Does this Final Fantasy IV exceed its predecessors or is it just more of the same?
Final Fantasy 4 has you following the story of a character named Cecil. Cecil is a Dark Knight that is the commander of the Baron's squadron of Red Wing airships. Cecil has a very dark past and it gets even worse when the king sends Cecil and his best friend Kain to deliver a ring a tiny village but when he arrives he finds out the hard way that the ring was a trap and it sets the village on fire. He soon finds a little girl named Rydia and Kain tries to kill her which proves to Cecil that he is a very bad man. The general story though has you searching to find the 4 elemental crystals to save Cecil's girlfriend Rosa. There are some very sad parts to the story and it involves many interesting characters and plot twists.
The combat in Final Fantasy 4 is different than its predecessor. Final Fantasy 4 is real time so no more turn based battles. You can control up to 4 characters at a time and beside each characters stats is a Battle Gauge. After you attack the battle gauge slowly fills up and when it's full you can attack again. Sounds pretty familiar right, well the enemies can do the same thing so you could be casting a Cure when an enemies knocks out your entire party. Final Fantasy 4 has some very challenging boss fights where you have to know when to defend, heal, and attack.
The presentation is very good for a game on the SNES. The colours range from bright and vibrant to dark and gray. What really shines in Final Fantasy is the music. You can hear distantly the original tunes but they have excellent remixes in this version.
Final Fantasy 4 is a wonderful experiance that includes a great story, excellent music a new combat mechanic and unforgettable characters. This is a Final Fantasy you should not pass up.