Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light DS
Metascore
71 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 49 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 49
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 49
  3. Negative: 1 out of 49
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  1. Edge Magazine
    Dec 19, 2010
    40
    So indebted is dev studio Matrix to the old ways that it seems to have granted a free pass to the old problems. Quest signposting is buried in unclear dialogue snippets, bosses are beaten through trial and error, and grinding is rife. [Dec 2010, p.99]
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.3 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 27 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 13
  3. Negative: 2 out of 13
  1. CorazonAzul
    5
    Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light presents an equal number of great and terrible things to classic RPG lovers. While it delivers a more than capable story, characters, navigation system, art and even memorable music to satisfy a painful longing of lost tradition, haunting this game from the other side is the worst battle and quest planning I've seen in 20 years of RPGs. __________ Bosses are largely fought via equipping your characters with the appropriate elemental affinites beforehand. Unfortunately, it's not just a matter of bringing along all your element gear and making a choice at the boss' save point, thanks to an extremely limiting item storage system- and the game's single save slot. Specifically, each character only holds or wears 15 unstackable items, including potions, weapons, armor, spells and treasures. Therefore, making the wrong choices before trekking into a dungeon can mean heading back out just to swap equipment for a repeat journey. Townspeople aren't offering much help either, as you'll soon find their subtle clues more frustrating than charming. A town storage vendor safekeeps 99 unstackable items for you- think fat chocobo- but it doesn't fix any problems. __________ Job classes, or "Crowns" as they are called in this game, give you some cool looks and battle options, but the truth is if you don't go with specific classes- you're toast in most boss fights. Further dulling any sense of strategy is the auto-targeting system. For any ability used in battle- fighting, items, offensive or protective spells- this dreaded system dictates it all. Shielding or power-up magics always affect the caster first. Healing and potions are cast on the character with the most HP loss- not necessarily the one at the lowest HP. Anti-ailment spells choose at random- meaning instead of curing your silenced caster, you may be taking off poison from someone else. __________ To add insult to injury, many bosses later in the game take several turns in a single turn-based round, dishing out ailments and killing characters faster than you can cure them or keep them alive- or even bring them back to life. Even when you can determine who will be the target of what, it's normally a matter of waiting, being forced to use an ability twice, outright deeming an ability useless for the game, or worse yet standing strategically hopeless. __________ The amazing part is this: had they simply given you any break here at all- a second save slot, or a bigger bag, or the ability to target- they may have saved your adventure from being absolutely frustrating and miserable- and I mean that from the first boss to the end boss. It's truly saddening to see interesting mechanics like the AP system- meant to replace MP- get lost in translation and lose all their potential. __________ If you're going to play this game for the story, I highly recommend extreme grinding, gearing with the multiplayer feature, cheating, whatever you have to do to muscle through the content. Surprisingly after having developed the enjoyable Final Fantasy III DS remake, Matrix Software really dropped the ball here. I am hopeful in perhaps a sequel, they will fix the awful problems and produce a deserved 9 or 10 rpg experience.… Full Review »
  2. curlybrace
    10
    The 4 Heroes of Light is everything you love about old school RPGs, requiring a lot of exploring with a just-big-enough world to explore and a hint of guidance. It comes wrapped in a deceptively cute aesthetic, with lush, painterly graphics which I hope to see more of from Square.… Full Review »
  3. Turine
    9
    This game is not like modern day games whereby it is easy to move through a dungeon.
    This game has complicated dungeons whereby the maps are h    uge and it is hard to move through them.
    The crown system in this game, is truly remarkable as players can try to use many different jobs rather than sticking to one throughout the whole game which many games have these days.
    The graphics of this game is quite appealing too, although some of the major towns and cities are abit messy. For example, players of the game should know the town of Urbeth, which is very messy (the shops are all spread out).
    However, the point where monsters level up as you level up, I feel, is one of the best gifts of this game. This function is not only rarely seen in such games, but is also a function that people can appreciate and not get bored of. Reason being is that players need to grind at certain points of the game. If the monsters levels are not boosted, grinding would be very hard. This function thus enables players to grind easier. However, one thing that I don't like is the lack of space to hold items. (A total of sixty items for four characters; that's pretty little).    … Full Review »
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