Final Fantasy IV (American 2)

THE ONE WITH CECIL. When people ask which Final fantasy this is because of the Japanese/American number confusion, it's easiest to just say, the one with Cecil. As with my other FF reviews I find it is best to start off with a little bit of a disclaimer by saying Final Fantasy is probably my favorite RPG series of all time so my reviews of the FF games are generally biased. Final Fantasy is what got me into RPGs in the first place.

With that out of the way, FF4 is probably the longest and most story driven FF of them all. It's so hard to write a solid review and explain this game without giving away any spoilers but I'll try! In FF4 there is no solid "main cast" - your party is constantly changing depending on what part of the game you're in. This can be a real pain in the ass because it forces you to constantly grind up the new characters you're getting.

All that grinding though can be considered the palette cleanser between the amazing story arcs. FF4 will have you laughing at some parts, crying at others and all out cheering during some parts. This game perfectly encapsulates what a story of an RPG should be. It gets a bit grandiose and abstract towards the end but boy oh boy what a wild ride it is. There were at least 2 times during the game I thought "alright, I have to be getting close to the end now" and the truth was, I was about half way to 3/4 of the way through the game.

The combat system is pretty much exactly what you would expect from a Final Fantasy, there are no fancy jobs or changeable character classes like in FF3 or 5. Whatever class the person is when you get them, they stay that way except for one character. I can't say more because of spoilers.

Overall, I would give FF4 a solid 4/5 making it one of my favorites in the series.