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A lot of the new content the romhack adds is really cool. A lot of neat secrets even on the world map are enough to make a veteran FF4 player exploring like it were their first time playing. Extra bosses are added here and there to break up the pace. Some of them even require actual strategy to defeat and aren't just fat sacks of HP you have to whittle away. Aside from randomizers, this might be the best romhack for those who want a refreshing new spin on a game they're all too familiar with. If you're just looking for a big ol' content pack then I do recommend giving this a shot.

All that said I do have a few gripes. What might be the most infuriating addition to any RPG I've ever played has to be this romhack's obsession with giving a good chunk of the monsters on-hit status ailments with all their normal attacks. It makes the early game excruciating. Going up against a horde of monsters could go south quick since a lot of them proc frog or paralyze, leaving most of your team on remedy duty which is just more annoying than anything (Also who thought Abilify was a good name for an item? It's a real life anti-psychotic medication). Mt. Ordeals is a massive slog because of this because not only does Cecil's armor make him weak to dark damage (???) but most of the zombies can cause paralyze with just their normal attacks. So Cecil's getting one-shot, meanwhile Palom and Porom are just on twincast duty to end the fights as fast as possible or they just get stunlocked and if that happens well game-over.

There's also some bonkers economy going on in this hack. Money's completely broken since you start off with items you can sell right off the bat that'll net you more money than you can possibly spend through half the game. Not a huge deal breaker but it's just weird since a lot of the other changes to the game seem to for difficulty balancing and this just feels like an oversight. I can't remember exactly what some of these items were but I can promise you they were far more useful being liquidated into cold hard cash.

An amazing hack that makes a great game even better. So many things to find and changes made. Best to play it and find them yourself! Don't spoil it.

I literally made an account to review this hack. There are lots of fun things in this hack, the difficulty is turned up which is a good thing. The original is pretty easy. The new items, and item descriptions are all good. But the changes imo make no sense. Why can't I use a healing potion again and again without going back to the item screen? Why can't I cast a healing spell over and over without going back to the spells screen? Why are the enemies getting two sometimes three or even four turns to my one? Especially bosses who are already buffed? Why does it take forever to level your characters? Literal tons of grinding involved in this hack. If all that appeals to you, then this hack is for you. If however you value your time like I do, then not so much.

This rom is by far the best in terms of mechanics and battle tactics. Although the dialog could've gotten better. To me, some of the dialog from FF4 3D could've been implemented inside. Don't get me wrong, the dialog that's added in that's not part of the original game is pretty good. Though if it were up to me, I would add the dialog from 3D and put it inside. Other than that, I love the fights, the superbosses, and the mechanics of each item and weapons as well as armor. ^w^

Final Fantasy IV Ultima (Patch Version 2022 r25c)

Unequivocally recommended, this a spectacular romhack of a fantastic game. It makes the world of Cecil and Rosa and Golbez feel five times as large, and at least this much more interesting.

Pros:

So many quality of life and gameplay enhancements were added that any official release of FFIV pales in comparison to this. Years of development by a focused team created a masterpiece that far exceeds the original game.

Very few romhacks can compare to this one in both breadth and scope. You will find no fewer than 9 new bosses in this version, as you complete the main story. If you hunt down all of the bonus content, you will find 23 more!! New dungeons and maps were added, and careful expansions to originals leave the classic game's storyline preserved and gently uplifted.

There are many, many new weapons and spells to enjoy and to try out, which of course yield new options in battle and new strategies. Every playable character has gained some new abilities or magic, and every character is available at the end of the game. (!!) Despite the massive additions to every aspect of gameplay, balance is maintained, with the difficulty gradually ramping up throughout.

A New Game Plus mode retains items and unlocks higher base stats and max HP for all characters, which will help players (like myself) access the most challenging bits of this version of Final Fantasy IV, which are hidden throughout the game.

Cons:

Offering expansions to content and replay-ability, FFIV Ultima easily makes other versions of this game –to include the original– feel strangely empty and one-dimensional. YMMV, but it's tough to go back after enjoying this for even a few hours and finding new surprises and new ways to enjoy this legendary RPG's battle system.

Some of the superbosses available before the end of the main storyline content are significantly more challenging than the final story boss; this may frustrate some players who aren't ready for such difficult fights. Once the main storyline is completed, a New Game Plus run will help with tackling these superbosses.

This... is a really weird one. The main game is mostly unchanged, until just before the final dungeon. Heck, most of the main game is actually easier, thanks to an EXTREMELY generous number of extra save points everywhere. However, throughout the game, starting from as soon as you get the hovercraft, there are tons of weird tiny optional extra dungeons, always filled with great treasure to make you overpowered against the main storyline enemies, and usually also filled with monsters than are tougher than anything you'll be fighting for over half the story.

When I thought this was all the hack was... I was actually really enjoying it! The formula of, get access to a new vehicle, explore new locations on the world map, suddenly trip over a random superboss that canon Zemus only WISHES he could have guarding the best weapons, die, reload just a few steps away, try again a few times, eventually beat the boss anyway despite being really low level and having bad gear, get prizes... it was ridiculous and stupid, but also weirdly fun. I was all like, "Who needs balance? Embrace the chaos!".

But, this kinda... broke down with the later superbosses, into cruel insanity. In my review of FF4 The Darkness Within, I described the difficulty of that hack as extreme, but fair. It didn't require grinding, it just required understanding the enemy's attack pattern, which wasn't even too hard. Here, though? The difficulty of these various new bosses that could roll over Zeromus like a speedbump is... extremely unfair, to the point where I actually went Pink Tail farming for the first time ever, and the resulting Adamant Armor still didn't even remotely fix my problems. Everything has max health, most things have max speed, the ones that appear in groups either regenerate each other if you don't kill them all at once or they completely change their attack patterns depending on their amounts of health and what allies they have. Some of them change their attack patterns multiple times, with no visible indication or explanation, usually to things like spamming max damage moves over and over faster than you can take turns until you die. The solution to this is... be a psychic who knows what the boss will do ahead of time and exactly when, and don't let them get to that point in the first place. If (when) you die... better start the long, long fight again, usually spending everyone's first few turns just casting various buffs and at least two stacks of Slow! Maybe after another long boring period of just grinding for more levels, stealing a bunch of Silver Seeds or Elixers. And when you do finally win... oh, joy, yet ANOTHER sword that's better than Ragnarok or Masamune, I'll add it to my collection, unused in the fat chocobo with the others, now can I please have some better ARMOR?

This hack has some fun ideas, and a lot of work and love put in, and good quality of life things from the interface... but it really needs an editor, to tell the designers which ideas just do not work and why. Why would you both increase the random encounter rate to ludicrous levels AND give the option to turn random encounters off. If you can turn off encounters, why would you remove the landing spot from next to Troia, among other spots. Why would you make the Movers be like this. What the hell were you even thinking with the Selenes and Artemises fight. Why aren't Gamma and Omega "robot" type enemies, or the Fire D and Storm D "dragon" type enemies, resistances and weaknesses are there for a REASON dude. I get that you want to make things "hard" in a system where the maximum integer is 65535, but... there are lots of ways to make things hard, and trial-and-error gameplay is not a good one.

To Preface this - I would like to say I have played multiple versions of this game. I will give a review based on if the game is WORTH a recommendation to play. I will give REASONS as to why you should or should not.

I've been playing this particular hack for about 3 years now and I've watched the iterations get more complex and mind boggling as many versions have been released. Here is what you can expect (and I'll try to be succinct which I doubt will be possible) -

• The first third of the game is largely unchanged. There are some map differences that require a bit of critical thinking, there are some hidden areas with over powered enemies that yield equally powerful equipment and spells scattered throughout. In the first 1/3 you will also see that some of the "vehicle" options have been revamped slightly requiring you to think outside the box to reach certain areas using the aforementioned critical thinking (ALWAYS WELCOME FOR A 30 YEAR OLD GAME!) and also some very slight enemy encounters that will through seasoned players for a little bit of a loop!

• The second third of the game is also quite normal as far as difficulty goes with a slight uptick. Again, for those that have played the vanilla version of FF2 a billion times, this is all very welcome. The added bosses and areas add a newer layer to the game that the developers simply didn't have the ability to add 30 years ago(more on that later).The second third of the game allows a little bit more exploration and a lot more powerful enemies guarding some overpowered equipment. These enemies, unlike the vanilla version of the game, require a lot more strategy than just mashing the 'A' button to get you through. The varied strategies are actual quite an accomplishment in my opinion for the limited amount available to actually change structurally in this game while still maintaining the spirit of the original.

• The Third, and last, part of this game(or 'ENDGAME' as some call it) features another uptick in difficulty while adding some welcome additions to ease the burden. Almost the entire cast back with party switching and even somehow tossing in DK/Paladin Cecil switching. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE SO MANY PLAYABLE CHARACTERS?! The developers were geniuses to actually figure out a way to make all the characters unique and viable while even adding in more ultimate weapons and more bosses requiring real STRATEGY to tackle. It's a godsend to vanilla SNES RPGs. Do you have to get all of these ultimate weapons? Or go out of your way for the optional content? Absolutely not! Is it a blast doing optional content in an RPG that you didn't think could possibly be any better? ABSOLUTELY.

The staff that created this game clearly put the effort and love into the game that is required for a project of this magnitude. The people that put the time and effort into this game deserve their own Tower of Babil for their accomplishments. I'm pretty sure they don't even get paid. And if it wasn't enough that the spirit of the original game remained intact - SOMEHOW they added in NEW GAME+, a Boss Rush mode, a !@*$#@ bestiary, a FAT CHOCOBO IN THE MENU, and an info screen that helps ascertain the statues and ailments?! Insanity.

While there is A LOT of new content, it should be noted that even the most seasoned players will have trouble with some of the newer areas or get stuck finding strategies for those pesky super bosses. Deal Breaker right? Not even! They have a discord available with an entire team that will help you out almost instantly! And most of the time when you find out the strategy...you will feel almost stupid for not thinking of it yourself.

Altogether? Highly recommended for those that love FF2(FF4). It's quite simply the best hack I've ever played.

The basic game is largely unchanged, except for some quality of life improvements like a stash you can access whenever you want, and an option to turn off encounters. If you liked the original, you'll like this version. There are some optional bosses as you go along, which will be very challenging at the points you encounter them, with pretty nice rewards, or you can wait until later to come back and trounce them.

Most of the new content is optional end game bosses. They're more like puzzles than something you can just grind to beat, although levels do help. If that's not for you, you can choose whatever party you want, play through normally, and beat up Zeromus with Kain sitting on the bench where he belongs. This is the definitive way to play Final Fantasy 4.

I did absolutely enjoy the better features, that the Hack adds: Descriptions for items, spells and equipment, a run button, a bestiary, a bigger variety of drops from enemies, and most important of all: the ability to disable random encounters.

I still missed a lot of QoL, though, like the ability to see a comparison of equipment you could buy with the one you currently have, like information of items in stores, like auto-stacking, like a full explanation of the status screen, which is way more confusing than the original one. Like the ability to activate run permanently. And, most important: Like added explanations or hints, what to do next, especially at certain points in the game, where you are left without the least idea, what to do...

I also feel, that grinding is really slow and meaningless in this version, with slow progress, and with little impact of leveling on the tougher battles in the later parts of the game.

And, what ultimately made me quit the game, is the new content, that was added. I was really excited, to re-experience the world map, and discover lots of exciting stuff. In reality, the new locations stressed me more, than anything else: Everything of value is hidden behind some puzzle, be it by being not reachable, or by being just not collectible, without any hint, what to do.

Additionaly, the new locations make it really difficult for new players of FFIV, to find out, where to go to procced in the story. Not least, because absolutely no text, that would lead the player, has been added to conversations. Searching through all locations on the map was already painful in the original, and becomes a true torture with this mod...

All in all, I appreciate the effort that has obviously flew into this hack, and I love the option to disable random battles, which takes out a lot of annoyment... In the end, I didnt enjoy the hacked game enough, though, to finish the game, which doesnt apply for the original version...

This is gradually becoming the definitive way of experiencing FFIV. It is one of the most extensive romhacks ever for one of the best games ever; it adds so much new content that it's a nerd's dream for anyone who played the original. I love how much it's been expanded and the attention to details with lots of the new or modified content.

I do have a couple complaints, however. First and foremost is that everyone is swappable in the endgame except for Cid and Fusoya (and Tellah of course), and I have no clue why they would be left out. I used to assume it was a space issue with the rom, but it seems they overcame that more recently, so I'm not sure if there's a legit reason or not. Regardless, they're two of my favorites so it annoys me they aren't available when I'm playing, and they genuinely feel like they're absent for no reason when it would be beneficial to have a sage and a utility heavy armor fighter in your lineup.

Secondly, there are a lot of areas where it feels like either odd design choices were made, or where cool factor is prioritized over cohesive game design, and I can't tell if that's intentional or if it's just because the creator either isn't good at or doesn't care as much about it. Playing through the midgame, some equipment is just broken. Yang does far too much damage with his basic attack vs different weaknesses while Cecil can barely scratch things. Tellah and Fusoya were set at very high starting levels with static stats instead of just being given normalized level ranges and stat growths like they deserve to have. Cid and Yang were not given Wisdom and Will growth, and Edward is arguably overbuffed, with powerful abilities and tons of equipment available to him. Difficulty in general is very erratic, with some parts of the game feeling far too easy (easier than the original), but with difficulty spikes in random places littered throughout the game.

Still, though, highly recommend and I hope they continue iterating and improving on it.

This hack has it all. A ton of new content, including new super bosses throughout the end game to use it on. The addition of NG+ is the cherry on top.

Be sure to check out the optional patches, as the record keeper sprites are great and add a sublime layer of visual polish to the battle sprites I never knew I needed or thought possible.

Congrats to the development team on this banger mod hack - you nailed it!

This is some "AAA" rom hacking. We are witnessing some Zelda Link to the Past Redux level work here. If a certain company who owned this license cared less about cash grabbing and more about fans..this might be the version available commercially. A super impressive work here with a ton of fan service. The love here shows. Now with the option for improved visuals. I feel like this is the definitive Final Fantasy IV.

Very cool, some optional challenges become available at certain points of the story. There's more exploration and new dungeons and new equipment. Battles are not just spam Fight, you can actually use commands without feeling they are not worth it. The addition of a bestiary is huge!

Also Quality of Life added here is great, such as detailed status while equipping objects, dash option, visible ATB gauge, toggle random battles...

I recommend you to try it out for yourself!

First of all this hack is a must play, the best FFIV hack for sure! But after playing it for a second time I came up with a list of things that - in my opinion - could be improved changed:

• Too much random battles! There are times when you fight two, even three times in a row by only walking four, five steps. It's good to have the option to turn off the battles, but the encounter rate should be more balanced.

• Some treasure chests should be more balanced or changed. On my first play, there was a chest were you fought two coeurls and a lamia just to get a leather whip. They changed it, and now you get the leather whip from a normal chest, but still, you get the Tritoch as soon as you go to the antlion cave, rendering the leather whip almost useless, because the Tritoch is way overpowered. I suggest putting the Tritoch on the chest where you fight the coeurls, as an optional item to balance things out. Also, when you get the skill to carry the hovercraft you get access to too many optional sections that could get some reward rebalancing too. Of course, they're not mandatory, but almost all of them are rendered useless if you wait to complete them after leaving the underground/before going to moon. The problem is, if you do them all before facing Rubicant, you became overpowered and almost all the other gear/weapons that you will get later, will be just duplicates or too weak. The same happen if you do them later on: their prizes will be almost useless - the seraphic shield is the only really useful later pick. There's a lot of room to change the rewards from these quests to make them attractive to be done late giving different/better items or at least they should tone down some of the prizes, so you won't be ridiculously op when entering tower of babil to fight Rubicant.

• Nerf elemental damage! The elemental damage and race weaknesses are too broken. I managed to drop a flame sword at mt.hobs, and when I battled against Milon z, I killed him with one blow kk. I dealt a whooping 10.000 dmg using bane. Even the elemental arrows wreak havoc on enemies. There's a huge gap in damage output when it comes down to these weapons. The vanilla was already broken, but not like this. It will be much more balanced if they made elemental attacks causing double damage, and leaving race multipliers at 4x damage.

• Raise the buffs given by defensive skills! I'm not asking to halve damage, even a 25% would be too op, but at least they should be useful to an extent that you could see a significant difference in two or three usages instead of stacking 5x just to make it noticeable. Too much increase would be broken, but so little buff makes it boring to repeatedly cast the same defensive skills/spells/items for 10 turns on a row to make them really effective. You can balance it by raising the cost maybe, so it will prevent to pile them that much.

• Give more MP to Kain! He's got some interesting skills, but lack the MP to use them effectively. Making him with MP near Edge's - but less - would make him more balanced.

• The shops overall are more balanced, but I think the shops in Troia, Mist and Aggart should offer more interesting and useful options. They're not bad, but can be better.

• Give lines or hints to the sidequests. Some Npc's should give more info on extras. Also, give the optional bosses some lines to hint which character you should bring to be able to start the challenges. It's not fun to trackback to these dungeons to get a "..." or "leave me alone".

• Make Edward capable of using Wizard/Mage hat/Gaea gear. Why not? If Rydia can use his harps later, why not make him able to use Whips? At least the light gears from mages should be available to him.

• Beef up bosses! Some already been buffed and that's nice, but the normal bosses should get some more juice to make things a bit more interesting. The fights against Octommam, Antlion, Baigan, Milon, Milon Z and Cagnazzo are still tooooo easy. Giving them more HP, some extra def and mdef, and some other attacks will be fair and nice. Octommam should have a water attack - tide wave should suffice - Antlion has basically counters, give him other attack, or at least make him attack more often. Baigan is a joke, anything would make him more interesting, Milon is average, anything will be gladly welcome. How can Milon Z - the fiend of earth - don't have at least one earth based attack? Give him a weaker quake at least, break would be nice too. And Cagnazzo still get bodied if you hit him with Lit3 when he gathers water, so much that you don't even need to bother casting ice magic, that is his true weakness. Give him more HP and more elemental resistance and he should be fun. I'm not asking for a hard type, the game have some good challenges. But a juice to the normal bosses would be awesome!

Well... From my understanding, all these things should made the game even more balanced, challenging and fun. Hope someone sees it and work on some of these idea's. Despite my criticism, it's a must play! 9/10!

This hack has everything since the start.

There is a bestiary, Cecil has a new command, you get a blood sword early in the game, there it's an option to disable random encounters on the menu, Edward is no longer useless (I used "Sing" and he used a song that does a lot of damage to the enemies), it even has Gilgamesh!

I only got to the part where you have to go to Baron after Mt. Ordeals.

I'll edit my review when I beat the game.

Definitely recommend this hack.

Definitely worth playing this hack!

The devs retooled the playable units, equipment, maps, and enemies and the changes all make the game better.

There are loads of significant QOL improvements like access to Big Chocobo, more save tiles, and a very fun bestiary that lists potential drops and other useful information.

Enemy drops are more frequent and I even got a really cool rare equipment drop on my run that added a lot of fun to the early game.

The overworld maps are packed with new places to explore and going out of your way to look around and search is worth your time.

I especially love how much was added to the end game. Without spoilers, in Ultima there is still a ton of content to work through when you would otherwise be almost done with the vanilla game.

The playable units are rebalanced in a way that encourages you to play to their strengths and not just mash the FIGHT command. Even units that used to flat out suck are now useful and fun to play.

There is an active discord with experienced players and even devs who are happy to help and drop hints if you need one.

I had actually come to RHDN looking for something else when this hack caught my eye. I'm really glad I checked it out.

This game has tons of extra content. Your characters get new...well.. everything, AND IT GETS EVEN BETTER AFTER THAT!!!!!!! This version is insane and makes vanilla feel super butt naked and not in a sexy way either.

Wanna be OP? oh you gonna be OP ...BUT... you're gonna work for it...and you're gonna love it!

Think you're an OP GOD now? THINK AGAIN!!!!

I can't express enough how cool this rom hack is. If you love ff4 then this'll be WELLLLLLLLLLLLL worth your time.

Typically, I pump maybe 16 hours into vanilla, beat the game and that is that. Not this time!!

Try it, you won't be disappointed!

Just do it. Its a solid 49/49. Been playing since v10 and it just gets better and better with every version.

Ignore everything the last review put as a negative in their review.

Yang is a physical DPS character. Cecil is a tank. Of course he will out DPS Cecil. You also have to take into account elemental weaknesses and racial effectiveness. Also there is no such thing as crystal sword in this hack so not sure where the other reviewer got that from. This isn't vanilla so don't compare it to vanilla.

Movers do NOT take one hour to beat. They are one of the most annoying encounters, but there is an effective way to deal with them just like literally every other encounter in the game.

8-bit and his team have put in so much work into the balance of the game and equipment you get that there isn't anything unfair in the entire game. And if you are having issues, then you should join the discord and ask questions instead of just putting a negative review saying that the devs have no clue what they are doing. That is factually false.

This hack is probably the best FFIV hack out there between all of its extra content and items, and the well tested balance throughout the whole journey. Not to mention all the QOL changes. Being able to double click A on the item menu and look at all the info about equips? No other FFIV hack has that. And it's a dang amazing feature that every FFIV hack needs.

Go play it before the next huge update coming out soon

There is a lot to like about this hack. It keeps the storyline intact, while adding side quests during the game to improve equipment and such. The QOL improvements in other hacks are also implemented well here, like the improved info for weapons/armor. Additional save points are a very welcome addition, and they are placed well.

There are also some points where it is clear this is not done by a game designer, and it takes away from the experience significantly. For one, Yang is utterly broken. With midgame weapons, he does 4x more damage than Cecil with the Crystal Sword. Some landscape was edited for seemingly the sole purpose of increasing walking distance by forcing you to land airship farther away, which didn't add anything but made for tedious navigation and very unnatural looking world edits. Very bizarre choices. Some new monsters are well designed, but very overshadowed by some that are horribly designed. Take one called "movers", which appear in some chests late game and thus cannot be run from. Appearing in groups of three, each with almost the max HP the game allows for an enemy, triple that of the late game Behemoth, they take forever to kill. Which would be ok, but unless they are killed at the same time, they revive the others at full HP. Ok, tedious, but would be manageable even at crazy high HP levels, but then throw in that damage is bugged so you can't keep track in your head (elemental effects sometimes stack unseen damage). So just use scan spell to monitor? Nope, can't do that, if you cast a spell on them they spam one hit kills called "laser". Ok, so use bahamut over and over to drop HP evenly since summons bypass the spell counters? Maybe, but sometimes one of the three is immune to all non physical damage and it misses. Gale (previously "weak") doesn't work either. This is the type of stuff you have to deal with, it's not that it's difficult, it's just annoying. I spent an hour fighting them before turning it off while still alive. That is pretty unacceptable for a game that is designed to be completed in 12-15 hours for a random enemy to take an hour to kill. There are more examples of bad game design that you'll have to endure.

So you'll have to take the bad with the good. I'm not convinced it's better than simply playing the main game, but if you're itching for a new way to play this amazing game, this is an option. There's definitely good aspects. But be prepared for some very basic game design mishaps along the way.

Enjoyed playing through it for th most part. Some of these scripts break down to 'kill it before it oneshots you' or 'grind until you don't die' dps checks which is a shame. There's a lot of decent scripts but it feels like the dev ran out of ideas and just cranked up the attack and magic power. Fully capped character with Maximum attainable defense guarded getting hit for 14999 shouldn't be a thing. Characters being hit 6 or 7 times before they get a turn (with battle speed at the bottom) shouldn't happen in a single boss fight. Basically designed a game around some founding principles then just said f-it for the later third of the game. Hopefully, improvements come to that area. Oneshots and mechanic ignoring fights are lazy and boring.

All in all it was fun to play and I'm glad I did it. That whole aspect really left a sour taste though. Such a shame.

To keep it short and sweet, this hack is an extension to ffiv that encourages exploration and gives much more freedom in loadout. New items, spells, summons, and even bosses that make this experience a great one. As someone who played ffiv too many times to count, I can say without hesitation that this hack is one of if not the best, and it'll only get better with updates!

I have finished this hack in less than a week. That doesn't mean this is a short hack. This hack is so in depth and entertaining that I would play for approximately 5 hours a day after work and then most of the day on the weekends. There are so many amazing changes to the base game, including but not limited to, updated maps, new and updated bosses, new challenges in the base game, and a whole new challenge in the end game.

I spent most of my day today zooming through New Game Plus mode which lets me keep all of my gear and levels for my characters, while also letting me level to the new max level of 149. Being so overpowered in the base game brought me back to my teenage years where I would use Game Genie codes to overpower my characters and become a beast. I've always wanted more levels in Final Fantasy IV and this game has provided it to me.

The new bosses added into the game are familiar enemies that have been redesigned, familiar bosses from other games, and amazing reworks of both. The fact that I can choose my party at the end game makes this even funner. I loved running the end game with the people who you couldn't have in your party at the end.

The new writing is amazing, they enhance the personality of each character, making them more lovable, hilarious, touching, and more.

I highly recommend this for any huge fans of FFIV. This is a new way to play our favorite game!

Just to establish my background, I'll say I've played FF2/4 for years on and off. Every couple years or so I'll do a playthrough or pick up a new version. I own more or less 10+ variations of this Final Fantasy, whether it's the original cartridge, re-ports, remakes, retranslations, remasters, and I've played the additional After Years content. Basically, I've seen a LOT of the world of Final Fantasy 2/4.

When they say this version is the "deluxe" version, they are not kidding. Some other very elaborate, well-made romhacks take the story and change it entirely or add new plot elements. FF2 Ultima takes the original story and game and greatly enhances upon it. For those looking for a dramatically enhanced experience while keeping the original FF2's story intact, this is it.

The translation is one of the best I've seen. When one of your few mediums is text, the translation really matters! In this version the intended personalities of the characters come through wonderfully in text. Whether it's Cid's loveable gruffness, Edge's edginess, Palom's attitude, or Tellah being a stubborn old pighead, the characters are brought to life through even just text (and their sprites, but largely text).

The gameplay is kept intact yet enhanced. Many items that were not in the original FF2 US version are back again. They add additional options to your combat and allow characters that normally can't do certain things to do new things, like using an item to cast slow so that your white mages can be freed up to cast other things or using an elemental damage item when they previously could just physically attack. These items were added in later official remakes, but it is nice to see them in the most classic version of this game.

Characters have been given somewhat rebalanced stats and commands that were not present in the FF2 US version are back as well. Some characters even have new commands and spells entirely unique to this romhack, which really makes things feel fresh even for someone like me that has played a LOT of FF2/4.

All of the familiar areas are still present and several new areas have been added. Treasure in chests has been arranged differently, with more powerful treasure able to be obtained earlier in some places, albeit behind trapped chests with tougher than average encounters. Throughout the whole game there are added dungeons with added items, both old and new. Unlike a lot of additions, these new areas are not exclusive to the end of the game, and are placed throughout the game in a very well thought-out, balanced manner. You are rewarded for exploring.

Multiple new bosses have been added, both optional and as a part of the game's story itself. Like the new areas, they're well-thought out and nicely balanced, with some presenting a decent challenge. The added optional bosses DEFINITELY present a challenge, and can be encountered at certain points in the story and defeated for powerful, useful gear. Beating them is not easy, and you feel very well-rewarded if you do so when they can first be encountered. I cannot speak for the superbosses at the end of the game, just that I know each encounter is unique and requires a different strategy. There are many of them, so there's no shortage of extra things to do.

Rounding out all these new additions are just straight up improvements, like the ability to swap your party members at the end of the game. All those party members with new stats and new commands and spells? You can now experiment with many different combinations of them! Shops have updated item lists. Previously tedious to acquire items can be purchased (albeit at a decent cost).

Add all this to the fact that this romhack is STILL receiving updates and you have one of, if not the most definitive editions of Final Fantasy 2(4). Whether you re-play FF2/4 every so often or haven't played it for years and are looking for a classic experience again, I highly recommend this romhack. Square Enix, take notes. This is how you treat your timeless classics.

I am about 85% of the way through my first play through and this is by far my favorite version of the game. I love the new obvious and not-so-obvious areas you can explore. I love having the ability to access the fat Chocobo's inventory whenever I need to. One suggestion I would have for the author is to replace the carrots and whistles with something else as these items are now pointless.

This is currently the ultimate version of FF2 SNES, and probably the ultimate version of FF4 period.

The additional features don't feel tacked on, but instead feel like they should have been part of the game in the first place. The balance is perfect, the game becomes more challenging as you go along, but feels completely fair. The characters now all feel useful and meaningful and fun to use. There's no grind required whatsoever and no more missables, but for people who do like to grind, it's heavily rewarded by rare equipment and items.

Also, I didn't really see this mentioned anywhere else, but this uses the excellent Project II translation of the game, which for me was a really important factor in deciding whether to play this version.

As it stands, I believe this hack is currently the perfect way to play the 2D version of Ff4!

Updated for version 25k: Everything I said above (review was for patch 4) still stands, but is even better now. Also big shout out to the dev, who might be the coolest most helpful dev I've ever met. If you haven't played this yet, you will NOT be disappointed!

Final Fantasy IV is my favorite game of all time, strangely it isn't even nostalgia based. I played it first on GBA after completing 7,8,9,10,1,2 and 3. I loved it for several reasons and among them was how impressed I was with how the developers got me so invested in the story, character and drama of FFIV given the limited tech.

That being said, 8-bit and Co. squeezed so much content into the game that I didn't even think was possible. I never played the SNES version of IV (beat it on GBA, DS and PSP) and never thought that I would, until I stumbled upon this hack. Lol, safe to say it blew my mind. It's as if these guys brought out as much potential as they could with IV SNES. I love FFIV but its definitely an outdated game, playing this hack in 2021, it didn't feel outdated at all. If anything this is now my favorite way to play IV.

The added difficulty, refined and new skills and extra content were great but its really the little touches that really brings it all together. One of them being the script and dialogue, the way that the script is done makes everything flow and feel much more cohesive, like how Kluya, Joanna and Theodor all had their names in it. Even Leonora. It just feels like there is a lot of thought and care. Another attention to detail that I thought was masterful was the addition of Zemus fight(s), with SPM and his illusions, because he really felt like this powerful psychic entity that's a threat even before reaching him, but the closer you get the more you can feel his threat and presence. It's these little details that really make it for me. Even all of the new areas felt organic and made sense within the world.

I could go on and on, but I'm just going to say, if you ever want to play FFIV try out this hack. Thank you again to 8-bit and everyone involved. I will definitely play this again sometime in the near future and am excited to see all of the new content by then!

I have played this game first in the psp and immediately fell in love with that version.

But this took my breath away. Its a pleasant revisit, never got dulled and you just wanted to keep on collecting and seeing was added and whats new.

Also i found my self checking every wall or every mountain or tree to see if theres like a hiddden cave or passage way that i could go into and to my suprise there is.

I really hope this is to be expanded more and more cause there really is i think more things that could be added potentially, but as it is. It is the ultima.

Definitely a must try

There's so much care and thought into what went into this hack. A lot of respect for the original context, flow, and features of the game. Everything here just enhances the experience by a TON!!!!

Thank you!!

I can't help but be amazed at the work and love brought to this game here. Ultima sets the bar unlike anything. One of my old school favorites gets a absolute upgrade to new heights.

From a much better written script to new bosses, equipment, party swapping, super bosses, many new dungeons and now a new game + with increased level cap? There is so much new content here it's a complete delight. A gold standard in ROM hacking that deserves respect and really gives us the game never thought possible.

Playing this makes me feel like a kid once again with that excitement. Who knows what is next?

Way back I played an earlier version of this mod, and didn't even realize early on that I was playing an updated version of it now. Even in its infancy it was very enjoyable, but the team has obviously put a lot of love and time into this project to bring it to where it's at today.

Some people seem to complain about things like excessive grinding being present and will give a NO recommendation for this game, but I think that it needs to be appreciated that the mod wasn't made for them. This was a game that was made at a time when excessive grinding in RPGs was the norm and everything wasn't just given to you for free. That being said, if you were to play both the original game and this mod back to back you would find that the grinding has been significantly diminished from the original game, so really there should be no complaints at all on that front in my opinion. In fact, I had actually been overgrinding quite a bit since I had to spend a large portion of the final hours I played the game with the encounters turned off because they had nothing new to offer me since I was maxed out with most of the best gear.

I also disagree with anyone who complains about the placement of the new special dungeons as well. I actually thought it was kind of a treat when I realized early on that there were new caves in the overworld map and that most of them required a bit of thinking about how to actually get to them. Was it maybe a little annoying to put that work in and find out that I was way under-leveled to be there and that you couldn't even engage with the bosses that early on? Sure. But at the same time it really gave a sense of wonderment at what the future of the game would bring once I progressed further in the original story. It made a game I've probably played 2 dozen times in my life "new" again.

I've always been a fan of trying to de-construct how the RNG treats things like special drops through the use of save states as well, and I found it quite fun to grind some enemies with the help of the save states to get great gear. Really a treat when you figure out that an enemy early on will drop something like the Zeus Gloves and you can outfit your entire team with this huge boost far before you were meant to pick one up in a chest as well.

Very much looking forward to different difficulty modes being added in the future as well as any other surprises that might be found.

Some suggestions that I might add for the future of the game...

1. More and bigger Special Dungeons!!! Maybe even a "secret Moon" to put even more of them. These were a fantastic addition IMO, and it would be awesome to see them become larger than just single screen deals. Maybe even have some new NPC dialog trees in areas of the game that were long abandoned late in the story that say things which no longer make sense in the late game and replace them with "lore" about these new dungeons, the enemies and bosses inside of them and the possible rewards that they might hold. For instance, the dude with the telescope might have some new dialog and tell you to look into it again to see a pallet swapped moon that shows up after you trigger the event, and an additional option could be added when you touch the crystal in the Whale to go to the moon or to this new area?

2. Drop the "Encounters: ON/OFF" custom menu option and replace it with an equippable accessory like a Charm Bangle like other games in the series use.

3. Change or make additions to the end-of-game scenario if all "special/extra" post-game content is completed. As amazing as it is to have all of this post-game content, I feel like the spoils of battle end up being nothing more than cool things that you really don't need after you've obtained them. By the time you reach the end game bosses, if you've been doing all of the extra content, you're almost surely level 99 and all that extra gear is just going to make the final boss a cakewalk.

Hmmmmm...... Maybe AI becomes sentient when his master dies and comes back for one last battle with his plans to carry out his now fallen master's wishes???

Anyhow. Awesome job here. I can't believe you all are still working on this thing and I always feel like modders and hackers never actually get the amount of praise they actually deserve for all the unpaid time and energy they put into these types of things. Please know that you do have a very appreciative crowd for the work that you do.

THANKS!

Final Fantasy II was one of my favorite games to play on zsnes on my win98 pc when I was 10, and I always felt like the moon way more secrets than the ones it showed, and this hack made my 10 year old self dreams come true, I love not only the addition of extra enemies and bosses, but the challenging fights and new weapons they bring, it feels almost like an entire different game

10/10 Will play it again

This ROM hack is very good! I really liked how there is a totally new postgame with powerful bosses and a very hard boss rush! Not to mention the party swapping with almost every character and the new and better version of Edward! Another thing I love about this hack is that in the story there are some very unexpected things (like the Gilgamesh fight) that don't exist in vanilla and almost all the elements in the Japanese version have been restored! I'm glad I found this hack and I'm waiting for the next version! Goodbye!

Final Fantasy IV is one of my favorite games of all time. (Final Fantasy IV was released as Final Fantasy II for the SNES here in the USA). The characters, the story, the world, secrets and treasures, villains and monsters etc. This game had it all. It held my attention from start to finish and many play throughs followed.

When I discovered Final Fantasy 4 Ultima hack created by 8-bit fan and his team I was happy to give it a try, and was not disappointed in the least. Ultima completely exceeded and blew away my expectations and is hands down the best way to play Final Fantasy IV by far, and I have played pretty much every version of Final Fantasy IV there is.

From the original, to the GBA to the DS and even PSP versions, Ultima is superior to them all and is a masterpiece. This is no doubt the absolute best way to experience FFIV.

Its all here, new dialog and script touch-ups, the characters have new commands and abilities that fit there roles, with many of them receiving upgrades later in the game. There are new maps and areas to explore with many new bosses to fight. Many new equipment rangeing from weapons and armor. Some weapons even have the cool after attack animation that the ultimate weapons from GBA and PSP FFIV have. New shops with tons of new items, a generous amount of new spells/even revamping existing spells to make them useful. The list just goes on and on with the amount of upgrades this mod has.

Many surprises await you here, you even have the option of party swapping when you arrive near end game and can even have Dark Knight Cecil available with his own set of new commands and abilitys. A new Boss rush has also been added with progressive difficulty and rewards after certain progress.

The creator of this mod 8-bit fan and his team have put their time and heart into this mod and it shows. As said before in other reviews 8-Bit fan has his own discord community server for FFIV Ultima with many friendly people and he does his best to make everyone feel welcome. Feel free to come join and ask any questions, have discussions, even suggestions and ideas. The server is very active with new topics, polls, and discussions pretty much everyday.

If your a fan of FFIV like I am I strongly recommend you play this and give it a try. I don't even think about playing the original version of FFIV or even the GBA, PSP, even the DS version as there is literally no reason to do so. As said before this mod is an absolute masterpiece is every way and is the best way to play FFIV.

Thank you 8-bit fan and the team for all your hard work in enhanceing one of my all time favorites games and making it pretty much perfect in every way. Many play throughs of this fantastic mod will happen for me in the future! Rate 10/10.

After multiple run throughs (versions 7, 8, 9, and now 10.2), I can honestly say this is the best hack for Final Fantasy 4 (FF2US) that I have ever come across. The experience has been spectacular, from the spell integrations, additional bosses, many new items and lots of new gear, and a VERY active discord community - detailed below.

Spell integrations In version 10.2, this hack takes a page out of later Final Fantasy games by adding a spell effect to many different items, complete with animations - so when you attack, you have a chance to proc that items "special ability," which looks simply awesome, and adds to the unique flavor of the hack.

Additional Bosses ... are everywhere, with custom animations, graphics, abilities, and they scale in difficulty - giving you an end-game for the first time ever in a Final Fantasy game that has over a dozen additional boss battles to look forward to, some rather easy, but some hard as hell!

New Items, Gear, and Vendors ... are everywhere. The sheer amount of new stuff makes me wonder how they fit it all in! From weapons and armor, to on-use items, to thrown stuff, to a complete overhaul of the vendors to give them an assortment of items that are actually useful - all of which fit into the theme of Ultima - seamlessly added, none of which detract from the story line. There is even the ability to switch out your final party at the end, with more changes coming each iteration.

The discord community 8-Bit Fan's discord server has many knowledgeable people, who answer all questions - from the most mundane to the most technical, and he goes above and beyond to make sure everyone who comes in feels at home, with a welcome message and great communication. To me, this is the best part of this Hack - having a loyal steadfast group of followers who play through every version of the hack, and have discussions, suggestions, and ideas to add new features - I asked a question about a specific ability found in later FF games, how hard it would be to add, and this spawned a discussion that added several new items into the game, and gave old characters new abilities to make them more useful / fun to play. I've never seen a discord community so actively involved in the "think tank" of a hack.

Summary I would absolutely recommend this to any Final Fantasy fan, do yourself a favor and try it out, and come say hi to one of the best communities I've ever come across in my 35 years of gaming. Thanks for taking the time to make an excellent hack, guys!!

• Dave (aka NWCHAOS)

This is a highly polished version of FFIV. Challenging and so much fun with so many new things added! Thank you 8bitfan for your hard work with this long project. :)

Up until the post game, you will play through a slightly modified experience. The post game, however, contains some really challenging bosses...

Challenging in the bad way. First, for a lot of these bosses you have to grind to level 99, or they will just one shot your team with overpowered abilities.

Then the fights are designed to wipe you unless you have the right gear/status ailment immunities, and it's a breeze otherwise.

Slamming your head against a brick wall until you get advice from the internet isn't fun. Grinding for the sake of grinding isn't fun.

It reminds me of the Dragon's Den in FFVI advance... And I didn't like that post game.

FFIV is one of my favorite RPGs, and I feel this mod kinda ruins it.

Having read all the great reviews here I was really happy to give this hack a try, but I gave up at Mt Ordeals due to lack of new meaningful content. I mean no disrespect and I'm sure a lot of work went into this hack, but a few extra bosses and weapons/spells are not gonna do the trick for me. That being said, the changes I did find were very well implemented. But I'd rather play the GBA version or the Playable Golbez Edition which, to my opinion, are better. So I'm sorry but this hack is a no for me.

Hey dude i'm here today to give you my review on the hack It's a good hack, there's a lot of good stuff, but, there's a lot of bad stuff I'm playing the v8.35 right now, and I'm not gonna get the updated version 'cause I almost got like 40 hours of gameplay, and I don't wanna begin a new save just because of some little things new

The hack has some good potential, is good, lot's of new stuff, 7/10, I recommend the hack, but there's some "bugs" I think that's it, I found when I was playing, don't worry i'll list them

1st - the bug that reeeeally annoys me, is that when I was going to lose Yang at the Babil Tower, he suddenly began hittin' twice, you know when you give command and the animation goes right hand attack and left hand? He did it twice, like, left hand, right hand, left hand, right hand, and then the damage appears, and it began to happen with everyone else, literally everyone

2nd - I don't know if that is supposed to happen, but when i use an item, like X-Potion to a weak party member and he dies before he receive it, the item is just wasted, like, it doesn't go to anyone else, it's like i put an X-Potion in the trash

3rd - Sometimes when I was fighting boss I really got upset, because I gave a command and it did not happen, like, Rosa going to cure, beginning the charge animation, passing turn, and then Rosa play again, It's like I never gived any command to her, like I passed the turn or something

The endgame bosses (marilith, yeti, crystal d, etc...) I found them really good, but the fight against them, is something impossible, even in easy mode, it is really hard, I got managed to win against Yeti and the Selene, about the M. Golem, I didn't even think of a way to win, I just put up my cursed rings and beat him, as for the rest, I couldn't beat them, I couldn't move against Marilith, 'cause of the many status she gives me, the Crystal D. I almost beat him right now (03:37am) but I don't know if it was intended for him to give me a hit that kills me and gives me every status in the game, and like, the game bugged for around 5 minutes, with messages like "nothing happened", "ran out of mp", "turning to stone", there was a glitched message where nothing was written, and the message box was cut out, without the lower frame, i had to press a button to continue, but then the battle come back again, but I could not win, when he reach a certain amount of HP you have to hit him with the last act you hit, otherwise you can't hit him, eg: less than 10.000 HP he changes the way of fighting, so if you use Flare on him and he goes below 10.000 HP, you have to hit him with magic to deal damage, if you attack physically, it just don't work, so please, make the bosses beatable,

The Protect, Shell, Haste and Slow could be much better, 'cause from my experience i couldn't see much different playing with them or without

I would recommend if possible, add a frame to the party member with those buffs, like Red frame for Haste, that way you know if he has, and when it fades

Also if possible make it compatible with old versions 'cause I don't feel like playing the whole game again

Anyway dude, this was my review I hope (like me) you like it, even if it wasn't saying all that good, and that way you know what you can fix to make it better

Like I said up there, really good game, I hope you can make it better, 7/10, great bosses, I really enjoyed playing it, even with those bugs, I'm counting on you man, I hope you see this, and I'm not just wasting my time

2020, 03-11 EDIT:

I was thinking about writing to the author personally to thank them, but I think it would make more sense to simply update my review and publicly state my surprise and admiration for where this hack has headed.

In my previous review, I stated that it'd be nice if there were a guide; on Discord I asked for a wiki. Lo and behold, now there is. I said it would be nice if it were possible to not lose access to certain monsters for farming purposes and, guess what? There is now such an area to accommodate that. I said that having descriptions for more items would be very useful (rather than having to guess at what they do) and subsequently, descriptions were added.

None of this is to imply that my suggestions were necessary or that the author should do whatever others say (in fact, all of my suggestions may have been coincidentally considered already); rather, I'm noting that this author clearly considers and weighs input from their fans. And all of my interactions to date have been nothing but positive (even when I've asked stupid questions on Discord).

When you play this hack, don't be afraid to speak your mind about it. This author will listen to your questions, concerns and comments. I've become fairly enthused now whenever I notice an update to this hack, partly because it means it's still an ongoing project, but also because it seems to be evolving in a very exciting direction.

I have already played through this hack twice now and that is not something I expected. I anticipate that as much as I may believe I have moved onto other things, some future update will entice me enough to play it all over again.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

This is an excellent hack and it's very easy to tell that a lot of effort went into it. In fact, I can personally attest to this effort because the author is incredibly accessible and always willing to listen to others' input. It's very refreshing to see someone who's not only dedicated but patient (head to the discord channel and see for yourself).

The new status screens are awesome. Once you get a hang of it, you get a very clear picture of exactly what your characters' attacks and defenses are.

The script is a hell of a lot better than the original (I'm assuming this hack makes use of one or more of the various re-translations).

The extras towards the end are tons of fun and provide for many more hours of enjoyment.

Overall, I definitely recommend this hack. I only have five (minor) issues:

1) Once monsters are gone due to leaving certain areas, they're gone. For a game that emphasizes drop rates, that's a problem that especially hurts during the endgame when you're trying to collect as much as you can for your characters. I'm crossing my fingers that this is something that the author of this hack is considering augmenting in a future release. My suggestion would be to take the monsters that are no longer encountered and put them on the moon. This is for several reasons...

.....a) The moon is near the end of the game so it wouldn't cause balance issues; and

.....b) The moon has incredibly annoying and useless low xp/money enemies that are just in the way. Recycling old monsters would encourage players to enjoy their experience on the moon more; and

.....c) The moon has pretty much no enemies anyway (inside or outside the caves) and the enemies that are there are mind-numbing. Having played through FFIV multiple times and under various hacks, I am well acquainted with the misery of walking around on the moon.

2) The game is fairly smooth sailing until the moon when it feels like hitting a brick wall. The difficulty ramps up hard. I wish the transition had been smoother. I would probably suggest increasing the difficulty gradually up to the moon and adding in more awesome gear along the way so the transition doesn't feel so sudden.

3) It desperately needs a guide of some kind. Without knowing what will drop from who it's impossible to know when you should or shouldn't farm (especially since there are monsters that can't be encountered later). Or being completely stumped on how to beat a boss. Or what certain items even do (there are a LOT of new items). A simple readme included in the download would be very helpful.

4) Much of the new items lack descriptions meaning they just have to be tried out. There's also no way to compare what's being bought without actually buying it first and trying it on. Both of those problems are nitpicky since they likely require some pretty substantial hacking. But if the author could ever pull it off, it would be nice to have more descriptions nonetheless.

5) More variation in the weapons and armor. I like being forced to choose between awesome item A and awesome item B. I want tough choices. This hack would be out of this world if the bosses could be beaten multiple ways through ingenious use of different sets of equipment. Linear play via powerful dropped/found gear is great but being torn between two or more (one not being definitively better than another) would be super awesome.

All of the above problems are merely gripes - they do not take away from the overall delight I had in playing through this hack.

On a sidenote, I have a memory of the author suggesting in one of the earlier versions of this hack that they thought it was their final iteration. And then boom, more updated versions started coming out. It is my hope that the author doesn't give up on this hack. Whatever they are doing is working wonderfully and I very much look forward to whatever they come up with in the future.

Where do we begin with this hack? Do I start with the cleaned up and sensible dialogue that only adds to the story and fills in gaps? Do I mention the part where character roles are expanded upon, allowing characters to shine in roles where they had barely minimal coverage without sacrificing their capabilities in their main roles? Or do I mention how this game has added so much new content, quality of life updates, and has breathed new life into a game almost 30 years old without sacrificing the heart of the gameplay?

This is one of the most solid hacks on this website I've seen. The creator has carefully weaved new elements of gameplay into this game in such a way that from first glance, you almost wouldn't be able to tell that the game was modified. New weapons, new armor, new bosses, new spells, and they all fit in line with the game as a whole, without being overpowered, underpowered, or gamebreaking. Fun glitches are still left in as tools for speedrunning as well, should you desire to speedrun this hack while cleaning up the debilitating glitches, such as the one involving the critical hit bug.

The dialogue, again, is very cleaned up. There's no awkwardness to the dialogue, and lines that were muddy or ambiguous have become straightforward and their intentions and information clear as day (Yet Edward is still a spoony bard. What else can you say about him?). As a result, the story feels much more cohesive without introducing external elements and tells the same tale from start to finish, the same one we all know and love, while updating information using newer renditions released by Square Enix.

And the content. There's so many new minor twists to dungeons and other locations, and they start early. Very early! Don't expect to burn down Mist without a fight! The hovercraft can go to many more places! New locations means new places to explore, more treasure, and new Nintendohard fights, should you choose to undertake them! And it all starts right when you control Cecil for the first time all the way through to steps before you fight Zeromus himself. This hack spans the entirety of the game, not just the intro or the end. Plus, nothing is useless anymore. There are upsides to letting people use different weapons. Ever wanted a Berserker Rosa? Elemental Edge not relegated to using just claws for the extra bit of damage? What about simply Cecil healing a little better? It's all here, and it's all tasteful.

v8 has just released, and I've started from v1. I can tell you from experience that this is a project filled with love by fans, for fans. Wanna re-experience FF2(4)? Play this hack. Want a challenge with new bosses that will smack you harder than ever before? Play this hack. Wanna just play a really good hack from this site? Play this hack. It's just that good.

I'm not using hyperbole here either. This is a masterwork. This hack hangs together even better than the GBA/PSP version and blows away the DS version. Extra bosses, extra spells, extra everything!! *However* - and this is key - *all* of it fits naturally into the spirit of the game without looking odd or out of place. I have played possibly every FFIV hack there is (Darkness Within, Unprecedented Crisis, Golbez Edition, etc.) and while those are all very good, this is superlatively above all other hacking efforts on this game to date. It's not only ruined me for other hacks, but it's completely ruined me for the original game, which pales in comparison to what's been done here. The script has been touched up to possibly the best version I've seen in the English cart, the menus have been enhanced...I could type about this game forever. Everything you didn't like about FFIV is gone and everything you thought was great or should've been there has been put in here.

Obviously as you can tell, I adore this game immensely. If you play it and don't like it, let me know so I can come to your house and physically assault you for being wrong!!! =)

For many, Final Fantasy II (SNES) was the first true RPG that built a complete world, characters and subsequent story arcs/growth,and a story filled with twists and resolution. While many were previously exposed to games like the Dragon Warrior (Quest) series or the original Final Fantasy, none of them came close to being the masterpiece that is FF II.

While the original was amazing in its own right, issues with the translation, a more moderate difficulty, and other problems caused this game to quickly be overshadowed by other RPGs of the era.

While there have been many attempts to address the aforementioned issues (Japanese translation (i.e. FFIV Hard Type), the Game Boy Advanced Version, and DS 3-D remake), none of them quite captured the original magic...

...until now.

Final Fantasy IV Ultima is a masterpiece that any fan of the original game should be playing in lieu of any other version. Not only does it capture everything that made the original game iconic, it adds so many perfectly created features to make an epic game even more so.

Between the small (albeit ingenious) changes to the characters, a redesigned world map,a much stronger script, new weapons and items,and optional bosses that add a new challenge to the game that even a veteran will appreciate, this may be the strongest version of the game to currently exist.

It had been a while since I had picked up and played Final Fantasy II but since discovering this patch, I've burned through the game multiple times and have not grown tired in doing so.

If you're a fan of the original game or even just looking for an old-school 16-bit masterpiece to fire up, do yourself a favor and play this version today.

Long time fan of FFIV, likely one of the RPG's I've beaten most in my gaming career. This mod fundamentally improves all aspects of the game without question. The characters all have more specialized roles, weapons/armors are vital to your success and gone are the days of just holding down the attack button with everyone to just brute force your way through the fights.

FFIV - Ultima let's you think encounters through trial and error, figuring out the best way to approach each area/boss.

There's plenty of new things to do in the game, and I highly recommend that you take the time to explore...Exploration of the world, old maps you know, and even some new ones you don't, tend to be filled with new goodies that will pleasantly surprise you!

If you wanted to see what FFIV could have been...This is the mod for you.

This is a very comprehensive hack that nonetheless manages to still feel very much like the original FF4 also. One thing I notice a lot of hacks doing is changing a lot. Often times so much is changed that it's basically a different game with similar graphics. By contrast, this hack is built around the vanilla bosses, story, and characters but adds a refreshingly large amount of extra content, including new treasures, new caves, new bosses (both story and optional), and a TON of very interesting end game content also. This creates an interesting blend where it really FEELS like final fantasy 4 but with refreshing additions. This hack is in my opinion one of the best ways to play Final Fantasy 4.

If you love FF4 but always felt that some elements in the original game were lacking or rushed, this hack is for you. All of the wasted potential that FF4 had is unlocked with this hack. It doesn't stray far from the source material but instead increases the quality of the dialogue, battle system, and menu system.

New equipment and new spells / skills are plenty, but they don't break the balance of the game which is quite a feat for something that was worked on by one person.

The main story can be beaten with about the same ease as the original game, but if you think yourself a pro, there are a ton of optional areas and secret bosses that will put your strength, strategic ability, and patience to the test.

On top of all this, the developer is very active in terms of working on this hack and is quick to respond to questions / suggestions from his player-base.

I can't recommend this game highly enough and as a huge FF4 fan, I consider it the best ROM hack I've played to date.

For fans of Final Fantasy IV, this is a really good mod that keeps most of the base game intact, with a few event additions... at least until end game, where things really get enhanced. If you're looking for an increased challenge, 8-bit did a great job with the extra bosses added, and for the most part they feel really rewarding to defeat.

On top of the great mod, there's also the fairly active Discord community, with people more than happy to help with any problems.

I really enjoyed this hack! From the start, this is very refreshing with new content and new play styles. New items and enemies are not forced. I've had a great time to the end and got a new secret! Finally, I love the ultimate weapon. The new boss is very challenging! Black Dragon will conquer you someday! Must be played for all Final Fantasy 4 fans!!

SOOOO FINALLY GOT DONE MAX HEALTH AND I LOVE IT. I recommend this on all levels. My only gripe is how easily I defeated zeromus. As he may need a few buffs.

I'm not very far into the hack. Leveling up Rydia in the desert. Already impressed with the hack, and I can't wait to see where it goes. If you're a fan of Final Fantasy 4, you should try this. The hacker(s) did a great job.

Great and ambitious improvement made in the original game making this gem better , finished various old version but this is to me a true 2019 new game excellent work friends!

Awesome game, this is a great enhanced version of the original game, same plot overall but with enough new content to complement every event/area in the game with new moves, new weapons, new bosses. All of it integrates seamlessly in the experience. I've finished SNES's Final Fantasy II around 30 times, but this time it really felt like a new experience.

The game flows perfectly, there are some surprise attack from unexpected enemies, the enemy bosses are much stronger now, have some new attacks and they always drop something valuable. There are tons of new weapons to discover, Your party has many options now as all members can equip different weapon types like Rydia can use Harps, Rosa can wield Hammers, there are some new spells too. I've always had Rosa in the rear formation at end game, but with this options I opted to have she in front using... a new holy weapon I won't spoil. Edge and Rydia have powerful long range weapons now.

All chest has valuable items now. I never bought any curative items or cabins, but this time as the chest contents are different I find myself lacking ethers and cures in my walkthru, not an issue, it's something that changes how you played the game before.

All of the dummied items are available now, mostly they are magic spells in item form, you have to manage your inventory frequently as there are many of them, maybe too many.

Enemy drops are more frecuent now, i've never obtained the Pink Tail in the past, but now i have two of them, ther are secret bosses at the Final Dungeon that give you extremely powerful weapons, and believe me, you'll need them for the last stretch of the game.

Overall a great hack that gives a big homage to a great game with out must respect. Play this hack even if you beaten the original many times, it's very worth your time and it's the perfect excuse to play FFII again.

TL;DR No major glitches, great new content, mildly increased difficulty, Fantastic end game

I hadn't played Final Fantasy 2 / IV in a long while but it has always been a favorite of mine within the series (and all-time), I still have my cartridge for the SNES.

I will preface the rest of my review: I was just around 22 hours of in-game clock to complete, which included a bit of rushing in certain parts but also completed just about all of the side quests and most item finding.

The game starts out a little bit on the easy side of things (I kinda zoomed through here), and while familiar it doesn't take long before you would notice the changes from the original, for those that know it. Maybe 2-3 hours in.

The changes breathe some fresh life into an old game.

As you progress further in, around 4-5 hours when your party starts to fill up it really starts to feel like a hack of a game you know, familiar but different. This is where I got hooked and pretty much binged the rest of the game.

Hours 5-15 for me included some tricky spots, some upgraded enemies, the bosses are certainly tougher but not insane. The new and reworked spells, new weapons and armor etc. all flow very nicely into the game; nothing required, nothing OP either.

When you reach 'end game' (I don't want to give anything away) this was about hours 16 or 17 for me, this is when the game takes on another spike in difficulty. One I welcomed since I always thought the original was a bit too easy by the time you get there. And the game takes on another, nice level of 'new' as well. I could have spent a lot longer grinding and exploring this last section but my drive to get to the end was strong. Lots of new bosses here which will challenge even veterans, but they aren't impossible, and there are hints for strategy along the way if you find them.

**The end game was truly a treat, and very rewarding to play through after an already enjoyable journey**

If I was stuck or feeling under-powered, a bit of enemy slaying would yield exp and levels, as well as gold to buy upgraded equipment.

All the new gears (and chars ability to equip), deserve a nod in their own right, this alone gave the game a nice new flavor.

So I never felt truly stuck, and if you are clever (or sometimes patient) enough you can even get through tougher spots under powered, so there are not really any 'level-checks' which is nice as well.

If you come across a tough boss and don't win the first time, consider your strategy first, then perhaps another level or two for your chars. If still stuck...

***The one thing I would say, the in-game Battle Speed (Menu, Custom) is almost like a difficulty setting. I had trouble with a boss or two, slowed my battle speed down, and voila - victory. So just be aware if having trouble slowing things down can help a lot.*** I played on 1 fastest to start, slowed to 3 somewhere in the middle, and slowed to 6 for a couple boss fights but basically ran 3 for most of the game.

All and all, this was excellent. I have played 50-100 different Megaman, Super Metroid, random, and of course Final Fantasy hacks.

9.5/10.

A very big thanks to 8-bit fan, the creator, who was extremely helpful and responsive to the inquiries I had along the way.

This is an awesome hack! Play it!

-Web-