SNES to DS changes

[Crossblades]

Here are the list of changes that was made to the remake of FF IV. Some that we know about, some that we didn't know

Final Fantasy IV DS: SNES To DS Changes

You now control Cecil in battle in the opening sequence

New flashback scene of Cecil/Kain dueling in Baron Castle

Additional dialogue between Cecil/Rosa in Baron Castle bedroom (?)

Extended scene in village of Mist between Cecil/Kain/Rydia

Rydia has a new companion, the Pochika

Subtle map changes to towns and dungeons (ie: On the peak of Mt.Ordeals, instead of a small shrine, there is now a stone tablet which teleports you to a shrine)

Namingway has a new job as Mappingway (changing names appears to be unavailable due to voice acting)

Decant Ability System

Auto Battle System

Auto-map, rewards for 100% exploration per level

Cecil cannot equip bows or staves

Cecil gains more white magic spells (protect, shell, raise)

New magic spells Ultima, Faith, Brave, Bubble

Arrows are not consumed when shooting a bow, and come in quantity of 1 from chests

Characters rejoin at set levels

Tellah is now able to earn sufficient MP above 90, with sufficient level ups. (thus allowing meteor to be cast early.)

Bosses are generally harder and have new attack patterns

New Hidden bosses

Kain and Palom are now right handed

Item capacity increase

Switching weapons mid-battle takes up a turn

Gilbert can select songs to perform

Bows are fixed on the right hand, while arrows are fixed on the left

Bows no longer cause extra damage to flying targets

Spears no longer cause extra damage to flying targets

Child Rydia learns different spells over the long run

Various characters have different stat gains

Stat changes past level 71 are no longer random but controled by equipped decants

Spell damage has increased for most spells

Bio damage reduced

Can use spells from the magic menu without going back to the main menu after each turn

Every character except Cid naturally gains MP

Edge can no longer equip claws

Exit/Warp is disabled in all Castles and towns. (prevents bugs, like fetching the dark crystal early.)

Warp is completely disabled in the Sealed cave. you now have to walk all the way back out.

Warp now puts you at the start point of the previous room.
Elixirs can now be bought (from hummingways).

Bahamut's megaflare attack cannot be reflected.

[Bahamut2000X]

Tellah is now able to earn sufficient MP above 90, with sufficient level ups. (thus allowing meteor to be cast early.)

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of it being his one shot spell? >.>

Bows no longer cause extra damage to flying targets

Spears no longer cause extra damage to flying targets

Bahamut's megaflare attack cannot be reflected.

Doesn't that defeat the entire strategy for dealing with Bahamut? And the rest just forget the reason why you used Bows and Spear to begin with?

Cecil cannot equip bows or staves

Arrows are not consumed when shooting a bow, and come in quantity of 1 from chests

Kain and Palom are now right handed

These just make me cry inside.

Every character except Cid naturally gains MP

That just makes me go wtf.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Namingway has a new job as Mappingway (changing names appears to be unavailable due to voice acting)

His new "job" is actually to endow you with various gifts; such as the mapping function, bestiary, sound test, and cut scene viewer; as you talk to him in various locations throughout the game. Mappingway is just one of the many new names he adopts throughout this side-quest.

Tellah is now able to earn sufficient MP above 90, with sufficient level ups. (thus allowing meteor to be cast early.)

For anyone planning to do this, know that it must begin well after "sufficient" level-ups, because it never happened while Tella was in my party.

Bosses are generally harder and have new attack patterns

Understatement of the year.

Item capacity increase

If by "increased," you mean "unlimited."

Gilbert can select songs to perform

You also get more as you level up, as with magic and ninjutsu.

Speaking of ninjutsu, Edge also learns three new techniques: earthy Doton, windy Fuujin, and icy Hyouton.

[Goldenboko]

Total, buying, this, game.

[Evastio]

I'm not really happy with a lot of these changes. I guess I'll comment on the ones that stand out for me

You now control Cecil in battle in the opening sequence

Rydia has a new companion, the Pochika

Namingway has a new job as Mappingway (changing names appears to be unavailable due to voice acting)

Decant Ability System

Cecil cannot equip bows or staves

Arrows are not consumed when shooting a bow, and come in quantity of 1 from chests

Tellah is now able to earn sufficient MP above 90, with sufficient level ups. (thus allowing meteor to be cast early.)

New Hidden bosses

Kain and Palom are now right handed

Spell damage has increased for most spells

Bio damage reduced

Edge can no longer equip claws

That's going to be quite weird. They expect you to defeat a Zuu at the start of the game. I also doubt they'll give Cecil a free FireBomb...

I wonder what the Pochika does...

I actually like how you can't change names anymore. It'd only mess up the voice acting.

I don't really like the sound of the new ability system. They should've just enabled party member switching like in the GBA Version. It'll also ruin the "locked jobs" theme that FFIV is famous for.

They should've still allowed Cecil to equip bows and staves. That's what made him more unique than other fighters from other FFs. I know most people don't equip him with those but it is useful (using Artemis Bows on dragons doing insane damage, using the Sage's Staff to revive people).

The arrows, I'm somewhat okay with since Rydia fans will no longer be able to bash on Rosa saying that her bows and arrows are too expensive to be replacing all the time (seriously, liking one thing doesn't mean you have to hate on the other).

I'm not pleased with Tellah's MP being able to increase (they should've at least disabled Meteor from being cast).

I'm wondering where these new bosses will be...

They should've kept Kain and Palom left handed. It's not like it would be too hard for them to keep that.

Sure, they power up every spell except for Bio which they weaken (bye bye BennennaanaaaNAAWOU).

They also should've left Edge to be able to equip claws. That way you wouldn't have to throw them out after losing Yang.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

That's going to be quite weird. They expect you to defeat a Zuu at the start of the game. I also doubt they'll give Cecil a free FireBomb...

You only need to defeat a couple Floateyeballs, which is still a cinch with Cecil's Darkness ability. And if that's not enough, yes, they still give you a free White Fang and Red Fang to bust out, as well.

I don't really like the sound of the new ability system. They should've just enabled party member switching like in the GBA Version. It'll also ruin the "locked jobs" theme that FFIV is famous for.

Decant Items are permanently married to the characters you use them on, so their jobs are still locked in that sense. They're also scarce enough that you're not at all likely to give one character so many that his custom abilities will start distracting from his original role in battle. On the contrary, if you use them intelligently, you'll be augmenting those roles, not rewriting them. For example, as a Paladin, Cecil has high HP, high defense, and the Cover ability, so you'll naturally want to give him Counter.

Having used it, I can say this system definitely preserves the spirit of the original game more than the cavalier party-swapping in the GBA version.

Sure, they power up every spell except for Bio which they weaken (bye bye BennennaanaaaNAAWOU).

Worry not: Bio's sound effect is still totally radical.

[Karellen]

The best additions to the game are the new abilities and the re-designed boss battles. I never liked the way the original offered so little in the way of customization after coming off the job-system in FFIII. The decant abilities make the game more like FFIX, where everyone has their own specific classes but still allow for some choice in how you construct your party. The boss battles are all excellent; they are by far the toughest in the series. Battles you could just breeze through in the original like Cagnazzo and Golbez actually require some thought this time around (unless you grind for hours or something). Leviathan is a nightmare. Funnily enough, Demon Wall is now one of the easier bosses in the game.

I thought it was a pretty decent remake overall. The story seems to be almost identical to the original (I can’t read Japanese, but all the scenes seem to play out in exactly the same manner) besides some deviations around the Giant of Babel (namely a few flashbacks). So it’s not really a whole new experience like SE seemed to imply it would be around the time it was announced (not much of this supposed ‘cut content’ from the original seems to have been added, if the amount cut was indeed as extensive as they said it was) but it’s definitely better then the original or the GBA port, even though I was a little disappointed that they don’t let you chose your final party like you can in the latter. Of course, considering how tacked on that aspect was in the GBA version, maybe it's better without.

[Takara]

I don't understand the point of making Kain and Palom right-handed, or why spears/bow are no longer a weakness for aerial monsters. That sucks.

Edit: Last I checked, you could not use warp and exit in the Sealed Cave in the previous versions either, so that's not really a change. And if I'm not mistaken, Warp always brought you back in the previous room.

[Captain Maxx Power]

Also added bonus, the Hummingways now sell Sirens to boot, making Adamant Armour hunting a much less daunting task (still takes hours though). There's also a bunch of new items in the form of Onion Equipment that you can collect from various Dragon-type enemies with their tails, though most of them aren't worth the effort except perhaps the Onion Sword.

[Hazzard]

They really wanted to make things a challenge in this remake.

[Fynn]

The Bahamut thing unsettles me, though... How in the world is one supposed to beat him without using reflect!?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

You just have to play it straight. Unlike every other boss, though, I think he's actually easier in the remake.

[Raebus]

I like these changes.

[Zeromus_X]

I wonder what the Pochika does...

Here's an explanation of Pochika from a member of another forum:

Rydia's battle-replacement summon Pochika (the marshmallow thing) has stats dependent on the number of times you successfully play minigames provided by the fat chocobo. The games vary in difficulty and goal, and which games are available depends on your current party members. An example is a stopwatch game performed with Rosa, where the player tries to hold the pen to the screen for a certain number of seconds while distracting music and sound effects go off in the background.

If you play the games obsessively enough, Pochika's stats fly through the roof, making him a pretty good automated fighter, mage, or healer. When summoned, his battle commands are randomly determined from a customizable list of every ability and spell which your current party's characters can perform.

[Ichimonji]

This excites me. I can't wait for this game.