And while easy to use, the auto-battle system was thrown out in a matter of hours, since I found I needed exact control over my party to pull off the moves I knew we needed to survive.

The dungeon map system helps a tremendous amount, though it also had me wanting to stick around in caves rather than making mad dashes out of them. The days of “two step random battles” seem to be gone, and rather than being difficult because it’s overwhelming, it proved to be a tough game based on the strategic element of it all. Interestingly enough though, the game isn’t frustratingly hard like previous Final Fantasy games have been on other platforms.

Once things start to move along story-wise, however, things get very difficult, and FFIV quickly turns into a game designed specifically for the hardest of hardcore gamers. The game is a bit more manageable during the opening hours as you get familiar with the new auto-battle system, the ability to check maps during dungeon crawling, and rip through the opening chapters of the story with Cecil and Kain both at the ready. If you’ll remember - or care to check out - I actually called this version easier all-around during my last preview with the game, though that was a big mistake in hindsight. FINAL FANTASY IV (3D Remake)įinal Fantasy IV is hard on the DS, and any indication that it wasn’t was quickly thrown out within the first two hours of play this time around. I went into Final Fantasy IV with faint but pleasant memories of the original, having played it just briefly on Super NES and then again on GBA just a few years back, but it wasn’t until I had a chance to see Cecil and Kain in motion (and beautiful 3D) that I really felt like the Final Fantasy world truly opened up in IV. What you don’t know about yet, however, is how the game stacks up to previous versions, other DS offerings, and just how worth your cash this premium-priced $40 DS game is. It’s Final Fantasy IV you know what you’re getting. FFIV has been around for quite a while, spanning virtually any system you’d care to play it on, so I’m not going to spend time going into what the game’s about, or why you should care.

Final fantasy 4