I’ve committed a cardinal gaming sin: I haven’t played Bravely Default. I know! Two sentences in, and I’ve devastated my gamer credibility about as severely as Bahamut nukes an unprepared party with Megaflare. I thought about playing it, but then the Internet (and my insistent husband) suggested I start with Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, which is apparently a spiritual prequel. I can’t comment on any of that because I’m too busy sinning to know any better.
The 4 Heroes of Light begins like many other RPGs: Brandt, one of our heroes, awakens on his fourteenth birthday and must present himself to the king for his introduction into manhood. He soon discovers that the king’s daughter, Aire, has been kidnapped by an evil witch. He joins fellow heroes Jusqua and Yunita to defeat the witch and save the princess, the fourth hero of light. After that brief story beat, everyone in Horne gets petrified, and our four heroes must set off to find a cure for the curse and unravel the mystery behind it.
While The 4 Heroes of Light is considered a spinoff, it shares so much of its DNA with its inspiration that it feels like a natural continuation of Final Fantasy V. That’s not a complaint: I recently played FFV and enjoyed its characters and job system, which is a boon for me because 4 Heroes of Light uses a similar system but with crowns. These crowns are usually awarded by a crystal (another callback to its progenitor) after you complete a story beat, but you can find some by completing mini-games or challenges.
The 4 Heroes of Light‘s crown and battle mechanics are flexible and allow for a ton of customization and optimization. Much like equipment, each crown also changes the in-game appearance of the character who wears it, which is a nice touch. I like the ranger’s fluffy trapper crown and the black mage’s oversized top hat. Dapper and effective? Yes, please!
Unlike FFV, 4 Heroes of Light‘s crown system relies on gems, not experience. Defeated enemies drop various gems, which you use to upgrade your crowns. Each job has a starting passive ability, like the white mage’s, which reduces the AP cost of white magic. Any character can wear any crown at any time, and upgrading one unlocks battle abilities. These abilities, of which you can equip up to six, include offensive and defensive magic, support moves, and others. Abilities are locked to each crown for each character, although there is a crown that lets you mix and match learned abilities like FFV‘s freelancer. Magic books, which confer spells and can be equipped on anyone regardless of their job, make up most of the game’s magic system.
While the crown system differs from FFV’s, it’s still accessible and familiar. The same cannot be said of 4 Heroes of Light‘s battle system, which uses ability points. Each character can have a maximum of five points, and every command uses a specific number of points. Characters gain one AP every turn and can use the boost command, which also acts as a defense command, to regain extra AP. I’m told the battle system in Bravely Default expands upon 4 Heroes of Light‘s AP system. If that’s true, then sign me up because it works brilliantly.
The boost and AP mechanics create a risk/reward system for every fight. You can burn off all your AP using your most effective moves, but that means entering the next battle with fewer AP. And since developer Matrix Software designed 4 Heroes of Light as an homage to old-school Final Fantasy, it’s hard. Frankly, it’s brutal. It can be system-throwingly frustrating. Enemies, especially bosses, will quickly batter you to death. They often attack multiple times per turn, use devastating multi-target abilities (with various status ailments), and even defend against certain elements. And they have ridiculous amounts of HP.
Surprisingly, the solution is not grinding. Bosses appear to level with you, and grinding offers diminishing returns, especially in the late game. The solution to a troublesome section or boss fight is using crowns and abilities effectively. I often thought of boss fights as puzzles, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been this challenged by an RPG. And despite how frustrating it can be, 4 Heroes of Light is worth playing for this battle system alone. It is turn-based perfection, and I want more of it.
Likewise, the game’s presentation is a sumptuous feast for the eyes and ears. Its cel-shaded, storybook-style presentation is immediately captivating. While it might sometimes look a tad blurry, this style gives the world a distinctly impressionistic feel. There are all kinds of subtle details to enjoy: wind blowing through wheat fields, moonlight drifting through windows, and the gentle flow of shimmering water, for instance.
Unlike many retro or retro-inspired games, every town has its own distinct style, history, culture, and people, and exploring every nook and cranny is a joy. Horne looks like a quaint farming hamlet, while Liberte’s marble-sculpted buildings accentuate its position as the artistic center of the world. It’s fun (and wise) to talk to everyone multiple times and at certain times of the day. You’ll learn valuable tidbits—for instance, gems are also your primary source of gil, which I didn’t realize for far too long. It… pays… to pay attention, especially in retro-inspired games that refuse to hold your hand.
There’s a surprising amount of detail everywhere, and I often stopped playing to take it all in. The creatures are also well designed, straddling that classic Final Fantasy line between “haha” and disturbing. The Cu Sith monster is a flying dog that pees on you to lower your level. Meanwhile, Beelzebub is a revolting, slack-jawed, crown-wearing octopus that’ll squash you with its tentacled body.
I’d be remiss not to praise Naoshi Mizuta’s soundtrack as well. I honestly struggle to choose my favorite melody: the triumphant trumpet-leading opener, the peaceful waltz of Horne, the energetic battle theme, the determined final dungeon theme with its ominous rhythm—it’s all so good. If you’re a fan of Final Fantasy music, you owe it to yourself to check out this soundtrack.
I’ve spent most of my time thus far praising 4 Heroes of Light, and with good reason; however, several head-scratching design choices prevent it from reaching the upper echelon of excellent Final Fantasy games. For starters, you spend the first half of the game switching between party members as they all go their separate ways in service to their own ends. That’d be fine if there were a compelling narrative reason beyond “our heroic youths are rebellious and want to do their own thing.” Constantly splitting up the party, especially at the beginning, makes an already challenging game even more difficult. I can’t tell you how often I died when I only had one character. You can’t acquire a ribbon until much later in the game, and status effects like confusion or sleep will devastate one or two members. I died way more in the early hours than I did in the end.
Once you reach the game’s halfway point, you’ll have all four heroes for the rest of the game. That’s great, except a story event forces you to retread all the locations and dungeons you just played. The dungeons don’t change, but the bosses are new and pack a punch. The dungeons’ designs are… fine. I appreciate that they aren’t giant labyrinths, but nothing is noteworthy about them, either. On the plus side, that makes your return trip through them easier. There are several new dungeons to explore in the late game, but the game wraps up quickly after the backtracking phase.
You also won’t be playing for the narrative, as it’s reminiscent of Final Fantasy III — a classic good versus evil story with few surprises. The bland characterization doesn’t help matters. Each character falls into one archetype (Brandt is selfless but naïve, Aire is selfish, etc.). They learn to be better people through their separate journeys and understand the power of friendship by fighting together. It’s enough to drive you from one destination to the next and nothing more.
There are few side quests or reasons to explore outside the main quest line, which is disappointing. Four towers become accessible in the late game, each with a crown at its peak. These 100-floor towers are an absolute slog. On each randomly generated floor, you fight monsters, open the occasional chest, and search for the stairs. Bosses appear at set intervals, and if you thought the regular bosses were challenging—ha! I made it to floor 60 in the first tower before I gave up. It was a grindy, unfun way to spend my time, and the rewards didn’t seem worth it. I would have loved to play with more crowns, but by the time the towers are accessible, the game is almost over, so what’s the point? I wish these dungeons weren’t randomized and served a narrative purpose.
The game’s final dungeon also pulls a Mega Man and forces you to fight stronger versions of the bosses you just spent all that time backtracking to fight. To say this disappointed me is an understatement. I honestly almost gave up when I realized that I had to fight them all again. It’s frustratingly tedious, and something else happens that makes it even worse, but I’ll save that awful surprise for the uninitiated.
Item management is also a chore. Each character can only hold 15 non-stackable items, including their equipment. Each town has a storage shop for your extra stuff, but you can only access it while in town. The limited inventory means you’ll spend a lot of time shuffling items around to make room for new ones. It’s a serious pain for magic users because magic books are also items. It also makes those sections in the early game worse when you only have a single character.
Oddly enough, 4 Heroes of Light also includes a multiplayer mode. I tried it with my husband for a few hours. When you join a party, one of your characters replaces one of theirs. Your status, job, and equipment carry over. I think you can technically play the entire game together. It’s fun in short bursts, but I question its long-term potential. On the plus side, you earn points for playing together, which you can redeem for potentially overpowered equipment. I snagged a +30 bow that helped me out of multiple snafus.
The host leads the party, but any player who joins (up to four!) explores separately. You can’t leave an area, but you can send your other players to map out a dungeon floor ahead of time. During battles, players control their own characters, which requires coordinating with your team. Unfortunately, since a joining player replaces a character, you can’t play multiplayer when you have a one-character party. Those periods don’t last long, but having a partner join certainly would have alleviated some of the frustration. It’s no Dragon Quest IX, but it’s a fun way to mix up the gameplay, and you get some nice items out of it, too, even if the system is undercooked.
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light is a natural evolution of classic Final Fantasy. Its sublime battle system, gorgeous art style, and riveting soundtrack will quickly hook any retro RPG fan. And while it can feel unfair sometimes, I couldn’t put it down. And yet, it feels like it could have been so much more. A lackluster story, recycled content, and an oddly small world hamper what could have been a standout RPG experience on a system that’s already full of them. I want a bigger world, a better story, and more opportunities to play with this battle system. Is that what Bravely Default is? I may find out and redeem my credibility someday. Check back in a few years!
