Lo, and Nadia purchased Final Fantasy IV and brought the digital tome unto her home. And the Lord sayeth, "DUDE! You got your ass kicked by a sandworm!"
Everything the fangeeks have been saying rings true: Square-Enix mixed up Final Fantasy IV. Up is down, the sky is green and for God's sake, don't assume that magic attacks will save you from the wrath of the Antlion's counterattack.
The change-up was sorely needed, though, especially if you're a geek like me who knows the game better than priests know the Bible. Be warned: Final Fantasy IV DS is quite difficult. Kain and Cecil still begin the game as medieval brick shithouses, but they can die. For one thing, enemies are not afraid to use their special attacks and they counter if you so much as sneeze in their direction. I know more than one player who fell victim to the gradual petrification of the helldiver quartet that roams the path to the Mist Cave. As for me, I met a sandworm on our morning constitutional. It cast Whirlwind without hesitation and that was the end of the Dark Knight of Baron and that jumpy friend of his who wants to follow in his father's footsteps or something.
The good news is that for every instance of enemy tweaking, there is an instance of character tweaking to match it. The most talked-about helper in the new battle against Golbez is the augment system, which allows characters to gain the abilities of other party members--typically the members who croak for story purposes. If you give augments to characters who are destined to depart, you usually get something better in return. Of course, if it's your first playthrough and you have no idea who's staying and who's going, it sucks to be you.
Fortunately, while augments make life easier, they're not essential. There are other tweaks. Arrows are no longer limited, so let 'em fly. Defensive spells like Shell and Protect can be cast upon the entire party. Bosses are often vunerable to status magic. There is a map system that rewards you with items for filling in a floor. Edward is useful, for a change.
And of course, we have our upgraded graphics, music and voice acting. The voice acting is good. The script is a bit silly, but Final Fantasy IV reflects a simpler era of RPGs where melodrama and Star Wars-type twists were celebrated.
The characters are still the same angstclowns you remember and love: Cecil wails over his dark fate, meaning he's too busy to notice that Kain wants to execute his "Jump" command horizontally on Rosa. Porom acts silly, Palom scolds him and Tellah is what your grandfather would be like if your grandfather wielded death magic and was awesome.
So far, I am having fun. Show your DS some Final Fantasy love.
Related Links:
Are You Buying Final Fantasy IV DS? Huh? Huh? Huh??
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