Final Fantasy IV DS Impressions

Troidal of NeoGAF:

I picked it up today for a slight discount.
My initial impressions…

Regarding difficulty
It’s a little bit harder in the sense that the monsters are more aggressive. They cast more spells or use their special abilities more often. Other than that, difficulty is pretty close to the original SFC version where you had to grind a little bit to have weaker party members like Rydia or Edward gain a bit more HPs, then its not as hard as I thought most people were claiming it to be. Btw, I kept the setting as “wait” on level 4. Like in the original, setting it to “active” on level 1 is HARD, so whoever is playing it that way is obviously going to have a very tough time…original or DS version.

Updated graphics and presentation
I appreciate the newly added touches like the thought bubble on each character. The cutscenes definitely give off the usual dramatic presentations the FF series is known for. I still have a hard time liking some of the voice choices they made, Cecil sounds too effiminite versus Cain sounding much older than Cecil when technically they are about the same age.

Why I blame the current market trend
But one can’t help think this remake could even look better if it was on at least the PSP. There isn’t much use in the DS touchpad for this game, so I really don’t see why they had to settle for this handheld when you know PSP can handle better graphics and music with no awful compression you get here. It is clear that they chose the DS because it is the most selling handheld, so I don’t blame S-E or Nintendo, I blame the current market trend. I really can’t help think how much better of a remake it could have been if it was on the PSP…but oh well.

I read some crazy stuff they added in this remake…hardcore players and completists will love it for sure. From I’ve read so far with the decant abilities and other new things they put, it’s overwhelming for someone like me.

I love FFIV and it is one of the game that has a special place in my gaming heart, so I will be pretty tough on criticism of the remake(and praise wherever needs be). But so far, it’s +1 -1 so it’s just about even.