Final Fantasy Quest - A Miniseries of Repetition

With the -Interlude- is out of  the way, I could then focus on the meatier Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. Originally released on mobile phones, then WiiWare, and finally in the PSP collection of Final Fantasy IV, it is a series of episodes/tales that follow various characters from FFIV including favorites such as Cecil and Rydia, and new characters, like Cecil's son Ceodore, and the wonderful secretary Harley.

I started my first attempt on Dolphin emulator, only to be stopped by lag and a tough boss a fair bit in to the game (having completed almost all of the tales available). Now I've finally taken the plunge on the PSP version (via OpenEmu) and restarted at the beginning.

The opening is fairly straight-forward, playing as Cecil, Rosa and Cid. Later, the party becomes centered around Ceodore and his journey to becoming a Red Wing (like his father before him). Chaos ensues, and he ends up travelling with a mysterious Hooded Man. Because the HM is a strong attacker, and Ceodore has decent white magic abilities, playing this section is not too difficult. In fact, over the course of a few hours spent grinding (while watching various Twitch streams and YT videos) I managed to get both of them to the max level available (here, lv. 50).

I just started the next tale, involving Rydia, Luca (a dwarf princess) and the two living dolls, Calca and Brina. It was decidedly more difficult, since Luca and the one doll were weak physical attackers, and Rydia and the other doll were mushy mages. Getting through (or even just getting ready to get through) the dungeons for them proved time-consuming. (There is an auto-battle feature, which made the process faster with Ceodore and co, and better with Rydia and co.)

Thankfully, the next tale features Yang, a decidedly physically strong character.

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Image source: finalfantasy.wikia.com

Final Fantasy Quest - And Then the Wall Attacked ... Again

After months (years even) of delaying, I've finally started back into my long-delayed Final Fantasy marathon. I think I've been prompted by the excellent rhythm game, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call. And now since my PS4 is working again, I can actually get to the most recent entry too!

I had previously started playing Final Fantasy IV: The After Years via Dolphin, using the WiiWare version. However, it suffered from performance issues in certain parts (namely, whenever the "mysterious girl" showed up.) I managed to get a good bit done, but put it aside when I got stuck on a particular boss fight.

I didn't want to try the PSP version because I wanted to get as close to the original as possible. However, after seeing the PSP version of FFIV in a marathon, I decided to take the risk.

This time, I started with the later "installment" in the FFIV series, Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-. Coming off of my time with The After Years (TAY), I knew about what I was getting into - some plot rehash, revisiting old places, and maybe a few new actual developments. (Apologies for no pictures, by the time I thought to take screenshots, I was already done. However, I still have TAY to go!)

And what do you know, I was right? The story linked FFIV to TAY, but didn't really go anywhere in and of itself. Rosa "got sick" again, we explored a few familiar locations again, certain characters were useless again. It did show certain main character's children coming to be, such as Yang's daughter Ursula, and the announcement of Cecil and Rosa's kid (only at the very end.)

As it is shorter, the repeated events are not as obvious - the big example being the demon wall fought in the sealed cave (hence my title). Players are only allowed to go to certain areas, and the airships are even controlled by the AI to ensure this. Because of this, it feels chained to the events of the original game in a repetitive way, new characters and events notwithstanding.

Overall, a pretty short run, mostly satisfying for someone who's a strong fan of Final Fantasy and/or FFIV in particular. Nothing ground-breaking happens. It's definitely a just a bonus treat in the Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection.

(And it showed "Secretary-in-Training" Harley at King Edward, so it can't be all bad.)