In FF4, there is a "programmer's room" located below "Pub Laliho" in the dwarf castle. In this room, you could talk to (and fight!) some of the programmers, and there is some strange stuff down there like the Porno book. This room was taken out of the US FF2, probably so you can't get access to the Porno Book.

Extra Items

      In FF4j, there are at least twice as many items as there are in the Easytype. Most notably are the cure items; instead of one item that cures all status effects, there is a separate item for each, like one item that cures Poison, one that cures Blindness, etc...There is an item that cures all status effects but it is extremely rare and can only be bought in the underworld for a whopping 5000 Gil each. There are other items that were taken out of FF2 US, too. Generally, due to space, item management took some thinking in FF4, you rarely have space for a lot of extra items. Some of those items allow you to pull of spells..Items such as Bomb Fragment allowed a Fire 1 spell, or Wrath of Zeus was a Bolt 3 spell..There were many other items as well..

Skills taken out of FF2 Easy Type

      These are a list of battle commands that each character had that were taken out of FF4j Easytype, and what they do.

Cecil as an Ankoku Kishi (Black knight)
Ankoku (Pitch-black)
With this command, Cecil gathers his life energy in his sword and uses it to shoot black bolts of energy at all the enemies to do damage to them. However, every time you use Ankoku, Cecil's HP will drain a bit.

Tella
Omoidasu (Remember)
With this command, Tella will try to remember one of the spells he's forgotten. Basically it casts a spell at random. It can even cast spells that can't normally be cast, like Tornado or Death on all the enemies. Once when I was fighting Octomammoth, Tella remembered Thundaga. That was sure a quick fight. :) Once Tella remembers his forgotten spells on the Shiren no Yama, (Trial Mountain) this command disappears.

Edward
Kusuri (Medicine)
Kusuri heals all the characters for about 10-20 hp worth of damage.

Rosa
Inori (Prayer)
Without using up MP, Rosa will cast "Keal" on all characters in the party. It doesn't always work though.

Yang
Tameru: (Gather)
Yang will gather his strength to do a double-damage attack, but it takes time for him to build up strength.
Gaman: (Endure)
With this command, Yang can reduce physical damage to himself as if "Protesu" was cast on him.

Palom
Tsuyogaru (Strengthen)
After using this command, Palom's magic power will increase.

Porom
Usonaki (False tears)
Porom will pretend to cry which upsets the monsters, and makes it easier for the party to run away.

Fuusuuya
Seishinha (Spirit Wave)
When Fuusuuya uses Seishinha, all the party's HP regenerate slowly.

Other Changes

      In FF2 US, there are no front or back lines when fighting the enemy. IOW, in FF4 there is a front and back row among the enemies. Enemies in the back row will take half damage from your attacks, just as characters in the back row take half damage. Unfortunately, monsters in the back row don't seem to do less damage when they attack. Overall battles are harder, and there are annoying bits not present in the easytype to make things difficult. For example, if the twins take much longer to cast their double spells, get out of synch when they try to cast a magic together, when they come forward to cast the spell, they expend the MP, but do absolutely nothing.

      Items in general are more expensive and tougher to get in FF4 than in FF2 US. The Eteru (Ether in FF2 US) items can only be bought on the moon, whereas in FF2us ether is available in stores from the first town. The Ban NouyakuÊ(Heal potion in FF2) is 50 times more expensive in FF4 than in the ff2US. Also it's not buyable until the latter half of the game.

      Many of the bosses were toned down for FF2US. For example, the Dark Dragon does much more damage with his Dark Breath, and Valvalicia cannot be hit in her spin except by Cain's Jump attack, or by magic.

      The Shoukan spell "Asura" does different things in FF4 and FF2 Easytype. In FF4, Asura does one out of three things: 1) Cast "Raise" on every member of the party. 2) Cast "Kealda" on every member of the party. 3) Cast "Protesu" on every member of the party. In FF2 Easytype, the "Protesu" effect is turned into a mega-cure which usually will heal your party to max. On a similar note, Asura is *much* more difficult to beat in FF4, since the first thing she does before you can do anything is cast "Protesu" on herself, making physical attacks do next to nothing. And since you basically have to cast "Reflek" on her to keep her from healing herself it makes it much tougher.

      Also, many of the non-boss monsters in FF2 US Easytype were toned down. In FF4, they do more damage and have higher defense ratings so you do less damage on them. Also, some of them are tougher due to item constraints. For example, the Molbol's Kusai Iki (Bad breath) gives you every bad status effect you can have, and since Ban Nouyakus (aka Heal potions) are so rare, if the characters that can cast "Esuna" get affected you're basically screwed. Also, some monsters have additional attacks in FF4. For example, the "Tsuki no Megamis" (Lunar Goddesses-I forget what they are in FF2--those girls with swords on the moon) have a special attack which heals your characters-but also turns them to stone. (And if you confuse her, she decides to try and heal you by this method...yuk...)

      In FF2 US Easytype, the various secret passages in the walls and the like are visible, whereas they are all invisible (except for one place, I think) in FF4j normal.

      It's a small difference, but during Cecil's flashback to the stealing of Mysidia's crystal, there is no dialogue between Cecil and the elder in FF4j, but there is in FF2.

      Final Fantasy 4 is a great game, if you have conquered FF2 US you have not conquered the real game. To get the full effect of this game the Watcher recommends picking up a translated ROM of Final Fantasy 4, and see what you have been missing.....