The biggest shortcoming of this FF game is that it has basically no character customization. No class selection like we had in 1 and 3, so the only customization options really come in deciding which equipment to use, but most items you find are straight upgrades over the previous ones. I recommend playing the "easytype" or regular English-translated version, because the initial Japanese release required far too much grinding, which would pad the game to probably 2-3 times its length.

Even though I can't go through some story elements without thinking of Star Wars toward game's end, this Final Fantasy installment has a well-defined cast, nice difficulty curve, interesting abilities. One of the best examples of SNES JRPGs, to be sure.

Like an entire great fantasy 60+ episode anime series all packed into one SNES cartridge. Watching the tales of Cecil and Kain and Rydia and Tellah and all the rest of them unfold genuinely sucked me in when I was younger, and the presentation - especially that wonderful soundtrack - remains phenomenal. And then at the end it goes scifi and you go up to the damn moon! This is one of those games I'll ALWAYS go back to if I'm like "Hm, 15-20 hours to kill, how about a classic videogame?"

The dungeon design is mostly corridors and the plot doesn't exactly blow me away.

Final Fantasy VI seems to get more accolades from this era but IV was my jam. Great story, cool characters, and many of the remakes, remasters and such have only added to how great it is. I particularly loved the GBA version that had extra dungeons and let you use the old characters in the end game.

Has the best story in the series and one of the best soundtracks.

Kind of basic by todays standards in terms of gameplay. It doesn't really do a whole lot with the RPG, but back in 1991 it was a natural progression. I think the story holds up today even if they cop out a little, some of the characters (Kain for example) are some of my favourite in the genre. Great OST, a fun beginning, some emotional scenes.