Edward for the English release due to name length restrictions) alive, then leaves to seek revenge. Gilbert follows Cecil and grants him the usage of a hydrofoil, which leads them to the Antlion's cave. Unfortunately, the once-tame monster has turned vicious (an unfortunate trend in the world, the game had observed in its opening sequences), and the party kills it to get the SandRuby.
Cecil reaches the nation of Fabul, known for its army of karate experts. Since Fabul houses a Crystal, Cecil persuades the king to organize a defense against the impending Red Wings attack. A karate master named Yang Fang Leiden speaks on Cecil's behalf as Cecil had saved Yang while journeying to Fabul. During the ensuing battle, Cecil and his friends try to fend off the attacks, defeating many enemies, but are driven backwards to the Crystal Room. Kain (under the control of Golbez) challenges Cecil to single combat, and defeats him easily. Golbez then takes the crystal and kidnaps Rosa before departing.
With the help of the King of Fabul, the party plans a naval assault on Baron, but their plans are thwarted when a Leviathan arises from the depths and swallows the ship carrying the party. Alone, Cecil wakes up on a distant shore, which he soon learns is near Mysidia. After persuading the villagers that his intentions are pure, Cecil is sent on a quest to become a Paladin, accompanied by youthful twin wizards (Porom and Palom). Cecil travels to Mount Ordeals where many of the monsters are immune to his Dark Sword. At the top, he encounters Milon, the Fiend of Earth, sent by Golbez to prevent him from defeating the quest, who he defeats -- twice (a trend in this game). At the top of the mountain, Cecil's party enters a room of mirrors, where Cecil encounters himself (perhaps metaphorically) in one-on-one combat, and wins the battle by not attacking. Cecil is bestowed power by a mysterious light which refers to Cecil as its son. Tellah, who they had met on the mountain, also regains his memory of the spells he had forgotten over the years, as well as the ability to cast Meteo, the ultimate magic. Impressed, and surprised that Cecil succeeded, the village elder helps the party return to Baron to plan an assault. Porom and Palom, who reveal that they were spies for the Elder, join Cecil and Tellah for the trip.
In the town of Baron, the party finds Yang at the Inn. Yang suffered from amnesia after the shipwreck -- but is cured when he attacks the party and is dealt a sound thrashing. Invading the castle through underground tunnels, Cecil defeats the king of the guards, Baigen, who was turned into a monster by Golbez, and then the Fiend of Water, Kainazzo, who had disguised himself as the King of Baron. After he is killed, Kainazzo tries to crush the party between the walls of a passage in the castle, but the twins save the party by turning themselves to stone and jamming the walls in place. Tellah tries and fails to heal them. Saddened, Cecil commandeers an airship with the help of his friend Cid Pollendina, chief engineer of the Red Wings.
Once on the airship, Cecil is met by an airship commanded by Kain (who is still under the control of Golbez). Using the kidnapped Rosa as leverage, Kain offers her safe return in exchange for Cecil retrieving the final Crystal, which has been stolen from the picturesque nation of Toroia by the Dark Elf and hidden deep within a magnetic cave where usage of metallic equipment is impossible. To make matters worse, the Elf's powerful magic attacks make short work of the party. Luckily, the Dark Elf cannot bear music, which Edward (despite being bedridden in Toroia, where he washed after the shipwreck) transmits to the party via a pair of harps for which one echoes the music played upon the other. The music forces the Dark Elf to release the magnetic field and much attenuates his magic power. The party defeats him and takes the crystal, but Golbez (via Kain, who takes the crystal) reneges on his promise to return Rosa upon being presented with it. The party then enters and fights its way through the oddly anachronistic (along with the Tower of Bab-il, one of two dungeons in the game with a technological motif) Tower of Zot, which is accessible by airship only (it does not appear on the world map). When the party reaches Golbez, the aging Tellah casts Meteo on him, which defeats Golbez but also costs Tellah his life. Rosa is rescued alive and unhurt, and the previously brainwashed Kain is found ostensibly cured. Kain returns to his senses and joins the party just as Valvalis, the Fiend of Air, attacks. A sore loser, she destroys the tower when the party defeats her, and the gang escapes via teleport to Baron just in the nick of time. There, Kain explains that Golbez has not retrieved all of the Crystals; four more, called the Dark Crystals, are hidden in the underground land of the Dwarves, and Golbez has already stolen two of them. (At this point in the story, the English-language manual's walkthrough ends.)
Cecil travels to the underground and spies a fleet of tanks in battle with a fleet of airships near a castle. Caught in the crossfire, the airship is damaged and crashes. The party, unhurt, enters to confer with the King of Dwarves, who confirms that the airships were sent by Golbez to seek the crystal, which is hidden in the castle. The party enters the Crystal Room to guard the crystal, only to be attacked by a group of dolls, and then Golbez. Cecil and the party defeat Golbez, but his arm remains animate and takes the crystal anyway.
Learning of a plot to destroy the Dwarves with a Super Cannon, Cecil next travels to the Tower of Bab-il, a huge tower with sections both above and below ground, to destroy the cannon. On the way, he encounters and defeats Dr. Luage, a mad-scientist minion of Rubicant. The party easily defeats the three Dark Imps operating the cannon, but they manage to activate it before they die. Yang sacrifices himself to stop the cannon from firing. The party leaves the tower via a newly-repaired airship piloted by Cid, but is spotted and chased by one of Golbez's airships. The party escapes the pursuer by flying out of the underworld, wherepon Cid jumps from the airship and detonates a bomb carried on his body to close the portal to the underworld. Cecil is safe, but for the time being unable to return to the underworld.
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The only way to return returning is through the Tower of Bab-il. It is discovered that a country near the tower, Eblan, has been destroyed by the devil-like Fiend of Fire, Rubicant, and its inhabitants forced underground. A ninja and prince of Eblan, Edward "Edge" Geraldine, joins Cecil after a failed attack on Rubicant. The group assaults the tower and encounters Edge's parents, the King and Queen of Eblan, who had been transformed into monsters by the late Dr. Luage. They attack the party, but then recover their senses, and die. Shortly after, the party encounters Rubicant, who apologizes for Dr. Luage's actions, and claims that he hadn't sanctioned him. Edge, furious, attacks him again. Bolstered by the party, this time, Rubicant is defeated. Cecil and the party reache the stolen crystals, but just as they come into view, they fall through a trapdoor back to the portion of the tower in the underworld. Edge finds an airship, which the party steals.
The final Crystal is held in the Sealed Cave, which the (apparently unharmed) Cid helps Cecil to reach. Cecil retrieves the Crystal, which is lost when Kain (once again under the control of Golbez) betrays him. In order to discover what plan Golbez has for the Crystals and hopefully stop it, Cecil travels to the planet's second moon.
Cid mounts a giant drill on the front of the stolen airship, with which the party reopens the hole to the overworld. The party flies to Mysidia, where the elders' wishing raises an enormous fish-shaped spaceship, the "Big Whale", from the ocean. The spaceship contains its own free inn (beds, actually) and a Big Chocobo, centralizing access to some of the party's material needs.
On the moon, Cecil meets FuSoYa, who explains to him that he is descended from a race known as Lunarians, who originated on a planet that was destroyed to form an asteroid belt. The moon is actually a sort of cryogenic spaceship where the Lunarians are held in stasis. Cecil's father was responsible for storing the Crystals, which correspond to Crystals on the moon that hold the thoughts of the Lunarians, on the planet and introducing technological advances such as the airship. However, some Lunarians, led by the evil Zemus, want to wipe out all life on the planet for Lunarian inhabitation. It is revealed that Golbez plans to use the Crystals to revive a giant android, the Giant of Bab-il, and clear the planet for this purpose. Cecil also learns that the light at the top of Mount Ordeals was actually the spirit of his father.
Accompanied by a Lunarian, FuSoYa, Cecil returns to the planet to find the Giant revived. However, massive fleets of airships and tanks, piloted by numerous characters from earlier in the game, from Porom and Palom (released from their stone confinement by the Elder of Mysidia) to the apparently-unharmed Cid, to Edward, come to distract the Giant, and Cecil's party sneaks inside. The party again encounters the four fiends of the elements, who were revived by Zemus and fight the party one at a time in a continuous battle. The party then enters the Giant's control room and fights its central computer. After destroying the Giant's nerve center, Cecil finds Golbez and Kain where it is revealed that they are both under the control of Zemus. FuSoYa is able to break Zemus's control over Golbez and Kain. It is at this point that Cecil finds that Golbez is his brother. Golbez and FuSoYa head to the moon to attempt to defeat Zemus, and Cecil's party follows.
After fighting his way to the core of the moon, Cecil watches Golbez and FuSoYa defeat Zemus, only to discover that his death unleashed a more powerful being named Zeromus. Zeromus easily defeats Golbez and FuSoYa. His initial attacks devastate Cecil's party, but Mysidians, "wishing" from their temple on Earth, revive them. After a long battle, Cecil's party defeats Zeromus. After the victory, Golbez decides to return to the land of the Lunarians with FuSoYa because he can't bear to go back to Earth because of his previous actions.
The ending is typical for a Final Fantasy game; the world is at peace, and we are shown, one by one, what has become of the characters in the aftermath. Most notably, Cecil and Rosa are married and crowned King and Queen of Baron.
Side quests
Final Fantasy IV has remarkably few side-quests. There are four major ones on which a player can embark:
- Forging the sword 'Excalibur' from the 'Legend' sword found on Mt. Ordeals. Excalibur is the most powerful sword in the game (except for the Crystal sword, which is guarded by a monster in the final dungeon on the Moon.)
- Gaining the summoned monsters Asura and Levithan, who live in the Land of the Summoned Monsters, deep inside a cave in the Underworld. Backstory on Rydia is filled-in in this side quest.
- Finding the injured Yang in the Sylvian Cave. Here, Rydia can learn to call the Sylph summoned monster. Additionally, striking Yang with a frying pan (retrieved from his wife in Fabul) will prompt him to hand over the powerful Spoon dagger.
- Gaining the summoned monster Odin, accessible from the dungeons of Castle Baron late in the game. This quest fills in some backstory on what happened to the King of Baron.
- Gaining the summoned monster Bahamut, who lives in a cave on the Moon.
Gameplay
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Gameplay in Final Fantasy IV is standard CRPG fare; characters traverse an overworld to fulfill requirements of various quests, using towns to replenish strength, buy new equipment, and discover clues, all the while fighting monsters at random intervals. The game also introduces Square's "Active Time Battle" (ATB) system, which differs from previous Final Fantasy games (and from most RPGs in general) in that players must give orders to their characters in real-time. The ATB system would appear again in the next five Final Fantasy games, as well as making appearances in other games produced by Square, including Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy X-2.
In battle, each character has certain strengths and weaknesses, including either spellcasting powers or other special abilities. Like other Final Fantasy games, characters gain in abilities as they gain battle experience. Magic is divided into several different categories: "white," or healing and support magic, "black," or attack, magic, "summon" (or "call") magic, which called forth monsters to damage the enemy, and "Ninjitsu" magic, a specialized type of attack magic used by Edge. Spellcasters gain magic spells at preprogrammed experience levels; for this reason FF4's ability development system is considered the simplest of any Final Fantasy game.
FF4 is a very "linear" RPG, meaning that at most points throughout the game players may advance through the story in one and only one way, with limited opportunities for side quests or alternate paths.
Differences between versions
Final Fantasy IV was released in a variety of different versions for a variety of different platforms. Each version tells the same story, features the same characters, uses the same graphics, sound, and music, and utilizes the same basic game engine. Nonetheless, there are certain key distinctions between each version. Because of the extreme differences between this North American SNES version of the game and the original Japanese release, in the late 1990s J2e Translations [1] released an English language fan translation of the original game.
FF4 (original) and FF4 Easytype
The original FF4 was altered in several regards in order to reduce the difficulty level for FF4 Easytype. Among the changes rendered were:
- Removal of some magic spells. The white magic spells "Protect," "Shell," and "Dispel" were removed, as was the summon magic spell "Cocatrice."
- Removal/replacement of some items. In the original game, almost every status ailment (such as Petrification and Poison) had a corresponding item used to cure it ("Golden Needle" and "Antidote," respectively). These individual items were removed for FF4 Easytype. In their place, the item "Remedy," which cured all status ailments but was extremely rare and expensive in the original version, was made far more common and affordable. Other items, such as "Ether," which were extremely rare in the original game, were far more common in FF4 Easytype. In addition, the original game featured a wide assortment of magical items which could be used in battle to replicate the effects of a number of magic spells. All of these items were removed for FF4 Easytype.
- Removal of specialized attacks. In the original version, almost every character had a special attack: Cecil's "Dark Wave" did damage to all enemies in exchange for some hit point damage to Cecil himself, Tellah's "Memory" randomly cast a high level black magic spell at the enemies, Yang's "Gather" allowed him to do a double damage attack, and so forth. These attacks were removed from FF4 Easytype. Interestingly, though, during Cecil's doppelganger battle on Mount Ordeal, his clone attacks exclusively with "Dark Wave."
- Reduced shop prices. Items, weapons, and armor sold at shops in FF4 Easytype was less expensive than the equivalent material sold at shops in the original game.
- Assorted tweaks to monster difficulty. There were a number of monsters in the original game (such as Valvalicia) who could only be harmed using a specific sequence of attacks, or only at specific times. Most of these special requirements were either removed or scaled back for FF4 Easytype. Also, in the original version, monsters located more than two rows away from the party during battle received only 1/2 damage from physical attacks. In FF4 Easytype, these monsters took full damage from all attacks. Monsters also generally did less damage in FF4 Easytype than they did in the original version.
- In FF4 Easytype, Zeromus has a different sprite. Instead of an alien looking thing, he is a giant red thing.
- The equipment Ribbon absorbs elemental attacks in the Easytype mode.
FF4 Easytype and Final Fantasy II (North America)
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FF4 Easytype is roughly similar to the game released in North America, but the game lost some content to censorship and poor translation. Among the major changes are:
- Removal of Judeo-Christian religious imagery. The most notable instance of this is the renaming of the magic spell "Holy" to "White." This was in keeping with Nintendo of America's content guidelines, and similar examples can be found in the North American translations of Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy VI (released as Final Fantasy III).
- Graphic and textual edits remove references to death and violence. Again, partially to adhere to Nintendo's content guidelines, images deemed too violent or disturbing were toned down. References to death (and especially suicide) in the original script were eliminated in the translation, and key sequences were graphically edited. In one cutscene in the Japanese version, Rosa is rescued at the last moment from being executed by a giant scythe. In the North American version, the scythe was replaced with a giant metal ball.
- Altered item and attack names. Item names in the original Japanese version were changed to more directly reflect their usage. The item "Phoenix Down," for instance, which was used for reviving wounded/unconscious characters, was renamed "Life," the item "Remedy," which cured a variety of status ailments, was renamed "Heal," and the item "Potion," which restored a character's hit points, was renamed "Cure." Similarly, each summon magic attack consisted of both a monster name and an attack name in the Japanese version (for example, the summon spell "Leviathan" performed the attack "Tsunami"); in the translated version, the attack name was omitted.
- Removal of the "developer's room". In the Japanese games (both the original and the Easytype versions), a secret room could found in the dwarf castle. This room was basically an easter egg where the player could converse (and, in some cases, battle) with representations of the game's programmers. The room was removed in the English translation.
- Simplified script. The English language script has been attacked as being of poor quality. In addition to a number of awkward or stilted sequences, the English script is substantially shorter and omits several subplots, most notably an ongoing story about Kain's background and relationship to his father, and the motivation for Zemus's plans regarding colonization of Earth.
FF4 (original) and FF4 (PlayStation/WonderSwan Color)
The PlayStation and WonderSwan Color rereleases are, for most intents, identical to the original version of Final Fantasy IV. Some minor tweaks introduced in FF4 Easytype have been left in, but these are so rare that the average gamer could very easily play through the entire game and never notice them. The most notable change in the PlayStation release is the inclusion of a full motion video opening sequence, and the ability to perform a "memo" save anywhere on the world map. This save would remain active in the PlayStation's RAM until it was overwritten by another such save, or the power was turned off or interrupted. The WonderSwan Color version did not have these features, the screen resolution was decreased and the music and sound effects were downsampled to meet the specifications of the device.
The North American and European localization of FF4 PlayStation featured an entirely rewritten translation which addressed most of the discrepancies between the original game and the SNES Final Fantasy II. However, certain sections, such as the line "you spoony bard," were kept intact, as many of them had achieved cult status.
Production credits
Original staff
- Director — Hironobu Sakaguchi
- Music Composition — Nobuo Uematsu
- Character Design — Yoshitaka Amano
- Lead Design — Takashi Tokita
- Lead Programming — Ken Narita
- Lead Graphics — Hiromi Nakada and R. Tanaka
- Map Design — Yasushi Matsumura
- Battle Design — Kazuhiko Aoki, Hiroyuki Itoh and Akihiko Matsui
- Battle Programming — Kiyoshi Yoshii and Katsuhisa Higuchi
- Battle Graphics — Tetsuya Takahashi and Masanori Hoshino
- Menu Programming — Keitarou Adachi
- Music Programming — Minoru Akao
- Sound Effects — Kenji Ito and Akira Ueda
- English Translation (SNES version) — Kaoru Moriyama, K. Okahisa and H. Takahashi
- Executive Producer — Masafumi Miyamoto
PlayStation remake
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- Executive Producers — Hironobu Sakaguchi and Shinji Hashimoto
- Director — Kazuhiko Aoki
- Supervisor — Fumiaki Fukaya
- CG Sound Effects — Eiji Nakamura
- Recording Engineer — Kenji Nagashima
- Producer — A. Imai
- Publicity Producer — Manabu Denno
- Porting — Tose Co.
- CG Supervisor — Atsushi Murata
- North American/European release – Square Co., Ltd.
- Localization General Manager — Akira Kashiwagi
- Localization Director — Goro Uenishi
- Localization Assistants — Mai Morofushi, Tomoko Sekii
- QA Executive Director — Hiromi Masuda
- QA Rating & Legal Advisor — Reiko Kondo
- QA Supervisor — Takashi Sannohe
- QA Assistant Coordinator — Yuichiro Shirota, Shinichi Terai
- North American/European release – Square Soft, Inc.
- Senior Vice President — Yuji Shibata
- Lead Localization Specialist — Ryosuke Taketomi
- Localization Specialist — Brody Phillips
- Editors — Jennifer L. Mukai and Richard Amtower
- Localization Assistant — Rika Maruya
- Assistant Localization Manager — Ryosuke Taketomi
- Localization Manager — Yutaka Sano
- Senior QA Manager — Jonathan Williams
- Assistant QA Manager — David Carrillo
- Lead Product Analyst — Jeff J. Love
- Assistant Lead Analyst — Nicholas M. Pisani
- Product Analysts — Aaron J. Adams, Mathew Clift, Chris Manprin and Michelle Ng
- QA Translator — Kenji Nakamura
- Senior Lead Analyst — Jaime J. Bencia
References
- ikelley@mail.sas.upenn.edu. "FF4j/FF4j Easytype Changes FAQ v 1.0." Accessed on January 2, 2005.
- White Wolf, "Game Credits for Final Fantasy IV." MobyGames. Accessed on January 2, 2005.
External links
- RPGClassics' FF4 Shrine
- Final Fantasy Net - Final Fantasy IV information
- Caves of Narshe Final Fantasy IV Collection