Final Fantasy: The After Years add-on overview (part one)

Now that July 6, 2009 has passed, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years players have quite a few additional story options. Square Enix has made four additional chapters available: Rydia’s Tale, Yang’s Tale, Palom’s Tale and Edge’s Tale. Each additional story is 300 points (US$3) via WiIWare.

While the downloadable content screen in the game offers a brief summation of the events that take place in all the additional tales available, sometimes that information isn’t enough. So, in an effort to assist FFIV: The After Years players, I’ve purchased and played through all four add-on tales. A brief summary of each story, what characters appear as party members and notable aspects or features of each story. I also state whether or not I recommend that particular piece of downloadable content. And don’t worry about spoilers! The whole article is spoiler-free.

Rydia’s Tale: The Eidolon Shackled

Rydia’s tale is somewhat essential to the main FFIV: The After Years storyline, and mostly takes place in the underworld. In her storyline, we see firsthand the theft of the Dark Crystals. We also see the return of the dwarf princess Luca, and her twin dolls Calca and Brina return as party members. Calca is invaluable as an attacker, and Brina’s dances all cast healing spells or positive status effects. Unlike the first part of FFIV: The After Years, players have a bit of freedom to explore the Sylph’s Cave and collect Kokkol Ores to take to Kokkol’s Forge and get some rare items. Unlike the first part, there isn’t always a dedicated healer, so exploration of some areas can be quite difficult if you haven’t stocked up on items.
Highly Recommended: I enjoyed this adventure probably as much as the first part that contained Ceodore, Cecil and Kain’s stories. It was challenging, had a good story and also offered a bit of freedom. Make sure you find the mythril nut, mythril screw and mythril spring in the mine!

Yang’s Tale: The Master of Fabul

Yang’s Tale is a bit misleading, because while you do get to play as Yang for a great deal of the adventure, his daughter Ursula is really the main character. This tale takes place in the overworld, mainly around Fabul, and takes a look at Ursula’s training, the influx of monsters and the defense of Fabul’s Crystal. Like the first part of FFIV: The After Years, it’s very straightforward with no real opportunity to deviate from the path or explore. I’d also say it’s fairly essential, based on what Yang and Ursula discover at Mt. Hobs.
Recommended: I liked Yang’s Tale, but not as much as Rydia’s Tale. I’m thinking it is, in part, because Yang wasn’t one of my favorite FFIV characters. (He was a great attacker, but I didn’t connect with his character.) Plus Yang’s Tale is very straightforward, and I would have liked to have seen some of the freedom that Rydia’s Tale included. If anything, I’d say get Yang’s Tale just so you can level up Ursula and Yang for the final chapter. They’re incredible attackers.

Palom’s Tale: The Mage’s Voyage

Palom’s Tale is a level grinding adventure. Palom wants to start training to become a sage like Tellah. However, the elder of Mysidia is hesitating in granting permission. Instead, he sends Palom to Troia to train the new eighth Epopt, Leonora. The whole adventure takes place in the Troia area, and involves quite a bit of Chocobo travel. Again, it’s one of the more straightforward add-ons. You’ll be focusing on magic attacks, so make sure to equip and purchase weapons that can also be used as items and keep a close eye on Palom and Leonora’s MP.
Slightly Recommended: Of all the parts of FFIV: The After Years I’ve played, Palom’s Tale is the easiest. The majority of the adventure is spent leveling up Leonora. If I was going to skip one of the first four add-ons, Palom’s Tale would be the one I’d pass up. At the very least, you can always consider Palom’s adventure somewhat relaxing, especially if you wanted to play something easy after trying to get the mythril parts in Rydia’s Tale. It’s also interesting to see how Palom’s character matured – I was pleased to see he still “bluffs.”

Edge’s Tale: The Pulse of Babil

Edge sees the two moons in Eblan and is about to set off to discover what dark forces are at play and if the Tower of Babil is going to become a threat once more. As he sets out to go investigate, his four student/ninja Gekkou, Zangetsu, Izayoi and Tsukinowa stop him. They urge him to stay in Eblan to protect the kingdom and dispatch them instead to investigate. Players can then follow each of the four ninja on their missions in whatever order you like. It feels like the longest adventure, since you play four missions as all four ninja, then an additional mission with Edge and the four other ninjas.
Recommended: I would like to call out Edge’s Tale for false advertising. The description of the add-on makes it sound like you’ll be able to actually explore the whole FFIV: The After Years world as Edge’s four ninja Gekkou, Zangetsu, Izayoi and Tsukinowa. You don’t. You experience four missions with each of the characters in different locations. I was hoping it’d be a bit more like the first part of Rydia’s Tale, where you have freedom to explore anywhere you want in the underworld. Despite all that, it does offer a long adventure, is informative and feels more substantial than the other add-ons, making it one of my favorites so far. I’d say play the four adventures in this order, if you want to go from easiest to most difficult – Tsukinowa, Izayoi, Zangetsu then Gekkou.

In closing, if pressed to rank the Final Fantasy IV: The After Years DLC add-ons based on how much I enjoyed the adventure, I’d have arrange them in the following order:

1. Rydia’s Tale
2. Edge’s Tale
3. Yang’s Tale
4. Palom’s Tale

While I was disappointed in Edge’s Tale, the variety it offered still made it more enjoyable than Yang’s Tale and Palom’s Tale. Rydia’s Tale, which offered the most freedom and extras out of all the downloadable content, easily takes first place in my books. If you’re a Final Fantasy IV fan, then I’d recommending getting all four parts if you can afford it! And remember not to save over your completed save files for each tale!

Site [Final Fantasy IV: The After Years]