Final Fantasy VI (2022)

I reviewed the SNES version here, 8 years ago.

Since then, I have played nearly the rest of the series, and coming back to it all these years later, it remains my favourite Final Fantasy.

The Pixel Remaster makes it even more enjoyable, with optimized UI and the ability to run always available, making exploration go much quicker. I did nearly everything there is to do, and I finished it about 15 hours quicker than my first playthrough.

This time, I went into the final battle with Terra, Gogo, Sabin, and Celes, and I finished it with Gau, Edgar, Cyan, and Celes.

Well, I guess I can tack a new game onto the list of ones that made me tear up a bit.

For a game that feels very high quality throughout, it's impressive that the end sequence still manages to be such a big high point, if not the high point. The music and insanely gorgeous boss pixel art come together to create such a fantastic climax to the story-- one that does a pretty good job of wrangling together nearly all of the many characters you've recruited for the final showdown. I honestly never expected it would pull that last part off in a satisfying way.

On that note, I think one of the great accomplishments of this game for me is its ability to balance such a large cast of characters. The only other game I've seen do something similar would be the Fire Emblem games, and many of those don't pull it off quite as well. I felt like nearly every character had enough depth to stand on their own without stealing the spotlight from someone else. And the way the game's magicite system gives you so much freedom build your team is really great. There were very few characters that felt useless, and I suspect the couple that did only did so because I didn't spend the time to exploit their skills more.

Seeing each character get a little sendoff in the credits was a very nice touch, but it does bring me to a small nitpick. Locke and Celes really deserved separate entries in the credits. I get that their stories lead to them being together, but both of them could have used a sendoff that wasn't just a showcase of the love they found in each other. Edgar and Sabin deserved their own entries too. /rant

I've seen some people criticize the game for the end of the first (second?) act, where the world is essentially destroyed and you need to gather the team back together again. For me, it was precisely that moment that hooked me. I blazed through the back half of the game in around three or four days after I hit that point. I can't think of a much better way to make the player feel that despair and then slow building hope. I don't remember when exactly it happened, but the way the overworld theme transforms from the soundtrack of a barren wasteland to a triumphant heroic sounding one is so good. It's just one of many fantastic small details in the game that add a lot of depth.

And finally, the extra content n' sidequests. In earlier Final Fantasy games I mostly ignored this stuff to be honest, save for a few exceptions. It typically seems to be there for those who want to aim to max out their party, which mostly doesn't appeal to me. But the extra content in this game feels so rewarding to play, whether you get a powerful item (Paladin Shield. Yes I subjected myself to that grind.) or just some neat character work (Gau's Father). I found myself extending my playthrough by hours and hours to discover everything I could across the world map when I could have just bee-lined for Kefka's Tower.

And what's amazing is there's still so much I didn't take the time to do! I only beat a few of the legendary dragons, didn't meet Deathgaze, didn't recruit the final character, and didn't explore Cyan's Dream. And there are so many awesome items I never grabbed it looks like. It's exciting to know I could fire it back up and there'd still be so much more to do on my file.

Just a really great game. I'm sad to leave behind the pixel era of Final Fantasy, but I can't think of a better way than with Final Fantasy VI. It really fires on all cylinders.

Next it's time to see what all the hype around VII is about...