On the eve of the December 20 release of the Final Fantasy IV remake for Nintendo DS, Square Enix has released one more trailer with a huge amount of cut-scenes – including some glimpses at all-new flashback scenes and other features.
Apparently they are really going wild with this new version. There are tons of cinematic scenes with voice acting detailing all of the game's most dramatic story moments. Most of these are actually in the trailer for a few seconds, in case you're avoiding spoilers.
But even more interesting is that there are some all-new scenes and what look to be new team-up attacks that multiple characters can perform in battle. Screenshots and analysis below. Now with helpful corrections to my mistakes.
In the shot above, Rosa and Rydia are actually performing a magic spell together in combat. As a feature, this of course has already been in Final Fantasy IV – the twins Palom and Porom could cast
magic simultaneously. But never these two. The spell is called "Feisu" (face? no, faith), and doesn't come up in any previous story that I could find on FFIV.
Okay, now things get crazy. Here's what the text says:
Klu-Ya: You did a great job, Cecilia. Thank you!
Wha? Who? Can't exactly figure out who's speaking, from the context, but I doubt the woman man standing would be thanking the woman on the bed for having a baby. So that'll be Claire on the bed with a child, and Cecilia standing. Whoops, no, it's Klu-Ya standing, thanking Cecilia for having his child Cecil. Probably. Could Cecilia be Cecil's mom? And who's the baby? Kain? Hmm...
Cecilia: He's a healthy (energetic) little boy, isn't he?
Yeah, Cecilia must be standing. But really, neither of these characters well, not Cecil's mom anyway appeared in the original game, but I'm willing to bet it's Cecil's and Kain's moms it is definitely Cecil's mom and dad, and I am a huge idiot who can't read. Backed up by the next scene.
Aw, it's li'l Cecil and Kain, fighting in the castle!
Kain: Youuu!
I'm not sure how necessary all this is, but it's adorable.
"Stop!"
...cries an off-screen voice.
Kain: Rosa!
Rosa: We [Baronites] don't engage in unnecessary fighting! Hasn't the king taught you that?
Oh, drama! If you've played Final Fantasy IV, now you know the meaning behind this whole flashback. The game begins with the kingdom of Baron engaged in some very unnecessary fighting, which as it turns out is because the King has been killed and is now actually a giant evil turtle.
We'll have much more on this game after it hits Japan later this month, because we have been dreaming about this kind of thing ever since we were a child.
