Professor Beef
Banned
I've noticed a lot of people mention this game in almost any thread pertaining to 16-bit gaming, and it's always gotten me curious as to why people love the game so much to this day. I want to try my best to not blow the game to bits here (since I don't really hate the game), but instead I want people to help shed some light on why many consider this the "best" in the series.
I guess I should start with my experience with it. I began playing the game a year or so ago. I had finally decided to bite the bullet and play it, wondering if I would like the game as much as I would like Chrono Trigger (since I had missed both of those games during the height of the SNES days). I fell in love with Chrono Trigger after playing and beating it just once on the PS1 version (which is the one I started with, hahaha), and I had high hopes (despite my initial stalling) for FFVI as well. I started to sort of understand why people began to like it after pumping a few hours into it. The humongous overworld, coupled with the numerous playable characters and (at first) decent story made an impression on me, and compelled me to keep playing. The battle system was great, too. Being able to customize the party with Espers was both a blessing and a curse to me, because I started to worry about making everybody learn everything. I also really liked the Artifact system too. The character-building in general is just really well done.
Speaking of the characters/espers, I have to say that Terra is a very unlikeable character story-wise. I could never find myself compelled to attach myself to her story, but that was probably the game's fault for shoving her down my throat so often. Battle-wise, she was great, but that also reminds me of another problem: there were too many characters. I don't mind a large overall party, but only if it caps out at around 7-8. This game had fourteen goddamned characters. That's way too many people I need to worry about. Granted, only a handful of them are really any "good," but I didn't have a clue about that until much much later into the game.
Fast forward another few hours, and we get to what many people hyped up for me: the Floating Continent. I had already grown frustrated with the ludicrous encounter rate in this game, but there was no fucking mercy here. It was all I could do to keep myself from ripping my hair out. After a surprise boss fight with an Ultima Weapon (right? wasn't there a mistranslation or something?) and some running/waiting, I got to see the villain win and blow up the world.
And that's where things quickly began to get worse for me.
I found myself stuck watching over the Cid of this game as Celes, wondering when I'm actually going to do something. I guess I caught the wrong fish, so Cid died and I was off to find Setzer and his big ass alternate airship. Once it was revealed to me that I was going to have to fly all over the place to find each and every one of my former party members, I just shut the game off. It was a slap in the face; I didn't want to go on a gigantic fetch-quest for my party members, and by that point I was tired of the game. A couple of my friends wanted me to keep playing, but they also understood how I would get frustrated with that part of the game.
It doesn't anger me that this game continues to get mentioned several years after being released. On the contrary: it surprises me when it's NOT mentioned. I may not like the game itself, but I know it's not a terrible game just because I don't like it. I just wanted to know what GAF thought about the game. Why you liked it, and what parts of it you guys liked. Hopefully I'm not alone when it comes to my dislikes, either.
I guess I should start with my experience with it. I began playing the game a year or so ago. I had finally decided to bite the bullet and play it, wondering if I would like the game as much as I would like Chrono Trigger (since I had missed both of those games during the height of the SNES days). I fell in love with Chrono Trigger after playing and beating it just once on the PS1 version (which is the one I started with, hahaha), and I had high hopes (despite my initial stalling) for FFVI as well. I started to sort of understand why people began to like it after pumping a few hours into it. The humongous overworld, coupled with the numerous playable characters and (at first) decent story made an impression on me, and compelled me to keep playing. The battle system was great, too. Being able to customize the party with Espers was both a blessing and a curse to me, because I started to worry about making everybody learn everything. I also really liked the Artifact system too. The character-building in general is just really well done.
Speaking of the characters/espers, I have to say that Terra is a very unlikeable character story-wise. I could never find myself compelled to attach myself to her story, but that was probably the game's fault for shoving her down my throat so often. Battle-wise, she was great, but that also reminds me of another problem: there were too many characters. I don't mind a large overall party, but only if it caps out at around 7-8. This game had fourteen goddamned characters. That's way too many people I need to worry about. Granted, only a handful of them are really any "good," but I didn't have a clue about that until much much later into the game.
Fast forward another few hours, and we get to what many people hyped up for me: the Floating Continent. I had already grown frustrated with the ludicrous encounter rate in this game, but there was no fucking mercy here. It was all I could do to keep myself from ripping my hair out. After a surprise boss fight with an Ultima Weapon (right? wasn't there a mistranslation or something?) and some running/waiting, I got to see the villain win and blow up the world.
And that's where things quickly began to get worse for me.
I found myself stuck watching over the Cid of this game as Celes, wondering when I'm actually going to do something. I guess I caught the wrong fish, so Cid died and I was off to find Setzer and his big ass alternate airship. Once it was revealed to me that I was going to have to fly all over the place to find each and every one of my former party members, I just shut the game off. It was a slap in the face; I didn't want to go on a gigantic fetch-quest for my party members, and by that point I was tired of the game. A couple of my friends wanted me to keep playing, but they also understood how I would get frustrated with that part of the game.
It doesn't anger me that this game continues to get mentioned several years after being released. On the contrary: it surprises me when it's NOT mentioned. I may not like the game itself, but I know it's not a terrible game just because I don't like it. I just wanted to know what GAF thought about the game. Why you liked it, and what parts of it you guys liked. Hopefully I'm not alone when it comes to my dislikes, either.