A look back at: Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy IV is the single most interesting in the entire series, but not necessarily the best. Looking back on it, it turns out that the one thing I liked most about Final Fantasy as a whole, customization, is least present here. But it does make up for it by many characters and perhaps the most interesting story in the series.

So yeah not much in the way of customization. 12 playable characters, and only one of which actually gets a class change. Boo. It really does limit your equipment and what not. Hell, Cecil as a Dark Knight can really do nothing except attack, and he can't really hurt undead enemies, which is lame. Not to mention all the grinding I had to do to ensure the next group of enemies isn't gonna kill me. It's actually way worse in the DS remake, which I actually still own the cartridge of. I still have not actually passed the first part of the game yet on that remake, only beating this whole game on the US version, the one erroneously titled Final Fantasy II. Though the remake did do something to address customization better, I'll give it that.

But enough of that, let's talk good stuff. Characters are almost entirely well fleshed out between almost all of the playable cast. The only exception is Fusoya, but he doesn't stick around long enough for him to be a burden. Even most non-playables get memorable scenes, including almost all the scenes involving the dwarf king, among others. The four fiends in this game are quite interesting characters even if they are one-dimensional. Rubicante is an exception. He's one of my favorite villains in a JRPG because he actually fights fair, healing the party up before fighting.

Quite a few battles are interesting in their own right, with certain scripts for some of the more famous ones, like the infamous Golbez battle, the Dark Elf battle, heck, almost EVERY boss battle is unique in some way. And the plot is just as strong as the characters, with several character sacrifices made (only one of which actually does die) and many different nations banding together against the worst of threats, whether overworld or underworld. Or the moon, apparently. Admittingly enough, Zemus/Zeromus is a one-dimensional final villain, but the premise of the fight was one filled with awesomeness all around. So yes, Square puts up one heck of a showing with this game by unfortunately sacrificing the one thing that I like most about Final Fantasy games. It at least offered one of the best storylines in a JRPG to this date.