Final Fantasy IV (better known in the U.S. as Final Fantasy II) is the story of the Kingdom of Baron and the adventures of several of its citizens. The central character is the knight Cecil, who begins in the story as a servant of evil, a Dark Knight, enslaved by the very powers of darkness he believes himself to be wielding to defend the weak. He was ordered by his king to master the Dark Sword, and has been used as a pawn in a quest to obtain the ultimate magical power: the Elemental Crystals.
In this story, Cecil contemplates and confronts the evil in his past to purify and redeem himself, becoming the legendary Paladin. It is a tale of friendship and betrayal, it is a tale of love and jealousy, it is a tale of rebellion against authority to pursue what one knows is right, and it is a story of inner conflict and confrontation with our own dark sides, and of learning to own up to and make amends for our sins.
This game represents the dawn of a new age in RPGs. It was the first Final Fantasy (and the first RPG of any kind) on the Super NES, which went on to become, thanks to the work of Squaresoft, one of the best systems for playing console-style RPGs in history.
One of the launch titles for the SNES in the United States, the English language game titles Final Fantasy II weighed in at a then-hefty 8 megs, which is almost nothing compared to similar games of today. Final Fantasy IV was released in November of 1991, though the source that tells me this has not specified whether this was the Japanese or American release date. In any case, there are three versions of this game currently in circulation, two of which are generally available only in Japan, one of which is difficult to find here. There is the standard Final Fantasy IV, there is the Final Fantasy IV "Easytype," which is essentially the same game plotwise, but significantly less difficult, and finally there is Final Fantasy II (U.S.), which is pretty much a heavily censored version of Easytype translated into English. Yes, we can always count on our friends at Nintendo to decide what is appropirate for us. Nintendo shall eliminate the need for independent thought!
Final Fantasy IV was also recently rereleased for the Playstation, in more or less the exact same format in which it was found seven years ago. This game has been out for about a year, maybe a little less, and it is most likely that it will never be brought to this country.
This is one of my favorite games in the series, and could have been much better if it weren't for a number of things going against it. Some of these things include dumbing-down of the difficulty and removal of several battle commands, the removal of several items, the shamefully poor translation, the heavy, Nazi-esque censorship imposed by Nintendo, and the dated graphics. Really, if these factors were remedied, it would probably be the best in the series, but that would call for an entire remake of the game. This, however, is not something I would mind seeing provided that the graphics remain 2D.
MIDI Music
The Final Fantasy Prelude: From the title screen, and my Main Page.
Selected Songs from Final Fantasy IV: Composed by Nobuo Uematsu - ZIPped for your convenience.
Images
Characters
Cecil, the Paladin: Drawn by Yoshitaka Amano.
Kain, the Dragoon: Drawn by Yoshitaka Amano.
Rosa, the White Wizard: Drawn by Yoshitaka Amano.
Screen Shots
A Dancer struts her stuff in Baron: This was censored from the American version.
Cecil Invades Mysidia: The infamous Crystal-looting scene.
The Programmers' Room: The notorious "Porno Book" is hidden here - the room was censored out of the U.S. version to hide the book.
"You Spoony Bard!": Tellah's infamous quote highlights the poor translation of the game.
