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No really, Final Fantasy VI was released 20 years ago

Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Final_Fantasy_VI.jpg


Released in 1994, it was renamed to Final Fantasy III in the west due to various FF games not being released at the time.

My first experience was with the PSX version and man did this game give me feels...lots of feels.
I don't remember if I've beaten it, but I do plan on replaying it in the near future despite the 'your stats don't increase when you level up' thing.

There's no arguing that Final Fantasy VI has some of the best cast in a jRPG, as well as having one of the largest playable cast in a Final Fantasy game.

If you're interested in playing the game, try these versions:
The original SNES version (should be available Wii VC?)

The PSX version, available on PSN (EU GAFfers beware it's 50 Hz, so get the US PSN ver.), if you look past the loading times, it's pretty similar to the SNES ver.

The GBA version, although having various gameplay changes and additions, the audio and graphics suffer due to the GBA hardware but is still considered one of the better versions of the game.

What are you memories of playing FF6 for the first time?
For me
Effin' Sabin/Mash, dude was a bro and could SUPLEX TRAINS AND HOLD UP A BURNING COLLAPSING MANSION ALL BY HIMSELF!
Edgar being a freakin' pimp and a badass
The scene where Celes jumps off the cliff after Cid dies...that was the one that got me GAF T.T. Yes I know you can save Cid but...it was more impactful if he were dead >_>;

No FF6 thread should of course go without posting some of its fantastic music...although these are the only ones that come to mind atm =V

The opera theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36TdZx8VgbA
The battle theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syeudRZuuMo
The boss theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjw35-qkb_s
Boss theme, Smooth McGroove Style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wu9DnbzB8g

Finally have some godly Amano art-
FFV_characters_Amano.jpg

Party_Artwork.jpg

20100705053317!Amano_Kefka_alt.jpg
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
This anniversary does NOT surprise me, because FFVI is one of those things I keep ongoing tabs on how old it is. I am fully aware that I have been enjoying this series for two decades now :)

Best FF.
 
Yoshichan

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Wow, 20 years huh? Just as good back then as it is today.

Best version iOS version.

Clearly.
 
R

RaikuHebi

Banned
I was only a few years old, but I'm proud to say that in the last 4 years I've got into the habit of playing classics I missed. I haven't finished this yet (furthest I've got was around or after the train), but it's definitely on my list.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Aeriscloud said:
Still the most glitched and buggy Final Fantasy.

Paint at your own risk.
Click to expand...

Maybe I have revision 1.1 or 1.2, hmm??

I remember there were unofficial strategy guides that told how to exploit these glitches, and it really added to the depth of lore this game had.

VANISH + X-ZONE.
 
A

AniHawk

Member
i had heard about it as i was really getting into gaming around the late 90s, and asked for it as a christmas gift in 2000. my parents actually tracked it down and i was playing it during my christmas vacation. shit blew my mind. i didn't care at all that it was 6 years old at the time.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
AniHawk said:
i had heard about it as i was really getting into gaming around the late 90s, and asked for it as a christmas gift in 2000. my parents actually tracked it down and i was playing it during my christmas vacation. shit blew my mind. i didn't care at all that it was 6 years old at the time.
Click to expand...

You're better than all those FFVII johnny-come-latelies who poo-pooed the game when I tried to show it to them in 1997 :(
 
E

Earthpainting

Member
Having played 7 to 10 before this one, I figured I had a good grasp of what I was getting into. The game ended up pleasantly surprising me in terms of structure, character focus and the game-changer in the middle. I do believe that a lot of appreciation I have for it does come from its 16-bit minimalism. Recent Square Enix titles and especially Dissidia opened my eyes to the fact that I would probably dislike the same basic game if they were to make it today with modern technology.

Still, I'm happy that we got the game as is, which may still be one of my favourite RPGs of all time. Can't neglect the music either, which is probably the game's strongest asset.
 
H

Hastati

Member
I have wanted to play this game forever, but never went through with it due to confusion over which version to play. Everything I've heard and seen about this game just screams quality.

I feel like it really deserves a remaster or at least a decent port a la Chrono trigger ds...is the SNES version the best bet at the moment?
 
F

Frumix

Suffering From Success
Hastati said:
I have wanted to play this game forever, but never went through with it due to confusion over which version to play. Everything I've heard and seen about this game just screams quality.

I feel like it really deserves a remaster or at least a decent port a la Chrono trigger ds...is the SNES version the best bet at the moment?
Click to expand...

It's split between GBA version with a slightly improved (and sometimes not so much improved) translation and extra content and SNES version with better sound.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Earthpainting said:
Having played 7 to 10 before this one, I figured I had a good grasp of what I was getting into. The game ended up pleasantly surprising me in terms of structure, character focus and the game-changer in the middle. I do believe that a lot of appreciation I have for it does come from its 16-bit minimalism. Recent Square Enix titles and especially Dissidia opened my eyes to the fact that I would probably dislike the same basic game if they were to make it today with modern technology.

Still, I'm happy that we got the game as is, which may still be one of my favourite RPGs of all time. Can't neglect the music either, which is probably the game's strongest asset.
Click to expand...
I do think this fact does account for a good percentage of "they don't make FF like they used to" complaints. I am playing games like Lightning Returns now, and I really don't think the tone of the dialogue and plot points are too far removed from a lot of the older FFs. But when it's a walking, talking, sentimental anime....? Not quite as universally appealing and bro-friendly. (and yes, of course there are some aspects that are worse/not the same as they used to be)

Now personally... I like sentimental anime, so whether it's 1994 or 2014, I'm happy. :)
 
B

BrokenIcarus

Member
Probably the best rpg of its time. Until Chrono trigger that is. The first half is truly amazing but World Of Ruin doesn't fit that well imo. Really love the esper and magic system though.
And the music is probably the best in any FF
 
T

TeddyBoy

Member
I played through this game for the first time a couple years ago, it was a brilliant game with so many great characters and so many memorable moments. I need to play through it again at some point.

Boss battle is the best song for me.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
BrokenIcarus said:
Probably the best rpg of its time. Until Chrono trigger that is. The first half is truly amazing but World Of Ruin doesn't fit that well imo. Really love the esper and magic system though.
And the music is probably the best in any FF
Click to expand...
Back then I gave VI the edge over Chrono Trigger. Both great games, but while Trigger has whimsy, VI had pathos. It just seemed to me to be the more important and emotionally engaging experience.

But when we're considering 20-year old SNES RPGs, I'd almost tend to give the edge to "whimsy"... especially when so many videogames have gone for ultraserious melodrama since then.

nah... I'd still say VI wins
 
M

MrT-Tar

Member
My second favourite game of all time
Wind Waker is first
. I have it on the Wii VC and have been meaning to replay it for a while. On a related note, I hope the European WiiU VC gets it soon as well, didn't Japan get it last year?
 
H

Herb Alpert

Banned
my first turn-based JRPG. I didn't know what to expect because I didn't really understand the gameplay at that time. I imported it, it took time. And when I played it, I discovered one the greatest gaming experience I've ever had. And probably I will never be blown away by a game as I was by FF6.

I laughed, I cried (
celes trying to kill herself on solitary island
). The opera house scene is still one my favourite gaming moments.
Other beloved moments :
-locke fails to revive Rachel
-Gau tries to meet with his father
-the phantom train and the farewell from Cyan to his family
-THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!
-general Leo's death
And I forget a lot of those...

What I appreciate the most with this game are the protagonists. You didn't have to stick with one main character. My main team was, if I recall correctly, Sabin (because you made SF2 moves, dammit!), Gau (free ultimas for everyone, and because he's an awesome kid), Edgar (Chaiiiiiiiiinsaw, and the guy is cool albait a little borderline with litlle girls), and Shadow (because he's so badass and has a so cool back story shrouded with mysteries and ties to other characters).

Kefka is an incredible vilain, and the story is simple, but so well told, with great implications.
Graphics and sound were top notch (and still are IMO).

One of my favorite games of all time.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
Such an incredible game. Top 5 all time for me easily. Would kill for a DS/3DS version of it. Not even remade, just an updated version like Chrono Trigger on DS.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Herb Alpert said:
What I appreciate the most with this game are the protagonists. You didn't have to stick with one main character. My main team was, if I recall correctly, Sabin (because you made SF2 moves, dammit!), Gau (free ultimas for everyone, and because he's an awesome kid), Edgar (Chaiiiiiiiiinsaw, and the guy is cool albait a little borderline with litlle girls), and Shadow (because he's so badass and has a so cool back story shrouded with mysteries and ties to other characters).
Click to expand...
For me,

Edgar
Sabin
Cyan
Shadow

Later Shadow gets the boot in favor of Gogo for 2x Bum Rush ;)
 
D

DustyVonEric

Member
All-time favorite game, characters, and villain.

Still love Floating Continents song when you first fight your way to Kefka.

Wait for Shadow!!!

My favorite game soundtrack after FFVIII
 
Z

Zelias

Banned
Best FF (except maybe FFT if we count spin-offs). Brilliant ensemble cast, great music - shame about the GBA sound quality, though - and Kefka.
 
N

nubbe

Member
Remember when I saw FFVI for PSX on store shelves here in Sweden
Could not believe my eyes

I bought two copies
 
B

BrokenIcarus

Member
BocoDragon said:
Back then I gave VI the edge over Chrono Trigger. Both great games, but while Trigger has whimsy, VI had pathos. It just seemed to me to be the more important and emotionally engaging experience.

But when we're considering 20-year old SNES RPGs, I'd almost tend to give the edge to "whimsy"... especially when so many videogames have gone for ultraserious melodrama since then.

nah... I'd still say VI wins
Click to expand...

For me the mechanics make Chrono the better game. Diagonal movement, "real" attack animations, No random battles and separate battle screens, Team attacks, multiple endings, New game+, The customization is a lot better in ff6 and the quality of the story is debatable, but to me that makes Chrono the better game :)
 
F

Falk

that puzzling face
This really was a classic. Ironically I played it AFTER VII but it still has so many amazing memories for me. I remember finishing the last boss, getting yelled at by my dad to go to sleep because it was ~4AM, having to stop and then beat the game again just to see the ending.

Tizoc said:
Released in 1994, it was renamed to Final Fantasy III in the west due to various FF games not being released at the time.
Click to expand...

Isn't it more accurate to say it was because North America isn't aware there is a world outside its borders?

(Yes, I know the first actual official European release was post-2000 :V)
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I must replay this... I re-bought the SNES cart mint in box in 2010 in the fervor leading up to XIII. Feels good to have that around.

One of the great things about the great SNES RPGs is that they are actually less "frictional" than earlier or later RPGs. They are incredibly easy to pick up and play even today. NES RPGs require extreme patience due to their archaic nature, but PS1, PS2, and even PS3 RPGs often put so much emphasis on long cutscenes and advanced mechanics and tutorials that they are all their own kind of slog. SNES RPGs have just enough story to matter, but the cutscenes are actually briefer than you might remember, and the battle systems and menus are quick and instantaneous (thank you cartridges!).

If I had to introduce a kid in 2014 to jRPGs, I might just pick VI or Chrono Trigger, and not out of some misplaced sense of history or giving them my generation's experience, but because they are actually the easiest jRPGs to play and get into.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Falk said:
Isn't it more accurate to say it was because North America isn't aware there is a world outside its borders?
Click to expand...

Oh, you think if Europe got it in 1994 it would have been labelled correctly? Ha.

It didn't even come out in Europe, which is the point. It was a different, slightly less-globalized time. Of course it was retitled in North America, when this was in an age where Europe didn't even know the series existed after NES.
 
A

AniHawk

Member
BocoDragon said:
You're better than all those FFVII johnny-come-latelies who poo-pooed the game when I tried to show it to them in 1997 :(
Click to expand...

i've always pretty much disliked ffvii. at first it was irrational tribalism driving emotions. then i played it and was sorta okay with it. the day after i realized i actually didn't care for what i'd just done. final fantasy vi was my first final fantasy, and one of my first forays into the rpg genre. playthroughs of pokemon gold, ffvi, chrono trigger, smrpg, and skies of arcadia were mere months apart.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
AniHawk said:
i've always pretty much disliked ffvii. at first it was irrational tribalism driving emotions. then i played it and was sorta okay with it. the day after i realized i actually didn't care for what i'd just done. final fantasy vi was my first final fantasy, and one of my first forays into the rpg genre. playthroughs of pokemon gold, ffvi, chrono trigger, smrpg, and skies of arcadia were mere months apart.
Click to expand...

That actually sounds like an awesome alternative to playing them as they released... not a bad childhood.

I love VII though. Great game. Just didn't de-throne VI. And the VII kiddies who dismissed VI almost drove me to become one of those VII-begrudging ghouls that I still see prowling the webs decades later. Thankfully I came to my senses that I was merely backlashing, circa 1998. No problem if you genuinely don't like that game tho.
 
E

Earthpainting

Member
Herb Alpert said:
-the phantom train and the farewell from Cyan to his family
Click to expand...
This and getting the second airship are my favourite parts in the entire game. It feels weird to say it, as they are absolute downer moments. In both instances you don't really know much about the loss that these characters experienced, but resonated with me.

The entire Phantom Forest section is just wonderfully executed.
You arrive at a hauntingly beautiful place, where the style of assets is different from what the game has thrown at you up until this point. You have high-contrast fore and background elements, large trees sprites and reflective water. They put in a lot of effort to make this area look less tiled, and make it feel large and dense. This, paired with the eerie slow-paced music, makes you feel small and the area cold and lonely. Made perfect sense, it's it all a build-up to a train station where the departed embark on their last journey.

You hop aboard the train and get a fun sequence where you're making your way through the other end. You'll make a ghost-friend, do some battles, climb ontop of the train, get swarmed and finally get a great boss battle. This boss battle is incredibly silly and makes absolutely no sense at all, but that's part of what makes it great. Your party is out-running an undead sentient train, while also fighting it at the same time. Letting Sabin supplex it to this day is still the most over-the-top awesome thing I've seen in a game. If you don't care for fighting it, you can just use a Phoenix Down and instantly win the fight.

Afterwards Cyan sees his recently deceased family board the train and tries to chase after them. He fails to do this, and loses them once more, but at least now he had a chance to say goodbye.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Earthpainting said:
This and getting the second airship are my favourite parts in the entire game. It feels weird to say it, as they are absolute downer moments. In both instances you don't really know much about the loss that these characters experienced, but resonated with me.

The entire Phantom Forest section is just wonderfully executed.
You arrive at a hauntingly beautiful place, where the style of assets is different from what the game has thrown at you up until this point. You have high-contrast fore and background elements, large trees sprites and reflective water. They put in a lot of effort to make this area look less tiled, and make it feel large and dense. This, paired with the eerie slow-paced music, makes you feel small and the area cold and lonely. Made perfect sense, it's it all a build-up to a train station where the departed embark on their last journey.

You hop aboard the train and get a fun sequence where you're making your way through the other end. You'll make a ghost-friend, do some battles, climb ontop of the train, get swarmed and finally get a great boss battle. This boss battle is incredibly silly and makes absolutely no sense at all, but that's part of what makes it great. Your party is out-running an undead sentient train, while also fighting it at the same time. Letting Sabin supplex it to this day is still the most over-the-top awesome thing I've seen in a game. If you don't care for fighting it, you can just use a Phoenix Down and instantly win the fight.

Afterwards Cyan sees his recently deceased family board the train and tries to chase after them. He fails to do this, and loses them once more, but at least now he had a chance to say goodbye.
Click to expand...
Sabin's scenario might be my favorite part of the game.

My step-brother is 17 and has played all the FFs. His favorite is VI due to no influence of my own (we only just met). *slowclap* right? But he hates Sabin's scenario! KIDS THESE DAYS.
 
P

Pat_DC

Member
Amazing game!

It was never released in Australia for the SNES (along with Chrono trigger) so I imported both from the US. Was expensive and needed an adapter to play but was worth every dollar that I saved with a crappy part time job. Plus certain things like the esper menu weren't visible on the world map but it never stopped my enjoyment.

It was the first game that made me truly invested in it's world and characters and had such a great amount of exploration and adventure.

Good times :)

Edit: I can't even imagine how many hours I spend grinding in the Veldt/Dinosaur forest with the Growth Egg equipped to build levels up nice and quick.
 
A

AniHawk

Member
BocoDragon said:
That actually sounds like an awesome alternative to playing them as they released... not a bad childhood.

I love VII though. Great game. Just didn't de-throne VI. And the VII kiddies who dismissed VI almost drove me to become one of those VII-begrudging ghouls that I still see prowling the webs decades later. Thankfully I came to my senses that I was merely backlashing, circa 1998. No problem if you genuinely don't like that game tho.
Click to expand...

i played pokemon red, not knowing what an rpg was, back when it came to the us in 1998. it wasn't even popular yet, but i saw it in a tips and tricks magazine and it was coming out the week before my birthday so i thought i'd ask for it because it looked neat. when i got a snes in 2000 and ps2 in 2002, i played a lot of catchup. 2000-2002 was a huge rpg binge, and it was my genre of choice through 2006.

i don't really care much for ffvii or ffx. part of it had to do with me playing a lot of rpgs right in a row, including ffviii and ffix, so the things that i thought were cool or unique felt really dated or uninteresting the more i quickly discovered within the genre.

because i played mostly late-90s and early 00s rpgs (late-psx/ps2 era), i never played a ton on the snes and early playstation. now i'm going through the first suikoden. it's really dated in a lot of charming ways. i can't even hate on how stupid the menu system is. it just comes off as adorable more than anything.
 
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