| Graphics: |   4.5 |
| SFX: |  4 |
| Music: | 5 |
| Gameplay: | 5 |
| Challenge: | 5 |
| Replay: | 5 |
| Overall: | 5 |
| Genre: | RPG |
| Reading ability: | US Release |
| Company: | Squaresoft |
Background:
I was a latecomer to the Final Fantasy series. I'd played other Squaresoft masterpieces like Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger, but like many others, my initial Final Fantasy experience was Final Fantasy 7. It was a fantastic game, but FF8 was disappointing. A trend of making the main character brooding, moody, and annoying had begun with FF7 and continued to get worse. FF8's Squall was an angst-ridden jerk, and the gameplay was convoluted with magic draws and a tedious junctioning system that prevented non-junctioned characters from using any items like potions or bombs. I mean, a character couldn't even reach in their pocket and toss a wad of pocket lint at an enemy without being junctioned to a Guardian Force. Despite the gameplay being flawed, I managed to actually beat FF8 when all three of my strongest characters were chosen at random at the same time when the final battle to defeat the witch commenced. FF9's main character looked like a total punkass and I never bothered playing it. Once they added voice acting and they had a whiny water polo player as a main character, I totally gave up on the series. Final Fantasy has become a joke, so you may as well go back and enjoy the series in its heyday. If you don't want to spend the money on the English language SNES cartridge, re-releases on the Playstation and the Gameboy Advance are available (although those 3D rendered versions on the DS are a slap in the face to retro gamers, I believe). So far I have played FF1 (hard as heck), FF4, FF5, and FF6 is by far my favorite of the series.
The Game:
The plot and the characters of Final Fantasy VI are so extremely enthralling. You can tell how FF6 starts to take the series towards the 32 bit era by providing a fairly cinematic feel to the game. The beginning credits show three mecha trudging through the snow, and a sweeping view of the mining town in the valley below. Later as the characters are escaping by chocobo across the desert, you get a sense that the storytelling has evolved into a real epic feel. The characters are very deep and their personalities are rather thought out. Of course everyone knows Cloud, Tifa, and Barrett from FF7, and Cecil and Kain from FF4 are quite memorable as well. But I think that Locke, Terra, Celes, Cyan and Edgar are by far the best characters ever of any of the Final Fantasy series.
In this story, true magic has died off and an emperor is using artificial magic technology to impose his will on the world. A resistance group has been formed to fight against the Empire, and the story unfolds when Terra, an Esper who has been made a slave to do the Emperor's bidding, is set free. This isn't a typical plot where you are trying to stop a madman from destroying the world. Partway through the game, he does destroy the world and society is in ruins. It's up to you to track down your teammates who are scattered around the world and to put an end to the suffering. The bad guy Kefka is just pure insanely evil.
The job system from FF5 was very intriguing and fun, but FF6 returns to where FF4 left off, where each character has his/her own set abilities. Locke is a thief, Edgar fights mainly with spears, his brother Sabin is the martial artist/monk/bare handed fighter who pulls off moves via Street Fighter-esque commands, Cyan is a samurai, Shadow is a ninja, etc. Eventually, magic abilities are learned as the summon spirits (Espers) are freed and bound to your will. Old favorites like Shiva, Ifrit, and Odin appear. Characters are junctioned to these Espers to learn new magic and to raise their stats. This is obviously where the idea for the junctioning of GFs in FF8 came from, although the system in FF6 is not convoluted, nor is it frustrating and limited. Only one Esper can be junctioned at a time. I ended up not really using the actual summons much at all during battles and focused on the regular magic spells.
Graphics:
This is the pinnacle of the Final Fantasy series on the SNES/SFC. Character sprites are bigger and more detailed than those of FF5, and they are rather expressive despite their small size. It's interesting how greatly I can connect with these tiny little pixelated characters, whose most common emotion of victory is expressed by simply throwing their arms up and down after they win each battle, and how I can care less about the more recent Final Fantasy characters in their beautiful, giant-sized, 3D glory. Again, it's the story and the characterization that really draws me into this game. Squaresoft has lost touch with what great RPGs are, although it is good to see how Enix's Dragon Quest games continue to hold true to the classic J-RPG style even with the introduction of 3D environments.
While the graphics in FF6 aren't quite as exceptional as in Chrono Trigger, which was released afterwards, they are pretty amazing. After playing FF5, the detail in the characters and the towns is what really first grabbed my attention, as well as the grand vistas and such. Check out the battle backgrounds and you'll see a forested lake, blazing deserts, and dark forests. The orchestra of the opera house is amazing as well.
Music/Sound:
The music in FF6 is totally phenomenal. The themes of this game are particularly the most memorable of any Final Fantasy game, in my humble opinion. From the marching drum anthem of Terra's theme to the tragic, lovestruck Celes's theme, the music is instantly recognizable and lovable. I can't even play the piano, but I figured out the notes and taught myself the basic parts of these two themes to play on my wife's keyboard. From the very beginning, the somber mood of the game permeates. An oregon and a choir reach a crescendo at the title screen, backdropped by a lighting-filled, stormy, dark sky. The intro sequence and accompanying music is rather gloomy, and it's obvious that evil has the upper hand in this fantasy world. Sound effects are also well done, with slashing swords, howling wind, explosions, and such.
Challenge and replay:
There is quite a bit of challenge to the game, and you definitely want to have as many characters leveled up as possible, because you will need as many as you can for the final raid on Kefka's fortress at the end, since you will be split into three teams of four each, and you will be switching between these three groups to cooperate your way to the end battle. Throughout the game, you will be challenged extensively, from the beginning where Locke has to command an army of Moogles, to fighting your way through the Tower of Fanatics using magic only attacks and your EXP does not level up. Replay value is also high, since there is more to explore perhaps a second time around. There are so many Esper Magicites to find that can be easily overlooked the first play through the game. A second time around would be a good opportunity to make sure that Shadow doesn't die halfway through the game, trying to witness all of Shadow's dreams, learning how to use Gogo the mime, whom I ignored and never really figured out how to use, defeating Doom Gaze (a monster who attacks you at random only when you're flying in your airship), as well as trying to master the coliseum that I avoided.
The Good:
The characters, story, music, and the unique battle abilities for each character really make this game the pinnacle of the Final Fantasy series. The characters are so very compelling. Locke is a thief and freedom fighter, Edgar is the young king, his brother Sabin goes into self-imposed exile, Terra is such a tragic character as she comes from two world and yet seemingly belongs in neither one, Cyan is the duty-bound warrior who loses his beloved family, and Celes is the former Empire commander who turns traitor to join the resistance and yet is mistrusted by those she has allied herself with.
The Bad:
The only negative thing I have to say about the game is the American censorship. After Kefka ruins the world and the characters are all scattered, Celes finds herself alone on an island. She believes she has lost Locke and the rest forever, and in the Japanese version she attempts to kill herself by throwing herself from the cliff into the ocean below. In the English translation, she merely just takes a plunge into the ocean to feel "refreshed" or something like that. This was such a dramatic part of the game, yet the translators just wizzed such beautiful storytelling down their legs to appease ridiculous censorship laws that assume that kids are gonna commit suicide just because they saw a video game character attempt it. The result is that this scene really makes no sense whatsoever in English. Keep this in mind as you play the game and you will get a true sense of the helplessness of this tragic character.
Overall:
All I can say is that if you have not yet played Final Fantasy VI, you need to do so. Do not miss out on this phenomenal game.
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