Patrick Elliot
Shaun InguanzoFinal Fantasy VI (Review)
December 4th 2006 19:00
Players: 1
Genre: RPG
Developer: Square
Platform: SNES
Year: 1994 (USA), 2002 (PAL, Playstation Release)
I didn't get a chance to play this game until I played Final Fantasy VII and VIII, but it stands as my favourite Final Fantasy of the SNES era. It was originally released under the title of Final Fantasy III in the USA for the SNES while the game made its first appearance in PAL as a $30 Playstation port.
Story: There is no real "main" character in FF6, as it follows the stories of all the characters in your party. If someone is to be considered the "main" characters, it'd most likely be Terra or Celes due to their major roles in some events. FF6's tale follows the characters through the game as they rebel against an imperial dictatorship.
Battle System: Battle's conducted in a turn-based fashion involving the Active Time Battle system, where, when a character's time gauge fills they can perform an action. Only two characters begin the game with magic, but other characters can learn magic by equipping Magicite, which are like fossilised summon creatures. Up to two Relics can be equipped per character, which increases their statistics or grants them special abilities (such as a faster walking speed in field).
Innovation: Character development is where FF6 truly shines. Each Magicite contains certain properties, involving a bonus at level up and certain spells it can teach. Various Magicite can teach the same spells, but some teach them at faster rates than others. This is what the Ramuh Magicite offers:
Level Up Bonus: 1 to Stamina
Spell 1: Bolt @ x10 Learn Rate
Spell 2: Bolt2 @ x2 Learn Rate
Spell 3: Poison @ x5 Learn Rate
Summon: Ramuh's elemental attack, Bolt Fist
Characters require 100 points to learn a spell. If a character gains 2 Magic Points in a battle, they will have earned 20 points in Bolt, 4 points in Bolt 2 and 10 points in Poison. In every battle, an Esper (FF6's name for the summons themselves) can be summoned once.
Apart from the Magicite that allows you to customise your characters how you will, the characters themselves have rather unique abilities that are hard to pass up at times. My personal favourites would be Edgar's Tools (which range attacking all enemies at once to dealing devastating damage to one foe) and Sabin's Blitz (which are executed in fighting game combo style).
Graphics: Most of the graphics in the game fall under what you'd expect from the late SNES era. However, battles sometimes have detailed enemy artwork (nowhere as detailed as Demon's Crest's bosses though) - especially as it gets closer to the end of the game.
Sound: FF6 has some of the most memorable tracks in the game music world. "World of Ruin"/"Terra's Theme" is a popular favourite among many.
Replayability: Average. You could to explore other characters in your party, but it doesn't really affect the grand scheme.
Overall: A well done RPG, and an example of Final Fantasy as its best. It's still a great play in today's generation of games. The Playstation version offers the same gameplay with the addition of a few CG movies. It's really up to you whether Playstation loading times are worth the extra movies though. Well, assuming you're using US NTSC and have a choice of which version to purchase, that is.
Score: 10/10
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Comment by Jessicca
Learning Something Everyday
Malaysia Found
My bro is a FF fan and I guess if he's free enough to read your reviews he'd probably be commenting most of them and be reading all your comments. hahaha...
But I like FF's movie shots. They are pretty nice. Just that I'm really not very good in RPG. I tried to play once and I was literally lost in there...
Comment by Sword Serenity
A Female Gamer
Which RPG did you try to play? Some RPG systems can be pretty confusing unless you're familiar with a few, though there are some with a smooth learning curve.
Comment by Jessicca
Learning Something Everyday
Malaysia Found
I can't remember, I think I tried FF3 before... another one I am not sure of the name, my bro just let me tried a bit but I was so bad he asked me to give up and let him complete the game. LOL...
Comment by Sword Serenity
A Female Gamer
Funny how that happens with stuff. It doesn't matter what it is, if someone learning doesn't pick up fast enough, the person teaching will usually go "Here, let me do it" and whiz through, defeating the point of teaching in the first place hehe.