Final Fantasy IV: Nintendo DS Review

Posted February 7, 2009 by Michael Curley in DS, DS Reviews, Reviews.

Out of all the Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy IV is probably the one that had the roughest ride over to the US (not counting, of course, the ones that were never made it over in the first place). The original US version was butchered, with the story muddled in bad translation, gameplay elements were taken out because they were either thought to be “too complicated” or “too religious,” and the difficulty toned way down.

The game has been re-released and remade a couple times already, so how does the latest version for the DS stack up? Pretty damn well, as it turns out.

Final Fantasy IV is where the series’s gameplay really came together in the form you recognize today, with the advent of the Active Time Battle system and the system here is as smooth and user friendly as it gets.

This is thanks in part to the second screen of the DS, used here to house everyone’s statistics during battle. While on a single screen, everyone’s hit points, magic points, and ATB gauge would have to be compressed, on the DS everything is laid out in an easy-on-the-eyes format.

The Augment system is a welcome addition to the game and gives a measure of customization the original didn’t have. The characters are still locked into their classes (you’re not going to turn Cecil into a black mage or anything), but you can give them new skills to either make up their shortcomings or enhance their existing strengths.

And unlike previous remakes of the game, this was rebuilt from the ground up in full 3D. The graphics are about late PlayStation 1 level and everything in the game is reasonably detailed, colorful, and generally looks good considering the format and scope of the game. The animation is fluid and every character has his or her own personality displayed through their movements.

The game’s sound design is solid as well and all of the music has been updated to fit the new hardware. This version also brings with it voice acting for almost all the characters in new cutscenes. Both the action and the voice acting in these scenes is done well and it really helps flesh out the characters and story.

Speaking of the story, it, of course, hasn’t been substantially changed, but has received some additions in the tune of Golbez’s backstory, specifically how he ended up as the bad guy here. All said, it’s still a good story after all these years and well worth seeing to the end.

One of the few negative points of the game is the sheer difficulty of it. While the original US release on the SNES and the remake for the GameBoy Advance were relatively easy, this game will kick you in the ass if you’re not prepared for some of the bosses, who have new attacks and patterns designed to throw off veteran players. Even some of the random encounters in the second half of the game will beat your party down if you’re not quick to incapacitate them. Be ready to do some grinding to get past the tougher portions of the game.

Also, some of the changes might irk players of the original, such as how some spells are learned later (Rydia learned Meteor at level 70 in the original, 80 in this version), or costs more Magic Points. Also, some weapon effects were removed (in the original, Bows did extra damage to vampires and vampire bats, but only normal damage in the remake). These changes seem to do little other than make the game even harder than it already is and come across as unnecessary, but it’s admittedly a small nitpick.

Overall, Final Fantasy IV on the DS is a great game. Also, at this point, it is the definitive version of a classic RPG. It’s well worth a play through for both fans of the original and RPG fans in general.