Like many
gamers in my age group, Final Fantasy served as my entrance into the
JRPG genre. Before my initial playthrough of Final Fantasy X at a
cousin's house, I had never really given them much thought. Since
then, I have been gradually playing the other Final Fantasy games
whenever the opportunity arises. With my new-found mass of free time,
I decided to use this chance to play through the 6th of the
franchise's numbered entries. Aside from the 3rd, it was, until
recently, the only non-MMO main-entry that I had yet to play. Because
of many of the old school fan-base call it the best game in the
entire series, I was more than interested.
Released
in 1994, Final Fantasy VI was originally released for the SNES in
both Japan and the United States. Back when the US first got the
game, it was the third Final Fantasy game released in the region, so
it was titled “Final Fantasy 3”. To this day, there is still a
degree of confusion born as a result. However, subsequent releases
have attempted to correct these errors by giving the game its proper
title, now that Final Fantasy has become so well-known throughout the
world. The version I played for this article is the version for the
original PlayStation, obtained from the PlayStation Store and played
on my PlayStation 3.
What I
found most interesting about Final Fantasy VI is how much darker in
tone the story was compared to previous entries. This is especially
true since the 5th entry in the franchise is known to be one of the
most light-hearted by far. The game is not shy about killing off very
prominent story characters (but no one in the main party). In fact,
the protagonists learn magic by holding onto the corpses of magical
beings called Espers, turned into gemstones called Magicite. The
villain is also one of the most well-known for being the only Final
Fantasy villain to ever succeed at destroying the world. Though it
may not be the darkest game in the franchise, it is definitely one of
them.
And of
course, the tale would not be anywhere near as good if it did not
have a excellent cast of characters. This is something that Final
Fantasy VI has in spades. The game is interesting because it is one
of the few in the series that does not have a true protagonist. Some
of the party members are less vital to the story than others are, but
none can be truly said to be the driving force of events by
themselves. The story is more about how all of these characters, from
different regions and with their own unique backstories, gather
together under a common banner to fight the evil empire.
As
villains, the Gesthal empire serves its purpose well. Particularly,
Kefka is one of the franchises most infamous villains. In a nutshell,
he is what one would get when combining the joker with the resources
of an organized military and immense magical power. Callously
destroying many villages and ending countless lives, Kefka serves as
a great motivation for players to keep playing. Furthermore, thanks
to the superb translation, his dialog throughout the story will just
as often entertain as much as it will horrify. He has so many
memorable quotes that there are pages
dedicated to them. The cast of characters work, and are a massive
part of why the game is so well-loved.
The
other reason the game is notable is because of what it did it terms
of design. In the beginning, Final Fantasy VI plays like any other
Final Fantasy before. Though the map is large an open, players
traverse it in a linear fashion, from point A to point B. Later on,
after an extremely important plot event, the party gets separated.
From then on, the world is much less restrictive. Taking the role of
one particular player character, the goal shifts to gathering up the
party in preparation to challenge the final boss. It is made clear at
this point that who the final boss is and where they are hiding. At
this point, it is possible, though difficult, to skip the rest of the
game, head directly to the end, and finish it.
Alternatively,
players can try to find and retrieve all of the old party members,
deal with their baggage, and prepare them to come together to tackle
this challenge. In essence, all of the content aside from the last
dungeon at this point consists of side-quests. Those missions are
about 15 hours of the game's roughly 40 hour playtime. Fans of
modern-day RPGs like Skyrim and Mass Effect 2 probably will not be
too impressed by that. However, since this game originally came out
on the SNES, this was an extremely bold and revolutionary move at the
time. Honestly, it is a little surprising that this style of RPG took
so long to become mainstream. The transition from linear JRPG-style
play to that more familiar to us in the west was handled smoothly,
and the game is better for it.
Despite
how much I enjoyed it, the game does have some noteable blemishes.
Unfortunately, these flaws have much more to do with circumstances
than any real measure of quality. First, at least on the PlayStation
version, I noticed an issue with loading times. About 2 or 3 seconds
are required to transition between scenes or to go to the menu to use
items or manage characters. While that does not sound like much,
having this same slowdown compounded over the hundreds of times these
events will happen in a given playthrough can become a major
nuisance. Since I had this same problem with the PlayStation versions
of other sprite based RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy V, I
suspect it had more to do with technology than anything else. It is
nothing Square could help, but it is nonetheless a source of
frustration.
The
other issue, at least for me, comes from the time in which Final
Fantasy VI was originally designed. Back then, random encounters were
seen as one of the best, and most well-known, ways to make sure that
players always have the opportunity to strengthen their party before
a boss fight. Given how much game design has evolved since then, I
can no longer subscribe to the thinking that random encounters are a
good game design decision. Personally, I find them quite frustrating,
especially when I am in the middle of navigating a dungeon, among
many other grievances the typical method in which they are
implemented. Again, it is hard to blame an SNES game from 1994 for
following standard genre conventions of the time (especially when it
challenges others), but it can be a detractor for people who
subscribe to modes of thinking similar to my own.
As a
total package, Final Fantasy VI is a classic game that is definitely
worth completing at least once if you have even a cursory interest in
the genre. There is good reason to consider it one of the best
entries in the Final Fantasy franchise. In some ways, it can be seen
as an experimental game, and a precursor to the more open-worlds we
see in video games today. Even from a modern perspective, it aged
more gracefully than many of its contemporaries, serving as a good
example which budding game designers can learn from. In all, it has
earned its place among the pantheon of legend RPGs, but you are
probably not surprised by that.
