(Note: This review is based on the 2005 rerelease for the Game Boy Advance.)
I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but while I'd had suspicions before, I was about ten hours into the game before I realized the following:
Final Fantasy IV is, first and foremost, a game. It may have had more plot than most of its contemporaries, but in essence, the plot serves to give its main goal, the gameplay, more "oomph". (It also kept me playing even when I wanted to put it down, but that may just be me.) If anything, this is a bit frustrating — the premise and especially the cast hold great potential, but on its own merits, the story is underdeveloped. There is just enough material and brief moments of drama for me to know that I wanted to know more about these characters, to see more going on between them, but it wasn't there. (For reference, I'm using Chrono Trigger as a very rough watermark.)
But this isn't a book or a movie — it's a game. And, on those terms, it earns its status as a well-loved classic. If you're in this for exploring a sixteen-bit digital world of towns and dungeons; for items, powers, and random encounters; for turn-based battles with elements of timing, strategy, and all the fixin's — then, I say, you are looking at the right game. It's challenging, well-made, and generally fun to play. (Moreover, at least in the "Advance" release, the infamous bard Edward is quite useful, as well as being one of the better-developed characters. I imagine I'd be less disappointed to see him shunted to the side for the bulk of the game if I'd had to live with the classic, useless, spoony Edward of the SNES era.)
The bottom line: If you want a well-developed, engaging plot, look elsewhere. If you want a masterfully-designed RPG with a plot, go for it.
(Of course, I would have known all this from the beginning if I had just listened to this fellow...)
Do You Have Prince Edward in a Can?
(Note: This review is based on the 2005 rerelease for the Game Boy Advance.)
I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but while I'd had suspicions before, I was about ten hours into the game before I realized the following:
Final Fantasy IV is, first and foremost, a game. It may have had more plot than most of its contemporaries, but in essence, the plot serves to give its main goal, the gameplay, more "oomph". (It also kept me playing even when I wanted to put it down, but that may just be me.) If anything, this is a bit frustrating — the premise and especially the cast hold great potential, but on its own merits, the story is underdeveloped. There is just enough material and brief moments of drama for me to know that I wanted to know more about these characters, to see more going on between them, but it wasn't there. (For reference, I'm using Chrono Trigger as a very rough watermark.)
But this isn't a book or a movie — it's a game. And, on those terms, it earns its status as a well-loved classic. If you're in this for exploring a sixteen-bit digital world of towns and dungeons; for items, powers, and random encounters; for turn-based battles with elements of timing, strategy, and all the fixin's — then, I say, you are looking at the right game. It's challenging, well-made, and generally fun to play. (Moreover, at least in the "Advance" release, the infamous bard Edward is quite useful, as well as being one of the better-developed characters. I imagine I'd be less disappointed to see him shunted to the side for the bulk of the game if I'd had to live with the classic, useless, spoony Edward of the SNES era.)
The bottom line: If you want a well-developed, engaging plot, look elsewhere. If you want a masterfully-designed RPG with a plot, go for it.
(Of course, I would have known all this from the beginning if I had just listened to this fellow
...)