Summary
The beginning of greatness
The Good
Just like the Playstation started its glory with the (visually) revolutionary "Final Fantasy VII", the Super Nintendo Entertainment System presented, at the early stages of its existence, a truly amazing piece of video art - the first "real" Final Fantasy. While "Final Fantasy VII" was graphically spectacular and brought many features of the series to perfection, it wasn't groundbreaking in terms of starting a tradition or introducing a completely new concept of videogames. It had already a tradition behind itself - the three remarkable games for SNES, the first of which being "Final Fantasy IV".
To understand the meaning of "Final Fantasy IV", one must compare it to the previous installments of the series. The three first Final Fantasy games for Nintendo - Final Fantasy I, II and III, as they were originally called in Japan (I don't mean "Final Fantasy VI", which is often called erroneously "Final Fantasy III") - were nice little RPGs, with very good graphics and effective gameplay, but they were just usual RPGs, nothing more. The heroes lacked almost any personality, the gameplay was based on a rather simple engine, and the music wasn't particularly amazing. But with "Final Fantasy IV", the series finally produced a game which was worthy of being called great. What we know and love in Final Fantasy games was first introduced here.
The first and most obvious change was the personal approach the game took to everything. The events were reflexed through the visions and personal opinions of the game's heroes, and were not presented, as normally in games, as axiomas which can't and needn't be proved. The tasks facing the heroes turn into conflicts. There are moral problems to face and to solve. Personal conflicts, which were - since this game - used and shown in every next Final Fantasy installment, became the core of the story and of the game in general. The player needed to identify himself with the heroes and to have understanding to their - often contradictory - opinions and judgments. Simple psychological reality replaced the flat attitude of earlier Final Fantasy games and RPGs in general. The dialogues, as a mean of expressing the characters' thoughts, became the most powerful aspect of the game, creating suspense and allowing the player to observe the inner world of the characters, and not just to follow the game's events. Each decision which is now made by the game's character is made in full conscience, as a part of his or her personality. This was perhaps the greatest achievement and innovation of "Final Fantasy IV". It also touches social problems, unknown to mist RPGs (and most games in general), thus creating the true spirit of the series. The world, the reality as it is, is reflected in this game, starting a wonderful tradition.
Music is also one of the things which found their first powerful incarnation in this game. Starting with "Final Fantasy IV", great and touching music simply became a "must" for any Final Fantasy game. No more banal, generic tunes, so typical for console RPGs of all times. The usage of synthesizer is amazing - sometimes the music sounds almost orchestral.
The gameplay is based on turn-based/real time engine, the dramatic solution to the eternal conflict between strategy and arcade. Many things which later became typical for Final Fantasy games were first featured in "Final Fantasy IV", including summoning monsters (a feature which was called differently in each Final Fantasy game, but was actually nothing more than the refinement and development of the monster summon in "Final Fantasy IV").
Graphically, the game is a great example of early 2D console graphics, with nicely designed locations, and dungeons which manage to have atmosphere while being created with simple means.
The Bad
Certain things are still a bit "underdeveloped" in "Final Fantasy IV". There's no great complexity in the gameplay, especially the customization is still far from the flexibility of later Final Fantasy games. The setting still doesn't exceed the limits of a typical medieval fantasy, with kings and knights, powerful crystalls and other RPG crap. It was not until "Final Fantasy VI" when the series really took a new direction of setting (although not all later Final Fantasy games followed this direction, as "Final Fantasy IX" proves). While the main characters have a distinct personality, not all of the other heroes are as finely portrayed. Many psychological issues are still not as convincing as they became in later games.
The Bottom Line
"Final Fantasy IV" is the first "true" Final Fantasy. It is a remarkable achievement on the field of "emotional videogames" - games which portray not only events, but also thoughts and feelings. It introduces - though at times only rudimentary - all the features which later became a trademark of the Final Fantasy games. A true fan of the series, a person who loves it for its depth of gameplay, character portraying, and heavy emotional load, will find in this great game everything he might expect from Final Fantasy. A true milestone on the path of console RPGs, "Final Fantasy IV" remains one of the finest examples of the genre.
