This is most likely the FF I’ve replayed the most, and I swear it gets better every time. Fantastically paced and with a timeless story, FFIV really did change the series forever, as you said. In a way, I kind of feel it’s the best representation of what the series is as a whole - like, if you were to give a complete newcomer one game that would represent the whole series, I feel like IV would be a great candidate.