Guiding light- A Final Fantasy :The four Heroes of Light analysis.

It seems these days that Square Enix likes to try something new with each new game in the Final Fantasy brand. FF 12 combined MMO style game-play, 13 had the whole role system and with Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes of Light for the DS, they've combined both old and new school design.

The story is the same song and dance we've seen before, the world is in danger and only four people can save it. For people who have been overwhelmed with long cut scenes and massive melodrama of the console Final Fantasy games, HoL is a breath of fresh air in that regard. Like the classic old school rpgs you'll name each chosen one at the start and be thrown into the adventure. However once you start playing, you'll see the changes Square Enix has made to the formula.

First is the action point combat system. Action points or AP for short govern what you can do in each round of combat. Every member of your party can have in reserve a total of five AP, different commands cost varying amounts of points. For example using an item cost one point and casting a basic spell cost two points.

One command that doesn't cost anything is "boost" which when used will store an additional point of AP for that round. Other then boosting you'll recover one point of AP at the start of each round of combat and you'll get all your points back after resting in an inn. Potions can also be found or bought to recover AP in a pinch.

By itself the AP system doesn't seem all that interesting but when combined with the crown system it changes things. The crown system is just a fancy name for a job system. After the first boss the heroes will unlock crowns that give them special abilities (don't ask me why, just go with it). First each crown will alter the attributes of the person; hats that revolve around spell casting will improve those respective attributes and lower the ones that affect melee damage.

Second each hat comes with a passive buff that goes with the job, for example the bandit class offers a greater item drop chance in combat, or the wayfarer class improves the potency of items. Lastly each hat comes with abilities which the party member can equip to use in combat. For example the white mage hat has an ability that raises the healing ability of the next healing spell cast and makes it affect the entire party.

Reading it here these systems don't sound like a huge deal, but when integrated into the game they really stand out. There is a certain rhythm to combat with boss fights, as you'll spend some turns not attacking to boost up your AP, or preparing a stronger heal spell for when the boss uses an attack that hits everyone. When not in combat you can switch crowns to change your tactics. The importance of the crown system cannot be stressed enough.

For example the black mage hat, reduces the AP cost of black magic spells by one point, which will allow that party member to use basic spells at the same frequency as someone using a regular weapon. After the first boss you'll unlock two new hats with that procedure continuing with each new boss. The currency of the game also factors in to improving your jobs.

Instead of monsters dropping money in HoL, they drop different gems. The gems each have a gil (world currency) amount when sold, but their main purpose is to upgrade. When you go to the upgrade screen you'll see an image of a crown with different gem slots, if you fill all the slots with the respective gems the crown will level up and you'll be granted a new ability. As the crown goes up you'll start to unlock some great skills, such as the black mage hat at level 3 gets the ability to put a reflect magic barrier around the entire party, which saved me during several boss fights.

Another twist HoL throws at you is managing your abilities and equipment. Each character in HoL can hold 15 items and 6 abilities each. 15 items doesn't sound like a small number, but this includes any equipment, recovery items (which don't stack) and spells. In HoL spells are in tomes which can be bought at magic shops, in order to have the ability you need to have the book in that team-members inventory to use.

The right equipment for the job is important in HoL. Some weapons have a magic attack + stat which make them required for your spell casters. Status aliments like poison and confusion can be blocked with specific accessories. Most importantly are element resist, certain shields and armor will resist specific elemental attacks. When you resist an attack it usually cuts the damage by half. That is huge when dealing with boss fights and can make or break the fight right there.

Weapons may also be associated with a specific element, hitting an enemy with their weakness can do double damage and the same resist modifier also works here. To help with the item limit there are storage areas in every town allowing you to save your equipment for a later time. I found it better to keep your equipment instead of selling it in case you need a specific element for a boss fight.

Like with items, six abilities doesn't sound too limiting until you consider that each spell from a tome counts as one, along with any job specific abilities. You can switch your abilities outside of combat allowing you to tailor the abilities available for the current challenge.

All this sounds great so far, unfortunately the designers made one critical design mistake that could be a game breaker. After the first boss fight the party splits up for the first third of the game. From that point you will not have another four person party for a very long time, instead parties will be made up of anywhere from 1-3 members. The three member parties will always have a temporary member who you cannot change their job.

The problem with limiting the party like this is that it completely puts a hold on the job system. You can't experiment with the different jobs when you have a limited party. Having one member stuck to a job also means that instead of creating your own combination you have to work around that limit. It also makes no point to upgrade crowns unless you absolutely have to because you won't know how you'll set up your party until the four heroes reunite.

A one person party is a giant no-no with a job system. In most RPGs as long as the only party member can handle themselves it isn't a big deal. However when you have a job system with abilities limited to specific jobs, it cannot gel with a one person party. For example only one crown at the start has the ability to run away from combat, if you equip anything else you will not be able to escape from a tough fight.

Death in HoL means losing some of your gems which isn't as disheartening as a game over screen. The designers almost make amends for the time spent apart with the twist that brings everyone back together. I'm not going to spoil it but fans of a certain popular Final Fantasy may see the similarities.

Once the party reunites and the job system works again, the game becomes enjoyable, you can finally start mixing and matching crowns to create your party, or if you want create specific teams for gem farming, progression and even boss fighting. The interplay of the AP and crown system delivers great game-play and I like how diverse the different classes are.

I do have one complaint about the job system that I want to touch on. While the game has variety with each crown, there is no customization when it comes to upgrading. Each crown upgrades the same way and you'll always get the same skills in the same order. This feels like a missed opportunity to further enhance the job system by offering more customization as you upgrade the crowns.

The integration of the main systems in HoL was expertly done and I have to give the designers credit. It can be hard enough to fine tune one system in a game, but getting several done right is no small accomplishment. HoL is an interesting take on old school design and I would like to see the designers improve the job system with a sequel.

Josh.