This thread contains my reactions to Final Fantasy VI
 

I'm replicating the SNES as best I can, with my USB controller and full screen'd original version ROM. I figured maybe I didn't like IV because it was on the GBA and not as first played by those who love it to death. So here I am trying to imagine myself in 1994 playing Final Fantasy III as released in America.

I would like to hear from others: while playing this game for the first time, if you remember, what the hell was going through your mind? Because I'm kind of BLOWN AWAY and I can't recall any other game from this era having such an effect on me. Maybe A Link to the Past, but for different reasons.

This story is so dark and sad; it's beautiful. How did an SNES game accomplish this? I find the lighter moments to be really great, like


Anyway, I'm only about 10 hours in, having just busted out of the Magitek Research Facility, so I would appreciate not being spoiled for anything that occurs after this event. Man, if Kefka's laugh hadn't already sealed it for me, the whole opera sequence would have. Everything about that was gorgeous. Overall I'm finding the game pretty easy; boss battles on average last roughly 30 seconds if not less... I don't really care. I'm in it for the story and music.

And speaking of the music, I've been listening to OGC4's and Tour de Japon's orchestral performances of the opera for a few years. Now that I finally have the music's context, it takes on a completely different meaning. Great stuff.

I'm glad I didn't wait for the GBA port. Back to my question though, anyone here remember their first playthrough of this? And was it similar to my current reactions?

It's tough to remember my first complete playthrough. I do remember when I first played it. That was when I rented it once. I didn't know what it was, but I found myself fascinated by the game world, which I explored a bit from someone else's save game. Eventually I bought the game after playing a few RPGs and I've always been as blown away by it as you are now. My appreciation for it has only grown in subsequent playthroughs. The storytelling all throughout is phenomenal. Only thing is that the second half will do one of two things for you: It'll either push the game to legendary status or bring it down if you don't enjoy the differences. For me it did the former. There are a lot of extra elements to the story in the first half, but what ties the story together is the cast, and that much is what the second half is all about even more than the first was. I'm hoping that it won't ruin things for you, because I've heard of other folks who claim to be invested in the story and then find themselves disliking it after a certain plot development. In any case, I'm glad that you're enjoying it so far. For me it was an experience that forever set the standard for what I expect from a traditional *J*RPG. It still has my favorite cast and soundtrack of them all. Expect the story to get sadder in a big way, heh heh. FFVI doesn't just taunt you with the possibility like every other RPG does. It actually goes there.

Yeah, man. I actually cried the first time I saw that, I thought it was so beautiful.

I think I need to replay FFVI.

I remember the first time I played FF6. I had already played FF7 and 8, and I thought they were decent, but not amazing games like many others said. I figured I'd go to the oldest game I heard getting similar reviews and see how that was. Right from the intro, when the credits play and the starting characters are walking through the snow, I was amazed. It was setting up a really good atmosphere from the start. And the music was really well done too, I was wowed the first time I heard Terra's Theme (the world map music). The characters had a bit more uniqueness to them in battle than they did in the other two games I had played, which made those a little more fun, especially with such a large cast. All in all, I quite enjoyed it, and it was what pushed me to give the rest of the Final Fantasy games a try. It was my favorite in the series until I finally tried FF5 last year.

If you're in it for mostly the story and music though, I definitely think this is the high point for the series.

I can't remember the first time when I played FF6 through. Probably because it has been so long time since. But I can say for certain that it's a completely different experience to play a RPG like this for the first time than playing it for the second etc time. You just think differently when you know what is going to happen (though I cannot remember all the minor details, luckily).

When you play it for the first time, you don't exactly know where to go and what is going to happen. Some final fantasies have so complex stories that I have to play them at least twice to understand the story (FF7&FF8). FF6 would be the most story-driven of the pre-playstation final fantasies in my opinion.

Music is probably very important in these SNES RPGs, if you see a scene in the game for the first time while hearing an excellent music track for the first time - a great first impression. Somehow I don't like listening music from some unknown RPG as it perhaps alters the first impression that I may have if I decide to play that game..

Prepare to be disappointed with the storyline / main plot when you get well over the half way point.

But prepare to like playing the game more because gameplay is the most important part (at least to me -- I see story, music, extras as 2nd to gameplay) because well over the half way point you are going to be fighting great bosses, harder enemies and be leveling a lot. Plus you'll basically have all the characters.

Yes, I do remember my first playthrough and unfortunately, my reaction was not similar to yours. As far as I am concerned, it does not fully deserve an overwhelming amout of praise it receives.
Story:
Of SNES-era games, FFVI has one of the better stories. However, that is not saying much. As most games from the aforementioned era, it is plagued by utter simplicity and the world is almost devoid of historical background and social development. Contrast it with later FFVIII and especially FFXII, both of them have quite long and elaborate political history (unfortunately, most of it is hidden in obscure NPC conversations and in the information sections that nobody bothers to read).
Same can be said about FFVI cast, which is good by SNES standards, yet pales in comparison with all more recent FFs.

Battle System:
For a SNES RPG, FFVI has a great battle system. After potentially interesting, yet stilll heavily restricted Job System in FFV, FFVI allows a decent amout of customisation, which together with Limits forms a quite satisfying experience.

Graphics and Sound:
Both are rather impressive, though character animation is a bit lacking. Other than that however, there is not much to criticise.

In short, FFVI is a very good SNES RPG. It introduced quite a few innovations and also marked a departure from the generic and stale style of FF I-V. Nevertheless, it can be considered archaic and primitive in comparison with more recent installments.

Yeah. Well, that's why I made sure to frame my opening post with comments that clearly indicated this was a game from an earlier period of time, and my reaction is coming from that reference point. The game surely could benefit from historical background and social development, but this was at a time when such a concept was foreign in video games anyway (to my knowledge), so why bring it up?

FFI-VI
 

Oh, Be careful with criticizing other Final Fantasies, you'll get trampled on by fanboys. FFVI in my opinion should be remembered mroe than FFVII, for it was a pioneer in a sense that it had, a grand-scale epic storyline, a lovable and massive set of cast members, and maybe the most cut-scene driven RPG, known back on the SNES.

But, you shouldn't say FF I-V was stale and generic. Each was a pioneer and a trial and/or failure. As FFI pioneered into the gigantic tale of 4 young heroes. Without such bland trial, (which was still very successful) FFII and above would not be seen. FFII began a gimmicky experience system which never panned out due to its flaws, but FFII began mixing in travel. The Air, Sea, Snow. FFIII, was the first to invent the infamous job system. Though in its original NES, it failed to become popular. Without the job-system of FFIII the systems of FFV, FFT, FFXI would have never appeared until later in the series. FFIV, began truly experiment with the tales of magic and travel. Nothing new except the ATB system, but all in all it was still a successful game. FFV... well (Okay, To me this game sucked.) This game had re-invented the Job System of FFIII, and it was sucessful in that way. Since the graphics and storyline bombed, it wasn't super popular (until its port-release on the GBA) FFVI... I already expressed its use for the franchise.

I could go on, but I hope the point was clear. Every Final Fantasy has flaws, but it brought up a good point withen the games. And Each deserve a Kudos.

And true fans, of video games would never overlook such titles, they maybe archaic and old. But never primitive. With them, the building blocks of most RPG's, our games today would be just as primitive. It wouldn't be fair.

To the above two posts: Well said.

I know most people probably don't agree with this, but I rented the game when it came out and I couldn't get into it because I got bored. Walking around in those tech things at the beginning was a turn off, I don't know why.

I revisited the game many years later and played through it. Still a "meh" reaction. I'm going to get it when the GBA version comes out though just so I have it, maybe give it another go. There were a lot of memorable parts in it, and I did like the characters, but I just didn't find myself that drawn in.

FFIV is still my favourite though, then the more recent ones like FFX and FFXII come close. I've played through most except for FFII and FFV (which I can't seem to get past the super long intro) and they each have their good points and bad. I play it for the storyline and overall experience.

Storyline and Experience
 

This post is kinna contradicting my last post but...

Ah, I'm revisiting the classic RPGs trailing from 1990's to 2000... and I've noticed the trend that I'm getting bored of.

When I was younger, The only thing that made my RPG experience complete was really amazing SPRITE graphics. And epic and deep plot driven dialogue.

Sadly to say, I've abandon those thoughts, As I played more and more new recent games. I slowly got use to the intesne 3-D graphics, and the Voiceovers.
-- I revisited games such as FFVI and Xenogears, and Legend of Dragoon.

When I was younger, those games were a blast and they felt full-filling for every level up I got, and each new cut-scene I went through. Though the classic games should not be called primitive... they have become somewhat dull.

The trend I found in all the new RPGs were the almost endless amounts of common themes, cliches, and spontanious plot lines. I just feel that the classics will be forgotten, because they feel so much the same with the new games... but less... if you get my drift...

The storylnies always pleased me... but Iono... Things are becoming too cliched, and to revisit something where there's a new "Upgraded Ultra version" of almost the same game... saddens me...

(Tales series for example)... Though kids now, are into Tales of the Abyss or was Tales of Symphonia and Legendia... I doubt the knew of Eternia or Phantasia or Destiny... Sony and Namco are trying their best to revive such classics...

but Square has become a powerwhore and moneymonger along with Sony.

How many mediocre games did Square make this passed year?
People just said they made them so people could wait till FFXII or KHII came out... But they're all NEW TITLES. (Exception, Valkrie Profile)... They use FRANCHISE NAMES to make money... not to please the fans...

Random "Mana" games... that only meet mediocre expectations...
Random spin-offs, where fans get disappointed...
Random Titles, made by unpopular software branches...

Why didn't they stick with the classics?

They are porting... but not enough to keep their older fans happy...(Opinion)

(Ok Back to the Thread topic... Sorry)

Anyways... Refering to what i said earlier, How FFVI should not be forgotten, I feel that they will... Over time...

I remember...I was under-leveled and Ultros absolutely raped me about 10 times before I squeezed off enough firepower to beat him. I got pretty lost during the whole Celes thing and it took about 2 hours to clear that scenario. I enjoyed Sabin's path the first time, with all the strong character development and the atmosphere on the train...Becomes a bit of a burden on replays, since it takes awhile and I know what's going to happen.

And yeah...The Opera part was incredible. I actually got a Game Over because I couldn't figure out what to do after getting the bouquet. Oh, and I didn't exactly rehearse either...

Plenty more (in fact, in replays, I always rush through the first half of the game in order to get to the second half), but I don't want to spoil anything for ya...

FFVI was THE game I always wanted to hypnotize myself over so I could experience it fresh again. I'm probably 7 years past my last playthrough and I remember it quite vividly. Once I'm an old fart and my memory fails, I'll look forward to experiencing it all new again.

And frankly, nothing in the series has come remotely close to delivering the total package of quality that FFVI has. From the well-crafted dungeons to the various gameplay systems (relics, armor, espers, innate skills AND leveling are all important) to the variety of characters to the music (still one of the best game scores around) and the game's refusal to stick to focusing on a single character when it very easily could (face it: you're screwed if you don't like one of the main characters in the newer FF's, because you see a LOT of them during the course of the game), it was well ahead of its' time...and arguably still is.

I remember the first time I played FFVI. I was staying the night at a friend's house and at about 11 pm, I turned the game on. The friend went to bed and I stayed up ALL night playing the game. I was completely enraptured.

I screwed myself over by not buying enough healing items for a certain section but I had to stop playing it anyway. When I got the game for Christmas, I was captivated all over again. One of the few games that was actually worth $69.99. A perfect combination of story, characters, gameplay and music.

(When it first happened early in the game, I thought splitting up the characters and getting to choose which group to play was a fresh gimmick. The concept really didn't happen again until Wild Arms and Suikoden III. FFVI did it better.)

This game is pure nostalgia for me. It's one of the great experiences of my gaming life. I still know this game inside and out, down to the individual dialogue of most NPCs in towns. It's pathetic, but I got that into it. I can't fucking wait until February.

I definitely agree with this...It's far more effective once the characters are introduced. It's not a particularly good way of actually introducing the main characters. Though I'm basing that off my experience with WA and not S3, which I haven't played. Once that scenario came up in FFVI, with just the minor bit of background, it was really cool. Although to be fair...The Terra/Edgar/Banon branch was a ripoff. But Locke/Sabin had more than enough meat to make up for it.

The thing that always stands out with me was the introduction, especially since the only other Final Fantasy title I had played was the very first. Magitek knights riding off to narshe, the music, the graphics (which stunned me despite it's age. This was in '99, '00?), I just sat in awe of it. I hadn't ever seen an RPG start off with such theatric flair before. It's still my favorite theme of the series.

I couldn't agree with you more.

This game is the epitome of my RPG love (that and FFT). It was the game that originally got me over the hill in this genre. I liked FFIV plenty, but 6 pushed me into truely appreciating a good RPG, especially now-a-days. I always have thought the later installments of the Final Fantasy series to be mediocre, specifically 7, 8, and 10. I haven't gotten around to 12 yet, but I've heard its a pretty decent game here and there while at working at GameStop.

But as stated before in this thread, this game was really the blueprint for future RPGs, and I have revisited it countless times. Everything about it to me was fun and I hope the new version on its way next month will only magnify the fun I had with it.

As you can see, I acknowledge its considerable worth in comparison with other SNES-era RPGs. There were a few games that surpassed it in the in-depth storyline department (Front Mission 1st comes to mind), though generally speaking, FFVI is indeed one of the better ones.

What I find interesting however, is how fans treat is as some kind of untouchable ideal that cannot be matched. There is nothing wrong with liking it more then later installments, but objectively, they have long since surpassed it.

I suppose I can somewhat agree with that. FFVII introduced a large amount of people into RPGs, yet FFVI marked the beginning of FF series' rapid evolution.
Although, my opinion may be influenced by a certain nostalgia I feel for this title. After all, FFVI was my second FF (after V).

Hey Cellius, did you see the thread I made about this a couple of months ago? We're at just about the exact same place at the moment. You're about to go back to Narshe, right? I've landed on the small triangular Island and been beating on that bastard Intangir to gain Magic points quickly.

Glad someone is attempting this for the first time at the same time as me. Nice one. ^5

I love FF2, but when i saw a review for FF3 in Nintendo Power, i was obssessed with it.
i look for it everywhere, but could find it.
then the emulator wave came and i spend the nights (many nights) dealing with my crappy dial up connection and fake site that didnt hold the rom. I spend months and months, (im talking about 10 years ago).
when i found it and played it, i reached a conclution:
IT WAS WORTH IT!!!!!
the game was beautiful, music, story, character, everything. i played and played, played, searching for friends as my background song, the fact that you
even now im still waiting for a game that still make me feel like that again, i love todays games, KH, FFX, Suikoden, but NOTHING can beat the old school FF games.
Hail to the king!!!

I had a similar experience like TheKnightOfNee. Final Fantasy VII was my first RPG, and I went through VIII, IX as far as FF. And then I went to play VI from FF Anthology, and it was <3. I instantly realized that I liked the "old school" RPGs a lot. I went through VI and V within a couple weeks, and then (lucky me) FF Chronicles came out a few days later; so IV and CT got rocked soon afterwards too. That was definitely my high for number of RPGs completed in such a short period of time. It probably was just under a month. It's something I'll never be able to do again... ;_;

But yes, FF VI led to one of my greatest gaming experiences ever. <3

Final Fantasy III for the SNES was released probably back in 1996 or so, since the N64 made its debut in September 1997.
My best friend had that game, while I bought Chrono Trigger. My god, we swapped each others games for about 3-4 months.
That was the beginning of my FF experience. It was so amazing being drawn into the storyline with a good beginning.

While everyone was shocked at the death of a character in FFVII, this wasn't the first time a FF playable character actually died.



The best thing about FF6 to me is the differences in weapons/armor each character holds. Cyan's Swordtech, Locke's steal/mug, Sabin's Blitz, Edgar's Tools, Shadow's throws, Celes's Runeblades, Setzer's card tricks, even Umaro's own independent attacking system, was just great to utilize in the game.

Character development, from their past histories to present, was astonishing. I'm glad I got to try this game out before getting rid of my SNES, only to pick up for Anthology to experience it again.

I first played this after going through several newer RPGs after the SNES. Even so, I enjoyed FFVI a lot more because all the characters had a personality so it was easy to find favorites. Compared to newer RPGs, the game still managed to give enough attention to their large cast of characters. It was also impressive to see how the game delivered the individual stories of the characters even alongside the main plot. I remember spending lots of time visiting all the towns in between playing the main story just to see what other details about the characters' pasts I could find.

I finished FFVI so quickly, but it was the first time I completed all the sidequests, abilities, and went into the final battle with all the characters at level 99.

That's what classic means. Something which at its time was so inspired and so great that it can never be surpassed. Not just something which was great "for its time" but no longer measures up. I can play FFVI now and I still think that it's an amazing experience on par with other RPGs from various eras that I find to be great.

Do you also find PS2 RPGs to have long since surpassed PS1 RPGs in an objective sense? I've heard some people say that Final Fantasy Tactics is archaic and primitive compared to Disgaea when they say that Disgaea is better. If so, then I can somewhat understand your reasoning, even though I don't agree with it in terms of using it to determine the ultimate value of a game experience.

I don't believe that attempting to build on past concepts means that the new concept will necessarily retain everything that made the previous one great. Also, theory and application aren't the same thing, but if you feel that better technology means better games in an objective sense, then I suppose there's an argument for that.

What you have to understand however is that people have different standards for what defines greatness in a game, movie, novel, piece of music, whatever. There is no universal standard for determining the ultimate value of an RPG. Gameplay versus story arguments have proven that. Even people who claim to have the same standard won't necessarily interpret attempts to meet this standard in the same way. Look at Kostaki and Borg's recent debate over FFIV. So despite your feelings on FFVIII, not everyone believes that the changes made in FFVIII were for the best. They might think that objectively, FFVI or another Final Fantasy game did a better job of presenting its ideas. FFXII has also been the target of much criticism for its own deviations from Final Fantasy tradition. That one I like a great deal, but others believe it to be greatly inferior to their favorites, and I wouldn't presume to tell them that they're objectively wrong. It's difficult to say that one work is objectively superior to another. Especially between works of high acclaim. There are just too many things that factor into how one can evaluate something.

Holy shit. You weren't joking, were you? I just passed that moment. I'm glad I started the game unaware that this would happen. I'm looking forward to searching for everyone.

Again, I disagree...None of the other FF's have offered the same variety of gameplay systems that FFVI had. Sure, VI had the all-important Esper system, but it managed to keep the individual attacks for each character (so they're differentiated beyond their limit breaks...see FF7 and FF8) and plenty of armor plus relics and a well-balanced experience system where you didn't have to power-level (but you could!). FF7 was fun and the materia system was better than the whole esper thing, but there was little differentiation between characters. FF8 I felt was fairly broken overall and had little gameplay depth once you figured things out (read: draw like mad, attach spells to stats that are lacking...DONE!). Never liked FF9...The battles never felt smooth enough for my liking. X was more of a matching game, I felt, and I definitely preferred the more standard ATB system as opposed to "hit flying enemies with Wakka, hit machines with Rikku, summon with Yuna if you're about to die..." Mind you, I enjoyed 7, 8 and X, but I never felt for a second they were as solid from a gameplay perspective as VI. Very few turn-based RPG's do. One could argue Ultima could break the game (and Merton was completely useless), but then the answer is simple: Don't get Ultima if you don't want it to ruin the game for you (considering what you have to go through to get it).

And then there's the matter of 3-character battles, a major pet peeve of mine that seemed to become popular in CT then continued through most of the major FF installments.

As for the storylines...Give me the plot-centric but well-spread focus on FFVI's cast over Cloud/Squall/Tidus's various issues and burial of the remaining cast members in their respective games anyday. Poor Quistis...

So uh yeah...Basically a repost from what I said before.

I have no experience with Disgaea, so I am afraid I cannot make any comparison in this case. But allow me to explain my view of objective criteria in something so subjective as art (this includes books, music, movies, games, etc.).
In my opinion, artistic value is comprised of an objective and subjective part. Even in art, there are certain aspects that can be evaluated more or less objectively. For example, there is a question of how much work and preparation was put into a certain artistic piece. In other words, objectively, a Pre-Raphaelite or a Renaissance painting is a more valuable work of art than something created by simply splashing a bucket of paint on canvas, for the latter did not require much skill, time, or extensive work.
But that was only the objective part. The subjective part (such as the way one feels about some work of art, what emotions does it invoke, etc.) is indeed a different matter altogether, and cannot and should not be measured.

In conclusion, what I meant by later FF installments surpassing FFVI, was that they surpassed it in certain objective criteria (more details and work put into storyline, more extensive and flexible battle system, etc.). As to whether one actually likes the later games and their features, that is of course a matter of personal taste.

To GoldfishX:
I understand your view and will not try to argue it, for it would be a pointless argument over personal preferences. But I would like to address one small detail.
In FFVIII, Draw is best used as an occasional method of Magic acquisition, not a primary one. Refining is much faster and entertaining, allowing one to get not only better spells, but also weapon upgrades, permanent stat increasing items and so on. In my playthroughs, I rarely used Draw, and that was mostly to acquire GFs and on several bosses with quite rare spells (Aura, Triple).

Yeah, FF6 is pretty great in that regard.

The GBA port will be something to behold, with its presumably 10x more awesome translation. That added so much to the FF4 story, and will likely do the same for FF6. Can't wait.

It's a shame that the japanese version has slowdown out the wazoo. I hope they touch it up a little for our release, and that's why it was pushed more than a month back. A man can hope anyway.

I've played better games, but FF6 definitely stood the test of time and can easily compare to some of the better rpgs out there today. I don't think it's quite an "untouchable ideal", though, as the game itself is still marred with plenty of issues. The fact that it might be the easiest RPG I have ever played in my life being one of them.

Friggin', I was hoping that was just on my emulator. >_<

:edgarrock:

Since you're looking forward to searching for everyone, it seems that you'll like it. What people don't like is that the pacing changes. Instead of being made to play via a forced narrative, the world is open to you and you have to seek out the rest of your members of your own volition after finding the first three. If you care about the characters enough and you enjoy the open-ended gameplay elements, then you're in for a treat. To make things a bit easier, keep in mind that party members which you find again will have their level adjusted to around the level of your highest level member. You have to form three parties for the final dungeon and some folks find it upsetting to have to strengthen characters they don't like. What I did the last time I played was simply to shift my party around as I tackled the various side quests. By doing that you should be ready for the final dungeon. People get too caught up in leveling and the truth is that skills and equipment are much more important in FFVI. Being around level 40 should be enough to win the day. What matters is having some nice equipment and some powerful spells to employ, most of which you get as you recruit the various characters and see them develop more at the same time.

Splashing a bucket is such an extreme example that I doubt anyone would disagree. I don't think FFVI is the equivalent of scribbles to FFVIII's Mona Lisa. :eye:

I see. Have you considered that more details and work put into various aspects also introduces more potential for missteps? Consistency is something that Dragon Quest and Suikoden are valued for because they don't deviate much from their formulas. Sometimes less is more when an aspect becomes so convoluted and poorly executed that it fails to deliver on its promise as the power of the moment is lost. Sincerity and impact often has more to do with execution than with the concept. And execution of a concept is more in the vein of objective judgment I think than judging how ambitious a concept is. Trying for more doesn't mean that you'll succeed at it. And in the process you may lose some of the things that you did right the last time. Someone once said that FFVII having more dialog than FFVI was evidence of objective superiority. But that's judging the attempt and not the execution. If FFVI has more meaningful and better delivered dialog as an objective matter of evaluating the storytelling, then wouldn't objectivity in that respect favor it over the sometimes muddled mess that is FFVII's complex and confusing story? Same goes for character development. I believe that for every game's attempt at providing deeper gameplay or story (which of course should be attempted; for the times that you wind up with something worse, there is the possibility of winding up with something better), sometimes the sweet spot is hit better by games that take a simpler approach, and simplicity is as objectively valid as complexity. Not so simple as to be like Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, but I think Final Fantasy VI is complex enough that deeming it objectively inferior to later installments based on how they have more effort put into them seems woefully inaccurate. After all, it's not so much that there was more effort put into them, but that they had room for more stuff. And it's not only about how much stuff you have. It's how you use that stuff. That's my position on the value of objectivity when evaluating the ultimate value of a game experience.

I am really, really excited for the GBA version to come out. I haven't even bought V yet, because I know I'm just going to put down every other game and play VI when I get it. I love it that much.

VI, I think, is the only FF game where I liked and used all of the playable characters. And this will be the first time I'll actually own it on a cartridge. So...

CELES IS EXCITED. :D

Saekin: I thank you for expressing your opinions clearly, but I take issue with one thing: the word "objective". You're saying my arguements are purely subjective and you don't wish to argue that. Fine, we won't argue which is better but I don't think you're being as purely objective as you claim to be. You used two examples above: the work put into the storylines and the battle system comparison as being objective (that is, stating that the later FF's are clear improvements that everyone should take note of) I disagree on both and I feel both are a regression in design, my own personal feelings aside. I think it is easier to write a script based around 1-2 main characters and their entourage (naturally sifted to the background) than the balance shown in FFVI, with no clear-cut main character. The later FF's do have much more dialogue, I give them that, but much of it is still centered around the typical lead character or two. Celes and Locke said far fewer words to each other than Cloud/Tifa, Squall/Rinoa or Tidus/Yuna, but in no way can one objectively say one was better than the other. I remember the Celes/Locke sequences quite vividly, yet am hard pressed to recall more than one conversation between the other pairings. And on top of that



Please reread what I said about the battle system...I wasn't saying "I like FF6's better", I said I felt it was better designed overall and enjoyed it more as a result. It's quite objective stating that FF7, 8 and 10 all lacked particular things that FFVI had and I feel they lost some of their potential as a result. Subjectively, I do like the materia system far more than the esper system, but sacking the individual abilities and relics sets FF7 on about equal footing, if not behind FF6. Subjectively, I did not like much of FF8's systems (I don't seem to recall refining a huge deal) and it suffered the individuality plague as well. Subjectively, I felt the Sphere Grid was a good idea in theory, but fell flat due to having to use it for EVERYTHING and the game's mix'n'match gameplay and limited equipment (sorry, I hated the percentages) hurt it even farther.

And again in all three cases...3-man parties represents a grave regression to me (probably due to memory). Chrono Trigger worked okay with it, due to the team attacks, but there isn't a single RPG I've played where I'm compelled to agree having 3 characters instead of 4-5 (the usual amount for 16-bit RPG's)was the better decision (CT could have been much better with 4-5 characters for example). I mean, a perfectly usable tactic in FFX was to get everyone in on the attack by means of tagging out in order to score more EXP for participating in battle. Why not just add more character slots and save people the effort of tagging out?

FF6 is not untouchable by any means, which you seem to think people think it is...I think Suikoden and Valkyrie Profile have a much better set-up for a turn-based RPG and in some instances, top what FF6 does. However, staying within the realm of Final Fantasy, I feel FF6 is still the benchmark by a long shot and deserves to be the bar that needs to be cleared. Your analogy of a splash painting vs a Renaissance one simply does not apply here (and frankly, seems quite silly in relating it to how FFVI stacks up to the rest of the series).

The only thing I wish for FFVI is that it was longer. ;)

Yeah, I have a similar experience. I remember FFVI's exchanges like I just played the game (and I haven't touched it in years). I remember bits and pieces of Tidus/Yuna and pretty much nothing of the other games (but then again, it's not like FFVII had a great translation and FFVIII sucked on principle).

The bar is raised even higher when you consider that the game packed a mighty emotional punch using just those character sprites, text and a few animations.

Heh, I definitely did not mean to imply that FFVI was equivalent to a splash painting (or scribbles). I used that analogy to illustrate my perception of objective value of art, and that was all.

I am not sure about that. Which approach is better: giving a large amount of character development to the two main characters and less to others, or giving an equally moderate to the whole cast? Certainly, I too would prefer everyone to be well-developed (poor Quistis, indeed), but I had to choose, I would prefer a first option.
I would say it is because you like Celes and Locke more than other pairings. If that is the case, then it is only natural that their conversations seemed more memorable.
By the way, by "extra touch", did you mean

Because I am not sure what you meant.

Well, this is something that I never considered to be much of an issue. Whether party consisted of three, four, or even six characters (Suikoden), the battle flow and strategy planning seemed generally the same to me. Though I agree with you that Chrono Trigger (due to its team attacks) would have benefitted from a larger battle party.
Technical reasons, I suppose. More active characters on a field would require a larger amount of resources, which would mean having to scale down some other effects.

To Megavolt:
Execution is definitely important as well and it is true that an ambitious concept has a larger possibility to fail in it. But is not better to at least aim at something new a more complex, than play it safe and simple? As I see it, neither of FFs (starting with FFVI) had failed in its execution. The later ones however, seem to have more volume and work put into them.

You don't know that and the same could be true of your own opinions. And just liking someone more doesn't mean that their dialog will be more memorable. What if memorable dialog plays into why someone likes a character in the first place?

Of course it is. I said before that it's better to aim for something new than to be content with what works. And FFVI, for it's time, was not trying to play it safe and simple. In fact, I think that relative to where the series was at the time, FFVI is one of the more ambitious Final Fantasy games. Certainly moreso than FFIX and FFX. FFVI is not so primitive that it can't compete on many important levels with the Final Fantasy games that have come after.

Your opinion but not necessarily everybody elses. If I believe that some of them failed in their attempts to execute certain concepts, then I can say that FFVI was "objectively" better. I may also think that the message of FFVI is more meaningful than the teenage soap opera and witch hunt that is FFVIII. Sure, FFVIII has pretty FMVs and it spans four discs, but is the material spanning those four discs as good as the material spanning that SNES cartridge? It's the difference between setting a goal and achieving it. And believe me, I know that setting a less ambitious goal makes for a more easily achieved one, but complexity gone awry is just as bad as simple conformity. I like games which try something different, but I don't always give them an A for effort or execution.

And this is the heart of your argument. I'm not sure that effort and filling up space are the same thing. Uematsu himself complained about how the creative effort in the series had been lost and that that was part of the reason he left Square. It's possible for a shorter and less complex experience to be more potent all throughout and leave a bigger impression than a game which drags and doesn't seem to be all that inspired. You stated earlier as an objective fact that FFVI was inferior. Yet what little reasoning you've provided so far hasn't even come close to establishing that. FFVI had built upon earlier ideas and I feel that it hit a great balance enhanced by some innovations at the time. The games to come after have obviously taken those ideas and attempted to combine them with other ideas, with mixed results. For me, FFVI still has the best music and cast of the series, and combined with most other things being pretty good, I think it's the best one based on my overall assessment. People remember the dialog, characters, and music for a reason. A reason that doesn't necessarily need to stem only from the fact that they personally liked it anymore than it has to for remembering anything from other Final Fantasy games. There's more to quality than complexity. FFVI was complex enough to be meaningful but also simple enough to be charming and sincere. An "objective" balance for myself and many others.

More volume is not a reflection of more effort in a qualitative sense. Only in a quantitative one. So while there's often a correlation between trying to do more and better results, correlation is not causation, so your position cannot be established as objective proof of FFVI's inferiority. Not to mention that simply determining how much effort was put into something is by no means a clear cut affair except in the most extreme of scenarios, which is why your example earlier about splashing a bucket only goes so far.

And harder! Give the bossess a few million more hit points, and tone down the broken ridiculousness of Genji Glove + Offering + defense ignoring weapons and we're set.

Eh. I've yet to see an RPG that is difficult without incorporating mindless level grinding (hence disrupting the story and pacing). I thought FFVI had the perfect difficulty level. Not too difficult and not too easy.

Well, after posting in here I felt compelled to progress in the story a bit further. I'm now at after we find out

I will say this, the random encounters in this game seem like they have one of the highest frequencys of the series IMO (probably wrong though)

I'm guessing there isn't a no-encounters relic in the game (at least early on anyway :()

You can get a Charm Bangle if you do well enough at the Emperor's banquet. That'll reduce the encounter rate. To get the Moogle Charm, which eliminates random encounters altogether, you have to wait until after the Floating Continent.

Only game to have me counting my pennies for I can RENT it. I think that's all I need to say...

Come on now, the bosses in this game are complete push-overs. Not just HP-wise, but offensively there were few bosses that posed any significant offensive threat whatsoever. Most of the bosses were basically meatshields, just sitting there taking all your hits and hardly dishing out anything in return. Making the game more difficult wouldn't have anything to do with "grinding," merely tweaking the balance of the battle system.

One can praise certain dialogue as memorable. Somebody else however, can dismiss the very same speech as completely forgettable. The dialogue itself did not change, the only thing that changed was the perception of it.
It seems reasonable to assume that "memorability" is created by one's mind, based on a complex of personal impressions and perceptions.

And this is the subjective part I mentioned earlier. "Charm" and "sincerity" cannot be measured by any means, qualitatively or quantitatively. While they may be very important in forming one's overall experience, yet they can hardly be used if one attempts to make a somewhat objective evaluation.

Please stop your silly subjective/objective nonsense when your initial statement is basically an opinion of itself. You're just crying "WAH! Opinion! Opinion!" everytime someone explains what they like about something (or rather, why they think something was better than something else...There's a HUGE difference between the two you seem to be missing).

About the only thing you've said that can be considered objective (if somewhat inaccurately) is that the later FF's have more stuff in them compared to FFVI. From a dialogue standpoint, this is true...There is far more dialogue in the later FF's and they're far more like an interactive movie in plenty of spots. Objectively, that's fine and FFVI will never compete in terms of pure volume (although I don't recall an apocalypse happening in any later FF). Subjectively, they largely bore me, I find the characters saying the dialogue to be largely uninteresting (rendering their excess dialogue useless) and I found FFVI (and even IV) to have a much better balance of story:gameplay.

From a gameplay standpoint, it's false (or at least impossible to objectively prove). You're arguing that the later FF's have more to them...You can simply look at the amount of sidequests, characters and gameplay systems in FFVI VS them. I mean, you can't tell me the amount of characters in the later FF's was unimportant and still cling to any hope of remaining objective. Objectively, I can say FFVI has a world map the characters can travel onfoot on, something X doesn't have...Is that a good thing or a bad thing? If you can't step into the realm of opinion, you're left being forced to argue that FFVI has something X doesn't have. Hell, FFVI has two entire world maps. Objectively, it dwarfs every other FF...Man, except for V and FFIV, which has three (count 'em: three) World Maps. Objectively, I've said twice already that characters in FFVII and FFVIII lack individual abilities while VI doesn't. It's an endless and ultimately useless cycle if no attempt at subjective analysis is made.

You're puzzled why people hold FFVI in such high esteem...Maybe your objective opinion is just wrong.

To an extent, yes. However, the greats don't get labeled as such merely because a handful of people found them memorable for reasons having nothing to do with actual quality. There's a craft to dialogue having to do both with the dialog itself and the delivery of it. The irony here is that if anyone's opinion here is subjective by virtue of placing one aspect in front of everything else, it's yours. The perception that more volume equals a superior product based on nothing more than a fleeting correlation. There are objective standards for effective storytelling and effective gameplay. And those standards are not solely based on how complex something is. In fact, I'd say that clarity is more important on an objective level than mystery. It's possible for a simple story to have a complex message. And in taking into account gameplay balance for a videogame, the relative value of each aspect is objectively important. Saying that FFVI has a good balance between how it handles itself on all levels is an objectively valid statement. So give it up already. Your view that more complexity equals an objectively superior product can't be established as fact. You already admitted this yourself when you agreed that more complexity introduces more potential for flaws. Wanting something to be more ambitious is not an objective opinion. It's a subjective one. You can't prove that something is better than something else on an objective level by saying that it's more ambitious. Execution is more important. You feel that neither FFVI nor the FFs to come after have failed in that regard. That means your preference for post-FFVI installments is subjective.

The funny thing is that even if they couldn't, I'd still be objectively correct just in saying that FFVI is complex enough to be meaningful, making your argument against its simplicity a nonissue. But there is something to be said for sincerity as a result of effective storytelling. Charm is part of this as well, though one could interpret it as nostalgia, which isn't what I was referring to.

Now you're just looking for segments to isolate for the sole purpose of discrediting other opinions. Maybe you should be more concerned with trying to prove your own. I'm afraid you haven't made much progress in that regard. I'm not seeing anyone come out and agree with you. If anything, your own credibility is being diminished by your obstinance. It might be wiser for you to make an effort to meet people in the middle without resorting to cheap attempts at painting all opinions in dissension with your own as subjective. Otherwise I'm not impressed by your weak UtopiaNH impression.

That's true. Both in terms of his "more is more" argument and potential strategy in combat. Four characters per battle tends to provide more strategy than three in a battle. The very same kind of correlation that he's been trying to slap everyone with and he dismissed it by saying that it has never been an issue for him. So much for consistency.

Just finished it a few minutes ago. The final dungeon kind of pissed me off; it took me a while to get a decent balance amongst the parties but once I found one things went all right.

I spent a few hours grinding so I could throw around Ultima whenever I felt like it. Man what a joke that is combined with an Economizer relic! The final battle consisted of nothing - and I mean nothing - but Ultima spells and Cure 3 (maybe a Regen here and there). I would say my party on average was around Level 50.

I haven't fleshed out all of the characters in terms of development. I know I missed a bunch of scenes with Shadow, which I think I can still access if I can make it back to the overworld. I never bothered getting Gogo either.

The Genji Glove + Offering combination didn't prove as gamebreaking as I thought it would; it was still immensely satisfying to see Sabin deliver eight consecutive rounds of 2000+ to those fuckin' dinosaurs in that forest though.

A phenomenal game, overall. Definitely ranks up there for me on my Final Fantasy list.

This is exactly why it's not one of my favorite video game storylines.

Well, yeah. :p I think when I did the final battle, just two of my characters had Ultima. However, I had Sabin's blitz and Cyan's sword techs to help me out. It's not one of the harder fights in the series but damn, it has some fine music.

Agreed. Right after I turned the game off I immediately opened up Dancing Mad from the OSV.

Theoretically, yes. However:
I do not think that in FF, managing a four-character party required any more strategy than managing a three-character one. As I see it, the battle system in earlier FFs did not put a larger party to good use.
I may be wrong, of course. But as for now, I have not seen many reasons to change my stance.
FFVII and VIII characters have different Limit Breaks and statistical strenghts and weaknesses. Technically, they do have individual abilities, just to the lesser extent than FFVI ones. It is natural though, considering that FFVII and VIII focused on extensive customisation, instead of pre-defined character growth.

And...these are your objective arguments for FFVI being surpassed? What a let-down...Subjectively, it's weak. Objectively, it left out a bunch of things that have been mentioned prior (pick and choose much?) and much of it is subjective anyway (read: opinion that isn't worth the webspace it claims to be objective about)

More party members=more options at one's disposal. At its' very core, 4 is more than 3. That's your main argument anyway (that more is better), now you don't want to caress it? In FFX's case, having 4-5 characters would have made far more sense than forcing players to continually swap to boost their party's EXP share. In the case of FFVII and FFVIII, you're basically forced to have either Cloud or Squall in your party, leaving only 2 other party choices. Objectively, your argument has failed.

Yes, it's obvious limit breaks differentiate characters (barely), but there's also the common factor that each character has a killer super-kill move to use in the same situation as everyone else (FFVII=charge the bar, FFVIII=low life), so everyone is still basically uniform. That's not an "individual ability". Any combination of characters in FF7 or FF8 will suffice with minimal difference, whereas (unless you go the all-Ultima, all-the-time route) you at least have to use care in putting together a decent FFVI team to get the abilities you want together. Having Umaro, Gau, Locke and Sabin is far different than...well, pick any combination of FFVII or FFVIII characters because they're all basically the same! So explain how FFVI has both individual abilities and it's own methods of extensive customization (espers, relics, far more equipment and yes, including party formation), yet is somehow "behind" the more recent FF's that have left this out.

The reason of why this is my second favorite FF is simple. Kefka actually does something, and you can't stop that fucker.

Sure, the gameplay, music (<3), characters, and everything else make this game to be extremely enjoyable, but where will you find that the bad guy actually destroys the world, and not just sits his ass and says "Sup lol I'mma destroy your world doods" outside this game? I haven't seen anything like it,

Most of the game-related things have been at least partially addressed before an were discussed without reaching any consensus. As for something that could be considered a personal attack in yours and Magavolt's last posts, well, I suppose you have your reasons to see me that way. That is fine with me.

Next, the parts you bolded in my last post. I was speaking about my perception of battle flow and general strategy in FFs, and my post emphasized that. You were welcome to prove me wrong with some examples, yet you did not do so.

Nevertheless, our argument (although an interesting one) does not seem to have a chance of reaching any reasonable conclusion, for apparently, we see rather basic things way too differently. In this case, "agree to disagree" seems to be the wisest and most time-efficient option. There is one thing however, which I would appreciate if you answered. I have asked you before, but...
What "touch" did you mean?

Yeah I'm interested in knowing this as well.

I would have to say that FFVI is definitely my favorite FF game of the series. I enjoy fleshed out character development and FFVI really packs it in and rubs it all over your face. Just play it through again for Shadow's scenes and it really, really hurts. I remember quite vividly Edgar and Sabin's conversations, flashbacks, etc. Setzer's past really packs a punch as well. And then, of course, Terra. I can't name one member of that cast who doesn't have a sob ridden past.

FFVI doesn't stack up as my most favorite RPG (that being held in place by Suikoden II), but it is most definitely up there. Whoever pointed that the battles were easy, please, that dude at the top of that long tower was horrible. If it weren't for the emulator I would've trekked up that tower ten times. And if you want hard battles, play the SMT series and you better think twice about wishing hard battles ever again because it all becomes a number crunch or persona choice or getting that one item or mutation that makes battles oh so much easier.

All of this talk on FFVI makes me want to replay it (after so many years of haitus), but alas if I only have the summer for more time.

Well, to be fair... Kuja in FF9 actually did destroy a planet. Beyond recovery even. The Dark One in Arc the Lad 2 pretty much pulled a Kefka, also, as the entire surface of their world was devestated and civilization was thrown into ruin. The wisemen in Star Ocean 2 caused the destruction on all but a small portion of their planet -- and the demons in Wild Arms 1/3 have moved from planet to planet destroying them as they come across them.

If you meant simply during the course of the game, though, FF9 and Arc the Lad 2 still stand as good examples. I still think Kefka is one of the better (and without a doubt, more insane) villains out there, though, but he isn't the only villain who ever achieved his goals.

Edit: lol, you could just use Umaro at the top of the tower or berserk your party for a fast and easy win. FF6 definitely was not hard. Heck, it wasn't even easy; it fell more into the line of "very easy" if I had to label the difficulty. But I guess everyone has their own opinions. I've played plenty of SMT games -- and I enjoyed the difficulty. It truthfully was not that bad and I would not wish all my games be easier because of the experience. That's just silly.

Beat the game without getting Locke and watch the ending (compared to the ending with actually getting him). It's hard to miss the difference.

Stop beating around the bush and just tell us, man. There's no way I'm not going to win the game without Locke in the party, so I'm never going to know : /

P.S. Aside from WoR, FFVI is one of my top FF games, after FFVIII.

I don't know why everybody gives so much smack to the second half of the game. I loved the entirety of the game. The music in this game kicked the most ass overall, it had a variety of tracks to depict musically the atmosphere and mood of each part of the game.

Main reason I like it is because of its story. For the first time, the protagonist(s) is/are female(s). Terra (or Tina) is your protagonist through the first half of the game and very quickly, you begin to understand her conflicts and her personality and you grow a liking to her. Those that you get in the beginning as well are also developed pretty well. In the second half of the game, Celes becomes the protagonist, and we can see her just an unbelievable amount of character here.

The other good point about this game is its gameplay. First of all, I always liked the 4 person parties as opposed to the three person parties. Usually, it would be the other way around, but this game has a massive 14 playable characters (which just about doubles most other Final Fantasy games), and each of them are interesting to use in their own respect. The characters are actually unique too! This was only done in a few select games (namely, Final Fantasy IV, VI, and IX), and it gives more of a reason to use other characters. In the first part of the game, your party is somewhat chosen for you most of the time. After that, you use whoever you want. There has not been another Final Fantasy game that allowed you that. Finally, there are sections of the game that I wish there were more of, and that is the multi-party situations. You go through dungeons with more than 1 party and solve dungeon puzzles and such with both parties, able to switch control to the other with the press of a button. (Phoenix Cave/Kefka's Tower) is what I'm talking about. Even better, those times when you get attacked by a massive army and you split your people up into 3 groups to fight (Moogles in the beginning/Kefka's advance on Narshe) are also a blast to play. It would make it a very basic strategy RPG at those points in the game as well.

I love Final Fantasy VI.

The thing is, the majority of battles in FFVI really are mindlessly easy. Most of the bosses can be killed extremely quickly and have little in terms of real, threatening offense anyway. In cases like the Magi Master, they are completely countered by simple solutions, such as casting Berserk on him to stop him from changing his weakness and Life 3 to counter his death Ultima.

It actually gets EASIER as the game progresses, as the bosses do not get stronger HP/offensive-wise proportionately as your characters get stronger. It becomes ridiculously easy to hit 9999 multiple times with stuff like Ultima + Quick and Genji Glove + Oferring. God-Kefka should have at LEAST 10x more HP than he does.

FFVI is a lot like Symphony of the Night in that it's a fantastic game hampered by an extreme lack of difficulty to accomodate the hardcore gamer types.

Meh, no more games are like that anymore. It's been a while since I've seen a truly challenging game.

I am deleting this post, 'cause it was supposed to be directed here.

I'm pretty biased when it comes to FF6. I played it when I was young and it's one of those extremely nostalgic games that I'll always love. Kefka is still one of my favorite villains to this day and I love the rest of the cast. I've always adored the soundtrack and I listen to it quite regularly.

Anyway, I did like the first half of the game a bit more than the second simply because the landscape wasn't tarnished. The world of balance was pretty and I loved all the greenery. Still, it was nice getting all your teammates back, fighting ancient beasts, and exploring new areas in the world of ruin.

Final Fantasy VI is one of my favorite rpgs. My favorite character is Terra. But don't get me wrong this an RPG where for once, I like a majority of the cast and I'd play through again and again and even rebuy. Most of the other ones they release no days I just have no interest in or force me to play with a group of characters i do not like at all. Most the newer FF's bore me as in I fall asleep while playing the game. I remember the 1st time I played this game I stuck on where to go for awhile. I didn't figure it out til the game reappeared again. I WoB is nice too, the WoR had some kinda creepy things in it. That kinda still give me nightmares, not as much as it used too as before.

This got bumped, eh? I might as well respond to some old stuff then.

I don't know about Arc the Lad, but there's a big difference between what Kefka does and what Kuja or the wisemen do. Kefka ruins a world that you've spent the entire game exploring. You got to know the people and develop a connection to the WoB. Kuja would have to destroy Gaia in order to have the same effect, but that's not what happens at all. He destroys a tiny and virtually dead planet with one section that you get to explore near the end of the game. Terra had little relevance beyond the backstory it provided and I wouldn't compare the destruction of a few soulless husks to seeing children fall through the cracks in FFVI. In terms of the impact of what Kefka does on the world of FFVI as we know it, it's much larger than the impact of Kuja destroying Terra, and we continue to see the impact of his deeds afterwards whereas FFIX turns into a 'hovering threat' kind of thing (stop Kuja before he destroys the crystal) like with FFVII. Kefka had basically already won and you have to pick yourself up and challenge him again. As for the wisemen, it's a matter of hearing about what happened rather than seeing it, which you seem to realize with the course of the game thing you mentioned. We hear about how Nede wound up as Energy Nede but we don't experience it and we don't develop any connection with the people who suffered and died during the struggles with the wisemen. Expel is a different story, but that situation is literally undone.

As for FFVI being easy, I played it again not too long ago and it actually has some tough parts if you don't spend much extra time powering up your guys and don't abuse the Vanish glitch or Ultima. The Floating Continent is no picnic and Kefka's Tower is fairly tough as well, as Poltergeist nearly killed me last time. Granted, it's not a difficult game, but it's at least as tough (if not tougher) as the Sony generation Final Fantasies, save for FFXII.

Ah, FInal Fantasy VI. I still remember counting the pennies I had to rent it just ONE more time before I'd get it for Christmas. And of course, on Christmas day, my g'parents got me Final Fantasy III...Final....Fantasy...III....LEGEND!!! They were so excited, even saying how they looked all over for it for me. I don't know how they ever missed the look of disappointment on my face because my 'rents picked up on it.

As it were, my father was really cool, and took the game back, used some of his Christmas money, and got me the game. I never appreciated such an act as I do now. Of course, a friend aske dme to borrow it and I FOOLISHLY did, and never saw it again. Until...I went to gamestop and bought a used copy. Wasn't the cleanest, but at least it worked.

Great music, decent graphics for the time, nice storyline both overall and for the characters. I still remember learning the fine art of leveling up my characters...

The gameplay was excellent...as each person had unique abilities. Locke was the best all the way, as with his ability, you could quickly gather all sorts of useful things.

I easily put at least 300 hours of time into this game. Good game, one I would easily recommend people play.

Final Fantasy VI changed my life. Really. It's easily my favorite role playing game ever made. The plethora of colorful characters, the storyline and the exquisitely dramatic music are still pretty much tops in my mind.

I've played the game so much that I think I could probably map every single town in great detail from memory. I also have every note of the music memorized, as well as most of the lines from the game.

It's an epic.

Y'know, back in the day when I played FFVI a lot, I never thought of Terra as the protagonist. I always thought each character was fleshed out enough and took up enough time in the main storyline to be considered equal parts of the cast. Of course this doesn't apply to some of them, like Umaro, Gogo, and Mog, but you get what I mean.

Regardless, it's still an amazing game; definitely one of my all-time favorites.

I played FF6 for the first time on an SNES emulator in 2005. The one thing that I really needed to adjust to was that the enemy attacks are not animated - I think Chrono Trigger had enemy animations, but maybe my view is distorted by playing more realtime-battle titles like Terranigma.

Even from a 2005 perspective it was extremely much fun. I never missed the amount of background information that I got from the texts in FF12. Playing a game, not gathering material for a History Book. ;)

I also played this for the first time on an emulator back in 2000. It was the first thing I ever emulated, too; back on an old version of SNES9x with no transparencies and glitches everywhere. But when I moved Terra in Narshe for the first time, I was ecstatic!

This was about five years after it originally came out, but I really liked it. The game still holds up pretty well, but I think it's something that our generation in particular can enjoy since the sprite-based story-telling is something we grew up on. The biggest issue I heard from younger gamers about FFVI Advance was that the "enemies didn't move" and they felt like they were fighting "cardboard cut-outs". *We* appreciate the fact that the game used all 256 of the SNES's available colors, but *they* want motion and fluidity. They want something that looks alive, while our imaginations, all we had to rely on for years, told us they were. Never mind the fact that most of them were weaned on FFVII or Ocarina of Time, which would have pretty much shaped their standards for any other next-gen RPG or semi-RPG they played from that point on. But there is a level of fun to FFVI that I keep hearing about even today, which says a lot about it.

I think I've always like FFIV more, but FFVI is a definite classic. I still play it from time to time.