Final Fantasy IV One Of The Greatest Games
Gamespot's series of "The Greatest Games of All Time" rolls on with a look at Final Fantasy IV. Dubbed Final Fantasy II in the states, it was easily one of the best games to be released for the SNES. From the article: "The narrative in Final Fantasy II gripped you and shook you like a rag doll right from the beginning of the game. Your introduction to the protagonist, Cecil, took place on the deck of a military airship that had been ordered to extort a magic crystal from an innocent town (not a very heroic vocation). After his complicity in this war crime, the conscience-wracked Cecil was dismissed from the military and sent on an errand to a nearby town, along with his best friend Kain. Using generic archetypes for characters (like Final Fantasy's White, Black, and Red Mages, for instance) was standard operating procedure in RPGs at the time, but Final Fantasy II went off on a far more interesting tangent."
"Apparently a slow news day in the Games section."
Aren't they all
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Final Fantasy IV (II) a pioneer in featuring moral dilemmas and character development? Don't make me laugh. Try Ultima IV, perhaps, which did it all half a decade earlier in 1985.
Hallelujah.
After you returned to Midgar and more or less destroyed Shinra, the story pretty much 'stopped'. The only story left was going to the North Crater and killing/stopping Sephiroth. Everything else was optional bosses (Emerald, Ruby and Ultimate Weapons), mini-games (Chocobo Breeding, need I say more?) or last minute 'collect'em all' items (all the Enemy Skill attacks, Forgotten Summon materia, etc).