History VideoGame / FinalFantasyIV

* SquishyWizard: Rydia. She has the worst HP out of your final party, but, my God, [[GlassCannon she can slaughter enemies in no time,]] even before she gets spells like Meteor, Leviathan, or Bahamut.

* SquishyWizard: Rydia. She has the worst HP out of your final party, but, my God, she can slaughter enemies in no time, even before she gets spells like Meteor, Leviathan, or Bahamut.

* [[OneSteveLimit One Edward Limit]]: First, you meet the SpoonyBard Edward Chris von Muir. Later, you meet the HighlyVisibleNinja Edward Geraldine. To make sure the player doesn't get confused with this, '''Ed'''ward '''Ge'''raldine goes by the alias Edge.
** Actually an unintended result of the translation. Edward was originally named Gilbert (with his [[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables red-haired love interest Anna]]), while Edge was still Edge.

* TheEmpire: Baron sort of becomes one early in the game. It does attack and ruin various nations to steal their Crystals, but it doesn't expand it's borders.

* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler:Cid's apparent death - there's no actual reason that he needs to jump with the bomb. He could have thrown it. It's hard to imagine that he couldn't build a remote controlled bomb either, considering how he has a remote control ''airship''. And he couldn't control the speed of his descent, so carrying it wouldn't have altered anything. Then he winds up surviving anyway, so it just comes off as a transparent method to bump him from the party in favor of Edge.]]

*** There's probably a ton of ways out of this, but the two noted above may be a case of GamePlayStorySegregation. This event immediately comes after fighting a boss with a multi-hit near insta-death move, ergo he's supposed to be powerful. The implication may have been that they were two week to try anything else, if one assumes the basic fire spell is too weak or they just lack the magic power to teleport.

* FridgeLogic: [[spoiler: The twins can't be un-stoned easily because they did it to themselves. What if they cast Break ''on each other''? Would it be easier to cure them then?]]

Received a cell phone sequel called ''[[FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears The After Years]]'' (also available on WiiWare), which stars the old cast and some of their children teaming up again to prevent the same catastrophe from happening again. It, along with ''Final Fantasy IV'' itself, was released on the PSP in March 2011 in Japan and April every where else. Also includes a Midquel called Interlude to connect the plots better. Both games use new graphics and is the largest 2D graphical change to the original other then the cellphone version. This version is Iheavily based on the GBA version, only thing taken from the DS version is translations of terms (e.g. Carnellian Signet rather then "Bomb Ring").

* [=~That's No Moon~=]: [[spoiler:The Red Moon is eventually revealed to be a giant spacecraft constructed by the Lunarians, a race of highly-advanced aliens.]]

** And coming soon to the PSP in the form of the ''Complete Collection'', with ''The After Years'' and an "Interlude" chapter bridging the two parts together. All with upgraded aesthetics.

*** This also applies for Cecil's first Paladin-sword. In the original version and the PSX remake, it is named LEGEND. In the DS Remake it is named Mythgraven Blade.

** Though not really censored, the final Airship/Space Shuttle Cecil gets was originally named the Big Whale. In the GBA and DS Remakes, this is changed to the Lunar Whale.

* SheatheYourSword: Cecil's trial to become a Paladin.

The main character of this tale is Cecil, a [[EvilIsCool Dark Knight]] in the service of the King of Baron. After questioning the recent warmongering of his king, he is demoted to errand boy and sent to a village called Mist in order to deliver a package and slay a dragon menacing its borders. He is joined by his best friend and [[TheRival rival]], a Dragoon named Kain. Once they reach the village, they discover that nothing is quite what they have been told: they have been used as disposable pawns in Baron's ongoing crusade to capture the {{Power Crystal}}s that exist around the world. Cecil vows to stop the evil intentions of Baron, but first he must [[TheAtoner atone for the sins]] that he committed in its service and overcome his own inner darkness.

[[caption-width-right:330:The cast of ''Final Fantasy IV'' circa the DS release. SpoonyBard included for free!]]

* [[SequelDifficultySpike Remake Difficulty Spike]]: The DS Release is ''a lot'' harder than other releases. Enemies have more HP and better AI and attacks, and a lot of them are upgraded to DemonicSpiders as a result--the Flame Beasts in the Tower of Zot can kill your entire party except maybe Cecil in one attack. As for the bosses, take Golbez--in all other releases he's an AntiClimaxBoss that can be killed in about two turns, not counting you reviving your party. In the DS release he's a BarrierChangeBoss that some consider ThatOneBoss.

* CreepyDoll: Calcobrena.

* NewGamePlus: In the DS version, after defeating [[spoiler:Zeromus]], you can play the game again, inheriting all those augments you gave to your characters. And If you gave the previous game augments to characters that weren't going to be in your final party, you will be rewarded with these characters' abilities as augments. You can play {{New Game Plus}} only three times in a row though.

* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Multiple examples, first starting with Scarmiglione returning immediately from [[NotQuiteDead Not Quite Death]] before Cecil reaches paladin-hood.

*** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint That's because atomic explosions barely do a thousand points of damage.]]

* OmniscientMoralityLicense: Leviathan shows up to crash your entire ship in order to abduct your summoner, destroying the mission to stop TheEmpire, and possibly jeopardizing the fate of the world. The aftermath leaves one party member an amnesiac pawn of said empire, another bedridden until the very end of the game, [[TheHero the hero]] stranded alone on a continent that [[HumiliationConga hates]] [[{{Karma}} him]], and presumably [[RedShirt all the ship's crew]] dead. Everything [[JustAsPlanned works out uncannily]] in the end, despite (or even [[InMysteriousWays because of]]) debilitating injuries to plot-important characters. Nobody ever brings up the whole, murderous [[SeaMonster sea monster]] thing.

* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling - It's possible to fight enemies from around Mythril and Troia when first arriving at Mysidia by heading north of Mt. Ordeals and around the mountains on the southwest side and heading to the very northern tip of the continent. Interestingly, the path can only be traversed on foot, not on a chocobo. Battles there give Cecil 2,000-3,000 per victory.
* PercussiveMaintenance - in a non-mechanical example, this is used on Yang [[spoiler: after the party finds him unconscious in the Sylph Cave.]]

* PlotInducedStupidity: Because the ability to swap characters hadn't been invented in the original release, most of the [[StupidSacrifice Stupid Sacrifices]] mentioned below happened mainly to open up a slot in the party for the next plot-relevant character to fill.
* PowersAsPrograms: The Augments from the DS version.

* ThePowerOfLove: Several moments, such as Edward defeating the Sahagin and Kain [[spoiler:defeating Zemus's last attempt at mind control]] come from their love for a certain person. In addition, giving Twincast to [[OfficialCouple Cecil and Rosa]] yields Ultima; strongest attack in the entire game bar ''none''.
* PowerOfRock: Turns out the Dark Elf is weak to this. Or at least harps.

** Pink Tails are by no means the ONLY really rare drop in the game, just the most famous one. There are a lot of other things in the game, like the hidden summons (Goblin, Mind Flayer, Cockatrice and Bomb), that are randomly dropped and every bit as rare as the Rainbow Pudding. To add insult to injury, the Goblin summon is pretty much useless, despite being as rare as Mind Flayer (damage, sap, and paralyze), Cockatrice (Multitarget Petrification), and Bomb (Damage equal to Rydia's health, without harming her). Equipments ranging from [[DiscOneNuke mid-game destroying equipments]] like Rune Staves and Lilith Rods, and other [[InfinityPlusOneSword ultimate equipments]] like Crystal Rings, extra Protect Rings, extra Ribbons, Dragon Whips and so on are all [[RandomlyDrops Randomly Dropped]] and at least nearly as, if not just as rare as the Pink Tail, just that the monsters that drop them tend to be commoner encounters.

* [[SequelDifficultySpike Remake Difficulty Spike]]: The DS Release is ''a lot'' harder than other releases. Enemies have more HP and better AI and attacks, and a lot of them are upgraded to DemonicSpiders as a result--the Flame Beasts in the Tower of Zot can kill your entire party except maybe Cecil in one attack. As for the bosses, take Golbez--in all other releases he's an AnticlimaxBoss that can be killed in about two turns, not counting you reviving your party. In the DS release he's a BarrierChangeBoss that some consider ThatOneBoss.

* ShoutOut:A lot. [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/FinalFantasyIV See the trivia page.]]

* SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear - a frequent occurrence on one's first playthrough, thanks to all the party members that leave your party or (apparently) meet their demise without much advance warning.

* TagAlongKid: Rydia, at least at the start, Palom and Porom.

* TrickBoss: Calcobrena, Lugae.

Since the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII second]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII third]] ''FinalFantasy'' games hadn't been released in the US when ''Final Fantasy IV'' came out, the US release of ''FFIV'' was titled ''Final Fantasy II''. The US ''FFII'' was easier than the Japanese version; before the US version was released, it spawned another Japanese version, "''Final Fantasy IV Easytype''", whose difficulty level was scaled down even farther. (Thus, the US version was less difficult than the original Japanese version, but significantly harder than ''Easytype''.) The US ''Final Fantasy II'' also suffered from severe [[{{Bowdlerize}} censorship]]. ("[[SpoonyBard You spoony bard!]]", anyone?) Many of the [[GoodBadTranslation fan favorite lines]] were kept in the re-translated re-releases.

''Final Fantasy IV'' is considered by many to be one of the best of the series, partly because it was first released before the series developed an UnpleasableFanbase. However, it was panned by UK critics as the weaker half of the ''Chronicles'' double. It wasn't only ported to the GBA like the other pre-PS titles, but was also the second game (after VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII, which didn't make it over beforehand) to be remade with 3D graphics on the Nintendo DS. It's also the first remake to add voice acting, if only for key scenes.

* AscendedMeme: "You SpoonyBard!" is the TropeCodifier for the series, being kept in all releases of the game when the rest of the script has been re-translated. It has even worked its way into other ''Final Fantasy'' games and beyond.

* {{Antivillain}}: Rubicante is an AffablyEvil Type I variant. He might even be a PunchClockVillain.

** Gameplay wise, it takes loads of time just to cast it (at least in SNES version.) Not to mention that you'd prefered Bahamut or Leviathan by that time around, not just for casting speed, but also due to the fact that Meteo's high spell power is blunted by the damage cap of 9999.

* TookALevelInBadass: Cecil, [[spoiler:After he becomes a paladin, he becomes significantly stronger in every stat, can wield much stronger equipment]] and [[spoiler: can destroy anything that made you cry tears of frustration when he was a Dark Knight]] The best part? [[spoiler: This is when Paladin Cecil is level 1, compared to Dark Knight Cecil who's anywhere from 15-20]]
** The same can be said for [[spoiler: Tellah and Rydia, possibly Edge,]] although [[spoiler: his is much more CutScenePowerToTheMax.]]

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Possibly. The Enterprise simply goes straight up out of the screen's range when entering the Tower of Zot, and the exterior of the tower is never actually seen, so the party could be reaching the thinner layers of Earth's atmosphere when they reach it, or possibly even out into space. It's adverted later on with the Red Moon, which has a breathable atmoshere despite being smaller than our own moon, due to the Lunarian's advanced technology.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: The "spoony bard" line is actually one of the least blatant examples in the SNES version. Much worse are the recurring NeverSayDie elements, leading to lines like "A girl from Baron was kept from falling down", or the total elimination of anything remotely religious like references to Hell. The latter manifests itself in cringe-worthy lines like "Fall flat into the deep ravine!" or "Come with us, Edge... To the [[TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast Dark World!!"]] Cecil's Dark Knight equipment was also changed, with Hades armor becoming "Black" and the Deathbringer sword becoming simply the Black sword.

* CombatMedic: Rosa can be this, if you choose to equip her with a bow. Her Aim ability gives her [[TheArcher increased attack power and accuracy with a bow]]; while it's not near enough to match the damage output of, say, Cecil or Kain, it's still better than your average StaffChick. And that doesn't even take [[HolyHandGrenade Holy]] into consideration.

* DistressedDamsel: Rosa, for a while. It might be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] that she can't get herself out, since she has [[BigBad Golbez]] and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Kain]] guarding her, and unless you've been doing some serious LevelGrinding, she doesn't know Teleport. Not that she could cast it, since she's [[ChainedToARock chained to a wall]].

** Also somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that she's the StaffChick of the group, so not only is she the weakest in terms of physical strength, none of her spells would really be all that useful in this situation. Not that anyone else would be much better at escaping from them, considering [[HopelessBossFight the circumstances in which she was captured to begin with]]…
** Actually, this depends on Cecil's level at the time. Due to [[LevelScaling Level scaling]], she may or may not be able to cast it.

** One was Cecil's Dark Wave, but his mirror image can cast that without problem. This led to a lot of confusion and a bit of resentment on the part of SNES players when their shadow-self attacked exclusively with a power they themselves never had access to. It also made the resulting puzzle (ie, letting him attack with the HP-depleting spell and defeat himself without you attacking) more difficult to figure out.

* {{Frankenstein}}: Barnabas.

* InterfaceSpoiler: or {{Foreshadowing}}, more like. Meteor costs more MP than Tellah has or ever will... There's [[CastFromHitPoints only one way it can go]], really.

** [[JustifiedTrope It would be pretty]] [[GameBreaker game breaking]] otherwise.

* LadyLand: Troia Castle. This is also a major case of [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar]] since Troia is Irish for [[spoiler: whore]]

** The Giant of Bab-il

* {{MacGuffin Delivery Service}}: More than once with the crystals.

* TheManBehindTheMan: At first, it looks like the King of Baron's the BigBad, however it turns out that [[spoiler:he was [[DeadPersonImpersonation killed and replaced]] by the [[ShapeShifter shapeshifting]] Cagnazzo, a minion of Golbez, the king's supposed [[TheDragon Dragon]].]] Late in the game, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Golbez is the BrainwashedAndCrazy victim of MoreThanMindControl just like Kain and the real BigBad is Zemus.]]

** Don't forget [[CreepyDoll Calcabrina]]!

* {{Misblamed}}: While "You spoony bard!" and the other quirks of the original SNES translation are often attributed to Ted Woolsey, in reality he had nothing to do with the game's English translation. Square's policy at the time was that all localisations had to be done by either the original development team or someone at Square Japan's offices, as they felt that relying on foreign translators would hurt the integrity of the localisation. Ironically, though, the bad reception of this game's translation led to Woolsey being hired to localise the remainder of Square's SNES-era games.

* NeverSayDie - this trope is in full effect in the SNES translation, to the point of [[{{Bowdlerise}} bowdlerization.]] However, in a [[SturgeonsTropes rare]] TropesAreNotBad way, this actually makes the game's many {{Disney Death}}s more believable. After all, why should the player believe that such-and-such is dead if the characters don't believe it either?

* StaffChick: Rosa is the prototypical example of the staff chick personality, even though she's better off using a bow. Porom rather fits, as she ''does'' use a staff.
* StayInTheKitchen: After all of his travels with the WhiteMage / CombatMedic keeping the party healthy and the LadyOfBlackMagic / Master of SummonMagic laying waste to all that stood in their way, Cecil suddenly decides the women are a liability and orders them off the Lunar Whale before the TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. Thankfully, Rosa and Rydia are not amused and they stow away to the Moon with them anyway.

* TedBaxter: Edge, he's the first ladies' man to ever appear in the series!

**** Which actually makes a bit of sense with the original translation of "A girl from Baron was kept from falling down", at least to the mind of a young player.

* LastOfTheirKind: Thanks to Cecil and Kain, Rydia is the only summoner left alive.

* LadyLand: Troia Castle. This is also a [[Understatement major]] case of [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar]] since Troia is Irish for [[spoiler: whore]]

* LadyLand: Troia Castle.

* GoodBadTranslation: "You spoony bard!" appears in every English version of the game. Technically, it's not ''wrong'' ("spoony" means "foolish and/or lovesick"), but... yeah.