Final Fantasy IV was the first in the series to make it actually popular. Runned over by Dragon Quest series before it finally managed to rise to it's now known glory.
Story is finally descent without clichés (Final Fantasy II) or pointless wandering with little happening (Final Fantasies I and III). Cecil, a dark knight who left his position as the captain of royal air forces by moral reasons, tries with the help of his best friend Kain, girlfriend Rosa and many other interesting people to stop mysterious Golbez from using elemental crystals for evil. Plot has many twisting turns and exiting moments but it's main problem is that characters are quite distant. They are interesting but the members the group changes pretty quickly except Cecil who is probably the best character in this game to feel sympathy for. Also there's not told enough background information from certain characters like Golbez whose past and events that formed him evil would have brought more spice to him. And it annoys that most of the characters are so damn eager to sacrifice themselves.
Music is completely it's own chapter. Nobuo Uematsu's beautiful melodies gets their rightful epic feeling in Super Nintendo's sound chips. World Map-theme, trembling Tower of Babil and epic Final Batlle are just few of the many excellent music pieces. Graphigs are colorful and they have unique SNES charm that even time cannot ravage. There's not much to say about battle system because it's overly simple with it's strict character roles and picking from attack, item and some special properties.
Final Fantasy IV finally succeeded in that where it's predictors failed. Truly worth of playing even after 16 years.
Story is finally descent without clichés (Final Fantasy II) or pointless wandering with little happening (Final Fantasies I and III). Cecil, a dark knight who left his position as the captain of royal air forces by moral reasons, tries with the help of his best friend Kain, girlfriend Rosa and many other interesting people to stop mysterious Golbez from using elemental crystals for evil. Plot has many twisting turns and exiting moments but it's main problem is that characters are quite distant. They are interesting but the members the group changes pretty quickly except Cecil who is probably the best character in this game to feel sympathy for. Also there's not told enough background information from certain characters like Golbez whose past and events that formed him evil would have brought more spice to him. And it annoys that most of the characters are so damn eager to sacrifice themselves.
Music is completely it's own chapter. Nobuo Uematsu's beautiful melodies gets their rightful epic feeling in Super Nintendo's sound chips. World Map-theme, trembling Tower of Babil and epic Final Batlle are just few of the many excellent music pieces. Graphigs are colorful and they have unique SNES charm that even time cannot ravage. There's not much to say about battle system because it's overly simple with it's strict character roles and picking from attack, item and some special properties.
Final Fantasy IV finally succeeded in that where it's predictors failed. Truly worth of playing even after 16 years.