A classic, if a little flawed in presentation

This is one of my favorite Final Fantasy games. I originally played the remake on the DS, and this is pretty much the same game… just on iOS. The new Hard difficulty is pretty tough on the first playthrough (no onion sword or augments). The Dr. Lugae fight was extremely difficult even when overleveled (though you can cheese it by using 2 elixirs on him - costly but effective). Of course, I also play it on fast + active, making it even harder. That said, this is not perfect. For a start, the game is locked to 30 FPS. On a 120 Hz ProMotion display, this just doesn’t look good, but even on a standard 60 Hz display, it’s still very noticeable. This is likely a holdover of the DS version, and making it work at a higher frame rate would have been more work, but 60 or even 120 FPS support would have been greatly appreciated, especially given the low resolution textures that are otherwise not doing much for the game’s visuals. Next, this game has some issues for when you switch between apps, switch sound devices, or overlay an app like Safari over the game (useful for planning augments for each character). Sometimes the sound stops working, and this can cause further issues like softlocks when exiting an airship. All in all, I love this game, and it is one of the best ways to play this game, but it could be better.

Wow

FF2 (as it was called back when it was released for SNES in the early 90s) was the first RPG I ever played. I was a little skeptical of this when I bought it, but 6 bucks isn't a big investment so I decided why not. This was an awesome play. I loved the fancy renderings of the dungeons that were so basic in the original version. I love that they added some dimension and backstory to the characters, and all in all it was a big improvement. The 3D characters were not cheesy or overly cartoonish and the voice acting was good. I was very impressed. The monsters, on the other hand, were funky to me, specifically the difficulty and certain attacks (laser barrage, anyone?). I remember the final boss in the SNES version being extremely hard even though I had raised my characters to level 80+. I fought the final boss with all my characters' levels between 72 and 76 and I absolutely pwned him. He didn't even cast Big Bang. Just meteor once and everyone survived. I was worried as I was going through the final dungeon when some of the enemies were laying waste to my party and I had to run from every battle during the last 3 levels, but no. Some random mobs hit much harder than the final boss which is weird, but everything else was great. Will definitely be playing through again.

Difficulty is whacked

I would forewarn you to not select the Hard mode if you like to grind out levels to make the game easier for you. I put in about 8 hours of grinding levels in areas that gave good experience and I’m just barely surviving fights in that first tower you are trying to save Rosa from. I should be annihilating these enemies. So, my complaint is that enemies are overpowered and your characters are underpowered with both physical attackers and magic wielders. Even when using the correct strategy, you run into ridiculous situations where you quickly run out of MP points. Why in the hell does Tellah only have 90 MP points at level 36!? He’s got all these fantastic spells and he can’t use them without running out of MP super fast. And then to add insult to injury, they really string you along with Ethers so that you have to be oh so frugal otherwise you are out before you know it. You cannot buy them at least this far into game. You can only find them on maps. I hate how difficult they’ve made this. Hard work does not pay. There is simply no relief. I played this game on the Nintendo and it was never this hard. I’m sorry but they need to rebalance this game. Way too difficult to be fun. If I cannot even work hard to get ahead I’m going to lose interest really fast in this game. At least enable me to change difficulty to Normal without having to start new game.

Love it But also Hate It

The story is really good and I love the battle system. What I really hate is that some bosses, like Dr. Lagae. I didn't do any level grinding up to that point and always loss the 3rd battle. I had to go back and level up. What I also find really stupid is, why in the world the DS version!? 1. ITS EXTREMELY UGLY 2. FOR DEVICES LIKE IPADS IT LAGS which makes the battle slow The PSP version looks much better and I don't care if it's in 2D. At least everyone didn't look like small *ss children. If they did PSP version, then there wouldn't be lag. Sometimes I find this game annoying because in the underworld, there are flamehounds. Their scorch attack really pisses me off because when you get ambushed, they all use the scorch attack (3 flamehounds: very common) the party dies. The thing I mostly care about is playing the game and carrying on with the story. I try not to pay attention to the graphics, but I can't. When the characters talk, I find it really funny, especially when Cid talks. His mouth is humongous and everyone else's mouth are so tiny. Overall, the game is decent.

5 Star But still have a complaint.

I’ve had this game on my iPad for a few years now but am writing this review because of a problem on my 3rd playthrough. I had always planned to try and get all of the augments and best armor and defeat the 2 hidden bosses. Apparently what I’ve read from blogs and have just experienced myself is that on the iOS version they Do Not give out a 2nd limit break augment when you start a new game on the 3rd playthrough. But they do on the DS I guess. Idk I’ve never played a DS. Other than that I absolutely Love this version of my favorite rpg. I could play it over and over again forever. I know the story by heart and where all the treasures are these people who remade it did a perfect job I think. The music goes along perfectly with the story just as it did on the snes. Graphics are awesome too. I love going into the land of summoned monsters, looks great. The small changes to the script are fine and modern.

Irritating

This game completely lacks the cursor memory setting which has been a standard in this series long before this, or even the DS port that this is based on, was released. This gets very irritating during longer boss battles, because you have to manually select the action you want every turn. The auto battle feature, unlike the FFV iOS port, only repeats an action you determine in some relatively obscure menu before battle. The previously mentioned FFV's auto battle button repeats the previous action. All of these factors combine to make playing this game feel like a chore. The "back" button in the battle menu is on the top right of the screen, while the action menu is on the bottom left. It's very inconvenient and unintuitive; I often find myself extremely frustrated. I'm not a huge fan of the graphics of the DS remake but I'm not factoring that into my score, because, as far as the graphics go, I knew what I was getting when I bought this. I'm pretty sure most of my problems with this version should actually be directed at the DS port, and most of these problems could easily be fixed. However, they still create unnecessary difficulty and....eh I don't feel like writing anymore. You get the point. I still give it two and a half to three stars because the game underneath these **** controls is solid.

Don't Like This Version

This is a port of the DS version. If you're looking for SNES nostalgia be forewarned. The biggest drawback is the leveling doesn't work the same. Returning characters come back at set levels. As a result level grinding has to take place as you go rather than running solo work with Cecil on Mt Ordeals. I also can't stand the perspective. You can't see as much of the world around you so running through dungeons and caves feels very claustrophobic. There are some positives. I enjoy the cut scenes. There is also some balancing to compensate for the differences in leveling characters while they're not in the party. And I do enjoy the graphics. I also like being able to run. All in all what I was looking for in a port for my phone to kill time here and there was a copy of the SNES version. This is not that. Thus my overall disappointment. I can't say if I will actually finish playing through. If not it was a waste of $15.

A Relentless Assault on Your Sanity

Seasoned RPG fans beware, do NOT select "Hard" as your difficulty . The developers do not understand the difference between "challenging" and "frustrating". The game stops being fun REAL quick. Bosses are overpowered while you, leveling up to even higher than recommended levels, are flailing to advance and relying on luck (the possibility that MAYBE they won't spam that status-altering or instant-kill attack). This persists for the entire game. Temporary characters are cursed with Max Stats (they will level up, but don't expect anything to come from that). This is an issue because you are forced to face enemies that WILL kill them with one hit. Someone new joined your team? Better spend about 3-4 hours grinding. And even then, good luck. Zeromus is WAY too far from the last save point. So get used to "rage quit" and "continue" or else get ready to have all your hard work undone. Even then, cut scenes may be skippable, but if any of them involve a "battle sequence", not only are you unable to skip those, but the dialogue is achingly slow and you have to sit through all of it. Over, and over, and over again. Final Fantasy IV is one of the greatest video games on the SNES, and this port has some serious audacity to be using that name. This is a cold, joyless chore, and fans deserve better.

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