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[plasticpassion]

I put a lot of time into FFIV several years ago and never finished it after getting frustrated with the difficulty of the area i'm in. It always stuck with me as something that I wanted to come back to as I really enjoyed the game. I'm ready to dive back in but honestly I don't recall the mechanics well enough to continue with success.

Could anyone give some guidance on how best to proceed? My current situation:

Spoiler: FFIV

1. I'm on the moon in some kinda dungeon that if I recall correctly, I'm stuck in which is why I quit.

The party level is: Cecil (70, hp 5327), Edge (67, hp 3633), Kain (64 3353), Rosa (72, 3016), Rydia (71, 2857)

I'd appreciate some guidance.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Well, you're at the end of the game. If it's been that long and you have no idea what you're doing, though, prooolllly best to start over. Or better yet, play the game on PSP or GBA instead, because the DS version is kind of a turd, honestly.

 

[Sub_Level]

There's a good grinding place on the moon. From Gamefaqs:

If you're on the moon already, a neat trick to do is to use a Siren on the surface of the moon to force a battle against the Abyss Worm. You can kill him in one hit by casting Break and they give 48000 exp even without level lust on. Sirens cost 3000 gil from the Hummingway Abode on the moon's surface and the Abyss Worms drop 1204 gil (without gil farmer on) so you can use this tactic for a long time since by the time you reach the moon you should have tons of gil stockpiled. Just park the Lunar Whale by the Hummingway Abode and go nuts, entering the Lunar Whale to rest when mp gets low then buying more Sirens as-is needed.

Thats how I beat the game. I just put a podcast on and grinded that shit for a few hours.

 

[Vawn]

I just best this for the 6,000th time in my life like 30 minutes ago. I was playing the PSP version on Vita. The DS version is the most difficult version, from what I remember.

 

[Nester99]

I should play this again.

Just finished chrono trigger for the first time this week

 

[Tesseract]

grind save points with tents until your territory expands

 

[Orenji Neko]

Ah! My favorite FF! ......but not the version I like ha ha ha! (Super Famicom all the way!)

Anyway:

Not sure what abilities set or what you have acquired but this should make things a lot easier if you can do this:

Decants-
Cecil: 'Attract" so all enemies attack him. "Counter" so that he immediately attacks after hit. Just have him defend most of time. You could also change attack to kick to counter and hit all enemies but not so useful on single target bosses. Since he takes all physical damage, defend sword is quite good to help with lessening damage until he is outfit in best armor.
Kain: False Tears will lower enemy defense by half. Darkness if you stole from Odin is useful with him and Poison Axe. Darkness ups jump attack damage I believe as well. He will be tearing enemies apart like a weeping madman. (^ -)
Rosa: Reflect Pierce so she can heal or upgrade past reflects. Double cast. Also set Target all allow to haste etc everyone at once. Equip staff weapon found in core to raise her magic.
Rydia: MP+ 50% and Bahamut and Leviathan. When fighting final boss, do not use Bahamut on him or he will counter with powerful spells or at least he does this in the SFC version. Rydia kind of a back up support in final battle but this might not apply to DS version....been a long time since I played.

Edge: Sadly I have not played the 3D FF4 in a long time as I prefer the Super Famicom version so I don't recall what decants I put on him. Steal is default with him and good for getting Yoichi arrows for Rosa from the female magic using enemies in Bahamut Lair and the core. With Cecil drawing physical attacks, keep him in front row with Cecil and Kain so he does more damage.

Cannot think of anything else at the moment. I did not think the DS version was hard, just structured a bit differently in tactics and somewhat slower in gameplay. If nothing else, there should be maps or such online to help even more than my hazy memory of this game. (I don't hate it or the super easy PSP version, I just prefer the original which feels right.)


(Names of abilities I mentioned above might be different in English language version just FYI)

I do wish I could help more.

 

[Sub_Level]

grind save points with tents until your territory expands

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Edge: Sadly I have not played the 3D FF4 in a long time as I prefer the Super Famicom version so I don't recall what decants I put on him. Steal is default with him and good for getting Yoichi arrows for Rosa from the female magic using enemies in Bahamut Lair and the core. With Cecil drawing physical attacks, keep him in front row with Cecil and Kain so he does more damage.

Awesome suggestions!!!!
For Edge I would add that when you get to Z just use his throw ability and chuck all your high end weapons you don't have equipped (find the assassin's daggers in a shop they are cheap). 9's as far as the eyes can see.....

This game was GREAT!

 

[plasticpassion]

Thanks for all the replies. I leveled up using the siren method and now party levels are 77, 76, 76, 73, 71. I also took some of the advice re the augments but I did fuck up by assigning wrong augments (I.e, have Cecil twin cast and can’t get dual cast). Some of the enemies in the lunar dungeon are still crazy hard basically 2-3 shotting me (I’m looking at you dragon that attacks from a chest with some armor in it). I’m thinking now I will go back to try to get the safe passage augment.

question: is there a way to cast the buffs like shell and protect on all players at once like you can with the cure spells?

 

[Irobot82]

Thanks for all the replies. I leveled up using the siren method and now party levels are 77, 76, 76, 73, 71. I also took some of the advice re the augments but I did fuck up by assigning wrong augments (I.e, have Cecil twin cast and can’t get dual cast). Some of the enemies in the lunar dungeon are still crazy hard basically 2-3 shotting me (I’m looking at you dragon that attacks from a chest with some armor in it). I’m thinking now I will go back to try to get the safe passage augment.

question: is there a way to cast the buffs like shell and protect on all players at once like you can with the cure spells?

Can't you push the right arrow to select all of them?

 

[Orenji Neko]

For 1 target spells like that you have to have the Target All ability on Rosa. You get that by giving decants, I think at least only 1, to Fusoya when he is with you and once you have the final party, I think it is lying on floor in the palace on the moon. It can be forever missed if passed that point without giving any to him.

Edit: I was curious and looked it up- it is called "omnicasting" in western version.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Well, you're at the end of the game. If it's been that long and you have no idea what you're doing, though, prooolllly best to start over. Or better yet, play the game on PSP or GBA instead, because the DS version is kind of a turd, honestly.

Nah. The DS version is the only version that has a decent difficulty to it. PSP and GBA is face-roll level. Plus the DS version has a bit more weight with its story scenes given its presentation.

OT:
I would suggest starting over at that point. Use a guide to grab any unique abilities that are easily missable if you struggle with what the characters can do naturally. Plus the game isn't very long. Takes around 20-ish hours to beat.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Nah. The DS version is the only version that has a decent difficulty to it. PSP and GBA is face-roll level. Plus the DS version has a bit more weight with its story scenes given its presentation.

OT:
I would suggest starting over at that point. Use a guide to grab any unique abilities that are easily missable if you struggle with what the characters can do naturally. Plus the game isn't very long. Takes around 20-ish hours to beat.

I'd argue the difficulty in the DS version does nothing to enhance the game - all it accomplishes is forcing you to level grind your way through the difficulty spikes. The PSP and GBA versions are easy, yes, but that's kind of just how the game is designed.

But yeah, start over, OP.

 

[Dr. Claus]

I'd argue the difficulty in the DS version does nothing to enhance the game - all it accomplishes is forcing you to level grind your way through the difficulty spikes. The PSP and GBA versions are easy, yes, but that's kind of just how the game is designed.

But yeah, start over, OP.

What grind? Outside of first reaching the moon and using the Siren/Break trick, I never grinded in the game. Just by playing normally I was more than equipped to deal with every boss and battle. The only "difficulty" spike in the game was its final dungeon, but that is less difficulty and more a massive level increase between areas. If we want to talk about "how the game is designed", then DS would be closer to that than GBA/PSP as it was closer to the original difficulty of the super famicom release (if a bit more challenging).

 

[Werewolf Jones]

DS version is ruthless. Just grind to your 80s and you should smash Zeromus in like 5 minutes.

 

[plasticpassion]

I beat it this morning. Party levels were 76-83ish. Once I realized there was a save point in B5 of the last dungeon and familiarized myself with the mechanics I was able to finish it quickly. I picked up all the strong gear in B5 and below and it became much easier. I’m glad to have finished it... 10 years later. It was always on the back of my mind.

 

[EverythingsOverrated]

I should play this again.

Just finished chrono trigger for the first time this week

That's awesome, what did you think? It's a game I've replayed every few years or so since it came out but I love to here about people experiencing it now for the first time.

As for FF4, I would just start over even though you're really far in.

 

[Nester99]

That's awesome, what did you think? It's a game I've replayed every few years or so since it came out but I love to here about people experiencing it now for the first time.

As for FF4, I would just start over even though you're really far in.

loved it. It’s in my top 5 in the other thread.

the time travel was so well done, I really liked how different times were connected. You could really see the FF and DQ inspiration

So glad I went back and played it. Might even NG+ It.

 

[infinitys_7th]

In the SNES/GBA version, I remember the moon being a massive labyrinth with a lot of hidden treasures. IDK if it was that way in the DS version, but I would almost work my way back up and if I were you and try going through it and exploring thoroughly again from there.