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Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light Does the Franchise Proud

It's not really much of a Final Fantasy game, but 4 Heroes of Light is a solid portable RPG regardless.

October 1, 2010
You won't like this if...

you don't like cutesy graphics, a simplified battle system, and a restrictive inventory system.

Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light
Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light Credit: Matrix Software

When people hear that I've been playing the U.S. version of Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light these past few weeks, they ask a single, universal question, almost without fail: "Did Square fix the item system?"



The short answer is, "No." The item system hasn't been fixed. The long answer is, "No, because it doesn't actually need to be fixed."

See, each of the game's eponymous heroes is limited to carrying 15 items at any given time, which includes any equipped weapons, armor, and spells. So each character effectively has closer to 10 inventory slots apiece; mages have even fewer, since each spell in their repertoire is represented by an inventory-filling book as well. But 4 Heroes is a very deliberately designed game, one created with a specific aim in mind, and its much-reviled inventory system is simply an aspect of that design.

Fans of RPGs like Diablo, Nethack, Torchlight, or even Dragon Quest are probably wondering what the big deal is. After all, a limited carrying capacity is a concept that's been with RPGs since the beginning. Some, such as Avernum, even impose a weight limit on what can be carried. It's just a standard part of the genre, right?

The big deal is that it's not a very Final Fantasy-like restriction. Limited carrying capacity means you have to pick your equipment carefully for the challenges ahead, and the Final Fantasy way is to load up on dozens of everything and be prepared for every eventuality at all times. 4 Heroes is a game where status ailments and other setbacks actually matter, and you need to make very difficult decisions about how best to prepare for them. In other words, the ostensible purpose of 4 Heroes is to recreate the spirit of classic Final Fantasy, but in practice the game has almost nothing whatsoever in common with the series' 16-bit masterpieces. When it actually does resemble a Final Fantasy game, it's usually one from the 8-bit era.

All of this is to say that 4 Heroes is a very good game, and a very interesting game, but it's nothing at all like, say, Final Fantasy IX, which is what most fans would expect from a "retro" Final Fantasy. No, if 4 Heroes has any direct antecedent, it would be the Final Fantasy Legend titles for Game Boy (which, of course, weren't actually Final Fantasy at all). Really, though, 4 Heroes seems to have been inspired by any number of other games outside its purported franchise. Its combat system, which doesn't allow you to choose direct targets for your characters' actions, is strongly reminiscent of Sting's Riviera: The Promised Land, all the way down to the fact that the heroes' seemingly random autonomous actions follow very predictable rules and can easily be guided by attentive players.

The spells follow Final Fantasy naming conventions, but their elemental relationships are closer to Chrono Cross' triple elements pairs. There's no such thing as a Game Over; a total party kill simply sends you back to the last town while penalizing you some of the gems you use for currency, weapon upgrades, and Job advancement. Even the game's presentation doesn't seem particularly Final Fantasy-like, with a distinct lack of dramatic cinema sequences.

Frankly, 4 Heroes does a pretty piss-poor job of manufacturing nostalgia. Like Mega Man Legends or Metal Gear Ac!d, it's one of those games that would probably be better off standing alone without a beloved name hanging over it to shape expectations. Taken on its own merits, though, 4 Heroes is entertaining and unique, combining a streamlined interface with a daunting challenge level. Its take on the classic Job system lacks the complexity of Final Fantasy V's, but it works well with the battle system's use of universal Action Points, making any number of Job combinations viable while rewarding effective tactics and planning. Smart use of classes and equipment here can turn any seemingly impossible battle into a cakewalk. 4 Heroes isn't meant to be a game you can break and exploit -- another difference from modern Final Fantasy fare -- but rather a consistent challenge that tests your understanding of its mechanics and the possibilities inherent in its systems.

It isn't without its flaws, though. Despite being called "The 4 Heroes of Light," the first half of the adventure is spent jumping from one of those four heroes to another as the party members unite, divide, recombine, and go their separate ways. This can make it difficult to create an optimal party, especially in the frustrating (though mercifully rare) sections where you control a single warrior. Likewise, the game has gorgeous art direction, and each village and castle is beautifully and uniquely designed... but dungeons are repetitive, monotonous, and boring. And the difficulty level starts out steep and only gets worse from there, offering little forgiveness as you acclimate to some of the game's more unconventional design elements. Expect to pause to do some grinding (either for experience or gems) from time to time.

There's also the fact that 4 Heroes is only tangentially connected to the series whose name it bears. The similarities do become more pronounced in the adventure's second half; when the party finally unites for good, you gain the equivalent of an airship, and, in classic Final Fantasy style, the whole world opens up for you to save in the order of your choosing. Yet the series has never seen a combat system like this, offered a Job system like this, or even looked like this. 4 Heroes has an unconventional battle system, a frequently recursive sense of plot progression, and a merciless difficulty level lurking behind its baby-faced exterior. This makes for an interesting, demanding role-playing experience. It also makes for a tough sell to the intended audience.

What's in a name? 4 Heroes of Light feels like a total outlier even for Final Fantasy, a series which is constantly reinventing itself. It's a grand, involving adventure, but it's one that plays by its own rules -- not by the rules of Final Fantasy. It's a game less likely to appeal to fans of the series than it is to people who are drawn to tough RPGs in the old-school vein; there's more of Shiren the Wanderer here than of Cloud Strife or Terra Branford. Maybe the only way Square's old-time developers can make a game that hearkens back to the days of classic, demanding RPGs is to dress it up in cute graphics and disguise it as a Final Fantasy game, but so be it. I'm glad they pulled it off. 4 Heroes of Light is one of the better games I've had in my DS recently... even if there is a whiff of false advertising about it.

Originally posted on 1UP.

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