Impressions! I picked this up from Breast Buy on my work break, which then devolved into a 2 hour jumbo break from playing this game. Here's what I'm seeing from gameplay to Mist so far:

- Graphics are fantastic. Everything is fluid. Models are updated, the direction is great, it's got a 3d feel in a 2d background that's killer. Love the minimap at the top screen.

- Music, mostly faithful but updated versions. Some of the more powerful songs are left as is. Pure awesome. Sound design is also solid.

-Dialogue. Big suprise here- all the translation is overhauled and set to a more middle english / university level english level. I love it....so far I like what they've done and it feels very different.

-Interface. Really damn cool. It's all seamless and neatly packaged, your avatars look better, menus slick, added a thought bubble that corresponds with the story at given points of time. Neat touch, kind of like a 'character's thoughts' or whatever..

- There is a quick save option in addition to normal save! Yes!

Basically this is badass. It's early but it already has that feel of 'the definitive' edition of this game. This is what started all the Final Fantasy magic people - go out and buy it!

7/22/2008 1:52:42 PM

(Jesus Christ, do not GIS "milking")

7/22/2008 2:40:19 PM

^ Even if it is milking, its bringing the fun to a bunch of people that really loved the original on SNES. I'm defintely going to buy this game sometime soon.

7/22/2008 3:22:09 PM

yeah it is milking but this really is an enhancement, not a repackaging like FF Advance for the GBA before it.

7/22/2008 3:27:01 PM

I just want to know two things: can you still Throw the Spoon and Frying Pan for 9999 worth of damage?

I saved those all the way up until the end of the game so I could use them on Zeromus.

7/22/2008 4:34:51 PM

Damn, there are so many games that I have queued up to play. This is somewhere on there.

7/22/2008 4:54:00 PM

this is cool, but i'll be waiting for Final Fantasy 6 to get this treatment

7/23/2008 4:47:47 AM

So it's a better port than 3? 3 was nice but still really fucking hard and not very pretty.

7/23/2008 8:30:26 AM

^ Yeah. They make much better use of the second screen and the graphics are supposed to be a little better. The reviews are also much better.

7/23/2008 9:55:50 AM

i keep saying i'm gonna go get this, but i've still got like 60 sidequests to complete on tactics advance 2 (although i technically beat it at level 30, broken rangers FTW!)

7/23/2008 9:57:01 AM

Before playing this I hadn't cursed at a game in years. I at least had enough self-control to not fling my DS across the room.

Fun game. Much better than FF3 so far.

7/28/2008 10:57:04 AM

Agreed, this is lightyears beyond 3. I've really enjoyed this remake.

7/28/2008 11:17:48 AM

Just picked this up while on vacation. This game is AMAZING. I played FF2 on the SNES religiously, and this remake is like a love letter to fans. The little touches and details are exceptional.

7/31/2008 1:41:38 PM

I'm quite enjoying it as well. FFIV is one of my all-time favorite games, and I've probably played it all the way through at least five or six times.

7/31/2008 2:24:48 PM

Man this game is great. Its old school tough though, and you really have to level up or you're toast. I really think the dialogue has improved and think the voice over and cutscenes stuff is actually pretty cool. Great use of both screens too. I've really enjoying this. If you're a fan of jrpgs and have a DS you should give this game a shot.

8/6/2008 10:56:03 AM

I haven't played IV since it came out on the SNES. Back then I rented it and only got as far as the three sisters boss fight. I don't remember much about the story so playing this version is probably much more fulfilling for me than someone who has played through all the rereleases of it.

I do notice a huge difference in difficulty. It has taken me at least 3 tries to beat each boss so far and unlike the original the enemies don't hold back with the negative status effects.

8/6/2008 11:04:55 AM

yeah it is no cakewalk at all. particularly though in the bosses, not so much in the mob encounters.

i love that about it though, nothing beats those FFIV moments where you are struggling on a thin line trying to keep everyone alive, reviving them, just cycling through healing to stay standing until you can get established and get some hits in. It's great tactical battles and the active timer means your reflexes actually make a difference. See man, that's what RPGs were all about back then and it ruled.. but somehow that feel was lost.

8/6/2008 12:13:43 PM

^ agreed.

8/7/2008 12:00:12 PM

Even after all these years, I still despise Tellah. He is like the ultimate liability in all of the FF games I have ever played. It's almost like he is some kind of damage magnet - all of the monsters single him out and kill him first. This is not a difficult task since he drops dead in like 2 hits, and has the slowest reaction time of anybody by almost a third.

Until now, I've not taken an interest in doing anything with the Augments. However, after reading this post http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=939425&topic=44453857 I may need to put more interest into these.

8/7/2008 2:06:45 PM

I remember he died a lot too. It's a shame because his level 3 spell were the shit. I guess that was some decent AI strategy for ~1991

8/7/2008 2:36:20 PM

They need to give FFVI this treatment.

I'm loving the DS FFIV so far, and I was only 'meh' about the previous two versions. This one though... is amazing.

8/7/2008 10:27:38 PM

Yea, I was thinking they'd do a good job on 6 after this, I'm just scared that they'd mess it up

8/8/2008 10:53:45 AM

is it the nintendo DS games that you can put into the gamecube accessory to play it on your tv?

8/8/2008 12:40:23 PM

i know gameboy advance games will work in ikt, dunno about the ds

8/8/2008 1:30:47 PM

It depends.

Is your TV a touch screen?

8/8/2008 2:54:23 PM

Yay! Tellah is dead and Rosa is back. I had forgotten how long the story is in this game.

I really do wonder if Square is secretly working on the same treatment for FFVI. I hope so.

8/10/2008 2:03:57 AM

DS games can't be played in the Game Cube (touch screen would get messy, yes?); the FFIV Advance for GBA can be. As for milking, don't forget about the awful PS1 port that was packaged with the awful Chrono Trigger port.

Auto Battle is nice.

The game's a lot more difficult than FF2 for the SNES was (it was clearly dumbed down for us; they had "Remedy" and not all the different curative items) and one of my first fights I got stoned by cockatrices. Some of the monsters in the last dungeon are way more challenging. I wasn't able to get Bahamut on my first trip to the moon because the sages' spells just hit way too hard.

Re: Axelay I saw that and went back twenty hours to catch up so I only screwed up whatever I'd've gotten from Palom and Porom. ^___^;;; I'm glad I did though now because the augments make the game a lot easier (e.g. Cecil's draw attacks + counter; have him defend in harder areas).

Also, love the Whyt fights. It gave me and a colleague something to do at our last conference. The mini games are pretty fun. Except for Rosa's. :|

8/15/2008 11:47:50 PM

Holy crap. Give Cecil the Counter + Draw Attacks augments, and you've got yourself a one-man wrecking crew. I've only just reached the Tower of Bab-Il, but it's not at all uncommon for Cecil to singlehandedly kill every monster we face in a battle.

8/18/2008 6:11:36 PM

Finally beat Rubicant on the first try after a 15-minute battle last night. It was interesting that he could continuously one-shot Rosa, Edge, and Rydia, but couldn't bring down Cecil and Kain no matter what he did.

The random battles are beginning to become extremely annoying - especially in the Sylph Cave. It's not even like they are difficult; they are just simply time-consuming.

Edge doesn't yet do as much damage as I remember, but Throw does a LOT more.

8/24/2008 12:19:48 PM

I don't get it, I'm at the same spot but if I give Cecil Draw Attacks he gets hammered repeatedly and eventually goes down...I'm at level 40 so I know I'm doing ok level wise about to go into the tower

8/24/2008 12:58:12 PM

If you find Cecil getting hit too hard, change his Auto-Battle command to Defend; he'll take the hits at half damage and counter back. Someone may have to be healing him all the time.

If you change the first line of his menu to an item (e.g Heavenly Wrath) or another ability (Kick or ???s Love) he'll counter with that instead of an Attack.

I've been farming pink and red tails for adamant armor and onion swords. With Auto-Battle it's a lot less horrible than in past games because you can be watching all the downloaded TV you need to catch up on and occasionally heal.

^^ Kain and Cecil probably have ice armor that halves fire damage. The inferno spell that kills almost everyone happens while his cape's open; having Edge steal from him will get him to close up.

[Edited on August 24, 2008 at 7:59 PM. Reason : axelay]

8/24/2008 7:55:31 PM

Anyone got this working in the emulator?

8/24/2008 8:13:19 PM

Quote :

"See man, that's what RPGs were all about back then and it ruled.. but somehow that feel was lost."

Are you referring to JRPGs or RPGs in general? Western style RPGs shouldn't even be considered to be in the same genre and I think their core purpose is completely different. I think the direction Western RPG's have evolved in since 1991 has been largely positive. The evolution in that genre has stressed either things like character interaction and meaningful choice on the Fallout then later Mass Effect end of the spectrum or the freedom and sandbox feel of Morrowind/Oblivion on the other end. We're also seeing some attempts to merge the two seemingly divergent paths in games like Fallout 3. While the attempt might fall a little short, it's a good direction overall at least.

With JRPGs I can't really say I know how they've evolved since the lack of choice and feeling of being on rails in terms of story development always turned me off. I played FFI and a good bit of FFVII but other than that I never really liked many of them.

[Edited on August 24, 2008 at 11:31 PM. Reason : ]

8/24/2008 11:31:21 PM

I was referring to JRPGS....if you have that forumla inherent in the game, make it challenging and involving where you spend 75% of your time (in battles).

BTW Sonia, good suggestions but I don't really involve myself too much with the more oblique abilities and whatever augmentations to where cecil would ever have something like kick? I still find the implementation of those strange...although I did put draw attacks on him. So you're saying, I should just use him as a tank and defend while others fight? Also, how do you put one character on auto but not the entire party?

8/25/2008 8:52:56 AM

I think you have to put everyone on it. After Cecil defends once though you can just leave his turn in reserve. I know I'm doing all right in an area when I can get through it on auto-battle; it's still a struggle if I'm having to revive/heal people constantly.

Your party gets Kick, Brace and Focus from Yang after he leaves the party if you gave him 2 augments. After you find him in the Sylph cave go back to his wife in Fabul to get the frying pan to wake him up; he gives them to you then. It all has to be done before you go to the moon.

The augments aren't crucial to the game but it makes things a lot easier. There are some later on like Level Lust and Safe Travel (increased XP and no enemy encounters) that are awesome, and some lame ones that are a waste of a turn. :p Having them equipped after level 70 will get your characters stats maxed out; not necessary for beating the end boss, but you'll want them for the secret bosses.

9/1/2008 11:34:07 AM

I can't believe how much harder this game is than the SNES version. I feel like I am way ahead on gaining levels and I still get smoked by some of the bosses. Had a hard time with the wind element, and a real hard time with the dolls/Golbez fight in the Dwarve castle. That one took me like 4 tries I think. Constantly casting cure by Rosa and trying to stay alive.

I'm not sure I am going to use the Draw Attacks augment, seems a little cheap.

9/2/2008 1:37:27 PM

Finally made it to the last part of the game. Haven't fought to Zeromus yet, but most of the monsters on the moon are hellaciously annoying for the sole fact that they have attacks which cannot be reflected, cannot be countered, and shell and protect don't seem to do squat against them. Even more annoying is that if you come across a group of 3 casters (which happens very commonly) who all decide to cast something-aga on the entire party before you can get set up defensively, you're going to wipe and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. It's almost unbelievable. My party is in the high 60's and low 70's, and I still see this crap happen more often than not. It's funny to me that the Behemoth is supposed to be one of the fiercest monsters you face on the moon, and I can still kill those without taking a single hit. They didn't change the AI on those one bit.

Oh yeah, and Fast Talker is invaluable. Rosa and Rydia have been insufferably slow before now.

9/18/2008 9:10:56 AM

I hated that I couldn't get Bahamut before reaching the Giant of Bab-Il because of that nonsense. But once you get a few more levels those spells become pretty harmless.

9/18/2008 10:22:20 PM

Cleared the game, was happy! Great game.

9/19/2008 8:49:01 AM

I keep thinking that I am way ahead in levels and I go to fight a boss and get my ass kicked. I definitely had a hard time with Leviathan, took me a few tries. I think the last time I checked I am at 20 hours, and that doesn't count the time I played and died before a save. Very happy with how much I am getting out of this game.

I really really hope they do this for FFVI. That would absolutely blow me away.

9/19/2008 10:24:00 AM