Live Blogs Let's Play FFIV: The After Years

SomeColorMage2012-08-17 01:39:51

Well, it's about time I got this thing started.

What can I say about Final Fantasy IV: The After Years? Originally a game for Japanese mobile phones, it then got remade for the Wii and PSP. I'm playing the PSP version.

Picking up 17 years after the preceeding game (for those who don't know what happens in that game, I direct you in this general direction), The After Years follows the cast of FFIV and some others as a new crisis befalls the world. As should be expected from FFIV, it's moon related (In fact, the full Japanese name translates into Final Fantasy IV The After Years -Return of the Moon-).

Anyway, this game has a few problems. While the gameplay is decent, a lot of the plot feels like parts of FFIV have been cut and pasted around the place with different characters. The new characters are either dull, not very good in gameplay or sometimes both, and, well, most FF games are a Tough Act to Follow. That's probably why direct sequels weren't a big thing in the series for quite a while.

At least it's got FFIV's soundtrack.

Well, let's get this thing started. The story is split into various tales, each one focusing on a different lead, which unlock as other tales are completed. Below will be a list of where each tale of the game starts, so if you want to jump to a specific tale, go ahead:

• Ceodore's Tale: The Last of The Red Wings
• Rydia's Tale: The Eidolons Shackled
• Yang's Tale: The Master of Fabul
• Palom's Tale: The Mage's Voyage
• Edge's Tale: The Pulse of Babil
• Porom's Tale: The Vanished Lunar Whale
• Edward's Tale: Star-Crossed Damcyan
• Kain's Tale: Return of the Dragoon
• The Lunarians' Tale: The Blue Planet That Was
• The Crystals
  • The Gathering Tale: The Moon's Gravity
  • Final Tale, Part One: True Moon
  • Final Tale, Part Two: Planet Eater

Comments

SomeColorMage Since: Dec, 1969

Feb 25th 2012 at 11:08:15 PM

Now, about future updates: Odds are, they will mostly occur on weekends only, with the occasional one on Friday. This is because uni's starting up again here, and, well, I don't get home until after dark most days, and I'm not going to update that late.

HeroicJay Since: Dec, 1969

Feb 27th 2012 at 4:27:03 PM

You forgot to mention the bad hit rate on Piercing Sight. Or the fact that it doesn't bother to tell you which weakness it added, so you need to spend another turn with a White Magic user or Cid/Luca to get full use out of it.

There's a Dummied Out Blue Magic command in the game; most fans believe that it was supposed to land either on Calca (because his Jive skills are the sorts of thing one would expect of Blue Magic) or Harley (because Blue Magic involves studying monsters, and, let's be honest, what exactly is Harley's impressive Intelligence score supposed to DO?!)