Jeremy Gallen's Game Reviews

The Dark Knight Falls

When my family had a Super NES, we occasionally borrowed games from our neighbor, among them being Final Fantasy II, which, unbeknownst to us and North American gamers, was the fourth entry in the fabled Squaresoft franchise, renumbered due to the absence of the second and third games from the Anglophone world. The fourth Final Fantasy would eventually set the world record for the most ported or remade game, the latest of which would be the Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster as part of the effort by Square-Enix to update the first six entries of their franchise to provide experiences faithful to their original eight and sixteen-bit iterations.

The original Final Fantasy IV was one of the first Japanese roleplaying games to have a narrative with significant development, opening with the Red Wings of the kingdom of Baron homeward bound after a mission of seizing one of the four elemental crystals at the behest of their king, spearheaded by Cecil the dark knight, who begins to question his place in the command chain, leading to a path of love, redemption, and betrayal that resounded well with and even touched me emotionally, with endearing characters joining and leaving his party. There are elements derived from the plots of the previous three games, alongside some choices in the translation, like renaming Gilbert to Edward when there was already a character named Edward Geraldine (Edge his nickname). Still, the localization is otherwise spotless and enhances the plot well.

The fourth entry would continue the franchise tradition of doing things differently with each installment, in this case, changing random battles from their former traditional turn-based structure to the active-time system present in entries before the tenth, where each character has a speed gauge that fills with each passing moment, allowing them to choose from one of several commands to execute upon filling. Actions include attacking with an equipped weapon, defending to reduce damage, using a consumable item, or using an ability native to a character, including white, black, or summon magic. Another example is that Kain can leap astronomically into the air and pounce on an enemy after a while to deal more damage than his standard attack.

As in most RPGs sporting random encounters, the player can attempt to escape from combat, in the PlayStation 4 version, by holding the L1 and R1 buttons, which seems to always work, minus the penalty in previous versions of losing some money. Victory nets all characters still alive experience for occasionally raised levels, gil (the chief currency of the series), and occasional dropped items. Defeat results in a trip back to the title screen, though the autosaving that executes whenever the player transitions between screens reduces some of the pain of loss. Boosts are available to reduce some of the old-school brutality with increased or decreased experience and money, along with the ability to toggle on and off random battles.

How Cecil Got His Groove Back

The game mechanics work well, with occasional strategizing necessary, particularly against bosses with certain attack patterns players must track to triumph in combat. Battle speed is adjustable in the game menus, with the autobattle feature returning from prior Pixel Remasters, further quickening fights, and having characters repeat their previous actions until the player wishes they stop. With the active-time system, the player needs not always or immediately have a character execute a command. For instance, one can keep Rosa’s actions open to heal damaged comrades. In the end, the fourth Pixel Remaster sports Final Fantasy’s active-time battle system at one of its highs.

The latest incarnation of the fourth Final Fantasy sports most of the bells and whistles of its precursors such as autosaving when transitioning between screens and a suspend save that accommodates players with busy schedules. The player can move their visible character diagonally, in-game maps for towns and dungeons can help them find their way, an auto-equip function in the menus takes the guesswork out of outfitting characters, and so forth. The only major pressing issue was the decision to keep overworld movement slow when players have an auto-dash feature in towns and dungeons. Still, the fourth Pixel Remaster is very user-friendly.

Nobuo Uematsu’s fourth Final Fantasy soundtrack to date is still one of his strongest, gloriously orchestrated in its respective Pixel Remaster. The prelude and the main theme return, and the Red Wings’ music recalls the Mars movement of Gustav Holst’s The Planets suite. The Baron Castle theme has similar musical militarism, with the peaceful town tracks balancing the more ominous tracks. The dungeon and mountain themes have foreboding feels, with the love theme impossible to behold with dry eyes, and the Lunarians’ music being simple but powerful. There are occasional soundless moments, but the game is a pleasure to listen to overall.

The visual experience is similar, and given that Final Fantasy IV was the first sixteen-bit entry of the series, one could only expect some upscaling with the graphics, with the character sprites within and without battle containing a little more detail, the environments being colorful and beautiful with nice lighting and weather effects, and so on. Some animation of the enemies in battle is present as well, particularly among those that float, and a few bosses do change appearances throughout their respective fights. The telekinetic execution of standard attacks by the player’s party and numerous enemy reskins recur, but the graphical experience is otherwise positive.

A classic David vs. Goliath situation

Finally, one can blaze through the fourth Pixel Remaster somewhere from eight to twenty-four hours, with plenty of lasting appeal in the form of PlayStation Trophies and filling the bestiary.

In summation, Final Fantasy IV has a special place in my heart, with its respective Pixel Remaster well evoking the countless times I played through it each generation it saw some sort of rerelease. The active-time battle system would be a staple for many of its sequels, the quality-of-life features make it more accessible for new generations of players, the story is moving, and the audiovisual presentation reaches new heights. The fourth installment of the Square-Enix franchise deserves its place as one of the classics of Japanese RPGs, and those who haven’t played it truly haven’t experienced Final Fantasy at its finest.

This review is based on a playthrough of the digital version downloaded to the reviewer's PlayStation 4 with all Boosts set to their maximum levels and 44% of Trophies acquired.