FF4j/FF4j Easytype Changes FAQ v 1.01

FF4j/FF4j Easytype Changes FAQ v 1.01
by Ian Kelley

Well, most everybody that has a Super Famicom or a Super Nintendo
has heard of Final Fantasy 4, or its US counterpart, FF2. Actually, in
Japan there are two different Final Fantasy 4 games. After the
original was released, an "easy" version was released for young
children and first-time RPG players. In the Easy version, lots of
monsters, abilities, spells, and items were removed. Since the US FF2
is based on FF4 Easytype, people on this side of the Pacific never get
to see the extra stuff. Therefore, this FAQ is here to show the
differences between FF4j and FF4j Easytype/FF2 US.

Version Changes:

v. 1.01: Changed the names of the Four Emperors...thanks to the people who
caught the Dante's Inferno references...my HS English teacher would kill me
if he saw I missed this one. ^_^
Added the "Notes" section.

v. 1.0: Added a list of name changes for most of the items
Added the "Programmers Room" left out of FF2 US
Added the differences between the PSX and SFC versions of FF4.
Added a "reviews section"

v. 0.9: Initial release.

Contents:
Notes/About this FAQ
Differences Between the PSX/SFC Versions of FF4j
Differences Between FF4j Easytype and FF2 US
Name Changes:
Characters in your party:
Classes
Monsters:
Other names
Items
Special Items
Items
Swords
Spears/Lances
Ninja Weapons
Throwing Weapons
Axes
Harps
Claws
Bow+Arrows
Staffs
Daggers+Knives
Rods
Whips
Hammers
Armor
Clothes/Robes
Helmets
Gauntlets
Shields
Spells
White Magic
Black Magic
Summoning Magic
Ninjutsu
Twin Magic
Differences Between FF4j and FF4j Easytype/FF2 US
Extra Items
Skills Taken Out of FF4j Easytype
Other Changes
My Personal Ratings of Each of the FF4 Versions

NOTES/ABOUT THIS FAQ
---------------------------------------------------------

A lot of people have expressed interest in how I wrote this FAQ, so this
section is just a quickie report of how I did it. :) The names of things and
layout of the game in this FAQ are primarily based upon the Super Famicom
version of Final Fantasy 4. Then I rented a copy of FF2 US and played through i
t
once to get the names of the people, places, etc. in the US version. After
buying the PSX version, I played through it once to get the differences
there. FF4j Easytype is the version I've had the least experience with; I
only played it on a console when I was in Japan, and had to use a ROM version
to write this FAQ with.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PSX/SFC VERSIONS OF FF4j
---------------------------------------------------------

There are very few differences between the original FF4j and the
Playstation version of FF4j. In terms of graphics and music, the two
are identical. Actually, since the PSX does not support Mode 7 there
is some choppiness in the scenes that use it like when you are flying
in the airship. The gameplay is identical to the original FF4j except
for a few slight differences, like being able to hit Barbariccia in her
spin, which was not possible in the original FF4j. There is 1 FMV
segment in the PSX version. When you first start, you get to see the
first 15 seconds, and then after the ending, you get to see the movie
in its entirety. It's about a minute long and consists of various
important scenes in the game. The sound effects are slightly different
in the PSX version. They sound kind of like you're hearing them from
the other end of a long tunnel. This is bad IMHO, but if you are
listening to the game in surround, it might be better, I don't know.
Basically it is the same thing as the original FF4j.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FF4j EASYTYPE AND FF2 US
-----------------------------------------------------

STORY CHANGES:

FF4j easy version is basically identical to FF2 US. However, they did
take out some character background for some strange reason. For
example, they left out details about Foo-soo-ya being Cecil's uncle, and
they didn't cover Cain's background about how he is trying to live up
to his father's reputation as a Ryuukishi, (Dragon Knight) and how he
chose to follow his father's footsteps as a Ryuukishi even though the
king tried to make him into an Ankoku Kishi (Black Knight) like Cecil.

Note, however, that there were some strange forms of censorship in
FF2 US. This includes:
* Changing the scythe that was going to drop on Rosa's head in
the tower of Zott into a big metal ball.
* Taking out a frame of animation where Cecil + Rosa are
kissing so they just hug each other instead.
* Censoring swearing and rephrasing some "important" phrases
(like the few that hint that Cecil + Rosa have been sleeping together
on a long time basis--not that it's surprising that this would be
censored in the US...)
* Censoring references to death. For example:
Cid in FF4: "I'm going to blow myself up and sacrifice my life to save
you! Yang will be lonely in the afterworld!"
Cid in FF2, same situation: "Oh, I'll just get off here, hold the bad guys
off, and stay in the underworld a bit longer."

In FF4, there is a "programmer's room" located below "Pub Rally-ho" in
the dwarf castle. In this room, you could talk to (and fight!) some of
the programmers, and there is some strange stuff down there like
the Porno book. This room was taken out of the US FF2, probably so
you can't get access to the Porno Book.

NAME CHANGES:

Characters in your party:
FF4 FF2
---------------------------------------------------
Cain (Pronounced "Kyne") Kain
Tella Tellah
Gilbert Edward
Foo-soo-ya FuSoYa

Classes
FF4 FF2
---------------------------------------------------
Ankoku Kishi (Black Knight) Dark Knight
Ryuukishi (Dragon Knight) Dragoon
Ouzoku (Prince/Royalty) Bard
Monk-sou (Monk-priest) Black Belt
Gishi (Engineer) Chief

(Note on classes: While Gilbert was "Ouzoku" in the FF4 SFC version, in the
Playstation version his class was changed to "Kinyushijin," or Bard.)

Monsters:
I'm not a masochist so I won't do them all, (about 95% of the
monsters' names were changed for FF2 US) but I'll do the bosses.
This is still incomplete though.

FF4 FF2
-----------------------------------------------------
Mist Dragon Mist
Octomammoth Octomamm
Mother Bomb MomBomb
Scarmiglione Milon
Beigan Baigan
Cagnazzo Kainazzo
Dark Dragon Dark Elf
Dog Sandy
Mag Cindy
Rag Mindy
Barbariccia Valvalis
Calco Cal
Breena Brena
Calcobreena Calbrena
Kokuryuu (Black Dragon) Shadow
Golbeza Golbez
Lugeie (Lu-geh-ee-eh ^_^) Lugae
Balnaba Balnab
Rubicante Rubicant
Assault Door Trap Door
Demon's Wall EvilWall
Leviathan Leviatan
Seigyo System (Control System) CPU
Geigeki System (Attack System) Attacker
Bouei System (Defense System) Defender
Hakuryuu (White Dragon) PaleDim
Lunasaurus D. Lunar
Tidariathan Ogopogo
Dark Bahamut Wyvern

Other names:
FF4 FF2
------------------------------------------------------
Jiott Giott
Debu Chocobo (Lardass Chocobo) Big Chocobo
Shiren no Yama (Trial Mountain) Mt. Ordeals
Devil Road Serpent Road
Hover Sen (Hoverboat) Hovercraft
Madousen (Magical Ship) Big Whale
Kyoudaihou (Gigantic Gun) Super Cannon
Eblana Eblan
Troia Toroia

Items:
The only items I've listed here are ones that deviate enough from
their original names to be worth writing down. For example, the
"Tetsu no Udewa" (Iron armband) is far enough from the "IronRing,"
but "Koudai no Tsurugi" (Ancient Sword) is "Ancient" in the US
version, so it's basically the same. Basically, if you get a weird name
for a weapon in the US version and it's not listed here, just put "(type
of weapon) of (Whatever the US name is)" and you will have the
Japanese name. Eg. "Legend" = "Sword of Legend." Note that not all of
the items are here...all of the ones here are just ones that I've
seen...some of the more difficult items to get I haven't found in both
versions so I can't put their names down for sure. As soon as I find
them they will be up here. ^_^

FF4 FF2
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Bomb no Yubiwa (Bomb Ring) Package
Sabaku no Hikari (Light of the Desert) Sand Ruby
Hisohisou (onomotopia--can't translate) TwinHarp
Magma no Kakera (Magma Fragment) Magma Key
Lugeie no kagi (Lugeie's Key) Tower Key
Luka no Kubikazari (Luka's necklace) Luka Key
Nezumi no Shippo (Mouse Tail) Rat
Adamantite Adamant
Ai no Frypan (Frying Pan of Love) Pan

Items:
Potion Cure 1
High Potion Cure 2
Ex-Potion Cure 3
Ether Dry Ether 2
Phoenix no O (Phoenix Tail) Life
Gisarl no Yasai (Gisarl's Vegetables) Carrot
Cottage Cabin
Bannouyaku (Medicine of 10,000 uses) Heal
Akai Kiba (Red Fang) FireBomb
Gisarl no Fue (Flute of Gisarl) Whistle

Swords:
Ankoku no Tsurugi (Black Sword) Shadow
Shadow Blade Darkness
Deathbringer Black
Mithril Sword Silver
Flame Sword Fire
Nemuri no Ken (Sleepy Sword) Slumber
Blood Sword Drain
Defender Defense
Ragnarok Crystal

Spears/Lances:
Blood Lance Drain
Kouri no Yari (Ice Spear) Blizzard
Holy Lance White
Hiryuu no Yari (Flying Dragon Spear) Dragoon

Ninja Weapons:
Kunai Short
Ashura Middle
Kotetsu Long
Kikuichimonji Ninja
Engetsurin Full Moon

Throwing Weapons
Fuuma Shuriken (Wind Demon Shuriken) Ninja
Houchou (Kitchen Knife/Cleaver) Spoon

Axes:
Ogre Killer Ogre

Harps:
Yume no Tategoto (Harp of Dreams) Dreamer
Lamia no Tategoto (Lamia's Harp) Charm

Claws:
Honou no Tsume (Flame Claw) Fire
Ikazuchi no Tsume (Lightning Claw) Thunder
Yosei no Tsumei (Fairy Claw) Charm
Jigoku no Tsume (Claw of Hell) Poison

Bow+Arrows
Yumi (Bow) ShortBow
Killer Bow Archer
Yoichi no Yumi (Yoichi's Bow) Samurai
Seinaru Ya (Holy Arrows) White
Honou no Ya (Arrows of Flame) Fire
Ikazuchi no Ya (Arrows of Lightning) Lit
Kuchifuuji Ya (Arrows of Mouth-sealing) Mute
Tenshi no Ya (Angel Arrows) Charm
Yoichi no Ya (Arrows of Yoichi) Samurai

Staffs:
Iyashi no Tsue (Staff of Healing) Cure
Mithril no Tsue (Mithril Staff) Silver
Hadou no Tsue (Energy Wave Staff) Lunar
Kenja no Tsue (Sage Staff) Life

Daggers+Knives:
Dancing Dagger Dancing
Mithril Knife Silver
Mage Masher Mute

Rods:
Henge no Rod (Apparition Rod) Change
Yousei no Rod (Fairy Rod) Charm
Hoshikuzu no Rod (Shooting Star Rod) Stardust

Whips:
Dengeki Muchi (Electrical Attack Whip) Blitz
Fire Bute Flame

Hammers:
Kizuchi (Mallet) Wooden
Mithril Hammer Silver
Daichi no Hammer (Great Earth Hammer) Earth

Armor:
Ankoku no Yoroi (Black Armor) Shadow
Hades no Yoroi (Armor of Hades) Darkness
Demon's Armor Black
Knight no Yoroi (Knight's Armor) Paladin
Mithril Armor Silver
Flame Mail Fire
Genji no Yoroi (Genji's Armor) Samurai
Dragon Mail Dragoon

Clothes/Robes
Fuku (Clothes) Cloth
Kawa no Fuku (Leather Clothes) Leather
Shijin no Fuku (Poet's Clothes) Bard
Shuujin no Fuku (Convict's Clothes) Prisoner
Daichi no Koromo (Robe of the Great Earth) Gaea
Kenpougi (Kenpou [a martial art] Suit) Karate
Shisai no Robe (Priest Robe) Wizard
Kuro Oubi Dougi (Black Belt Dogi) Bl. Belt
Kuro no Robe (Robe of Blackness) Black
Hikari no Robe (Robe of Light) Sorcerer
Shiro no Robe (Robe of Whiteness) White
Kuro Shouzoku (Black Costume) Ninja
Minerva Bisuche (Minerva Jumpsuit) Heroine

Helmets:
Ankoku no Kabuto (Black Helm) Shadow
Hades no Kabuto (Helm of Hades) Darkness
Demon's Helm Black
Hikari no Kabuto (Helm of Light) Paladin
Mithril Helm Silver
Genji no Kabuto (Genji's Helm) Samurai
Dragon Helm Dragoon
Kawa no Boushi (Leather Hat) Cap
Hanetsuki Boushi (Feathered Hat) Leather
Sankaku Boushi (Triangle Hat) Gaea
Kin no Kamikazari (Gold Hairband) Tiara
Nejiri Hachimaki (Bandana of Twisted Cloth) Headband
Shisai no Boushi (Priest Hat) Wizard
Green Beret Bandana
Kuro Zukin (Black Hood) Ninja

Gauntlets:
Tetsu no Udewa (Iron Armband) IronRing
Ankoku no Kote (Black Gauntlet) Shadow
Hades no Kote (Glove of Gauntlet) Darkness
Akuma no Kote (Demon's Gauntlet) Black
Gauntlet Paladin
Gin no Udewa (Silver Armband) Silver (Made a ring?)
Mithril no Kote (Mithril Gauntlet) Silver
Kyojin no Kote (Giant's Gauntlet) Zeus
Power Wrist Strength
Rune no Udewa (Rune Armband) Rune
Daiya no Udewa (Diamond Armband) Diamond (a ring?)
Genji no Kote (Genji's Gauntlet) Samurai
Dragon no Kote (Dragon's Gauntlet) Dragoon
Mamori no Yubiwa (Ring of Defense) Protect

Shields:
Ankoku no Tate (Black Shield) Shadow
Demon's Shield Black
Hikari no Tate (Shield of Light) Paladin
Mithril Shield Silver
Flame Shield Fire
Genji no Tate (Genji's Shield) Samurai
Dragon Shield Dragoon

Spells:
White Magic
FF4 FF2
----------------------------------------------------------------
Keal Cure
Kealra Cure 2
Kealda Cure 3
Kealga Cure 4
Raise Life
Araise Life 2
Telepo Exit
Minimum Size
Esuna Heal
Saitoro Sight
Protesu *Nonexistant*
Shell *Nonexistant*
Reflek Wall
Levitate Float
Sairesu Mute
Confyu Charm
Dispel *Nonexistant*
Raibura Peep
Haste Fast
Berserk Brsk
Holy White

Black Magic:
FF4 FF2
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fire Fire 1
Faira Fire 2
Faiga Fire 3
Blizad Ice 1
Blizara Ice 2
Blizaga Ice 3
Thunder Lit 1
Thundara Lit 2
Thundaga Lit 3
Tornado Weak
Poison Venom
Bio Virus
Break Stone
Death Fatal
Dejon Warp
Poki Piggy
Flare Nuke
Aspiru Psych
Slipul Sleep

Summoning Magics:
In FF4, each of the Summoning spells has an attack name when cast.
In FF2, these attack names don't exist.
FF4 FF2
------------------------------------------------------
Chocobo Choco
"Chocobo Kick"

Dragon Mist
"Kiri no Breath" (Mist Breath)
Shiva Shiva
"Fubuki" (Blizzard)
Ramuu Indra
"Sabaki no Ikazuchi" (Lightning of justice)
Efreet Jinn
"Jigoku no Kaen" (Flames of Hell)
Titan Titan
"Daiichi no Ikari" (Anger of the Earth)
Asura Asura
"Asura" :)
Leviathan Levia
"Tsunami" (aka Tidal Wave but Tsunami is an English word too! -_^)
Sylph Sylph
"Kaze no Sasayaki" (Whisper of the Wind)
Odin Odin
"Zantetsuken" (Name of his sword-"Sword that cuts iron")
Bahamut Baham
"Megaflare"
Bomb Bomb
"Jibaku" (Self-destruct)
Goblin Imp
"Goblin Punch"
Mind Flayer Mage
Cocatrice *Nonexistant*

Ninjutsu:
FF4 FF2
-------------------------------------------------------
KatonÊ(Fire technique) Flame
Suiton (Water technique) Flood
Raijin (Lightning God) Blitz
Kageshibari (Shadow Needles) Pin
Kemuridama (Smokebomb) Smoke
Bunshin (Body Split) Image

Twin Magic
FF4 FF2
-------------------------------------------------------
Buchi Flare (Little Flare) Flare
Buchi Meteo (Little Meteo) Comet

One note on "W.Meteo" in both FF4 and FF2....in case you were
wondering, that "W" stands for "Double." In Japanese, they often use
the letter "W" to mean "Double." They did this in FF7 too, for the "W"
commands.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FF4j AND FF4j EASYTYPE/FF2 US
---------------------------------------------------------------------

EXTRA ITEMS:
In FF4j, there are at least twice as many items as there are in the
Easytype. Most notably are the cure items; instead of one item that
cures all status effects, there is a separate item for each, like one
item that cures Poison, one that cures Blindness, etc...There is an item
that cures all status effects but it is extremely rare and can only be
bought in the underworld for a whopping 5000 Gil each. There are
other items that were taken out of FF4j Easytype, too. Generally, due
to space, item management took some thinking in FF4, you rarely
have space for a lot of extra items.

Bomb no Kakera (Bomb Fragment)
This item, when used in battle, casts "Fire"

Bomb no Migiude (Right arm of Bomb)
This item, when used in battle, casts "Faira"

Bomb no Tamashii (Spirit of Bomb)
This item, when used in battle, kills your character and does his or
her current HP in damage to the enemy.

Nankyoku no Kaze (Wind of the South Pole)
This item, when used in battle, casts "Blizad."

Hokkyoku no Kaze (Wind of the North Pole)
This item, when used in battle, casts "Blizara"

Zeus no Ikari (Wrath of Zeus)
This item, when used in battle, casts "Thunder"

Kamigami no Ikari (Wrath of the Gods)
This item, when used in battle, casts "Thundara"

Hoshi no Suna (Stardust)
This item, when used in battle, casts "Buchi-meteo," the spell that
Palom and Porom use as a twin power.

Shiroi Kiba (White Fang)
This item shoots "fangs of ice" at the enemies.

Aoi Kiba (Blue Fang)
This item actually exists in FF2, it's called "Lit-Bolt," but you can't
actually get it. It does lightning damage to all the enemies.

Daichi no Drum (Drum of the Earth)
This item, when used in battle, casts "Quake"

Ougi no Sho (Book of Knowledge)
This item summons a random monster.

Kuarl no Hige (Whiskers of Kuarl)
This item, when used in battle, casts "Death"

Dou no Sunadokei (Copper Hourglass)
This item, when used in battle, stops all the enemies for a while.

Gin no Sunadokei (Silver Hourglass)
This item, when used in battle, stops all the enemies for a little
longer than the Dou no Sunadokei.

Kin no Sunadokei (Gold Hourglass)
This item stops the enemies for a long time, even more than the Gin
no Sunadokei.

Kumo no Ito (Spider Thread)
This item casts "Slow" on all the monsters.

Seijaku no Kane (Bell of Silence)
This item casts "Sairesu" on all the enemies

Kaijuu zukan (Picture-book of Monsters)
This item casts "Raibura."

Hermes no Kutsu (Shoes of Hermes)
This item casts "Haste."

Bacchus no Sake (Sake of Bacchus)
This item casts "Berserk."

Skape Doll
This item casts "Blink."

Hikari no Curtain (Curtain of Light)
This item casts "Reflek" on one character.

Tsuki no Curtain (Curtain of the Moon)
I'm not sure how this item is different than Hikari no Curtain; it casts
"Reflek" on the character that uses it. Maybe it lasts longer or
something, it just says it's more powerful in the instruction manual.

Vampire no Kiba (Vampire Fang)
This item casts "Drain."

Lilith no Kuchizuke (Kiss of the Lilith)
This item casts "Aspiru."

Kin no Hari (Golden Needle)
This item cures petrified characters.

Otome no Kiss (Woman's kiss)
This item cures characters turned into frogs.

Uchide no Kozuchi (Mallet of an Apprentice)
This item cures shrunken characters.

Diet Food
This item cures characters turned into pigs.

Yamabikosou (Echo Plant)
This item cures muted characters.

Megusuri (Eye Medicine)
This item cures blinded characters.

Dokukeshi (Antidote)
This cures poisoned characters.

Juujika (Cross)
This cures cursed characters.

Mezamashidokei (Alarm Clock)
This wakes up sleeping characters.

Unicorn no Tsuno (Horn of the Unicorn)
This heals all characters of status effects that normally disappear
after the battle. (e.g. Curses, Sleep, Slow, etc....)

Hijouguchi (Emergency Exit)
This casts "Telepo."

Kobito no Pan (Dwarf Bread)
This casts "Saitoro."

Alarm
This item calls a group of enemies to fight you when you use it.

Gin no Ringo (Silver Apple)
This increases your maximum HP by 50.

Kin no Ringo (Golden Apple)
This increases your maximum HP by 100.

Soma no Shizuku (Drop of Soma)
This increases your maximum MP by 10.

Dark Matter
There is only one of these in game; you can steal this item from the
last boss, Zeromus. Just by holding it, you can reduce the damage he
does. Useful, because without it, his "Big Burn" attack can do upwards
of 3000-4000 HP of damage, even on moderately high level
characters.

Etchi no Hon (Porno Book)
This secret item is in a special area in the game where you can talk
to all of the programmers. It was taken out of the US version for
obvious reasons, along with the entire special area. Whether or not
this area exists in FF4 Easytype I don't know. This item turns the
screen red and excites the reader. ^_^

SKILLS TAKEN OUT OF FF4j EASYTYPE:

These are a list of battle commands that each character had that
were taken out of FF4j Easytype, and what they do.

Cecil as an Ankoku Kishi (Black knight)
Ankoku (Pitch-black)
With this command, Cecil gathers his life energy in his sword and
uses it to shoot black bolts of energy at all the enemies to do damage
to them. However, every time you use Ankoku, Cecil's HP will drain
a bit.

Tella
Omoidasu (Remember)
With this command, Tella will try to remember one of the spells he's
forgotten. Basically it casts a spell at random. It can even cast spells
that can't normally be cast, like Tornado or Death on all the enemies.
Once when I was fighting Octomammoth, Tella remembered
Thundaga. That was sure a quick fight. :) Once Tella remembers his
forgotten spells on the Shiren no Yama, (Trial Mountain) this
command disappears.

Gilbert
Kusuri (Medicine)
Kusuri heals all the characters for about 10-20 hp worth of damage.

Rosa
Inori (Prayer)
Without using up MP, Rosa will cast "Keal" on all characters in the
party. It doesn't always work though.

Yang
Tameru: (Gather)
Yang will gather his strength to do a double-damage attack, but it
takes time for him to build up strength.
Gaman: (Endure)
With this command, Yang can reduce physical damage to himself as if
"Protesu" was cast on him.

Palom
Tsuyogaru (Strengthen)
After using this command, Palom's magic power will increase.

Porom
Usonaki (False tears)
Porom will pretend to cry which upsets the monsters, and makes it
easier for the party to run away.

Fuusuuya
Seishinha (Spirit Wave)
When Fuusuuya uses Seishinha, all the party's HP regenerate slowly.

OTHER CHANGES
In FF4j Easytype, there are no front or back lines when fighting the
enemy. IOW, in FF4 there is a front and back row among the
enemies. Enemies in the back row will take half damage from your
attacks, just as characters in the back row take half damage.
Unfortunately, monsters in the back row don't seem to do less
damage when they attack. Overall battles are harder, and there are
annoying bits not present in the easytype to make things difficult.
For example, if the twins take much longer to cast their double spells,
get out of synch when they try to cast a magic together, when they
come forward to cast the spell, they expend the MP, but do
absolutely nothing.

Items in general are more expensive and tougher to get in FF4 than
in FF4 Easytype. The Eteru (Ether in FF2 US) items can only be
bought on the moon, whereas in FF4 Easytype Eteru is available in
stores from the first town. The Ban Nouyaku (Heal potion in FF2) is
50 times more expensive in FF4 than in the easytype. Also it's not
buyable until the latter half of the game.

Many of the bosses were toned down for FF4j Easytype. For
example, the Dark Dragon does much more damage with his Dark
Breath, and Barbariccia cannot be hit in her spin except by Cain's Jump
attack, or by magic.

The Shoukan spell "Asura" does different things in FF4 and FF4
Easytype. In FF4, Asura does one out of three things: 1) Cast "Raise"
on every member of the party. 2) Cast "Kealda" on every member of
the party. 3) Cast "Protesu" on every member of the party. In FF4
Easytype, the "Protesu" effect is turned into a mega-cure which
usually will heal your party to max. On a similar note, Asura is
*much* more difficult to beat in FF4, since the first thing she does
before you can do anything is cast "Protesu" on herself, making
physical attacks do next to nothing. And since you basically have to
cast "Reflek" on her to keep her from healing herself it makes it
much tougher.

Also, many of the non-boss monsters in FF4 Easytype were toned
down. In FF4, they do more damage and have higher defense ratings
so you do less damage on them. Also, some of them are tougher due
to item constraints. For example, the Molbol's Kusai Iki (Bad breath)
gives you every bad status effect you can have, and since Ban
Nouyakus (aka Heal potions) are so rare, if the characters that can
cast "Esuna" get affected you couldn't do anything. Also, some
monsters have additional attacks in FF4, or have powerful attacks that are
used much more frequently than in the easytype. For example, the "Tsuki no
Megamis" (Lunar Goddesses-I forget what they are in FF2--those girls with
swords on the moon) have a special attack which heals your characters-but
also turns them to stone. (And if you confuse her, she decides to try and
heal you by this method...yuk...) While this attack is still present in the
Easytype, it is used much less often.

In FF4j Easytype, the various secret passages in the walls and the
like are visible, whereas they are all invisible (except for one place, I
think) in FF4j normal.

It's a small difference, but during Cecil's flashback to the stealing of
Mysidia's crystal, there is no dialogue between Cecil and the elder in
FF4j, but there is in FF4j Easytype.

The rumor about there being a subquest in the original FF4 to get an
item to cure Palom and Porom's petrification is false! There is no
such subquest. The reason the box pops up when you press "A" in
front of the twins is that you can waste your "Kin no Haris" here. The fabled
"Basilisk's Eye" does not exist in any way, shape, or form. The three extra
dummied-out items that you can get using the Gunslinger code in FF2 US are
the Dark Matter (steal it from Zeromus to weaken him) and two Switch items
used as event-triggering switches within the game, Let's give this rumor a
nice burial. ^_^

There's also a rumor about the dancer in Baron taking off her clothes
when dancing, and this is partially true. In both FF4 and the Easytype, she
is first wearing a dress, and when she starts dancing she throws it off.
Despite rumors to the contrary, she does NOT do a striptease and is NOT naked
under the dress in ANY version; she is wearing the normal dancer clothes that
all the other dancers in the game are wearing. For some inexplicable reason,
this was censored in FF2 US, where she wears just the dancer clothes to start
with.

MY PERSONAL RATINGS OF EACH OF THE FF4 VERSIONS
----------------------------------------------------------
This is just my personal review of each of the 4 versions of FF4. They
are on a scale of 1-10. After each one, I've also included the rating
given each of the games by FamiTsuu magazine, one of the most
widely-circulated video game magazines in Japan. Of course, since
FamiTsuu never did a rating of FF2 US I can't put that here. :)

Final Fantasy 4
Although the game's graphics and sound might be a little outdated
for its time, this is one of the classic SFC games. With tons of items, a
great storyline, fantastic music, and lots of secrets, this is a must-
have for anybody's RPG collection. IMHO, Out of all the FF games, (7
at the time of this writing) the only two that are better are FF3
(Japanese) and FF5.
My rating: 9
Ratings by Famitsuu: 9-9-10-8

Final Fantasy 4 Easytype
This game is good for little kids, but is siginificantly less fun than its
big brother. I think they could have toned down the difficulty
without taking out that many of the special items and commands. It's
still a good game, but I wonder how necessary it was to water it
down this much.
My rating: 7
Ratings by Famitsuu: 8-7-9-7

Final Fantasy 2 US
This game is basically the same as FF4 Easytype, so I can't really rate
it much lower. But with the censorship, questionable translations and
removal of some character background, I've got to dock it some. And
where's the secret programmer room? They could have taken out the
porno book without taking out the entire room! What's with that?
Anyhow, since it's basically the same I'll dock it half a point.
My rating: 6.5
Ratings by Famitsuu: N/A

Final Fantasy 4 Playstation
I am really annoyed by this game. While it's in all respects the same
as the original FF4j, since this is one platform higher, Square really
ought to have put more work into this game. The 1 FMV movie is
very cool, and IMHO is better than most if not all the FMV movies in
FF7, but it's not enough to make the game worth buying again. It's
like Square is just trying to milk as much money as the game-buying
public as possible, and it's almost like they're trying to trick you into
thinking it's a different game by not putting any screen shots on the
box. Take the unbelievably lethargic saving, choppy "Mode 7"
animations, and primitive graphics and music for the medium, this
one gets a really low rating in my book. It is significantly cheaper than the
cart, so if you've never played FF4 before, get this version. Otherwise
pass it up.
My rating: 5
Ratings by Famitsuu: 7-6-6-5

Do not remove the following from this FAQ!
=============================================================
For any additions, corrections, or questions, please email me (Ian Kelley)
at [email protected]. Thanks. If you want to put any or all
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at all if you use this FAQ on your page, in fact I encourage you
to do so if you wish, but if you let me know first I can keep a
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it. Plus I can look at your page too. :)
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Do not use this FAQ for ANY kind of profit, be it selling it, using it as
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common sense that doing this is illegal, there are many people who
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you if you do and I find out!
=============================================================
This FAQ originated at http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~ikelley/