BogusMeatFactory wrote:To go on a nostalgia trip, the n64 is the best version of duke Nukem on consoles. Yes, it is highly edited for a more family friendly audience, but it had split screen co-op and the deathmatches had a bajillion maps, wonky ai bots and it was just a true joy to play.
Truth. I'm partial to the Saturn release simply because it's on the Saturn and I have a hard-on for Sega's last two consoles, but the N64 is definitely the best version to play if you've got a friend with you.
Oh yeah the Saturn version is the best old school console version that is true to the material...plus it had....ONLINE MULTIPLAYER!!!! Also the Saturn version had DEATH TANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ack wrote:I don't know, chief, the haunting feeling of lust I feel whenever I look at your avatar makes me think it's real.
-I am the idiot that likes to have fun and be happy.
I suppose this is the correct place to say this, better than starting a whole new thread.
But I can't seem to enjoy Final Fantasy IV. I'm kind of wondering if their's something I'm missing, or at least hoping for an explanation as to why this game is so popular.
To give some context, I've played about ten hours of the game, shortly after the point where the main character becomes a Paladin. I've always heard that this was the first Final Fantasy game with a really good story, but I can't help feeling disappointed in that area. I mean I know it's old, so I wasn't expecting anything too mindblowing, but I was still let down by just how simple the story is. It seems like every fantasy setting trope rolled into one game, with no interesting twists whatsoever. To make matters worse, I can't get interested in the characters at all. The main character is the only one who feels like he got any real development at all, and like I already mentioned it's nothing special.
From a gameplay perspective the game is fine, it plays well and I enjoy the ATB system. But I can't help feeling like if I was gonna play it just for the combat, I might as well go back to Final Fantasy 1, or skip ahead to V which I haven't played yet. This might make me sound crazy, but I actually enjoyed FF1 quite a bit. Enough to finish the whole game at least. But I definitely feel it's more likely I'll ever go back and replay FFI than IV. The fact that you could choose what classes your party members are helps a lot. But also the fact that there's so little story is actually an upside.
This is the same problem I had when I tried Final Fantasy II and III. Those games had boring characters and an utterly uninteresting cliche story. Even if I wanted to just enjoy the gameplay of them, the game seems to force you to constantly pay attention to the story. Every dungeon you go into, and every new town you visit, forces you to watch a cutscene with some dialogue between characters. It feels like the same deal with IV. The first game didn't have that problem. I struggle to remember any "cutscenes" or other forced story moments in FFI. I know the king talks to you at the start of the game, and I think he briefly explains the prophecy of the Four Warriors of Light. Pretty sure Garland has a few words for you when you first fight him, and then the end boss of the game probably does too. Besides that the game was mostly just you, on your own, free to adventure around and fight monsters at your own pace. The boring and cliche story of FFI never got in the way like it does in II, III, and IV.
I guess my rant is over. And I want to make it clear, I really have nothing against IV and I'm not trying to convince anyone its bad. I don't think it's a bad game really, it's just something that doesn't interest me as much as I thought it would, and I can't see myself completing it. Part of me is actually hoping that the opposite will happen, that someone here can convince me to look at it a different way so I can enjoy it more.
I feel old when talking to anyone my age yet too inexperienced to effectively talk to anyone older. Life is grand that way.
I don't know what to tell you. Sure it's a classic traditional tale, but it's done to perfection and the one that truly set the blueprint for the series and other JPRG's to follow. I'm not sure what you would even compare it to at its time of release. The music for the first three games is great, but this is the first time Uematsu truly shines. To this day that boss theme is still my favorite in the franchise. The game is gorgeous. It has that early SNES charm in looks and sound. The story really goes places in the back half that you probably wouldn't predict. And the final boss is one of the best of all time. The difficulty is great too, although the PSX Chronicles version is the best and toughest one. I also like the five characters thing, setting it apart from the rest. I have played the PSX, SNES, GBA, and PSP versions and love them all. Are you playing that ugly DS remake? Which also has a much worse arrangement of the music and maybe some other changes.
Comparing a lot of it to FF1 seems crazy to me. The gap between these two is enormous. I think by expecting good story/characters in FF1-3 you were approaching them wrong. I went into them expecting dungeon crawlers with some cool mechanics and that's what they are, nothing special otherwise. But FF4 is a massive step up. If you didn't like the part with the twins, then I'm not sure what to say. The characters can be a little one note, but they fit the roles well and it's cool what they do with Cecil and Rydia. And you never know what's up with Kain.
I'm of the minority here that might even like it more than FF6. FF4 only gets better and better as it goes, I love the pacing, and it has the best and coolest final dungeon in the series (along with the theme), and the payoff is truly triumphant. I can't say that for a lot of the other FF games that have really depressing endings. FF4 is a simple game where less is more. It doesn't stretch too far or overstay its welcome, feels like a completely refined awesome package to me.
FFIV is important for its historical context. It was probably the first popular console RPG to really focus on characters. So yeah, the story is pretty stock in a lot of places, it wasn't something that was explored with that level of depth in a console RPG environment. Even on PC, look at western RPGs. You create your character and there's a world and plot that goes on around you, but you are typically a mindless agent. FIV gave you not just a starring role, but a role as an actual character. In retrospect the game is fairly simple, but it's not so simple as to be irrelevant (it's not like it's FF1).
And I am also in the camp that prefers it to FFVI. I like that the story is more straight-forward. FFVI gets a little too weird and twisty for me (in many ways). FFIV, meanwhile, tells like a more classic character fable.
Well said marurun! There is a lot of charm to its simplicity, but it's still far more advanced than the first three.
I just feel like it stays the course and is consistently great, only getting better as it progresses. FF6 on the other hand, I always feel like I run into a brick wall at the WoR portion where it gets kind of aimless and tiresome. Which might even be the point... I just think the first half of the game is much better than the rest. Character wise it surely blows FF4 away, but for the full complete package I find myself liking FF4 even more with replays, and FF6 I'm just not sure about.
Maybe your friends or whomever overhyped it too MrEco, I don't know. But I don't think FF4 gets as much praise as some of the other games.
