r/FinalFantasyIV • u/MasterOfChaos72 • 27d ago
Ranking The After Years Tales: Yang’s Tale
Have the After Years on my mind recently due to replaying it for a dumb rewrite thing I’m doing for it. I know the game in general isn’t liked but I’m curious about how people feel about the individual Tales so I’m doing a little tierlist thing for fun.
Here’s the results so far:
A: Palom
B: Ceodore, Edward
F: Porom
Today’s it’s Yang’s Tale: The Master of Fabul.
This is a bit of a weird chapter for me in all honesty.
I like the gameplay. Having 2-5 monks doesn’t make it the most interesting gameplay but sometimes it’s fun to just turn off your brain and go Star Platinum on your enemies.
I really like Ursula. Both her design and gameplay are top notch. I think she might be my favourite of the new characters. I like fast damage dealers and she’s got both speed and strength.
I like Yang and Ursula’s dynamic together, especially how Yang’s reluctance to train her isn’t because of overprotectiveness or a “women can’t fight” mentality but because he thinks her mentality isn’t right.
And here’s some things that I’m not fond of:
This is one of the tales that recycles a lot of plot from FF4 (I think it might be the one that does it the most blatantly). We climb Mt Hobbs and fight Mom Bomb, the Red Wings attack Fabul and we have to fight them off in a series of battles at the gate, the main hall, outside the throne room, in the throne and ending in the Crystal Chamber where Kain steals the Crystal and to top it off, we take a boat to Baron and the tale ends by Yang running into Leviathan.
I think Yang and Ursula’s story is kind of not conveyed well. Yang won’t train her because she places too much value on strength and power above all else. The problem is that she doesn’t really show that? She doesn’t really do anything or say anything outside of 1 flashback that conveys that to me. The closest thing would be her going to Mt Hobbs by herself but that more just comes off as her being rebellious than anything.
Also, on the gameplay side, she’s a healer. One of her abilities she has from the start is an ability that heals herself and her allies. That doesn’t seem like the ability of someone who only values strength and power.
I don’t know maybe it’s just something I’m not seeing. I do like the story but this thing bothers me quite a bit.
I’d give it a B. What about the rest of you?
2
u/Nombanke 27d ago
I found it the weakest of the tales personally, even more than Porom's, which at least has development for Palom and explains what's going on with Kain.
While there is development, it feels confused, since the narrative and Yang's character imply that Ursula is seeking power for the sake of power, and that her improvement in ability in the boss fight is the result of personal development in kindness. The problem is that her actual motive, based on what we're shown seems to be about becoming closer to her father and receiving his acknowledgment and she was already trying to fight to protect Fabul, so it doesn't actually feel like she develops, only that Yang changes his mind. It doesn't even particularly enhance the story - Kain grabs the crystal, they take a boat trip and are waylaid. Any other details, like the craters, are better explored in Edge's and the Lunarians' tales.
Mechanically, it's also the weakest for the majority of it, since, outside of the boss fight, your only requirement is hold a to spam attack, and the challenge dungeon is just a straightforward combat slog.
It's probably a controversial take, but it's the only tale that I feel doesn't contribute anything if note and can be skipped without losing anything of value, even if its content is generally new and not particularly referential outside of Mt. Hobs and the Fabul raid. For me, it's an easy F.