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| Final Fantasy 4 (Rom Available) was relesaed in the US as Final Fantasy 2 to avoid confusion. It was the second FF game in the US, since Japan declined to bring the NES games FF2 and 3 to the US. To top that off, of the two versions of Final Fantasy 4 released in Japan (the harder version with a few hints of adult themes, and an easier version meant for kids that edited out a few things), the US received the easy, edited version! Somehow that doesn't seem fair .... Luckily, thanks to efforts to translate the emulated version of Japan's hard Final Fantasy 4, you can play either one. I, personally, played both, and while the translated rom featured a few different things, the differences were negligible. Most people agree that when they first played Final Fantasy 4, it was like nothing they ever played before. The only problem for me is that I played this for the first time immediately after playing Final Fantasy 7, so I guess I didn't enjoy it as much ... Luckily, I replayed this game after starting from the beginning of the Final Fantasy series, so after 3 8-bit NES titles, this game was fantastic! The gameplay was simple, and did not feature anything like Final Fantasy 3's strategic job system. Nevertheless, the not-so-innovative gameplay is completely forgotten when you get into the game's world. The plot, immeasurably better than almost any role-playing game preceding it, involves a variety of complex characters and a story about the "powers of the crystals." If you've played the NES Final Fantasies, you'll think that this story has been re-used to overkill. Fortunately, this takes a different twist and focuses more on the characters and the plot outside of the crystals, thereby using the crystals as only an instrument for the overall plot. There are some great moments in the game, and a whole lot of airships that travel not only over the wordmap ..... The big improvement on this game over its predecessors are in the graphics and sound. I don't need to explain the graphics; the pictures speak for themselves (besides, you can imagine the difference between the NES and SNES games). The sound, however, is excellent. For the first time, the soundtrack is orchestrated and includes plenty of enjoyable tunes, a much needed element for a good Final Fantasy game. As I said earlier, the gameplay, although simple, did not affect the game too much. Each character had his or her specific abilities; Kain was a dragoon, Rydia was a summoner, Edge was a ninja, Rosa was a white mage, etc. Actually, this would be the last Final Fantasy game to give each character one type of ability until Final Fantasy 9. After this, all characters in future games could cast most of the same spells and summons, their only differences being their attacks. If you play this game, which I highly reccommend you do, I suggest that you download the FF2 US Rom first. Not that there's anything wrong with the translated FF4J rom, it's just that their are very few differences, and I found that there was a bug in the FF4J rom at one point where the game crashes. Some people have this problem, other people don't. To make sure that you don't, you might as well play the US version... |
| Files: FF4 Rom (US FF2) FF4 Rom (Translated FF4 Japan) ... Coming soon Emulator ... Go to the Emulators Page |
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| The Games: Final Fantasy I Final Fantasy II Final Fantasy III Final Fantasy IV Final Fantasy V Final Fantasy VI Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VIII Final Fantasy IX Final Fantasy X Final Fantasy X-2 Final Fantasy Legend 1 Final Fantasy Legend 2 Final Fantasy Legend 3 Final Fantasy Adventure Final Fantasy MQ Final Fantasy Tactics |