Well this is my first review(s), so please take it easy on me ;p
Well, I downloaded this game yesterday day, and got a good 3 hours into it. I know It is not nearly enough time to write a full review on it at once, but I figured I would make them in installments as I kept playing. So here is my first 3 hours review!
Also Note, I never played the original on nes (or Snes), but I played the gameboy version and own the DS remake. I loved the gameplay, the story, and the awe of the original. So I couldn't wait to pay 800 wii points to get the longly awaited sequel!
Ok, Let me explain how the gameplay works to the people who never played the original one before... Well First off, you can control up to 5 characters at once, each have a diffrent class (Black mages, White Mages (Healers), Knights, Dragoon (A glorified spearman who can jump at great heights) and Summoners who can summon Powerfull monsters to fight in a battle, plus many more classes!). The battle real time, time based combat (Sorta like turn base like on Pokemon for example, but depending how fast your unit is, decides how many blows you can land before the other). Enemy Monsters attack you as you walk randomly (Using Pokemon as an example again, like when you walk through tall grass).
The story is based that your party keeps losing characters, and getting new ones. One moment you may just have a physical brute knight, but you may get a black mage later to kill many enemies at once with powerful spells. Also, there is a really good story, it will hook you, and keep you playing regardless of how many dungens you have to claw through to reach the conclusions.
In the original, a Black Knight from Baron (A Powerfull kingdom) is sent out to capture energy crystals from other kingdoms, and kill anyone in his way. Afterwards Cecil the black knight realises his be-love king is corrupted and flees. He meets up with many people, a summoner name rydia, and Kain his old friend a dragoon joins him, even a sad barb who lost his love in a attack from Baron joins him. Soon after taking a long physical and mental journey, Cecil cleanses himself from the darkness and become a white Paladin. After many plot twist and party members, he reaches the evil Black Lord Golbez, who has been ripping the land to shreds, and collecting the crystals to power a road to the moon. It turns out Golbez is Cecil's brother, and Cecil and Golbez are half aliens of the moon, and a evil Lunarian name Zeromus (a alien) was controlling Golbez. So Golbez is now a good guy, and they go up to the moon and own Zeromus and save the world. Cecil gets married to Rosa (a white mage) and become the new king & Queen of baron. Golbez stays on the moon, and moves it away from the planet (The planet had two moons, but he moved the other foreign one far away). And that's how it ends basically.
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Ok, Now the new people are up to date with gameplay and story of first one, now I'll take about
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years...
The beginning story has some Real big plot twist, but I am only 3 hours into the first chapter, so nothing that would ruin the plot for you at all!
The Second moon is back, and monsters have once again gone aggressive. Ceodore, Cecil's and Rosa's son is in the middle of training to become a Red Wing of baron (Basically the air force of Baron, but instead with airships) when things go bad back in Baron. Monsters are invading lead by a mysteries summoner who is in control of Behumont (The God of all monsters, the best summon).
Combat works the same, if you played a original version, you will pick it right up. The Map, dungens, and baddies are all back, but there are many new dungens, Monsters and characters two!
Here is a basic overview how much i got done in 3 hours!
-Went in dungen at Mythil Island (yes, the dungeon order is WAY diffrent then in last game)
-Played as Ceodore,Captin Biggs (Soilder), and Wedge (Soilder)
-After fought monsters in Baron
-Played as Cecil, Rosa and Cid!
-back to Ceodores story (you keep jumping between diffrent stories, keeps the plot fresh)
-A "Mysterious hooded knight" joins you (My guess it is the Barb Edward)
-A Black mage, and White mage Joins you
-You go through the "devils road"
- I want to talk about the devils road in more detail. Fr newbies it is the magical road that connects Baron to another Kingdom. In first game, you just teloport, in this game, there is a new dungen connecting the two doorways you have to go through. This is my ONLY HUGE problem with the game, as this dungen is %100 unfair. It is a teloporting dungen, you will Be faced with two teloporters, one will bring you foreward in the dungen, one will bring you back to the START OF THE MAZE! It's %100 percent guessing, and you have to do this about 20 times in a row correctly in order to move on! In the middle of all of this, random battles, no save point, and hurting UNAVOIDABLE lava will cut your HP and MP down to almost nothing! If you are lucky, you may not find this too hard!
-The Kingdom Barons Door is shut, by mindless guards who don't let you in, even though you are a prince "Ring a bell?"
-You have to take the hiddon path and dungen from Baron's Town to sneak in the castle via back way "Ring another bell?"
-Everyone is mindless, including king Cecil "RING RING RING!"
Besides, the new players, new (very good) story, and new dungens, this game is very close to the origanal, but diffrent enough to keep you hooked. You are not buying a rehashed game, you are buying a sequel!
TWO BIG differences in combat is the moon and "bands"
Moon- There are four phases of the moon that changes as you sleep. Each phase effects you Black magic, white magic, and physical attacks. A full moon cuts attacks in half, but makes black magic Double! Half of the right moon means Attacks are doubled, and white magic is cut! You can use this to your advanted, or get screwed with it as well!
Bands- basically combo attacks. You pick two or more people (Lets say two knights) and "band" two of their moves together ("band" both knights "attack" command), and you will either fail if they aren't compatible, or you will land a powerful combo (Knights combo attacks all baddies, and does LOTs of damage to all of them). My guess later in the game bands will get more complex and more powerfull!
ALSO NOTE: The game description says it is just one player, but what I am seeing in the settings option, you can assign a player a character during battle! Lets say we are in a heated battle, and I need to focus on Cecil's, and Rosa's heeling moves, I could give player 2,3, or 4 my other party members to use! So my friend can be using Rydia, as I use just Cecil! Something like that! I will test it out later today! Looks cool though!
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This is the end of part one! I typed allot more then I thought I would have, so I'll wait until I complete the chapter to keep writing! I still have to see the download play!
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