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90 of 92 found the following review helpful:
First Impressions - Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light Oct 07, 2010
By S. Posey
Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light is the most recent installment into the Final Fantasy handheld market. While it's not a full fledge sequel to a numbered Final Fantasy game, it still contains a lot of the little nuances that we have all come to love from the series. Does this game deliver a profound handheld experience on the Nintendo DS or is the cutesy art more at home with a younger crowd? Read on to find out how I felt after a couple hours with the game.
The first thing you may notice when looking at the gameplay for Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light (FF4H from here on out) is that the artwork is very...different. Some may not like it, I know I didn't when I first saw it. I thought it looked a little childish. Don't be put off by it though. For starters, it grows on you and you will learn to appreciate the time and effort the artists no doubt put into making the art. Secondly, it's deceiving. You would think a game with graphics like this would be easy or child friendly. Wow, this couldn't be further from the truth. FF4H is one of the toughest handheld games I have played in a wild. It's not because the game is unfair, it's just old school. If you played Final Fantasy games back in the NES days and Super NES days, you'll know that something exists called "grinding." Grinding is the art of killing enemy after enemy with no direction only to gain levels. This is something you absolutely must do in this game and do it a lot you will.
The game begins with no tutorial. You wake up in your house as a 14 year old boy name Brandt (you can change the name) and are instructed to go to the castle to present yourself to the king, since today is your birthday and it's the day you become a man in the Kingdom's eyes. After making your way to the castle, you find out the princess was stolen by a witch and you much track her down and rescue her. With a sword and a smile, you set off to her lair to reclaim the princess for the King. And with that, the story begins. You are given a general direction to go and the lair isn't hard to find, but after your first fight you'll realize the game doesn't F' around.
The fights are tough and require you to constantly have a fresh supply of potions. Unlike in previous games though you can only carry 15 items on any character at any given time. With 4 max controllable characters, each with their own set of armor that counts as a spot, a weapon, accessory, and non stackable items...this becomes a bit of a meta-game. You are going to constantly be checking your inventory to make sure you only have the bare necessities for survival. You can drop off extra items at a range of "shops" across the land that hold your excess items. Think of these as ATMs for your items.
Fights are actually handled a little different as well in FF4H. Instead of mana, you are given 5 AP orbs. You begin with 1 filled in the beginning of the game and each turn you take awards you one more. Basic attacks use up 1 AP orb while magic usually takes 2. If you only have one orb and want to use magic, you can use the boost option which will give you an extra AP (along with the AP you get from the end of a turn) to give you 3 for the next turn. It sounds a lot more confusing than it is so if you are getting hung up on this don't. It's no biggie. The next way it's different is that you can't pick who to fight. You hit attack and the computer automatically picks an enemy to attack. It's a little odd that this happens but it speeds things up a bit and the computer usually does a good job of prioritizing enemies. This really helps with grinding too since you can just keep spamming attack and not worry about who to hit...the game will do that for you. The system is new, but it's not bad. It just takes a little time to get used to it.
One of the main new additions to the game is the way the game handles jobs. Instead of picking a class (like a thief, mage, etc.) you pick hats that you acquire over the course of the game. You begin with no hats but after defeating the witch you get your first. Each hat grants powers and stat benefits and can be upgraded using gems you find off of enemies. Think of the hats as a way to change your party on the go without having to go back to a town. You always have the hats on you and switching is as easy as going into a menu. As you upgrade, new abilities become available, but they aren't shared with other members. Each hat for each person must be upgraded separately. From what I can see, the system works fine with the non transferable upgrades being the only issue I have. But, it makes sense though. The person who is your white mage will probably also be your other magic classes in order to keep the equipment with one magic user. Switching to the warrior class doesn't make much sense since they don't have the weapons or armor.
The game is old school in style and technique and as such random battles are the norm. These used to be all we had back in the day so if you are like me and got spoiled by seeing enemies on the battlefield, you might be taken back by this. It's not so bad though and you'll be in your groove in no time.
The graphics, as mentioned earlier, is something that you will either like or not like. Hell, you may be like me and hate it to begin with but grow accustomed to it and even begin to appreciate it. The graphics are pretty good too for a DS game. Don't let this be a reason you don't try the game out if RPGs are your thing.
The only gripe with the game so far would be the difficulty. At times, it's frustratingly hard. The first boss I came to (the aforementioned witch) kicked my butt in a couple hits and sent me back to the town. I killed her the next time I saw her because I was better prepared and used fire spells, but I was taught a lesson...the game won't hold your hand. Another gripe is that the game never tells you where you need to go. This got so bad that I had to go out the next night after getting the game and buy the strategy guide. Remembering back to my youth and playing FF1 on the NES, I had my mother there to help me - holding a Nintendo Power as I traversed the world map. In almost the same fashion, here I am today with the TV of old now in the palm of my hands and that old Nintendo power held by my mom a strategy guide resting on my dog's back as he begs for attention.
Final thoughts on the game - if you are an RPG fan at heart and love a challenge and don't mind grinding, you'll really appreciate this game. It's a little short in the story department so far but most of these types of games are. They are meant to be simplistic. If, on the other hand, you don't like tough games or spending a lot of time grinding to increase your level to just survive the next boss battle, look elsewhere, because you will find a less than forgiving game in Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Amazing Game, it really stirs my imagination Oct 20, 2010
By MegaMagicalMegan
I LOVE THIS GAME
I've only played it 3 or 4 times since I bought it, but each time it is a treat, and I just sink down into wherever I am sitting and get whisked away to a magical world of fantasy <3
There is so much freedom! Even though you're on a path and in a story, you can go wherever you want, whenever you want. I love going back and forth and everywhere that -I- want to go and when I want to do it. I can spend as long as I want doing things, and it really does feel like I'm in charge of my own adventure. :)
Everything about this game is so inspiring to me. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite games.
The music in this game stirs my brain and pokes at it in such an interesting way. It's really enjoyable and I always find myself humming the tunes when I'm doing other things in real life, and I even wrote some fan-made lyrics to the main theme. It's a great soundtrack. It's not IN YOUR FACE memorable but it certainly is lovely.
The graphics are so whimsical, they inspire me just as much as the music does. I think they work together very well. At night when I'm going to sleep I almost feel like I'm in that world... it's amazing.
I COMPLETELY RECOMMEND THIS GAME TO ANYONE WHO ENJOYS A GOOD, ENGAGING AND INVOLVING STORY-QUEST :)
I suppose you should enjoy RPG's, Leveling up and customizing your characters, surprises, making your own way in the world instead of being led by the hand, and you should have an open mind. It's a terrific game, given the chance. <3
16 of 18 found the following review helpful:
Definitely a worthy addition to the FF DS Games! Oct 24, 2010
By J. Ouderkirk
This is actually a pretty well done game.
Pros:
Unique Art Style - I found it to be highly enjoyable, even if their heads are boulders!
Music - Naoshi Mizuta continues to impress me with his fantastic music. Please be a composer for FFXV!
Crown System - Can change your class at the drop of a hat
Challenging - Don't let the art style fool you. This is a game for people who like a challenge. I personally got stuck on several bosses for quite a few hours. Good luck in the final dungeon folks!
Turn Based Battle System + Towns + Old School = WINNNN!!!
Cons:
Story - It's very basic. If you ever played any of the original FF games like I-III. Then expect something like that because your not going to find something amazing. However I personally would rank the story in this game as better than any of those.
Crown System Style - I thought it was slightly annoying that each character had to use gems (which are pretty scarce sometimes) to gain new abilities for the classes. I suppose I was hoping that it was universal for all characters.
Anyways, great game! Pick it up!
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Different final fantasy. Oct 18, 2010
By Kurt Brobst
"game expert"
It's a challange game. It makes you have to think about strategy more then ever. There is no MP. Magic, regular, and abilitie attacks are all based off AP(Action Power). You only can have up to 5. If your low, you must use boost which then means you use a turn. Also you can't choose which enemie to attack. It's random. I would buy this game if you want a challange.
45 of 59 found the following review helpful:
 What a disappointment Oct 30, 2010
By stiksNstonz
Graphics: 4 out of 5
Story: 1 out of 5
Gameplay: 1 out of 5
Music: 4 out of 5
Overall: 2 out of 5.
Surely you've heard the talk of this game being somewhat oldschool. It is, but not in a good way.
1. The characters are generic, trite, stereotypical RPG vanillas.
2. The plot is barely there, just enough to move the game along. A staple of oldschool RPGs, which I don't happen to miss. I like my RPGs to make characters and stories I care about. Not just fill in to get me from fight to fight.
3. I'll agree with other players in that the direction in the game is sorely lacking. At times, it's easy to be lost and have no clue where to go. You're left having to talk to each and every NPC, sometimes with different characters (or in different forms), along with traversing back and forth to different towns to accomplish this task.... just to find a miniscule hint where to go. Hello, oldschool staple! Can't say I'm happy to see you again!
4. The fighting system actually wasn't bad. I really liked the idea of eliminating Magic Points. This along with class choices allows you to actually USE your magicks routinely (as it should be with caster classes) without conservation fears. Limiting the character to 6 "ability" slots doesn't allow this system to fall out of balance. Attaching the spells to books that the character carries (thereby allowing you to use spells on any class, but choosing proper caster classes allow easier/effective use) wasn't a bad touch either.
Although this is turned into a major inconvenience by my next point.....
5. Your inventory is limited to 15 slots per character. Between armors/weapons/accessories... and 3-4 spell books (having to be carried) it really causes major problems of frustration in the game. I don't mind the limit per se, I mean carrying 99 potions is nonsense anyways (who's carrying the massive backpack for that? while fighting). But it causes MUCH backtracking in certain areas, particularly dealing in boss fights. Why?---- see my next point.
6. Boss fights in this game aren't difficult due to intelligence. They are flat out cheap. Another staple of "oldschool" that nobody missed.
Due to the limitations of inventory (mentioned above), you simply can't carry all the armor/weapons (with proper elemental affinities required) to be prepared for what's needed to win against a particular boss. Though you get save points right before most bosses, it doesn't help if you find yourself without the NECESSARY equipment (because it's back in town in your STORAGE). You'll have to traverse ALLLLL the way back to town, often out of a dungeon and across the world map, to get the right gear. AFTER having been thunderstomped in 3 rounds by some ridiculous boss abilities because you didn't have the proper resistance gear equipped.
It's not "challenging" in the least. It's cheap. And frustrating. And time consuming in a way that doesn't equate "fun" and so seems even more annoying.
Once you have the proper resistance gear, or have the proper spell books (out of your STORAGE because you don't have room to carry every elemental spell, up to 3 levels, for that Black Mage of yours), or proper weapon (hope you didn't guess wrong when you left out of town).... you'll have a ridiculously easy fight. Put on your ice resistance shields and laugh at the Ice Dragon.
But it ends up feeling less like you outwitted and intelligently strategized abilities and class choices in a magnificent stroke of Machiavellian brilliance to defeat your brilliant boss opponent, and more like you found the ace-card and turned a fight that was intentionally unbeatable any other way into a cheap time-wasting fight. Again, yet another "oldschool" staple that was never sorely missed.
At the end of the day, I can't say anything other than I was truly disappointed in this game. My first RPG was FF1 on the NES. While it was definitely oldschool (in bad ways as well as good), I have much fonder memories of it than I do of this game. I was excited to buy this game and it let me down in all the crucial points except the battle/job system.
If you're truly jonesing for some oldschool flavor, with newschool polish--- try Etrian Odyssey 3.
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