Final Fantasy IV (SNES, 1991)

Final Fantasy IV was the first game in the series to be released on the brand-new Super Famicom and Super Nintendo systems, making it the second North American Final Fantasy game.  Because there had been no Final Fantasy II or III in the States, Square decided to rename this game Final Fantasy II, hoping that it would avoid confusion.  I actually own this copy of the game.  This is the most re-released installment in the series, having been ported to the Playstation, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and more, and for good reason.  Final Fantasy IV is one of the finest games in the whole franchise.
The game stars Cecil, captain of the Red Wings, the airship armada of the kingdom Baron.  He has orders to collect the elemental crystals, slaughtering innocents along the way.  Racked by the guilt, Cecil gains the courage to speak out to the king, and question his motives.  The king relieves Cecil of his post, and when his friend Kain tries to stick up for him, he is also dismissed.  Cecil is left with a package to deliver to the valley of Mist, and upon reaching this town, the package reveals to be a bomb which burns it to the ground.  The only survivor is an orphaned girl caller, Rydia.  Startled she calls a Titan which causes an earthquake which separates her and Cecil from Kain.  Cecil eventually discovers that Baron is being controlled by the mysterious Golbez, and his four fiends.
I could fill this entire article with a plot summary about this game, which is one of its best defining features.  Final Fantasy IV is the first game in the series to feature a fully realized plot with deep, interesting characters, twists and turns, and a genuine feeling of weight to it.  Characters have relationships with one another.  Cecil is in love with the white mage Rosa, for whom Kain also has affections for.  Rydia comes to forgive Cecil after he protects her from some guards.  There are more characters than I could do justice to, since they are all marvelously written.  Each new hardship the cast is faced with pulls at the heartstrings, aided by one of the greatest musical scores ever composed for a video game.
The game also perfects the gameplay of the previous games, while yet again reinventing itself into something fresh and new.  The biggest improvement is the introduction of the active-time battle system.  The way this works is that each party member and enemy has a time bar that when full, allows them to take a turn.  This makes battles fast-paced and dynamic, more interesting than before.  For the first and only time, your party could hold five characters, and they came and went as the story progressed.  Each character has a job class predetermined for them which is crucial to them as people and the story.  Cecil starts as a dark knight, but by finding his own redemption for his past actions, he may become the paladin.  Characters gain experience for winning battles, and gain new job-specific abilities with each level.
This game benefits immensely from the Super Nintendo's superior hardware.  The 16-bit processor allows more colorful and detailed characters and environments, and exquisitely composed music.  Final Fantasy IV was the biggest game in the franchise yet, in terms of scope, technology, and ambition.  Since no one stateside knew about Final Fantasy II and III, this game was counted as a gigantic step forward.  From the first Final Fantasy, it is an immeasurable step forward.  Compared to the Japan-only entries, it still propells light-years ahead of them, and would begin a golden age for Square Soft titles.