Final Fantasy 6

What can I say? This game is a masterpiece. Although not my favorite game in the Final Fantasy Series, I consider it one of the best games of all time.  Made in 1994 by SquareSoft, Final Fantasy 6 was a ground-breaking game. It had a compelling story, memorable characters, and awesome music. All of this together with marvelous gameplay made one great game.

Graphics: Although they weren’t revolutionary, the graphics in Final Fantasy 6 were done very nicely. Spells and summons looked excellent for their time, and the characters each had their own unique look, unlike many games where the characters have a similar appearance.

Sound: Final Fantasy 6’s sound was done quite well. Each spell and summon had its own sound effects, each done nicely. Whenever a character attacked you could hear the weapon slashing the enemy, and the same went for whenever you were attacked. Overall, very nice sound effects.

Music: The music in this game is absolutely stunning. Each character, like in most RPG’s, has their own unique theme, and everyone’s theme was composed beautifully, and fit that person’s personality. From Celes’ calm and somewhat sad theme to Locke’s adventurous theme, the music always went well with the characters personality. During boss battles you were treated with an exciting, upbeat theme. Again, the music always went well with the situation you were in.

Storyline: Final Fantasy 6 had a pretty deep storyline for its time, although it’s depth doesn’t compare with more recent games such as Xenogears. A great thing about this game is that it doesn’t have one particular main character. Although some characters seem more important than others (i.e. Terra vs. Mog, etc.), there wasn’t one main character that you had to always use, like Cloud or Cecil in other Final Fantasy games. This gave you more freedom to choose your party. The basic idea of the storyline is typical for SNES RPG’s, but eventually becomes much more. It starts out with a corrupt Empire seeking the ancient power of beings known as “Espers”. A band of rebels, called “The Returners”, are trying to stop the empire from gaining the power of espers and harnessing the power for evil causes. The compelling storyline mixed with the load of plot twists throughout lead to one exciting game.

Characters: Final Fantasy 6 was loaded with charming, memorable, and sometimes funny characters. The ability to have four members of your fourteen in your party at one time gave you a large amount of possibilities in battles. Each character had their own distinct personality, and were never boring, even the more useless of the characters (cough cough Strago and Gau cough cough). Combined with an incredible amount of well-developed NPC’s, such as Kefka, Cid, and General Leo, the game’s characters are unforgettable.

Gameplay: This game was the first to incorporate the “magic equipping system”, as I like to call it. It is similar to FF7’s “Materia” system, although I prefer FF6’s way of using it. By collecting pieces of “magicite”, you could gain the power of an esper, and learn that particular esper’s magic. Thing is, there are only one of each esper in the world, unlike in FF7 where you could duplicate your materia. Each character in FF6 had their own unique skill that they could use in battle. Some examples are: Edgar could use tools, such as a chain saw and a drill; Celes could use the Runic magic skill and absorb enemies magic spells; and Mog could dance. Yes, dance. :P My biggest complaint about Final Fantasy 6’s battle system is that all characters can easily become the same. All characters can learn every spell, and eventually they all seem equal. In my opinion, they should have kept the game more like Final Fantasy 4, where only certain characters could learn magic, while others had special attack skills. If Square hadn’t given each character in FF6 a unique skill, they would have been too much like every other character, a la FF7. Battles in FF6 are similar to the ones in previous FF’s, like FF4 and FF5, except for the aformented changes. All in all, FF6 incorporates a very well-designed battle system with a few minor flaws.

Length: A great thing about Final Fantasy 6 - it could take you anywhere from 15 hours to 99+ hours to beat. Once you reach the second “part” of the game, you can choose to directly go to the last boss (except for a few small events), or travel around the world collecting characters and doing subquests. The first “part” of the game takes around 15 hours, and after that it all depends on you how long you want to make the game last. I know that I’ve spent 100+ hours on a file before, gathering characters, completing subquests, and leveling up and gaining magic. The game’s length is pretty much up to you.

Fun Factor: This game is excellent. One of the best RPG’s of all time, hands down. I’d suggest you play it, if you can find a copy at a local pawn shop, FuncoLand, or wherever else you can buy used games.

Replay Value: This game is incredibly fun, one that you’ll want to play more than once. There are many scenes and special items throughout the game, and you may have to play it a few times to find and see everything.

Closing notes: Final Fantasy 6 is a masterpiece, a game that should never be forgotten. If you have the chance, play it....you won’t be disappointed.

Wandering Prophet's Reviews
Final Fantasy 6 Reviews


This Page © Copyright 1997, Brian Work. All rights reserved. Thanks to Sax for his help with the layout. Do not take anything from this page without my consent. If you wish to contact an author, artist, reviewer, or any other contributor to the site, their email address can be found on their index page. This site is link-free, meaning you don't need to ask me if you'd like to link to it. Best viewed in 1024x768.