Final Fantasy IV: The After Years: Edward's Tale Quicklook

One thing people know about RPG's is that they tend to take a long time to develop. The story extends for a number of hours and usually doesn't really start making a lot of sense until the end. Porom's Tale really began to weave the stories of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years together and Edward's Tale continues that.

Edward's Tale begins with an advisor to Edward talking about the kingdom's financial situation and the fact they cannot keep helping the other kingdoms rebuild. Edward is not concerned as tell him in order for everyone to prosper they must help. Meanwhile a star falls out of the sky, the same as mentioned in Yang's Tale and Edward's secretary, Hayley enters to discuss that matter. Edward agrees to send Hayley to investigate with the help of some guards. While she is away an emissary from Baron arrives asking Damcyan to allow Baron to investigate the matter. Edward decides to discuss that matter with Cecil personally, after he goes to look for Hayley, who has been gone longer than he expected.

The story in Edward's Tale centers around his desire for answers because he feels uneasy about Baron's request. Edward is accompanied through most of the adventure by three unnamed guards and his secretary Hayley. You'll explore the area of the meteor crash, as you did in Yang's Tale as well as the area around Damcyan and Kaipo. There is a lot of combat and you'll want to have the moon phase appropriate to that. There are no magic users in this chapter so healing items and combat are your main priorities. You will also see a small portion of Yang's Tale from Edward's perspective and the interaction between those two great rulers.

There is no real challenges to be had during this chapter of the game. The combat focuses mostly on lower to moderate strength groups of monsters. During one portion later in the game you expect a boss fight and prepare for it, only to have that fight not happen. During that encounter you'll see the possible beginnings of love take root, which is beginning to become a bit of a theme in these later chapters. Edward shows his character as a compassionate ruler. In the beginning of the game he makes it clear that he will help anyone who needs help in continuing to rebuild their kingdom. He risks his life to save a party member even though it could mean his destruction. Towards the end of the game he shows some ingenuity bringing along items to help him confirm some of his suspicions of the activity occurring in Baron. All told he seems to be the character who has grown the most since the original story. He remembers the past, but not at the cost of the future.

Edward's Tale will take between an hour and a half to two hours to complete and I would say that this, along with Porom's Tale have been the two best additional chapters of the game and the two that are needed most to make the story fit together. While there are no real action packed sequences the development of Edward's character and the interweaving of the stories make this a portion that everyone interested in the story should purchase.

Porom's Tale Quick Look

Porom's Tale: The Vanished Lunar Whale is the first of the latest three installments of the Final Fantasy IV sequel. If you're like me you've probably noticed going along that the stories are only loosely based on the title of the chapter. Porom's Tale begins shortly after the events of Final Fantasy IV and progresses in small leaps through time to end up during the events of The After Years. You should know up front that there is much less combat during this episode than any of the previous chapters. This is mainly due to your party comprising mostly of White Mages.

The prologue of the story takes you to the Underground world of the Dwarves where you will learn a lot about Luca. You will finally learn the origin of her new look for The After Years, how she became Cid's apprentice and who she has a crush on. During this point Rydia, Palom and Porom head to the Feymarch to help Palom continue his training to become a Sage. You will also learn a bit about Rydia's background and how she aged so quickly during the events of the first game. After this the second half of the game shifts its focus back to Porom.

The Elder of Mysidia has become concerned about Baron's future and calls on Porom. She is tasked by the Elder of Mysidia to head to Mt. Ordeals to find the dragoon, Kain. He asks an unnamed Black Mage and White Mage to accompany Porom during her quest. The trio head up Mt. Ordeals where Porom is confronted by a member of Cecil's past, and who Porom seems to remember. As previously mentioned there is not a lot of combat that happens during this chapter and most of the fighting will occur after Kain has joined your party.

The events of the second half of the game wrap around the events of Edge's Tale, Palom's Tale and the first chapter of The After Years The back and forth nature of the story can be a bit confusing, especially if you are not buying all the chapters of The After Years. You just have to understand going in that you're going to be in for more story telling that is usual in RPG's and that may turn some people off, but the fact that this chapter, more than any other so far, has tied all the different parts together. The Lunar Whale mentioned in the title, make a brief appearance and does not really play into the story at this point in any way.