The brightest representative of Asian creative thought. The game Final Fantasy 4 is the brainchild of the Japanese company Square, released on July 19, 1991. It is a classic role-playing strategy. The fourth part is available for platforms such as: SuperNintendo System Entertainment, Sony PlayStation, GameBoy and WonderSwan, and already in 2007 it was reissued for the new generation of consoles. It’s hard to believe, but the game is over twenty years old. "Last Fantasy" made a breakthrough, which made it a cult for the entire world igroprom. Based on the game in Japan, a novel was even released, divided into two volumes. No game exhibition is complete without at least one cosplay of the cult game.
Plot
All actions take place in an alternative fantasy universe with sci-fi attributes. In the world of Final Fantasy 4, the secrets of magic and sorcery are available to everyone. The game tells the story of Cecil - the dark knight fighting the great evil presented in the image of the terrible sorcerer Golbez. The wizard tries to subjugate the whole world with the help of ancient crystals. In his travels, the hero meets many companions, who subsequently leave, and sometimes die at the hands of the minions of evil.
During the passage of Final Fantasy 4, the player is given the opportunity to test 12 heroes. All of them have unique characters, a gaming profession and are worked out to the smallest detail. At the center of the story is a dark knight named Cecil Harvey. He acts as the leader of the elite military unit Red Wings, subordinate to the kingdom of Baron. Cecil fulfills the orders of the king, travels the world.
History
The story begins with the attack of the detachment of the main character Misidia, with the aim of capturing the Crystal of water. Having completed the mission, Harvey Cecil wants to understand why the king is conducting such an aggressive and bloody attack.
King Baron enrages and lowers the knight in rank, sends him on a new mission. The hero was supposed to deliver a parcel to a small village on the edge of the Empire. Together with his old comrade Cain, he arrives at his destination, but suddenly a huge fiery demon breaks out of the parcel and destroys the village. Of the locals, only the sorceress Ridia survived. In a fit of anger, she creates an earthquake that separates two friends. After awakening, the main character rescues Reedia from the soldiers of the king.
At the same time with these events, it turns out that Rosa, Cecil's beloved, went after him and fell ill with a fever. On the way to the main character there is a sorcerer looking for his daughter Anna, but she died during the siege of Damzian Castle. The cause of the battle was the crystal of fire needed by the sorcerer Golbez to complete his terrible plans to destroy all of humanity. The hero finds a way to heal the Rose and, with a new team, sets off to defend the Wind Crystal. On the way they come across a detachment of "Red Wings." This time it includes Cecil's friend Cain, who defeats the main character and takes the artifact, and the wizard Golbez kidnaps Rosa. Heroes begin the battle with the sea monster.
In order to defeat the sorcerer, the main character goes to the mountain of Repentance. Having performed the ritual, he turns from a dark knight into a holy paladin. On the way, he meets the twin brothers Panor and Palor, as well as the old sorceress Tella, who is looking for the Meteor formula - spells with which you can defeat the main antagonist. All residents of the capital fall under the spell, and the villain has replaced the king with a terrible monster. In the battle with the minions of the sorcerer, the heroes retreat to the airship. On it, Cain invites Cecil to issue an earthen crystal in exchange for the hostage's life. Nothing remains for the hero. Golbez receives an artifact and tries to leave, but by sacrificing his life, Tell injures the sorcerer Meteor and Cain gets out of control. He tells the team about the real goals of the enemy - Golbez collects crystals to unite the Moon with the Earth. A battle ensues, during which the sorcerer regains control of Cain. The paladin and his allies manage to climb the ship to the moon. There, sage Fusoya explains that the wizard is controlled by Zemus, a resident of the moon.
At the same time, we learn about the ancestors of Cecil - he is a descendant of the ancient lunar clan, and Golbez is his elder brother. Heroes defeat Zemus. The passage of Final Fantasy 4 ends with a scene in which Cecil and Rosa become rulers of the kingdom of Baron.
Development
The creator of the original plot of the game, as in the previous parts, was the game designer Siranobu Takaguchi. He was involved in the concept of the game, and Square Enix was already developing graphics and gameplay in Tokyo. The work was in constant tension, as the author himself noted, but it paid off. It turned out that the fourth “Last Fantasy” gathered the best features of the previous ones.
Localization
The game was published in many countries, in some places the fourth part was the first in a series. For example, in the USA for a long time it was numbered second, since the first two parts were not produced there. Unfortunately, it was not possible to try the passage of Final Fantasy 4 in Russian in 1991 - the game did not officially appear in Russia.
Updates
There are so many reprints, remakes and mods for the game. This is both official and amateur graphics and interface updates. So in March 1997, it became possible to complete Final Fantasy 4 on the Playstation platform. The game was included in the collection collection along with the fifth and sixth parts. By the twentieth anniversary of the series in 2007, a re-release with 3D graphics for the Nintendo DS console was released.
The sequel to "Final Fantasy 4"
In 2008, a sequel appeared under the name TheAfterYears. The plot tells of events that occur seventeen years later. The main character is Seodora, a descendant of Cecil. Together with the heroes of the past, he fights with another villain who also wants to destroy humanity. An interesting innovation is the connection of the gameplay with the phases of the moon in the real world. The sequel has been available for the Nintendo WiiWare console since 2009 and the PSP since 2011.