FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS

Inferior to the PSP Final Fantasy IV Collection or the WiiWare original. The missing challenge dungeons and superbosses are what save a mediocre story with some of the most compelling ATB gameplay in the series and it's just not here.

What is good comes almost entirely from the base game. Mechanically, this offers little, and the lengthy sections where you only have a single party member undercut the main advantages of the combat mechanics. Narratively, this is [i]horribly[/i] paced, and repeats plot points from the original in a cheap and uninteresting way. In many respects, the game tips its hand with one of its first scenes. You watch as a character turns in place, walking in place like they are on a rotating treadmill. It looks ridiculous, happens throughout the story, and never happened in the base game. FF4 offers a strong base to build on, so the sequel still manages to have some satisfying or enjoyable moments. But looking back over the time I invested, I'd rather have spent it playing something else.

I played 1 through 4 prior to this one. FF4 was the remake and it's very simular. It's far from the pixel remasters, even harder than FF2 late game. The first 9 chapters are short, but the 10th chapter will take 20 to 40 hours to complete. It's very long, especially because it loves to drag out the story, making you go to different places that aren't that rewarding which is frustrating. By late game once on the Moon, you have this very long dungeon which is a copy paste of the lunar dungeons in ff4 only then in this last stretch you get to play with Cecil. But at this point this long dungeon connects to a even longer dungeons call the Depths which is a nightmare of game design. Overly difficult battles that happen every 4 steps, bosses that wipe out your party with one attack, doesn't matter if all your party members are over level 60, you need to grind another 8 hours here to just survive their first attack. And if you run out of supplies, guess what buddy. You gotta leave the moon resupply, then walk down these 100 floors with about 3 to 12 encounters on each floor. You'll spend a extra hour to a hour and a half rehiking back to your progression point. The potential in this game was there, but these poor choices for a ending are only for the psychopaths of hardcore gamers to complete. Because I'm throwing up the towel, I can't endure the madness that is "The Depths" if you can, deep respect.

enjoyable classic.

Wish we had a 'meh' vote. I would have skipped this if it wasn't for the IV 3d I also got at same time, and THAT I would have skipped had I known what I bought(I would have got the pixel remaster instead tbh) - This is NOT a bad game... not really, but if u don't really like vast collection of characters with uninteresting stories, that all tie in at the very last hour of game (IE after u finished ALL the stories, THEN the story gets interesting,but only lasts an hour or two at most before it's done...) plus the vast amount of grinding to -not- really see any benefit at endgame, eh.... The mechanics are good, and feel like it could have been pretty epic of it was a fresh NEW game, and less total 'stories' but more debth to each story maybe? But in the way it was presented, I barely had time to even 'get to know' the characters I was traveling with before each journey was finished, and when u get together again, u have already forgotten them(due to the vast collection of NEW uninteresting characters u meet) And this is ignoring the somewhat over-the-top amount of grind u need to get them outfitted... Personally, again, on fence about it, cuz the game design and mechanics are pretty good(Even in 2025) but the writing was weak. IMO does not stand up to the original IV (And i won't even mention the weirdness that was the 3d remake lol) Edit post full game completion (100% Achievements, etc) I have to add only that, even after the additional time spent, I really felt the whole time that I just wanted it to be over. This is the FIRST time (And I hope the last) I have ever felt this in ANY final fantasy game, and I have played ALL of the pre-8 and some of the post 9 ones (And plan to replay many of them) - I cannot change what I said above except maybe to add to it(IE even more grind than I thought, even less interesting characters throughout, etc) - Maybe the non 3d versions are better, idk Anyways, have to say that while I still think its a 'meh' vote (IE if u really like huge casts and want to touch on the nostalgia that u were left with after IV, grab it, but if u dislike EXTREME grind, HUGE casts of forgettable characters, and pretty tepid and boring story, give this one a skip

作为 FF4 的续章，总体是满意的。 剧情演绎做得甚至比本体要好，不仅是因为3D化，还因为本作是分角色章节推进剧情的，多线并进，群像叙事，最后在结局合并成一条线结尾。 玩法上新增了月相系统，月相不同，敌我双方的黑、白魔法效果，近战、投掷武器伤害也不同，部分支线和收集品也会受到影响，增强了游戏的策略性和可玩性。 比较差的部分，就是中后期存在严重注水的流程，如多次往返同一张地图，大量换皮首领战等，拖长游戏时间。还存在暴力移植的问题，如全程锁30帧，易出现闪退等情况。

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is a sequel that sounds good in concept but doesn’t really live up to the original game. The gameplay feels very repetitive. It reuses a lot of systems and ideas from Final Fantasy IV without adding enough new or interesting mechanics to make it feel fresh. The story is also a letdown. While it tries to continue the original’s narrative, it ends up feeling unnecessary and not nearly as impactful. A lot of it comes across as filler rather than a meaningful continuation. Another issue is how much content is reused. Many areas, enemies, and moments feel recycled, which makes the game feel more like an extension rather than a true sequel. Overall, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is a disappointing follow-up that doesn’t capture what made the original great. It’s repetitive, lacks originality, and feels unnecessary. Gameplay: 5/10 Average | Overall: 4/10 Bad

Разговоры о лучшей финалке оставим инфантилам и душнилам, но вот однажды мне стало интересно, а какая тогда худшая? Понятное дело, что критериев и способов оценки очень много, тем более во франшизе есть откровенно слабые (но при этом горячо многими любимые) 4, 9, 13 и 15 части, но опытным путём я выявил главного победителя этой анти-премии. Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (4-2, если угодно) отвратительна во всём. Финалкам в целом не везёт на сиквелы, и только грядущему второму ремейку под силу будет снять это проклятие, но здесь же не игра, а царство абсолютной безвкусицы и самоповтора. Сюжетный сиквельный фансервис до невозможности убог, а геймплей и линейная структура первых эпизодов попросту ужасны, даже статистика достижений наглядно показывает, что игроки бросают игру на 2-3 эпизоде. Посмотреть на повзрослевших героев в теории может быть интересно, но проблема в том, что и оригинальная четвертая часть страдает от хромых проработок персонажей. Отдельный ад этого ремейка (да, это еще и не оригинал, а 3D-версия, которую ранее получили 3 и 4 части) заключается в ачивках. Я знал, на что шёл. Знал, что буду писать эти строки еще пару месяцев назад, и вот мы здесь. Я играл во все номерные части (кроме 16), и могу с уверенностью сказать, что 4-2 — это худшая 1) платная 2) номерная 3) финалка. Играть в это недоразумение никому не рекомендую, разве что если вы решили устроить марафон серии. Говно.