Cuando Square le pone cariño y respeto a las cosas se nota
old game syndrome aside, this game was incredible, the story was very basic yeah but the characters were so good, the music was outstanding and I loved every moment of it (old game sydrome aside)
this game's cast may be one of my favourite ever, if not just for that entire end sequence
this game's cast may be one of my favourite ever, if not just for that entire end sequence
As I started getting into JRPGs in the last few years and began looking around the internet for suggestions, there was one game that consistently kept coming up as one of the all-time greats. I knew that I had to play it one of these days, just to see if it matched up to the almost legendary status that surrounds it.
Since this was my first time playing FF6, I tried to keep my expectations in check as much as I could. Up until this point, I had played a handful of the other FF games, and I was excited to experience this game for the first time. All in all, I feel like FF6 managed to impress me in a number of ways, but there were some aspects that left me wanting more.
I think this game's strongest asset is its writing. The decision to forgo one main character and to instead focus on a larger party was one that, in my opinion, worked really well. I feel like games with large character rosters can often feel overstuffed, and they almost always end up focusing too much on a few characters while leaving others out on the margins. FF6 did a wonderful job of giving most of the cast time to shine and by the end I felt a lot more connected to the party than I thought I would.
The music was another high point for me - the main theme and overworld music have been stuck in my head for days now, which is a testament to just how good the music is. The opera scene in particular was excellent, and I loved the inclusion of recorded English lines for that section of the game.
Where I felt the game was lacking was in its pacing, particularly in the final 1/3 of the game. It seemed like, at a certain point, we were hurdling towards the end/the final boss battle, and it felt like there was more room to flesh out the plot and characters a bit more. While I thought Kefka was a great antagonist, the rapid pace of the final act didn't allow him to really shine as much as I would've liked, although he still ranks as one of the better video game villains in my book.
FF6 is a great game, no doubt about it. I had a similar experience with FF7 where I think I let the reputation and mythos of the game cloud my experience, and I went in with sky high expectations that were impossible to meet. I tried not to do that here with FF6, but I think some of those expectations still managed to slip through the cracks. I really enjoyed my time with it, and I think I'll do another play-through somewhere down the road when I've had some more time to digest it.
Since this was my first time playing FF6, I tried to keep my expectations in check as much as I could. Up until this point, I had played a handful of the other FF games, and I was excited to experience this game for the first time. All in all, I feel like FF6 managed to impress me in a number of ways, but there were some aspects that left me wanting more.
I think this game's strongest asset is its writing. The decision to forgo one main character and to instead focus on a larger party was one that, in my opinion, worked really well. I feel like games with large character rosters can often feel overstuffed, and they almost always end up focusing too much on a few characters while leaving others out on the margins. FF6 did a wonderful job of giving most of the cast time to shine and by the end I felt a lot more connected to the party than I thought I would.
The music was another high point for me - the main theme and overworld music have been stuck in my head for days now, which is a testament to just how good the music is. The opera scene in particular was excellent, and I loved the inclusion of recorded English lines for that section of the game.
Where I felt the game was lacking was in its pacing, particularly in the final 1/3 of the game. It seemed like, at a certain point, we were hurdling towards the end/the final boss battle, and it felt like there was more room to flesh out the plot and characters a bit more. While I thought Kefka was a great antagonist, the rapid pace of the final act didn't allow him to really shine as much as I would've liked, although he still ranks as one of the better video game villains in my book.
FF6 is a great game, no doubt about it. I had a similar experience with FF7 where I think I let the reputation and mythos of the game cloud my experience, and I went in with sky high expectations that were impossible to meet. I tried not to do that here with FF6, but I think some of those expectations still managed to slip through the cracks. I really enjoyed my time with it, and I think I'll do another play-through somewhere down the road when I've had some more time to digest it.
Without a doubt the Final Fantasy with the highest weight of expectations placed upon it thus far in the marathon, Final Fantasy VI had perhaps an unfair battle to fight for me. But the very beginning, at least, immediately delivers. The opening march through the snow to Narshe with Terra's theme playing in the background after the scouting report on the hill is a major level up for franchise in atmosphere and while nothing throughout the rest of the game will match it exactly, atmosphere is probably the most succinct way to put what this FF delivers above its predecessors. A more unhurried pace to taking in its locales and story, at least a slightly more cohesive world vision than the wildly differing spot to spot exploration of ffs prior, (not that it doesnt also have that at times) and a soundtrack that really seems to evoke the spaces it inhabits all come together to elevate this aspect.
The narrative, too, is also a step up, though maybe not quite in accordance with what the hype would have had me believe. In keeping with what is now a very clear pattern established to date of the odd entries putting a plucky band of fairly faceless heroes up against elemental evil itself and the even entries setting actual characters against evil empires, 6 is about a band of more sketched out personalities attempting to thwart the aspirations of global dominance of an empire built on magitek, centered around the potential return of magic to a world lacking it. Indeed, I'd say the first chunk of the game is firmly operating within the expectations set by the franchise thus far- with one notable exception I'll mention later- and the esteemed villains here.... are kind of disappointing? Kefka, in contrast to the headcanon I'd developed over the years from the game's reputation preceeding it of a Joker like figure insidously worming his way up in influence in an imperial court, is actually just a commander who.... dresses like a clown for the hell of it? And early on, doesn't even have much of a personality beyond being a revolting combination of edgelord and ineffectual Team Rocket esque baddie that gets beat every time you fight him. Ultros, a new repeating villain that seems to be this games follow up to Gilgamesh, substitutes creepy misogyny (and hes far from the only one to feature it in this the most weirdly leery of all the FFs thus far?) for funny use of game mechanics, even if he does get a memorably wholesome departure, out of turn with the rest of his portrayal, in the final fight.
Fortunately, the second half of the game drops routine- and those characters in particular- pretty much entirely for what is structurally and narratively the biggest deviation for the entire franchise yet. In the wake of a catastrophic turn of events at the conclusion of the second act, your party is scattered and the world lies in ruins. Instead of what has been the typical quest of trying to thwart the villains at every turn to date, the story turns inward as you attempt to rebuild your disparate party from the first half of the game while overcoming the trials that trouble each of them. It's a familiar formula in the modern day and not something I'd necessarily be so enthralled with in other contexts, but here the interior focus represents a welcome shift forward for the franchise and presents a big step up in active attempts at real character development.
That larger party is also the source of the first half of the game's exception to the rule. Rather than rotate characters in and out on a set basis- something IV did in order to leverage a bigger cast while operating within its standard 4 person party system- VI puts the player in the drivers seat and on several occasions tasks the player with dividing the party up, either momentarily to tackle a dungeon from multiple entry points or in larger story split ups with one party going one direction and another elsewhere. The freedom to pursue re-recruiting each party member in the second half is somewhat present earlier too when the game allows you to choose which branch of the broken up partys story to tackle first. (an ultimately superficial distinction as order will not influence overall story nor your party capabilities but still a welcome freedom) It's a neat development for the franchise and really represents the first attempt at grappling with larger playable parties this next period of Final Fantasy will come to be known for.
Unfortunately, in these early days of handling it, it's also responsible for one of my negative points here. And that is- that it's just plain clunky to handle outfitting and selecting your party. Keeping track of whats in your inventory in multiple copies or attached to characters can be a bit of a pain, and changing out equipment requires lots of menuing and/or leveraging an npc on your airship in the latter part of the game IF you're willing to reequip other party members as he only unequips is batches. (albeit sensible ones- everyone, just current party, everyone not in current party) More than any other pixel remaster, I found myself forgetting one thing or another and needing to go back to the ship to fiddle with party setups. This is exacerbated by the fact that this has a steeper expected level curve than the rest of the FFs to date seemingly and XP is not distributed to party members not in the party, so if you intend to adhere to the same no grind restrictions I've been taking on, you'll need to be very deliberate about getting everyone even exposure throughout the content present in the world of ruin, forcing even more party swapping and equipment managing. (A powerful accessory called the growth egg can really help you catch up party members that have fallen behind here thankfully, as it doubles xp growth for the character using it) Also, while something like the Fork Tower in FFV could be seen as a prototype for the full scale party splitting done in dungeons here, a key distinction is that Fork Tower kind of reveals its gimmick early- one side wants magic users and the other physical. Here, the relevant strategic considerations one might want to think about before assigning party members do not reveal themselves till well into their dungeons- bosses in most cases- so trying to plan your split requires either potentially doing the dungeon then reloading a save and doing it again or using a guide, neither of which is a good solution, whereas in V you could reload immediately at Fork Tower and have enough info. These are all pain points, to be sure, but I do accept that ultimately this is all a necessary starting point for the franchise trying to grow beyond 3 or 4 party members and make the most of it.
Fortunately, managing the progression system of the title- espers- is a bit easier as theres one central screen for all of them and its clearly denoted if the singleton copy of each is in use or not/clicking on them tells you whos using it. Espers themselves are a few different concepts married together- a move list the character using them will learn, a summon that can be used once per combat for an MP cost, and, in some espers cases, a bonus to specific stat growths at level up. Some learned abilities being shared between espers, a fast learning rate, low number of initial espers, and no limit on the abilities from espers one can have learned/equipped at once can lead to the system feeling like more of a homogenizing force than a differentiating one unfortunately. Characters do have their own unique command apart from the standard attack command the magic ones learned from espers to help offset that, but for those whose unique commands are less effective- either early on or later as magic scaling pushes things out of balance- that only goes so far. So despite entries like III and V having jobs accessible to every one and no character specific abilities, those party members did end up feeling more distinct as I developed them in battle than VI's. Now, as the game goes on, the esper pool fortunately does expand and some of the later ones in particular can take a while to master, so that does help specialize the cast. The summon ability too, while technically interchangeable between members, means that, at least for battles where youre planning around them and in that battle specifically, each character can also have a more distinct role. But again, those are only single use per battle so even if putting protect on everyone or rezzing the whole team are pretty potent abilities to have and plan around, its a brief distinction. So, on the whole, I did have some fun with the system and its a welcome progression from 2/4s ideas or lack of progression entirely respectively, I think I still prefer 3 and 5's job systems? But there are some ideas here that maybe in another form could surpass at least the initial job system in 3 and I can already see how such systems might have lead to 7's materia system so the seeds planted here aren't without merit.
All totaled, FF6 ended up being a step back from 5 in many respects, but I at least applaud that these regressions came from ambitions rather than simply retreating to earlier FF models. And while I would not put its gameplay alongside V in any regard, the efforts it makes in its world, its fiction, its structure and its atmosphere are truly steps beyond its predecessors even if I hold the core gameplay of V in such regard that I can't give VI the overall title above it. Given that the fanbase has a contingent that places higher value on those components anyways, its not a surprise to me then, after all is said and done, that this title does have the reputation I mentioned at the start. It won't be that for me, but it's still a worthy evolution point in the franchise history worth playing and I feel as though I understand the fanbase love for it having played it in the context of the prior games.
So long 2D Final Fantasy! Now to the world of the PS1.....
The narrative, too, is also a step up, though maybe not quite in accordance with what the hype would have had me believe. In keeping with what is now a very clear pattern established to date of the odd entries putting a plucky band of fairly faceless heroes up against elemental evil itself and the even entries setting actual characters against evil empires, 6 is about a band of more sketched out personalities attempting to thwart the aspirations of global dominance of an empire built on magitek, centered around the potential return of magic to a world lacking it. Indeed, I'd say the first chunk of the game is firmly operating within the expectations set by the franchise thus far- with one notable exception I'll mention later- and the esteemed villains here.... are kind of disappointing? Kefka, in contrast to the headcanon I'd developed over the years from the game's reputation preceeding it of a Joker like figure insidously worming his way up in influence in an imperial court, is actually just a commander who.... dresses like a clown for the hell of it? And early on, doesn't even have much of a personality beyond being a revolting combination of edgelord and ineffectual Team Rocket esque baddie that gets beat every time you fight him. Ultros, a new repeating villain that seems to be this games follow up to Gilgamesh, substitutes creepy misogyny (and hes far from the only one to feature it in this the most weirdly leery of all the FFs thus far?) for funny use of game mechanics, even if he does get a memorably wholesome departure, out of turn with the rest of his portrayal, in the final fight.
Fortunately, the second half of the game drops routine- and those characters in particular- pretty much entirely for what is structurally and narratively the biggest deviation for the entire franchise yet. In the wake of a catastrophic turn of events at the conclusion of the second act, your party is scattered and the world lies in ruins. Instead of what has been the typical quest of trying to thwart the villains at every turn to date, the story turns inward as you attempt to rebuild your disparate party from the first half of the game while overcoming the trials that trouble each of them. It's a familiar formula in the modern day and not something I'd necessarily be so enthralled with in other contexts, but here the interior focus represents a welcome shift forward for the franchise and presents a big step up in active attempts at real character development.
That larger party is also the source of the first half of the game's exception to the rule. Rather than rotate characters in and out on a set basis- something IV did in order to leverage a bigger cast while operating within its standard 4 person party system- VI puts the player in the drivers seat and on several occasions tasks the player with dividing the party up, either momentarily to tackle a dungeon from multiple entry points or in larger story split ups with one party going one direction and another elsewhere. The freedom to pursue re-recruiting each party member in the second half is somewhat present earlier too when the game allows you to choose which branch of the broken up partys story to tackle first. (an ultimately superficial distinction as order will not influence overall story nor your party capabilities but still a welcome freedom) It's a neat development for the franchise and really represents the first attempt at grappling with larger playable parties this next period of Final Fantasy will come to be known for.
Unfortunately, in these early days of handling it, it's also responsible for one of my negative points here. And that is- that it's just plain clunky to handle outfitting and selecting your party. Keeping track of whats in your inventory in multiple copies or attached to characters can be a bit of a pain, and changing out equipment requires lots of menuing and/or leveraging an npc on your airship in the latter part of the game IF you're willing to reequip other party members as he only unequips is batches. (albeit sensible ones- everyone, just current party, everyone not in current party) More than any other pixel remaster, I found myself forgetting one thing or another and needing to go back to the ship to fiddle with party setups. This is exacerbated by the fact that this has a steeper expected level curve than the rest of the FFs to date seemingly and XP is not distributed to party members not in the party, so if you intend to adhere to the same no grind restrictions I've been taking on, you'll need to be very deliberate about getting everyone even exposure throughout the content present in the world of ruin, forcing even more party swapping and equipment managing. (A powerful accessory called the growth egg can really help you catch up party members that have fallen behind here thankfully, as it doubles xp growth for the character using it) Also, while something like the Fork Tower in FFV could be seen as a prototype for the full scale party splitting done in dungeons here, a key distinction is that Fork Tower kind of reveals its gimmick early- one side wants magic users and the other physical. Here, the relevant strategic considerations one might want to think about before assigning party members do not reveal themselves till well into their dungeons- bosses in most cases- so trying to plan your split requires either potentially doing the dungeon then reloading a save and doing it again or using a guide, neither of which is a good solution, whereas in V you could reload immediately at Fork Tower and have enough info. These are all pain points, to be sure, but I do accept that ultimately this is all a necessary starting point for the franchise trying to grow beyond 3 or 4 party members and make the most of it.
Fortunately, managing the progression system of the title- espers- is a bit easier as theres one central screen for all of them and its clearly denoted if the singleton copy of each is in use or not/clicking on them tells you whos using it. Espers themselves are a few different concepts married together- a move list the character using them will learn, a summon that can be used once per combat for an MP cost, and, in some espers cases, a bonus to specific stat growths at level up. Some learned abilities being shared between espers, a fast learning rate, low number of initial espers, and no limit on the abilities from espers one can have learned/equipped at once can lead to the system feeling like more of a homogenizing force than a differentiating one unfortunately. Characters do have their own unique command apart from the standard attack command the magic ones learned from espers to help offset that, but for those whose unique commands are less effective- either early on or later as magic scaling pushes things out of balance- that only goes so far. So despite entries like III and V having jobs accessible to every one and no character specific abilities, those party members did end up feeling more distinct as I developed them in battle than VI's. Now, as the game goes on, the esper pool fortunately does expand and some of the later ones in particular can take a while to master, so that does help specialize the cast. The summon ability too, while technically interchangeable between members, means that, at least for battles where youre planning around them and in that battle specifically, each character can also have a more distinct role. But again, those are only single use per battle so even if putting protect on everyone or rezzing the whole team are pretty potent abilities to have and plan around, its a brief distinction. So, on the whole, I did have some fun with the system and its a welcome progression from 2/4s ideas or lack of progression entirely respectively, I think I still prefer 3 and 5's job systems? But there are some ideas here that maybe in another form could surpass at least the initial job system in 3 and I can already see how such systems might have lead to 7's materia system so the seeds planted here aren't without merit.
All totaled, FF6 ended up being a step back from 5 in many respects, but I at least applaud that these regressions came from ambitions rather than simply retreating to earlier FF models. And while I would not put its gameplay alongside V in any regard, the efforts it makes in its world, its fiction, its structure and its atmosphere are truly steps beyond its predecessors even if I hold the core gameplay of V in such regard that I can't give VI the overall title above it. Given that the fanbase has a contingent that places higher value on those components anyways, its not a surprise to me then, after all is said and done, that this title does have the reputation I mentioned at the start. It won't be that for me, but it's still a worthy evolution point in the franchise history worth playing and I feel as though I understand the fanbase love for it having played it in the context of the prior games.
So long 2D Final Fantasy! Now to the world of the PS1.....
One of the Most Video Games of All Time.
Final Fantasy VI is the type of game that comes from the mastery of creative skills and the willingness to experiment and mess around with what’s been done before, which ends up with some mixed results.
The story and presentation are using the limit of abstraction and making it work. The story isn’t that complex, fitting with what one might think of as a generic “fighting against the evil empire” story. But the character writing and scenes are what brings a defined form to it. At first, the thumb sized sprites hopping around as a form of animation might seem outdated, but there’s something charming seeing the pixel art and animation after what came before when the story came from sprites standing or pacing around with sparse text boxes covering what events and actions were there.
My sentiments around the gameplay are still present with it being really cool while also unbalanced. Each character has their own special ability that manifests in different ways other than just having one different attack or spell pool. A lot of them bring something different to a team that links together with other party members. The spell learning system adds even more to this concept as some characters could be made into different builds. The thing is, I said “a lot,” not all. With how many party members there are in this game, there are plenty that go to the wayside just because they’re ability or stats aren’t that useful when you get them. With some party members and the nature of the spell system itself, you would need to put in a lot of work to make some characters worth using. Part of this would likely come from how the game's second half was made unexpectedly in less than a year under a lot of crunch.
That said, the work is worth putting in to get the bespoke, amazing experience all throughout the game. There is a wide amount of stories, dungeons, and characters that you could miss if you weren’t looking out for it. The idea of this even happening is unimaginable nowadays. Why this came about was likely because the developers had just enough experience and capability to create the content they did while it still was cheap to create such content in the first place. In a way, Final Fantasy VI is the last of its kind in being such an open, unique, classic RPG.
Final Fantasy VI is the type of game that comes from the mastery of creative skills and the willingness to experiment and mess around with what’s been done before, which ends up with some mixed results.
The story and presentation are using the limit of abstraction and making it work. The story isn’t that complex, fitting with what one might think of as a generic “fighting against the evil empire” story. But the character writing and scenes are what brings a defined form to it. At first, the thumb sized sprites hopping around as a form of animation might seem outdated, but there’s something charming seeing the pixel art and animation after what came before when the story came from sprites standing or pacing around with sparse text boxes covering what events and actions were there.
My sentiments around the gameplay are still present with it being really cool while also unbalanced. Each character has their own special ability that manifests in different ways other than just having one different attack or spell pool. A lot of them bring something different to a team that links together with other party members. The spell learning system adds even more to this concept as some characters could be made into different builds. The thing is, I said “a lot,” not all. With how many party members there are in this game, there are plenty that go to the wayside just because they’re ability or stats aren’t that useful when you get them. With some party members and the nature of the spell system itself, you would need to put in a lot of work to make some characters worth using. Part of this would likely come from how the game's second half was made unexpectedly in less than a year under a lot of crunch.
That said, the work is worth putting in to get the bespoke, amazing experience all throughout the game. There is a wide amount of stories, dungeons, and characters that you could miss if you weren’t looking out for it. The idea of this even happening is unimaginable nowadays. Why this came about was likely because the developers had just enough experience and capability to create the content they did while it still was cheap to create such content in the first place. In a way, Final Fantasy VI is the last of its kind in being such an open, unique, classic RPG.
A game that was truly ahead of its time. Final Fantasy VI has so much love and detail poured into it that it's easy to forget this is a game that came out in 1994.
Final Fantasy VI is a truly stellar, almost unparalleled game...which has historically been cursed with releases that always had something wrong with them
The SNES original had a shoddy translation
The GBA port fixed the script but had a poor sound chip
The original mobile and PC ports looked terrible
But here? We got the improved script, excellent new sprite work, and a soundtrack to match or even surpass the original.
This, right here, is perfection.
The SNES original had a shoddy translation
The GBA port fixed the script but had a poor sound chip
The original mobile and PC ports looked terrible
But here? We got the improved script, excellent new sprite work, and a soundtrack to match or even surpass the original.
This, right here, is perfection.
Remains the absolute perfect video game
As someone with no nostalgia for this title, and only finally played it with the release of this iteration; what a fantastic game. The character writing is a bit weak, especially due to having such a massive cast, but each character manages to stand apart in terms of gameplay and overall makes teambuilding and strategy feel personal and fun. The story is great as well in the way it subverts nearly every trope of a traditional JRPG and pulls it off so convincingly, genuinely could be considered groundbreaking for the time period in which it was written.
It was very easy to see why this is such a beloved title.
It was very easy to see why this is such a beloved title.
This review contains spoilers
"Local Clown Ruins Everything" the game
The best game ever made now with and updated and incredible OST.
A surprisingly great way to experience one of the best games ever made. A lot of work was done to update this in some small, smart ways while also keeping the core experience intact for those who'd prefer an unchanged experience. Me however? Bring on the exp and gil sliders lmao
Final Fantasy VI is one of the most pivotal video games ever. Most attribute the rise in cinematic storytelling in videogames to this game's successor, Final Fantasy VII, but the level of balance THIS game achieved between story and video game design is nothing short, of contemporary genius.
Developed as the last hurrah of Final Fantasy's retro era, VI saw its development occur after FIVE previous entries. This meant that, at this point, Squaresoft was pretty much at a level of expertise that few other game studios had at the time. Enix was close with their Dragon Quest series, but in the overall scope of storytelling in video games, Square was peerless.
V may have taken a backseat towards gripping narrative, a downgrade from its predecessor, but that was done purposefully -- a lighthearted, well-designed adventure at its core, V was everything you could possibly expect about Final Fantasy at the time.
But. What of Final Fantasy VI?
Well, for the sake of not mincing words, I must say that Final Fantasy VI is one of the most important video games ever, and one of the greatest video games ever at the same time. My most favorite games, Mass Effect 2, The Witcher 3, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Assassin's Creed IV, Bioshock, Disco Elysium, God of War, KotOR, and yes, EVEN THE LAST OF US owe so much to this game.
Now that's a tall order, right? Well, lemme explain. Prior to FFVI, the gaming industry was typically made up of action-packed 2D platforming romps save for the occasional exploration-heavy Legend of Zelda game. Before VI, the closest thing people had to an AMAZING video game story was FFIV, and Dragon Quest V. And its needless to say that, comparatively, FFVI blows those two games, and literally every other video game before it out of the water. This is THE video game of the 2D graphics era in my opinion.
We owe that accolade to its story. FFVI sports the most gripping narrative in the series' entire catalogue, save for a few personal favorites of mine like FFXIV's various expansions, XVI, and maybe even VII on a good day. But I try to say this in the eyes of a critic, because ultimately, FFVI's story progression, character development, and worldbuilding is the best the entire industry would ever see, up until either TW3 or TLOU. Every single dramatic video game owes its story to this one -- because FFVI offers so, SO many innovations in storytelling at its time that following it, implementing an actually FANTASTIC story into a video game became SO much more common.
This game has been spoiled to hell and back. I will not be divulging details here, because its true -- you have to have a blind eye to truly be mindblown by certain moments of story this video game has. But just know -- these moments that do exist are the best story moments in video game history. And when these moments happen, they occur linearily and in a nice, tight package alongside LEGENDARY characters like Locke (who is now my all-time favorite FF character) that its so obvious that games like TW3 look up to its story design for inspiration.
As for the game itself, FFVI returns to FFIV's static job system, but this time with a little more innovation. It is by no means simplistic, but VI offers a lite-job system mainly through new magical pseudo-skill trees with the Esper system, alongside a relic system that gives hints towards the jobs of old. But mainly, each character has a clearly defined focus, whether it be tools, martial arts, bushido, or just plain magic -- you still get a lot to play with. Sure, thanks to the Esper system, you could make your whole party ultima-casting maniacs, but for what its worth FFVI's game system is about as solid as it could get. I think I honestly still prefer the MEGA-simplicity of FFIV's static job system, but overall the system here is NOT a failure. It complements the story immensely well and does nothing short of offer another satisfying retro FF experience.
But, all things truly must come to an end. If you played this game, you know that by now haha. By the time FFVI released, Squaresoft was through with creating the same game over, and over, and over again. They needed to take FF into a direction that transcended its silly, chibi-esque qualities of the 16 and 8-bit eras. While I appreciated FFVI's art design in-game, it became so increasingly obvious that the limitations of a 2-Dimensional space weighed on its story. No facial animations aside from a few rudimentary ones, impactful character acting and in-game design was a zone of improvement Square was desperately trying to improve with each new entry of this series, whether in some ways or others.
Ultimately, this drive to create an even more massive and sprawling video game adventure would culminate in the form of one of the most legendary video games of all time... Final Fantasy VII.
But, this game's imprint must not be forgotten. While its legacy seems to have been forgotten by Square nowadays, I can so clearly see the impact this game's storytelling had on literally the entire video game industry. Its absolutely legendary. And while it did not feel like I was gaining as FLOORING an experience as The Witcher 3's entire story while playing this game, I have so, so much respect for it nonetheless.
Final Fantasy VI is, arguably, the most important game when it comes to what I personally find in video games. Sprawling worlds, amazing and lovable characters, a gripping plot, and a tearjerking end that all ties together offering one of the best narrative experiences you could ask for in video gaming.
For what this game did for me, and by proxy millions of others, the score must be clear by now. Final Fantasy VI is one of the greatest video games ever made.
100/100
Developed as the last hurrah of Final Fantasy's retro era, VI saw its development occur after FIVE previous entries. This meant that, at this point, Squaresoft was pretty much at a level of expertise that few other game studios had at the time. Enix was close with their Dragon Quest series, but in the overall scope of storytelling in video games, Square was peerless.
V may have taken a backseat towards gripping narrative, a downgrade from its predecessor, but that was done purposefully -- a lighthearted, well-designed adventure at its core, V was everything you could possibly expect about Final Fantasy at the time.
But. What of Final Fantasy VI?
Well, for the sake of not mincing words, I must say that Final Fantasy VI is one of the most important video games ever, and one of the greatest video games ever at the same time. My most favorite games, Mass Effect 2, The Witcher 3, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Assassin's Creed IV, Bioshock, Disco Elysium, God of War, KotOR, and yes, EVEN THE LAST OF US owe so much to this game.
Now that's a tall order, right? Well, lemme explain. Prior to FFVI, the gaming industry was typically made up of action-packed 2D platforming romps save for the occasional exploration-heavy Legend of Zelda game. Before VI, the closest thing people had to an AMAZING video game story was FFIV, and Dragon Quest V. And its needless to say that, comparatively, FFVI blows those two games, and literally every other video game before it out of the water. This is THE video game of the 2D graphics era in my opinion.
We owe that accolade to its story. FFVI sports the most gripping narrative in the series' entire catalogue, save for a few personal favorites of mine like FFXIV's various expansions, XVI, and maybe even VII on a good day. But I try to say this in the eyes of a critic, because ultimately, FFVI's story progression, character development, and worldbuilding is the best the entire industry would ever see, up until either TW3 or TLOU. Every single dramatic video game owes its story to this one -- because FFVI offers so, SO many innovations in storytelling at its time that following it, implementing an actually FANTASTIC story into a video game became SO much more common.
This game has been spoiled to hell and back. I will not be divulging details here, because its true -- you have to have a blind eye to truly be mindblown by certain moments of story this video game has. But just know -- these moments that do exist are the best story moments in video game history. And when these moments happen, they occur linearily and in a nice, tight package alongside LEGENDARY characters like Locke (who is now my all-time favorite FF character) that its so obvious that games like TW3 look up to its story design for inspiration.
As for the game itself, FFVI returns to FFIV's static job system, but this time with a little more innovation. It is by no means simplistic, but VI offers a lite-job system mainly through new magical pseudo-skill trees with the Esper system, alongside a relic system that gives hints towards the jobs of old. But mainly, each character has a clearly defined focus, whether it be tools, martial arts, bushido, or just plain magic -- you still get a lot to play with. Sure, thanks to the Esper system, you could make your whole party ultima-casting maniacs, but for what its worth FFVI's game system is about as solid as it could get. I think I honestly still prefer the MEGA-simplicity of FFIV's static job system, but overall the system here is NOT a failure. It complements the story immensely well and does nothing short of offer another satisfying retro FF experience.
But, all things truly must come to an end. If you played this game, you know that by now haha. By the time FFVI released, Squaresoft was through with creating the same game over, and over, and over again. They needed to take FF into a direction that transcended its silly, chibi-esque qualities of the 16 and 8-bit eras. While I appreciated FFVI's art design in-game, it became so increasingly obvious that the limitations of a 2-Dimensional space weighed on its story. No facial animations aside from a few rudimentary ones, impactful character acting and in-game design was a zone of improvement Square was desperately trying to improve with each new entry of this series, whether in some ways or others.
Ultimately, this drive to create an even more massive and sprawling video game adventure would culminate in the form of one of the most legendary video games of all time... Final Fantasy VII.
But, this game's imprint must not be forgotten. While its legacy seems to have been forgotten by Square nowadays, I can so clearly see the impact this game's storytelling had on literally the entire video game industry. Its absolutely legendary. And while it did not feel like I was gaining as FLOORING an experience as The Witcher 3's entire story while playing this game, I have so, so much respect for it nonetheless.
Final Fantasy VI is, arguably, the most important game when it comes to what I personally find in video games. Sprawling worlds, amazing and lovable characters, a gripping plot, and a tearjerking end that all ties together offering one of the best narrative experiences you could ask for in video gaming.
For what this game did for me, and by proxy millions of others, the score must be clear by now. Final Fantasy VI is one of the greatest video games ever made.
100/100
Fun
To put it simply, this is incredible and essential.
The greatest game of the franchise!... Right?...
This game was one hell of a disappointment for me, it did not come close to the expectation I had from all of the hype surrounding it and I just thought it was another Final Fantasy 7 case where it's a fairly old highly praised turn-based JRPG and I thought it was gonna be an overrated game but it turned out to be one of my favorite JRPG and I just love that game oh so much, so I thought the same would happen for 6! Unfortunately, this was not the case...
Retrosepctingwise this game has an ok story at best for 94' but thinking about it Earthound was released the same year and I honestly think it's a way better JRPG than 6, and I'm not even an Earthbound fan I just think it's an ok game but I have to give credit where credit is due.
Now looking even further into the past, Final Fantasy 5. It may not have the greatest story ever told in a video game but it's a sweet one, though the only difference is that this game doesn't just sit back and expect the story to carry the whole game! Final Fantasy 5 has an insane job system making this game oh-so-great and timeless while Final Fantasy 6 only has a mediocre story and no standout in the gameplay department, if anything this game feels like a watered-down version of Final Fantasy 7.
I have a lot of issues with the gameplay like the fact that this game has 14 party members with 4 of them being optional, I think this is the most stupid idea a turn-based RPG could do because why would I want to grind 14 characters with a party limited to 4 members! That's just a massive waste of time and I had no issue finishing this game and all of its side content with only 4 characters, what really pissed me off was the final dungeon forcing you to create 3 different parties because that's fun we all love getting crippled in the most annoying ways in JRPGs. What I ended up doing was sharing the 4 characters that I used during the whole game for each party ending up with 3 characters being level 25 and one of them being 45~ and just carrying the whole team, that's not fun.
My second main issue is with the magic system being really dumb, they tried to do what they did with the job system in Final Fantasy 5 but instead of leveling up jobs, it's making characters learn a few selected spells that are linked to the magicite used on said character. Just let me buy the goddamn spells! I don't want more useless grinding on top of leveling up the 14 characters!
Another issue I remember is that the combat is awfully slow I had to turn on the Very Fast option in the setting and it still felt too slow. And what happened to the weird tower defense minigames that only happened twice or thrice, or the scenario thing that only happened once at the start and then never again?
About the story... It honestly feels like a bunch of random scenes that are either boring or kinda cool depending on who you are asking that question. The opera was really cool I agree with that! But why? it's just there, it happens with no real context you just go to the opera because?...
Same for the characters I could give two shit about them but they are all boring and barely do anything in the story, most of them are just "I have a sad background please feel bad for me", the only character that I ended up feeling bad for was Cyan I think his personal arc was great! now for the 9 other main characters? got nothin'.
I like the idea of a main character being the whole party and not just one character, and this game does that! But not intentionally... Terra is the protagonist, right? Why doesn't she ever speak or start being interesting then? She just has her little sad backstory like all of the damn characters! Is Locke supposed to be the protagonist? He has his own lil' side story as well so why not him?
Now for the bad guy... God Kefka is not a good bad guy at all he's just weird and I don't know if he's supposed to be a comical relief or the bad guy. At the end of the game, he becomes a god or something, cool? I do enjoy bad guys without development quite a lot like Exdeath in FF5 or the Emporer in FF2 but Kefka is just not threatening or scary.
I guess my favorite part of the game was the side content in the second part of the game, I did find the Cultist tower quite original or the side quests to find the extra party members. Collecting the magicite was pretty fun even though I hate how the "summons" work in this game, though it was mostly like any previous Final Fantasy title, do a dungeon, fight a secret tough boss, and get the reward... Just how I like it.
Overall this was clearly not my favorite entry in the franchise as many others do, I can somewhat understand why people like this game alongside FF4 due to nostalgia but these people tend to not think in a critical way and just like it because everyone else tells them "oh it's the best ones you gotta play that one!".
What I'm sayin' is that more people should recommend Final Fantasy 5.
This game was one hell of a disappointment for me, it did not come close to the expectation I had from all of the hype surrounding it and I just thought it was another Final Fantasy 7 case where it's a fairly old highly praised turn-based JRPG and I thought it was gonna be an overrated game but it turned out to be one of my favorite JRPG and I just love that game oh so much, so I thought the same would happen for 6! Unfortunately, this was not the case...
Retrosepctingwise this game has an ok story at best for 94' but thinking about it Earthound was released the same year and I honestly think it's a way better JRPG than 6, and I'm not even an Earthbound fan I just think it's an ok game but I have to give credit where credit is due.
Now looking even further into the past, Final Fantasy 5. It may not have the greatest story ever told in a video game but it's a sweet one, though the only difference is that this game doesn't just sit back and expect the story to carry the whole game! Final Fantasy 5 has an insane job system making this game oh-so-great and timeless while Final Fantasy 6 only has a mediocre story and no standout in the gameplay department, if anything this game feels like a watered-down version of Final Fantasy 7.
I have a lot of issues with the gameplay like the fact that this game has 14 party members with 4 of them being optional, I think this is the most stupid idea a turn-based RPG could do because why would I want to grind 14 characters with a party limited to 4 members! That's just a massive waste of time and I had no issue finishing this game and all of its side content with only 4 characters, what really pissed me off was the final dungeon forcing you to create 3 different parties because that's fun we all love getting crippled in the most annoying ways in JRPGs. What I ended up doing was sharing the 4 characters that I used during the whole game for each party ending up with 3 characters being level 25 and one of them being 45~ and just carrying the whole team, that's not fun.
My second main issue is with the magic system being really dumb, they tried to do what they did with the job system in Final Fantasy 5 but instead of leveling up jobs, it's making characters learn a few selected spells that are linked to the magicite used on said character. Just let me buy the goddamn spells! I don't want more useless grinding on top of leveling up the 14 characters!
Another issue I remember is that the combat is awfully slow I had to turn on the Very Fast option in the setting and it still felt too slow. And what happened to the weird tower defense minigames that only happened twice or thrice, or the scenario thing that only happened once at the start and then never again?
About the story... It honestly feels like a bunch of random scenes that are either boring or kinda cool depending on who you are asking that question. The opera was really cool I agree with that! But why? it's just there, it happens with no real context you just go to the opera because?...
Same for the characters I could give two shit about them but they are all boring and barely do anything in the story, most of them are just "I have a sad background please feel bad for me", the only character that I ended up feeling bad for was Cyan I think his personal arc was great! now for the 9 other main characters? got nothin'.
I like the idea of a main character being the whole party and not just one character, and this game does that! But not intentionally... Terra is the protagonist, right? Why doesn't she ever speak or start being interesting then? She just has her little sad backstory like all of the damn characters! Is Locke supposed to be the protagonist? He has his own lil' side story as well so why not him?
Now for the bad guy... God Kefka is not a good bad guy at all he's just weird and I don't know if he's supposed to be a comical relief or the bad guy. At the end of the game, he becomes a god or something, cool? I do enjoy bad guys without development quite a lot like Exdeath in FF5 or the Emporer in FF2 but Kefka is just not threatening or scary.
I guess my favorite part of the game was the side content in the second part of the game, I did find the Cultist tower quite original or the side quests to find the extra party members. Collecting the magicite was pretty fun even though I hate how the "summons" work in this game, though it was mostly like any previous Final Fantasy title, do a dungeon, fight a secret tough boss, and get the reward... Just how I like it.
Overall this was clearly not my favorite entry in the franchise as many others do, I can somewhat understand why people like this game alongside FF4 due to nostalgia but these people tend to not think in a critical way and just like it because everyone else tells them "oh it's the best ones you gotta play that one!".
What I'm sayin' is that more people should recommend Final Fantasy 5.
There's a reason why Final Fantasy VI is considered a classic. It's tight cast of characters, well thought out battle system, and memorable story really make this a complete package. The pixel remaster adds new visuals and voice acting to the opera scene, which while nice, kinda clashes with the rest of the package. Not really a detriment, but this one definitely had more time put into it since it's so beloved
My favourite Final Fantasy game.
Wonderful characters, including a memorably unhinged villain, great storyline and the most fantastic soundtrack which is elevated to new heights in this pixel remaster. Simply a must play to any JRPG fan.
The only thing that lets this down is the god awful font that Square Enix decided to use. Fortunately, this is very easy to change on PC!
Wonderful characters, including a memorably unhinged villain, great storyline and the most fantastic soundtrack which is elevated to new heights in this pixel remaster. Simply a must play to any JRPG fan.
The only thing that lets this down is the god awful font that Square Enix decided to use. Fortunately, this is very easy to change on PC!
Final Fantasy VI has always been one of my favorite games of all time. I hadn’t played FInal Fantasy VI in many years so when I bought the remastered collection I was curious if in 2023 it was still the masterpiece I remembered or did I have nostalgia goggles on. Let me tell you even though I had the game ranked 9th on my all time favorite games list, I was surprised of how I would feel in this playthrough.
The three things I remembered loving specifically was the characters, the story, and the music so I will start there.
Obviously in this story section there will be some 30 year old spoilers, but regardless huge SPOILER WARNING from here on out.
When I was younger I understood that the story was riddled with sadness and tragedy but I don’t think I fully grasped the true meaning and impact throughout the game. To me it was a game that while I understood some of the tragedies and sadness I just thought of it as heroes doing what they had to do to stop an evil in a war. But really it is much more of the characters inner battles with the tragedies in their own life. It’s after being completely broken to find the courage to put themselves back together, find hope, trust in friends, lean on and be there for those friend, and fight for themselves and others so that they could put the world itself back together and help people find hope. The game is simply about loss and pushing through life after loss.
I’m going to dive into the story much more than I normally would so I can explain the characters and what makes the story so special to me.
We spend the first half of the game as a groups of oppressed people from all over the world fighting against the evil Empire led by Emperor Ghastal and his two right hand men General Leo and Kefka. In a world where there is no magic the empire has learned not only to use it but can also infuse it through machines. Later on in the game we find out there is a mysterious race known as the Espers that sealed themselves off from the human world. Espers are where magic comes from in this universe. The Empire had been draining the life out of some Espers they managed to capture before the Espers sealed themselves away from humans and in turn used them to infuse their leaders and magitech armor with magic. Our group befriends some of the Espers and hope with their help they can stop the Empire. The empire sets up a way to trick the Espers, kill many of them, and steal their power. Kefka uses this power and the power of the gods to turn on Emperor Ghastal to take the world for himself. While Ghastal wanted to rule the world Kefka just wanted to destroy everything. Kefka did what no other villain I can think of does. He achieves every goal he sets out to do, including destroying the world as you know it while killing most of the population and leaving the survivors helpless. Now the heroes are scattered throughout this new wasteland of a world.
That is a very loose version of the first half of the story but it hits enough of the points I need to explain what makes this game special.
Every character goes through tremendous growth and the game uses this helplessness to achieve its goal of showing the power of hope, love, and picking yourself up and pushing on.
Terra is the only half esper half human in this world. When the Empire originally found the Espers before the seal was set Emperor Ghastal killed Terra’s human mother and captured her Esper father. He stole Terra at the age of two to train her to be a weapon for the empire. Being that she was half Esper, Terra was the only human that could use magic naturally and with this power Ghastal knew he had a weapon that no one could stand up against. Terra was being controlled by a device that made her basically dead to the world and to only take orders from the Empire until she was rescued in Narshe when the game begins when she is 18 years old. Throughout the game, before even knowing she is half Esper, Terra struggles to relate or fit in anywhere as she has basically been a mindless drone for 18 years. When she finds out about her being half Esper she feels even more alone. She stuggles to feel human or Esper and wonders if she is even capable of being or feeling loved. After Kefka ended the world she finds herself in a village where all the adults are dead. There are only a handful of young children and two teen lovers that are pregnant. She becomes their protector and eventually they even call her mama. She finds love for the first time in her life but loses the will to fight because she wants to be there for her newly found kids. She eventually realizes that she is capable of not only being loved but also loving. She realizes she had that with her friends she’s met along the way as well as with these kids and even though she lost the will to fight she must so they and her can all have a future in this world.
Locke is a man whose parents died when he was a young age and had to resort to becoming a thief. He later met Rachel and they began a relationship against Rachel’s father wishes due to Locke being a thief. Locke took Rachel to a cave and promised to protect her as they looked for a treasure. While on an old bridge that Locke was standing on gave out Rachel jumped onto it to push Locke off resulting in her falling and going into a coma. Locke brought her back to town where she awoke but had no memory and was uneasy of him. Rachel’s father told him to leave town. Not too long after she began to regain her memory but unfortunately the town she was in was attacked by the empire. Rachel died and her last word were Locke I love you. Locke couldn’t forgive himself for saying he promised to protect her only for her to go into a coma and then not being there to save her when the Empire attacked. Locke tells Terra and Celes (we will get to her soon) that he will protect them many times throughout the game in an attempt to right what he feels like was a wrong with Rachel. He finds away through the Esper Phoenix to bring Rachel back but only for a moment. She tells him to forgive himself and forge ahead.
Edgar and Sabin Figaro were the princes of Figaro. When they were young their father was poisoned by the empire leaving one of them to become king. Neither were ready and they were grieving their father. Sabin asked Edgar if he wanted to just run away from the kingdom together and be free. Edgar told him that someone needed to protect the people his father died to protect and told him they would flip a coin. If it landed on heads Edgar would stay and tails Sabin would stay and the other could have their freedom. Edgar wanted his younger brother to be free from the burden and used a double sided coin to ensure that Sabin would have that freedom. Edgar was forced into the roll of a king and had to forge and alliance with the same empire that killed his father to protect the people of Figaro. Sabin’s freedom came at the cost of feeling like he let his brother down and ran from his problems even though it’s later revealed he was training to become stronger so he could come back and protect his brother from any threats. Not only did they lose their father but in a way they lost each other.
Gau’s mother passed away while giving birth to him causing his father to go insane. He blamed Gau for his wife’s passing. He believe Gau was a demon that killed his wife and was no better than the monsters that have been plague on this world. He decided to not only abandoned Gau at an early age but he threw him into the Veldt. This is a place where only monsters roam. Gau found a way to survive but with no interaction from humans he became a “Tarzan” type of human.
Cyan was the strongest warrior in all of Doma but when the river around Doma Castle was poisoned by Kefka he was unable to use his power to save his people, his king, his wife, or his young son. He’s powerless as he watches their souls leave on a phantom train. He blames himself and doesn’t grieve properly leading to a demon that feed on sadness actually feeding on his soul.
Shadow has a criminal past of stealing and assassinations with his best friend Barim. He is willing to be an assassin under any assignment if the price is right. One time Barim was injured so badly he couldn’t move. Shadow tries to move him but with the Empire after them Barim tells Shadow to leave without him but to mercy kill him so that he isn’t tortured or enslaved. Shadow can’t bring himself to kill his own friend says sorry and runs off. Trying to start a new life he falls in love and settles down in Thamasa a small quiet town far away from every other city. In fear of his enemies catching up to him and harming his family he feels forced to leave his wife and baby daughter Relm behind. He believes the only way for him to live is by being alone. He even says at one point “There are people in this world that have have chosen to kill off their emotions.” Years later during the events of the game every time Shadow is around Relm they show Shadow physical uncomfortable or unable to look directly at her. He loves his daughter but won’t put her in harms way. He constantly has nightmares about Barim and leaving his family behind.
Celes was a general in the empire’s army that was infused with magic from an Esper. When Locke finds her she is being beaten by Imperial troops that says she was a traitor (we never find out what she did) and her execution date is set for the following day. Locke without hesitation saves her and tells her he will protect her. Celes is confused by this as she has always just been used by people for her magic and prowess on the battlefield. She has never been cared for or treated in this manner. She and Locke fall for each other throughout the game. But at first Celes has a hard time believing anyone could love her. Especially after being a general in the army and all of the bad things she had been a part of. The opera scene is one of the best moments in the game as her lines are for the opera but they are exactly how Celes feels about her new found feelings for Locke. “I'm the darkness, you're the stars. Our love is brighter than the sun.
For eternity, for me there can be, Only you, my chosen one.” She is the darkness and Locke is the light.
Now that we have some background on the main core of the cast, you can see they have clearly been through a lot. Now add on the fact that they went from being so close to winning a war against the empire only for Kefka to destroy the world. The villain has won and our heroes failed.
After Kefka destruction we come back to a completely ravanged planet with little population, little plant life, little hope, and a lot tougher monsters roaming. We take the role of Celes who wakes up out of a coma after one year due to her injuries. She wakes to the news that the world was in fact destroyed, she is on an island, and only her and Cid (a “granddad to Celes from her time with the Empire) are left on this island. She learns that CID is sick. There is a path you can take where Cid lives or a path where he dies based on your decision making. While the plot moves on if you save him and that is the happier route the death route really fits the tone of the game and gives you one of the best scenes in the game. If he dies Celes will give up and run to the highest cliff on the island and attempt to commit suicide. As tears fly from her face as she is falling off the cliff you can’t help but 1.) Obviously be depressed but more importantly 2.) will immediately make of you think of the opera scene. Here is the rest of the lyrics from the opera scene that Celes sings. Oh my hero, so far away now. “Will I ever see your smile? Love goes away, like night into day. It's just a fading dream. I'm the darkness, you're the stars. Our love is brighter than the sun. For eternity, for me there can be, Only you, my chosen one... Must I forget you? Our solemn promise? Will autumn take the place of spring? What shall I do? I'm lost without you. Speak to me once more! We must part now, my life goes on. But my heart won't give you up. Ere I walk away, let me hear you say, I meant as much to you... So gently, you touched my heart. I will be forever yours. Come what may, I won't age a day, I'll wait for you, always...” Again clearly this is about her and Locke. In the opera when she says the last line she throws flowers off the top of the castle. The castle at the stage at the opera is in the same focus as the cliff is during her suicide attempt and he body falls in the same way as the flowers that were thrown off the edge. Luckily Celes attempt fails and she is washed back up onto the beach. When she washes up there is a bird who had been injured. Its wing is tied up with Locke’s signature bandana. Celes immediately picks herself up, finds a way to carry on and find Locke and her friends. She boards a raft and sets out with hope that some of them are still out there.
Of course eventually the crew is back together.
Terra finds love and the courage to fight again with the hope that one day her adopted children will live in a safe world. Locke finally comes to grips with the loss of Rachel and forgives himself for his mistakes. He continues his promise to keep his promise to protect his friends and follow his heart and love again with Celes. Celes finds she isn’t just a war machine and lets herself fall in love with Locke. Edgar and Sabin reunite as brothers that would die for each other. Gau meets his father who still believe he is a demon. Gau has the most mature response saying he’s just glad his father is alive. Gau is ok because he now has a big family of friends. Cyan has the demon removed from him with the help of his friends and lets go of the grief and guiltiness of his families death. He decides to live life to his fullest while carrying his family inside of him. Shadow for the first time in his life is doing the right thing because it was the right thing without being paid.
But to counter all this hope and love there is arguably the best written character not just in the game but in all of Final Fantasy, Kefka. We don’t know much about Kefka before the events of the game. We aren’t sure if he’s always been a nihilistic psychopath or if he was normal at some point. What we do know is he was the first person to ever be endured with Esper Magic. It’s possible with him being the first test subject that could play a role in his behavior but that is speculation. What we do know is he is a maniac and a true problem that is clearly a big threat from the very beginning. Even though he was only Ghestals right hand man it always seemed like he was going to be the one to watch. The game does a great job of making you see his atrocities and making you fight him several times to keep him fresh in you mind. Thought the game we see Kefka burn a city to the ground, cowardly poisoning Doma, killing Espers just to gain power, manipulating everyone allies and enemies, killing his two biggest allies, and literally destroying the world. Like I said earlier he literally achieves everything he set out to do. By the time you fight him you want to help the heroes kill him.
When you fight him at the end he truly thinks he is right. He asks why the heroes continue to fight in a world with no hope. The heroes all give their own answers and say humans will always love, survive and rebuild. Kefka can’t understand this thinking. He knows every building eventually falls apart, every one eventually dies and wonders why humans hang on to stuff they know won’t last. Kefka being the nihilist he is has grown tired of the world he created as there is nothing left to destroy. Side note Kefka also has some of the best creepy quotes of all time.
Once the heroes inevitability beat Kefka they have to escape as Kefkas tower falls apart. This is where the credit begin and we see the gang working together to get out. Before we get to the happy stuff there is one realistic sad part to the ending. Shadow splits off from the group believing he has done to much bad in this world and feeling by stopping Kefka he may have atoned for his sins he decides the world doesn’t need someone like him in it and allows the tower to come down with him in it. As a kid I hated that he stayed behind. It’s an emotional depressing moment but as an adult it felt all too real. As for the rest of the group they get away on their air ship and see people rebuilding buildings, planting flowers and trees, and living their lives with a new found hope.
To me this is arguably the greatest story in all of video games. For a game from 1994 to have teen pregnancy, assassinations, a woman getting beat, the world ending, a nihilistic maniac, with a story of loss and hope was beyond ambitious. I loved it as a kid but appreciate it much more as an adult who has experienced much more sadness than younger me.
Every.track.is.AMAZING! Each character has their own track as well as a melancholy version of the same track. All locations have their own track. It has one of my top 5 OSTs of all time with my favorite song being Kefkas Final Boss track Dancing Mad. I also love that in the credits they did something subtle but awesome. They play a different arrangement of each characters songs. They do Relm and her song blends in almost as an opening for her father Shadows song. Celes and Locke’s songs harmonize with each other. It’s just another great touch to this game.
The pixel art is about as good as you are going to get for a SNES game. I love that they matched some relationships with color pallets like Edgar and Sabin matching as well as Relm and her adopted grandfather Strago both donning red.
The gamplay is, well, what you would expect from an old school Final Fantasy game. I do like the streamlined the battles. Cyans Bushido is no longer a waiting game to get the attack you want you just pick it and it goes. Sabins Blitz shows you the input so you didn’t have to memorize every blitz.
There are a few minor flaws in this game. One is that while each character has their own unique class that is valuable in the early game by end game everyone is pretty much just using the best magic spells making class irrelevant. My only other problem is while the core characters get fleshed out so well there are handful of optional characters that we know almost nothing about.
If you are a fan of JRPGs at all this is a must play although I’m sure most JRPGs fans already have. All in all with my new understanding of the story as well as the streamlined battles this game is an absolute master class of the medium and has moved from 9th on my all time list to somewhere near the very top. I’ll need a day or two to really think hard on where it need to be. I know I’m not the best writer in the world I’m just a person that loves video games and if you read this far thank you.
The three things I remembered loving specifically was the characters, the story, and the music so I will start there.
Obviously in this story section there will be some 30 year old spoilers, but regardless huge SPOILER WARNING from here on out.
When I was younger I understood that the story was riddled with sadness and tragedy but I don’t think I fully grasped the true meaning and impact throughout the game. To me it was a game that while I understood some of the tragedies and sadness I just thought of it as heroes doing what they had to do to stop an evil in a war. But really it is much more of the characters inner battles with the tragedies in their own life. It’s after being completely broken to find the courage to put themselves back together, find hope, trust in friends, lean on and be there for those friend, and fight for themselves and others so that they could put the world itself back together and help people find hope. The game is simply about loss and pushing through life after loss.
I’m going to dive into the story much more than I normally would so I can explain the characters and what makes the story so special to me.
We spend the first half of the game as a groups of oppressed people from all over the world fighting against the evil Empire led by Emperor Ghastal and his two right hand men General Leo and Kefka. In a world where there is no magic the empire has learned not only to use it but can also infuse it through machines. Later on in the game we find out there is a mysterious race known as the Espers that sealed themselves off from the human world. Espers are where magic comes from in this universe. The Empire had been draining the life out of some Espers they managed to capture before the Espers sealed themselves away from humans and in turn used them to infuse their leaders and magitech armor with magic. Our group befriends some of the Espers and hope with their help they can stop the Empire. The empire sets up a way to trick the Espers, kill many of them, and steal their power. Kefka uses this power and the power of the gods to turn on Emperor Ghastal to take the world for himself. While Ghastal wanted to rule the world Kefka just wanted to destroy everything. Kefka did what no other villain I can think of does. He achieves every goal he sets out to do, including destroying the world as you know it while killing most of the population and leaving the survivors helpless. Now the heroes are scattered throughout this new wasteland of a world.
That is a very loose version of the first half of the story but it hits enough of the points I need to explain what makes this game special.
Every character goes through tremendous growth and the game uses this helplessness to achieve its goal of showing the power of hope, love, and picking yourself up and pushing on.
Terra is the only half esper half human in this world. When the Empire originally found the Espers before the seal was set Emperor Ghastal killed Terra’s human mother and captured her Esper father. He stole Terra at the age of two to train her to be a weapon for the empire. Being that she was half Esper, Terra was the only human that could use magic naturally and with this power Ghastal knew he had a weapon that no one could stand up against. Terra was being controlled by a device that made her basically dead to the world and to only take orders from the Empire until she was rescued in Narshe when the game begins when she is 18 years old. Throughout the game, before even knowing she is half Esper, Terra struggles to relate or fit in anywhere as she has basically been a mindless drone for 18 years. When she finds out about her being half Esper she feels even more alone. She stuggles to feel human or Esper and wonders if she is even capable of being or feeling loved. After Kefka ended the world she finds herself in a village where all the adults are dead. There are only a handful of young children and two teen lovers that are pregnant. She becomes their protector and eventually they even call her mama. She finds love for the first time in her life but loses the will to fight because she wants to be there for her newly found kids. She eventually realizes that she is capable of not only being loved but also loving. She realizes she had that with her friends she’s met along the way as well as with these kids and even though she lost the will to fight she must so they and her can all have a future in this world.
Locke is a man whose parents died when he was a young age and had to resort to becoming a thief. He later met Rachel and they began a relationship against Rachel’s father wishes due to Locke being a thief. Locke took Rachel to a cave and promised to protect her as they looked for a treasure. While on an old bridge that Locke was standing on gave out Rachel jumped onto it to push Locke off resulting in her falling and going into a coma. Locke brought her back to town where she awoke but had no memory and was uneasy of him. Rachel’s father told him to leave town. Not too long after she began to regain her memory but unfortunately the town she was in was attacked by the empire. Rachel died and her last word were Locke I love you. Locke couldn’t forgive himself for saying he promised to protect her only for her to go into a coma and then not being there to save her when the Empire attacked. Locke tells Terra and Celes (we will get to her soon) that he will protect them many times throughout the game in an attempt to right what he feels like was a wrong with Rachel. He finds away through the Esper Phoenix to bring Rachel back but only for a moment. She tells him to forgive himself and forge ahead.
Edgar and Sabin Figaro were the princes of Figaro. When they were young their father was poisoned by the empire leaving one of them to become king. Neither were ready and they were grieving their father. Sabin asked Edgar if he wanted to just run away from the kingdom together and be free. Edgar told him that someone needed to protect the people his father died to protect and told him they would flip a coin. If it landed on heads Edgar would stay and tails Sabin would stay and the other could have their freedom. Edgar wanted his younger brother to be free from the burden and used a double sided coin to ensure that Sabin would have that freedom. Edgar was forced into the roll of a king and had to forge and alliance with the same empire that killed his father to protect the people of Figaro. Sabin’s freedom came at the cost of feeling like he let his brother down and ran from his problems even though it’s later revealed he was training to become stronger so he could come back and protect his brother from any threats. Not only did they lose their father but in a way they lost each other.
Gau’s mother passed away while giving birth to him causing his father to go insane. He blamed Gau for his wife’s passing. He believe Gau was a demon that killed his wife and was no better than the monsters that have been plague on this world. He decided to not only abandoned Gau at an early age but he threw him into the Veldt. This is a place where only monsters roam. Gau found a way to survive but with no interaction from humans he became a “Tarzan” type of human.
Cyan was the strongest warrior in all of Doma but when the river around Doma Castle was poisoned by Kefka he was unable to use his power to save his people, his king, his wife, or his young son. He’s powerless as he watches their souls leave on a phantom train. He blames himself and doesn’t grieve properly leading to a demon that feed on sadness actually feeding on his soul.
Shadow has a criminal past of stealing and assassinations with his best friend Barim. He is willing to be an assassin under any assignment if the price is right. One time Barim was injured so badly he couldn’t move. Shadow tries to move him but with the Empire after them Barim tells Shadow to leave without him but to mercy kill him so that he isn’t tortured or enslaved. Shadow can’t bring himself to kill his own friend says sorry and runs off. Trying to start a new life he falls in love and settles down in Thamasa a small quiet town far away from every other city. In fear of his enemies catching up to him and harming his family he feels forced to leave his wife and baby daughter Relm behind. He believes the only way for him to live is by being alone. He even says at one point “There are people in this world that have have chosen to kill off their emotions.” Years later during the events of the game every time Shadow is around Relm they show Shadow physical uncomfortable or unable to look directly at her. He loves his daughter but won’t put her in harms way. He constantly has nightmares about Barim and leaving his family behind.
Celes was a general in the empire’s army that was infused with magic from an Esper. When Locke finds her she is being beaten by Imperial troops that says she was a traitor (we never find out what she did) and her execution date is set for the following day. Locke without hesitation saves her and tells her he will protect her. Celes is confused by this as she has always just been used by people for her magic and prowess on the battlefield. She has never been cared for or treated in this manner. She and Locke fall for each other throughout the game. But at first Celes has a hard time believing anyone could love her. Especially after being a general in the army and all of the bad things she had been a part of. The opera scene is one of the best moments in the game as her lines are for the opera but they are exactly how Celes feels about her new found feelings for Locke. “I'm the darkness, you're the stars. Our love is brighter than the sun.
For eternity, for me there can be, Only you, my chosen one.” She is the darkness and Locke is the light.
Now that we have some background on the main core of the cast, you can see they have clearly been through a lot. Now add on the fact that they went from being so close to winning a war against the empire only for Kefka to destroy the world. The villain has won and our heroes failed.
After Kefka destruction we come back to a completely ravanged planet with little population, little plant life, little hope, and a lot tougher monsters roaming. We take the role of Celes who wakes up out of a coma after one year due to her injuries. She wakes to the news that the world was in fact destroyed, she is on an island, and only her and Cid (a “granddad to Celes from her time with the Empire) are left on this island. She learns that CID is sick. There is a path you can take where Cid lives or a path where he dies based on your decision making. While the plot moves on if you save him and that is the happier route the death route really fits the tone of the game and gives you one of the best scenes in the game. If he dies Celes will give up and run to the highest cliff on the island and attempt to commit suicide. As tears fly from her face as she is falling off the cliff you can’t help but 1.) Obviously be depressed but more importantly 2.) will immediately make of you think of the opera scene. Here is the rest of the lyrics from the opera scene that Celes sings. Oh my hero, so far away now. “Will I ever see your smile? Love goes away, like night into day. It's just a fading dream. I'm the darkness, you're the stars. Our love is brighter than the sun. For eternity, for me there can be, Only you, my chosen one... Must I forget you? Our solemn promise? Will autumn take the place of spring? What shall I do? I'm lost without you. Speak to me once more! We must part now, my life goes on. But my heart won't give you up. Ere I walk away, let me hear you say, I meant as much to you... So gently, you touched my heart. I will be forever yours. Come what may, I won't age a day, I'll wait for you, always...” Again clearly this is about her and Locke. In the opera when she says the last line she throws flowers off the top of the castle. The castle at the stage at the opera is in the same focus as the cliff is during her suicide attempt and he body falls in the same way as the flowers that were thrown off the edge. Luckily Celes attempt fails and she is washed back up onto the beach. When she washes up there is a bird who had been injured. Its wing is tied up with Locke’s signature bandana. Celes immediately picks herself up, finds a way to carry on and find Locke and her friends. She boards a raft and sets out with hope that some of them are still out there.
Of course eventually the crew is back together.
Terra finds love and the courage to fight again with the hope that one day her adopted children will live in a safe world. Locke finally comes to grips with the loss of Rachel and forgives himself for his mistakes. He continues his promise to keep his promise to protect his friends and follow his heart and love again with Celes. Celes finds she isn’t just a war machine and lets herself fall in love with Locke. Edgar and Sabin reunite as brothers that would die for each other. Gau meets his father who still believe he is a demon. Gau has the most mature response saying he’s just glad his father is alive. Gau is ok because he now has a big family of friends. Cyan has the demon removed from him with the help of his friends and lets go of the grief and guiltiness of his families death. He decides to live life to his fullest while carrying his family inside of him. Shadow for the first time in his life is doing the right thing because it was the right thing without being paid.
But to counter all this hope and love there is arguably the best written character not just in the game but in all of Final Fantasy, Kefka. We don’t know much about Kefka before the events of the game. We aren’t sure if he’s always been a nihilistic psychopath or if he was normal at some point. What we do know is he was the first person to ever be endured with Esper Magic. It’s possible with him being the first test subject that could play a role in his behavior but that is speculation. What we do know is he is a maniac and a true problem that is clearly a big threat from the very beginning. Even though he was only Ghestals right hand man it always seemed like he was going to be the one to watch. The game does a great job of making you see his atrocities and making you fight him several times to keep him fresh in you mind. Thought the game we see Kefka burn a city to the ground, cowardly poisoning Doma, killing Espers just to gain power, manipulating everyone allies and enemies, killing his two biggest allies, and literally destroying the world. Like I said earlier he literally achieves everything he set out to do. By the time you fight him you want to help the heroes kill him.
When you fight him at the end he truly thinks he is right. He asks why the heroes continue to fight in a world with no hope. The heroes all give their own answers and say humans will always love, survive and rebuild. Kefka can’t understand this thinking. He knows every building eventually falls apart, every one eventually dies and wonders why humans hang on to stuff they know won’t last. Kefka being the nihilist he is has grown tired of the world he created as there is nothing left to destroy. Side note Kefka also has some of the best creepy quotes of all time.
Once the heroes inevitability beat Kefka they have to escape as Kefkas tower falls apart. This is where the credit begin and we see the gang working together to get out. Before we get to the happy stuff there is one realistic sad part to the ending. Shadow splits off from the group believing he has done to much bad in this world and feeling by stopping Kefka he may have atoned for his sins he decides the world doesn’t need someone like him in it and allows the tower to come down with him in it. As a kid I hated that he stayed behind. It’s an emotional depressing moment but as an adult it felt all too real. As for the rest of the group they get away on their air ship and see people rebuilding buildings, planting flowers and trees, and living their lives with a new found hope.
To me this is arguably the greatest story in all of video games. For a game from 1994 to have teen pregnancy, assassinations, a woman getting beat, the world ending, a nihilistic maniac, with a story of loss and hope was beyond ambitious. I loved it as a kid but appreciate it much more as an adult who has experienced much more sadness than younger me.
Every.track.is.AMAZING! Each character has their own track as well as a melancholy version of the same track. All locations have their own track. It has one of my top 5 OSTs of all time with my favorite song being Kefkas Final Boss track Dancing Mad. I also love that in the credits they did something subtle but awesome. They play a different arrangement of each characters songs. They do Relm and her song blends in almost as an opening for her father Shadows song. Celes and Locke’s songs harmonize with each other. It’s just another great touch to this game.
The pixel art is about as good as you are going to get for a SNES game. I love that they matched some relationships with color pallets like Edgar and Sabin matching as well as Relm and her adopted grandfather Strago both donning red.
The gamplay is, well, what you would expect from an old school Final Fantasy game. I do like the streamlined the battles. Cyans Bushido is no longer a waiting game to get the attack you want you just pick it and it goes. Sabins Blitz shows you the input so you didn’t have to memorize every blitz.
There are a few minor flaws in this game. One is that while each character has their own unique class that is valuable in the early game by end game everyone is pretty much just using the best magic spells making class irrelevant. My only other problem is while the core characters get fleshed out so well there are handful of optional characters that we know almost nothing about.
If you are a fan of JRPGs at all this is a must play although I’m sure most JRPGs fans already have. All in all with my new understanding of the story as well as the streamlined battles this game is an absolute master class of the medium and has moved from 9th on my all time list to somewhere near the very top. I’ll need a day or two to really think hard on where it need to be. I know I’m not the best writer in the world I’m just a person that loves video games and if you read this far thank you.
Great remaster of one of the greatest game of all times
FF6 is an interesting game where I have to review it from two angles: from the perspective of a SNES game released in 1994, and of course my own enjoyment in 2023.
Coming from FF5, which is more ambitious in terms of its gameplay systems, FF6 is ambitious, well, everywhere. Graphically it's clearly pushing the SNES to its limits, with complex minigames (for the time), pseudo-3d environments, in-battle dialogue, every character having their own wacky mechanic (granted some of them are watered down jobs from 5 but still), a ridiculously large cast of playable characters with full party customisation, and very wild amounts of freedom late game. Most dungeons feel visually and sometimes even mechanically distinct, and I was quite surprised with how little this game reused its own assets to pad out play time—it rarely feels stale, which is unusual for an older RPG.
In terms of the narrative, good lord is it ahead of its time. It takes the approach of a sprawling epic with an ensemble cast, and somehow manages to do a decent job at giving almost every playable character an arc. There are also a notable amount of side characters that feel decently fleshed out, and the background of the story is more explored than ever, right down to having interactable flashbacks.
I won't go into explicit spoilers, but needless to say the structure of the second 'half' of the game is really unique, and clearly influenced the genre for a long time to come.
Cast-wise, they sort of attempt to give each character focus, but its hard to deny some get more than others, with Terra, Celes, Locke and Edgar being the most prominent. It's especially interesting how Terra tends to represent this game as the protagonist, when Celes ends up being the most central character in the story (and my favourite!). In a sense, Terra does kind of get the short end of the stick with surprisingly limited screen time despite her memorable introduction and relevance to the core plot.
Villains... mostly sucked, honestly, though Kefka is an obvious exception. I found him kind of disappointing at first after all the hype and praise I'd heard from him, but by the end I think I would have to agree he is quite strong, and a very unique villain at the time. The only SNES RPG that I personally found to have a stronger villain was Tales of Phantasia, but even then I wouldn't say it's directly comparable to FF6, as they take a fairly different approach. His motives are simple yet oddly realistic, and I think he could really shine if this game ever got a significant remake (especially after seeing a certain scene in Dissidia).
In terms of twists, I wouldn't say this game really has many compared to say 4, but these days I don't really value plot twists as much as I used to, so I didn't find this to be a problem (especially since the twists in 4 are... questionable to put it nicely).
Now you've probably noticed that I'm slowly sliding more into my general enjoyment of the game, so I think it's about time to get fully into that by going into the aspects that did not age very well for me. One of the two biggest elephants in the room is the obvious downside to having such a sprawling cast in a game that gives you endless freedom with party structure: non-mandatory characters simply aren't allowed to influence the story in the scenes they're in. Even worse, there are a lot of hive mind dialogue boxes said by nobody and everyone at the same time, sending me right back to the FF3 experience—which I think is unacceptable in a game with a much stronger emphasis on narrative and developing distinct characters.
This ends up especially depriving the story of character chemistry, as your party just is not allowed to interact with each other and end up feeling more like a disjointed military unit than an actual ragtag team. At first I don't think it's as much of the issue, as characters are allowed to interact with each other plenty early on, but the further you go through and the more your party expand, the less actual dialogue of value you get. Coming from FF5, which features a ragtag group with surprisingly strong chemistry for a SNES game, along with a lot of unique and fun dynamics, I was more than a little disappointed to see that aspect de prioritised so heavily here. This especially hit me during an optional quest with Gau near the end of the game, which features one of the rare times we're able to see the party's chemistry, and made the lack of it elsewhere all the more disappointing for me.
Another major issue I had was the gameplay—it got old for me fast. The magicite system is neat in theory, but ends up making the party feel extremely homogenous while also butchering the summon mechanic into being mostly useless and situational. Balancing wise, it feels like the game expects you to turn everyone into a magic powerhouse, as individual character abilities become more and more useless unless your name is Sabin or Terra. Most character abilities are also very frontloaded, and you'll generally have most of what they can offer super early on, killing variety as you get further into the game. I also was not a fan of the busy work that many characters expect to get you to build them up, with Gau being the main culprit. Not to mention Strago and Relm are respectively butchered versions of the Blue Mage and Beastmaster jobs from FF5. Overall, I do think the gameplay systems were poorly thought out despite how cool they seem initially, and by the end I had completely lost interest in the gameplay and was abusing boosts/the encounter toggle more than any other pixel remaster.
This isn't to say I think these aspects make the game terrible or something, it's more that FF6 is an undeniably ambitious game that revolutionised the genre (before FF7 came in to do it again), and sometimes it trips under its ambition. It's unfortunate that a lot of newer RPGs take what FF6 forayed into and do it better, as you end up with a bit of Seinfeld Effect while playing it as a modern gamer.
Overall I have to say while I appreciated how impressive this game was for its time, I still came out of it finding FF5 a much more enjoyable experience, as one of the rare old RPGs that made me actively engage in more random battles to experiment with its systems more, along with its significantly better cast chemistry. It's a shame that it generally gets more disrespect in the West for having a deceptively simple exterior and taking a lighter approach to its storytelling.
That being said, I completely understand the love for 6, it's a very special game and there's some stuff that truly stands the test of time: the legendary OST (Dancing Mad is... ??? how did they do this on the SNES???), the gripping premise, a varied ensemble cast that gives (almost) everyone a chance to shine, and one hell of an opera scene.
Overall, this gets a strong recommendation from me for anyone who wants to check out a legendary classic, while being mindful of the time it was released and what the RPG landscape was like back then.
Coming from FF5, which is more ambitious in terms of its gameplay systems, FF6 is ambitious, well, everywhere. Graphically it's clearly pushing the SNES to its limits, with complex minigames (for the time), pseudo-3d environments, in-battle dialogue, every character having their own wacky mechanic (granted some of them are watered down jobs from 5 but still), a ridiculously large cast of playable characters with full party customisation, and very wild amounts of freedom late game. Most dungeons feel visually and sometimes even mechanically distinct, and I was quite surprised with how little this game reused its own assets to pad out play time—it rarely feels stale, which is unusual for an older RPG.
In terms of the narrative, good lord is it ahead of its time. It takes the approach of a sprawling epic with an ensemble cast, and somehow manages to do a decent job at giving almost every playable character an arc. There are also a notable amount of side characters that feel decently fleshed out, and the background of the story is more explored than ever, right down to having interactable flashbacks.
I won't go into explicit spoilers, but needless to say the structure of the second 'half' of the game is really unique, and clearly influenced the genre for a long time to come.
Cast-wise, they sort of attempt to give each character focus, but its hard to deny some get more than others, with Terra, Celes, Locke and Edgar being the most prominent. It's especially interesting how Terra tends to represent this game as the protagonist, when Celes ends up being the most central character in the story (and my favourite!). In a sense, Terra does kind of get the short end of the stick with surprisingly limited screen time despite her memorable introduction and relevance to the core plot.
Villains... mostly sucked, honestly, though Kefka is an obvious exception. I found him kind of disappointing at first after all the hype and praise I'd heard from him, but by the end I think I would have to agree he is quite strong, and a very unique villain at the time. The only SNES RPG that I personally found to have a stronger villain was Tales of Phantasia, but even then I wouldn't say it's directly comparable to FF6, as they take a fairly different approach. His motives are simple yet oddly realistic, and I think he could really shine if this game ever got a significant remake (especially after seeing a certain scene in Dissidia).
In terms of twists, I wouldn't say this game really has many compared to say 4, but these days I don't really value plot twists as much as I used to, so I didn't find this to be a problem (especially since the twists in 4 are... questionable to put it nicely).
Now you've probably noticed that I'm slowly sliding more into my general enjoyment of the game, so I think it's about time to get fully into that by going into the aspects that did not age very well for me. One of the two biggest elephants in the room is the obvious downside to having such a sprawling cast in a game that gives you endless freedom with party structure: non-mandatory characters simply aren't allowed to influence the story in the scenes they're in. Even worse, there are a lot of hive mind dialogue boxes said by nobody and everyone at the same time, sending me right back to the FF3 experience—which I think is unacceptable in a game with a much stronger emphasis on narrative and developing distinct characters.
This ends up especially depriving the story of character chemistry, as your party just is not allowed to interact with each other and end up feeling more like a disjointed military unit than an actual ragtag team. At first I don't think it's as much of the issue, as characters are allowed to interact with each other plenty early on, but the further you go through and the more your party expand, the less actual dialogue of value you get. Coming from FF5, which features a ragtag group with surprisingly strong chemistry for a SNES game, along with a lot of unique and fun dynamics, I was more than a little disappointed to see that aspect de prioritised so heavily here. This especially hit me during an optional quest with Gau near the end of the game, which features one of the rare times we're able to see the party's chemistry, and made the lack of it elsewhere all the more disappointing for me.
Another major issue I had was the gameplay—it got old for me fast. The magicite system is neat in theory, but ends up making the party feel extremely homogenous while also butchering the summon mechanic into being mostly useless and situational. Balancing wise, it feels like the game expects you to turn everyone into a magic powerhouse, as individual character abilities become more and more useless unless your name is Sabin or Terra. Most character abilities are also very frontloaded, and you'll generally have most of what they can offer super early on, killing variety as you get further into the game. I also was not a fan of the busy work that many characters expect to get you to build them up, with Gau being the main culprit. Not to mention Strago and Relm are respectively butchered versions of the Blue Mage and Beastmaster jobs from FF5. Overall, I do think the gameplay systems were poorly thought out despite how cool they seem initially, and by the end I had completely lost interest in the gameplay and was abusing boosts/the encounter toggle more than any other pixel remaster.
This isn't to say I think these aspects make the game terrible or something, it's more that FF6 is an undeniably ambitious game that revolutionised the genre (before FF7 came in to do it again), and sometimes it trips under its ambition. It's unfortunate that a lot of newer RPGs take what FF6 forayed into and do it better, as you end up with a bit of Seinfeld Effect while playing it as a modern gamer.
Overall I have to say while I appreciated how impressive this game was for its time, I still came out of it finding FF5 a much more enjoyable experience, as one of the rare old RPGs that made me actively engage in more random battles to experiment with its systems more, along with its significantly better cast chemistry. It's a shame that it generally gets more disrespect in the West for having a deceptively simple exterior and taking a lighter approach to its storytelling.
That being said, I completely understand the love for 6, it's a very special game and there's some stuff that truly stands the test of time: the legendary OST (Dancing Mad is... ??? how did they do this on the SNES???), the gripping premise, a varied ensemble cast that gives (almost) everyone a chance to shine, and one hell of an opera scene.
Overall, this gets a strong recommendation from me for anyone who wants to check out a legendary classic, while being mindful of the time it was released and what the RPG landscape was like back then.
Kefka > Sephiroth, the truth the world just isn't ready for.
El diseño de Pj pierde calidad en detalle en realación a los diseños de la SNES, pero el OST y la perfomance implementadas compensan todo enormemente
The pinnacle of pixel FFs, this game takes every lesson learned from previous entries and combines the best of them to make a franchise entry that remains top-tier to this very day, some 30 years and 10+ titles later.
the best way to experience one of the best games of all time
Even never having played the original, this game has now become my favorite of the 2d Final Fantasy's. The battle system is as solid as ever, with plenty of fun characters to mix and match with, although it is GLARINGLY obvious that they are not all created equally, in regards to the story, as well as strength in battle.
The magicite system is fun, although towards the end the characters all start to kind of feel the same as a result of it.
My only real issues with the game are that it's very short. I clocked in at around 20 hours even having recruited back all of the characters and doing pretty much every bit of side content at the end of the game. I feel like there's more that could have been done with the whole, multiple switching between parties system.
And I also feel the game is probably one of the easiest games in the entire series, which kind of makes a lot of the boss fights seem kind of.... arbitrary. Which isn't nearly the end of the world, as there were still a few such as the dragons that took a few tries, but a lot of the big fights were kind of boring as a result of it.
The magicite system is fun, although towards the end the characters all start to kind of feel the same as a result of it.
My only real issues with the game are that it's very short. I clocked in at around 20 hours even having recruited back all of the characters and doing pretty much every bit of side content at the end of the game. I feel like there's more that could have been done with the whole, multiple switching between parties system.
And I also feel the game is probably one of the easiest games in the entire series, which kind of makes a lot of the boss fights seem kind of.... arbitrary. Which isn't nearly the end of the world, as there were still a few such as the dragons that took a few tries, but a lot of the big fights were kind of boring as a result of it.
[INFLAMMATORY COMMENT ABOUT THIS GAME NOT BEING A MASTERPIECE]
Seriously though, FFVI is an incredibly ambitious game to a fault. It has a solid story, cool villain, fantastic music and some really great characters, but it's also insanely flawed. There are way too many characters, and the second half of the game, World of Ruin, is a cool concept on paper, but the execution is kinda wild and the game kind of completely falls apart when you get to it. But, again, it's hard not to admire the ambition of it all even if all of it doesn't land.
It's a great SNES RPG, probably one of the best, but it's no Chrono Trigger.
Seriously though, FFVI is an incredibly ambitious game to a fault. It has a solid story, cool villain, fantastic music and some really great characters, but it's also insanely flawed. There are way too many characters, and the second half of the game, World of Ruin, is a cool concept on paper, but the execution is kinda wild and the game kind of completely falls apart when you get to it. But, again, it's hard not to admire the ambition of it all even if all of it doesn't land.
It's a great SNES RPG, probably one of the best, but it's no Chrono Trigger.
Now I can see why this FF is so beloved. The theme is one of my faves, as well as how opposite is Kefka to the whole group.
Also, I had so much fun with the different traits between characters and my fav stories were Celes’ and Locke’s!
Boi I just love Final Fantasy.
Also, I had so much fun with the different traits between characters and my fav stories were Celes’ and Locke’s!
Boi I just love Final Fantasy.
Almost perfect jeez