I'm dead! Hahahahaha! No, I'm not!

It is no secret that Final Fantasy IV is one of the first game in the series that had a real storyline, even if it can be considered primitive and full of clichés compared to the newer games. But when you think about it, this game did bring a lot of those very same clichés into the series.

But one of those clichés has origins in one of Final Fantasy IV's predecessor, Final Fantasy II. I'm talking about the "character gets heroic death for more drama" cliché. Except FFIV didn't kill all of its characters that regularly rotated out of the party like FFII. No, FFIV twisted that cliché, killing only one of its heroes, but making most of the others suffer from "fake heroic death" syndrome. Most will agree when I say it was overdone.

My question is the following: if you were the one who created (or remade) Final Fantasy IV, how many of those fake deaths would you keep? How many would turn into real deaths? And how many would you simply transform into events that show the party member getting out of commission without there being any doubts about his or her survival?

I think we can all agree that Cid should be nothing more than traces of gore in the upper-right-hand corner of the Underworld.

Honestly, I would keep all of them. The Tellah death would be the only one I could keep

I'd say it's good the way it is. Having everyone come back (except Tellah) during the Giant of Bab-il scene made it extremely epic and awesome. It shows how strong of a bond Cecil has made with his friends and how willing they are to help out Cecil.

I don't understand at all how people could not like that scene. (Unless they like seeing characters die and take enjoyment from it) So what if it makes FFIV's storyline less tragic? It gives the story an epic twist, from Cecil going against people in high power (like King Baron and Golbez) to Cecil becoming a person in high power (becoming the only person who succeeded the Paladin trial, becoming the one spoken about in the prophecy). Having all of his "dead" friends be there to help him fight the Giant of Bab-il show even more how much people have come to respect Cecil.

As for Tellah, it'd be kind of awkward to have him alive again. He died a villain's death giving up his life to destroy another's, rather than trying to save one's like Yang, Palom, Porom, and Cid. Having him alive would kind of show that his sacrifice was as noble as the others' which it wasn't since it was out of anger.

But wouldn't putting characters out of commission, as I said, without being a doubt about whether or not they survived, make the Giant of Bab-Il scene less epic? For example, if Cecil and co managed to find a way into the cannon room after it blew up and found out Yang was still alive, but seriously wounded?

I don't like Cid, Tellah and to some extent Palom and Porom. But I would kill Cid and Tellah.

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Originally Posted by Takara

But wouldn't putting characters out of commission, as I said, without being a doubt about whether or not they survived, make the Giant of Bab-Il scene less epic? For example, if Cecil and co managed to find a way into the cannon room after it blew up and found out Yang was still alive, but seriously wounded?

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I'm not getting you.

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Originally Posted by Evastio

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Originally Posted by Takara

But wouldn't putting characters out of commission, as I said, without being a doubt about whether or not they survived, make the Giant of Bab-Il scene less epic? For example, if Cecil and co managed to find a way into the cannon room after it blew up and found out Yang was still alive, but seriously wounded?

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I'm not getting you.

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What I'm saying is that pretending to kill a character is not the only way to make one leave the party permanently. If Cecil and co found Yang immediately after the cannon blew up instead of thinking he's dead, and knew he was alive but seriously wounded, Yang's appearance at the battle against the Giant would have still been epic.

I enjoyed how they removed party members. It didn't seemed forced unlike some other games, and it gave the final party a sense of danger as they were the last ones that could go to the final battle as the rest of the party was seemingly dead/injured and unable to fight.

Overall I wouldn't change how they handled those scenes in FFIV. Besides it just makes Cid out to be that much more awesome.

I didn't care much for Yang, but I would feel sorry for his wife if he were never to come back. So I'd just change his fake death scene into one where the party last see him in a great danger, and don't know what's happened to him and are in a tension. Then he would come back and everybody would go "Ooooh!"
As for Cid, he's too awesome to stay dead. His beard probably protected him from the explosion.

I'd certainly leave Tellah's death as it was. I'm not sure if I'd call his death a 'villains death' because despite wanting revenge, I think he was doing it for justifiable purposes. Although they are unrealistic, I don't think I'd change them. Perhaps moderating them slightly like KoShiatar suggested above would be more realistic and bearable, but I think that the characters inability to die in FFIV is something that I equate to FFIV in much the same way as I equate bad Engrish to FFVII and the word "whatever" to FFVIII.

The only one that really bothers me is Cid's, just because there's absolutely no reason whatsoever that he couldn't have dropped the bomb overboard without jumping with it. I'm not going to get too critical of the verisimilitude of a game called "Final Fantasy," but the fact that they expect me to believe a man holding a bomb decides "hmmm, I could drop this and save the party. No, I'd better hold onto it and jump with it. Because.... because..... oh, just for the Hell of it, I suppose" ... that's crossing the line. C'mon, meet me halfway here. Have him trip trying to drop it. Something even remotely plausible.

Kill everyone for play plays at least once, and then kill half of them for real reals.

Cid is the only one that doesn't make any real logical sense on how he survives but then again we do see him again a few times after that. As for Yang... don't forget that if you go to the Sylph cave before the Tower of Bab-il you see Yang alive but gravely injured (which opens up the "Spoon Dagger" quest) and you see his fate. This, to me at least, would fall into the "You're not dead but you can't help anymore scenario".

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

Cid is the only one that doesn't make any real logical sense on how he survives but then again we do see him again a few times after that. As for Yang... don't forget that if you go to the Sylph cave before the Tower of Bab-il you see Yang alive but gravely injured (which opens up the "Spoon Dagger" quest) and you see his fate. This, to me at least, would fall into the "You're not dead but you can't help anymore scenario".

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Unless of course you're playing the GBA version in which case Yang is fighting fit and fighting Zeromus.

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Originally Posted by Heath

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

Cid is the only one that doesn't make any real logical sense on how he survives but then again we do see him again a few times after that. As for Yang... don't forget that if you go to the Sylph cave before the Tower of Bab-il you see Yang alive but gravely injured (which opens up the "Spoon Dagger" quest) and you see his fate. This, to me at least, would fall into the "You're not dead but you can't help anymore scenario".

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Unless of course you're playing the GBA version in which case Yang is fighting fit and fighting Zeromus.

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Lol! Thats true, you also can get that frail spoony bard to help as well ;)

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

Lol! Thats true, you also can get that frail spoony bard to help as well ;)

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Hey now, don't sell Edward short, he's pretty tough, I had him netting straight 9's on undead, and getting in 2 attacks (not with the glitch but through pure speed) to everyone's one.

Cid's death was so unrealistic in every sense to me. I mean he could have just thrown the bomb overboard and if the explosion didn't completely annihilate him, he would have easily fallen to his death.

I wonder if the remake on the Nintendo DS reveals more details about the exits of some of the playable characters. Maybe there is a new cinematic explaining what, exactly, Cid did?

When Cid land (after the bomb blows) he start rolling down hill, roll over anything that try to eat him and roll to the lava itself. If Cid DID live from that then he a GOD (when the cavemen found him).

I think this coming back to life thing is why the idiotic Aeris fans wont believe that she is dead. I acually dont remember Palom and Porom coming back to life, when was that?

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Originally Posted by leader of mortals

I think this coming back to life thing is why the idiotic Aeris fans wont believe that she is dead. I acually dont remember Palom and Porom coming back to life, when was that?

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They technically never died, they just turned to stone.

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Originally Posted by Bahamut2000X

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Originally Posted by leader of mortals

I think this coming back to life thing is why the idiotic Aeris fans wont believe that she is dead. I acually dont remember Palom and Porom coming back to life, when was that?

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They technically never died, they just turned to stone.

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And the Elder of Mysidia turned them back to normal before they went to fight the Giant of Babil

Both Sephiroth & Tellah attempted to use Meteor and met a sorry end. At least Sephiroth keeps coming back! Sux to be an unpopular old timer. :(