Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy IV is one of the excellent early additions to the Final Fantasy series that helped it earn its reputation for powerful stories and fantastic settings. It was first released in North America as Final Fantasy II, although the original name was restored in later releases.
Publisher: None/Unknown
More About Final Fantasy IV
The main protagonist, Cecil, is a well respected Dark Knight and airship commander of the Kingdom of Baron. He begins to harbor doubts about his nation's intentions when he is ordered to steal a magical crystal from the defenseless nation of Mysidia. Deciding that he must put things right, he finds himself pitted against the ambitions of his homeland and haunted by the deeds he committed in their name.
Cecil is joined by a memorable cast of companions who embark on one of the most memorable adventures in the history of console RPGs.
Taken in context of the series, FF4 is a rather interesting transition. It is the first of the series to take an extremely character-oriented plot focus, but as a result, its plot is one of the most linear of all the series. Characters enter the party and leave - or even die - according to the needs of the plot. This differs from many of its predecessors, where the party was fairly static, and is successors, where the party is largely up to the player once they have collected enough heroes. This restriction on party composition helped the game to have one of the most focused plots in the series, but prevented much in the way of endgame character-specific sidequests that became typical of the later games.
Another unusual aspect of the game relative to its successors is the age and attitude of its protagonist. Cecil is a mature 20 and is motivation is largely based on guilt and what seems to be an honest desire to do good. This is sharply different from the grumpy, angstful teen leads of the later series.
Cecil is joined by a memorable cast of companions who embark on one of the most memorable adventures in the history of console RPGs.
Taken in context of the series, FF4 is a rather interesting transition. It is the first of the series to take an extremely character-oriented plot focus, but as a result, its plot is one of the most linear of all the series. Characters enter the party and leave - or even die - according to the needs of the plot. This differs from many of its predecessors, where the party was fairly static, and is successors, where the party is largely up to the player once they have collected enough heroes. This restriction on party composition helped the game to have one of the most focused plots in the series, but prevented much in the way of endgame character-specific sidequests that became typical of the later games.
Another unusual aspect of the game relative to its successors is the age and attitude of its protagonist. Cecil is a mature 20 and is motivation is largely based on guilt and what seems to be an honest desire to do good. This is sharply different from the grumpy, angstful teen leads of the later series.
