So, I've mentioned the DS version a few times in this Let's Play. I think it's about time I went into detail into it.
Final Fantasy IV DS, also known as FFIV 20th Anniversary Edition, was made and released for Final Fantasy I's 20th anniversary, as well as PSP ports of I and II, and Dissidia Final Fantasy. Like Final Fantasy III DS before it, it's a full 3D remake of the game. It also came with quite a few differences.
First thing people will note is that it is partially voice acted. The voice acting tends to be OK, although sometimes it just makes scenes reek of Narm (off the top of my head, I can think of Cecil's Big Why after realising he was sent to destroy Mist). One of the opening battles was cut and the other became playable, although Cecil has a Red Fang in his inventory if you want to do the fight in a more traditional style.
Second is the translation. In a word: Ivalician. With less 'k's. (I'm slightly exaggerating here, but it is quite a bit different to the original) Final Fantasy XII continues to exert influence later on, with Reverse and Bubble being status effects. And, if The After Years is anything to go by, this is the canon translation. Seriously, I've played a bit of TAY and they didn't even bother to change flashbacks to match the game which happens to be on the same disc as it.
Third, is the Namingway sidequest. I didn't mention this during the LP, but Namingway is a character who can be found in most towns to rename your characters if need be. In the DS version, voice acting stops that, so Namingway can't change player character names. He can still change his name, though, so he goes around doing that, searching for meaning in his life. He gives you lots of special tools that Fat Chocobo stores (Inventory is now infinite, so he can't store items this time around) as well as a few abilities, and a map, which if you can complete gives you the ability to double the rate of item drops.
Fourth, and this is the main change, is the Augment system. Augments allow you to mix and match abilities on your characters, allowing you to vary your strategy a bit. Some can be found, one has to be stolen from Odin, but most are obtained by giving some to leaving party members (most need two to hand over all their Augments, but for the twins, you need to give one to one of them and two to the other to get all of their Augments). This also makes it impossible to get all the Augments in one run, as you don't get enough to give to Edward and the twins.
So, we get New Game Plus. Transfers Augments/rare summons, rare equipment and items, stat boosting items and Namingway sidequest progress. No retaining levels, common equipment or story based summons. You're also limited to three runthroughs on one file, once you've beaten Zeromus the third time, that file is clear and can't be used again.
Augments are interesting. There's one that stops encounters, one that makes all spells capable of multi-target, one that revives all other people in the party when that person falls, and any ability that exclusively belongs to someone not in the final five (no party member switching this time) will be an Augment. The key idea here is to give Kain Cry. It also has the effect that everyone except Cid has natural MP growth, as some Augments use MP.
Some abilities are changed around a bit. Let's go by character:
Dark Knight Cecil: Darness casts a buff to increase damage dealt in exchange for 10% of the user's HP per turn.
Rydia: Has a new summon, Whyt, which replaces Rydia in battle for a few turns with what is essentially a customisable, AI controlled party member if it gets KO'd, though, so does Rydia, so be careful.
Edward: Actually usable. Salve can be used on any healing item and is used at full power on everyone, and Bardsong is pretty much a type of magic, that provides some effect until Edward gets hit by an attack. Level him up once, and he gets Life's Anthem, which regenerates HP as long as he is playing.
Rosa: Pray is much more likely to succeed and heals MP as well as HP. Also, bows have become exclusive to her, IIRC, and arrows don't get consumed when used.
Yang: Focus is a buff that increases the power of his next attack. It stacks up to three times.
Porom: Cry lowers the Defence of enemies.
Palom and Porom: Instead of one character selecting Twincast to lock both up, both have to select it. This is because you can have up to 8 characters with Twincast, and within the final five the spell is entirely dependent on which characters use the Augment.
Cid: Gets a new ability, Upgrade, that allows the user to use up an elemental spell casting item to give their physical attack that element for the rest of the battle.
Edge: Has some more elements available to him in Ninjitsu.
Fusoya: Bless regenerates MP instead of HP.
Okay, now for bosses. The enemies in the DS version are much harder than other versions. Especially those damn Tiny Mages, which can kill you very quickly the first time you see them. In addition to fights requiring much more healing, the bosses have some interesting tricks up their sleeves:
Octomammoth: Attacks get more powerful as it loses tentacles.
Antlion: Switches between countering physical attacks (white eyes) and countering magical attacks (red eyes).
Scarmiglione (second fight): Scarmiglione has essentially been made to screw over people using the strategies from older versions of FFIV. He can inflict Blind with his attacks and will Silence you if you try to use Black Magic. What you should do is have Porom and Tellah use Cura on him (Zombie, remember?) while Cecil and Palom chuck healing items at whoever needs it.
Cagnazzo: Will randomly counter physicals with Hold and magic with Silence, but it's not as bad as Scarmiglione and easy enough to just use old strategies.
Barbariccia: Counters everything with abilities that hurt hard. Can use old strategies as long as you keep healing up.
Golbez: It is nearly impossible to keep anyone but Cecil and Rydia alive. Golbez has become a Barrier Change Boss, so what needs to be done is have Cecil use Libra then have Rydia use the summon that Golbez is weak to.
Dr. Lugae (second fight): He can turn on and off Reverse during the battle. For those that don't know, Reverse causes attacks to heal and healing to do damage. Fun fight, but if someone falls while Reverse is up, they can't be revived until after the battle. Nasty.
Rubicante: He will wreck you if his cape is open. However, he will close it if Edge tries to steal from him, possibly because the animation makes it look like Edge is pinching him.
Trap Door: Not a boss, but they are made even more trivial by the Draw Attacks Augment, as they will always target that person, so you don't have to wait until they use Target to cast Reflect.
Odin: Not much different, but make sure to steal the Darkness Augment from him.
Behemoth: Can attack normally as well as countering everything.
Bahamut: Reflect doesn't work. He'll also cast Reflect on himself if you hit him with a spell.
Elemental Archfiend: Same annoying tricks they had in their first encounters.
CPU: Fusoya's advice hasn't changed, which makes him look like a colossal moron, as the Attack Node can kill you in two turns. Target it instead.
Dark Bahamut: Normal attacks inflict instant KO.
Lunarsaur: Only one of them this time.
Zeromus: Make sure to steal the Dark Matter from him at some point in the fight, you need it to fight a Bonus Boss.
There are two Bonus Bosses, Geyron and Proto-Babil, which are accessible in New Game Plus, but that's outside of the scope of this LP. And I haven't beaten him.
There is also one sidequest that has been greatly expanded, but I'll explain that when I get to it. Just so you know, you'll need Sirens, which are buyable from the Hummingway Abode in the DS version. Not like there's anything better to do with that small mountain of Gil you'll have, anyway.
There's probably some things I've missed, but that's most of what's different. See you next time, when I finally get started with the post game.
