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Tom Nolan
United States
Burlington
Vermont
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In many ways, Final Fantasy VI (or III as we called it in the old days) is the definitive RPG of the 1990s. For RPGers of the NES/SNES generation this was the game that changed gaming forever. I’ve wanted to write this review for a while now but I keep putting it off. Something about FF6 makes this project seem more daunting. I know that this game means so much to so many gamers of my generation and I’m not sure I can write a review that meets the caliber of the game. With that in mind, here we go.
The stage is set in the opening cut scene as we learn that in ancient times the War of the Magi nearly destroyed the planet. Over time the world rebuilt and new cities and towns covered the planet. Technology has recovered to a familiar steam-fantasy era but magic is now the stuff of legends. Looming is the threat that history will repeat itself. Play begins as Vicks and Wedge (a Greek chorus of sorts) overlook the mountain town of Narshe in large mechanical suits called MagiTek Armor. They are investigating a 1000-year-old creature called an Esper. With them is an unknown green haired girl, a formidable killing machine, controlled by them with a device called a slave crown.
Thus begins the epic story that sailed a thousand airships! A story rarely paralleled in video game history. Back in college my roommates and I would debate the merits of old school games endlessly and the quality of the story in FF6 was always a big topic. One friend was adamant that the story quality was so high since there was no main character. Terra, the green haired girl, is the focus of much of the early game, but each character has his or her own story line. To play the game completely you need to spend time checking out each town with different groups of characters to see what happens and learn about the character’s backgrounds. I don’t want to go to far into the storyline, since I sincerely hope you will give this game a play.
The game has good if not exceptional graphics for the era with a powerful operatic score in the form seen in later games like Chrono Trigger. The game play is the classic video game RPG system of random encounters and leveling up a la Dragon Quest or earlier Final Fantasy games. To shake things up each character has a unique power or skill they can use in combat. They range pretty widely from Cyan’s swashbuckling skills to Sabin’s almost magical martial arts. Often the skills reinforce the character’s development in the story such as the self-proclaimed treasure hunter Locke, whose skills is tantamount to pick pocketing, a fact that does not go unnoticed by other characters. Late in the game as it becomes less linear many characters need the player to see their personal story to the end to get their skill to the highest level. These side quests are often mysterious and tangential but they add a real third dimension to the characters and reinforce the story.
It is hard to express what a monumental game this was for RPG fans born in the 1975-1985 early console window. Any nerdy gamer on the SNES has played it, if not loved it. Although I grow tired trying to level characters now that I’ve played through it time and again, the story still rings through. Like earlier RPGs it has that over arching world on the edge of disaster plot wide twists and turns, backstabbers and genocidal maniacs, heroes and villains, but the characters you meet in playing and the personal stories each of them go through over the course of the game is what makes FF6 so engrossing. Giver ‘er a play, if you make it to the opera house scene, I guarantee you’ll be hooked.
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John "Omega" Williams
United States
Michigan
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Good review. FF VI/III is such an extensive game with so many convolutions! Then theres all the little side stories on top of that.
Though my favorite still is FF II (The one with Cecil) followed by FF Tactics.
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Железный комиссар
United States
Madison
Wisconsin
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FFVI was my favorite videogame growing up. I still rate it highly and think it's one of the best FF titles, but I no longer regard it as RPG perfection now that I've replayed it a couple of times as an adult. The WoR isn't as well implemented as it could be - it's a brilliant idea but teeters too much toward sheer aimlessness. The menu-management entailed by magicite leveling bonuses is also quite tedious - it's not difficult to milk the system, but it is a bit of a chore.
Those are really the only two things I'd say against it. It has the best music of any FF, a stellar cast, a great story, and one of the best villains. Gaming the system isn't quite as engaging as it is in other FF titles, but the mechanics are still pretty solid.
I've played this to completion 5-6 times.
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John "Omega" Williams
United States
Michigan
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Somewhere in a storage shed somewhere is my old VHS tape of the best possible ending. And keeping Shadow alive and getting all those dreams is no easy task sometimes!
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Twinge
United States
Berthoud
Colorado
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TheDudeAbides wrote: They range pretty widely from Cyan’s swashbuckling skills to Sabin’s almost magical martial arts.
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Tom Nolan
United States
Burlington
Vermont
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@ John Ray Jr:
I need to say your assessment is spot on and in a lot of ways matches my own feelings. Twelve years ago I might have said this was the best game ever, but not so much now-a-days. In this review I tried to hearken back to the days when we all thought this game was the cat's pajamas, because for a long time it was.
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Drew McClain
United States
Glen Ridge
New Jersey
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JohnRayJr wrote: The WoR isn't as well implemented as it could be - it's a brilliant idea but teeters too much toward sheer aimlessness.
While I'd agree that the World of Ruin comes off as a bit haphazard, I can't agree that it's aimless. In a perfect world, there could have been a little more coherence and a few of the final dungeons could have been pulled together a little tighter, but I felt the general idea of picking up the pieces after the world was blown apart was a very engaging process. It didn't remotely hold our hand and allowed us to pick the pace of the end game.
This game has held up its image after replaying it over the years better than any other single game of that era (well, save for Earthbound, but that's a different can of worms). The atmosphere through and through is downright perfect. Chrono Trigger was another favorite from that era, but it's a game that I have to be in a very specific mindset to enjoy, lest the narrative come off as juvenile. It doesn't matter when I play Final Fantasy XI; I always thoroughly enjoy every bit of it, even over the span of seventeen years. I realize its faults. The battle system has strength in the individuality of the characters, but is held back by the simplicity of JRPG battle systems of yore and the individuality can be rendered moot by the overpowered strengths given by manipulating the tedious magicite system. But regardless, the narrative, characters, and atmosphere are so thoroughly engaging that I just don't care.
(And now that I think about it, if I were to do a review of Earthbound, I'd probably have mostly the same things to say.)
Honestly, it's games like this that have made me realize the hypocrisy in my stance on video game narratives. For years I've claimed that almost no video games have good stories. The fandom of Xenogears simply frustrated me. If you want a good story, read a book! Yet, all the while, I was consistently pulled back to JRPGs from the mid-90's. It sure as hell wasn't solely the gameplay pulling me back (Fight, Magic, Item, Defend!), so what was it? I can admit now that games don't have to try to achieve the same kind of narrative and prose as a novelist would. A game's narrative can lie on the strengths of atmosphere, dialogue, fantastical themes, and even over-the-top characters, if handled the right way. I still think most games have terrible narratives nonetheless, but I'm learning to be a little more open at least.
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