Talk:Final Fantasy IV/Archive 1

Pictures
Needs pictures. I'll put some in. Lockeownzj00 22:29, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

FF4: Originally planned for Famicom?

 * Final Fantasy was originally planned for the Famicom, though no prototype was ever made. A screenshot "mockup" was created in a Japanese magazine, which included speculative information that turned out to be false.

Include?


 * Hmmm...you should probably mention it under the different versions heading.

Differences between versions
I noticed an anonymous user reworked the "differences between versions" section. While the idea itself isn't necessarily bad, the changes seemed to be based on the idea that "it's believed that FF4 ET was based on FF2, and not the other way around." This is, IMO, a very strange statement to make, seeing as how FF4 Easytype was released over a month before FF2US. It's not impossible, I'll grant you, that the US version was developed first, and only released after FF4ET, but if we're going to say that, we need to provide some evidence, otherwise it's just baseless hearsay which doesn't belong in an encyclopedia. That being said, it's probably a good idea to have a section highlighting the minor differences between FF4ET and FF2US.... – Seancdaug 13:17, Jun 2, 2005 (UTC)

The "Altered item and attack names" section under the FF2 heading claims that items were "renamed" from one English name to another (ie, Phoenix Down was "renamed" to "Life"). This is not only untrue, it doesn't make sense. Aside from "potion," none of the items mentioned used English words for their names in the Japanese version of the game. The fact that フェニックスのお ("Phoenix Tail") was translated as Phoenix Down in subsequent localizations doesn't mean that it was "renamed" here. Making up a name in English for an item with a name in Japanese does not constitute "renaming" it. The items were "renamed" in subsequent releases. 219.196.64.78 04:59, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

There are two music tracks in the GBA version which differ slightly from their original counterparts, namely: the theme used in the Sylph Cave & the cave leading to the realm of summoned monsters; and the theme for the Tower of Babel. The differences are minute--the former in the melody where a Bb is played rather than the original Eb; the latter where a major (rather than minor) interval is played in the parallel-moving string-harmony. -- Reyneken 00:51, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Question about differences between versions
I know that Square later rereleased the game with a more true-to-the-original script, but I don't seem to remember them ever talking about Kain's past and relationship with his father or any real motivations behind Zemus's plan. Did they leave this out of the rerelease, or did I just not pay close enough attention? And could someone explain that part to me, please? I'm interested to know about Kain and his father and Zemus's plan.

Earth?
I see that in some of the character profiles and in other places the planet of the game is referred to as "Earth." Was this just in the original English version or what? ~ Hibana 22:28, July 28, 2005 (UTC)
 * Nope, they're on Earth. That's what they call it anyway.  For instance, the "Legend of Mysidia" (which is stated in the game twice I believe and also is on the TOC for Final Fantasy IV in the Final Fantasy Chronicles instruction booklet...
 * One born of a dragon, bearing darkness and light, shall rise to the heavens over the still land. Bathing the moon in eternal light, he brings a promise to Mother Earth with bounty and grace.
 * This conversation comes to mind as well...
 * FuSoYa: In eons past, a planet between Mars and Jupiter verged on extinction. The survivors escaped by ship to the blue planet.
 * Cecil: The blue planet...? Our home?
 * FuSoYa: Yes, Earth . But because the people of Earth were still evolving, the survivors created another moon, where they now sleep.
 * Edge: So these survivors became Lunarians, and they're still sleeping.
 * FuSoYa: Some were reluctant. One even schemed to destroy life on Earth and usurp the planet.
 * And FuSoYa goes on to talk about earthlings and Earth &mdash; I'll paste the rest of the conversation if you want. I am 99% sure this is from the PlayStation script (considering it has all the cursing and it says that it is the PlayStation script).  &mdash; Warpedmirror 02:23, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

Story section too long?
Does anybody else think that the story section should be shortened, or at least moved to its own article like Final Fantasy IX's' was? Perhaps all characters can be mentioned in a sentence or two like in a small heading as in Final Fantasy VII. ~ Hibana 13:35, 15 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Yeah it's definitely too long. It's like the entire story from beginning to finish. Something should be done...I just don't know what. &mdash;  WARPEDmirror   02:32, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Music - didn't Enya do the world map music?
I have an mp3 called celtic moon by enya which was supposed to be the world map music. Did she do that originally, or did enya cover Uematsu's music? If the music was originally her's you should change the music to have enya included as well as uematsu, since the world map music in this game was especially memorable.
 * Final Fantasy IV Celtic Moon is an arranged album, not the actual in-game soundtrack, and it wasn't performed by Enya. It was perfomed by another Irish musician, Máire Breatnach. The world map music was written by Uematsu, like all other tracks in the game. – Seancdaug 11:57, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
 * This is another P2P hoax. --JiFish(Talk/Contrib) 12:20, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

Improving the GBA version part of the article
1UP have a preview of the final version of the game here and I would like for someone to integrate the info to what's already here, and maybe rewrite that section. I would do it myself, but I don't have the time right now. 71.96.220.61 03:27, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
 * It's only about two weeks away anyway. Even if its rewritten, people will buy it and amend the section as they play and finish the game. Might as well wait until the game is released. ~ Hibana 17:21, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
 * 13 days and 19 hours by my watch. ;) --JiFish(Talk/Contrib) 17:41, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

Do the previous censorship/translation issues still exist for the NA GBA version? Shawnc 08:40, 17 December 2005 (UTC)
 * It appears not. Although, they did censor something new: Final Fantasy IV Advance 'Stripper' Restoration Patch. --JiFish(Talk/Contrib) 17:02, 17 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Surely that's not new, though, since the stripper was censored in the earlier version, as well :-) – Seancdaug 18:36, 17 December 2005 (UTC)
 * I never knew that. --JiFish(Talk/Contrib) 18:47, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

Question About Intro
The intro says:
 * Despite popular belief, this was not the version translated into English by Square's North American subsidiary SquareSoft.

Is this correct? It looks like it was inserted during vandalism or a vandalism revert. Any time you see FF2A referenced in a magazine they claim that it's FF4J Easytype. I don't want to modify this in case I'm just one of the many who holds this to be popular belief. -Polkapunk 19 December 2005
 * No, it isn't. The SNES FF2 was based on FF4 Easy Type.  The only thing that came from Hard Type instead of Easy Type was Zeromus's sprite. -- Myria 08:43, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
 * According to List of Final Fantasy titles, as well as everything else I've read about how the Easytype came to be, the North American version came before the Easytype version was released in Japan. Therefore the North American version cannot possibly be based on Easytype, which didn't exist yet when it was made. This is, however, contradicted by the release dates on this page. I don't at this point know which set of dates is actually correct. However, even those dates suggest to me that the two would have been developed concurrently, not serially. PurplePlatypus 20:30, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
 * The situation is complicated further by this, which gives yet a third release date for FF4ET. To summarize, this page says it was released on 10/19/91, the above link says 10/29/91, and List of Final Fantasy titles says it was released in "1992." I expect the final one is in error, but that still leaves the problem of the first two. In any case, I think PP makes a good point: the closeness of the release dates implies concurrent development. I think it would probably make sense to rewrite the relevant passages with something more along the lines of "Final Fantasy II closely resembles Final Fantasy IV Easy Type," rather than saying that one was "based on" the other, which implies a specific order of creation. – Seancdaug 22:03, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Good idea. "Closely resembles" is relatively easy to verify and doesn't have any problematic implications. PurplePlatypus 22:38, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Stripping dancer?
I've heard rumors that the dancer in Baron strips, but only in the Japanese version due to Nintendo's censors. Can anyone check on whether or not this is true? --Nintendorulez &#91;&#91;User talk:Nintendorulez&#124;talk]] 00:56, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
 * I had always thought it was the underground place in Troia. ~ Hibana 02:47, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
 * No, it's the Baronian dancer. I kind of thought that this was more common knowledge, but there you go, I guess. Anyway, photographic evidence can be found here. It's off-site for now, but if anyone wants to upload it to Wikipedia for use in the article, be my guest. – Seancdaug 04:45, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Ted Woolsey (the translator) is asked about this in an interview made in 1994 Masken 17:02, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
 * She originally appears in a dress, which she jumps out of and dances around in a bikini for a little while. So there's no full frontal nudity (you couldn't get any kind of detail with a sprite that size anyway), but it's clear that she's not exactly doing 'family entertainment.'  --Sethrenn 19:57, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

SomethingAweful reference
In the beginning of the game for the Game Boy Advanced version, Cid comments: "So, how are my airships? I'll bet you and your goons wrecked them up something awful." Do you think that's an inside joke? (i.e. somethingawful.com forum posters are known as 'goons') - 70.224.39.49 23:45, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

No, I don't. I think the chance of that is absolutely zero. Also, you'd need to check if that line is in the Playstation version, because the GBA version, unless I'm mistaken, uses the same translation as the 1997 Playstation port. - Guspaz 06:13, 17 January 2006 (UTC)


 * It does not: it's been completely retranslated, and the line was different in all previous versions. This is actually not the first time I've heard the SA connection. Square translators have snuck in various injokes and references into their games before (one of the random soldier names from Final Fantasy Tactics was a clear reference to John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants), and I've heard a professional reviewer friend of mine tell that there are a number of Square Enix employees who pay attention to the SA forums. So I'd say there's a fair chance that it is intentional. Just to be sure, though, it's not encyclopedic unless there's a citable source :-) – Seancdaug 05:00, 23 January 2006 (UTC)


 * There were actually quite a few easter eggs in the new translation, and that may very well have been one of them. Another of the more obvious references is to the website www.realultimatepower.com. WtW-Suzaku 13:49, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Story
The story summary seems to be quite long; I'm going to trim it. Deckiller 16:52, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Please do. I've been meaning to do it, but just haven't found the "right words." ~ Hibana 00:16, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay; I'll try to start/finish working on it tonight. Deckiller 00:17, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Initial trimming is complete; I hope to get another 20-30 percent shaved off. Deckiller 01:02, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
 * From here on out, I could go really nazi and reduce it by like 30-40 percent more (see Final Fantasy IX), but I want to wait for some responses to make sure that it's agreed. Deckiller 01:26, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Change of logos in infobox
I don't think that the main infobox should show box art, and I'm considering changing the main infobox back to using the game's logo (and possibly adding a SNES box below for the SNES boxart), like all the other Final Fantasy articles do. The new main infobox images are not consistant with the other FF articles, which don't use boxart (Not in the main infobox anyhow). Comments? Guspaz 19:55, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
 * It's a very old debate, now. The problem is that WP:CVG guidelines are to use the box art in the infobox, and nothing else. It's been argued a number of times, but consensus has upheld this every time. There are related problems, as well: notably, there's an increasing tendency to view image galleries of copyrighted images (the way the article used to display the box art) as not permissable under copyright policies, since they generally do not provide the contextual information that is necessary to claim fair use (screenshot galleries, for instance, were removed from numerous game console articles a few months back). It also was an issue at a failed attempt to elevate the Final Fantasy VI article to featured status, where a number of editors refused to support the candidacy simply because the infobox did not conform to usage guidelines. – Seancdaug 23:08, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, then, why does an originally Japanese game display the US box art in such prominance? If you're going to show box art, it should be the original box art that is displayed largest, not a translated version. Furthermore, if the policy is to show box art and not the game logo, all the other Final Fantasy articles should be updated to remain consistent. As it stands now, this is the only FF game with box art and not the game logo, as far as I can tell. Guspaz 05:18, 23 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Another something learned from the FFVI FAC: if there is only one box displayed, WP:CVG generally prefers that the North American box art be displayed. This can be confusing, because the original North American box art for this game, for example, says "Final Fantasy II," but there you are. It's my personal preference to display all (or as many examples) of the different releases as possible, because I think they're relevant, provided they're shown in the correct context (and not the image gallery of before). The reason this is the only article that I've edited in this manner so far is simply because, as I've said, this is a very old debate, and I think it makes sense to have this discussion on one article (and, particularly this article, given that it has one of the most complex release histories of any game in the series), before going whole-hog. I'm working on a new concept, though, which will hopefully look a little less messy. – Seancdaug 15:41, 23 January 2006 (UTC)
 * And there we are. I'm rather proud of the new look, myself I'm gonna move this discussion to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Final Fantasy, as I think it has wider relevance. – Seancdaug 23:42, 23 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Looks outstanding, IMO. Deckiller 23:43, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

WSC version
"Revamped difficulty that is different from both the original and the Easytype versions of the game"? What the hell does that mean? That doesn't even tell me whether it's easier or harder, much less anything specific enough to be useful. PurplePlatypus 07:58, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Peer Review Occurring Now
Everyone who is interested in bringing this article to feature status, please consult the review page and answer as expediently as possible any critiques, the quicker we answer the critiques, the more we will get, and be very close to feature status..Thanks much! :) Judgesurreal777 05:10, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

My recent edits
I've made a number of changes to the article, some of which are extensive enough that I feel I should explain my rationale here. Firstly, I deleted the "Art" section, which was only one sentence to begin with. That sentence talked about the "darkness" of art in the game, and cited as its only reference a page that presented that opinion (where it was marked as such). I'm not convinced that that constitutes a notable trend. I also trimmed the external links section substantially, removing the video review link, since it's already linked fairly prominently in the text review from Gamespot, and all of the strategy links, on the premise that Wikipedia is neither GameFAQs nor a repository of links. I removed one footnote reference to a review from the "development history" section, since I couldn't for the life of me tell how it related to the section it was placed in, and added a citation to the Lost Levels article in its place. Other than that, I played around with the layout a bit, and fleshed out some of the image descriptions. If this creates any problems, feel free to revert as appropriate. – Seancdaug 04:55, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Overall fantastic editing job, thanks so much. Feel free to help me attack the last of the peer review, I think this article could be nearing FAC candidacy in a hurry. :) Judgesurreal777 05:06, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Detailed information
This info would be suitable for another section or entries on the elemental bosses elsewhere: "On the mountain he fights one of the four Elemental Lords, who share names with the four demons in Canto 21 of Dante's Inferno. Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia, and Rubicante are the elemental fiends, and the enemy Calcobrena also appears to draw its name from the same passage." Deckiller 02:43, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Should we remove the ending information? That would bring the story section to five paragraphs, a reasonable length. Deckiller 02:49, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Going platinum?
Two recent edits with comments about "box office receipts" added info about the game "going platinum" in Japan. I'm quite certain that the term "box office" only refers to public performance such as movies, plays, concerts, etc. But that isn't the issue, since that was just the comment.

The statement that I find questionable is about the game going platinum. I was under the impression that this term only applied to music albums. Can it also be applied to videogames? I'm tempted to say the editor is wrong just because of the incorrect comments, but I want some confirmation before I reword the sentence in question.
 * Sounds like someone's idea of a joke. "Going gold" is a term used in the software industry, but with a completely different meaning than in the music industry (it means the version that will be released commercially is ready); I've never heard of a videogame "going platinum". PurplePlatypus 21:51, 21 March 2006 (UTC) (By the way, sign your posts with four tilde (~) characters.)
 * Wups, I usually remember, thanks for reminding me. I'll remove the statements in question. Guspaz 05:45, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Broken GBA version box
Has anybody else noticed that the GBA version box is horribly broken?

See this screenshot taken with Firefox 1.5.0.3

Not only does it overflow into the next two sections, but it overlaps the text above it and to the side in the references section. The problem seems to be that the Wonderswan version box is pushing the GBA one down. I've tried to fix it, but I have no idea how.

Character description redundancies?
I notice that all of the playable characters have individual pages dedicated to them, and that there'a *also* a page entitled "List of Final Fantasy IV characters" that basically repeats a lot of the information given on the main character pages. Is it necessary to have this redundancy? --Sethrenn 19:57, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

1up.com
Is that site considered reliable like IGN? Or should that be replaced? Judgesurreal777 16:52, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I personally think that it's fine. 1UP is owned by Ziff Davis, a well-known company. — TKD::Talk 16:59, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Story expansion
If anything, the plot needs to be REDUCED in size, as it is larger than 4 paragraphs. Judgesurreal777 22:31, 11 June 2006 (UTC)


 * "Judge Surreal", the version you continue to revert to is full of extreme inaccuracies in the plot- everything from the insinuation that Rosa is with the initial party to the statement about "legions" of dark knights to the claim that the town fire is what knocks out the players and that Cecil alone is the one who encounters Rydia. As was said before, while brevity may be important, it's more important that we be accurate when we write on Wikipedia. --[[Image:Tinyducksig.jpg|20px]] Daniel Davis 22:40, 11 June 2006 (UTC)


 * By all means rewrite it, you are totally right. But I would ask you to please write short one, no more than 4-5 paragraphs, because I want to get this article to Featured Article Status, and from experience with Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith and other articles, they will ask it to be chopped down to 4-5 large paragraphs.(see Revenge of the Sith article for model) Judgesurreal777 22:42, 11 June 2006 (UTC)


 * FFIV's plot is intricate and complex, spanning the course of close to hundred hours of gameplay. While another might feel that it can be cropped for brevity, we must take specific care to ensure that the summary remains accurate after the crop, instead of rearranging facts and events that occur during the course of the storyline. That, for the most part, means the essential plot points need to remain. Note that no mention of the Land of Monsters, Edge's parental lineage, the Dark Elf of Troia, the rides aboard various Chocobos and much of Cid's involvement in the games are within the the summary. It is exceedingly cropped as it is, with only the bare essential plot points covered. --[[Image:Tinyducksig.jpg|20px]] Daniel Davis 22:48, 11 June 2006 (UTC)


 * "Close to 100 hours"? Are you serious? I've finished it, missing nothing of significance except the Pink Puff stuff, in under 20; even my first play-through was less than 30. Yet all over the 'net I see people claim that KotOR is 70 hours or FFIV is 40 (or now 100!), and all I can think is "can these people really be that bad at RPGs?". PurplePlatypus 10:13, 12 June 2006 (UTC)


 * It has nothing to do with "being good" at a game- some of us just like to savor the experience of the title instead of rushing through it and skipping Pink Puffs. Besides that, your comment seems to have little to do with the subject at hand; I must remind you that Wikipedia is not a social networking site. Try to keep it on topic please. --[[Image:Tinyducksig.jpg|20px]] Daniel Davis 11:39, 12 June 2006 (UTC)


 * The story must remain 4-5 paragraphs, so please stop expanding it to huge amounts, once it gets renominated for FAC, they will insist it is cut down to that level, so dont waste your time writing every detail. Judgesurreal777 15:49, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * And if it DOES get renominated, they'll have huge problems with major factual parts of the plot being just plain wrong, as was in the version you just reverted to. If you want to crop it, you are free to do that, but don't crop it in a way that it makes facts of the game wrong- as was said before. --[[Image:Tinyducksig.jpg|20px]] Daniel Davis 17:34, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I do not understand why you guys, who seem to know the plot so well, cant just trash the story description as written and rewrite it from scratch accurately in 4-5 large paragraphs? Judgesurreal777 Alright, now it's looking better, this is a good length I think, though it could be trimmed a little Judgesurreal777 18:00, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Caller Summons names in US versus JP
Were the summons Indra & Jinn of the SNES US version (labeled FF2) named Indra & Jinn in the Japanese & Playstation remake versions? or Ramuh & Ifrit as they appear in every other Final Fantasy? 67.5.157.96 20:12, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, they were called Ramuh and Ifrit in the Japanese version and were corrected for the PlayStation and Game Boy Advance US versions. ~ Hibana 22:31, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

What happened?
The story section has bloated to twice its old length since that major push earlier in the year. In the words of Jack Bauer: "I think I'm going to need a hacksaw". &mdash; Deckill e r 04:38, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
 * yeah, people kept coming and adding stuff...maybe you could just dig out the older shorter one. :) Judgesurreal777 04:47, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I will do just that, because the way it was written, the side plots weren't intergrated into the summary (making it shorter and it'll be easier to copyedit without continuity errors). &mdash; Deckill e r 04:54, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Granted, I think the shortened version leaves many of the subplots out, but we can add a few back in if necessary. I don't even think we need to mention the elementals. &mdash; Deckill e r 05:20, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Careful with that hacksaw, Deckiller. Even with the shortening, we have to keep the story section accurate, along with brevity. Ex-Nintendo Employee 05:23, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

The next step
It seems that we've each been delegated a game to push. I'm delegated this game. I could use some help in rewriting it. Some tasks include rewriting the plot (which I've begun), updating the images to reflect current policy, and add refs.  Sir Crazyswordsman  22:25, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
 * What is current image policy? Judgesurreal777 23:11, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Look at the FFVI images and notice their licensing and Fair Use Rationales for some examples.  Sir Crazyswordsman  02:24, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Is the plot rewrite done? I'm going to copyedit this article, but I'll hold off if it is unfinished. It's been seven months since I last played the game, and unlike Chrono Trigger or Cross, I can't recite it off the top of my head. --Zeality 03:11, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Not quite. Almost, though.  Sir Crazyswordsman  18:00, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay. Let me know when you've completed it, and it'll be time to put the passion of youth into this sucker. --Zeality 16:41, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
 * It's finished. Now we just need to reference the hell out of this sucker and improve the prose.  Sir Crazyswordsman  20:59, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm finished with the references. Now someone has to revies my prose.  Sir Crazyswordsman  00:39, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I just copyeditted most of the article. I see plenty of game script citations but not enough from outside sources. I can understand if those are hard to find though. However, I'm really not a fan of the stubby Gameplay, Development and Reception sections. If there's any way at all to expand them, please do. See some of the other featured Final Fantasy articles for examples. Axem Titanium 16:19, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I took care of your reference requests.  Sir Crazyswordsman  19:23, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Great work guys. Please see the to do box above, since there are a bunch of other things to do before we can submit for FA. Judgesurreal777 22:06, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I too feel like there are too many references from the game script, a total of 51 quotes to be exact. The problem might lie in the extensive citing of single story points; for example, there are 4 quotes for the Mysidians that treat Cecil harshly when he arrives when only 2 would probably suffice. The reader might not need convincing for objective material, like "The twin wizards Palom and Porom accompany him" or "Giott tells Cecil of the Lunar Whale." ~ Hibana 00:20, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * You can never have too many quotes. FFVII has a whopping 127 references.  Sir Crazyswordsman  00:59, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, but only 23 out of 137 of them are quotes. A majority of those citations come from outside sources. ~ Hibana 01:33, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

An important source
The gameplay section is still a little stubby. What made Chrono Trigger a walk in the park was a Nintendo Power preview / review in Epic Center, which we cited several times. The review also allowed us to make certain statements that, uncited, would be POV (like Chrono Trigger's status as a groundbreaking game, etc). So if someone has:


 * 030 (November 1991)

Scan that sucker's coverage of FF4 and we'll have a smashing source. --Zeality 00:55, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, I don't have it. Is there a place to get old NPs online?  Sir Crazyswordsman  00:58, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Heh, I think we're in great luck. I found a giant torrent of old Nintendo Powers released by Retromags. This is going to be fun. --Zeality 01:01, 10 September 2006 (UTC) Edit: Naturally, the torrent is dead in the water. I'm going to post on the Retromags forum. --Zeality 01:04, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * This appears to only have character information cut out of the pages. I'll keep searching. ~ Hibana 01:06, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

French Spacing
I noticed the article uses French spacing. I've been uh...removing it as I copyedit. This is okay, right? --Zeality 02:15, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Is French spacing against policy? The only reason I do it is because I always thought it was gramatically correct to do so, or at least that's what I've been brainwashed to do taught.  Sir Crazyswordsman  05:33, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * French spacing doesn't even appear in the article once the page has been saved. For example, I'll put ten        spaces between those two words and it will still show up as one. It just wastes character space. ~ Hibana 15:16, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Our goal
Have this ready for peer review by next Sunday. I want this on the main page November 23 to celebrate its fifteenth anniversary.  Sir Crazyswordsman  05:34, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Is there a site comparable to the Chrono Compendium for Final Fantasy IV? With the Chrono series, I had the advantage of a central archive of all out-of-universe info. Is there a similar trivia master out there for this game? I'm thinking about posting at such a place and requesting they check over the article for overlooked, important information (I'll warn them about fancruft first). --Zeality 15:44, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Standardizing names
We should decide which version's names to use for consistency. For instance, we're using both Milon and Rubicante for the Four Fiends, but those names come from different versions of the game. Perhaps the name of characters in the upcoming remake will be the best canon to follow --Zeality 16:47, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * You mean the recent remake? (there isn't another one coming out, is there…?) The invisible notice on the character page says to use the most recent release's names. So Scarmiglione and Rubicante in this case.—ウルタプ 18:07, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay. I'll change em; thanks. --Zeality 18:17, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I have re-standardised the names to the GBA version names as they must've been reverted back to the mixture Zeality mentioned. Akata 17:16, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm not so sure about keeping the long names. Many fans only know the enemies by their shorter names, like Milon, as opposed to the newer names, like Scarmiglione, and some of the names, like Meteo as opposed to Meteor, are nostalgic. Reading through the article, the only reason I knew who Scarmiglione and Barbariccia, for example, were, is because I remembered facing Milon and Valvalis in the parts described. Sometimes, it's better to use the more common term rather than the more correct term on Wikipedia, and I do feel that this is one of those times. (Note, however, that I won't change the names unless others agree with me on this point, as so far the majority has agreed to using the newer names.) Nique1287 17:34, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I think we should use the GBA's names throughout and make a note about the translations in the versions and rereleases section. Axem Titanium 22:52, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Easytype
This sentence makes no sense:

Square chose to use this version, rather than the original, for the English port is unknown, since the original Final Fantasy had a fairly high difficulty level that was unchanged for the English release.

Why did Square use the Easytype instead of the original? --Zeality 18:25, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I have nothing to back this up but I do know that many games from that era were "easy-moded" when bringing them over to America because they felt that they would be "too hard" for a US audience. In fact, this still happens in games like Fire Emblem. BTW, nice boxes for the versions and rereleases section. I like it a lot. Axem Titanium 23:31, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I was going to use this source for some of the original/Easytype/US changes, and it states that the US version was based on the Easytype, but it doesn't state why. Axem's probably right, but there needs to be a solid reference. ~ Hibana 00:33, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I understand. The "English port is unknown" is what threw me, and then it said the high difficulty level was unchanged for the English release (when in actuality it was made easy, thus the easytype!). It's a weird sentence. --Zeality 03:01, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Troublesome statement

 * The difficulty balance was also different from either the Easytype or Super Famicom versions.

This statement references: http://www.mobygames.com/game/wonderswan-color/final-fantasy-iv

But I'm not finding anything there to substantiate this. If someone wants to investigate...


 * Also, there's this:

"enhanced music and sound effects from the WonderSwan Color version"

That's for the GBA remake. However, earlier on it is stated that the WonderSwan's music was actually downsampled. Does this mean the GBA remake upsampled it again? Because that would only mean the music is restored to its original state, not enhanced in the grand scheme of things.


 * Also, can someone clarify the Lunar Ruins thing? It's sort of disjointed right now.

--Zeality 19:07, 11 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Update: this WonderSwan info is the only thing left that needs to be cited apart from the Japanese faceplate thing for GB Micro. --Zeality 03:48, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm not finding anything to even suggest that the "different boss graphics / difficulty level" thing is true, even on Japanese Wikipedia. For the time being, I've sent e-mails to two noted "FF4 Gurus" to learn more and also ask if we're missing anything on the article.. With their response tomorrow, I plan to nominate for FAC. --Zeality 03:22, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I found that User:Darkhunger added the difficulty thing in Dec 05, and I've left a message asking to verify. --Zeality 21:02, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Someone upgrades us to A-Class
Meaning it's more than halfway between GA and FA. Very few articles are A-Class and not FA. Great job, all!  Sir Crazyswordsman  19:27, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Let's Rock!

 * We can do this!  Sir Crazyswordsman  19:59, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Auto Peer review
The following suggestions were generated by a semi-automatic javascript program, and may or may not be accurate for the article in question. You may wish to browse through User:AndyZ/Suggestions for further ideas. Thanks, Ravedave (help name my baby) 02:05, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Please expand the lead to conform with guidelines at WP:LEAD. The article should have an appropriate number of paragraphs as is shown on WP:LEAD, and should adequately summarize the article.
 * This has been a concern with ALL of our FAs, and consensus has arisen among the CVG editors that this is an appropriate length for a lead.  Sir Crazyswordsman  03:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Consider adding more links to the article; per WP:MOS-L and WP:BTW, create links to relevant articles.
 * There are plenty of relevant links already.  Sir Crazyswordsman  03:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Per WP:WIAFA, Images should have concise captions.
 * Trying our best to take care of that, but there needs to be a compromise between consiceness and completelness.  Sir Crazyswordsman  03:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Per WP:MOSNUM, there should be a non-breaking space -  between a number and the unit of measurement. For example, instead of 18mm, use 18 mm, which when you are editing the page, should look like: 18&amp;nbsp;mm.
 * Found and fixed.  Sir Crazyswordsman  03:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Per WP:CONTEXT and WP:BTW, years with full dates should be linked; for example, link January 15, 2006, but do not link January 2006.
 * Found and fixed.  Sir Crazyswordsman  03:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
 * As per WP:MOSDATE, dates shouldn't use th; for example, instead of using January 30th was a great day, use January 30 was a great day.
 * Haven't found it yet.  Sir Crazyswordsman  03:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Please alphabetize the interlanguage links.
 * Done.  Sir Crazyswordsman  03:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
 * article may need to undergo summary style, where a series of appropriate subpages are used. For example, if the article is United States, than an appropriate subpage would be History of the United States, such that a summary of the subpage exists on the mother article, while the subpage goes into more detail.
 * The reason for not having subpages has already been addressed. See the FAC page.  Sir Crazyswordsman  03:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Watch for redundancies that make the article too wordy instead of being crisp and concise. (You may wish to try Tony1's redundancy exercises.)
 * Vague terms of size often are unnecessary and redundant - “some”, “a variety/number/majority of”, “several”, “a few”, “many”, “any”, and “all”. For example, “ All pigs are pink, so we thought of a number of ways to turn them green.”
 * Like Deck said, they're not really there.  Sir Crazyswordsman  03:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Please ensure that the article has gone through a thorough copyediting so that the it exemplifies some of Wikipedia's best work. See also User:Tony1/How to satisfy Criterion 2a.
 * This was one of the few articles promoted to "A-Class" before FAC, most don't get this. Also, it has gone through three copyedits by myeslf and several more from others.  Sir Crazyswordsman  03:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)