Let me start this with saying that I have not completed Final Fantasy VI as some major mishaps to my nintendo switch occurred losing my save file for the game, so I am writing these thoughts based on where I was up to which was gathering the party members post-timeskip. This easily the best game narrative-wise in Pixel Remastered collection as the scale of an invading empire is reminiscent back to FF2’s ambitious storytelling, but at the same time every facet of the story is explored from Kefka’ mad conquest of domination to the effects of this war through characters like Cyan and Leo. The presentation really sells you this massive epic with its god-like OST and complete overhaul of its sprite art. Every character is fleshed out amazingly with Locke’s reason to protect women and Terra’s tragic origin story and all culminates to this perfect structure of a narrative where every event connects to one another creating the highest stakes possible for this game.
Speaking of the game itself, although it doesn’t have the robust flexible class system of FF5, it makes up for it through its sheer variety of gameplay scenarios and how they each match the current story. The best way to put it is that you essentially have to choose decisions as if you were the character in the narrative instead of just spamming the best attacks at any given time. This can be through actions in the combat or even picking specific paths in the overworld, this game is the epitome of engagement. Final Fantasy VI does indeed feel like the ultimate JRPG culmination of combining narrative and gameplay. My biggest gripes towards it is simply that its scale and non-linearity brings back the problem of NES-era Final Fantasy games where I will indeed have to look at a guide to know where to go next, but in this case more often than not it's simply due to my impatience as a zoomer gamer of not following all the context clues to understand the next destination.
Unfortunately, this level of craftsmanship of a video game is the reason why I’m all the more disappointed I will have to put this in the backburner as losing my save file has severely dented my motivation to keep playing this game. I will eventually return to it by finding a save file on the internet, but alas this will be it for now.
Speaking of the game itself, although it doesn’t have the robust flexible class system of FF5, it makes up for it through its sheer variety of gameplay scenarios and how they each match the current story. The best way to put it is that you essentially have to choose decisions as if you were the character in the narrative instead of just spamming the best attacks at any given time. This can be through actions in the combat or even picking specific paths in the overworld, this game is the epitome of engagement. Final Fantasy VI does indeed feel like the ultimate JRPG culmination of combining narrative and gameplay. My biggest gripes towards it is simply that its scale and non-linearity brings back the problem of NES-era Final Fantasy games where I will indeed have to look at a guide to know where to go next, but in this case more often than not it's simply due to my impatience as a zoomer gamer of not following all the context clues to understand the next destination.
Unfortunately, this level of craftsmanship of a video game is the reason why I’m all the more disappointed I will have to put this in the backburner as losing my save file has severely dented my motivation to keep playing this game. I will eventually return to it by finding a save file on the internet, but alas this will be it for now.
jushajod
7 months ago