FF4 was the first FF to make it to the SNES, and when it did, it was the biggest epic RPG of the time. The graphics were far beyond FF1, which was the only previous FF game America had seen.

Unfortunetly, Squaresoft decided to "dumb-down" the American version of this game, removing several of the special commands that certain characters have in the Japanese version, such as Cecil's Dark Wave, Rosa's Pray, Tellah's Remember, etc... And a bunch of items were "dummy"ed out, including stat increasing items that raised your HP and MP.

Nintendo then got their hands on it, and aside from editing out certain "questionable items" like the Porno magazine, they also removed the Programmer's secret room, and a lot of dialogue, including some important character-relevant information (at least about Kain.)

Despite all of this, FF4 was a magnificent game at the time. It is still held dear by many people.

Cecil, leader of the Redwings, reflects on his situation, having to steal crystals from innocent people, for his king. When he returns to the castle, his attitude is punished by being removed from command, and given a menial task. Kain trys to defend Cecil, and for this, he is also punished, and sent with Cecil on this task.

The Cast: ( * indicates they are among the final team members)

The story of FF4 was much more epic than FF1, which was the only FF America had to judge by at the time. For the first time in America, the characters of an FF game were really characters. You had a group of people, on a real quest, through a story with twists and turns that made playing it fun. Several times throughout the game, your team of characters changes, as the story dictates. Cecil is the only permanent character in the game.

The story was mainly set in a fantasy world, and this may have been the last FF game to contain such a setting. There was very little technology, and what little there was, was not emphasised in the story. This is one point that still endears many people to this game, and is cited as one of the main reasons it's the last Final FANTASY game, rather than Final Sci-Fi game. As far as I'm concerned, technology can fit into an RPG setting without ruining the fantasy feeling.

They kept the concept of the Crystals of the Elements again. This seems to be a foundation element of the FF series.

This was the only FF game that allowed you to have 5 main characters in the fight at any one time. This alone made it more fun than the other games in the FF series ;-)

Several traits were carried forward from previous FF games. Such as the use of weapons and armor in battle, that created special effects, from FF1. From FF2, they carried forward the character portraits, and the style of story telling, involving real characters, not just cookie cutter fighters with no personalities. From FF3, they carried forward serveral of the classes and abilities. They did not carry forward the ability to change classes freely, but they incorporated this feature into the story itself. Cecil started as a Dark Knight, but through the Mount of Ordeals, he became a Paladin. Rydia started as a child, with few abilities, but when she came back a young woman, she had several more powerful skills. Tellah also went through a similar change, regaining his memory of all of his skills. Edge learned his Ninja magics only after the fight with Rubicant.

Spells were learned as you gained levels. I personally didn't use magic, so I couldn't care less.

Battle with enemies, in the American version (which I am basing my opinions on) was rather easy. All you had to do was hold down the attack button, and the enemies disappeared. Bosses usually took timing, but they were not much of a challenge. If they kept all the special skills in from the ORIGINAL FF4, battle would have been a lot more fun.

One important thing of note, was that they introduced Active Time Battle to the FF series here. As your characters waited to attack, they built up their charge time, then they were ready to attack. Monsters also had this time. There were no more "rounds" of combat, where you input your commands at the beginning of battle, and watched them all attack in turn. This was a major step into making RPGs more exciting.

Basically, you fight for a long time, gaining levels, and fighting monsters. You go from one story point to another, where you are further brought through the story, giving you new goals and reasons to be fighting the monsters. There was no real variation in what you did in battle.

Exploration was sometimes rewarded with finding chests beyond secret doors and such in castles and homes. Invisible paths were everywhere. Hidden chests underwater, in tall grass, and beyond switches were commonplace. We also learned to search barrels and bookshelves in this game.

This was the first Final Fantasy game on the SNES to have Chocobos in it. (Chocobos did appear in the Final Fantasy Adventure series earlier.) They were a neat design feature to make it easier to travel over land without fighting random battles, and eventually through the air. The hovercraft, the various airships, and the bigwhale, however, eventually made them obsolete.