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.....