Moon Unit Alpha and Moon Unit Zappa

At our recent visit to Square Enix, we were able to get our hands on Final Fantasy IV for the Nintendo DS. As a huge fan of the original game, it was wonderful to see the game and to hear the English voice acting. There is not much else we can say about the English version at this time, but, thankfully, I was able to import a copy of the Japanese version.

The game starts off on the airship as Cecil and the Red Wings are returning from their invasion of Mysidia. Cecil is questioning his own actions against the innocent town as his ship is attacked by monsters. Cecil is tossed straight into the heart of the action. Final Fantasy IV's story hasn't changed completely, but it does offer a great deal more depth this time around with backstory cutscenes and greater amounts of dialogue between characters.

The Original Dark Knight

This version of Final Fantasy IV is definitely more difficult than the past few releases. That's not to say that the game is impossible, just slightly more challenging as it does change a few things up. Characters have different skills this time around; Cecil no longer has his dark sword attack, but instead has an ability known as Darkness. This ability takes up one turn and allows Cecil to strike with more powerful normal attacks at the cost of HP. Edward also has some new abilities this time around, but, sadly, he's still not that great. Rydia's summons are a lot more detailed this time around, offering fully cinematic animations.

One major addition to the game is augments. Augments allow for special skills to be added to a specified character's repertoire. These include a bonus to HP or MP, auto potion, and doublecast. These skills can be applied to any character, making them much more diverse than the original title. Another change is that bosses now have new attack patterns, making them much harder in some cases. There are many other changes that have been made as well, but we will have to wait and see when the game comes out July 22.