Game Discussion of the Week: Final Fantasy IV/V/VI

My experience sounds most similar to dschult3's.

Final Fantasy IV
I, along with my best friend since childhood,  played the heck out of his copies or Dragon Warrior (obtained free through Nintendo Power), and Final Fantasy in elementary school. Heck, we'd obsess over the bits of lore and art in the instructions books. Neither of us bought Dragon Warrior 2-4, though I certainly remember reading about them in Nintendo Power, so I know DW/DQIV did give North American JRPG players an opportunity to see more definited characters. So Final Fantasy IV wasn't just a jump in graphics when it came out, but probably the first experience the two of us had with becoming emotionally involved with video game characters.

We played that game over and over again, both together and separately. Enjoying the story, the world, finding secrets and optional bits, over-leveling characters, and trying to find some damned way to revive Palom and Porom (why would the item prompt come up if you couldn't do anything, dammit). I found both the rotating cast, as well as the larger 5-person party really helped with this. Every character felt like they had their own story going on, and I remember so many great moments, from Cecil becoming a paladin, so many characters willing to sacrifice themselves, Rydia's return in the underworld, Kain's betrayal and redemption, and going to the moon and back. Golbez had very solid characterization and motivation as a villain, but even minor villains like Rubicant, the fiend of fire gave you a sense of his character, insisting on healing you to full strength for a fair fight.

And the music by Nobuo Uematsu was so memorable. From the Prologue, to the Red Wings, to Golbez' theme, it great start to finish. To this day the Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon CD is something I'll put on. (Side note: Sometimes I feel like I short change current JRPG music, as so much of it is great, but doesn't stick with me. I attribute this a combination of being young when I played this games, so there is a strong nostalgia factor, but 8-but and 16-bit game music had to have very strong, memorable melodies, since harmony wasn't usually possible, so they do stick in the mind).

Yes, we got the Easy Mode here in North America, but I didn't know that for years. I believe I first played a fan translation of the normal mode on emulator sometime after I played FFV. I recall it being full of crude jokes, but still neat to see the version I missed out on.

It has been nice to see it get re-releases over the years on the PS1, PSN, PSP, DS and PC. Many have been quite good, with the PSP and DS/PC versions being standouts in my mind. The PSP version is probably the best of the sprite-based remakes, but the DS version seemed crazy at the time. Even with the crude polygon models, it was interesting seeing voice acting and cinematography in classic scenes.