[Classic] The Storyline of Final Fantasy VI *Spoilers*

Borg, I think that while it is clear that nostalgia plays a role, the reason why FF6 is still held in such high regard is for what it attempts to accomplish. We can debate if it does it well or not, but I give Final Fantasy VI credit for being something different up until that point. It was seeking to deliver that character-driven story, and was the prototype for later games that downplayed the actual plot of "saving the world" and replaced it with deeper characterization.

There are problems with the game that needn't be ignored. The plot does falter at times, and one wonders, like GoldfishX said, what happens to Banon, and about the complete lack of all-out war that seemed to be so impending. The Empire was always on top, but almost comically so, and for the deranged clown figure in the Empire to win and create some evil world is really, for the lack of a better term, dumb.

But the fact that the important characters - ignoring incidentals like Relm or pure placeholders like Umaro - develop deep reasons to defeat Kefka is enough to make it stand out when it came out. Perhaps the act of having the characters really read like a self-help book at the end shows the simplicity of the medium - these lines, if need to be said at all, would have been much more powerful spaced out in individual scenarios. But to ignore what FF6 did for video games everywhere is really a travesty.

Originally Posted by Borg1982

That part of the game sounded just like that... I agree with Kefka. I'm not supposed to agree with the final boss of the game, so I wasn't a huge fan of how the game boils down to that, however, I did score the story a 7.5 / 10 so it wasn't too bad anyway.

Final Fantasy has always dealt badly with humor. Unlike its rival, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy is a bit too serious to have a funny villian. Kefka is great at times, but he makes us feel that the most important scenes in the game is corny. He sort of is that little voice in our head that will occasionally speak out and say, "This is really dumb, you know."

Jam it back in, in the dark.

All right. 8.5. Automatic 7 because of the nostalgia, and an extra point and a half because it holds up pretty well thirteen years after the fact.

There's nowhere I can't reach.