Lord Myk

My first experience with Final Fantasy IV was with the Nintendo 3DS remake and even without that game's bells and whistles, I still found it to be one of the most enjoyable games of the series. At least, so far. It was the first game for the Super Nintendo and the second available in the United States and, for me, is the first in the series to feel like what I think a Final Fantasy game should be. Unlike the previous games in the series, each character is locked into their job and so the game knows what you'll be capable of at each stage of the story and so each enemy is tailor-made to be defeated by a specific set of skills. The issue with this is that you'll get used to a character and then, wham, they're out of the game. This was fixed in the remakes, allowing you to eventually retrieve the different party members, but as this is based exclusively on the original version this option isn't available. However, as each boss is supposed to be defeated in a certain way, this hardly matters in the wrong run.

The game's story is one of its strong suits, featuring your protagonist Cecil (who can be renamed, along with everyone else in the game, something unavailable in the voice-acted 3DS remake) coming to terms with his role in his king's murderous campaign against darn near everyone and making amends for both his past deeds and those of his monarch. Along the way, he makes a number of friends and enemies. There's also giant robots and trips to the moon, which are always fun for all involved.

My sole criticism of the game is that it's a fan of making you think one of your party members has made a noble sacrifice only to later reveal that, nope, they're actually still alive. This happens with nearly every character in the game at one point, with only one remaining dead, something which feels rather emotionally manipulative. I also didn't really like Edge all that much, an arrogant ninja prince who joins you late in the game, but in a game with such a wide cast there's bound to be a few characters who aren't all that great.

Next up: Final Fantasy V, a game which I know absolutely nothing about.