Quote Originally Posted by Bolivar View Post
If someone really wanted to experience what FFIV was all about, would you hand them, say, the GBA version or the DS version?
I'd say Chronicles personally, if you were looking for the "definitive version of FFIV". The GBA port messed with the difficulty too much to make it accessible (something the DS version rectifies) to new players and it really throws off the balance of the game which is closer to the DQ games you love in terms of challenging reward, and I actually never cared for the last minute "choose your own party" mechanic that got added at the end. The Lunar Trials are amusing but they are not worth the price of the game. I actually think the GBA version is my least favorite version (not counting the awful FFII on the SNES version). Besides, the GBA version modified the sound of the Bio spell and that's a travesty to an old time fan like myself. The bugs in the battle system don't help the GBA version either.

If the person asking which version to choose does not care to experience the game mechanics but just wished to play through the story, I would actually recommend the DS version, especially if they are not use to the older tastes of gameplay that FFIV brings. Even then, the dungeons are unchanged in the DS version, only the mechanics and some outdated features like Namingway and the Fat Chocobo are changed up to make them relevant in the game (though Namingway's new redesign takes some getting used to), I feel the DS version is a much better way for new players to experience IV because the trends of the genre have shifted so far that IV has not really aged well.


Besides: DON'T YOU WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME UTILIZING A TOUCH SCREEN, FRONT & REAR CAMERAS, AND GPS!?!?!?
No, I don't find the Vita's features to be impressive or useful to a 15+ year old game, especially if its just a paint job port.

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As I said, I just don't think a code of paint and a reworked soundtrack is worth dropping $30+ dollars on, and I've never found either to draw me into a game more than the overall experience which I can get equally from just playing the versions I own. It's one of the reason's why I've never bought any remade port versions of FFI/II other than Origins, and still I wish Squenix would just release a collection of all the old 8-bit versions of the game on a disc or as a download. I never felt the new graphics and remixed soundtracks of FFI and II made the games better, of anything it just makes me lose out on seeing some of the original graphical and musical accomplishments the original did. FFIII(Famicom) is a visually impressive game that often times looks like it could be screenshots from FFIV, you wouldn't know any of that if you played a PSP remake of it, while the DS version at least offered new elements to give you a new experience. If you're going to bother remaking something might as well go all out because the fresh coat of paint jobs only cater to old time fans who just want the same experience (despite often having several remade same experience titles) and a few people who missed out on the classics and want to play them. I'm a purist, but I'm also a purist who has come to the conclusion that screwing around with the formula for a remake is not the end of the world, and if I want to have that good old fashioned experience I'll just dust off my collection and play it rather than drop $30 every few years for slightly better graphical remake of a game, I'm not a Madden fan.