Post by Andrew on Mar 31, 2013 9:34:38 GMT -6
Square-Enix was really going all out with these ports of theirs. A good majority of them have been huge hits, while some others are barely even being picked up.
Being a fan of the original Final Fantasy IV, which was actually released in North America as Final Fantasy II way back when for the SNES, I decided that I would definitely be picking this beauty up.
When the game was in its developing state, I despised the graphics they were using, as I'm sure some of the older SP members might remember from my rants on the #SpritersParadise channel. And the majority of the time that I'm playing, certain aspects of the graphics still irk me to the core.
Anyways, on to the pros and cons!
Pros:
Cons:
Square-Enix gets 4.5 Divine Shields out of 5 from me on this one. They did a really good job with this port. It's amazing. The graphics though, they still do it to me.
While I was waiting for this game to come out, I also discovered that when they wrote the initial story for Final Fantasy IV, the original SNES cart only held about 25% of the story on it. They didn't really add anymore to the story, but the voice acting and cinemas added a new element to the game that wasn't there before, not even the re-release on the PSX comes close to this.
Being a fan of the original Final Fantasy IV, which was actually released in North America as Final Fantasy II way back when for the SNES, I decided that I would definitely be picking this beauty up.
When the game was in its developing state, I despised the graphics they were using, as I'm sure some of the older SP members might remember from my rants on the #SpritersParadise channel. And the majority of the time that I'm playing, certain aspects of the graphics still irk me to the core.
Anyways, on to the pros and cons!
Pros:
- Re-translated, way better this time.
- Voice actors did a wonderful job.
- Cinema scenes really draw out the emotion of the story better.
- New unlockable equipment set; the Onion set.
- The removal of certain "cheap tactics" from the SNES and GBA versions; IE casting Reflect on your party while fighting Bahamut so he Megaflares himself five times. Can't let you do that, Star Fox.
- Characters give out their abilities to the party when lost, and depending on if they have been given other augments, they give you more.
- Mini-games involving Rydia's personal Eidolon, Whyt, who can be renamed. Each of the five ending characters has their own game that increase his stats. They're fun, but difficult.
- You can customize Whyt with special outfits and draw him a new face. (I gave him the :awesome: face. :>)
- Since you can't rename characters, there is a whole new side-quest involving Namingway that takes you everywhere. You get some pretty nifty augments from him too.
- Cecil is more badass than ever.
- It's still possible to power-level rather easily, which reduces -some- challenge, but it doesn't matter what your level is if you've still got a weakness to what the boss can do.
- There is a scene involving Edge that is so fuckwin I had to rewatch it on YouTube. >.>
- Rubicante is still the most awesome villain ever.
- New Game+ can only be used twice. So, three playthroughs, then you can have to start new.
Cons:
- Rydia's hair pisses me off.
- Some bosses difficulties were -greatly- reduced. (I took down Leviathan rather easily, Odin too, which saddened me.)
- Rare items are rare. >.< (Though one of the rarer items I got way earlier than anyone else I know that has played this game.)
- Kain's voice actor sounds too gruff to me, too scratchy.
- Certain augments are completely useless.
- Gaining money early on is -very- difficult the first time through.
- You can only play a "single" game three times through before you have to start over.
Square-Enix gets 4.5 Divine Shields out of 5 from me on this one. They did a really good job with this port. It's amazing. The graphics though, they still do it to me.
While I was waiting for this game to come out, I also discovered that when they wrote the initial story for Final Fantasy IV, the original SNES cart only held about 25% of the story on it. They didn't really add anymore to the story, but the voice acting and cinemas added a new element to the game that wasn't there before, not even the re-release on the PSX comes close to this.
