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Square-Enix Releases 3D Remake of 'Final Fantasy IV: The After Years' for iOS Devices

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Apr 12, 2001
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Square-Enix has released a full 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years for iOS devices, bringing its 2008 title to Apple's mobile platform for the first time. The game has players control various characters from the Final Fantasy IV universe in ten tales, with the game's original "Active Time Battle" and "Band Abilities" gameplay mechanics also intact. The remake of the game also includes Game Center support with achievements, as well as widescreen support on the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, and iPhone 5c.

finalfantasyiv_theafteryearsios-800x439.jpg
With a full 3-D remake, FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS can now be played as never before. Take part in the epic sequel that unfolds nearly two decades after the events of FINAL FANTASY IV. Classic characters make their return alongside several new heroes, such as Ceodore, son of Cecil and Rosa.
Click to expand...
Our sister site TouchArcade also wrote a review of the title, stating that while the game's graphics are visually appealing, the lackluster episodic nature and repetitive "grinding" throughout gameplay constrain it from establishing itself as a high quality entry of the series on iOS.

Notably, an interview with longtime Square-Enix producer Takashi Tokita last month also mentioned that Final Fantasy VI would be coming to iOS devices this Fall, with Tokita himself teasing a potential release of the mega-popular Final Fantasy VII for mobile devices sometime in the future. However, the producer later clarified his comments about a potential Final Fantasy VII mobile release in an interview five days later, stating that the game's appearance on iOS devices is "years away" because of the space limitations on the platform.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is available on iOS devices for $15.99 and can be downloaded through the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Square-Enix Releases 3D Remake of 'Final Fantasy IV: The After Years' for iOS Devices
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/11/25/square-enix-releases-3d-remake-of-final-fantasy-iv-the-after-years-for-ios-devices/
L

leukotriene

macrumors regular
Aug 1, 2008
148
0
"Space limitations"? HAH!

FF7 was released on 4 CDs man. ~750 MB each. Square pulled out all stops to release the original *despite* the space limitations of 1997 technology, and despite the inconvenience of switching out CDs between chapters, and despite the manufacturing hassles. All in the name of getting the game out to its fans. 1990s Square would've absolutely released FF7 on iOS.

Today, you can't buy an iOS device with less than 16GB. Hey if you can't make FF7 for iOS in the near future for budgetary, political, manpower issues, etc. at least tell it to us straight.

But hey FF4 and FF4 After Years are both excellent games, glad to see those on the App Store.
 
A

acarney

macrumors 6502
Jul 3, 2007
322
53
Seriously?! Space limitations?! I can't help but wonder how much data was used with cut scene videos in what, MPEG1 or AVI format? Using h264 probably would cut down a couple hundred megs right there. I would gladly make room for a 1.4 to 2gig game and I figure any big fan would too!

I would be shocked if with the more advanced technology they couldn't get the game to fit into that kind of size... Probably while also increasing the resolution at the same time...


Edit: I mean infinity blade has grown from 600mb to 1.5gig and it sells crazy well just for the eye candy... Also, I recall iTunes HD movies are pretty large... Guess apple isn't afraid about space limitations...
 
Rudy69

Rudy69

macrumors 6502a
Mar 30, 2009
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acarney said:
Seriously?! Space limitations?! I can't help but wonder how much data was used with cut scene videos in what, MPEG1 or AVI format? Using h264 probably would cut down a couple hundred megs right there. I would gladly make room for a 1.4 to 2gig game and I figure any big fan would too!

I would be shocked if with the more advanced technology they couldn't get the game to fit into that kind of size... Probably while also increasing the resolution at the same time...
Click to expand...

You're forgetting that the original videos were at a low resolution while iOS supports some really high resolutions. Look at the size of this release and it probably doesn't have many movies.

Ideally we would need a real remake and the need for the fmvs would be gone since any modern game engine could handle them (something that would have never worked on the original play station). Unfortunately a full remake is not something we'll see for a while
 
T'hain Esh Kelch

T'hain Esh Kelch

macrumors 603
Aug 5, 2001
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An iOS app has a max of 2GB. As FF7 was 4 CD's, each 750MB, that would result in Square to remove 1/3 of the game. Even with modern compression techniques, I don't think that is feasible.
 
Miharu

Miharu

macrumors 6502
Aug 12, 2007
381
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Finland
Remember that those 3 CDs weren't full of 650 Mb of unique content. Even Resident Evil 2 was on 2 CDs on Playstation but was successfully compressed to a 64 Mb N64 cart.
 
J

joshdammit

Suspended
Mar 6, 2013
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T'hain Esh Kelch said:
An iOS app has a max of 2GB. As FF7 was 4 CD's, each 750MB, that would result in Square to remove 1/3 of the game. Even with modern compression techniques, I don't think that is feasible.
Click to expand...

I don't think that you know what you're talking about.

For starters, the original game was 3 CD's, not 4. Also, the majority of the content on each disc was exactly the same, just with different events, videos and any areas and foes relevant to that leg of the game.
 
honglong1976

honglong1976

macrumors 68000
Jul 12, 2008
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I don't think that you know what you're talking about.

For starters, the original game was 3 CD's, not 4. Also, the majority of the content on each disc was exactly the same, just with different events, videos and any areas and foes relevant to that leg of the game.
Click to expand...

Maybe he was referring to the PC CDROM version which was 4 CDs?

With H.264 it would be possible to bring much better quality video and use less storage.

I absolutely hate FMV in games, it's pointless, but this game is the only exception. If they used the GPU to render all the cut scenes, that would save lots of space.

Excited as a remastered FF7 must be due soon!
 
S

sesnir

macrumors 6502
Sep 21, 2008
366
287
T'hain Esh Kelch said:
An iOS app has a max of 2GB. As FF7 was 4 CD's, each 750MB, that would result in Square to remove 1/3 of the game. Even with modern compression techniques, I don't think that is feasible.
Click to expand...

Square could always split the game in two and sell them as Part 1 and Part 2. Normally I'd say cut the price for each in half, but you know they'd charge $15.99 each.
 
W

Woogaloo

macrumors newbie
Jul 18, 2008
24
1
sesnir said:
Square could always split the game in two and sell them as Part 1 and Part 2. Normally I'd say cut the price for each in half, but you know they'd charge $15.99 each.
Click to expand...


If you look at FF7 for the Vita it's only 1.37GB. It's not a remaster, but it would fit under the 2GB max for iOS. Minus a few tweaks I don't see why they couldn't change it for iOS. I'm not sure how the controls would carry over though...


Edit: On a different note, I'm pretty excited about this. Too bad they didn't put this on the 3DS (minus the 3D...).
 
Last edited:
Nightarchaon

Nightarchaon

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
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FF7 on the PSP/Vita/PS3 is ~1.4 GB, i have several IOS games larger than that already on my phone, i just wish they would hurry up and release it.

Lets face it, i can copy the CDs onto a memory card and play the game perfectly on 90% of the android phones and tablets out today using a playstation emulator, so there is no reason SQUARE can't roll the thing out on iOS :D
 
T

Tastic Bycrom

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2008
113
0
Kansas City, MO
I recently replayed 7 on PC. It's not as good as you remember, but beyond that if they put effort into porting it, they would also want to redo pretty much all of the textures as the video compression on them was horrid. I doubt the original pre-compressed textures are still out there, otherwise we would have seen them on that last PC re-release.
 
bpcookson

bpcookson

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2012
484
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Tastic Bycrom said:
I recently replayed 7 on PC. It's not as good as you remember, but beyond that if they put effort into porting it, they would also want to redo pretty much all of the textures as the video compression on them was horrid. I doubt the original pre-compressed textures are still out there, otherwise we would have seen them on that last PC re-release.
Click to expand...

It's true. The ground-breaking nature of FF7 wasn't the story or the gameplay, it was the ridiculously effective introduction of the RPG genre to the masses. It finally gave RPG's enough visual appeal for folks to start paying attention. And, as a result, we now have RPG elements in almost EVERY game we play.

If you want an old game that withstands the test of time, see FF6 or FFTactics.
 
C

commander.data

macrumors 65816
Nov 10, 2006
1,057
183
Xenomorph said:
Ahem,

http://store.apple.com/us/buy-iphone/iphone4s
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It's disappointing that Apple went and introduced a new 8GB iPhone 4S configuration.

T'hain Esh Kelch said:
An iOS app has a max of 2GB. As FF7 was 4 CD's, each 750MB, that would result in Square to remove 1/3 of the game. Even with modern compression techniques, I don't think that is feasible.
Click to expand...
The App Store has a max file size of 2GB for distribution, but I believe apps can download additional content from third-party servers after installation on device which can expand the app size. It's not as convenient for the developers or the user, but it means making big apps can be done.

As well, I believe the 2GB max App Store size is for the compressed archive, which will be expanded on device on installation, so current effective max app size has always been greater than 2GB.

I do wonder why Apple hasn't increased their App Store max app size, which has been 2GB since the beginning for the store, even though max device capacity has steadily increased? With all their new server farms, presumably the issue isn't storage on their end.
 
Parasprite

Parasprite

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2013
1,698
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T'hain Esh Kelch said:
An iOS app has a max of 2GB. As FF7 was 4 CD's, each 750MB, that would result in Square to remove 1/3 of the game. Even with modern compression techniques, I don't think that is feasible.
Click to expand...

Although those disks needed a lot of redundancy. Most or all of the world and other resources needed to be stored on all disks.
 
quickcalibre

quickcalibre

macrumors regular
Sep 20, 2013
191
32
London
Amazing news, never thought I'd have a chance to play this game with it being on systems I don't own. When I have spare gaming time I'll be sure to get this, hopefully it'll be discounted when I do too.
 
bpcookson

bpcookson

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2012
484
90
MA
gabuh said:
I totally agree, FF6 is a must have... it's the Final Fantasy I'm waiting on iOS
Click to expand...

I'm in the middle of slowly playing FF5 since its release on iOS. Having never had the chance to play it until now, I think it's fair to say that it has held up pretty well too.

Perhaps it will be interesting to see the reception of FF7 on iOS by those who were too young to play it previously. :)
 
M

MacLC

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2013
414
272
gabuh said:
I totally agree, FF6 is a must have... it's the Final Fantasy I'm waiting on iOS
Click to expand...

Off topic but the soundtrack for FF6 was fantastic. Maybe it was growing up (growing old) but no other FF soundtrack evoked as much emotion as FF6.
 
Dragonforce

Dragonforce

macrumors 6502a
Apr 9, 2008
587
5
Germany
Blasphemy! It's "Square Enix" without hyphen "-".
When I started my career at SQEX, that was the very first thing they wanted us to always get right.
 
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