I think what we can learn from FFVI is that for a game to be great, it doesn't need to excel at everything. True, it has to be at least good at everything (sound, gameplay, presentation, story, controls), but all it needs to be remembered for the ages is that one thing, that one aspect it does better than almost anything else, that one thing that blows your mind and that you haven't seen anywhere else.
The specific aspect that FFVI excels at above all is: Presentation. It might seem strange to say this, considering we now live in the age of 4k 3D motion-captured animations and yet I say that the presentation of this SNES game is the best thing about it to this day. I mentioned this in my review of FFIV, but what Sakaguchi and his team have figured out with FFIV is that you can use the little sprites on the screen like actors on a stage. Make the screen "the room" - the stage of a play - and make the sprites the characters of the play. Then use the "stage" and its space to direct dramatic scenes in order to convey emotion and storybeats. This game is the last of the "theatre" era until FFIX comes along, and this game absolutely perfects the art. This is not just because the sprite work for this game is absolutely gorgeous, probably the absolute best on the system (everyone should play this game with a good CRT filter if you really want to be blown away by how good this game looks), but above all because it is extremely expressive. It will always remain a mystery to me how they managed to instill so much emotion, so much character and so much individuality into these tiny little sprites. As mentioned, each character has multiple sprites that show them either showing emotion like surprise, sadness or smugness or perform small little animations like waggling their finger or winking at the screen. Combine these ultra-expressive sprites with fantastic direction, and you have a game that finally achieves what FFIV always wanted to be - a game that makes you feel like you are sitting in the audience of a theatre play.
Here is an example of how it works. Characters move away from each other to show distance, move closer when they want to be caring, they dance and jump around to show excitement, they look at the screen / the audience during emotional scenes (as is very common in drama) or look away from the audience when they are uncertain. Despite the game having no access to actual facial expressions or detailed body movements to show off to the player, many of the scenes in FFVI are incredibly engaging, entertaining and emotionally affecting simply through their fantastic direction.
That is not all however, what the game does is use this fantastic technique and show it off in a variety of amazing and memorable set-pieces. Phenomenal visually, they are varied, interesting and often quite funny. The fight for Narshe against Kefka, the Phantom Train and of course the legendary Opera scene stand out. The game keeps putting the characters in fun and interesting set pieces and uses them to play out stage plays to the best possible result. Many of them surpass anything people have seen up to that point in video games. It truly deserves the highest possible praise even by 2022 standards. This is why the game is so engaging and fun - it is not the story itself, but the set pieces on the way that are so great. This is also why the game declines in the World of Ruin while it improves massively gameplay wise - the core appeal is mostly gone, as you largely visit older vistas and the new set pieces that appear in the World of Ruin, outside the ending, aren't nearly as engaging.
At the end of the day, FFVI found a very unique way to make its storytelling interesting and engaging. A method that I wish more games would have used since then.
FF as a series seems to often live and die by its presentation, but this is not at all a bad thing. When the presentation is at its peak, and Square is at the peak of their powers, the presentation alone can be so engaging and entertaining that it makes you forget about anything else. FFVI is a triumph.
The specific aspect that FFVI excels at above all is: Presentation. It might seem strange to say this, considering we now live in the age of 4k 3D motion-captured animations and yet I say that the presentation of this SNES game is the best thing about it to this day. I mentioned this in my review of FFIV, but what Sakaguchi and his team have figured out with FFIV is that you can use the little sprites on the screen like actors on a stage. Make the screen "the room" - the stage of a play - and make the sprites the characters of the play. Then use the "stage" and its space to direct dramatic scenes in order to convey emotion and storybeats. This game is the last of the "theatre" era until FFIX comes along, and this game absolutely perfects the art. This is not just because the sprite work for this game is absolutely gorgeous, probably the absolute best on the system (everyone should play this game with a good CRT filter if you really want to be blown away by how good this game looks), but above all because it is extremely expressive. It will always remain a mystery to me how they managed to instill so much emotion, so much character and so much individuality into these tiny little sprites. As mentioned, each character has multiple sprites that show them either showing emotion like surprise, sadness or smugness or perform small little animations like waggling their finger or winking at the screen. Combine these ultra-expressive sprites with fantastic direction, and you have a game that finally achieves what FFIV always wanted to be - a game that makes you feel like you are sitting in the audience of a theatre play.
Here is an example of how it works. Characters move away from each other to show distance, move closer when they want to be caring, they dance and jump around to show excitement, they look at the screen / the audience during emotional scenes (as is very common in drama) or look away from the audience when they are uncertain. Despite the game having no access to actual facial expressions or detailed body movements to show off to the player, many of the scenes in FFVI are incredibly engaging, entertaining and emotionally affecting simply through their fantastic direction.
That is not all however, what the game does is use this fantastic technique and show it off in a variety of amazing and memorable set-pieces. Phenomenal visually, they are varied, interesting and often quite funny. The fight for Narshe against Kefka, the Phantom Train and of course the legendary Opera scene stand out. The game keeps putting the characters in fun and interesting set pieces and uses them to play out stage plays to the best possible result. Many of them surpass anything people have seen up to that point in video games. It truly deserves the highest possible praise even by 2022 standards. This is why the game is so engaging and fun - it is not the story itself, but the set pieces on the way that are so great. This is also why the game declines in the World of Ruin while it improves massively gameplay wise - the core appeal is mostly gone, as you largely visit older vistas and the new set pieces that appear in the World of Ruin, outside the ending, aren't nearly as engaging.
At the end of the day, FFVI found a very unique way to make its storytelling interesting and engaging. A method that I wish more games would have used since then.
FF as a series seems to often live and die by its presentation, but this is not at all a bad thing. When the presentation is at its peak, and Square is at the peak of their powers, the presentation alone can be so engaging and entertaining that it makes you forget about anything else. FFVI is a triumph.