Final Fantasy: A new Director!
Final Fantasy VI
Original Release Date:
JP 02APR1994
NA 11OCT1994
Original Platform’s: SNES (Super Famicom)
Original Developer: Square (Software)
ESRB: T
GameFAQS Score: [9.3]
Famitsu Score: [37/40]
Original Sales: Around 2.75 million copies
Remake upon remake is starting to become a recurring theme for some final fantasy titles. It is strange how a game can hold so much value to us all that Square can release it so many times and we keep buying it. Almost every time a new release of Final Fantasy VI comes out, around 500,000-1,000,000 copies are sold. The game keeps selling! At a time when Desert Storm was fading to an end and our beloved Kurt Cobain would snort his last line (He died 02APR1994) video games were still vastly enjoyed by small children and “geeks”. Different from present day where everyone plays a video game here and there, back then it was still an insult or deeming to be labeled as a gamer. In what relevance does this story relate to our cherished final fantasy? Well, with the release of each final fantasy, sales would dramatically increase meaning that these “geeks” were spreading or maybe videogames were getting that good! Almost no videogames could withstand the test of time but Final Fantasy continues to find a way!
North American release of Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI supports the above statement. With record sales at the time for the company, Square was emerging as the father of RPG’s. Other companies have done it but I believe I am not alone when I say Square has done it best overall! When Final Fantasy VI released in Japan, the game did so well that with the previous Japanese exclusive title’s (Final Fantasy V) success, the world craved more. Immediately after the game hit the JP market, work was done to make a proper translated version for other regions. Square released Final Fantasy VI for the SNES in NA labeled as Final Fantasy III for the Super Nintendo (Labeled III due to the fact that it was only the third Final Fantasy Main series title to release in NA).
Although Hironobu Sakaguchi stepped down from director to producer, he is still credited with writing the story of FF6. Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Ito would step up jointly to fill the large pair of shoes greatly. Kitase has assisted in the development of the previous games (and spin-offs) but would receive most of his credit as director of FF6, Chrono Trigger, FF7, FF8 and producer of FF10, Kingdom Hearts, FF10-2, Before Crisis, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and several other titles. As for Ito, he would direct FF6, FF9, and FF12 with his name all over production help of most other main title of the series. Hironobu would not direct anymore (with the exception of a Wii release in 2011) but would still play a vital role in Final Fantasy from here on.
One of the best things about Final Fantasy VI is that it did not bring much new to the series. Square did not need to. Rather than altering what worked, designers made a couple small changes and perfected what already worked well. The game still had the ATB battle system and similar game mechanics as Final Fantasy V. One thing that FF6 did claim-to-fame, was that it had fourteen playable characters. FF6 offered the most characters of any other title. Each character had a locked job they played as, offering unique abilities and attacks. The story was considered one of the best at the time and the overall gameplay just “worked”.
Although sales for Final Fantasy VI were overall around three times in the JP region as they were in the NA region, the NA regions sales were still far superior to what the previous titles sold. This success was highly recognized. After Final Fantasy VI, the Final Fantasy games would be all released in JP region as trial. Once fans have reacted to the title, a translation and minor tweaks would be implemented allowing release in other regions (Usually the NA region receives the game next, then the rest of the world). Final Fantasy VI was another great title and with the series global market growing, expectations would be high. No longer could Square throw some stuff together in a year and call it done. Huge teams of staff would be tasked with work on these great games and as each new title released, our hearts grew fonder and fonder. With all of this pressure on Squares shoulders, they delivered like no other with the release of Final Fantasy VII!
Kefka!
Austin’s thoughts on game:
Okay I might get a lot of flak for this one but I’m just going to come out and say it right now. I didn’t think Final Fantasy 6 was as great as a majority of fans seem to think. There are a lot more titles in the series that I would put before it. Please don’t kill me now.
I honestly can’t put a finger on what didn’t grab me about it. It’s definitely not a bad title, just not one of my favorites. It could be that I originally played it when I was about 6-7 years old as Final Fantasy III on the SNES and I was like “What the hell is this? Why can’t I attack people right now?” Yeah, I was dumb, but even after falling in love with the JRPG, I went back and played FF6 in the Anthology collection and enjoyed it a lot more but it will never surpass others in the series, to me.
The story is great, and Kefka truly is one of the best villains because of the evil deeds he accomplishes, and the battle system seemed to be perfected as far as the 16-bit Final Fantasy titles went, everything about the game screams “classic.” Even by today’s standards it holds up pretty damn good. But yeah, I could live without it. Sabin was a freaking beast though, so that I will always remember. Other than that, I really don’t have much to say. Good day, until tomorrow, friends.
His Score: PS3 Gamer Tag: AesopB3EF
My thoughts on game:
Some of the characters from Final Fantasy VI.
I thoroughly enjoyed Final Fantasy VI all-around. When I first played it, it was on the Anthology collection with Final Fantasy V. Of the two games, I enjoyed FF5 a lot more; but without using personal bias, Final Fantasy VI truly was a great game. I enjoyed a lot of the characters but there were some that I did not care for. I guess this is a good feature though for a game to offer variety. This allowed players to pick their own choice in party based upon what they preferred. All said this was great, but story would arise about a character you did not care for or just were unfamiliar with. This annoyed me a lot because it left a lot of moments where I did not care about the story. It is very difficult to create a game that reflects around fourteen characters and incorporate each one fairly.
The game did have a good story overall though and created one of the most recognizable villains in the series. Kefka is Emperor Gestahl’s appointed General. Final Fantasy VI’s main story revolves around an unfinished war dragging on over many years which has separated all of the kingdoms. The largest kingdom of the Empire is governed by the fearless dictator Emperor Gestahl. The Empire is seeking to combine machine with magic to create chaos and essentially take full control. Kefka is at the center of all of this chaos and he does a good job at antagonizing the world. He makes my list as the second best villain in all of the series behind Sephiroth of Final Fantasy VII. He was devious and spiteful in his reign of power. An absolute master of chaos!
Overall the game did very well and provided a lot of entertainment to me. I grew fond of several characters such as Locke, Terra and Setzer but I still felt like Square could have left out several others. I do not like when games drag in so many characters because it creates a lot of confusion and moments where… I simply did not care. Final Fantasy VI was put together well and I would recommend it as one of the most successful titles in the series.
My Score: 4.2/5.0 PS3 Gamer Tag: FF49erG
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