Final Fantasy 4 is a bad game. I almost said terrible, but it�s not quite that bad. It does have some redeeming qualities to it, after all. But on the whole it�s a bad game.

The plot is pretty terrible. Cecil is a Dark Knight in the employ of a king, and is sent out to do his dirty work. However, he gets fed up with that and turns coat. But then he and all of his friends get attacked, and freaking everyone has amnesia or gets their mind taken over by the evil emperor. Except Cecil who turns into a paladin. Then he goes around collecting his amnesia-ridden friends. I�m not done yet, but we�ve nearly beaten the evil villan about 18 times now, only to have him slip away and grab whatever it was he needed at the last moment. Boring plot devices aside, what bugs me the most about the plot is that at every turn, someone is dying or leaving.

You know those annoying bits in games where a party member will suddenly leave with no warning, or die (Aeris, damn you!). I�m sure they�re the most annoying bits of the game for a lot of people--after all, you�ve been leveling this character for 6 hours straight, and they suddenly leave with your Superawesome Ring still equipped. Yeah, you get and lose about 10 characters (so far) throughout the course of the game. It�s definitely the most annoying thing about the game.

One other minor thing that bugs me is that the enemies always seem to be doing craploads of damage to my characters. I think I�m at least a little overleveled, and I have the best armor that I can find or buy, but they still will do about 1/4th of my health in one blow. If that�s �just the way it is�, then that sucks.

I do like how the main character goes through the class change, though. I�ve never played a game before where your character completely changes at one point. It�s an interesting idea that I think they pulled off pretty well.

I�m still planning on finishing the game, and I plan on exploring the world thoroughly (ie: I won�t rush straight to the end of the game) but unless something changes, I�ll never play it again.