Our coverage of Pixel Remaster continues with Final Fantasy 4, considered one of the all-time series greats.

It’s for good reason. For one, this makes a marked shift in tone and narrative, building a story around central leads as opposed to giving the player free-reign to craft and develop their own characters.

And that narrative is dark, twisted, even shocking, as Cecil and Kain, two former knights of the realm are cast out by the king, accused of betrayal and dishonesty. Cecil was the former captain of the Red Wings, an elite aerial force for the kingdom of Baron, and his latest mission has tasked him with gathering a water crystal for the king.

Upon successful return of the artefact, the king strips Cecil of his rank and demotes him to taking a Bomb Ring to a nearby town, Mist. His loyal ally, Kain, a Dragoon Knight interjects and stands by Cecil’s side, and so the King also commands him to accompany Cecil to the town.

What neither seem to realise is they’ve been played and the bomb ring erupts in the town, razing it to the ground. The town is full of summoners and it seems to have been the King’s objective to wipe them out. Finally realising the dastardly plans, Cecil decides to fight back and rebel, swearing never to kill another innocent in the King’s name.

These scenarios and events will sound much more familiar to modern-day Final Fantasy players. The games play with strong themes, powerful character interactions and intricate subplots. This game has one of the most disruptive and that makes it all the more intriguing when compared to the first three games.

As mentioned, characters are essentially pre-defined, though you can visit an NPC who will allow you to change names to something more personalised.

But as someone who has always loved Final Fantasy for its story, this game has been my favourite of the bunch so far. While it’s been fascinating to see how the franchise evolved overtime, different mechanics being built out and established, as well as familiar characters and tropes we now know and love, this is the game I’ve connected with the most.

There’s plenty of peril, characters are really able to shine with their own individual plot points, you’ve got some romance in here, malicious bosses and everything that makes a great Final Fantasy game.

That’s not to say this is all just about story, Final Fantasy 4 is also well regarded for being the introduction of the ATB system which some of the PS1 Final Fantasy games were firm adopters of. Basically, the enemy will keep attacking you, regardless of whether you’ve selected an action or not. You have to wait out timers at the bottom of the screen before you can perform your next action. It’s quite a big departure from the other titles.

Final Fantasy 4 also enables you to have up to five members of a party at any one time, an increase of one compared to the original releases. And Final Fantasy 4 has a semi-large roster of characters to choose between, which made your playthrough still feel different.

We should also make a note on graphics. Now, while Final Fantasy 4 will still feel very familiar to the older games with the large overhead map, small towns to visit, lots of green, mountains and desert, the use of 2.5D comes alive, with panning camera shots, overhead tilts and even variants on cutscenes.

Finally, a word on the music, which is easily the best in the game so far. It feels appropriately dramatic as the game works through its scenes, but the remastering definitely shines through on FF4 more than any other game and it makes the experience all the more enriching and enjoyable as a result.

It’s easy to see how Final Fantasy 4 learned from its predecessors, but it also took the best parts of those games, really doubled down on the story for the first time while still going ham on crystals, and made the most complete RPG of the time.

And with the Pixel Remaster upgrades like, improved text fonts, the ability to skip battles and of course the remastered visuals and sound, this is the definitive edition of a game, many regard, as one of the greatest of all time. It’s not hard to see why.

Verdict

Final Fantasy 4 has taken the best elements of its predecessors and moulded them together to make a truly landmark experience. It’s easy  to see why this is regarded as one of the greatest of all time with the focus on a powerful narrative, the much emulated and regarded ATB system, and all the other pieces which made Final Fantasy games great. Add in the Pixel Remaster upgrades and editions and this is, without doubt, the definitive, best way to play one of history’s most important games. 

Pros

---

Code kindly received from Square Enix for purposes of review

Check out our coverage of Final Fantasy 1, Final Fantasy 2, and Final Fantasy 3 Pixel Remaster. A full overview will follow