Final Fantasy 4/IV - Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy IV (4) (released as Final Fantasy II in North America) is the fourth installment of the flagship Final Fantasy series. It was released by Square (Later to become Square Enix) in 1991 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and has subsequently been released on the GameBoy Advance, PlayStation, PlayStation Portable, and other platforms.
The game’s director was Hironobu Sakaguchi and its music was scored by Nobuo Uematsu. The game centers around a dark knight named Cecil Harvey and his mission of stopping sorcerer Golbez from collecting powerful crystals and destroying the world. The game is the first to use the “Active Battle System”, which would go on to be used in the next five Final Fantasy game titles in the franchise.
Prologue
The game takes place on Earth a.k.a the “Blue Planet”, that consists of humans inhabiting the surface layer and dwarves living underground. An artificial moon orbits the planet where a race called the Lunarians live, their original home now an asteroid belt that orbits the blue planet.
And so, the dark knight Cecil was stripped of his command as the captain of the Red Wings. He and the master dragoon Kain head toward the dark valley for the village of Mist. The advent of the airship marked the realization of Baron's dreams, but also the birth of its militarism. With its Royal Air Force Red Wings, Baron soon reigned supreme. Now, as monsters multiply and stir unrest, Baron only exploits its power to collect the world's Crystals. Why? The Crystals silently shed their light…
Gameplay
The influential “Active Time Battle” system associated with Final Fantasy made its debut in this Final Fantasy IV. This new system parted ways with the traditional turn based mechanics of the previous games. In “Active Time Battle”, characters don't always act one after the other, but rather perform actions as determined by Charge Time. An Active Time Battle or ATB gauge fills up over time, and once it reaches capacity a player can either attack or cast spells. Taking an action empties the gauge and the cycle of recharging continues. The new system adds urgency and requires the use of more strategy in battles.
In battle, players may control up to five players, making it the first and last game with a party capacity greater than four members. Similar to previous Final Fantasy games, the player controls a number of characters and traverses an overworld, interacting with friendly and enemy NPCs. Players enter battle at random moments and fight bosses.
During the battle, the player may choose to fight, use magic or an item, retreat, change character positions, parry, or pause. If a player loses all of a character’s HP, that character faints, but can be revived using phoenix down, raise, or arise. In towns, players are able to buy items, recharge their strength, and find clues about their missions. In inns, players can sleep to regain HP, which can also be restored by using potions and spells. Final Fantasy IV uses an experience system whereby players improve and gain new abilities upon defeating monsters and bosses.
Character’s weaknesses and strengths depend on their job category. For example, a fighter may have weak agility and a mage may have low defense, but strong spellcasting power. Magic is divided into white, black, Summoning (Rydia), and a special magic used by Edge (“Call” in SNES) named ninjitsu.
Characters
- Cecil Harvey- Starts as a Dark Knight and is the captain of the Red Wings of Baron. He becomes skeptical about his King’s intentions and sets out on a quest for justice.
- Kain Highwind- Commander of the Dragoons and a childhood friend of Cecil.
- Rydia- A summoner from the village of Mist who joins Cecil.
- Tellah- An elderly Sage who is seeking vengeance against Golbez.
- Edward Chris von Muir- Prince of Damcyan and the husband of Tellah's daughter Anna. Helps Cecil in his quest.
- Rosa Joanna Farrell- Archer from Baron and White Mage that has a crush on Cecil.
- Yang Fang Leiden- Head of the Monks of Fabul.
- Palom- A young apprentice Black Mage from Mysidia, with a twin named Porom. Joins Cecil on his way up Mount Ordeals.
- Porom- An apprentice White Mage from Mysidia. Twins with Palom. Accompanies Cecil on his way up Mount Ordeals.
- Cid Pollendina- Engineer responsible for designing many Red Wing aircrafts. He is like a father to Rosa, Cecil and Kain. His aircraft, the Enterprise, takes the party all around the world.
- Edge Geraldine- A Ninja and the prince of Eblan.
- Fusoy- A Lunarian from the Red Moon.
Development
Square was actually developing two games before the release of Final Fantasy IV. One was for the SNES (Final Fantasy V) and one for the NES (Final Fantasy IV), but, due to a lack of funding and scheduling constraints, the team scrapped the NES version and focused only on the Super Nintendo SNES version, ultimately releasing what would be Final Fantasy IV. Due to its release on the SNES, the game boasted stronger graphics compared to the previous games, all released on the NES.