Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Source: Dengeki

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Rune Factory 3
Source: Dengeki Famitsu

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Final Fantasy XIII
Source: Famitsu Game Watch

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Inazuma Eleven 2
Source: Famitsu

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Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
Source: Famitsu

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Tales of Graces
Source: Famitsu

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Mass Effect 2

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Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment

3D Dot Game Heroes
Source: Dengeki

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Final Fantasy XIII
Source: Famitsu

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Dragon Age Origins

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Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Dark Lord

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Final Fantasy IV: The After Years

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Tales of Graces
Source: Dengeki

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Source: Siliconera

Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta

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Rune Factory 3
Source: Dengeki

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Spectral Force Legacy
Source: Famitsu

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Inazuma Eleven 2
Source: Famitsu

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Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Source: Famitsu

Things kick off with Ceodore, the son of Cecil and Rosa. He’s on a mission to become a knight of Baron by going to Adamant Grotto to obtain the Knight’s Emblem. This is a task his father did before him, and it is something he must do alone. To help him learn the ins and outs of combat, series veterans Biggs and Wedge give him a hand, sometimes a bit too literally. Ceodore doesn’t really trust in his abilities, and that’s not very befitting a knight, let alone a prince.

So aside from a new story and playable characters, what does this game bring to the table? Primarily, the biggest addition is that the phase of the moon affects combat for both heroes and monsters alike. For instance, when the moon is full, physical attacks are halved, white magic is doubled, and black magic remains the same. During other moon phases, other attributes are affected. Unlike our moon which changes slowly, the in-game moon changes phases pretty quickly. Sleeping in an inn or tent will change the phase, but it can change just by being out in the field long enough.

The other big change is something called Band Attacks. By forming a bond with certain characters in your party, multiple units can do synchronous attacks, kind of like Twin Magic. I’ve only seen one so far, but they look pretty powerful. It’s an interesting addition to the battle system for sure.

Aside from what the game brings, there’s one more important topic. Price. Square Enix said at E3 that we should expect three main chunks, each 20 hours long and costing 800 Wii Points. There are also downloadable content packs like Rydia’s tale. I haven’t played that yet, but it costs 300 more Wii Points. It’s untelling how much this game will cost when it’s done, but so far, it’s looking to be worth the price of admission, especially if you loved Final Fantasy IV.

Source: Siliconera

I’ll bet you can even hear the crystal theme when you see this.

Final Fantasy IV, originally known to most as Final Fantasy II, revolutionized combat with the addition of Active Time Battle, ATB. When the game first hit shelves, the Super Famicom was the newest, latest, and greatest piece of hardware on the market. The raw power the 16-bit system offered allowed battles to take place more fluidly. Previously, you could play pretty much any RPG, wander off, come back an hour later to find nothing had changed. Try a week. Or a month. That slime that had approached was still waiting for your command.

Final Fantasy IV changed that. If you left Cecil and Kain to their own devices, even a lowly imp would eventually take them down. And honestly, it wouldn’t take that long. Final Fantasy IV insisted that you gave it full attention as your characters’ very lives were at stake. Also you knew when you were going to get your next turn. Since enemy attacks usually came at a steady pace, you could anticipate when the next attack would come. This allowed for more strategy since you’d know approximately how much physical time you had until your party was decimated and needed healing. This also highlighted the difference speed in battle makes. Spells like Haste actually sped up the player rather than simply meaning more hits per turn. Slow had a similar effect. In fact, these spells eventually led to an entire class of character in later Final Fantasy games.

Admit it. This is the. best. battle. ever.

The effect of ATB on the industry was immediate. Though there are notable exceptions like Dragon Quest and the Mother series that have maintained turn-based combat, many games of the 16 and 32-bit generations adopted this system until being largely replaced by more action-oriented mechanics as processor power improved with more modern consoles.

So in the end, even though the plot of Final Fantasy IV was revolutionary for its time, its most potent legacy came from the new approach to combat it presented. Now a character’s fate was directly tied to the attention of the player, and that’s why it’s considered a Game Changer.

In other WiiWare news, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord was announced. It will be a sequel to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, which launched simultaneously with the WiiWare service. It is slated for 2009. The game puts you in the role of the Darklord’s daughter as she attempts to thwart heroes with well-placed traps.

Square Enix also promised that the classic Final Fantasy I will be hitting the Virtual Console in May for Japan and sometime this year for North America.