Better than the first two final fantasies.

They went away from the weapon upgrading in FF2 which whilst I got used to the weapon ranking up of FF2. The OG ranking up is just better.

So the job role I was surprised by that you could change your job role at any time and change it. I did like this change although I felt like there needed to be more explanation or transparency in what the roles did.

Overall the game was fun and enjoyed the story and the gameplay. Was annoying that the airship couldn't ride past mountains but with how enjoyable the game was. I'll be happily surprised if it gets better from here for part 4-6

This is the first JRPG or RPG I ever played. It was the 90's I was in 4th grade and my friends older brother was playing it with a friend. In the end we all played it for hours together trying to work out what to do with nothing but some hints from Nintendo Power. I personally played through the game years later and the story is excellent. They somehow manage to make you care about a large cast of characters, something few games accomplish as well. This game is no less worth playing today than when it came out. The one negative I can think of is that accomplishing some tasks in the game require a long grind. It can now be easily obtained on Steam as part of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters. If you want you can probably still find an SNES copy but it will cost a bit and may or may not save reliably if you don't change the battery.

Pros: The game starts with a perfectly moody opener with a credits crawl over a dark snowy horizon, setting the tone for the epic adventure that awaits. Big story, big characters (Kefka really is a presence), amazing moments (that train fight, heh, or that opera number, so good, right?) with incredible music by Nobuo Uematsu, and some solid RPG gameplay with cool effects (I love the mode7 overworld riding Chocobos or in the air ship, it's just so cool!). This is a classic, and I like to think this game is to Final Fantasy VII what Link to the Past is to Ocarina of Time, as with both examples, I enjoyed the latter much more, but so much of them is owed to these SNES originators.

Cons: I didn't connect to these characters as much as I did to future FF games, but they're still pretty good. Also, in general, I don't like RPG gameplay, it's just a me thing, not really a fault of the game. I'm just not really into random encounters, grinding experience, leveling up by battling, etc. Not how I typically enjoy my gaming. But it is what it is, and plenty RPG games contain other elements that I love anyhow.

What it means to me: Didn't play this one until after I played Final Fantasy VII and IX, so I always had those to compare this to (thus that LttP to OoT comparison above) It was fun seeing where some of the things I loved from VII were rooted in VI (oh right, this title says III, that was a whole confusing thing for us Americans for a while... ugh). But when my brother and I really got into playing this game, it sucked us in just like VII and IX did with us beforehand, and yeah, it's pretty damn good!

This is my favorite Final Fantasy.
The story of Terra and the Espers and the Secret Origin of that goddamn Kefka laugh.
This game hits all the feels. Unapologetically.
Interesting skills, Magic, weird characters, dumbass emperors without a clue.
It’s all here.
Also, if you haven’t, you should try the FF VI randomizer called Worlds Collide. Absolutely brilliant.

A pretty clear step up from the previous Final Fantasies in terms of gameplay pacing and storytelling (both in terms of a well-rounded cast of characters that almost all have arcs throughout the story and an emotional core that was, for the most part, absent in the other games.) Final Fantasy VI (III in the West) is a story that was no doubt a revelation in the days when game stories were essentially just getting from point A to point B, and yet it still carries a lot of weight in today's video game climate with some surprisingly mature and nuanced subject matter (suicide, the end of the world, guilt and grief, etc.) It's the first time in my marathon that I have truly loved a Final Fantasy game, and I hope it continues!