When I had originally heard about the cell phone sequel to Final Fantasy IV, I found myself scoffing it's mere existence and passed it off as a cash grab by the lovely people of Square-Enix. Slowly, over the pass of a few months, I had found some screen shots and found myself amazed that it actually attempted something new. The sprites where redrawn for the most part and I noticed what looked like certain abilities being notched up and down implying that they actually mixed things up a bit with the gameplay. By this point I had gone from absolute disgust at the idea to secretly wishing that it would somehow make it stateside. These were empty dreams however as the cellphone game industry is nearly nonexistent compared to the Nipon.
I wasn't abandoned by Square however, as they shortly thereafter announced that Matrix Software would be following up their successful remake of Final Fantasy III with the much superior successor. When it came time for me to finally get the game, I found that it was actually a large improvement over the forms we had gotten in the past. Beforehand, the Gameboy Advance version was probably the best as it added the ability to take any group to the endgame and added a labyrinthine dungeon for each of the characters to go through upon completion. This DS remake took these abilities out but replaced them with the ability to customize your party with your former accomplices techniques and also added the most balanced gameplay seen in any version. Enemies actually got stronger and moved faster to compensate with your ability to change your tactics in new and unheard of fashions; this was a very good thing. The touched up 3d graphics of the DS were nice and the sound quality was infinitely better than the GBA, but those things are just icing on the cake to me.Just like any other Final Fantasy game, the game sold like a roaring wild fire in the dried out mountains of southern California. It was a tremendous success and further backed up Matrix Software's credentials in the Final Fantasy series. Because of this, it is my assumption that they decided to port The After Years to Wiiware to take advantage of the remake's success. Needless to say I was a wee bit giddy.
It's been a few months since it premiered here in the states and I just recently obtained access to the game for various ridiculous reasons. I had heard since it's release that the storyline was poor and recycled a lot of assets from the original version; when I started playing it however, I found that it only added to the experience. The story in the original was uninspired at best, but it was the best we had at the time. Something sort of compels me to actually prefer the minimalism of the old days, needless to say these old tropes still fit the grooves of my likability. As far as the reused music, I find that any other music would leave me with a feeling of wanting similar to way Yoshi's Island DS' score underwhelmed to every degree. The tiles that were supposedly lifted look like they were redrawn yet again adding a layer of polish that I wasn't quite expecting. Enemy sprites look like they were uprezzed, but it doesn't look bad miraculously enough.
The gameplay itself isn't as balanced as the DS version, but it's at least on par with the Super Famicom version. The mobs are soft and squishy but the bosses force you to find a strategy comparable to the situation. The battles got two major additions; combo attacks akin to Chrono Trigger and fluctuating attack and magic based on the phases of the moon. The combos work simply by selecting the "Band" option on the side and choosing a comrade to share it with. I haven't seen many other than one presented in a tutorial battle and the Holy Sword ability started by the union of Cecil and Rosa. These attacks seem to be more powerful than the combined attacks of the two but come at the cost of mana points. The moon phases are fairly simple in their function; whenever a tent is used, the moon will wax and wane and depending on the position it's at, different results will be seen. For example, when the moon is full, the attack power of your party and of the enemy will be halved and black magic will receive a large boost. These things add just enough depth to create a few bonuses to the aged battle system to make it both somewhat new yet familiar.
My opinions and observations may not be entirely accurate as I tried to keep most of the details away from me during the wait to make it seem a little fresher. I'm enjoying myself and I truly hope the game keeps impressing me.
(My apologies to IGN for lifting a few of your screenshots)
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