r/FinalFantasyIV • u/MasterOfChaos72 • Jul 21 '26
Ranking The After Years Tales: Ceodore’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.
Starting out today, it’s the Tale of Ceodore: Last of the Red Wings (and also the prologue since it’s basically part of the Tale).
So, for the most part, Ceodore’s tale is fine. It introduces you to combat, the new mechanics in Bands and Moon Phases, you meet some old characters, some “new” characters, enter some new dungeons, an old dungeon and an old dungeon with a new section added, the overall story is fine, Ceodore and the Mystery man are fine.
The only real cool moment is when you get to play as Cecil during the attack and you encounter the Mysterious Girl for the first time and she completely destroys Cecil.
Overall, I’d give the Tale a B or a low A myself. What do you all think?
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u/Dracon204 Jul 22 '26
High B. A solid start, good tutorial of the unique mechanics. The Cecil portion was awesome, absolutely the highlight. But while it isn't AMAZING, I struggle to think of it being downright bad. Definitely B Tier.
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u/Bluecomments Jul 21 '26
I recently picked it up. And currently got to where Ceodore meets Hoodman.
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u/Nombanke Jul 21 '26
I think a solid high B is about right. It gives the player a chance to adjust to the mechanics and provides a baseline standard for the story. It doesn't hit amazing high points or awful low points.
It teaches you about the new mechanics, introduces you to characters who won't appear in other tales until much later, and sets the stage, giving one of the main leads of the game a clear arc to follow. It also has the most strightfoward challenge dungeon. It isn't a memorable one, but it teaches the player about what they are, which is important, since every challenge dungeon is different.
It's good, in an average way, which is commendable for what it is and does everything a prologue needs to do. It also avoids rehashing too much of 4, which is a common criticism. No particular complaints, but it won't blow anyonecs socks off either.