This page covers the basic concepts of playing FF4. The basics
guide covers on reading the status screen, restoring status
ailments and battle concepts.
Status
Screen
In Final Fantasy IV, the status screen features information
regarding the character's experience and statistics. The table
below explains the meaning of this statistics.
Str
Strength
Evasion
Dodge rate
Agil
Agility
Mag
Def
Defense
against magic
Vit
Vitality
Wis
Wisdom
Will
Will
Mag
Eva
Evasion
against Magic
Attack
Strength + Weapon
Accuracy
Hit Rate
Defense
Equipment DEF
From the status screen, you can find the character's current
level, experience points accumulated, current HP/MP and the
amount of experience points needed for next level. Numbers
in blue boxes will have connection with the equipment screen.
These represent the number of attack points, defense and magical
defense added by equipping the equipment.
Equipment
Screen
Please refer to the screen shot above for more details. The
Shadow sword equipped on Cecil gives him an additional 2 attacking
points. Thus with a strength of 13 and along with 2 attacking
points received upon equipping the Shadow sword, he will get
15 points for Attack. A higher attacking points means stronger
offense. When equipping weapons, take note of the character's
preferred hand. They will inflict more damage when you equip
on their preferred hand. Kain is a left-handed, therefore
equipping his weapon on his left hand will allow him to deal
more damage as opposite to the right hand. For defense, every
character starts off with a fixed amount of vitality and it
will be the character's defense if no armor is equipped.
Status Ailments
Unlike the FF2 SNES version, you need use specific items for
healing certain forms of status ailments. In Final Fantasy
IV , these items can be bought from item shops or steal from
enemies. Recovery indicates whether the status can removed
by using a Tent/Cabin or sleeping a town's inn.
Status
What it does?
Fix...
Petrify
The character will turn into
a stone. The character will not be usable until he/she
is cured off this status ailments
The character becomes smaller.
Attack and defense went down.
Items:
Mallet, Remedy (Heal)
Magic: Esuna, Mini
Recovery: Yes
Confuse (Charm)
The character becomes confuse
and attack randomly with magic/physical attack.
Attack the
confused ally or wait till the battle ends.
Paralyze
The character becomes immobile
temporarily in the battlefield. The character will not
be able to use commands.
Items:
Unihorn, Remedy (Heal)
Magic: Esuna
The status will be removed instantly as the battle ends.
Curse
The character's attack will
decrease by half until the status ailment has been removed.
Items:
Cross, Remedy (Heal)
Magic: Esuna
The status will be removed instantly as the battle ends.
KO
The character is knocked out
when HP drops to zero. The character becomes unusable
until he/she is being revived.
Items:
Life
Magic: Life1, Life2
Recovery: Yes
Airships There are a total of 5 modes of transportation in the
world of Final Fantasy IV (II, SNES). They are the Chocobos,
Hovercraft, Enterprise, Falcon and Lunar Whale. For more details
regarding Chocobos, please refer to the Chocobos section.
Mode
When get it
Ability
Notes
Hovercraft
After departing from Damcyan Castle
Allows you to travel across shallow waters
It can be attached by the Enterprise
Enterprise
After defeating Cagnazzo at Baron Castle
Allows you to travel across world map.
It can only land on grasslands.
It can be upgraded to carry a hovercraft
after returning from the Underworld.
Falcon
It is used to fly into the Magma lava
near Agart town to the underworld. You will get it when
Cecil needs to travel across lava areas to reach the
Sealed Cave
Allows you to travel between the upper
world and Underworld. Only Falcon will allow you to
access the underworld.
It will be attached with a drill after
Cecil has make his return from Tower of Babil to travel
to Mysidia.
Lunar Whale
After the Mysidian's prayers
has been answered at the Tower of Prayers. To enter
the Lunar Whale, hit
when selecting the lower base of the ship.
Inside the spaceship, there
is a control room at the north, a restroom and a storage
pit with a Fat Chocobo. It allows you to travel between
the upper world and the Moon. Examine the crystal to
move the Moon!
The control panel at top
most portion allows you to pilot the Lunar Whale like
an ordinary airship.
The crystal allows you to transfer movement between
Earth and Moon.
The Lunar Whale can only land at plain areas excluding
deserts and rocky areas.
Battle
Concepts - Tips and Tricks Unlike the recent Final Fantasies, a lot of FF4 concepts
are hidden. The battle screen along with the menu screen are
not user-friendly and you need to take note of several hidden
concepts.
The party formation
comprises a maximum of 5 characters - 2 characters
on the front row while 3 characters at the back row.
Place magical users on the back row while attackers
on front. I have discovered that Kain suits the back
row more, as his spear is a long-range attack.
Always
save your game when you find a save point.
Since the game saved files only occupies 2 memory slots
for a total of 4 game files, I recommend you to save
it often. Tent restores around 1,000 HP and 200 MP.
Use them as they offer good backups. Stock up Life and
Potions. You will need them when you are running out
of MP.
Avoid
running away from battles. Never ever run
away from battles. The battles accumulated from the
beginning are necessary from the start till the last
boss fight. Your party should reached Level 50 upon
reaching the Bahamut Cave... In Final Fantasy 4, you
can reduce the amount of gil drop by holding the
along with the run buttons -
& .
Unlike the recent final fantasy,
you cannot skip turns using the menu button. You have
to use "Parry" command.
Look
out for new equipment and weapons upon visiting a new
store. Staying in a Inn is a better option
that using a Tent or Cabin. If you are running of money,
go to the world map and earn money.
Take
note of enemies' weakness. Flying enemies
are weak against projectiles, Fire enemies are weak
against Ice/Water, Ice enemies are weak against Fire,
Water enemies are weak against Lightning. Machines can
be easily killed with Lightning. Certain monsters received
a huge amount of damage from weapons. Such as Ogre Ax
and Cat Claws are excellent against Ogres. Arrows are
extremely effective against flying enemies. Whips are
useful against jelly type enemies.
Certain
items can be used like attacking items via Item Command.
Examples include Earth Hammer and Rod.
Pay
attention to character's speeches prior to the game.
For some battles, they have designed aids with status
boxes.
There
are a lot of hidden passages in the game! When
moving into enclosed area, move against the walls and
you might find a hidden passage. Best still, set your
screen to a bright contrast. Try to get all items in
the game.
When visiting the Sylvan Cave
or Land of Summons, remember to have Rosa cast Float
on your characters whenever you enter a new floor. Even
on the menu, spells can be cast to multiple targets
by selecting the spell, move your cursor to a character
and hit right button again to cast on multiple targets.
Warp,
Exit and Sight works only outside the battles.
Warp allows you to exit the dungeon by moving to the
previous door that you have come from. Exit allows you
to exit the dungeon permanently while Sight allows you
to have an overhead view on the World Map. Do not use
Exit or Warp too often unless your party are low on
HP and resources.
Magic
spells can be reorganized on the Magic menu! Put
the most important spells on the top while least important
spells on the bottom. This also applies for items.
Get
Carrots or Gysahl Greens. In Final Fantasy
IV, characters can only carry a maximum number of items.
You need to stock them up nearby Chocobo forests. For
details, please refer to the Chocobo
Section.
Use
Wall against Wall. It is quite annoying to
fight enemies that use Wall spells frequently such as
Evil Mask or the Magus Sisters. Cast a Wall on your
character and cast a damage spell on that character,
it will be attacking the enemy! Likewise for healing.
Cast your curative magic on the enemy to reflect on
your characters!
To cast a spell on multiple
targets, push direction pad twice towards the selected
targets path. You will tap right on the D-Pad when casting
support magic/curative magic on your characters while
tap left on the D-Pad when casting magic on your enemies.
Make
sure you have at least 5 Whistles before heading for
the final dungeon. Whistle can be bought
from Namingway's Cave found on the moon.
PATH 
Status
Screen
Equipment
Screen
Status Ailments
Airships
when selecting the lower base of the ship.
Battle
Concepts - Tips and Tricks
along with the run buttons - 
& 
.