Final Fantasy IV Advance (GBA)

[GamerDad]

Cary Woodham's Final Fantasy IV Advance (GBA) article - http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=2901

[txa1265]

This is probably the first time I'd actually say I disagree somewhat with you ... and I tend to think that it may be because of the reverence you have for the original.

Being a non-console person, my first Final Fantasy game was I&II last year (wrote a review that tried to include myself and my son but Bub said it was a complete mess and then the site launch and ... ), which I found to be solid and loads of fun, but which wasn't as good as either Golden Sun game.

I played many hours of FF IV after having completed Legend of Heroes on the PSP, and while I don't care much about the graphics, it is the gameplay - particularly the random encounters - that really bugged me. I felt like it was a good game connected by loads and loads of unavoidable annoyances. And I like the battle system!

I had to leave the game behind despite it being good *because* I was starting to resent the random battles.

So as a remake it probably is pretty good, but the new game design choices in the same genre make this feel glaringly dated to me, and I don't love it as I expected.

Mike

[Klonoa]

All the RPGs I grew up with had random encounters like that, so I guess I'm used to it. At least it's not as bad as say, Tales of Destiny. Every third step was a battle.

Well, -I- like FF4 Advance anyway. I beat the game and am doing the extra dungeon stuff which is really fun! But I'm taking a break for a while so I can beat Phoenix Wright. Jeff has been asking to play Phoenix for a while so I need to finish it first before letting him take off with it. --Cary

[txa1265]

All the RPGs I grew up with had random encounters like that, so I guess I'm used to it.

I'm new to the jRPG genre ... I have always preferred 'western' RPG's, but have adapted to jRPG's because that is pretty much all that you can get on a handheld ... heck, I bought my first platformer last month!

Well, -I- like FF4 Advance anyway. I beat the game and am doing the extra dungeon stuff which is really fun!

Which is why I said "I don't love it as I expected. " It isn't that I don't like it, but FF I&II I would say that I *loved* ... sure Golden Sun is better, but I had so much fun, and there were so many cool things about it, that FFIV was a natural buy for me and I expected to completely love it.

The extra stuff in FF I &II was awesome ... I hope that it was just a matter of playing Lunar DS -> Lost In Blue ->Kingdom of Paradise -> Legend of heroes and then into FF IV and being burnt ... I plan to get back to FF IV and hope that it hits me in the right spot. Of course, while it is still in my DS, my ability to play anything *but* Animal Crossing in the DS is pretty much nil.

Mike

[Klonoa]

Hey I don't know if this is any big deal or anything, but on the front page of GameRankings.com they have FF4 Advance up there and when they listed a few places that had reviews, they referenced GamerDad. I know they list our reviews on the game pages lists, but I've never seen it on the front page before. Sorry if it's old or dumb news, I just thought it was interesting and kinda neat. --Cary

[txa1265]

On 12/12/2005 the Game Boy Advance received a new game from Nintendo titled Final Fantasy IV Advance. Since then 23 sites and magazines have reviewed it including eToychest, Gamerz Edge, GamerDad and Lawrence. Together their reviews have resulted in an average ratio of 87.3%. That ratio has resulted in this title becoming the 335th best game of all time and the 21st best game on the Game Boy Advance.

Hadn't seen that ... I don't know what other games we've been referenced on either.

Mike

[GamerDad]

They've been very good to us and I appreciate it a great deal. Thanks Cary, that is really cool!