Recap of Final Fantasy IV.
The dark knight Cecil, captain of the Red Wings of Baron, has grown uneasy about the increasingly aggressive orders he’s been given by the King of Baron. After a mission to steal the Crystal of Water from the wizard village Mysidia, where they had to kill several wizards to get to it, he finally asks the King if these attacks are really necessary. The King promptly removes him from his position and assigns him to deliver a package to the Village of Mist, and when his friend the dragoon Kain tries to speak up for him, he’s added to the assignment. Cecil discusses his shared frustrations with the kingdom’s chief engineer Cid and his girlfriend the white wizard Rosa before he and Kain set out.
The path to Mist goes through a cave where they hear warnings to turn back, and eventually have to kill a Mist Dragon guarding the exit. But upon arriving, Cecil and Kain are horrified when the package unleashes a horde of monsters that burn the village to the ground. The village was home to summoners who could have challenged Baron, and Cecil and Kain were tricked into wiping them out. In the carnage they find a young girl named Rydia, mourning her mother who had summoned the Mist Dragon and was also killed when it died. She’s naturally in no mood to listen to their apologies and summons another monster that creates an earthquake, knocking Cecil out.
Cecil wakes up to find Kain missing and Rydia unconscious, with the only open path being into the desert. They arrive at the oasis town Kaipo, where they’re allowed into the inn for free. That night, Cecil defends Rydia when Baron soldiers come for her, causing her to accept his help. He also discovers Rosa in the town, extremely sick from desert fever that can only be cured by an item called the Sand Ruby, which they’ll need the help of the Kingdom of Damcyan to find.
On the way there, Cecil meets the elderly mage Tellah who’s also headed to Damcyan, after his daughter Anna who eloped with a bard from the kingdom. With his help they make it to the kingdom, just in time for it to be attacked by the Red Wings under its new captain Golbez, who steals the Crystal of Fire. It turns out Anna’s lover is actually Edward, the prince of the kingdom, but during the attack she sacrificed herself to save him. Edward pledges himself to Cecil’s side to atone for her death, but Tellah leaves the group, insisting on getting revenge alone.
Edward offers the use of his hovercraft to cross the ocean to the cave of the Antlion, from whom they can get the Sand Ruby. He insists the creature is friendly, but it attacks them and forces them to kill it, showing that Baron’s actions are having a serious effect on the world. They return to Kaipo and cure Rosa, who joins the group as they decide to head to the Kingdom of Fabul to protect Baron’s likely next target the Crystal of Air.
To get there they need to cross Mt. Hobs, forcing Rydia to overcome her fear of fire from her village’s destruction to melt the ice blocking the path. Along the way they encounter Yang, a warrior monk from Fabul, and help him fight off some monsters. With his help they do their best to defend the kingdom but are finally pushed back to the crystal room, where Kain shockingly appears working for Baron again. Then Golbez makes his appearance, effortlessly defeating the entire group before taking the crystal and also kidnapping Rosa.
Cecil decides they need an airship to have any hope of winning, meaning they need to take one from Baron. But on the way there, the ship is attacked by Leviathan and Cecil is again knocked out and wakes up alone, this time near none other than Mysidia. The locals are naturally not disposed to help him, but the town elder does accept his change of heart and advises him to go to Mt. Ordeal to become a Paladin, also giving the assistance of mages in training Palom and Porom.
On the mountain, Cecil again encounters Tellah, who is there to learn the legendary spell Meteor which might be able to kill Golbez. But before either can succeed, they have to defeat Scarmiglione, the Fiend of Earth who Golbez sent to stop them. With that done, Cecil is presented with a copy of himself, and learns to simply accept its attacks without fighting back to atone for his past and become a Paladin. At the same time, Tellah learns the Meteor spell.
Upon seeing Cecil’s success, the Mysidia wizards agree to open the Serpent Way back to Baron. There he discovers Yang under a spell, and has to fight him to break it, causing him to join the group again. They enter the castle, and after defeating the King’s chancellor Baigan, finally confront the King himself, who reveals he’s actually the Fiend of Water Cagnazzo who’d killed the real King some time ago. They defeat him, but he manages to reach from the other side and trap the group in a room with closing walls. Palom and Porom sacrifice themselves by casting spells to turn themselves to stone and stop the walls, which is unable to be reversed as it was by their own will.
Cid joins the group and shows them onto his newest airship, only for Kain to arrive on another and demand Cecil retrieve the final Crystal of Earth for Golbez in exchange for Rosa. They go to its home Troia, whose leaders reveal the Crystal was stolen by the Dark Elf. They also find Edward, who is still recovering from Leviathan’s attack and too weak to join them. But he does still help by playing his harp to remove the Dark Elf’s spell affecting metal weapons and armor, allowing the group to kill him and get the Crystal.
Kain escorts the group to the Tower of Zot where Rosa is being held, but Golbez goes back on the deal once he has the Crystal. Tellah is enraged enough to use the Meteor spell fueled by his life energy, killing himself so that Golbez is badly injured and forced to retreat. Kain is also revealed to have been under a spell that is now broken, and leads the way to Rosa, who is guarded by the Fiend of Wind Barbariccia. After defeating her and freeing Rosa, the Tower collapses and Rosa teleports everyone back to Baron.
Kain reveals that there are also four Dark Crystals underground that Golbez still needs to complete his plan, and the group heads to the village Agart where they drop a Magma Stone into a well to cause a volcanic explosion, opening the way to the world of the Dwarves. Unfortunately, the Red Wings get there first and the airship is badly damaged in the battle and rendered useless. Cid stays behind to repair it while the others head into the Dwarves’ castle and meet King Giott, who reveals Golbez already has two of the Dark Crystals while the third is still safe behind his throne room.
Golbez soon arrives and reveals he plans to use the Crystals to open a path to the Moon. With that he brutally attacks the group and kills all but Cecil, who is surprisingly saved by a monster summoned by none other than an adult Rydia, who revives everyone and helps them beat Golbez back, though he still manages to take the Dark Crystal with him. Rydia explains that Leviathan took her to the underground home of the summoners where time passes differently, and joins the group again as they head to Golbez’s base in the Tower of Babil.
At the top of the Tower they find the Fiend of Fire Rubicante, who simply leaves them to fight the insane Dr. Lugae and his creations. After defeating him, they take over the cannons that have been firing from the Tower, but discover the room is booby-trapped. Yang sacrifices himself to save the others, and Golbez returns to cut off their escape route. That’s when Cid appears with the repaired airship, and also sacrifices himself to blow up the entrance to the underground, letting the others arrive safely back to the surface.
The group returns to Baron where Cid’s crew installs a grappling hook on the airship to allow it to pick up Edward’s hovercraft, allowing them to reach the Kingdom of Eblan. Unfortunately, it’s already been destroyed by Rubicante and its people are reduced to refugees in a nearby cave, explaining that the king and queen were killed and their son the ninja Edge set off to avenge them. They return to the Tower of Babil and find Edge fighting Rubicante, and quickly losing. He agrees to join the group to help his own mission.
Further up the Tower, the group encounters Edge’s parents, who were turned into monsters by Dr. Lugae. After a battle they return to their senses and kill themselves. Then Rubicante reappears, and despite Edge’s rage proves to have honor, saying he was disgusted by Lugae’s actions and even healing them all for a fair fight. After defeating him, Edge decides to stay with the group and help against Golbez. A trap sends them falling back underground, but they also find the Tower’s airship hanger and commandeer another one.
King Giott directs them to the Sealed Cave that houses the final Dark Crystal, and they find Cid survived his fall and while he’s still too weak to join the group again, he modifies the new airship to fly over lava so they can get there. Unfortunately, after they finish the quest Golbez again takes control of Kain and has him steal the Dark Crystal, giving him all eight and access to the Moon. King Giott informs them of a legend from Mysidia about the spaceship the Lunar Whale that can also get to the Moon, and Cid installs a drill on the airship so they can break back through to the surface.
The Mysidia elder leads a prayer that brings the Lunar Whale up from the ocean, and the group heads to the Moon where they find a crystal palace, and are greeted by the Lunarian FoSoYa, who reveals that the Lunarians are now hibernating after an environmental disaster, waiting for humans to evolve sufficiently to live among them. But one, Zemus, insisted that they should simply destroy humanity and take the planet themselves, and is the one who has been corrupting people like Golbez to get the Crystals to summon the Giant of Babil. FoSoYa's brother KluYa also went to live among humans and gave them many Lunarian secrets including airships. He also fell in love and had two sons, one of them being Cecil.
FoSoYa joins the group as they return from the Moon, but find they’re too late and the Giant has been activated. But the Dwarves’ tanks (accompanied by Yang, who was rescued and healed by Sylphs) and Cid’s airships (accompanied by the now recovered Edward, plus Palam and Porom who were cured by the Mysidia elder) join forces to distract it enough for the group to get inside. After being forced to fight all four Fiends at once to defeat them for good, they succeed in destroying the Giant’s control center. Golbez appears, only for FoSoYa to remove Zemus’ spell on him, and reveal he is KluYa’s other son, and Cecil’s brother. The two of them leave to stop Zemus together, and a now permanently cured Kain also rejoins the group.
They follow FoSoYa and Golbez to the Moon, and arrive just in time to see them defeat Zemus with Meteor. Unfortunately, his hatred endures in a monster named Zeromus, who can only be made vulnerable by a Crystal which Golbez’s heart is too corrupted to use. Zeromus casts Meteor himself and kills everyone, but the Mysidia elder leads all of humanity in a prayer that brings them back. Cecil uses the Crystal, and together the group is able to kill Zeromus. FoSoYa declares he can now join the other Lunarians in their sleep, and Golbez decides to go with him as there’s no way he can return after all he’s done.
With Zeromus gone, the world enjoys a new era of peace. Edge becomes the new King of Eblan and Yang of Fabul, while Kain goes to Mt. Ordeal to atone for his own dark past like Cecil. Finally, all the heroes reunite for Cecil and Rosa’s marriage, and coronation as the new King and Queen of Baron.
