Which one???

[Omni-Odin]

As everyone can see from my sig, all I have left of the Final Fantasy series is 4. Now, I've heard a lot of jabbering about which one is better, the DS version or the SP version. In your honest opinions (I'm not conforming to IYHO lol), which version do you think a first-timer would like? I'm not even all that into hand-helds, so if you think Chronicles had a good version, let me know.

[Dignified Pauper]

it's not the graphics in the ds version, it's the better telling of the goddamn story.

[Omni-Odin]

it's not the graphics in the ds version, it's the better telling of the goddamn story.

Calm down, buddy and just vote. I was just jokin around.

[Darth Cid]

The GBA version has extra dungeons I like alot, but I haven't even played DS yet so I can't give you the points for it.

[qwertysaur]

SNES version if you really like it old style.

Chronicles version is plagued by a lot of lagging so try to avoid it :/

GBA if you like more bonus content and the original look of the sprites.

DS version if you like the difficulty and a better narrative.

[Slothy]

I still haven't played the DS version, but for a first experience with the game, I'd take the GBA version. You get to see it in more of it's original form from a gameplay, graphics and sound perspective with a far better translation than the SNES version had back in the day.

[Wolf Kanno]

I've played all four official translated versions so here's my personal rundown:

SNES: The story and gameplay have been gutted in this version, its pretty much the lobotomized version of the game though it does have the privilage of having a "so bad it's good" translation that brought us such powerful quotes as "You Spoony Bard"

Chronicles: The closest to the original in Japan, all gameplay is restored including the game's steep difficulty curve, the translation is much better than the SNES version but still not as good as the later versions. Yet the plot is still good in this version but you lose a bit of charming localization. Gameplay-wise its arguably the best version from a purist standpoint.

GBA: Has a better translation than Chronicles and Amano artwork for dialogue speeches. It feels the same as Chronicles until you get halfway into the game when the Difficulty spike never occurs. This is because one of the new features in this game is the ability to assemble your own final party from the whole cast (in all other versions your party is determined by the story a la FFII) unfortunately, people like Edward and Cid are not end game materials so despite getting some snazzy equipment upgrades thanks to a new dungeon the game has to nerf the end parts including the final boss just to maintain some balance. On the bright side, it actually has a very cool non-linear optional dungeon that unlocks at the end of the game that offers some unique gameplay including morality choices, a puzzle maze, some awesome boss fights, and a murder mystery.

DS: Beyond the obvious changes such as graphics, music, and VA work the DS version decides to add the augment system as a response to the the "Choose you own party" feature from the GBA version. Basically, you can acquire abilites called augments that allow you to teach your story party new abilities many of which are abilites from party members that will permanently leave your party at the stories insistence. This new customization allows you to take the straight forward gameplay and turn it on its head but here's where things get a little better. Unlike the GBA version, SE decided to revamp the whole game and its enemies to keep the game's original difficulty curve top compensate for your parties new skills.

Other changes include a series of mini-games that can be accessed at any time and helps a certain new summon in the game which you can use for the WiFi features. The equipment system has also been made more user friendly and actually shows you how the equipment affects your party without switching between the equip screen and status screen. Allowing you to better customize your party beyond "equip whatever has the highest stats". Most of the cast was also modified and retooled and while Kain and Tellah have been nerfed a bi, other characters like Cid, Edward, and Edge have been completely overhauled for the better making them far better characters in their own right and no longer being the dead weight they used to be.

To be honest, while I feel the DS version would be the best entry for anyone who started with the later FFs cause it has many of the features that made later entries stand out, I also feel its difficult to appreciate the amount of change and polish that went into the game without having played a version closer to the original. Overall, I recommend the Chronicles and DS versions cause one of IV's claims to fame was its high difficulty curve.

[RedPouch]

The DS version is fine but I seriously dislike all of the augments they made available which weren't even part of the original game. In all honesty, the DS version of the game isn't that difficult to begin with [it has a few challenging points but overall the game is really not that hard], but they decide to add in a bunch of nonsense augments that take what challenge is there away. I can't even remember most of them, but I remember some of the magic ones, one of which [I think] gave single target spells [like Haste] have "all" effects, along with a dual-casting augment if I recall right [like having a Soul of Thamasa or something]. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these augments are in the game aren't they? There are a ton more which really take a lot of the challenge out and lessen the fun of the game. I don't really see it as being much different from FF VI's Ultima -> Quick -> Ultima -> Ultima with only 65 Magic [which is enough to pop 9999's with Ultima] and about 100+ Speed and a Celestriad if you're one of those people that doesn't like to use turns doing Osmose.
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[Wolf Kanno]

They do exist but they arrive late in the game and after the final dungeon... yeah you need them. The Dark Sorcerers are broken as all hell and don't deserve "fair play".

Zeromus wasn't exactly as challenging as he is in the Chronicles edition but just about everything else in that dungeon is... On the bright side, at least the true game breaker skill is only unlocked after you finish the game. I genuinely liked the Augment system since it allowed me to make Paladin Cecil much more useful cause god knows he really did need Counter as an ability. I don't feel the augments really break the game or take away from it cause very few are ever really overpowered and the few skills that can be considered are not easy to acquire with out a guide (Like Soul Eater, W-Cast, and Target All) so I see little harm. As for difficulty I guess that just depends on the player, I personally found a few boss battles to be much more difficult than I remember (Golbez anyone?) but others that other people have been having issues with I had no trouble at all (CPU unit and Zeromus). Its all in the eye of the beholder but personally I feel the game offers a pretty fun and new way to experience FFIV. Since it doesn't tamper with the story at all, I'm pretty lax about everything else and the game is still much more difficult than the GBA version.

[eestlinc]

If you'd rather play on a console, do the chronicles version. It's the most authentic too. THe GBA and DS versions are cool, but not the real thing.

[Mirage]

All I'm gonna say is that you shouldn't get the PS1 version. It's poorly optimized for the storage medium it's on. I mean disc access just to open the menu? Seriously? With the extra RAM on the PS1 vs the SNES, they probably could have preloaded the next area too, to lower seek and loading times.

I mean it's not insanely slow, but it is definitely noticably slower than on the SNES, because the loading times for SNES cartridges are really low. I was mighty annoyed by them because they were just unnecessary and made the game reek of "poor, cheap and badly thought through port".

[Slothy]

All I'm gonna say is that you shouldn't get the PS1 version. It's poorly optimized for the storage medium it's on. I mean disc access just to open the menu? Seriously? With the extra RAM on the PS1 vs the SNES, they probably could have preloaded the next area too, to lower seek and loading times.

I mean it's not insanely slow, but it is definitely noticably slower than on the SNES, because the loading times for SNES cartridges are really low. I was mighty annoyed by them because they were just unnecessary and made the game reek of "poor, cheap and badly thought through port".

The only place I recall noticeable slowdown in that game was accessing the save menu. Everything else wasn't exactly cartridge fast, but it was no slower than any of the other PSX FF games, and far, far better than the FF Anthologies version of FFVI.

You could get around the long times to access the memory card by simply making a save memo as well. I only saved to the memory card either after something very hard, after playing for more than an hour, or if I was stopping.

[Wolf Kanno]

The load times are obnoxious but as Vivi22 said, its nowhere near as bad as the VI port on Anthologies or the worst one which is Chrono Trigger in the Chronicles collection.

I guess if you want to really avoid all this there is always the option of getting a fan translated ROM of the game but at that point I feel you might as well just settle for one of the portable entries.

[qwertysaur]

The load times are obnoxious but as Vivi22 said, its nowhere near as bad as the VI port on Anthologies or the worst one which is Chrono Trigger in the Chronicles collection.

I guess if you want to really avoid all this there is always the option of getting a fan translated ROM of the game but at that point I feel you might as well just settle for one of the portable entries.

I actually beat that version of Chrono Trigger. Then I saw the new game plus option and walked away

[RedPouch]

cause very few are ever really overpowered and the few skills that can be considered are not easy to acquire with out a guide

It's my understanding that most people that play either have a guide or look on gamefaqs.com though.

GameFAQs: Final Fantasy IV (DS) Augment FAQ by mystery500

Some of these augments are ridiculous.

I personally found a few boss battles to be much more difficult than I remember (Golbez anyone?)

Don't know about Golbez but I remember having trouble my first time encountering a Red Dragon.

All I'm gonna say is that you shouldn't get the PS1 version. It's poorly optimized for the storage medium it's on. I mean disc access just to open the menu? Seriously? With the extra RAM on the PS1 vs the SNES, they probably could have preloaded the next area too, to lower seek and loading times.

^ This.
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