If you have a DS . . .
. . . YOU must be feeding it this game:
OR I will call you a freaking communist!!!
I don't care if you've played Final Fantasy IV (formerly known as FF 2 on the SNES, or one of the games in FFChronicles for the PS OR as a re-release on the GBA) a gazillion times. I don't care if you've not played an RPG in years. I don't care if you're a freaking psychopath who has an epileptic fit and kills a thousand people every time your characters level up-- YOU NEED THIS GAME!!
I should know-- while I haven't played it as much as Wilma has, I've been through the original game at least a good 15 times (MORE for the beginning-- I used to start over every time I reached the underground for some reason . . .) I STILL found something . . . I dunno . . . FRESH about this EPIC re-imagining of FF IV. I'll try to enumerate why.
1) OMFG the CG cutscenes!!
Not seen many so far (most scenes are rendered using the in-game sprites (a wise choice, since switching from chunky sprites to CG can be jarring) but the intro was breathtaking! HOW they did CG that good on the DS is beyond me, but it's amazing to look at. Thank you, Square-Enix, for doing this game justice!!
2) Say WAHT!? VOICE ACTING!!!!
Ok, don't panic-- I don't blame you if you do. I mean, if I had read earlier that they had dared to besmirch a classic game like this with voice BEFORE I heard it myself, I would have been a trifle dubious. But now, having basked in its glory, I can safely say that, SOMEHOW (I'm guessing the Enix side of things) they managed to find good, solid voice actors (particularly hard for male roles outside of Crispin Freeman and David Hayter-- neither of which is in evidence . . . yet . . .) who treat the subject matter seriously. And it DOES matter-- some of this dialogue would be ridiculous elsewhere, yet they act as if it's commonplace. So far, I only kinda take issue with Tellah's voice (the acting is SUPERB, esp in the dramatic Damycan scene--- you know which one!-- but it's obviously a young guy doing a stereotypical "you whippersnapper!" tone) and with a few pronunciation choices-- "Cecil" being pronounced "Sesil" rather than "See-sill" and "Eidolons" pronounced "Eye-doe-luns" instead of "Eye-du-lawns". However, I suppose I can't really argue if that's the REAL pronunciations. BUT I DO ANYWAY!!! KAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!!!!
3) Mmmmm . . . CHALLENGE!!
Ok, we all know the story of how FF IV was "dumbed down" for American audiences-- what with specific items for each status ailment being condensed into one, secret passages being highlighted, and enemies weakened. Even when these were "retooled," the game was still pretty easy if you knew where to go-- only hard to those damn whippersnappers who started with FF VII-- YOU HERETICS!!
*ahem*
But now-- OMGWTF WAIIIIIIIII!??!?
Ok, Kain and Cecil? Sorta strong attacks, but practically DEFENSELESS. I was sent running back to Baron from the Mist cave because GOBLINS were PUNCHING ME INTO PASTE. Soooo . . . I ended up GRINDING. That's right-- LEVEL GRINDING!!! These familiar-looking critters were beating the crap out of my guys, and it took a bit of work to get them up to snuff-- about level 15 was good, as I recall. But you know what? A few levels-- get this-- ACTUALLY IMPROVED my characters in a NOTICEABLE way! I could FEEL my team gaining strength-- I could actually TELL when it was time to move on! If you've ever played an RPG, you know why I'm so surprised-- usually, a few levels mean little but a few numbers shifting around. This was REAL leveling . . . and *sniff* beautiful!
But, you say, level grinding STIINKS!! Au contraire, mi amigo.
4) I can haz autobattle?
Yes, my friends. There IS a God. We finally have a good autobattle system!! Not just an "auto-fight" button-- you simply head into the menu and set what you want your guys to do when you select autobattle-- which you turn on or off with just ONE button. Once you set it, it STAYS set until you say otherwise.
THIS
ROCKS
MY
SOCKS!!!
Check this out-- You know Edward's a puss when you get him, right? Well, I just set up autobattle with Cecil fighting, Rydia casting Lightning (autobattle CONVENIENTLY casts it on everything by default) , and Edward singing a life-up bardsong. Then, I ran back and forth in the cave where you first find Tellah until Rydia ran out of MP.
Gained 3 levels and hardly got hit once.
Did I mention that leveling Rydia just a bit made her Lightning spell deadily to EVERYTHING?
That's another thing--
5) MAGIC!?!?! I's scared of it now!!
Yeah, guess what-- they REALLY retooled magic this time around. It's POWERFUL. REALLY powerful. And it costs very little to use because now the spellchuckers start off with TONS of MP. Even Tellah's 90 mp cap allows him to cast shit-tons of magic with very little refueling necessary. This means I don't have to fuck around with having a magic-user try to beat something to death with their dinky little rods. They get to CAST MAGIC. AND IT'S AWESOME!!!!
6) Mmmmmm, PURTY!!
You have NEVER seen the Mist cave this gorgeous. The shading, the textures-- it's all so lovely. The music fits, too-- they kinda leaned towards the "Final Fantasy: Celtic Moon" versions of the tunes, and it works WELL. The characters themselves are chibi-fied, but have good facial expressions and costuming and fit well into their environments-- you should see the dancing girls!! Oh, and did I mention-- when you change weapons . . . you change weapons! As in, you can SEE it. It's purty!
As you can tell, I am FUCKING impressed. Square-Enix could have just ported their way through this release, but instead chose to release a product that is utterly like yet utterly unlike the original. Playing through this feels like a bizzare case of Deja-vu. The challenge is like the first time you ever played, the dialogue ghosts the SNES translation, and the maps are 3-d isometric renditions of pure beauty that remind you vaguely of the original.
Does it surpass?
Dammit, what remake does?
Just content yourself with knowing that if you don't play this version, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but SOON, and for the rest of your life!!
SO BUY IT ALREADY!!!
GET TO THE CHOPPAHHH!!! I mean GAMESTOP!!!!!
Not Wal-mart.
They Suck.
kthnx.
--Senmurv
PS: Don't freak, Wilma. Your birthday copy is safely in hand, and will be yours next time I see you. Good for the flight to Dragon-con, yes? Well, assuming you remember to charge the DS . . . *moon eyes!*
OR I will call you a freaking communist!!!
I don't care if you've played Final Fantasy IV (formerly known as FF 2 on the SNES, or one of the games in FFChronicles for the PS OR as a re-release on the GBA) a gazillion times. I don't care if you've not played an RPG in years. I don't care if you're a freaking psychopath who has an epileptic fit and kills a thousand people every time your characters level up-- YOU NEED THIS GAME!!
I should know-- while I haven't played it as much as Wilma has, I've been through the original game at least a good 15 times (MORE for the beginning-- I used to start over every time I reached the underground for some reason . . .) I STILL found something . . . I dunno . . . FRESH about this EPIC re-imagining of FF IV. I'll try to enumerate why.
1) OMFG the CG cutscenes!!
Not seen many so far (most scenes are rendered using the in-game sprites (a wise choice, since switching from chunky sprites to CG can be jarring) but the intro was breathtaking! HOW they did CG that good on the DS is beyond me, but it's amazing to look at. Thank you, Square-Enix, for doing this game justice!!
2) Say WAHT!? VOICE ACTING!!!!
Ok, don't panic-- I don't blame you if you do. I mean, if I had read earlier that they had dared to besmirch a classic game like this with voice BEFORE I heard it myself, I would have been a trifle dubious. But now, having basked in its glory, I can safely say that, SOMEHOW (I'm guessing the Enix side of things) they managed to find good, solid voice actors (particularly hard for male roles outside of Crispin Freeman and David Hayter-- neither of which is in evidence . . . yet . . .) who treat the subject matter seriously. And it DOES matter-- some of this dialogue would be ridiculous elsewhere, yet they act as if it's commonplace. So far, I only kinda take issue with Tellah's voice (the acting is SUPERB, esp in the dramatic Damycan scene--- you know which one!-- but it's obviously a young guy doing a stereotypical "you whippersnapper!" tone) and with a few pronunciation choices-- "Cecil" being pronounced "Sesil" rather than "See-sill" and "Eidolons" pronounced "Eye-doe-luns" instead of "Eye-du-lawns". However, I suppose I can't really argue if that's the REAL pronunciations. BUT I DO ANYWAY!!! KAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!!!!
3) Mmmmm . . . CHALLENGE!!
Ok, we all know the story of how FF IV was "dumbed down" for American audiences-- what with specific items for each status ailment being condensed into one, secret passages being highlighted, and enemies weakened. Even when these were "retooled," the game was still pretty easy if you knew where to go-- only hard to those damn whippersnappers who started with FF VII-- YOU HERETICS!!
*ahem*
But now-- OMGWTF WAIIIIIIIII!??!?
Ok, Kain and Cecil? Sorta strong attacks, but practically DEFENSELESS. I was sent running back to Baron from the Mist cave because GOBLINS were PUNCHING ME INTO PASTE. Soooo . . . I ended up GRINDING. That's right-- LEVEL GRINDING!!! These familiar-looking critters were beating the crap out of my guys, and it took a bit of work to get them up to snuff-- about level 15 was good, as I recall. But you know what? A few levels-- get this-- ACTUALLY IMPROVED my characters in a NOTICEABLE way! I could FEEL my team gaining strength-- I could actually TELL when it was time to move on! If you've ever played an RPG, you know why I'm so surprised-- usually, a few levels mean little but a few numbers shifting around. This was REAL leveling . . . and *sniff* beautiful!
But, you say, level grinding STIINKS!! Au contraire, mi amigo.
4) I can haz autobattle?
Yes, my friends. There IS a God. We finally have a good autobattle system!! Not just an "auto-fight" button-- you simply head into the menu and set what you want your guys to do when you select autobattle-- which you turn on or off with just ONE button. Once you set it, it STAYS set until you say otherwise.
THIS
ROCKS
MY
SOCKS!!!
Check this out-- You know Edward's a puss when you get him, right? Well, I just set up autobattle with Cecil fighting, Rydia casting Lightning (autobattle CONVENIENTLY casts it on everything by default) , and Edward singing a life-up bardsong. Then, I ran back and forth in the cave where you first find Tellah until Rydia ran out of MP.
Gained 3 levels and hardly got hit once.
Did I mention that leveling Rydia just a bit made her Lightning spell deadily to EVERYTHING?
That's another thing--
5) MAGIC!?!?! I's scared of it now!!
Yeah, guess what-- they REALLY retooled magic this time around. It's POWERFUL. REALLY powerful. And it costs very little to use because now the spellchuckers start off with TONS of MP. Even Tellah's 90 mp cap allows him to cast shit-tons of magic with very little refueling necessary. This means I don't have to fuck around with having a magic-user try to beat something to death with their dinky little rods. They get to CAST MAGIC. AND IT'S AWESOME!!!!
6) Mmmmmm, PURTY!!
You have NEVER seen the Mist cave this gorgeous. The shading, the textures-- it's all so lovely. The music fits, too-- they kinda leaned towards the "Final Fantasy: Celtic Moon" versions of the tunes, and it works WELL. The characters themselves are chibi-fied, but have good facial expressions and costuming and fit well into their environments-- you should see the dancing girls!! Oh, and did I mention-- when you change weapons . . . you change weapons! As in, you can SEE it. It's purty!
As you can tell, I am FUCKING impressed. Square-Enix could have just ported their way through this release, but instead chose to release a product that is utterly like yet utterly unlike the original. Playing through this feels like a bizzare case of Deja-vu. The challenge is like the first time you ever played, the dialogue ghosts the SNES translation, and the maps are 3-d isometric renditions of pure beauty that remind you vaguely of the original.
Does it surpass?
Dammit, what remake does?
Just content yourself with knowing that if you don't play this version, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but SOON, and for the rest of your life!!
SO BUY IT ALREADY!!!
GET TO THE CHOPPAHHH!!! I mean GAMESTOP!!!!!
Not Wal-mart.
They Suck.
kthnx.
--Senmurv
PS: Don't freak, Wilma. Your birthday copy is safely in hand, and will be yours next time I see you. Good for the flight to Dragon-con, yes? Well, assuming you remember to charge the DS . . . *moon eyes!*