THE ENDGAME: Final Dungeons of the Final Fantasy Series Part IV

Here comes the moon.

Final Fantasy IV: The Lunar Subterrane

Now we’re gettin’ somewhere. This is a final dungeon. Its almost amazing this followed the World of Darkness in III. Even if you include the Crystal Tower in III’s ending I get the impression that this is much longer, much harder, and much more packed with loot. All things a final dungeon should be.

This dungeon just feels big and complex. The jump to the 16 bits really enhance things here as you can see several layers/floors of the dungeon at once, contributing to the sense of size. Also, there are secret passages everywhere, but they’re done right. There’s a little flaw in the wall when denoting the entrance. Its easy to miss but also makes it feasible for you to find them without a guide. Most of these passages lead to treasures (guarded by bosses) and you’ll want just about all of them. Cecil, Edge and Kain will both come away with their best setups (barring optional side stuff) and the ladies make out pretty well also. Loot should always be aplenty in final dungeons, its half your motivation, honestly.

Can you imagine (or remember) seeing a dungeon like this coming off the NES games?

Did I mention that this was a tough dungeon? The Chaos Shrine was long and the difficulty inconsistent, but the Lunar Subterrane combines length with constant pressure. The final couple floors consist of straight-up bosses as random encounters in addition to the tough creatures guarding the chests. When I played through this dungeon I warped back out a couple times to completely heal up (as it is a bit faster when you beeline after having acquired the treasure).

The music is great. The bombastic opening as the crystals teleport you to the dungeon immediately get you fired up, and determined sound of it keeps you going after that (as well as being long enough to not become grating). The music even changes to increasingly ominous tunes as you start getting to the bottom few, obligatory crystalline, floors. I mentioned that the random encounters in these floors were bosses – the boss music even takes over as the “normal” battle theme around here. I think that’s a nice touch.

It IS a bit of a slog, tempting you to just forego some of those chests though that is against your best interests, and the difficulty can be pretty punishing. If you’re not prepared for the treasure haul IV’s annoying item limit will become an issue, forcing you to warp out. The GBA version, in my opinion, remedies a lot of this. I believe it is a touch easier (though I know purists must not like that), and there is no carrying limit.

Stay tuned as up next is one of my personal favorites: The Interdimensional Rift!