Why is this FF so popular?

[Lucas]

Hello guys,

I just finished FFIV (ps version), for second time but I still can't really find it that likeable. I mean sure the story is kind of nice and certainly well paced, also alot of the characters are indeed memorable and the overall world is decent as well.

But then there are many things that kind of ruin it for me.

First of all, I hated how the game keeps giving and taking various characters from the party. I mean almost every FF does it but to way lesser extent than FFIV, this perhaps could be just me but I like to have more stable characters than just the main one.

Second and way more serious thing that bothered me about this game, is how they had to resurrect basically everyone in the end. Yang? Cid? Palom and Polom? Not single one of them stayed dead. Only one who actually died was Tellah, but he still showed up on the Moon in last battle long time after he died. Don't get me wrong, I am no sadist and I don't mind some resurrecting, but this way it completely ruined their heroic deeds for me in the end.

And I was kind of sad about the serious lack of any actual backstory of the characters, basically there was just "the is Cecil-Rosa-Kain love triangle, and then the whole Cecil is half lunarian, broher of Golbez" nothing more. While not such a serious thing, it would add more depth to the story or at least the character development I think.

Now don't get me wrong, I think FFIV is a very nice and good FF and game overall and I like it, this isn't even supposed to be a rant really, just I can't understand why a lot of people say it's best or next to best FF. To me it's certainly above average but not in the first ranks.

Your opinions?

[Ayen]

Never played it. I heard IV was the first to have a solid story and introduced a lot of staples of the franchise so I just assume that's part of the reason.

[VeloZer0]

The fact that people were constantly in and out of your party was a big plus for me. It made it seem like a much more dynamic adventure. When you have party members dropping like flies it really puts the journey in perspective. I do agree that having everyone come back was a gigantic cop out, and probably my biggest objection with the game.

As for back story, I'm of the opinion that not everyone needs some super developed back story. Often times it just distracts attention from the overall narrative of the important, world altering, story events. I would way rather see more world altering events than worry about how a characters daddy never loved them. (As you can see I am not a people person. ;) )

It's certainly one of the better ones, but definitely not the best.

[Laddy]

It was the first game that felt "epic". The previous games had stakes, but this game had characters with more fleshed-iout personalities and motivations to humanize them.

[Jessweeee♪]

I think at the time there really weren't a whole lot of games with a full plot and fleshed out characters and FFIV was something different.

Of all the FFs I've played it's my second least favorite though.

[Psychotic]

I think you make a good point about characters going in and out of your party. My own interpretation on that is they didn't have the nous to create the systems we've seen in later FFs where you can effortly switch characters in and out - indeed, in the next game, FFV, they dodged it by only having four characters! I think following FFIII they wanted to have lots of different "jobs" in the party to vary it up and thus required character switches, and didn't want to kill countless characters off as that would be unpopular. So we're left with what we have - I don't think it's too bad if you can suspend your disbelief over "you need a new party member soon so I better pretend to die for a bit".

[Dr Unne]

People who die and stay dead: Rydia's mom, Edge's parents, Edward/Gilbert's girlfriend, King Baron. The game did have an awful lot of playable characters dropping dead during the plot. You get to play the whole game thinking everyone is dead too. Maybe there's a limit to how depressing they wanted to make a video game back then.

FF games are kind of like fairy tales. The ending is always "Then they stopped the bad guys and everyone lived happily ever after". That kind of optimism is part of what the series is about.

[Lucas]

The characters younamed weren't playable though. Only character that stay dead and as I pointed out still showed up on the Moon was Tellah. I suppose it could be said that the characters you named could be considered as backstory for the actual party as their reason for joining the cause though...

And I dunno, definitely not all FFs resurrected everyone. Like let's say Vivi in FF9, it is clear that he died sometime after the story, but they make it optimistic with Vivi's sons. Or Tidus and Auron from FFX both dissapeared and I am not counting in the FF version of Charlie's angels, where if you do absolutely everything Tidus cames back. Or Aeris in FFVII died permanently as well, her death was actually meaningful and if they bringed her back at the end, everyone would go "wtf". I am not too sure what happened in FF 2, 3, 5 and I never played 6 so can't say what happened here.

I suppose it's just me that would enjoy a little more darkness in the story.

[Fynn]

The DS version is much, MUCH more palatable.

[Lucas]

What about it is? Isn't it just different in gameplay but the story is the same?

[Fynn]

Yes, but there are a couple of scenes added, giving more depth to some characters (like Golbez) and the script is reworked so it's much less narmy and can actually be taken seriously. Also, 3D visuals and voice acting.

[Lucas]

I see. I may look up the story changes/additions later. But I won't be playing it because I am fan of the older graphics, it would be weird to play it in 3D now.

[Fynn]

Oh, so am I. But this game looks great.

[fire_of_avalon]

I can say for sure this game is way fun on the DS! I didn't think I would like it, but I did.

Also, in answer to the question about popularity, I think for a lot of people FFIV was actually their first FF! I know it was mine. I mean the first US version was FFII in 1991 and previous to that the only FF game we'd had in the US was released four years earlier.