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Platform: Super Nintendo
(Note: since some games of the Final Fantasy series were never released in the United States, the US
numbering of the games differs from the original Japanese numbering. This game is the sixth in the series,
but is known as Final Fantasy 3 in the US.)
Once, long ago, the War of the Magi scorched the land and caused a near-total collapse of civilization. Since then, the people have worked hard to restore some of the glory they once had. Unfortunately, there are always people who just can't take a hint. 'The Empire' is full of such people. Emperor Gestahl, aided by his three top generals, has uncovered magic from a distant past. He has discovered that the source of magic are the so-called Espers, beings from another world, and has found a way to harness their power and use it to make powerful weapons. And, as so often happens when we are given the opportunity, Gestahl prepares his conquest of the world.
Little does the Emperor know, however, that one of his generals has ambitions far outweighing his own...
Final Fantasy 6 is among the most popular RPGs available on the Super Nintendo. Along with Chrono Trigger, it is often considered the best game on the system, and many fans go as far as claiming it to be the best RPG of all time. High time for an objective view of every aspect of the game, then.
It is very tempting to look at the graphics of a game, first. The early games in the Final Fantasy series never truly focused on graphics, considering gameplay value and a good storyline of more importance. Final Fantasy 6 is the last of the 'old' Final Fantasy series, and the last to be released for the Super Nintendo. The graphics mostly follow the 'serviceable but not too flashy' style that we have seen before in Final Fantasy 4 and 5. However, it is a more recent game, and it shows. What the game doesn't have in the sense of excellent animations or flashy combat, it makes up for in atmosphere. Especially some of the towns look extremely well. The characters, while small, are painstakingly detailed, and look far better than they did in previous Final Fantasy games. Overall, the graphics of this game are actually quite good, but lack a little during combat. Nothing inherently wrong with them, but nothing particularly impressive either.
The storyline of Final Fantasy 6 starts out very well. You are gradually introduced to the current situation in the first few hours of the game, and from there on, you are in the middle of it and the plot keeps twisting. There are quite a few surprises along the way, and halfway the game, there is a major twist which I will not spoil for you here.
Unfortunately, after this halfway point, the story stops moving. The atmosphere is still great, and you get to learn a bit more about most of your characters (which is always fun), but nothing much seems to happen anymore. The game's master villain appears to do little more than wait for you to come and defeat him. No more unexpected twists, either. While this happens in many RPGs, it is usually only during the last hour of the game (sort of a 'cleanup phase'). In Final Fantasy 6, however, the story stops moving many hours before the game's end. This is quite a setback for an otherwise excellent storyline,.
As for gameplay value, there are a few excellent aspects worth mentioning. First of all, there are no less than 15 playable characters to collect for your party. A few of them are hidden, but most will automatically join you at some point. Your party can consist of up to 5 people, but you can always switch it around, and there are some dungeons near the end of the game where you are allowed to form multiple parties and have to make them work together (party A stands on a switch so party B can advance to the next room, and so forth).
Also, every character has some sort of special attack available. There's someone who can learn a monster's spell effects and use them as his own spells. We have someone who can throw weapons at his opponents. Then we have a swordsman who can learn special 'Sword Techniques'. And a martial arts expert who can perform special moves if we input the right combination (much like in a fighting game). And with 15 different characters to choose from, we also have 15 such abilities to expand and explore. Not bad at all!
Next, we are looking at a big world with many towns to visit and dungeons to explore. In the second half of the game, the world has changed dramatically, and we also spend quite some time recollecting our characters (they become separated from each other). All in all, Final Fantasy 6 is good for 25-30 hours of play, assuming you already know your way around.
One aspect that makes Final Fantasy 6 truly stand out among other RPGs is its music. Perhaps it is just me, but I could barely believe what I heard. These tunes are not just good, they are excellent! For one thing, every character in the game has his/her own tune, and it seems to tell more about their personalities than their words or actions do. While some are better than others (my favorites are the tunes of Cyan and Shadow, which you can listen to in my Special Thanks and Help Needed sections). Another great tune is the town theme (used for most but not all towns), which I have put up as the background tune for this review. Like it? Yeah, thought so. Me too.
The game's music does a great job of completing the game's picture. Together with the storyline and the moody graphics, it lends Final Fantasy 6 a certain atmosphere that is almost certain to appeal to any RPG fan. It's probably because of this atmopshere that most Final Fantasy players consider this game the best in the series. Later Final Fantasy games simply failed to recapture it.
The replayability factor of Final Fantasy 6 is decent. The second half of the game has a number of subquests (just enough to keep you interested in spite of the declining storyline), and having no less than 15 characters at your disposal does allow for some combat variety. This huge amount of characters to choose from is, in a way, also Final Fantasy 6's weakness. Only a few of the characters are fleshed out well, others are not quite as interesting. I guess the weight of 15 characters was too hard to work with. The fact that Final Fantasy 7 and 8 have only about half that number of characters supports this notion.
Final Fantasy 6 is often compared to Chrono Trigger by reviewers. While I can't really decide which of the two games I like more, I can say this: Chrono Trigger absolutely wins in the graphics department, but Final Fantasy 6 has a better atmosphere and stunning music (although Chrono Trigger's soundtrack isn't half bad either). As for storylines - well, they are different. Whether you prefer Chrono Trigger's cheerful "let's all save the world" mood, or Final Fantasy 6's "whatever we do, we are doomed anyway" approach, is up to you. But one thing is for certain: both are games that you should try at least once.
Graphics: 8
Music/SFX: 10
Storyline: 8
Gameplay: 9
Replayability: 7
Overall: 8.4
Difficulty analysis
Combat difficulty: Challenging
Level building: Moderate
Puzzles/mazes: Challenging
What to do: Moderate
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