Final Fantasy 4/IV - Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy IV (4) (released as Final Fantasy II in North America) is the fourth installment in the flagship Final Fantasy game series. It was published by Square (laterSquare Enix ) in 1991 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and was later released on GameBoy Advance, PlayStation, PlayStation Portable, and other platforms.
The game's director was Hironobu Sakaguchi , and its music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu. The game focuses on a dark knight named Cecil Harvey and his mission to stop the wizard Golbez from collecting powerful crystals and destroying the world. The game is the first to use the "Active Battle System," which would be used in the next five Final Fantasy titles in the franchise.
Prologue
The game takes place on Earth, nicknamed the "Blue Planet," which is composed of humans living on the surface and dwarves living underground. An artificial moon orbits the planet, home to a race called the Lunarians, whose original home is now an asteroid belt that orbits the Blue Planet.
Thus, the Black Knight Cecil was stripped of his command as captain of the Red Wings. He and the dragon master Kain headed into the dark valley toward the village of Mist. The advent of the airship marked the fulfillment of Baron's dreams, but also the birth of his militarism. With his Royal Air Force Red Wings, Baron soon reigned supreme. Now, as monsters multiply and stir up unrest, Baron harnesses his power only to collect the world's crystals. Why? The crystals silently spread their light...
Gameplay
The influential "Active Time Battle" system associated with Final Fantasy made its debut in Final Fantasy IV . This new system breaks with the traditional turn-based mechanics of previous games. In "Active Time Battle," characters do not always act one after another, but rather perform actions determined by charge time. An Active Time Battle or ATB gauge fills over time, and once it reaches its capacity, a player can either attack or cast spells. Performing an action empties the gauge, and the recharge cycle continues. The new system adds urgency and requires more strategy in battles.
In combat, players can control up to five players, making this the first and last game with a party capacity larger than four members. As in previous Final Fantasy games, the player controls a number of characters and traverses an overworld, interacting with friendly and enemy NPCs. Players enter battle at random times and fight bosses.
During battle, the player can choose to fight, use magic or an item, retreat, change character stance, parry, or pause. If a player loses all of a character's HP, the character will faint, but can be revived using Phoenix Down, Releving, or Releving. In towns, players can purchase items, recharge their strength, and find clues for their missions. In inns, players can sleep to regain HP, which can also be restored using potions and spells. Final Fantasy IV uses an experience system through which players level up and gain new abilities by defeating monsters and bosses.
Characters' strengths and weaknesses depend on their job category. For example, a fighter might have low agility, and a mage might have low defense but high spellcasting power. Magic is divided into white magic, black magic, summoning (Rydia), and a special magic used by Edge ("Call" on SNES) called ninjitsu.
Characters
- Cecil Harvey – He begins as the Black Knight and is the captain of the Baron's Red Wings. He becomes skeptical of his King's intentions and embarks on a quest for justice.
- Kain Highwind - Commander of the Dragons and Cecil's childhood friend.
- Rydia - A summoner from Mist Village who joins Cecil.
- Tellah - An old sage who seeks revenge on Golbez.
- Edward Chris von Muir - Prince of Damcyan and husband of Anna, Tellah's daughter. He aids Cecil in his quest.
- Rosa Joanna Farrell - Baron's Archer and White Mage who has a crush on Cecil.
- Yang Fang Leiden - Leader of the monks of Fabul.
- Palom - A young apprentice dark mage from Mysidia, with a twin brother named Porom. He joins Cecil on his way to Mount Ordeals.
- Porom - A white mage apprentice from Mysidia. Twins with Palom. Accompanies Cecil on his journey to Mount Ordeal.
- Cid Pollendina - Engineer responsible for the design of many Red Wing aircraft. He is like a father to Rosa, Cecil, and Kain. His plane, the Enterprise, takes the group all over the world.
- Edge Geraldine - A Ninja and the Prince of Eblan.
- Fusoy - A Lunar of the Red Moon.
Development
Square was actually developing two games before the release of Final Fantasy IV. One was intended for the SNES (Final Fantasy V) and the other for the NES (Final Fantasy IV), but due to a lack of funding and scheduling constraints, the team abandoned the NES version and focused solely on the Super Nintendo SNES version, eventually releasing what would become Final Fantasy IV. Due to its release on the SNES, the game featured stronger graphics than the previous games, all released on the NES.
