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

What is your insight on the storyline of FF6? Who thought it was magnificent? Who thought it was just average?

I feel that it is the most overrated storyline of all time in games.
Just because the music is brilliant and pulls us in during some of the scenes does not mean that the whole plot ended up being perfectly well-rounded or the game had a magnificent ending.

I am asking for some more insight because the storyline is often brought up amongst my friends & people online and it is spoken of like it is equal to perfection.
Am I the only one that believes that it had a great start but really, Kefka ended up getting what he wanted by destroying the world like that, anyway?

Feel free to state what you highly like or dislike about the storyline. Use this if you need quotes:
http://faqs.ign.com/articles/429/429392p1.html (Entire Game Script).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I did indeed rate it a 7.5 out of 10, but I felt that the ending was more of some kind of character-building segment rather than an epic battle against a foe who is trying to destroy everything but hasn't yet.

Here is what I mean:

"Terra: I know what love is...!
Locke: And I have learned to celebrate life... and the living.
Cyan: My family lives on inside of me.
Shadow: I know what friendship is... and family...
Edgar: It is my dream to build a kingdom in which I can guarantee freedom
and dignity."

I like the fact that in FF4, for example, the reasons why the characters fight is to save the world and also to get revenge on the entity that attacked Damcyan, Fabul, Mist Village and other places.

In FF6, they had to look for reasons within themselves to pick their "butts" up and start fighting. In almost all other video games, the reasons for fighting is clear and plain as day. There is a threat and it must be eradicated. Also for revenge purposes / character anger (emotionally strong reasons to do act).

Perhaps I just didn't like the latter: "reduces the game for leaving you without the Empire conflict that played a role the first segment of the story."
and the fact that it was harder for both the player and the character in the story to find a reason to fight within the context of the plot.

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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.

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The characters in say, FF4, have their reasons to fight based upon what happened to them or their families. I can detect an extreme urge to go to the moon as quickly as possible and save the world.

The characters in FF6 have to scan their brains for reasons to do something in the world of ruin, which completely destroys any sense of suspense for the player. However, (and I will paste this in almost every post in this thread to remind people): The concept that FF6 used in the world of ruin is still a 7.5 to me. It is a good concept. Not the best or most suspense-filled thing ever, but good. This thread is about how highly overrated I believe the storyline is especially given the things that left us hanging in the world of balance.

EDIT ADD-ON -- Hachifusa: So what would you score FF6's story out of 10 then? Vote I'm wondering this to understand your opinion fully because you said some of the negatives and some of the positives but with no clear "score". (I'm guessing high? But 8, 9 or 10...?)

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"One thing totally pisses me off: Where the fuck does Mr. I'm-So-Fucking-Important-In-The-Opening-Hours Banon end up? Just...written off. THAT has always annoyed me about FFVI's storyline. Oh, and the elder doesn't really explain much about Narshe in the second half either...DETAILS PLEASE!"

"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."

These statements from people who give the game a higher score than me are exactly the reasons why I thought the game was only a 7.5. I do, however, understand Kefka and his insane attitude. I don't think they are going for comedy. I believe they are trying to make him seem insane -- which he is.

Sure, FFIV is linear, but who says a non-stop linear story is bad? In this game, it starts off with a great need to protect and salvage the crystals before Zemus/Golbez gets them because doing so would mean protecting the world. It almost feels like a race to some kind of finish line. A critically important race. Throughout the story, some characters' castles are attacked & infiltrated, others want revenge, and the rest are looking for answers about who they are and where they belong because their individual "worlds" were ruined (Cecil's king was a monster; Rydias village was bombed and she eventually finds the land of the summoned monsters, etc).
The story does not stop.

As this game is 3 years older than FFVI, I can understand that the execution is not as excellent. The character sprites are smaller, however, they are capable of making us witness emotion anyway. There are not as many graphics, either. FFVI eventually had mountains/hills shifting positions. Brilliant.

I am very much hoping for the FFIV DS remake to have great execution.
From where FFIV starts, I hope to see those wizards in Mysidia killed in the flashback in a much better-looking way. However, I am capable of understanding the scene -- a very powerful scene of a few small character sprites disappearing into thin air means that they were slaughtered because they were in the way of the crystal.

I believe the execution of FFIV is low, which does not help matters for some gamers, but I believe the intensity of the scenes is at a maximum. Remember when Tellah finally meets Golbez? Remember when Kain is, for some reason, attacking his own best friend that he grew up with? Remember when certain characters sacrifice their health for the benefit of everyone else?

Imagine all these scenes with the graphics & execution of FFVI! (The "FFVI-style" remake of FFIV).

Back to FFVI, I just felt that the plot was brewing into something gigantic and that it exploded in the favor of the enemy instead. After that, it seemed a little depressing. There seemed to be a lack of intensity. Everything felt slowed down.

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FFIV has a linear storyline but the GBA remake manages to add Yang, Cid, Porom, Palom, etc in the middle of the game so you can pick them when you want.

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I think my final thought regarding the point of this thread -- although not a closing comment (keep voting, sharing thoughts!) -- is that some people were looking for FFVI to do certain things when they witnessed the awesome world of balance plot. For those people, what they expected simply didn't happen. Other gamers understand that's how the storyline unfolded, and thus they chose to immerse themselves into the characters' storylines in the WoR. And so, the end result was more of a philosophical feel than a straight up "save the world, get revenge, find out the truth, and celebrate when its over" type deal.

FELIPE NO

Although my favorite RPG series is Dragon Quest (I can go to any DQ game and find raw, solid, challenging gameplay, of turn-based fighting), I must say that there is a reason why an FF game is my favorite of all time. (FF4). It's because the series tries something different every time. The storyline and the gameplay.
It does, however, get risky with enjoyment. Will we like the storyline? Will we think the gameplay is great or garbage? An FF game is either the best we've played of all time or the worst. (FF2j's lack of experience... lot of people hate it. I for one ignored that fact and highly leveled my spells and had an enjoyable quest).

So yeah, it is a good thing that FF6 did what it did with the story. Why copy off previous games?

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