Thoughts on Final Fantasy VI

[I spoil things. There are spoilers.]

My friends told me that FF6 would be my favorite one and they were right. This one is different from all its predecessors in several, several different ways.

First, it is cinematic. There are angles, shots, cutscenes, backdrops, vistas, character poses, etc. that the previous games did not even consider using.

You start the game and the first thing you see is three magitek walkers, trudging through the snow, while the ground moves beneath them, and mountains in the horizon rise up. There’s depth! And all the while, Terra’s Theme plays in the background, establishing the mood of the whole adventure ahead: It’s adventurous, it’s despair-inducing, it’s hopeful. We don’t know what the future holds, but we will walk onwards. God, it’s so good.

Then, we of course have the characters. These characters are more alive than the ones we’ve seen in the previous games so far. First, I can remember their names. We are still given the option to enter custom names, but as the end credits reveal, these characters have names and lives of their own. They are all flawed and hurt, but they are still filled with that very JRPG hope to find themselves a new path and move ever onward. It’s all about hope always.

There isn’t a lot of space in an SNES cartridge, but there is still plenty of interesting writing in place for these characters too. Terra Branford is an icon for a reason and I just love her so much. But similarly, so is Celes, Sabin, Edgar and the others. Frankly, I had a very set party, so I only hung out with Terra, Celes, Edgar, and Sabin, but even then while doing the “loyalty quests” of the other party members, you could really feel some level of connection. The writers did a pretty good job at identifying and using “emotional hitpoints” to create those really heartful moments.

Possibly my favorite moment of them all is the one where Terra remembers her reason to fight and regains her powers. When you come across Terra once again after Kefka has destroyed the world and turned it into one of Ruin, she no longer seems to have access to her Esper powers and is acting as a mother figure (a Mama bear perhaps) to a village of orphans. In this first encounter, a giant monster comes and attacks the village. Terra tries to fight, but fails, so you fight in her stead. Afterwards, Terra says she can no longer do this, and you have to give her some time to come to her senses. When you return from your journeys to find other friends, the giant monster attacks once again and almost defeats your party. But this time, Terra realizes that there is still a reason to fight for. It’s the love that these orphans have for her and it’s the love she has for them.

She, of course, has to turn into an Esper to defeat this monster and she does. But her appearance terrifies the orphans and Terra immediately regrets transforming. However, one of the kids recognizes her through her transformation and reaches out. And at that moment, Terra understands. It, frankly, is one of the greatest narrative moments in a video game.

And finally, we come to the gameplay — admittedly important for a video game. There are no jobs in this game and everyone can cast spells. In addition, each character has a specific ability. For example, Edgar can use tools — a chainsaw for example. The spells are learned via equipping magicite, which also act as this game’s version of summons. As a character levels up with a magicite equipped, they unlock the spells of that particular Esper. Eventually, you can create characters with really diverse spellbooks.

In addition, you can equip relics which grant powers that were previously used in jobs. This way, you can make your characters learn Jump, Dualcast, Multihit, etc.

With these and by chasing all the most powerful items in the game, you can create a completely unbeatable death squad. For me this was Dualcast-Trance-Ultima-gg Terra, One-Hit-KO-Chainsaw-Also-Curaga Edgar, Phantom-Strike-LMAO Sabin, and Cura-Cura-Cura-Cura-Cura-Cura Celes. What’s even more disgusting, I also had Celes and Terra wear Minerva Bustiers, which made all elemental attacks against them completely useless. By the end of the game, this team was unbeatable and it was great.

Except… Except for the goddamn Cultist Tower. I hate that place. I understand the design principle and I understand the desired challenge, but it sucks and I don’t want it. You can only cast spells at the CT, no abilities, nothing else. There are also no savespots, so you cannot heal or regain MP. So, you must climb the entire tower, fight a terrible boss, and climb back. All in one go. (Thank god for the invention of the quick save.)

Speaking of the boss, I hate the boss too. This Magic Master resets his immunity/weakness after each time you hit him. Randomly. As such, there’s no easy way to figure out what his weakness is, but what’s worse you can accidentally heal him. He also then kill himself and everyone else once he reaches 0 HP. I know now that there are ways to work around this guy — for example, you can cast Berserk. But that’s not something I could do. Instead, I used a Reflect Ring and then cast Re-Raise on Terra. I then left the game on auto-play and waited until the guy killed himself. Was that fun? No. I don’t like that tower.

The other interesting thing is the multi-party system that certain dungeons, including the final one uses. In these, you have to split all your characters into separate groups. You can swap between these groups while exploring. Usually, this means that each group can do one thing that the others can’t do. So you must go through the dungeon at the same time and open the path for the other groups. Eventually, you all go through the dungeon and reach your destination.

For the final dungeon, this also means that you are technically supposed to have levelled up all your characters appropriately, so that they can each fight the various bosses they face. In my case, I just redid the dungeon several times with my death squad and making them go through different paths each time. It worked out! Terra is OP.

That being said, the combat itself is the best the pixel games have ever been. I haven’t even done any of Gau’s stuff, but I hear that he’s very fun to play too. Alas.

VI - V - IV - II - III - I

Takeaways

• Good animations, clever use of assets, and nice music can make anything feel really cinematic.

• Giving players choices is, as always, the key to a good time.

• Learning why a certain character is sad is a great way to make them relateable.

• Stop FREEZING players without giving them a way out.

• Over-the-top attacks, when earned, feel really good.

Almost Forgot

Mass Effect 2, the great sci-fi RPG of Bioware, is the World of Ruin half of Final Fantasy VI. It’s the exact same game.

The game starts with your ship crashing down and getting completely destroyed, with seemingly no survivors. You later wake up, all alone, in a place of healing. You are stranded in this place and must leave.

You leave and realize that a few years have passed. A lot of places where humans live have been attacked, lives have been extinguished, and the threat of the attacker coming back looms over you.

First, you find a ship, and then you upgrade this ship. Then, you go around the game's world and find your friends. You help them come to terms with their pasts.

Once you are all prepared, you launch your suicide attack at the enemy's base. You must split your team up, based on their strengths and weaknesses.

Each party must successfully navigate through this dungeon and defeat their bosses. At the end of the dungeon, you reunite. And together, all of you, fight to bring down the enemy, once and for all.

And in Mass Effect 2, you can use laser guns.