There it goes again. Jumping on the Final Fantasy 4 merry-go-round.

Honey, did you remember to record the
Real Housewives marathon?
(Running out of ideas to squeeze in TV parodies)

Well, after 3 TLDR-length wit-filled blog posts and still no readers? Looks like I'm going to have to take drastic action and do the unthinkable by....... *queue dramatic music* appealing to a lower common denominator. That's it! I'll talk about Final Fantasy. Everybody likes Final Fantasy.

Specifically, Final Fantasy 4, or IV if you prefer. Contains spoilers, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Out of all the main FFs, only 2, 3 and 4 I have never completed in any form. I have tried playing FF4 many times over the years on different mediums but have never been able to get past more than halfway through the game. I just get... bored.

Final Fantasy Chronicles PS1 US
Final Fantasy Advance GBA EU
Final Fantasy IV DS US
FF4 Complete Collection PSP EU

First time I played the ROM that was the Final Fantasy II SNES release, which felt really blah, especially after just finishing Final Fantasy III (6 for SNES). Tried the FF4j fan translation next, as it restores many features that were cut in the FF2 release, got as far as getting the Falcon. Next came Final Fantasy Chronicles PS1 release, which I've only played a couple of hours but was trying to grind for the Goblin summon at the start. When FF4 Advance for the Gameboy Advance came out, I read about the bugs and tracked down the superior European version, and got as far as getting Cid. DS version I didn't touch. And now, I am diving head first into FF4 Complete Collection for the PSP.

It's not like the story is bad. I remember the dramatic scenes where the twins turns to stone, or Cid blowing himself up. One by one, your team members sacrifice themselves in heroic ways, which were ver heroic, but also quite sad to see them all go one by one. Although most of them ends up cheating death.

Cecil. Luckily wasn't in FFT. They might
have translated his name as Sissy.

No. I just found the game long... and battles very difficult. Some of your characters can be knocked out in about 2-3 hits, and you constantly need to heal. During battles, in between battles. It just became a chore after a while.

Playing the PSP version I've noticed a few things. The game is actually quite short. I'm up to the Sealed Cave (which I am thinking is around halfway through the game, minus post game content) and I've only clocked 15 hours. And that includes 5 hours I spent grinding on Mount Ordeal. I don't know why I kept thinking this was a 40 hour game. I guess the constant battles and healing between battles just got so repetitive it felt long.

Maybe the fast loading on the PSP also helps. It seems to play a lot faster. I am not even on the fastest ATB settle and my turns come up faster than I can input their actions.

So I've spent 5 hours on Mount Ordeal, solo levelling Cecil to level 51 before moving on. (Should resonate with old school FFXI players. Good ol' elemental staves.) This made Rosa, Rydia, Yang and Kain join close to Cecil's level, far higher than they would have normally. Curiously, Edge joined at level 25.

The Magus Sisters appeared in FFXI. Seriously!

Secondly, this game is still challenging. Ok, I was able to power through a few dungeons at the high level, but difficulty quickly ranks up around when Edge joined. Cecil runs out of MP healing in between fights in every dungeon, and Edge (whom is of a normal level) gets knocked out every other fight. Just as well too that I power levelled, probably would have been even more frustrating if I was playing this normally. And man is that random encounter rate inconsistent, sometimes so high I get into a fight every other step, yet sometimes really low I can clear an entire dungeon floor's treasures without a fight. But overall, seems to be on the high side.

Anyway, I am making good progress on this game. I am already further along than I have ever been. Look forward to seeing how the story ends. I might not worry about playing with the other 5 characters and doing optional/post game content. And I don't think I'll have the patience for the ultra rare drops. After playing this game so many times, I have never ever seen any summon items drop.

Next up. See how Cecil's team fare against other Final Fantasy games. Intrigued? Stay tuned.