Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy IV was released for Nintendo’s Super Famicom in Japan on July 19, 1991. Square’s role-playing game centers on Cecil Harvey, the dark knight captain of Baron’s Red Wings. After Cecil protests King Baron’s ruthless use of the fleet, he and dragoon Kain Highwind are ordered to carry a ring to Mist. The ring unleashes monsters, destroys the village, and leaves the young summoner Rydia alive. Cecil defies Baron by protecting her, beginning a story about guilt, redemption, and resistance to abusive authority. Rosa Joanna Farrell, a white mage from Baron, joins Cecil after pursuing him across the world. Cecil eventually climbs Mount Ordeals, where he confronts his Dark Knight self and becomes a Paladin. This class change is a major plot event, not simply a combat upgrade. Golbez, the armored antagonist pursuing the world’s elemental Crystals, controls Kain through manipulation and repeatedly turns him against Cecil. The party also includes Cid Pollendina, monk Yang Fang Leiden, bard Edward Chris von Muir, sage Tellah, ninja Edge Geraldine, and twin mages Palom and Porom. Their departures and returns make the party deliberately unstable as the narrative advances. Super Nintendo release arrived in North America in 1991, labeled Final Fantasy II. Later, Cecil and his allies travel to the underground world and then the Moon, where they learn that Golbez is Cecil’s older brother, Theodore Harvey. Both are sons of Kluya, a Lunarian, and Cecilia, a human. The enemy is Zeromus, an embodiment of the hatred left by the Lunarian Zemus. Zeromus is fought after Zemus is defeated. The story’s climax sends the heroes back to the Moon, while Cecil and Rosa return to Baron. Kain chooses to train on Mount Ordeals until he believes he has atoned for his actions. Rydia, Yang, Edge, and others are shown alive there. Final Fantasy IV introduced the Active Time Battle system, which uses gauges to determine when characters and enemies can act. Hiroyuki Ito devised the system, and it became a recurring feature in later Final Fantasy games. Nobuo Uematsu composed the score, including “Theme of Love,” associated with Cecil and Rosa. The game received a 3D Nintendo DS remake in 2007; that version added voice acting and an Augment ability system. A sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, was released for mobile phones in 2008. It is set seventeen years after the original and follows Cecil and Rosa’s son Ceodore.