The absolutely ludicrous title aside, I have a really hard time hating Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. Part of me wants to, not because of some nonsensical vendetta against FFIV's canon, but more as a purveyor of value and of art, and an enemy of recycled, half-assed cash-ins. Alas, I am absolutely powerless against the scourge that is FFIV: The After Years. It's simply awesome.

Set 17 years after the end of the events of Final Fantasy IV, the most interesting part of The After Years is its own development history. Developed by FFIII DS and FFIV DS veterans Matrix Software, the game was first developed for Japanese cell phones. The game was broken up into chapters, with the first being a free download, followed by subsequent chapters that were available for players to download after signing up for a subscription. For the benefit of the American audience, Matrix and Square-Enix decided to move the game, in all its parts, to the Nintendo Wii in the form of Wiiware downloads.

This edition of the game borrows a lot of the visuals from the Wonderswan and Gameboy Advance editions of Final Fantasy IV, and while that may sour younger gamers on playing the game, it should have older fans of the series waxing nostalgic about the better days.

The game centers around Ceodore, the son of Cecil and Rosa, who married and became King and Queen of Baron. Elsewhere, Kain (the coolest Dragoon that ever lived) sits upon Mt. Ordeal, not quite himself. The other well known members of FFIV make a return to the game, but they share the stage this time with a bunch of new players, along with Ceodore, who really does hog much of the most important story elements.

The Wiiware version of the game is structured differently, and it makes sense why. Instead of making the first episode a free download, Square Enix instead put the first three episodes together in one package, and charged 800 Wii points. Subsequent episodes will cost 300 points each, with the conclusion of the adventure costing another 800 points. For the price conscious, that roughly means that The After Years costs roughly 3700 points, or $37. Depending on your own threshold for retro games, that might seem a little on the steep side, but Final Fantasy IV fans will no doubt find it more than worth it.

There's much more for FFIV fans to love about the game. Along with a congruent style and a story that picks up effortlessly from where the previous game left off, the game also includes the game systems that made the game so famous (Active Time Battle, for instance), and includes new ones, such as the moon phase system. Moon phases change as characters sleep in an inn or a tent, and these moon phases affect which battle actions are augmented and which ones have diminished.

For instance, one phase might augment attack and negatively affect white magic, while another might improve offensive spells while rendering physical attacks a fool's errand. It's easy to use the system to your advantage by using a tent until you get the moon phase you desire, but it really shines when the player ignores the phase's battle effects, and instead plays the hand fate has dealt them. There's a definite feeling of chance and randomness in cases like this, and when players finally decide to play through the game again, can use certain moon phases to make subsequent playthroughs more difficult.

Players familiar with Matrix's treatment of FFIV on DS will find that the difficulty is just as rough in The After Years. Enemies hit hard and hit often, and there are sections, even early in the game, where half the player's group might be completely useless, just for the sake of difficulty. This can cause a certain amount of frustration, but it also means that those willing to rise to the challenge will not be cutting through each episode like a zombie. A definite level of thought, speed and strategy is needed to best bosses and even combat regular enemies.

I am still in the first chunk of the episodic game (albeit very close to its end), but I imagine the game's flow continues in much the same way. Just as the cell phone version of the game had monthly episodic releases, Square Enix promises to do the same with the Wiiware version. If this first chunk really is indicative of what this outing has to offer, I can't help but admit that I will happily spend a full 3700 points to see it through to the end.