I'll be honest. Among the Final Fantasy Classics, FF4 was the only I didn't like. There was just something that really tickled me in the wrong way, to the point, where it was constantly molesting me.

Playing it felt like a chore. There were areas were it was unnecessarily difficult and at the time, the storyline felt just awful. Then again, I may not have felt this way, if I hadn't played FF6 first.

It was difficult for me to find any emotional attachment to any of the characters, which more or less, ruined my entire experience to the game. All in all, the SNES game felt very bland. It was hard to display emotion in the text and the character sprites did little to help. In fact, I think the most touching scene in the game for me was when Edward tugged his lute out to play, before being viciously interrupted by a Sea hag. Goddamn Sea Hag, there was something magical about that song... Every time I hear it, it seems so familiar, like I heard it before - in another lifetime.

But I think, what really turned me off was a single character. Edge. Now, I like ninjas. They're awesome. Well, every single one except for Edge. When he first joined my party, I thought he was awesome. Ninjutsu? Throw? Steal? All the best abilities thrown onto one character. Sweet. Quickly, I learned, that he was nothing in comparison to someone like, say, Shadow.

Edge naturally had the ability to equip two weapons, whereas Shadow could only equip one. But Edge needed to have both hands equipped in order to just keep up with the damage the other characters were dealing, while near all of Shadow's small collection of knives would deal some kind of special ability - and he only needed one to keep up! Their throw techniques didn't seem to differ much, but Edge's ninjutsu was weak and he didn't have the MP to really put it to use and his steal ability sucked, half the time, he'd get caught and take damage.

But with the rerelease of FF4 I decided to give it another try and I was really pleased at what I saw - amazed even.

The characters themselves show more emotion and with the addition of the cutscenes and voice acting, I feel more personally attached to each character. Despite knowing when and where and how every character will perish, I find myself filled with guilt and regret whenever I lose a character. Watching as they foolishly sacrifice themselves... and knowing that I just have to let it play, that there is nothing I can do to stop them. I may have even cried at one point, but I was hard enough to suck back in the wetness from my eyes and imprison it away as to never show that weakness again.

The augment system is nice - although a bit cheap. Giving Ceceil the ability to draw attacks and counter nearly every single one - well, let's just say I'm not too pleased about that combo. I find myself wishing that these augments did more than just grant new abilities. When I gave Rosa the ability to sing, I wished she could have been able to equip all those now useless harps.

And Edge. With the little time I've spent with him, I found myself far more fond of him. Just now, seeing him rage after killing his own parents. Hell, I'd rage too, especially after the near eradication of my entire nation. We connect now, see?

All in all, I'm really pleased. But what really offs me is the fact that whenever I'm hit with a magical attack, it wipes out my party and I'm left having to grind a few more damn levels just to hang on after being hit with such a powerful move.

Damn.