Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > Final Fantasy: Nerds in Paradise > Final Fantasy IV > Final Fantasy IV: The After: Return to the Moon

[Roogle]

I think that the Japanese cell phone games lack a sense of gameplay compared to console games; that being said, I will probably read a translation of the game with some screenshots and feel like I played the game myself. I doubt that they are going all out for a simple cell phone game.

[Sephex]

Yeah, I will probably never play it, but I'll wait untill someone spoils the plot on Wikipedia or something just to know what they did to the story. Remember, FFIV was VERY popular in Japan, so that's probably why it's getting the direct sequel treatment.

[Nagumo]

I wonder if Golbez and FuSoYa show up again.

[Jowy]

I hope Bahamut just eats him and the game ends right there.

[Evastio]

You people sure are hating on FFIV's sequel excessively despite not hearing much about it.

If only I could somehow harness all of your hate and infuse it into a certain fanboy group of a certain overrated game and let it finally receive all of the hate it deserves...

Anyways, I wouldn't hate on it too much yet. Even though it's only on Japanese cell phones at least it's nice that Square considered making a sequel for an FF game that's not VII or past VII. I like how Square is finally focusing on making new stuff for FFI-VI that aren't just remakes with new features. I liked them and all but those FFs deserve more than that.

[Takara]

Originally Posted by Jowy ^

I hope Bahamut just eats him and the game ends right there.

Oh man, I can just see it now.

"Hi, Mr. Big Dragon! I'm Theodore, from the Blue Planet!"
"Mind if I just rename you 'Snack', son? *CHOMP!* Thought so. *BURP!*"

[Jaffer]

I'll download it on my computer and see if it's any good. No way I'm seeling my soul and buying a mobile phone.

[Sephex]

More details.

Square Enix announced last week it will release Final Fantasy IV -- The After: Return of the Moon for mobile phones in Japan, according to Famitsu, and now we have more details on the game.
The sequel features 2D graphics, similar to classic Final Fantasy. The story takes place 17 years after the events in the original game, with Ceodore, the son of Cecil and Rosa, as the main protagonist. Apparently, we can expect to see most of the characters from the original; so far we know Cecil, Rosa, Kain, Rydia, Yang, and Cid will be returning -- and some are confirmed to be playable characters.

"When we were making the DS remake of FFIV, there were talks on creating an after story of sorts as well as talks on working on a game for mobile phones," said sequel Executive Producer Takashi Tokita. "I have strong attachments to the characters and I was working on the remake so FFIV was always on my mind these days. After having played the remake, I thought that allowing users to download and play the continuation to the story on the mobile phone was a good idea."

The battle system won't be seeing any drastic changes, incorporating the Active Time Battle system in the original. However, Tokita adds "there will be a new feature to the system specifically for mobile phones which will also links with the story in the game."

Additionally, expect arranged versions of the music, as well as some newly composed tunes. Concept art is drawn by Yoshiitaka Amano, while the character art are done by Akira Ogura, who worked with Tokita on Hanjuku Hero in the past. Meanwhile, Kazuko Shibuya, the 2D sprite artist responsible for the series until Final Fantasy VI, is returning to work on the graphics for the sequel.

Final Fantasy IV The After: Return of the Moon will be released monthly in episodic chunks beginning Febuary 2008 in Japan, for both DoCoMo and au mobile phone services. The first episode will serve as a demo and available for free. Hopefully, we'll get to see this on a handheld system down the line or I will have to buy and switch cell phones again.

More Details on Final Fantasy IV's Sequel news from 1UP.com