Thread 12034993

I don't get it. Its linear as hell, the story is barebones, the game is so easy you dont have to think, theres no exploring for loot, no stat point decision making. Whats the big deal? First FF by the way, im disappointed.

>>12034993 (OP)
4 get shilled by english speakers because they didnt get 3 or 5. those two actually let you build your team and make meaningful decisions on your composition.

>>12034993 (OP)
have you looked at the release date? jfc

>>12034993 (OP)
obligatory post: stfu faggot, go whine somewhere else.

>>12035005
What? Are you retarded? There is dozens of nes rpgs that are a lot more open and with deeper mechanics than FF4 including FF 1 2 AND 3

>>12034993 (OP)
It's the best Final Fantasy.
>Amazing soundtrack
>Great cast of characters
>Extremely good pacing. Story moves quickly but slow enough to be enjoyed and not overstaying.
>Amazing cast of memorable characters
>Fun fights
It's just good. Simple as.

>>12035029
>1
lets not get ahead of ourselves
>3
kinda? you can choose your class for your party but youre railroaded into specific builds for boss fights

>>12035030
>Extremely good pacing
lol, no

>>12035030
"just good" is a great description of 4. it's just good. it's nowhere near the best.

>>12035064
>DS version
lol....lmao even
>>12035065
Sorry it is definitely the best

>>12035064
>demake
not retro

>>12035069
>>12035068
Get bent, nerds

>>12035073
Kino.

>>12035073
much better.

>>12035003
>meaningful decisions
changing classes at whim isn't meaningful.
only final fantasy 1 has meaningful class selection.

The SNES English version was made easier on purpose but there's a decent amount of side content you can do to find gear and spells. The best versions of this game are the PSP version and the 3D remake (harder than the original Japanese version)

>>12034993 (OP)
Same.
I played 4, 5 and 6.
Can't remember much of 4 because it was boring as fuck.
Feels like a lamer FF2 where you get temporal characters so they die and have a former friend becoming a rival/antagonist.
But at least the II characters die for real.
Don't remember any boss other than the bee sisters and thats because they show up again in FF10.
Its painfully unremarkable.

I remember enjoying the later dungeons. Definitely liked 4's dungeons more than 6's.

4 had a lot more soul than 5. 5s job system was more tedious than fun.

>>12035184
5's only saving grace IS the job system. Everything else about it is inferior. The pixel art, the music, the characters, the story, the world, it's all shittier.

>>12035186
>the music.
Tell me one song more memorable and so referenced as Battle in the Big Bridge.
>the world
The world is one of the greatest ones.
Thats why Gilgamesh shows up constantly, Omega became a recurring boss in the series, The Void and Shynriu became the main story of the Dissidia games.
FF4 is completely irrelevant as far as contributions to the series go.

>>12035198
>FF4 is completely irrelevant as far as contributions to the series go.
>Introduces most summons
>irrelevant

retard

>>12035198
>Tell me one song more memorable and so referenced as Battle in the Big Bridge.

The crystal title screen music. Battle on the Bridge is also an awful fucking song.

>>12035208
>Introduces most summons.
Final Fantasy 3 already had all the iconic ones.
The fuck you are you smoking?

>>12035213
Naturally mean the ones introduced by their own games.

>>12034993 (OP)
You are the wrong age. You're too old to love the game in the best way, and too young to have outgrown being a generic complainer who has no idea how to find the goodness in something flawed. This problem will solve itself. You can get started early by developing some discipline though. For example, try to make complaints that are actually correct. In this game, there IS exploring for loot, and there is significant (though quite limited, yes) nonlinearity outside the main line of the story.

I liked 4 more than 6. Nobody ever sucks 4 off the way they suck 6 off, and they’re about the same quality overall.

>>12035265
Well FFIV doesn't shit the bed half-way through by making you re-recruit your characters

>>12035272
ok so you havent played it

>>12035265
FF6 gets sucked because it has an unique story structure where the main villain actually wins and honestly has better story bits.
I honestly barely remember anything memorable about 4 other than Cecil changing jobs.

>>12035278
I played both, finished IV multiple times
Furthest I got in VI was the final dungeon, saw it was another one that forces you to have three parties, said I'd get back to it but never did

>>12035289
then why did you say 4 doesnt make you re-recruit your party?

>>12035291
When does IV take your characters away and hides them behind optional dungeons like Locke and Cyan? I must've missed that part

>>12035296
Yang, right?

>>12035315
You don't recruit him, so you can just leave him there

>>12034993 (OP)
>I don't get it.
(You) problem

>>12035198
Also it created the blue mage Job which then became a recurring character/Gameplay archetype (Strago, Quistis, Quina, Kimari).

>>12035186
Rumor has it that Final Fantasy V is what became of Famicom Final Fantasy IV (which was canceled because it was supposed to come out AFTER Final Fantasy V on Super Famicom, now renamed Final Fantasy IV).

>>12035186
>The pixel art
? man whats the point in arguing with people that cant even truthfully tell you the color of the grass.

>>12034993 (OP)
The biggest appeal of 4 is its story. I believe it has one of the better stories of the franchise, it's gameplay is fun enough to not be a slog. 6 has a better story and visuals, and 5 has vastly superior gameplay while having a good story as well.
1-3 are ok I like them but they are pretty barebones, and 3 can take like a month to beat. 7+ are what they are and if you don't already know about them I guess lucky you, go play them.

>>12035770
https://web.archive.org/web/20080113185308/http://www.warmech.net/special/awards/awards.html
Even back in the mid-2000's it was in the running for worst graphics and least upgrade.

>>12035825
is this the post truth world we live in? Just say something and it becomes true?

>>12035884
Maybe they were fresh off WSC FFIV (despite the SNES screenshots)?

>>12035003
You can just say you know nothing of the history of FF or JRPGs.

>>12035056
>but youre railroaded into specific builds for boss fights
That only happens like three times total in the game. I hate retarded posts like these.

>>12034993 (OP)
>First FF by the way,
retard

>>12035981
another reason why I hate remakes, people will play them and talk to me like they played the same game I played

>>12034993 (OP)
I really like IV and it was my first Final Fantasy too, though I didn't beat it until I was in high school and I played I and III the most in-between (but ironically still haven't finished either because every time I come back to them I want to replay the whole thing again).
When I was a kid Cecil was my favorite game protagonist (funnily enough around the same time I first watched Kenshin), and I still love the idea of his character, just the execution could've been better. I think it would've worked better if he doubled down on being a dark knight but for his own cause, changing who he is but not what he is. Admittedly this is partially because of my fondness for his dark knight sprites, the portrait especially.
Music's great too, the Red Wings theme is one of my favorites in the series, as are the Overworld's and Land of Summons's.

>>12035689
Was telling my buddy about Nasir the other day, is it known if he worked on the NES FFIV at all? I'd imagine so with how indispensable he was to the first three games (especially III), but since it was never made it's not like there exist proper credits for it.

>>12034993 (OP)
>Whats the big deal?
Nothing, it's a video game.

>>12035689
That is confusing to say the least.

>>12036553
>is it known if [Nasir] worked on the NES FFIV at all?
The word from Hironobu Sakaguchi is that FC FFIV was only at the concept stage and only a mock-up was published when it got canned, and a few ideas got repurposed in the released SFC FFIV (formerly FFV). Then a few years later, he allegedly said in another interview said he downplayed it at the time, and it was a lot farther along in development than he cared to admit.
This is still cited in the Wikipedia article: https://web.archive.org/web/20161216181140/http://matotree.com/2012/08/final-fantasy-iv-for-the-famicom-was-80-complete/
However, apparently people who got their hands on the supposed source said the second part is fabricated. The source for the "80% finished" quote is unknown, and may have come from 2ch. You'd think there'd be more follow-up questions, so I'm inclined to believe the original statement is closer to reality, as corroborated by other ex-employees.
http://lostlevels.org/200311/200311-square.shtml

>What's the big deal?
There isn't one. The series didn't become truly great until 6.
3-5 are decent JRPGs for the era, but there's nothing really special about them.
6 through 10 are what you're looking for if you want to know why everyone circle jerks the series.

>>12036696
Isn't 4 considered to be among the greatest JRPGs ever? It does get circlejerked like 6-10

>>12036705
>>12036705
>Isn't 4 considered to be among the greatest JRPGs ever?
Not by the broad JRPG fanbase. Only really by a handful of FF fans. It's a good game, but nothing really stands out about it.
6 is where Square learned to write the mind-fuck storylines that would thrust them into superstardom.

I wanted to make out with Porom when I played it years ago, and I still do.

>>12036858
I wanted to fuck Rydia's brains out when I played it years ago, and I still do but less because I thought she actually had tanned skin back then and I know know she doesn't.

>>12036696
The first Final Fantasy game was pretty damn good. Seeing the airship rise from the desert and changing your class with the rat tail were awesome. You kinda had to be there to understand that kind of impact. VI was actually fairly boring.

i got filtered by the cave you need to reach with the black chocobo. no npc even gives a hint. i had to use a guide to figure it out. goddamn retro rpgs just wanted jap kids to buy guidebooks

>>12034993 (OP)
I'm right there with you. I think it's by far the worst FF. At least to 9 which is where I stopped.

>>12036890
You can always draw her that way anon!

>>12035213
NTA but using a leitmotif that gets incorporated into songs in each game is kinda cheating, but you're not wrong that the main crystal theme would be the most memorable in the series. Unless you count stingers like the battle victory theme(s). BotBB is not only one of the most iconic songs in the franchise, but it essentially became the overall theme of Gilgamesh in all of his appearances. Most versions including the original are great though, so you might have bad taste if you're not just a contrarian.

>>12034993 (OP)
Japanese version is better because the difficulty wasn't dumbed down for amerifats.

Anyway the appeal of the game is that it's a simple jrpg with no bullshit. It's the FF you play if you want the pure jarpig experience.

>>12037201
Why did it remove so many flavor options?
Cecil's Dark Wave was pretty cool.

>>12037201
>>12035208
>>12035186
>>12035030
listening to the people in this thread talk about the game really solidifies my opinion on it or more specifically its fans.

>>12037201
Dumbing down an already easy game in a genre created by Americans that they poorly copied shows how dumb Japs are.

>>12035030
>Great cast of characters
Oh yeah having some bullshit 'death' come out of nowhere every couple hours to make you change the party composition really makes you grow attached to characters.

Final Fantasy 2/4 is one of the best games I've ever played. I'm old and got it on release and there hasn't been a game that's impressed me as much as final fantasy 4 did back in 1991. I can still replay it to this day and get just as much, if not more enjoyment than I did decades ago. Sure, it's probably nostalgia but I don't care and I don't care if no one else likes it because I love it. The music, the graphics, the story...take me back! Rosebud...

>>12034993 (OP)
>First FF by the way
FFIV came out in 1991, its the type of game where you "had to be there" to really understand how and why its such a big deal. If you were born in 2005 and play this game, it seems like no big deal since you're playing it 30+ years after it came out. Other games have come since and have done a lot more with stories or mechanics and such.

As someone who played it back in 1991-1992 it was amazing. You have to keep in mind that back then 3D wasn't a thing. Even Doom wasn't even out yet. It still holds up today (yes even the snes version) and it has all types of moments, happiness, funny, sadness, pressure etc. Its the only FF where the protagonist ends up becoming a king and is of divine order. Maybe that's something you wouldn't "grasp" or understand as a kid or a normie. Its a big deal if you understand the implications of a dark knight becoming a paladin.

>>12035296
The GBA port does this but not the original.
>>12036937
The cave where you can't wear metal items was definitely hinted by NPCs and also the town before it sells wooden/leather/cloth etc. equipment for it.

>>12037556
This kinda applies to almost everything on this board, for what its worth. Even inconveniences that get "fixed" can often detract from the experience in unknown ways. When completionists complain about how a game 30 years ago had a ton of side content they needed to slog through, back then that content was seen as replay value and validation for the cost of admission. The more we sand our experiences down, the more we smooth out all definition. It has nothing to do with shaders, or emulation accuracy, or Real Hardware, or any of that shit directly. It has to do with how things like impatience and comfort have removed multiple facets of delayed gratification from games themselves. Any anon reading this who is about to install some QoL patch to an old famicom game for their first playthrough, remember these words.
If you want to understand the experience people at the time had, play it as primitively as you can. Savor every wart and boil, allow them to culminate into payoffs. Don't race to the finish line, its often more about the journey than the destination. And if they don't work out? You just didn't enjoy the game, move on to entry number 451 on your backlog and try again until you feel it.

>>12034993 (OP)
it's the first RPG with an actual story and characters instead of mindless D&D style quests.

>>12037290
>>12037606

>>12037606
lol

>>12037290
strange thing to care about what people think about a game, rather than the game itself. really says a lot about a person, that they exist as a reaction.

>>12037616
I have an opinion on the game and its a positive one. I also have a very accurate opinion of its fans with a lot of evidence. If I wasnt supposed to care about other peoples opinions why are so many people posting their opinions?

>>12037624
>why are so many people posting their opinions?
to actually express themselves and engage with each other as individuals.

>>12034993 (OP)
>add save points to dungeons because people complain about it from III
>some dungeons have save points less than 2 minutes from each other
>final dungeon only has 2 save points and they're almost 30 minutes between with monsters that are actually able to kill you
what did they mean by this?

>>12037636
also for clarification I dont care what you think about the game im interested in the kind of people that believe that FF4 invented story in rpgs and I am here to laugh at them.

>>12037647
>what did they mean by this?
"Use your fucking consumables you hoarding little fuck! Game is almost over!"

>>12037606
Thats FF2.
If it wasnt for its horrid gameplay systems it would be given the IV treatment instead.

>>12035998
>that only happens multiple times in the game, stop being dishonest

>>12037690
It should be given better treatment than 4 honestly. The problem isn't the gameplay, its the combination of bugs and how obtuse a lot of the information is for the player. Between a lack of mechanical transparency and various facets involving rubberbanding, it benefits a lot from understanding how shit actually works most of the time, and having the self control to not abuse any of it when you know. 4 was both a tech jump and an entry point in the series for many, so it tends to get overrated a lot even though its not bad.

>>12037690
>Thats FF2
No, it's Ultima 5.

>>12035115

Nah, best is IV JP with English translation

>>12036937
Guidebooks are for people who had money to buy them, kids would just butt heads in games until something happened.

>>12037559
Doesn't the gba port just dump all your past characters in the lunar whale?

>>12036858
based

>>12034993 (OP)
OP here. I take it back the game gets way fucking harder after baron I had to slow the turn speed down. Its more enjoyable now by a bit but im still so spoiled by western rpgs having better story, actual exploration, actual loot, and side quests. Jrpgs have way better music and enemy design though

>>12038156
>after baron
You're a fucking retard
>I had to slow the turn speed down
Kill yourself

>>12038156
>muh warpig story
Yikes

>>12038156
oh and i forgot one thing. Cecil is an underpowered bitch even though hes the main char. Tellah carries the whole fuckin squad because magic is op and physical is secondary. I liked him more as a dark knight and not a pretty boy paladin

>>12034993 (OP)
kind of like dragon quest 2 in that its not actually a good game by todays standards, but is considered a classic for establishing the template for the series afterwards. FF is my easily my favorite series ever but Ill be the first to tell you that 5-10 are the only ones worth playing. you should try vi or vii next before you give up on the series, theyre a quantum leap in quality compared to iv. the true kino is viii but thats a weird one that really takes a couple playthroughs to truly appreciate.

>>12038162
Generals gather in their massesssss

>>12038160
btw im not playing easy type. This is ff4 namingway edition. I didnt play the easy us edition like you

>>12038167
> FF is my easily my favorite series ever
Is 3 on the NES/FC worth playing if I didn't really like 1 and 2 (I did beat them though)? Should I just skip to 4? As for 4, I'm expecting a decent early 4th gen JRPG with an interesting story and atmosphere, I know it won't be some groundbreaking masterpiece

>>12038172
You are one dumb fucking faggot

>>12038173
you should skip to V if youre a patient type and skip to VI if you just want to jump into the peak than play them in order until X. you can go back and play IV and V afterwards. IMO 1-3 just arent worth it unless youre a hardcore fan.

>>12038167
>favorite series
>but only 1/3 of the series is playable
kek at least its better than dq where theres only one game worth playing (viii)

>>12038178
Youre angry and im not. LOL

after IV each title gets exponentially better with each game until IX where it takes a minor step back (but still a masterpiece) and then X ruins some core aspects of the series like gutting the world map but has an incredibly good story, characters and battle system to make up for it. then you never ever play any FF game released after X, seriously just dont. just replay IV-X again when you get the itch. youll be much happier.

tldr OP just skip IV and keep going in order, V has the comfiest battle system in the series that makes it much more fun than IV and then VI utterly btfo all the previous games with a WAY better story, characters, music and setting. and then vii takes all the good things about vi but makes it even more unique and memorable

>>12038179
I see, thanks. Still there's something about 4 that's calling me. I've heard it's a pretty easy game for a JRPG noob, every character has their own job, weaknesses, skills, etc. I found 1 and 2 to be pretty overwhelming because of the sheer amount of freedom, especially 2, like you have to fucking BUY spells for each character and stuff like that. Honestly I'm surprised a brainlet like me was able to finish 1 and 2 without screwing up by making dumb choices. And again, I've heard 4 just does everything for you and all you need to do is grind if you get stuck, that's why I want to play it for the story, music, atmosphere, etc

>>12038190
VI shits the bed massively half-way through, something people forget to mention
V turns into a grindfest if you want to have fun with its battle system because most encounters give you a whopping ABP, you're better off playing FF tactics (preferably the Remix mod) if you like the job system

>>12038195
*1 ABP

>>12038195
I had plenty fun with the battle system without ever having to grind. it actually has a decent difficulty if you dont grind too, which is super rare for this series. I dont need every character to master a ton of jobs halfway through the game to have fun, its more fun limiting/specializing each party member.

and I seriously question the taste of anyone who thinks world of ruin "shits the bed" in vi. the amount of shit you can do, and total freedom to do it however you want I always found very fun. sure there is extremely little character interaction or plot but you had the whole first half for that. the world ends, theres not much to discuss besides going to fuck up kefka.

im fine with linear nature and predefined classes in IV but the story straight up insults your intelligence in a way the later series doesnt.

>>12034993 (OP)
It's a fucking JRPG that fits on a 4Mb cartridge, bro. You can't expect it to be too massive and ellaborate. It's very good for what it is.

>>12037792
>>12038172
FFIV doesn't have a single good tran-hack, at least not on RHDN.
>RPGe (using SFC as its base) is amateur bullshit with tons of mistranslations that's in many ways worse than the original SNES release to the point you're better off playing the PS1 conversion (which has the least loadtimes of the ports). RPGe should've converted their hack to a text-port but didn't because of stubborn autistic pride, and while there are turd-polish attempts, they can only go so far.
>Namingway Edition (using SNES as its base) is a frankenstein's script amalgamation fanfic made by the same self-aggrandizing midwit who ruined the Earthbound Zero and Final Fantasy VI scenes. There's no rhyme or reason for the selective cherrypicking; he just chooses what personally sounds better from each script, even anachronistically paraphrasing details from the DS remake that are off.
The best English iteration is probably PSP since it's a GBA/DS combo -- GBA is basically a refined version of PS1 while DS is from-scratch and objectively even better but suffers from flowery WotL-itis. (Pixel remaster is a different edit of the GBA script, presumably because Squeenix is still selling the 3D remake and they want it to sound different from the 2D version.)

>>12038173
3 is a great game so long as you go into it understanding that jobs are just tools/equipment in that game, not customization/"play it your way" options like in 1 or 5
If you didn't like 1 or 2, then at least 3 is pretty different from both of those

>>12038195
You know you get more APB as the game goes on, right? There are even lategame enemies that give you literal hundreds and can be killed in like 2 attacks. The only people who never have enough APB are the ones who want to master every job without putting in any effort to do it. Either group classes on characters so they create cross classing archetypes, or commit to your tism and make freelancer and mime op as fuck.

>>12039821
*Ability Points. Fuck it, my dyslexic ass hates that acronym.

Didn't want to start a new thread for this but is it worth it to farm some enemies for their summons? I know there's goblin summon and cockatrice which are missable spells. I know they do low damage output but just for the sake of completionist.

>>12040181
No.

5 and 6 are better.

But 4 is amazing for us old folks.

>>12034993 (OP)
You were born in an era after when games did more.

>>12040181
Cockatrice drop rate has to be insanely high since both recent times I played I got it on the first and second encounter.
Goblin on the other hand took about 300+ kills and still no Bomb after a bunch of Balloons.
Never used goblin or cock since early game choco kick is her best spell until bio and late game is just spamming flare/megaflare.

>>12038169
hah nice

>>12034993 (OP)
>Whats the big deal? First FF by the way, im disappointed.
If you're not having any fun, that's no one else's problem but your own. No one is obligated to answer to you for your inability to enjoy something. You are not owed anything by anyone.

>>12037369
Best post in the thread. I recommend giving FFIV ULTIMA Edition a run through. It will drive you mad, especially Crystal Dragon.

>>12040181
You're supposed to just take what happens at chance, farming is for completionists and really lowers the enjoyment of any given game.

Am curious. What was it like growing up in the NES/SNES era and aging into young adult years around 6th gen? When did video games feel like they peaked in impact to you? Born 1994 and feel somewhere around early 2010s video games have peaked to me. Did FFX turn off oldfags from seeing the progression of games or was it the game itself?

>>12041245
The gay childish disney type voices of FFX turned me off and the fact that every protag looks like some skinny faggot. I was a teen growing up and this stuff was just too gay looking. It was OK when I was playing FFVII and FFVIII as I was still a kid in the 90's.

>>12034993 (OP)
>the story is barebones
>the game is so easy you dont have to think
>no stat point decision making
this is probably 90% jrpgs. im struggling to think of a single one ive played on any platform that had stat point decision making. ff6 technically had it depending on which esper you have equipped, but i never even knew that til years later reading gamefaqs. and it really doesnt matter anyway.
>theres no exploring for loot
not sure what you mean. you are constantly finding chests and stuff, and some hidden pathways with more. enemies can drop gear. optional super bosses. do you mean like more areas off the beaten path? i could see that

>>12041253
>It was OK when I was playing FFVII and FFVIII as I was still a kid in the 90's
i never played 8 more than an hour or so (just didnt pull me in) but i loved 7. for me the games worked because they werent realistic. yes 7 was 3d but still very primitive and plenty of 2d backgrounds. it still worked and did not become "gay" until the more realistic graphics and voice acting. i never played a single ps2 jrpg and i just dropped the genre from that point on. which is fine because i have plenty of old ones to play.

>>12041253
>skinny

>>12037570
This is a good analysis and even better advice. Getting too caught up on QOL can sour an fantastic experience that wouldn't even have worked with modern features.

>>12041317
I can second this post. This sums me up. I hated the realistic look of 8 and the fucking card game system was idiotic. I haven't played a FF game since except for ROM hacks.