The first portable version of Final Fantasy 4 is certainly quite decent.
In any case, where should I begin? Final Fantasy 4 tells the tale of Cecil the dark knight. He is the leader of the Red Wings, Baron's famed airship battalion or whatever you call it. Lately, Cecil questions his King's motives, in the end the King sends him and his best friend Kain with another mission. And so begins the story of Cecil's quest to find the light to the darkness he holds, witnessing sacrifices and stopping once and for all the great nemesis that is behind the King's evil doings.
Story sounding good so far? Good, because it's actually decent. While I don't like Cecil's character too much, he felt too depressed, always blaming himself, not knowing what to do, in the end he followed blindly his orders and even ignored his love, Rosa, Cecil's character helped present a likeable story in which you could feel slightly moved as he meets fellow companions who aid him in his quest and loses a few as well.
In terms of characters, as far as I'm concerned, Final Fantasy 4 to date presents the most playable characters. Though it's a nice thought to think of them as guests, but the GBA remake has presented the ability to use anyone in the end for the final battle. While this certainly confused me as I recalled that the final party was meant to be ______. It does allow those who want old characters be a part of their party, I found this to be a nice plus.
For gameplay, Final Fantasy 4 is difficult. I remember playing the PS1 version, it was brutal, enemies showed no mercy, the game was difficult unless you grinded or was simply lucky. Most of the bosses in the last level aren't cake walks either, I found a lot of issues with the boss AI when it came to attacks. It was frustrating to find bosses constantly doing the same damage and the same attack every time the battle started. I simply blame poor programming. Final Fantasy 4 is also unique in that it's the only Final Fantasy to have 5 party members which I thought was a little excessive, but I suppose it helps to have an extra member...only to boost the difficulty a notch.
Overall, Final Fantasy 4 is a decent game. While IMO, it doesn't deserve all the praise it gets, and it especially does not deserve the sequel The After Years. In the end, it's a pretty good RPG, difficult at first, but you can easily pick it up and really get into it.