Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy IV (ファイナルファンタジーIV in Japanese, or Fainaru Fantajī IV using romanization), often abbreviated as FF4, is the fourth game in the Final Fantasy series, developed and published by Square Co., Ltd. in 1991. Originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the game was subsequently re-released for the PlayStation, the WonderSwan Color, and the Game Boy Advance. It was originally released in North America as Final Fantasy II. This altered numbering system caused the game Final Fantasy VI to be numbered Final Fantasy III. This lead to quite a bit of confusion when the Playstation game Final Fantasy VII came out.

A modified version of the game was released for the Super Famicom in Japan in 1991 under the name Final Fantasy IV Easytype. While the game retained the storyline, graphics, and sound of the original game, the game engine had been modified so as to make the game substantially simpler, and the finished product was marketed at "beginning" gamers. Despite popular belief, this was not the version translated into English by Square's North American subsidiary SquareSoft. Because the previous two installments of the Final Fantasy series had not been released to North American audiences, it was instead released under the title Final Fantasy II for the purposes of maintaining continuity. The PlayStation re-release of the game (which was derived from the original version of the game) was retranslated and re-released in North America as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles under the title Final Fantasy IV (where it was packaged with Chrono Trigger). The game did not receive an official European release until the release of the PAL version of Final Fantasy Anthology for the PlayStation in 2002 (where it was packaged with Final Fantasy V). In late 2005, the game received a port to the Game Boy Advance platform in North America and Japan under the title Final Fantasy IV Advance, which itself is a port of the WonderSwan Color version with some additional bonus features.

Gameplay
Gameplay in Final Fantasy IV is standard computer role-playing game fare; characters traverse an overworld to fulfill requirements of various quests, using towns to replenish strength, buy new equipment, and discover clues, all the while fighting monsters at random intervals. The game also introduces Square's Active Time Battle (ATB) system, which differs from previous Final Fantasy games (and from most RPGs in general) in that players must give orders to their characters in real-time. The ATB system would appear again in the next five games in the series, as well as making appearances in other games produced by Square, including Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy X-2.

In battle, each character has certain strengths and weaknesses, including either spellcasting powers or other special abilities. Like other Final Fantasy games, characters gain in abilities as they gain battle experience. Magic is divided into several different categories:
 * White - Healing and support magic
 * Black Magic - Offensive magic
 * Summon (or Call) - Used by Rydia to call forth monsters to damage the enemy or perform some special function to the party
 * Ninjutsu - A specialized type of offensive and support magic used exclusively by Edge.

Of note is the extensive use of "retort" attacks that the enemies use. This makes it so that if all five of your characters attack an enemy with this retort ability then the enemy will respond with five of its own attacks. This overused method was not repeated as extensively in later FF games. This leads to much shuffling of characters to find one that is either able to kill the enemy in one blow, thereby killing the opponent before it can retort, or at least find a character that has a worthwhile melee attack. - An example would include casting haste on one of your attackers. That characters increased attack speed would correspond to the opponent also counter-attacking fast. Therefore turning your hastened attack into a potential liability.

Character shuffling was also a major problem in the game. You could literally cycle through the entire party twice before having the ability to select a specific character that you wanted to use (such as Rydia). This shuffling was not necessarily caused by the ATB gauge, even with the character's gauge full you could still cycle through the party twice before being able to use the character.

Spellcasters, which account for eight of the twelve playable characters, gain magic spells at preprogrammed experience levels or fixed events in the story; for this reason Final Fantasy IV's ability development system is considered the simplest of any game in the series. This makes it very similar to the way Clerics gain spells in D&D; as opposed to the purchasing of spells in the original FF which is closer to the way mages buy spells in D&D.

Unlike the original Final Fantasy, almost no time is needed to gain enough levels/experience to advance to the next area of the game. It is more evenly paced out so that the player can simply go to the next area as long as the party does not escape from the majority of random encounters.

Final Fantasy IV is a very "linear" RPG, meaning that at most points throughout the game players may advance through the story in one and only one way, with limited opportunities for side quests or alternate paths.

Story
The most powerful nation in the world, the monarchy of Baron, begins utilizing its unparalleled air force, the Red Wings, and its legions of Dark Knights to attack peaceful nations in search of four Crystals, each corresponding to a different classical element. Cecil Harvey, a Dark Knight and leader of the Red Wings, begins to question the king's motives after forcibly stealing the Water Crystal from the wizards' town of Mysidia. Upon questioning the king, Cecil falls from grace and is stripped of his rank and sent, along with his friend, the Dragoon Kain Highwind, to deliver a package to the Village of Mist. However, the package contains explosives that destroy the entire town and kill most of its inhabitants. The aftermath comes with Kain no where to be found, while Cecil encounters a young female survivor named Rydia. Cecil, now angered with his Baron and the Red Wings, initiates a quest to stop them. On his journey back to Baron, Cecil encounters his lover, Rosa Farrell; an elderly wizard, Tellah; the cowardly and emotional prince of Damcyan, Edward Chris von Muir; and the powerful Monk of Fabul, Yang Fang Leiden. Cecil also encounters Kain, who is proceeding with the theft of the remainder of the crystals for Baron. During a skirmish, Rosa is kidnapped by Kain. The party soon discovers that a man named Golbez is manipulating Kain and King Baron in order to retrieve the Crystals. After a ship attack by the sea monster Leviathan, Cecil becomes stranded near Mysidia, where he is forced to repent for his previous crimes by becoming a holy Paladin. It is here that he also meets the apprentice mages Palom and Porom.

After Cecil reunites with his allies, the party invades Baron. However, Golbez has manipulated the people of Baron enough; the failed attack ultimately results in escape on Cid Pollendina's airship. Cecil soon encounters the brainwashed Kain, who forces Cecil to retrieve the final Crystal in exchange for the life of Rosa. Kain then leads the group to where Rosa is being held by Golbez. The party seizes the moment and attacks, but they are unsuccessful and merely leads to Tellah's death. However, the brainwash spell on Kain is shattered, and he explains that Golbez has not retrieved all of the Crystals; four more, called the Dark Crystals, are hidden in the underground land of the Dwarves, and Golbez has already stolen two of them.

With the help of Cid and the other allies, Cecil manages to chase Golbez around the Dark World. However, even after the invasion of the Tower of Babel and the aid of the Ninja prince of Eblan, Edge Geraldine, Cecil's party comes up short; Golbez apprehends the two remaining crystals with ease. Golbez then retreats to the planet's second moon. In order to discover what plan Golbez has for the Crystals and hopefully stop it, Cecil follows Golbez to the second moon using the ancient starship the "Lunar Whale" hidden beneath Mysidia's ocean.

On the moon, Cecil meets FuSoYa, who explains to him that he is descended from a race known as Lunarians, who originated on a planet that was destroyed to form an asteroid belt. Cecil's father, KluYa, was responsible for storing the Crystals, which correspond to Crystals on the moon that hold the thoughts of the Lunarians, on the planet and introducing technological advances such as the airship. However, some Lunarians, led by Zemus, plan to wipe out all life on the planet for Lunarian inhabitation. It is revealed that Zemus is manipulating Golbez and Kain, and that he plans to use the Crystals to revive a giant android, the Giant of Bab-il, and clear the planet for this purpose.

Accompanied by FuSoYa, who can neutralize the Giant of Bab-il's force field, Cecil returns to the planet to find the Giant revived. The entire world, including party members that were once thought deceased, participates in the attack. After breaking into the Giant, FuSoYa is able to break Zemus's control over Golbez and Kain. It is at this point that Cecil finds that Golbez is his brother. Golbez and FuSoYa head to the moon to attempt to defeat Zemus, and Cecil's party follows. After fighting his way to the core of the moon, Cecil watches Golbez and FuSoYa defeat Zemus, only to discover that his death unleashed a more powerful being named Zeromus, the personification of Zemus' pure hatred. Zeromus easily defeats Golbez and FuSoYa, then attacks the rest of Cecil's party. It takes the united life force of all beings, combined with a special Crystal provided by Golbez, for Cecil and his party to defeat Zeromus.

After Zeromus's defeat, FuSoYa returns to sleep with the rest of his people. Golbez, feeling that he cannot return to the earth after what he has done, and being half Lunarian himself, goes with him. Before he does, Cecil forgives him and calls him brother. The moon spins off into space. Many of the characters return to their homes, often to rebuild them, but Kain goes to Mount Ordeals to train himself. The rest of the cast attends Cecil and Rosa's wedding, as Cecil becomes King of Baron.

Development history
In 1991, after the completion of Final Fantasy III, Square intended to develop two Final Fantasy games, one for the Nintendo Famicom, and the other for the forthcoming Super Famicom. The Famicom title would be released under the name Final Fantasy IV, while the Super Famicom title would be released under the name Final Fantasy V.

However, due to financial and scheduling constraints, Square was forced to drop plans for the Famicom game and to continue development of the Super Famicom title, which was retitled Final Fantasy IV. It is not clear how far development had progressed on the Famicom version before its cancellation. A mock-up screenshot was produced for a Japanese magazine, but almost no other information exists about the aborted title.

Game Versions
Final Fantasy IV was released in a variety of different versions for a variety of different platforms. Each version tells the same story, features the same characters, uses the same graphics, sound, and music, and utilizes the same basic game engine. Nonetheless, there are certain key distinctions between each version. Because of the extreme differences between this North American SNES version of the game and the original Japanese release, in the late 1990s, J2e Translations released an English language fan translation of the original game.

Easytype
The original Final Fantasy IV was altered in several regards in order to reduce the difficulty level for Final Fantasy IV Easytype. Among the changes rendered were:


 * Removal of some magic spells: The white magic spells Protect, Shell, and Dispel were removed, as was the summon magic spell Cockatrice.
 * Removal/replacement of some items: In the original game, almost every status ailment (such as Petrification and Poison) had a corresponding item used to cure it (Golden Needle and Antidote respectively). These individual items were removed for Final Fantasy IV Easytype. In their place, the item Remedy, which cured all status ailments but was extremely rare and expensive in the original version, was made far more common and affordable. Other items, such as Ether, which were extremely rare in the original game, were far more common in Final Fantasy IV Easytype. In addition, the original game featured a wide assortment of magical items which could be used in battle to replicate the effects of a number of magic spells. All of these items were removed for Final Fantasy IV Easytype, though Cecil can be seen using two of them in the game's opening sequence, even in versions where they can't be found during the game itself. The original also contained an item called Dark Matter, which Edge could steal from Zeromus in the final battle. This item greatly reduced the damage done by Zeromus' Big Bang attack but it was removed as well.
 * Removal of specialized attacks: In the original version, almost every character had a special attack: Cecil's Dark Wave did damage to all enemies in exchange for some hit point damage to Cecil himself, Tellah's Memory randomly cast a high level black magic spell at the enemies, Yang's Gather allowed him to do a double damage attack, and so forth. These attacks were removed from Final Fantasy IV Easytype. Interestingly, though, during Cecil's doppelgänger battle on Mount Ordeal, his clone attacks exclusively with Dark Wave, regardless of which version is played.
 * Reduced shop prices: Items, weapons, and armor sold at shops in Final Fantasy IV Easytype was less expensive than the equivalent material sold at shops in the original game.
 * Assorted tweaks to monster difficulty: There were a number of monsters in the original game (such as Valvalis) who could only be harmed using a specific sequence of attacks, or only at specific times. Most of these special requirements were either removed or scaled back for Final Fantasy IV Easytype. Also, in the original version, monsters located more than two rows away from the party during battle received only 1/2 damage from physical attacks. In Final Fantasy IV Easytype, these monsters took full damage from all attacks. Monsters also generally did less damage in Final Fantasy IV Easytype than they did in the original version.
 * Different Zeromus sprite: In the original game and Final Fantasy II (NA), the final form of Zeromus resembled a giant insect. The sprite was changed in Final Fantasy IV Easytype to a smaller, red, sword-wielding demon. This particular sprite makes an appearance in Final Fantasy IV Advance as an extra boss called Zeromus EG (for "Easy Game").
 * The equipment Ribbon absorbs elemental attacks in the Easytype mode.

Final Fantasy II (North America)
Final Fantasy IV Easytype is roughly similar to the game released in North America, but the game lost some content to censorship and poor translation when localized. Among the major changes are:


 * Removal of Judeo-Christian religious imagery: The most notable instance of this is the renaming of the magic spell "Holy" to "White." This was in keeping with Nintendo of America's content guidelines, and similar examples can be found in the original North American translations of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest and Final Fantasy VI (released as Final Fantasy III). All references to prayer are eliminated as well; the Tower of Prayers in Mysidia is renamed the Tower of Wishes, and Rosa's "Pray" command is simply dropped from the game.
 * Graphic and textual edits remove references to death and violence: Again, partially to adhere to Nintendo's family friendly content guidelines, images deemed too violent or disturbing were toned down. References to death (and especially suicide) in the original script were eliminated in the original North American translation, and key sequences were graphically edited. In one cutscene in the Japanese version, Rosa is rescued at the last moment from being executed by a giant scythe. In the original North American version, the scythe was replaced with a giant metal ball.
 * Altered item and attack names: Item names in the original Japanese version were changed to more directly reflect their usage. The item Phoenix Down, for instance, which was used for reviving wounded/unconscious characters, was renamed Life, the item Remedy, which cured a variety of status ailments, was renamed Heal, and the item Potion which restored a character's Hit points, was renamed Cure. Similarly, each summon magic attack consisted of both a monster name and an attack name in the Japanese version (for example, the summon spell Leviathan performed the attack Tsunami); in the original English translation, the attack name was omitted.
 * Removal of the Developer's Room: In the Japanese games (both the original and the Easytype versions), a secret room could found in the dwarf castle. This room was basically an easter egg where the player could converse (and, in some cases, battle) with representations of the game's programmers. You could even find a book in the room (known as the infamous porn book). The room (and the book) was removed in the original English translation, but restored for all subsequent editions.
 * Simplified script: The original English language script has been attacked as being of poor quality. In addition to a number of awkward or stilted sequences, the English script is substantially shorter and omits several subplots, most notably an ongoing story about Kain's background and relationship to his father, and the motivation for Zemus's plans regarding colonization of Earth.

PlayStation
The PlayStation re-release is mostly identical to the original version of Final Fantasy IV. Some minor tweaks introduced in Final Fantasy IV Easytype have been left in, but these are so rare that the average gamer could very easily play through the entire game and never notice them. The most notable change in the PlayStation release is the inclusion of a full motion video opening sequence, the ability to "run" in dungeons and towns by holding the Cancel button, and the ability to perform a "memo" save anywhere on the world map. This save would remain active in the PlayStation's RAM until it was overwritten by another such save, or the power was turned off or interrupted.

The North American and European localization of Final Fantasy IV PlayStation featured an entirely rewritten translation which addressed most of the discrepancies between the original game and the SNES Final Fantasy II. However, certain sections, such as the line "You spoony bard!", were kept intact, as many of them had achieved cult status.

WonderSwan Color
The WonderSwan Color version of Final Fantasy IV lacked the FMVs of the PlayStation version, had decreased screen resolution, and down sampled music and sound effects to meet the specifications of the device.

However, a number of graphical enhancements were made to character sprites and backgrounds by providing additional details and color shading. The original character portraits were replaced with new, smaller portraits. Also, certain boss sprites were changed to those featured in the Japanese Easytype version of the Super Famicom game.

The game also featured revamped difficulty that is different from both the original and the Easytype versions of the game.

Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance port of the game was released in North America on December 12, 2005, while the Japanese version was released on December 15, 2005. The Japanese version also came with a bonus addition of a themed face plate for the Game Boy Micro which features Amano artwork of Cecil and Kain. The game is largely based on the WonderSwan Color version of the game. Some changes since the original SNES version:


 * Graphics from the WonderSwan Color version with more improvements, especially with battle backgrounds
 * Enhanced music and sound effects from the WonderSwan Color version
 * New events
 * Portraits in the conversation boxes for player characters and Golbez like in the Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls version of Final Fantasy II
 * The Active Time Battle bar appears in the battle menu, like in the majority of games starting with Final Fantasy V
 * The ability to switch party members; this ability is gained once the Giant of Bab-il is defeated. All of the previous playable characters except Tellah and FuSoYa are available to choose from. Players can change party members as often as they like, but Cecil must remain in the party at all times.
 * The developer's room can be found
 * An 8-floor training dungeon on Mt. Ordeals for the party members that did not join Cecil's trip to the moon which contains a powerful new weapon for each of them.
 * A 40-floor Lunar Trials dungeon, randomly generated, that opens up after the defeat of Zeromus. Within this dungeon there is a unique trial for each of the still-playable characters. Each character's trial is unlocked by defeating Zeromus with that character in the party, and can be played if that character is currently in the party when they approach the corresponding door.
 * New monsters and bosses within the Mt. Ordeal and Lunar Trials, including changes to existing boss behavior
 * New items including better weapons for all party members including those that did not join Cecil's trip to the Moon
 * An in-game bestiary and unlockable music player
 * A quicksave function that allows saving at any time outside a battle (quicksaves are deleted after loading).

However, some minor bugs were introduced into the game, notably in the battle system, possibly as a result of merely porting the game from an existing platform instead of fully optimizing the game for the GBA hardware. Examples would include party members' turns being skipped and randomly being given two (or, less frequently, more) turns in a row straight for a single character (for instance, Edge might attack a monster, and once he has, he'll instantly be given another chance to act without waiting for his time gauge to fill up). There is also some jerkiness while flying airships (more so when going left and right than up and down) and during menu navigation (in and out of battle). The latter makes it less effective to select spells or weapons during fast-paced Active Mode battles. Furthermore, some very minor "artistic license" was taken with the soundtrack (the Tower of Bab-il and Sylph Cave/Summoned Monster Cave themes each have one altered note). Also, minor lag during boss battles is present. These bugs were fixed in the European release, however.

Nintendo DS
Final Fantasy IV is set to be released for the Nintendo DS as part of the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary campaign. The game will be developed by Matrix Software, the same team responsible for the Final Fantasy III remake, and will be supervised by members of the original development team: Takashi Tokita will serve as executive producer, Tomoya Asano as producer, Hiroyuki Itō as battle designer. Animator Yoshinori Kanada will storyboard the new cutscenes.

According to executive producer Takashi Tokita (scenario writer of the original release), 3/4 of the original script had been cut from Super Famicom original release, but this lost material will be reworked into the remake, while some new events will also be added. The player will have the possibility to use the Nintendo DS stylus to move around similarly to the Final Fantasy III remake, while some minigames will require this usage of the stylus. Additionally, the developers are currently working on a feature which should add replayability to the game, although it will not necessarily be a New Game Plus feature.

In June 2007, Square Enix will hold a casting for a vocalist to sing a version of Final Fantasy IV's "Theme of Love" rearranged by Nobuo Uematsu t will be developed by the same team responsible for the Final Fantasy III DS remake.

Trivia

 * The japanese (and Game Boy Advance translation) names of the four Elemental Lords (Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia, and Rubicante) are references to four demons mentioned in Canto 21 of Dante Aligheri's Inferno. Another boss in the game, Calcobrena, also appears to draw its name from the same passage.
 * Both Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy IV contain a town of magic users called Mysidia.
 * At one point in the game, Tellah calls Edward a "spoony bard". "Spoony" is actually a word, but quite archaic. Webster's defines spoony as "silly, foolish, unduly sentimental".
 * The Game Boy Advance version includes the Easytype sprite of Zeromus as a boss at the end of the Lunar Ruins. It has the title "Zeromus EG," most likely standing for "Easy Game."
 * The name of Cecil's airship, Enterprise, is a reference to the U.S.S. Enterprise of Star Trek.
 * Baron's airship force possibly bears the name of Luke Skywalker's squadron from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Red Wings.
 * The second airship Falcon, is perhaps named after the Millennium Falcon, also of Star Wars.