Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light

[Bastian]

I recently (last week) purchased the game and finished it (along with the four bonus towers) today.

I'm surprised it's getting no love here.

It certainly has it's quirks. In a lot of ways, it seems to be a Dragon Quest game hiding in "Final Fantasy" clothing. While it has all the traditionally-named Final Fantasy spells (which you can rename to whatever you want) and items and enemies, so many of its structual elements seem to be intentionally Dragon Quest. When you die you do not lose progress, but money instead. Check. Each party member is limited to a specific amount of items/weapons/etc. they can carry. Check. Even simple things like the HP-to-Level ratio are MUCH more DQ than FF.

True, the basic plot seems ripped from the beginning section of the first Final Fantasy, but even so, that plot seems more suited to a DQ game anyway.

So why make a blatantly DQ game under the FF name? Clearly S-E recognizes that FF sells better overseas and is trying to train FF fans into enjoying DQ.

But I don't think they'll be very successful.

Unfortunately while I did find the game decently enjoyable, it had far too many isses that I think will turn a lot of people off. The bizarre lack of targeting, for instance, is EXTREMELY frustrating. Personally, I like my party to gang up on tricky enemies and take them down fast. In this bizarre non-target system, that's impossible. The game decides for you which enemy it wants each party member to take on. Idiotic. And led to many, many deaths.

Also, if the intention was to harken back to ye old days with 8-bit style sounds, why completely ditch Nobuo Uematsu's classic fanfares, inn themes, etc? The new music cues are okay, but it would have felt more "Final Fantasy" with new arragements of Uematsu's stuff rather than brand new stuff.

Speaking of which: where were the chocobos and moogles? The whole fairy section could have been redone with moogles rather than fairies.

Even silly changes like the name of the spell "Desolater" is clearly meant to be "Meteor" . . . why the change?

All in all, it didn't feel like much of a Final Fantasy game but more like another studio's RPG which borrowed the spell and item and enemy names.

Did anyone else play and finish it?

[rubah]

I got this game for Christmas and have gotten up to Arbor.

What it does feel like is Dragon Quest! It's very odd. Especially the "Dragon's Wing" item and only losing gems when you get a game over, for example.

I've gotten 11 of the Crowns so far, and spend all afternoon doing the shopkeeper minigame in Urbeth, so I'm well-stocked for gil xD

My main complaint with the crown system is not being able to use upgraded abilities when you have other crowns equipped. The targeting thing is also slightly annoying, since I like to get a good feel for how much HP an enemy has, and use a precise mixture of attacks that will kill them in the fewest hits, but being able to use so much more magic is worth it! (but having to pay for abilities.. argh. It is a nice balance, although just so different!)

The targeting isn't so bad though; you are forced to use magic/ranged weapons, and can take advantage of the enemies' limited AI. They will usually attack your strongest offense, and will try to silence your strongest mage, etc.


(mostly I just wanted a venue to share a strategy I had for Arbaroc! Inflict silence on that bad boy)

[Dignified Pauper]

I just bought this and am only a little way in. So far, I think it's interesting, but this game DOES feel a lot more like dragon quest.

[Bastian]

I'm convinced the Dragon Quest-ness is intentional. I thing this really actually was a minor Final Fantasy team's attempt at a Dragon Quest game, but under the Final Fantasy moniker so as to not scare away Americans.

I've been playing Dragon Quest IX lately (which I think is the better game) and I am shocked at how similar they are down at their base structure. Much more similar with each other than FF: 4 Heroes is with any other Final Fantasy game.

Of course, when FF Legends: Heroes of Light and Darkness is released in NA (made by the same team as FF: 4 Heroes) it will be interesting to see if those games share any similarities. My guess is no.

Oh, and I found a strange bug towards the end of the game, or maybe it is intentional...?
If you have one of your higher HP characters leveled up to max (which I did two dungeons before the end of the game) and wearing the Paladin crown and have Lux cast, they actually gain MORE than 999 HP, making them invincible. This is how I got through many of the harder bosses in the four bonus towers. Because Lux keeps regen-ing HP every round and they already have 999, it keeps adding to that invisibly.

[rubah]

man, I loaded DQIV this evening because I needed a nostalgia fix, and I got to the end of a chapter, and there was a 'so then such and such characters set off to do whatever', just like in 4HOL.

This is nuts!

(I just met Rolan and freed his soul)

[Dignified Pauper]

Even the music is very Dragon Questy. The music is not FF at all, but sounds very much out of a Dragon Quest world, ESPECIALLY the opening.

[Bastian]

Yeah, the more I think about it the more convinced I am that this is really just a Dragon Quest fan game in Final Fantasy wrapping, to lure in the Americans. And it worked. I bought it.

[Del Murder]

This game is like if FF and DQ had a baby. And I like it.

I thought I would be annoyed at the old school things that are in this game but gone from newer FFs (inventory/skill management, torches in caves, turn based battles), but I am actually enjoying the challenge they bring. What does annoy me is that you can't select which monster or player to target, which doesn't matter most of the time but can be frustrating when you are trying to cast Esuna on the right person (I don't need to heal the Ranger's silence, thanks). Also it has that annoying FFXIII thing where the whole party isn't together for the first half of the game and you're stuck with only 2 people most of the time.

I like the crown system. It's like an in between of FFIII and FFV's job systems. I wish it were more like FFV in that you could use your leveled up job abilities on other jobs. Also most of the crowns are kind of useless. Black Mage and White Mage kick ass though, and Elementalist is pretty sick in boss fights. For physical crowns I like Bandit for normal battles and Hero for bosses.

The use of AP for combat and jewels to level up crowns and items makes the game unique and I like that. I probably wouldn't have liked it as much if it were just a standard MP/Gil system. Money has never really been an issue for me since the weapon counter mini-game is easy to exploit.

That gets me to what I like most about the game: the whimsical feel to it. I miss this in the newer FF titles. The game is cute, does not take itself too seriously (the princess turns into a cat, with her guard thinking she's the wrong cat), and has some fun little things on the side. I wish the 'big boy' FF games would retain this stuff.

[Bastian]

This game is like if FF and DQ had a baby. And I like it.

Ha! Yup, exactly. And now you're making me want to do a second play through.

Pretty much the only thing I didn't like about the game was not being able to target whom I wanted to cast spells and such on. That's ridiculous.

[Del Murder]

Yeah, there's really no tactical reason for it. I could see how people wouldn't like the reduced inventory or the AP system, but to me that just makes for some creative battle strategy. But the lack of targeting is just sloppy.