History VideoGame / FinalFantasyIV

** AndYourRewardIsClothes: And all you get for completing it is unlocking a few entries in the Art Gallery. But even then you need a complete Bestiary to do it, and that's a GuideDangIt because several enemy encounters are rare and difficult to get.[[hottip:*:The Trap Door enemies, you ''have'' to let them transform into other monsters because those monsters cannot be fought in any other way. Meanwhile Edge's section of the game takes him through the Tower of Babil, and several enemies are only met on a staircase a single screen long, and if you go to the top of those stairs the story progresses and those encounters are LostForever.]]

** AndYourRewardIsClothes: And all you get for completing it is unlocking a few entries in the Art Gallery. But even then you need a complete Bestiary to do it, and that's a GuideDangIt because several enemy encounters are rare and difficult to get.

** AndYourRewardIsClothes: And all you get for completing it is unlocking a few entries in the Art Gallery. But even then you need a complete Bestiary to do it, and that's a GuideDangIt because several enemy encounters are rare and difficult to get.[[hottip:*:The Trap Door enemies, you ''have'' to let them transform into other monsters because those monsters cannot be fought in any other way. Meanwhile Edge's section of the game takes him through the Tower of Babil, and several enemies are only met on a staircase a single screen long, and if you go to the top of those stairs the story progresses and those encounters are LostForever.]]

* BonusFeatureFailure: The ''Complete Collection'' release for PSP comes with a new Interlude chapter connecting this game to ''The After Years''...except all it does is show Ursula being born and gives a HandWave to [[spoiler:why the Maenads look like Rydia]], while many of the other questions of the sequel about [[spoiler:the Creator and the Maenads]] go unanswered. The Interlude chapter is also built on the original game's engine, right down to enemies having the same stats and some areas having mostly the same enemy encounter groups, and is fully linear with absolutely no exploration or backtracking.

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Yang, Palom, Porom, Cid.]]

* DistressedDamsel: Rosa, for a while. It might be {{justified|Trope}} 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]].

*** It seems she's dying from Desert Fever, as it returns in the After Years and the cure is exactly the same. (Though it's re-translated as a Sand Pearl). It's a deliberate call back and the only differences are it's Harly who catches it and she's with you at the time.

* ParentalAbandonment: A couple of playable characters lose their parents due to the villains (and one loses hers because of the heroes). DeathByChildbirth is part of Cecil and [[Spoiler: Golbez's]] background, though it was mostly AllThereIntheManual until the DS remake.

* TheWallsAreClosingIn: One bad guy traps the heroes in one of these during a {{cutscene}} as they try to escape his lair after taking him out. [[Spoiler: Palom and Porom, the two cute kid mages, [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves to save the others]] by turning themselves to stone and stopping the walls.]]

* ConvectionSchmonvection: Averted, when your airships require special modification to fly over lava in the underworld. Played straight, when you're on foot in that same underworld and able to walk right next to the same lava with no ill effects.

Have you noticed something strange already? Yes, this was the first ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' game to have an actual ''plot'' beyond a generic "[[AnAdventurerIsYou you are heroes]], [[SavingTheWorld go save world]] [[CardCarryingVillain from evil]]" story that was pretty much the standard for most [=RPG=]s at the time. As strange as it may seem to be to people who are used to the idea of an RPG [[StoryToGameplayRatio beginning with twenty hours of real-time cutscenes]], this was ''huge'' at the time of release.

*** Given the powers that the King and Queen of the Feymarch have (as shown in the intro of The After Years), they certainly could have warped her there. Heck, even in the SNES version, Leviathan can travel between the cave in the underworld and the oceans of the overworld.
*** There is also a teleporter at the bottom floor of the monster town (SNES and GBA versions, at least) that can send the party directly outside the Cave. Having just spent years and years living there, Rydia probably knows about it.
** Let's not forget Rosa near the beginning of the game -- somehow she gets through the monster-filled Mist Cave, past the burnt-out village of Mist, past the impassable mountains created by the earthquake, and still manages to reach Kaipo at about the same time Cecil and Rydia do, if not before.
*** Maybe she stowed away on the Damcyan-bound Red Wings and parachuted into the Kaipo desert?
*** 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.

* UpdatedRerelease: ''A LOT'', perhaps tying with Final Fantasy I. It's been released on the SNES (TWICE), PlayStation, WonderSwan, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, and on mobile phones, as well as the Wii Virtual Console!
** And it is now on 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.

** That is because, upon walking up to their petrified forms and attempting to talk to them, an item menu comes up. In every other instance of this menu in the game, you are expected to select a PlotCoupon from your inventory, usually a key to unlock a door. In their case, however, there is no such item. In the original Japanese, however, attempting to use a Gold Needle (removes petrification), gave [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything a message saying that it doesn't work.]]

* TheWallsAreClosingIn: One bad guy traps the heroes in one of these during a {{cutscene}} as they try to escape his lair after taking him out. Palom and Porom, the two cute kid mages, [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves to save the others]] by turning themselves to stone and stopping the walls.

*** [[FridgeBrilliance Because Rydia isn't skilled enough to summon him without hurting herself or her environment yet.]]

** Rydia is almost certainly a mistranslation of [[JapaneseRanguage Lydia]] - not that anyone complains!

* JokeCharacter: Edward.
** Less so in the DS remake where his abilities were improved significantly -- he is now at least a proper MusicalAssassin that can inflict [[StandardStatusEffect debuffs]] on enemies he hit as well as able to heal the entire party. Not to mention "Salve" hits the entire party with the effects of one item. The ''full'' effects, not divided among the members like in previous incarnations. This makes potions and hi-potions better than WhiteMagic early on.
** Even less so in the GBA version. Give him his new equipment and unleash him in the final dungeons. He tears them apart.
** YMMV on that regardless. When he first joins the party he has access to weapons that temporarily disable the strongest monster in any encounter group while your stronger fighters take care of the rest, and his Hide command makes a certain explosive encounter much easier. He fits more into LethalJokeCharacter territory if you can figure out how to use him right, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything which was clearly deliberate.]]

** The Tower of Bab-il and Kain are names that should ring a bell for anyone at least mildly familiar with Literature/TheBible. Kain even gets Abel's Lance in the GBA remake [[IncrediblyLamePun to drive the point home]].

* ParentalAbandonment: A couple of playable characters lose their parents due to the villains (and one loses hers because of the heroes). DeathByChildbirth is added to Cecil and Golbez's background in the Nintendo DS version.
** It's actually sort of present in the original version as well, just not explicitly spelled out.
* ParentalBonus: During the new Namingway quest in the DS remake, he asks the characters for some Rainbow Pudding to give his new girlfriend. When they next see him, he complains about how, upon going to give her the pudding, he found another guy "giving her a present of his own."

* EleventhHourSuperpower: When you first meet Rydia, she can only summon Chocobo (and Whyt in the DS remake). Enraged at Cecil and Kain for the death of her mother, she summons ''[[OhCrap Titan]]'', creating a huge fissure in the landscape.

* HeroicSacrifice: So, so very many examples, [[spoiler:though most of the characters who attempt this fail to die and come back for the BattleRoyaleWithCheese.]]

* DifferentAsNightAndDay: Palom and Porom.

The fourth entry in the [[RunningGag face-meltingly popular]] ''FinalFantasy'' game series.

Have you noticed something strange already? Yes, this was the first ''FinalFantasy'' game to have an actual ''plot'' beyond a generic "[[AnAdventurerIsYou you are heroes]], [[SavingTheWorld go save world]] [[CardCarryingVillain from evil]]" story that was pretty much the standard for most [=RPG=]s at the time. As strange as it may seem to be to people who are used to the idea of an RPG [[StoryToGameplayRatio beginning with twenty hours of real-time cutscenes]], this was ''huge'' at the time of release.

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 [[{{Bowdlerise}} censorship]]. ("[[SpoonyBard You spoony bard!]]", anyone?) Many of the [[GoodBadTranslation fan-favorite lines]] were kept in the re-translated re-releases.

Received a cell phone sequel called ''[[FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears The After Years]]'' (also available on WiiWare and the [[PlaystationPortable PSP]]), 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 heavily based on the GBA version, only thing taken from the DS version is translations of terms (e.g. Carnellian Signet rather then "Bomb Ring").

** [[spoiler:He makes good on this promise in ''FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears''.]]

* ElementalRockPaperScissors: A ''FinalFantasy'' staple.

* MagicMusic: Pretty much Edward's whole purpose as the prototypical ''FinalFantasy'' Bard.

** Golbez has an [[ZigZaggingTrope odd relationship with this trope]]--in the original version, there was no way to know for sure if he fit the archetype, since [[TheFaceless he never took his helm off.]] Since he's [[spoiler:Cecil's brother]], though, it was a reasonable assumption. The DS version seemingly averted it, as he clearly has brown hair in flashbacks, but on the other hand, we only ever see Golbez's face in flashbacks from when he was a child, so that could have changed in the intervening years. ''[[FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears The After Years]]'' confirms this impression, as Golbez appears without his armor in that game, and definitely has white hair. Of course, by then, it's subverted, as he too has reformed, and his role throughout the entirety of ''The After Years'' is decidedly non-villainous.

** If Rydia was supposed to be "Lydia", then the translation certainly counts - not that anyone complains!

''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. It's been remade/ported numerous times; this has garnered some distaste for the game as [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny its story and battle system haven't aged well]]. In addition to being half of the ''Final Fantasy [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger Chronicles]]'' compilation on the PS1, ''FFIV'' has been ported to the GBA, and was 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.

* FourIsDeath: It's in the title, which means bad things for the cast. In linear order from the start of the game, [[spoiler:Kain is presumed dead, Rydia, Yang, and Edward are lost at sea, Palom and Porom perform a HeroicSacrifice, then Tellah performs one, followed by Yang and Cid. In other words, more than ''half'' the main cast almost dies during the course of the game. They get better later except for Tellah, but as far as you know during the first play of the game, your comrades drop like flies. And let's not forget poor Anna.]]

** When you get to Damcyan Castle, you find it under attack and filled with injured and dying people. Yet, despite having ''two'' white mages in your party and most likely dozens of potions and phoenix downs in your inventory, you can't do a thing to help any of them. This becomes utterly ridiculous when an important NPC passes away in your healer's arms without him even attempting to heal her, and despite there being ''TWO'' magical healing pots capable of fully restoring all your health with a single touch in the very same room. What, he couldn't be bothered to cast a Cura spell or carry her 20 feet over to one of them? Didn't want to interrupt her dramatic final words? For God's sake, one of the dying soldiers pitifully begs you to take him to one of the healing pots, but the game just won't let you help him! Even if Tellah is too enraged to help, Cecil should be capable of doing something.
*** Especially strange considering the game averts this in several other places. Like Rosa casting Cura on Edge after his defeat, or Tellah at least trying to Heal the twins petrification.

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 heavily based on the GBA version, only thing taken from the DS version is translations of terms (e.g. Carnellian Signet rather then "Bomb Ring").