The blueprint to Square’s success (Final Fantasy IV / FF4 Retrospective)

[@AltercateTV]

Welcome to my new channel! This video was originally posted on my old channel on 2022-03-22. I love this game so much it hurts. I hope that comes across in the video. 😂 This is my longest video so far, but it could have been a LOT longer. My first, rough draft would have been over six hours long in video form. You have no idea how much discipline it took for me to cut out that much content lol. I worked super hard on this video, and I hope it shows. If you have any questions or comments, let me know! And thanks for supporting me. 😍

[@KorpseTE]

It's criminal that this video only has 5.7K views. It's fantastic!

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you! That makes me very happy to hear :)

[@wilsoneaster]

Back in 199X, when this game was sold in the US as Final Fantasy II, I recall hearing a conversation between a game store clerk and a mom looking for a game for her kid. She asked about this game and the clerk said “That game’s more for adults” as if it were way too complicated for a kid to get. Back in those days, if you wanted Final Fantasy you had to INSIST that was what you wanted and nothing else would do. And I’m glad I did-that game inspired my imagination like no game had before. Great video!

[@AltercateTV]

Lol that’s really interesting! Thanks for sharing. Glad you found your way to the game - I wish they’d brought it into stores in Europe back in the day. I only got a chance to play it in the late ‘90s. Still an amazing game, tho! :)

[@printisdead1983]

Ah yes 199x

[@fijipodd]

I've been watching these on my Chromecast, so I didn't get to see that you had less than 900 subs. I'm shocked, mind blown. You deserve more. I see people with millions of subscribers with less thorough and lower quality info. You've been added to my playlist of videos to listen to while I work. Keep it up.

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you so much for saying that! It really means a lot to me :)

[@valacan]

I"d say that it's not just that FFIV is the first game that had a couple already in romance before the story began, it's that even to this day we almost never see that. I'd love to have that happen more often. Those of us who are married know that dating only lasts so long, the relationship maturing as time goes on is also worth exploring.

[@AltercateTV]

That’s a great point! There’s a lot of deeply touching stories that could be told about committed long term relationships. I’d also love to see more parent-child relationships explored in games like this!

[@driftwoods2229]

Love these videos! Still playing these games decades later. You deserve more from KZbin for putting in all this work. Excellent job!

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you so much! That's very encouraging to hear :)

[@AegisKHAOS]

Playing FF4 as a kid in the SNES days in the forn of FF2, I didn't mind much of the changes from FF1 to FF4 such as the loss of freedom. The story and cast even with bad translations more than made up for. The parties changing as the story progressed did indeed keep me on my toes, and I did manage to make Edward work. :p I think the only time I felt a bit let down by the party change was near the end when FuSoYa left, as I at the time really liked having essentially a full powered Tellah with an actual ability to use Mateo in the game. Also, 'spoony bard' still entertains me to this day. :p Oh, and fighting inside a giant robot and flying a space ship resembling a whale to the moon are also highlights as a kid. That said, when I got the chance to actually play FF4 proper a few years later, I definitely found some things I wished were not changed, such as the special abilities (useful or not) and monster difficulty. Dark Knight Cecil and Paladin Cecil did not feel as distinct because of those changes. Still remembered going out to the forest after Cecil became Paladin and how unprepared I was because the SNES version had me just tank and bully through that mountain, so it was a little more rewarding when I was able to the loss of being able to 'swoon' those birds. On the other hand, I really appreciate the consolidation of items as it was a mess to deal with the menu. Anyways, solid video, and thanks for the nostalgia.

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you! And thanks again for sharing. I always enjoy hearing about people’s personal experiences with the games I cover. :)

[@songohan5866]

Nice video. This is my favorite final fantasy. This game got me in the francise and enjoy ff ever since.

[@AltercateTV]

Thanks! Really wish this game had made it to Europe back in the day…

[@r3q901]

Nice video! I really enjoyed FFIV for what it was. I played the pixel remaster and the music was perfect for the game. Troia's beauty, Theme of love, Mystic mysidia were all wonderful to listen to. Didn't notice how this video is 1 hour long because it was that good. Is using music from the game in the video okay with YT? cuz it would've worked wonders considering there are many versions of the game's OST.

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you for your kind words! :) Regarding music, it's a tricky area to navigate. Most of the time you won't get into trouble for using music from the games, but it can definitely backfire. Copyright law has zero chill lol. So far I've been erring on the side of caution, but it's definitely something I'm constantly re-evaluating as I go along!

[@timbtw3656]

hey, nice video. i love listening to retrospectives and stuff while doing work so you helped out a lot. shame that you dont get many views, these videos must take so much effort and ages to make.

[@AltercateTV]

Thanks, I'm really happy to hear that! Yeah, these videos are a labor of love for sure lol. Sometimes it's hard to tell if I'm doing a decent job or not, so it's always nice to get some positive feedback!

[@MrTonkiee]

Such great quality of this AltercateTV! You tought me alot about FF ! 💯

[@AltercateTV]

😀

[@ThaetusZain]

For a long time this was my favorite final fantasy. And I played the "google translate" snes version. Remember that weird J2E fan translation that claimed to be extremely accurate?

[@AltercateTV]

LOL yeah, that was crazy! I can’t believe their audacity saying that when they took enormous liberties with the script and characters… They had me fooled back then for sure!

[@deanhatescoffee]

Excellent video. A real love letter to one of my favorite games of all time. The music, the story, the spoony bard, it's all just so well done. Between the original SNES version, the "ultimate pixel remaster", and the 3D remake, which version do you prefer to play today?

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you! :) I really enjoy pixel remaster because it’s basically the original game but with a lot of the frustrating waiting time removed (and with a much better translation lol). I should give the 3D remake another shot though!

[@stevemanart]

2:40 I've found that the fact that there ever was any confusion causes far more confusion nowadays than there ever was back in the day. And the confusion wasn't really that common back in the day. In fact, my experience with it boiled down to people commenting that Nintendo Power mentioning the skipped games and wondering if they're ever gonna get released in English and early p2p transfers having both the FCN FFII and FFIII roms labelled as FF2 and FF3 at the same time as the SNES FFII and FFIII roms.

[@AltercateTV]

My experience was different-I remember constantly having to explain the numbering to confused people back in the ‘90s. 😂

[@Shadowcol]

Well done sir

[@AltercateTV]

Thanks! :)

[@barictj]

Off topic but you should get a bluesky/x account and maybe post updates on when new videos are coming out? I couldn't find you on either. Anyway just a suggestion and I absolutely am enjoying these long form reviews and really appreciate listening to them on my drive. Appreciate you!

[@AltercateTV]

That's a good idea! I went ahead and did that just now. You can find me here: @altercate.bsky.social

[@alex_mula]

love these video essays

[@AltercateTV]

Glad to hear that! 😀

[@creativeed6788]

Another great video :)

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you! :)

[@FandeREvil]

Great content

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you! :)

[@justinward3218]

Lol, I’ve been using Edwards heal in the PR version this whole time and didn’t notice I was losing potions.

[@AltercateTV]

Devious, isn’t it? 😂

[@Morgil27]

Iirc, modern translations call it something like Medicine or Salve, which kinda hints that it requires a potion to work.

[@baddmatt9588]

The “Spoony Bard” line was not a mistranslation. It is just an old out-of-date insult we no longer use. “Spoony”means “soft” or “weak”.

[@AltercateTV]

To clarify, I didn’t mean the word makes no sense. What I meant is that Tellah says nothing like this in the original Japanese. Clyde Mandelin has the full breakdown here: legendsoflocalization.com/final-fantasy-iv/damcyan/

[@1funkylionsfan913]

Spoony means lovestruck and not acting rationally . It can be found in music from 50 and more years before the game was made . So tellah being old it actually makes sense that he would use a word like that , has he is old and it would be a word from his youth

[@morioh6623]

Its hard to tell but have you been using tactics ogres main sad theme in the background?

[@AltercateTV]

All the background music in the vid comes from KZbin’s library of royalty free music, but now you make me want to go listen to the Tactics Ogre soundtrack again 😂

[@matttyree1002]

This video series is so profound. Please continue sir. You are doing the world a great service

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you! I'll definitely keep going :)

[@mobstacks9693]

❤

[@sahilhossain8204]

Lore of The blueprint to Square’s success (Final Fantasy IV / FF4 Retrospective) momentum 100

[@octosalias5785]

IV: Thesis (story) V: Antithesis (mechanics) VI: Synthesis (mastery)

[@AltercateTV]

Nice way to put it :)

[@lufasumafalu5069]

ff11 mmo when

[@SilortheBlade]

Poor translations matter not to this Kainazzo.

[@PresidentEvil2]

Dude, great job.

[@AltercateTV]

Thank you so much :)