Customer Reviews for Final Fantasy IV Advance

Final Fantasy IV Advance
by Square Enix

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Video Game Reviews of Final Fantasy IV Advance

Customer Review: For the hardcore only
Summary: 5 Stars

The classic Final Fantasy games (1-3 [not 6]) are NOTORIOUS for their difficulty. This does not hold true until you reach the center of the moon. Then, you will find yourself guzzling Elixirs, Potions, and Ethers just to kill ONE monster. For example, the Behemoths (found past B5 in the center of the moon, and in Bahamuts cave) will counter every spell and attack with a brutal 2300 hit on one party member. Most of the boss fights (Asura, Bahamut) and tough monsters (Behemoths, Wicked Masks) are gimmick fights. Bahamut is actually one of the easiest fights in the game, just cast Reflect on all of your party members.
Let me reinstate what the previous reviewers have said about this game
+ Crisp graphics
+ Great music + sound
+ Fun
+ More to do once you beat the game
- Somewhat short (beat EG Zeromus in 18hrs 42mins)
- Very difficult
- Prepare to grind 10-15 levels once you reach the center of the moon!

I enjoyed this, and you can bet I'm getting FF3 for the DS. Great blast from the past, a must-buy for any Final Fantasy fan, RPG lover, or GBA owner!

Customer Review: Final Fantasy IV Advance..........
Summary: 5 Stars

Leave it to me to start into a series in its' second, third, or fourth installments. In this case, it's the fourth. Course, there's a good explanation why. I set out looking for Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls for my Gameboy Advance(Hey, if you're going to collect a series, it's a good thing to start at the beginning) at my local videogame store but they only had Final Fantasy IV Advance so I decided to get it instead. There isn't much that I can say that hasn't already been said by the other reviewers here about Final Fantasy IV Advance.The story goes like this..The kingdom of Baron is on a quest to collect all the elemental crystals. The commander of its air force, Cecil, has been dismissed after questioning the king's motives. With the help of others; Cecil sets out to stop the growing threat and, in the meantime, uncovers a far more dangerous one. It's a deep story with alot of twists and turns & is a deeply challenging game due to the Active Time Battle system. I can't recommend this game enough. It's one of my all-time favorite Final Fantasy games.

Although they tweaked the graphics, translation and whatnot abit, they pretty much made the game as it was originally. I think Final Fantasy fans as well as casual RPG gamers will really enjoy this one.

Customer Review: In addition...
Summary: 5 Stars

Since there are already several well written reviews already posted, I just wanted to add one huge thing that they've failed to mention.

This new version has an option for you to select and swap out different players in your party. This has never been available in any other version. Much like Final Fantasy III (ff6 in Japan) where you comprised your team from a pool of characters, Final Fantasy IV Advance lets you take Palom, Poram, Cid, & Yang to fight on the moon if you'd like!

There's also a new dungeon (Cave of Trials) in Mt. Ordeals that requires you to take each of those characters to face a boss in order to unlock their powerful end-game weapons. Each of these weapons (specific to each character. I.E. you can't equip Rydia with Palom's dagger even though they're both black mages) is ultra powerful and instantly makes them a worthy addition to your party (especially Yang's), well maybe not Edward. lol

Anyway, I'm sure that the vast majority of you who buy this game have played a previous versions and let me tell you that you will not be dissappointed. New fight scene/magic graphics, better music, reworked dialogue unique to this version, and new areas will make you feel like you're playing a classic for the first time!

PS- Playing this on the DS Lite

Customer Review: Pleasantly Surprised.
Summary: 4 Stars

There are numerous trends in the video gaming industry nowadays. Those developers sure have become sophisticated.

One of the tactics has been to release "classic games" on their consoles and see if they can re-milk the market. This, of course, has come with mixed reviews and mixed successes.

Final Fantasy IV for the Game Boy Advance is a champion game. Compared to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) version (FF2), I believe this re-make is slightly better due to the increased/updated features of the game. (SquareSoft retooled some aspects of the game and added some nice features to please the classic RPG enthusiasts as well as the diehard Final Fantasy fans.)

I like to think of FF4GBA as the "upgraded" version to the original program - similar to downloading a patch for a PC game, only, of course, it still remains a console game.

The major stand-out benefit I gathered from this version of the game is that now the gameplay flows smoother into the Final Fantasy III version. (FF6 for you diehards that know the Japanese nomenclature.) That is, the switching of the party members - that was introduced in "FF3." Also, the unlocking feature where optional side quests result in more loot!

The last part of this review deals with the most important topic: the cost-benefit analysis. The question is, Do you want to enroll in this common tactic of the video gaming industry? Is $30 worth the SNES FF2 "patch?" Does having the portable version of the game (albeit a great game) meet your desires?

Probably for most of us, we got rid of our old NES and SNES a long time ago. (I didn't - they are right next to my N64 and GameCube.) A lot of us downloaded emulators a while back and now play these games on our PCs. And I would venture to say that almost all of us who love RPGs don't even care about video game consoles anymore and have gone to PC (more features in our games).

So my recommendation here is, leave your impulses behind. Yes, Final Fantasy II (and the FF4 GBA version) are classic, great, wonderful games. But nostalgia shouldn't cost this much or require special circumstances to be taken advantage of, in my opinion. Buy the game if you are a collector or have money to burn. But always remember, they can't take our memories away!