THE PLOT:
A second moon has appeared in the sky, and monster attacks have suddenly increased all over the planet. King Cecil marshals his troops to defend Baron Castle.
When Cecil's son, Ceodore, returns from training with the Red Wings, all initially seems well. The town is at peace. Soldiers are barring entry to the castle - but surely that's just a security precaution. Until he and a mysterious Hooded Man (whose identity is instantly guessable, by the way) sneak into the grounds and receive an audience with Cecil, who is behaving extremely strangely. Ceodore flees the castle at the Hooded Man's urging, and it isn't long before they are being pursued.
Meanwhile, Cecil's old companions investigate the reappearance of the moon from their own kingdoms. As Baron's Red Wings attack, once again seeking to gather the crystals, the old friends gradually gather together. Will they be in time to rescue Cecil from his apparent possession? What is the purpose of the crystals? And who is the nameless, unspeakably powerful little girl they keep encountering?
CHARACTERS:
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is presented episodically, with each main character receiving a spotlight "episode" that takes 2 - 3 hours to play. As a result, some characters who weren't very interesting in Final Fantasy IV get stronger material here. Palom and Porom were amusing but two-dimensional in the original; both come across much better here, with Palom's personality shining particularly strongly in both of their episodes. Edward is more likable and proactive than in the original game. Edge is still irritating... but his episode ends up being arguably the game's best, as it effectively stitches the different perspectives together to strong effect.
Kain and Rydia, who were among the strongest characters of Final Fantasy IV are... again among the strongest characters, with the story often putting them at the forefront. The new characters, however, are a mixed lot. Ceodore barely has a personality, with it seeming that we're meant to care about him simply because he's Cecil's son. Rydia's friend, the dwarf princess Luca, is similarly bland. However, Palom's student, Leonora, emerges as an enjoyable foil for the arrogant mage, while Edge's students all emerge as more likable characters than Edge himself.
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| Who is the Mysterious Girl? |
GAMEPLAY:
The game heavily reuses the assets of Final Fantasy IV, so it's little surprise that the gameplay is near-identical. The only major exceptions are some curveballs thrown into the combat. The effectiveness of physical and magical abilities are now linked to phases of the moon. In one phase, attacks are cut in half while spells are more effective; the reverse is true in another phase. In theory, this should force players to mix and match attack styles. In practice, it makes no real difference; your most effective attacks will remain so in almost all situations. During an unfavorable lunar phase, it may just take an extra couple of turns to topple a baddie.
More significant is the ability of characters with close connections to perform "band attacks." Initially, there is minimal cause to use these; indeed, for the first half of the game, very few such attacks are even available. But later, when clearing challenge dungeons - and most particularly, when facing the myriad of bosses populating the final dungeon - success will hinge on effective use of these (hint: Kain + Ceodore, particularly once "Double Jump" becomes available. Even most bosses will be demolished within a couple turns).
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| Cecil turns against his former allies! |
THOUGHTS:
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is a divisive game. Some fans and reviewers praised it for its nostalgia value and for its storyline, which both follows up and expands upon Final Fantasy IV's lore and characters. Others savaged it for its wholesale reuse of the earlier game's assets, and for the many ways in which its plot retreads ground more effectively broken by its predecessor. Lampshading these similarities by having characters intone, "This is just like before" doesn't exactly negate the criticism.
The similarities don't particularly bother me, though, as the story moves sufficiently in its own direction to be interesting in its own right. I also enjoyed the episodic presentation. The alternating viewpoints are reasonably effective, particularly when events in one episode overlap with those in another, allowing the player to gradually piece the whole thing together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Several episodes are also individually engaging: notably Palom's Tale, Edward's Tale, and Edge's Tale.
Unfortunately, there are a handful of misjudged elements. The game opens with arguably its two weakest "Tales." Ceodore's story does its job as an opener, introducing the second moon and the changes in Baron. However, Ceodore himself is such an unengaging protagonist that it's difficult to become invested. This is followed by Rydia's Tale, which is even worse. Despite Rydia herself being a well-drawn character, the story degenerates into a prolonged dungeon crawl, with little of interest occurring until the mini-story is almost over.
The remaining tales are increasingly more enjoyable. As I played, my issues with the initial chapters gradually faded into the back of my mind. But The After Years saves the worst for last...
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| Yang and Edward go sailing, as their episodes briefly overlap. |
THE FINAL DUNGEON::
The characters travel to the heart of the villain's lair. A classic setup for a finale; and for its first third, this final trek does a good job of balancing character and story material against combat and exploration. The bosses that are encountered are often character-specific, encouraging you to mix and match party members to get the most interesting interactions out of these, and save points are sprinkled regularly throughout so that you aren't locked into making play sessions longer than you'd like.
So what's the problem? Bluntly - Length. The final dungeon is divided into three distinct areas, making up more than 40 floors total! That is an awful lot of dungeon crawling, and it's fair to say that it becomes tedious and even oppressive long before the end.
In the latter stages, having run out of Final Fantasy IV-related bosses, the developers try to appeal to general nostalgia by having Cecil, Ceodore, and company face off against bosses from other Final Fantasies. This leads to a tedious cycle: You crawl through the dungeon until you find a boss (represented by a crystal). The boss reveals itself as someone from a different, unrelated Final Fantasy game. You fight and defeat the boss, at which point the nonplussed characters will make a few comments indicating how bizarre that was. Rinse and repeat... a whole lot of times.
Eventually, the party makes it through the interminable Depths (literally - the second, 29-floor area is called "The Depths"), and the plot finally reasserts itself. At this point, the game becomes interesting again, delivering reasonably satisfactory answers and an enjoyable final fight. But far too much patience is required to reach this point. Had I not been playing the game with this review in mind, I would likely have abandoned ship about midway through the dungeon and just watched the ending on YouTube.
Cut the final dungeon in half, and I would rate The After Years as a generally positive "6." But this last stretch is so tedious and downright irritating, it undercuts a lot of good material that came before. As a result, I can only rate this dead center of the scale. There's enough that's good that it's worth a run for Final Fantasy fans... but too much is poorly judged for it to be worthwhile for general gamers.
Overall Rating: 5/10.
Preceded by: Final Fantasy IV - Interlude
Previous Main Series Game: Final Fantasy IV
Next Main Series Game: Final Fantasy V
Previous Release: Final Fantasy Tactics A2 - Grimoire of the Rift (not yet reviewed)
Next Release: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - My Life as a King (not yet reviewed)
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