Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection – Video Game Review

I clearly underestimated Square-Enix, yet again! Though, I will admit their reasoning for releasing Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection is somewhat valid. This year does make the original game 20 years old, and it is one of the more popular FFs in Japan. A few months ago, I had some doubts if we really needed another version of FFIV, but it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give FFIV:CC a chance.

The very first thing I noticed upon watching the game’s opening is the awesome amount of detail out in the graphics. In this version, environments do an awesome job of emulating the Super Nintendo look, but with a very fresh coat of paint on it. I remember thinking Square-Enix did a bang up job creating newer background graphics for the Gameboy Advance port (which was really from the Wonderswan port, but whatever), but now I see the light. This is how you make a 1991 game look good while maintaining the original style.

I also liked the added detail for in some backgrounds. For example, each town now looks more distinct from one another, which adds the illusion of how many diverse cultures there are in the game’s universe. Some plot events have extra detail to them as well, which make some scenes make a lot more sense. During the opening, Cecil orders his men to fight incoming monsters while on an airship. Cannons start to blaze and the ship deck suffers damage after the scene is over. Minor details like these, which were absent in the original, show that a good amount of effort was put into the remake, and there’s the added bonus of seeing a twenty year old part of a game with a fresh spin.

While the DS remake was created from the ground up, it looked more like a PlayStation game (which isn’t a complaint for the record). The key difference here is that this version of FFIV is supposed to look and feel like the original, so it’s nice to see those minor tweaks.

The effort Square-Enix put into this port also shows through minor, but important details. Let’s say you don’t dig the arranged soundtrack. No problem, there’s an option that lets you throw on the original soundtrack! That’s right, enjoy hearing SNES tunes while looking at a beautifully crafted remake! The battle system actually works like it should as well. Now, both those aspects may seem like small potatoes, but bear in mind that FFIV has had a complicated past outside of Japan. Long story short, the original US release was gimped and had a bad translation, the US PlayStation version suffered from lag and terrible loading/saving times and the GBA port had an absurd amount of game breaking bugs. It’s simply nice to see that FFIV finally got a good treatment when it was modeled after it’s original format.

If the original game isn’t enough, FFIV:CC is packed in with Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, a direct sequel that takes place nearly two decades after the events of the original. It also has Final Fantasy IV Interlude which connects the gap between the original story and its sequel.

While it is interesting to see what they did with the characters, and how the world of Final Fantasy IV is after all this time, I have a problem with both the interlude and sequel. Sure, if I keep my fanboy goggles on, I can get down with some story elements and character arcs presented in the continuation of FFIV’s story. I simply can’t ignore how most of the story seems rushed. On top of that, a lot of it seems to come off as a half-way decent fan fic. What’s mostly aggravating is how so many plot elements rely way too much (and sometimes outright copy) on events from the original FFIV! Some fans might enjoy it, but I felt that Square-Enix could have done a lot better. And no, FFIV:AY being originally released on Japanese cell phones is no excuse.

Fortunately, any fan of FFIV or FF in general will enjoy this remake just for the original game…if you are willing to buy yet another version. If you are a die hard fan of FFIV like I am, go pick up a copy right now. If you are on the fence about it, especially if a previous version didn’t thrill you too much, then I would suggest renting or outright skipping it.

As far as my opinion in concerned, it looks like I’ll have to eat my words when it came to that article I liked above. Final Fantasy IV was released again, and I found myself enjoying it again. I guess it’s hard to put a good cash cow down.

EDIT: Because I’m an idiot, I forgot to mention that the remake of FFIV sports the GBA additions, like being able to use surviving party members for the final dungeon, along with the extra dungeon unlocked after completing the game. Just thought that some of you would like to know that!

RATING: 8/10

Front page image from gamebreakers.co, Screenshots from blog.us.playstation.com.

Article source: http://www.primaryignition.com/2011/05/06/final-fantasy-iv-the-complete-collection-video-game-review/

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