Final Fantasy VI. I honestly can't say very much about this game without starting up a fan-war, but in truth, this game makes it on this list only because of its music. I know, I know, blasphemy, but where III has probably the best overall music, two songs from this game always make it into my top three FF musical pieces.
If you don't know what they are...you've either never played FFVI at all, never had an interest in them, or just simply have no taste in orchestral music, which is fine, but still, these are pretty epic pieces. They are Terra's theme, the overall theme for the piece, which first appears as part of the opening theme's overture scored over the credits, however, the full version is much more gradiose, and the second, well, if you've heard of FFVI, you've heard of Aria de Mezzo Carrattere, the opera.
Terra's Theme
Aria de Mezzo Carattere
You may note that this is one of the few times I haven't pulled in a remix or altered form of these two pieces. The Opera has been performed live in a few languages, including English, and BrentalFloss did Terra's Theme with Lyrics, both of these are cases where if it isn't broke, you really shouldn't try to fix it.
Usually, I start with story, because, well usually, it's my favorite part, hands down, but I find FFVI to be a convoluted mess. Yes, I like Terra's story, the other main characters side quests, but the main story, that which follows Kefka and the Espers, is just boring.
Maybe it's Kefka...I really don't like that twisted, little, Joker-wannabe, but even so, that's not really enough to dissuade me from the game entirely. Is it?
Ok, maybe it is.
I really, REALLY despise this character. His laugh, his looks, his being the end boss. Everything about this character and the Squaresoft's usage of him just angers me. So much so not that I want to kill him, but shut off the game. Other FF villains haven't done that, but damn it, Kefka has.
The rest of the cast is mostly good.
I like most of the protagonists, for the most part, however, they're just kind of bland. We don't get a lot of background in most cases, too much in Terra's case (note, really don't like the Espers), and the story's not really driven by anything they desire. In other FF games, they at least want to save the world, but these fools let KEFKA end it.
However, as much as I don't like the overarching story, there are segments I highly enjoy. These stories within stories are the best parts of the FFVI experience, and if they'd relied on them more to tell the story than the pursuit of the clown, I think it would've worked a lot better.
The first one I really like is the Figaro brothers. In what could have been a struggle over succession, one departs from the castle forever the night their father dies. That's rather impressive when you think about it. Sacrificing everything for the good of your people in general.
Shadow's plotlines, too, are impressive. For starters, Shadow's past is veiled very much so until near the very end of the game. But on the flipside, this is a character who willing sacrificed himself (he got better!) to stop the Barnum and Bailey reject, but due to the inabilities of the others, failed.
The final ones that I really wish to talk about in length (and already have some in my previous Top Ten) are Celes and Locke. Yeah, I know I was rather vague in it, but bear with me. Celes is a Rune Knight and formerly one of the three generals of the Empire (alongside Leo and "my bright red nose fell off"), who joined the team out of desperation. Locke is a thief...I mean, Treasure Hunter, who fights for the rebellion.
These characters are the only romantic coupling in the entire game, and even so, they're really kind of vague, save for the Opera and the Ending Sequence. If there's any reason to really play this game for the story, it's the dynamic changes these two goes through, so I won't spoil too much of it.
However, if they were going to make FFVI a better game, it would focus on their romance a little more, with Terra being the magical mcguffin which everything revolved rather than "I'm loony, so I wanna be a god".
Gameplay didn't change much from the previous FF titles, however, what was new, and the only reason the espers are bearable, was the esper crystals, which allowed you to teach every character every spell in the game. These were shard remnants of the fallen summons that could be used to bring them back from the beyond for a major battle changing attack or buffs.
Also, relics were added, which did even more stat boosts and attack changes. My favorite was the Soul of Thamasa, which allowed any character to use Doublecast, which, when combined with Ultima, and the relic, Golden Hairpin, it makes any mage truly an unbeatable force for the Returner rebellion.
Graphics made a huge leap in this game by changing which sprites were used throughout the game, leaving both the in battle and overworld sprites the same. This was a brilliant move in that it allowed characters to have a much more diverse range of emotions during the game, appearing as some of the first true in game acting (on a console anyways) yet seen.
So...what do you think? Am I harsh on this game's story? Does the music go far enough to redeem it? Does something else I've just missed? If they were to rework this games story around the relationship of Celes and Locke, would it be better? Am I wrong to hate Ronald McDonald's evil twin? Let me know.
-Sara
p.s. Setzer really doesn't have a story, but he's a bad ass. Too bad KH2 made him such a pussy.
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