Spoiler alert, 30 year old story gripe

[Profeelgood]

First off and foremost. If you care about the story at all. DO NOT CONTINUE UNTIL YOU ARE IN THE FINAL DUNGEON. LUNER SUBTERRANEAN. Or whatever it's called.
Or else it will ruin a major plot point.
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OK.
So.
I first played this game when I was 7. 1999 probably. I thought I was close to the end at that time when I couldn't beat Baigon after you get back to Baron castle.
Boy was I shitty at this game and naive as hell...

So I just platinumed FFIV. And it was actually an awesome story compared to the previous three.

But for reals though

When you find out Cecil and another sibling were offspring of some lunarian. I thought the brother was Kain. Woah, plot twists, it's actually Golbez. And I thought that was Hella fuckin cool cause I didn't expect that. Kain seemed more obvious.

But. After the robot Babel dungeon, and Golbez is relieved of his mind control. And hes all like, "fuck you Zemus!" Why not add him to the final party? It would be fucking awesome to have him as a playable partner. Long lost Brother fighting along Brother!
Instead they reinstate Kain for a third time or whatever and it's like. Ok. Cool. Perhaps he won't betray us again. I guess we have to have a Lance user or Dragoon class dude.

I just don't understand why someone at SquareSoft in 1990 didn't realize how impactful and amazing storytelling wise it would be for Golbez (aka the main fucking bad dude for 90% of the game) to switch over and be fighting for the light?

Did they not watch Return of the Jedi? When Darth fucking Vader realizes the error of his ways?

I dunno, I really did enjoy this game (besides the tedious status effect battles; im looking at you bog Witch with 6 frogs), but that just seems like a serious storyline writing oversight to me.

What do you think?

[oYazmat]

Because he is way too overpowered to be in the party ?

[LegendExeter]

Interesting perspective.   I think him falling in combat gives you the chance to add more fuel to the fire and desire to destroy Zeromus even further.  If they had done it the way you said maybe people would complain that it's a Star Wars rip off.  This was my favorite Final Fantasy and possibly still is.  I thought the storyline was dramatic and the characters engaging.  People talk of FF 7 for the first death of a character in the storyline of the game and its like...did no one play 6 an before that 4?  Because some of your characters essentially die in this game.  I found it incredible as that dynamic made the adventure feel more real.  

[Pneumatic]

Given that Square has put characters named Biggs and Wedge in ten different Final Fantasy games, I'm pretty sure they've seen RotJ once or twice.

[KingGuy420]

Since Golbez is so powerful, him and Fusoya going to finish Zeromus makes Cecil's team seem like the underdog team. Then when you get there and they're both getting bitch slapped, it makes Cecil's plight seem even crazier.

 

It makes him overcoming the insurmountable odds that much better.

Edited May 3, 2023 by KingGuy420

[Knave21]

He's fully playable in the After Years if you REALLY want to scratch that itch. 

[Ramzamham]

And to top it off he has his own character sprite and animations when he fights Zemus with Fusoya. Makes you wonder if he was originally meant to join but Square couldn't finish him in time. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Ramzamham

[Profeelgood]

3 hours ago, Pneumatic said:

Given that Square has put characters named Biggs and Wedge in ten different Final Fantasy games, I'm pretty sure they've seen RotJ once or twice.

OK good point. Got me there. 

 

3 hours ago, oYazmat said:

Because he is way too overpowered to be in the party

At first glance sure, but there are plenty of examples where overpowered characters get dumbed down a bit when they switch sides. Wish I could think of one off the top of my head but, I just got dumbed down tryna think of one. 

 

3 hours ago, LegendExeter said:

Interesting perspective.   I think him falling in combat gives you the chance to add more fuel to the fire and desire to destroy Zeromus even further.  If they had done it the way you said maybe people would complain that it's a Star Wars rip off. 

Does it though? I mean. Probably a little bit. But Cecil never really knew Golbez all like that. Maybe fueled through a missed opportunity. 

Also, a lot of movies and media and stuff use that trope so i dont think, 10 years later, people would be comparing everything to star wars. I could be wrong, as I was only a little sperm swimming in my dad's sac at the time of this games release. I just know I've seen countless examples of that in my time. And to me, I love it every single time. Bad guy gone good always seems to move me. 

 

Anyways, I appreciate the responses. All good points. 

[triplejmzu8]

I really really hope they put another port of Interlude & The After Years on consoles. I know, it's not too popular among fans, but I really loved it on Wii & PSP, especially the story additions.

[KyonKuchiki]

On 5/8/2023 at 11:06 AM, triplejmzu8 said:

I really really hope they put another port of Interlude & The After Years on consoles. I know, it's not too popular among fans, but I really loved it on Wii & PSP, especially the story additions.

 

I just finished platinuming FF4, and one thing I realized while going through the story, was that I wish I knew where the other two Dark Crystals were kept in the underground? Nothing else seemed as fortified as the sealed cave or dwarven castle, and the sylvan cave and cave of summons definitely didn't seem like they had hosted the other two crystals at one point. That would have been a great lore expansion for After Years to cover, and a way to expand on something w/o feeling so copy/paste on a lot of the story beats.

 

As for playable Golbez, playing as him and Fusoya, and going through FF4's final dungeon in reverse was a trippy experience in After Years.