History YMMV / FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Edward. The [[QuirkyBard Spoony Bard]] from the original TookALevelInBadass in both gameplay (he's faster, his weapons his harder while retaining the ability to hit from the back row, and he can even use Bardsong to buff the party) and plot (Going on his own to rescue his adjutant, curing her fever, and deducing the plot to uncover [[spoiler:Cecil's brainwashing]] all while looking to be the same old fop he always was). Fans immediately warmed to this new, capable Edward.

* FakeDifficulty: Depending on the phase of the Moon, battles can be easier or harder. While it is possibly to manipulate the phase, you can only do so by using a Tent/Cottage or staying at an Inn. If not, the player has to wait 30 real-life minutes. It's possible for the chances to be so skewed in the enemy's favorite, you don't stand a chance. One infamous example being the Tower of Trials in Palom's Tale; at specific points, Leonora learns particularly weak Black Magic spells and occasionally has to fight enemies on her own. If fighting enemies on a Full Moon (when Black Magic is stronger and enemies within the Tower specifically use Black Magic), it's highly likely they'll destroy her, possibly even one-shotting her before she even gets a turn.

** TAY gives nearly every character a subplot that should offer ample opportunity for interesting development. Rydia's alienation from the Feymarch; Edward moving on from Anna and finding love with Harley; Palom and Porom's strained relationship, and their respective quarter-life crises; the Luca/Palom/Leonora love triangle; the younger generation escaping the shadows of their parents...the list is long. But instead of focusing on these beats, besides some optional scenes in the final dungeon that focus on them, the game ends in a giant burst of exposition and dungeon-crawling, which makes them feel not as explored as they could have been, some more than others.

* EndingFatigue: The final dungeon of the game is one of the longest of the series, and more than three times as long as the final dungeon of ''Final Fantasy IV'. The inners of the True Moon is a 33-floor long trek with as-many bosses sprinkled along its length, and that's in addition to the obvious fact that the most powerful enemies in the game are fought as normal encounters in-between. There's also several cutscenes along the way to keep advancing the story a little and bring closure to personal character arcs. While save points are fortunately provided at regular intervals, they do nothing to break up the fact that the dungeon is simply ''very long'', and can take as long to complete as some of the individual tales did.

* EndingFatigue: The final dungeon of the original ''Final Fantasy IV'' was seven floors to the Lunar Core which was four floors long, and contained five bosses. The Subterrane of this game's final dungeon goes down twelve floors with a total of twelve bosses, and then you enter the Depths, which are ''twenty-two floors long'', containing twenty-one bosses total. Then there's still a few more floors to go to reach the FinalBoss, though these areas at least have no enemy encounters. Not helping the length of the dungeons are various small cutscenes along the way to provide closure to personal character arcs.

* BestBossEver: The fight against the Mysterious Girl and Bahamut. Her magic pressures you throughout the fight to make up for Bahamut's countdown, and she ''removes your buffs'' before Megaflare, meaning the usual way of defeating the Eidolon God doesn't work and forces you to facetank the attack. Additionally after he's weakened enough and awakened from his brainwashing. Bahamut also delivers an epic BadassBoast before decimating the Mysterious Girl, forcing ''her'' to facetank the attack.

* BrokenBase: The changes to the final dungeon for the [=iOS=] and PC release. Some fans are upset the dungeon was shortened to remove the classic bosses, as for many it would be the first time these enemies could be seen modeled in 3D, and the reusage of other map areas feels lazy and is nonsensical. Others appreciate the shortening of the dungeon and removal of excess bosses because it greatly reduces the original's EndingFatigue and [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment were completely unrelated to the story and had unexplained origins in the original]], and the revisiting of other maps gives the dungeon an otherworldly feeling, like it's an illusion or another dimension.

** Lower tier party members include the other Eblan Four: Izayoi, Tsukinoma, Gekkou, and Zangetstu. As well as Cid and Leonora. The Eblan four having decent bands with each other and select other characters, but fall short when by themselves. Cid is a MightyGlacier but is overshadowed by Luca's superior speed and adaptability. Leonora has both white and black magic, but her HP is extremely low and she gains the spells so late that by the time they're learned, the party's powerful enough already.

** When obtaining the Dualcast ability, Porom is the first choice for most players. While Palom can get some definite use out of Dualcast, the ability to cast white magic twice in one turn turns Porom into a GameBreaker. While [[RedMage Leonora has white magic as well as black magic]], she unfortunately falls into a case of CantCatchUp due to how late she learns high level spells. [[note]]For comparison, Leonora learns Curaga at level 45 and Flare at ''85'', Porom learns the former at level 33 and Curaja at 48, and Palom learns the latter at level 50 and Meteor at 55.[[/note]]

* EarlyGameHell: Not so much early in TAY as a whole, but early in The Crystals. The starting party consists of Edge, Rydia, Luca, and [[spoiler:Golbez]], none of whom are healers in any sense of the word. Edge has Heal Pill, but it's single-target. Rydia can get the Sylphs (provided the player doesn't kill them), which drains enemies to heal the party, but it's hardly effective, since while it deals decent damage to enemies and heals allies based on the damage dealt, the amount of health restored is split among the 5 party members. And despite the group gathering the other characters, like Porom or Lenora, they're unusable until a certain point in the story. What's worse is that, assuming everything was done right in Edge's Tale, [[CombatMedic Izayoi]] should still be alive and able to fight, but she and the rest of the Eblan Four can't join the party. [[spoiler:Golbez]] knowing Taunt to have enemies focus him takes some heat away from his squishier party members, but it doesn't help much against Eidolons, who tend to use [=AoE=] skills.

* {{Fanon}}: There are plenty of fanworks depicting Edge and Rydia [[spoiler:being Cuore's parents]] due to the many ship tease moments between the two and Rydia [[spoiler:raising the last surviving Maenad.]] The ending credits in the IOS version fuels this up.

** The main antagonist appears to come from the moon, looks like Rydia, and brainwashes the Eidolons to serve her. What does this mean for the Summoners, the Lunarians, and the Eidolons? ... not a darn thing. ''Interlude'' reveals she looks like Rydia mostly by chance, the moon she comes from is a different moon from the Red Moon of the Lunarians, and she uses the Eidolons apparently just because they're effective and convenient minions.

** A common complaint about the game is that it heavily recycles content from the first game -- dungeons, enemies, and equipment are identical, down to many dungeons having the same kinds of enemies and the treasures being in the same locations. Gameplay is also identical for the most part-other than the addition of Bands which act as combination attacks between two or more party members, a Moon Phase system that weakens or strengthens abilities, and some character abilities that weren't present in the original game-with no new spells for mages and most characters having the same abilities as the original game. The difference is the order in which you explore the world and the party members you have for each area.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The [=iOS=] and PC release ''heavily'' redesigned the final dungeon. Rather than just a copy of the Lunar Subterrane, the dungeon is now a mash-up of various other maps from the two games, connects in ways that don't even make sense. The dungeon after the fight with the Dark Knight is entirely removed, replaced with a few different floors containing some of the items from the removed floors before you progress to the final floors of the original dungeon. This also means that the NES/SNES bosses are removed, replaced with the Lunar Eidolons, palette swaps of the normal Eidolons. Some fans were not pleased by these changes, as it feels like the final dungeon was a cut corner to save having to model new areas and enemies. While others think of it as in improvement considering [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment the nature of the bosses]] as seen in BrokenBase.

** TAY gives nearly every character a subplot that should offer ample opportunity for interesting development. Rydia's alienation from the Feymarch; Edward moving on from Anna and finding love with Harley; Palom and Porom's strained relationship, and their respective quarter-life crises; the Luca/Palom/Leonora love triangle; the younger generation escaping the shadows of their parents...the list is long. But instead of focusing on these beats, besides some optional scenes in the final dungeon, the game ends in a giant burst of exposition and dungeon-crawling, which makes them feel not as explored as they could have been, some more than others.

* TierInducedScrappy
** Harley and the Calcabrina dolls; Harley's abilities are fairly sub-optimal, the dolls both have terrible stats that can only be reasonably increased using equipment found [[LateCharacterSyndrome right at the very end of the game]] and all three have a low number of bands, many (if not most) of which require ill-advised character builds and party combinations to put together, which leaves them at the bottom of the party ladder for pretty much all players once The Gathering comes around.
** The Eblan Four get this treatment for their sub-par stats and bands that leaves them just above [[JokeCharacter Harley and the Calcabrina dolls]] in the party ladder. While some of them do have their strengths (Izayoi having an wide array of healing skills and Tsukinowa having the highest speed stat in the game) Edge outshadows them all anyway.
** Leonora is a zig-zagged case, while she has the ability to [[RedMage learn black and white magic]] and is capable of learning [[GameBreaker Dualcast]]. However due to [[CantCatchUp how slow it takes for her to learn all of her spells]], some players think it's not worth grinding her up especially if other mages don't take as long to learn the same spells.

* AntiClimaxBoss: Lost Babil in the PSP is actually quite easy to defeat, especially if, like you would expect of a BonusBoss, you wait until the post-game to fight him when your party is at a high level with the best equipment in the game.

* TearJerker: Many of the returning bosses you face, including bosses from other games, are clearly not acting of their own volition anymore. Golbez's Fiends are forced to obey their mysterious new masters after their essences are forced back into the world. Golbez and even Edge, when it comes to Rubicante, are both particularly distressed at what's become of them. Once beaten, the Fiends proceed to recognize Golbez if he's in the party, and begin to thank him for the kindness he showed them even as he was himself controlled by Zemus.
** Even ''[[FunPersonified Gilgamesh]]'' is implied to be lost in a haze induced by the forces that pulled him here, as when beaten, he merely whimpers out one name in confusion before vanishing back to the rift.

** TAY gives nearly every character a subplot that should offer ample opportunity for interesting development. Kain's reunion with Rosa and Cecil; Cecil's reunion with Golbez; Rydia's alienation from the Feymarch; Edward moving on from Anna and finding love with Harley; Palom and Porom's strained relationship, and their respective quarter-life crises; the Luca/Palom/Leonora love triangle; the younger generation escaping the shadows of their parents...the list is long. But instead of focusing on these beats, besides some optional scenes in the final dungeon, the game ends in a giant burst of exposition and dungeon-crawling, which makes them feel wasted, some more than others.

* BestBossEver: The fight against the Mysterious Girl and Bahamut. Her magic pressures you throughout the fight to make up for Bahamut's countdown, and she ''removes your buffs'' before Megaflare, meaning the usual way of defeating the Eidolon God doesn't work and forces you to facetank the attack.

* BrokenBase: The changes to the final dungeon for the [=iOS=] and PC release. Some fans are upset the dungeon was shortened to remove the classic bosses, as for many it would be the first time these enemies could be seen modeled in 3D, and the reusage of other map areas feels lazy and is nonsensical. Others appreciate the shortening of the dungeon and removal of excess bosses because it greatly reduces the original's EndingFatigue, and the revisiting of other maps gives the dungeon an otherworldly feeling, like it's an illusion or another dimension.

** A common complaint about the game is that it heavily recycles content from the first game -- dungeons, enemies, and equipment are identical, down to many dungeons having the same kinds of enemies and the treasures being in the same locations. Gameplay is also identical, with no new spells for mages and most characters having the same abilities as the original game. The only difference is the order in which you explore the world and the party members you have for each area.
** This is particularly pronounced for the Interlude chapter in the PSP release. ''Everything'' is copied and pasted from the original game, including enemy encounters in the same formations and the same area, and the enemies will drop equipment for party members not even playable in the Interlude.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The [=iOS=] and PC release ''heavily'' redesigned the final dungeon. Rather than just a copy of the Lunar Subterrane, the dungeon is now a mash-up of various other maps from the two games, connects in ways that don't even make sense. The dungeon after the fight with the Dark Knight is entirely removed, replaced with a few different floors containing some of the items from the removed floors before you progress to the final floors of the original dungeon. This also means that the NES/SNES bosses are removed, replaced with the Lunar Eidolons, palette swaps of the normal Eidolons. Fans were not pleased by these changes, as it feels like the final dungeon was a cut corner to save having to model new areas and enemies.

** TAY gives nearly every character a subplot that should offer ample opportunity for interesting development. Kain's reunion with Rosa and Cecil; Cecil's reunion with Golbez; Rydia's alienation from the Feymarch; Edward moving on from Anna and finding love with Harley; Palom and Porom's strained relationship, and their respective quarter-life crises; the Luca/Palom/Leonora love triangle; the younger generation escaping the shadows of their parents...the list is long. But instead of resolving any of these beats, the game ends in a giant burst of exposition and dungeon-crawling, which makes all of them feel wasted.

* EarlyGameHell: Not so much early in TAY as a whole, but early in The Crystals. The starting party consists of Edge, Rydia, Luca, and [[spoiler:Golbez]], none of whom are healers in any sense of the word. Edge has Heal Pill, but it's single-target. Rydia can get the Sylphs (provided the player doesn't kill them), which drains enemies to heal the party, but it's hardly effective, since while it deals decent damage to enemies and heals allies based on the damage dealt, the amount of health restored is split among the 5 party members. And despite the group gathering the other characters, like Porom or Lenora, they're unusable until a certain point in the story. [[spoiler:Golbez]] knowing Taunt to have enemies focus him takes some heat away from his squishier party members, but it doesn't help much against Eidolons, who tend to use [=AoE=] skills.

* MemeticLoser: Ceodore tends to get mocked for still sleeping next to his parents at the age of 15.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: The tweaks to ''IV's'' battle system are well liked, allowing the manipulating of Moon Phases to influence battle, offering a wide variety of party members with different skillsets and stats, and Bands to add a new level of strategy to party composition. The story though gets a lukewarm reception, see ItsTheSameNowItSucks.

* EpilepticTrees: As mentioned above, the Depths of the True Moon contain Crystals that spawn other ''Final Fantasy'' bosses to fight you. As [[spoiler:The Creator]] tells you that many worlds received Crystals to record and process the evolutionary paths of their inhabitants, there are some theories that thus take this as the implication those other Crystals came from other ''Final Fantasy'' worlds [[spoiler:The Creator]] had visited and possibly destroyed.

* FauxSymbolism: The main antagonist appears to come from the moon, looks like Rydia, and brainwashes the Eidolons to serve her. What does this mean for the Summoners, the Lunarians, and the Eidolons? ... not a darn thing. ''Interlude'' reveals she looks like Rydia mostly by chance, the moon she comes from is a different moon from the Red Moon of the Lunarians, and she uses the Eidolons apparently just because they're effective and convenient minions.

* EarlyGameHell: Not so much early in TAY as a whole, but early in The Crystals. The starting party consists of Edge, Rydia, Luca, and [[spoiler:Golbez]], none of whom are healers in any sense of the word. Edge has Heal Pill, but it's single-target. Rydia can get the Sylphs (provided the player doesn't kill them), which drains enemies to heal the party, but it's hardly effective, since while it deals decent damage to enemies and heals allies based on the damage dealt, the amount of health restored is split among the 5 party members. And despite the group gathering the other characters, like Porom or Lenora, they're unusable until a certain point in the story. [[spoiler:Golbez]] knowing Taunt to have enemies focus him takes some heat away from his squishier party members, but it doesn't help much against Eidolons, who tend to use AoE skills.

* EarlyGameHell: Not so much early in TAY as a whole, but early in The Crystals. The starting party consists of Edge, Rydia, Luca, and [[spoiler:Golbez]], none of whom are healers in any sense of the word. Edge has Heal Pill, but it's single-target. Rydia can get the Sylphs (provided the player doesn't kill them), which drains enemies to heal the party, but it's hardly effective, since it only heals a couple hundred HP to each character. And despite the group gathering the other characters, like Porom or Lenora, they're unusable until a certain point in the story. [[spoiler:Golbez]] knowing Taunt to have enemies focus him takes some heat away from his squishier party members, but it doesn't help much against Eidolons, who tend to use AoE skills.

** Middle tier party members include Ceodore, Edward, Golbez, Yang, Ursula, Leonora, and Luca. Decent Band combinations and can hold off on their own but not to the extent as the top tier characters.
** Lower tier party members include the other Eblan Four: Izayoi, Tsukinoma, Gekkou, and Zangetstu. As well as Cid. The Eblan four having decent bands with each other and select other characters, but fall short when by themselves. Cid is a MightyGlacier but is overshadowed by Luca's superior speed and adaptability.

** When obtaining the Dualcast ability, Porom is the most common candidate for it. Since the ability to cast white magic twice in one turn turns her into a GameBreaker and while [[RedMage Leonora has white magic as well as black magic]], she unfortunately falls into a case of CantCatchUp due to how late she learns high level spells. [[note]]For comparison, Leonora learns Curaga at level 45 and Flare at ''85'', Porom learns the former at level 33 and Curaja at 48, and Palom learns the latter at level 50 and Meteor at 55.[[/note]]

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Take one [[QuirkyBard Spoony Bard]], and train him to [[TookALevelInBadass Take a Level in Badass]] in terms of both plot and gameplay. Rescuing complete.

* TearJerker: Many of the returning bosses you face, including bosses from other games, are clearly not acting of their own volition anymore. Golbez's Fiends are forced to obey their mysterious new masters after their essences are forced back into the world. Golbez and even Edge, when it comes to Rubicante, are both particularly distressed at what's become of them. Once beaten, the fiends proceed to recognize Golbez if he's in the party, and begin to thank him for the kindness he showed them even as he was himself controlled by Zemus.

** A common complaint about the game is that it heavy recycles content from the first game -- dungeons, enemies, and equipment are identical, down to many dungeons have the same kinds of enemies and the treasures being in the same locations. Gameplay is also identical, with no new spells for mages and most characters having the same abilities as the original game. The only difference is the order in which you explore the world and the party members you have for each area.
** This is particularly pronounced for the Interlude chapter in the PSP release. ''Everything'' is copy and pasted from the original game, including enemy encounters in the same formations and the same area, and the enemies will drop equipment for party members not even playable in the Interlude.

* NightmareFuel: The final boss, [[spoiler:[[BigBad The Creator]]. Whereas most final bosses in the series build up to an epic final battle that indicate just how hectic things will get, this time around you're against an entity that is practically EldritchAbomination with steadily decreasing sanity, a horror-esque ambiance that pulls no punches, and, by the end of it all, a relentless and destructive foe repeatedly attacking and chasing after you which you seemingly ''cannot kill'' until a HeroicSacrifice finally makes him vulnerable. To top it off, there is the FridgeHorror implication that it created, harvested and ''destroyed'' the worlds of various other ''Final Fantasy'' games as it forces you to fight bosses from those games and claims that they are from other worlds it's been to.]]

* TearJerker: Many of the returning bosses you face, including bosses from other games, are clearly not acting of their own volition anymore. Golbez's fiends are forced to obey their mysterious new masters after their essences are forced back into the world. Golbez and even Edge, when it comes to Rubicante, are both particularly distressed at what's become of them. Once beaten, the fiends proceed to recognize Golbez if he's in the party, and begin to thank him for the kindness he showed them even as he was himself controlled by Zemus.