For the first time in the series, character customization has been completely scrapped. The job system returns in a very unfamiliar way, as each character has a particular class that cannot be changed. Only certain classes can equip certain weapons and armour, and only some can use magic. The MP system returns to the form introduced in Final Fantasy II, but magic does not gain levels here as it does in II. Therefore, each spell has a pre-determined MP cost; this system will be used in almost every game from IV through XII. Also, magic is automatically learned by magic-users as they gain levels, meaning you'll never have to shell out any money to buy spells. Exploration isn't much different from that of III, but navigating hidden passages is no longer a skill necessary for completing the game. Perhaps the most significant gameplay innovation is the advent of the Save Point. Players can now use Tents or Cottages and save their games at specified points in caves and dungeons, rather than only on the world map. This is extremely important, as it reduces incidents of extreme rage in gamers; it also allows game developers to make longer dungeons and harder boss battles that may take several tries to win.

BATTLE

Final Fantasy IV introduced the foundations of a battle system that would be a series mainstay for the next 10 years. No longer do your characters receive their commands at the beginning of each round of battle, turning the player into a spectator for most of the battle time. Battles are now active: commands must be entered with haste, and characters are always ready to receive commands when it is their turn in line. Thus Active Time Battle (ATB) is born. There are no actual battle time gauges yet; it is a simplified version of a hybrid real-time/turn-based battle system that speeds the game up considerably. Battle speed can be adjusted in the configuration menu if needed to balance the difficulty of entering commands quickly. As a result of the character classes, each party member has his or her own special battle command(s), including magic, which is now separated into White, Black, and Summon categories in the battle menu. Strategy in battle remains at least as important as it was in Final Fantasy III, especially if the party is not strong enough to take down enemies by brute force. A wider variety of spells, particularly Reflect, become necessities in and even focal points of certain battles. Attack magic spells are now automatically re-targeted if the target dies, just as physical attacks are. Back attacks are a much smaller problem here than they are in III; row placement must follow the form of either F-B-F-B-F or B-F-B-F-B, so when one character switches rows in battle, all characters do.

ENVIRONMENTS

The colours are richer and the environments more visually appealing thanks to the new hardware. Some areas have parallax backgrounds, including mountain paths that show forests far below, and the ground seems to get farther away when your airship takes flight. Most of the locations are the typical medieval castles and caverns, but several of these are different: the Magnetic Cave and the Sealed Cave, as well as the two other underworld caves, present unique challenges. Also, the game's first major trial, the Waterway to Damcyan, is a very large region to navigate, and is one of the most captivating environments so far in the series (the music helps a lot). Two completely new environments that IV introduces are the underworld and the futuristic towers (though one could argue that the Mirage Tower from Final Fantasy was futuristic as well). While III had its floating continent, the underworld in IV is far different in appearance from the regular overworld, and it has its own music. Much later in the game, such interesting environments as [the inside of a giant robot and the surface of the moon] become available for exploration. The final area of the game rivals that of III in terms of enormity, difficulty, and a sense of finality.

MUSIC

One cannot make the transition from listening to Nintendo music to playing Final Fantasy IV on the Super Nintendo without noticing the staggering difference in sound quality. Technological advances aren't supposed to matter in these categorical rankings, but the ability to use more complex sounds allows for a more orchestral score-a different approach altogether to composition-and just a better final product overall-and the compositions certainly are better in IV than anything in any of the first three. More story-relevant pieces and event and place themes help, but the melodies and moods are just a whole lot better. IV's opening scene is one of the greatest in the entire series, and it wouldn't be half as good without the mind-blowing "Red Wings" theme to add to the suspense and drama. Speaking of suspense, the boss battle music is much improved; you can't help but feel the action, as if things are coming to life. In addition, major boss battles (the Four Emperors) feature their own special theme, probably the best and most suspenseful battle theme up that point-it's the best until you reach the final battle, that is. In all, though the regular battle music is nothing special, Final Fantasy IV may have the best battle themes in the series thanks to its boss battles alone. The suspenseful villain theme is incredible, and is especially effective during the scene where [you fight Golbez in the Crystal Room behind King Giott's throne]. One would be hard-pressed to find an important piece of music in this game that lacks strong thematic elements or a great melody.

CHARACTERS

There is no doubt that this game represents a huge leap in this area. All of the characters in Final Fantasy IV have distinct personalities, motives, strengths, and weaknesses, and their actions directly influence and are influenced by plot events and the actions of others. There is true interaction between personalities, and several key characters even experience major development and growth over the course of the story. Cecil's struggles with loyalty and betrayal are evident from the very first scene, and they set the stage for some of the content that will come up again and again throughout the game's events. The love triangle between Cecil, Rosa, and Kain is perhaps not utilized to its full potential, but it is far more interesting than anything the series has offered up to this point. For the first time in the series, characters (not just "guest" members) enter and leave the party at different times as determined by plot events. This adds another dimension to the game, as there may be questions about who is and isn't on your side at a given time. The game even features some comedic characters and humourous exchanges in conversation, though perhaps not on a particularly intellectual level. But it is the game's serious moments that will be remembered: the virtues, motives, and moral struggles of Final Fantasy IV's characters make some of them the most memorable, if not best, that the entire series has seen.

VILLAINS

There are scores to settle, and forces worth fighting against. Golbez is the most complete villain so far, and his four Emperors (Fiends) all try to make life difficult for your party in your quest to stop their master from collecting the crystals. Each character has a reason to fight Golbez not only for what he is trying to do, but for what he has done in the past, so there is a personal element to the conflict. Like Final Fantasy II, IV introduces the villain relatively early in the game, so that the purpose of the game and your reason for fighting in the long run is apparent for almost the entire game. The lines between good and evil become slightly blurred at times, so the villains are not always one-dimensional. When you learn about [Zemus and his control over Golbez to collect the crystals in order to destroy the Blue Planet], things get even more interesting. Even more fascinating is the thought that [as a Dark Knight, it could have been Cecil that was chosen instead of Golbez]. It all certainly makes a lot more sense than [Zande and Dark Cloud in III].

DIALOGUE

There are quite a few scenes in Final Fantasy IV whose sole purposes are to drive the plot, and these scenes are driven by dialogue between characters. The strong opening scene is a great example, as Cecil's words tell us about his internal struggle. When I played the game directly after completing III, I actually looked forward to talking to everyone in towns just to see what they had to say. Needless to say, this area was improved greatly since that game. Characters share emotions, plans, and narration, among other things, through dialogue. It's not Shakespeare, but it is certainly better than anything that the series had seen before 1991.

STORY

The story unfolds as you play, like in II, but here you are actually immersed in it; your characters react to the plot events and are more involved in them. Rather than presenting a large amount of information to you at the beginning of the game and featuring a bit of development down the road, the game gives you a journey that really is about discovery and experience. Finally, there are actual plot twists and depth to the story in terms of characters and their development and motives. The plot is even creative without being too obnoxious. The premise is basic enough, but is ornamented well with a few twists and a good amount of emotion and internal conflicts. IV's depth of story and moral relevance would be challenged by later offerings in the series, but to this day it stands on its own as one of the best in the series overall.

THEMES

The four crystals return for their third and arguably most memorable stint in the series. Not only are the four elemental crystals (Water, Fire, Wind, and Earth), but four dark crystals also exist, [with eight more still on the moon]. The four Fiends/Emperors of the elements reinforce the four elements theme, but the themes of light and darkness are certainly the most prominent. Cecil's transformation from Dark Knight to Paladin is one of the most memorable events in Final Fantasy history, and as you find out as the game progresses, the denial of the path of darkness is a necessary step in accomplishing the ultimate goal. The trio of loyalty, betrayal, and trust is important from start to finish as a sort of supporting theme.

INTEREST

IV is extremely interesting in terms of plot development and exploration; it's the best in the series in those regards by far, up to this point. In terms of gameplay and character customization, however, it isn't as strong as any of the first three games. As stated earlier, I felt like talking to everyone at the start of the game to hear what they had to say and learn more about the plot and the world. There is finally some reason to want to gain levels other than attribute enhancement now, as magic is learned at certain levels. This is minor, but it is really the only way special character skills can be learned. Even though involvement with character advancement has decreased since III, IV is still very interesting to play because of the added involvement in the story and a greater sense of connexion to the world.

FLOW

There isn't much downtime, which is nice. A lot of leveling up isn't required until maybe the moon core at the end, but that really depends on how difficult you want the journey to be. Most plot events flow nicely from one to the next, logically and fairly quickly. The speed of battles is finally much improved, which probably helps the flow more than anything else. Some dungeons are still quite long, but most are of reasonable length and getting through them is much less cumbersome than it was in the earlier games. The encounter rate is still quite high, but maybe a bit lower than in III. Overall, the flow is much better-certainly the best so far in the series.

CHALLENGE

IV is not as difficult as III, but it has better balance and the boss battles require more strategy at times, though some of them fall too easily due to elemental weaknesses. The introduction of save points helps the challenge level because frustration is eased, and bosses are generally given more of a licence to be devastating as a result. The challenge, therefore, is less frustrating and more fun. In the longer dungeons, HP-restoring resources will be stretched thin as they were in the series's first three games, but at least you can hold more than 99 of them in this game. My one complaint would be that the boss battles could still be tougher. [Zeromus is one of the toughest bosses in the series up to this point, but he still can be easily defeated if your characters' HP is kept around maximum for the duration of the battle. If it's still too much, then leveling up a little bit extra should be enough to keep the party alive through his powerful attacks. No complicated strategies are necessary.]

EXTRAS

Final Fantasy IV features more side quests than its predecessors, including three optional areas to explore. The rewards of almost all of the quests are gaining new Summons for Rydia to use in battle, though some ultimate weapons are available as well. The game's extra quests feature probably the toughest bosses yet, and they are fairly rewarding battles as well. The list of things to do before you beat the game is an impressive one, the most complete of the first four Final Fantasy games, but there is still a lot of room for improvement in this category. Side quests were not expected to be as elaborate in the early 90s as they are now. Expectations soon would grow and quality consequently increased. In fact, a new standard would be set by the Final Fantasy series itself in the coming years that revolutionized the genre.

REPLAY

There isn't a whole lot to do differently when you replay the game, as there is really no character customization or freedom in that regard. But it is still an exciting RPG experience, and for its time it was the deepest. Therefore, it is still enjoyable, there just isn't much variety from one playthrough to the next. The experience of some of the game's more epic scenes certainly are more rewarding the first time, but they should remain effective for as long as you have a pulse. Cecil's quiet integrity and honourableness should never grow dull.

WEIGHTED RATING: 71%

Final Fantasy IV may not have brought mankind to the genre, but it certainly brought humanity. It is more mature, more complicated, more real, and more thoroughly satisfying than any of its predecessors, and it went a long way to make the RPG a more respectable genre through its great musical score and fleshed-out content. Square gave us a glimpse of what was possible artistically in such video games, and that a degree of dark seriousness could make the journey more enjoyable. Also, Cecil's journey from darkness to light is experienced by more than just the game's protagonist, as player and character are connected more than ever. Many of the innovations that IV brought to the RPG world would be expanded greatly in the future in hundreds of games, but not many have since been able to stand up against the complete package that it boasts.