setzer

There is a common question that JRPG fans often ask each other. I will not write it, but I will write the answer I always give, and I think you'll understand:
"No, it's not VII. It's definitely VI."



Play this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game

This is a reasonable game. I'm choosing to NOT recommend it on the grounds that you're most likely interested in it because of the rabid fan love for it that I think is honestly massively overblown and will let you down.

FF6 isn't terrible, and the improvements it brought over the other pixel games are clear. It's probably the king of the pixel era! If you were a kid or young teen in the mid nineties playing this on release you're going to have had your mind blown. It might have been your first game with "mature" storytelling (or at least... with some occasionally strong themes such as suicide) and you'd probably end up thinking the world of it. You'd probably keep talking about it on the internet into your adulthood like it's the best thing ever.

But I don't think it is. I'm familiar with lots of the other FFs, including two of the other pixel entries (1 and 4) and wanted to come back to see what all the hype was about! What did I find? Well... 6 has a fantastic twist in the back third in whichthe world is destroyed, but the story continues on and it plays with the concept of who your protagonist is in fun ways. Some characters have reasonable arcs.

But that's about it. Beyond the simple fact that it's dated and a bit janky here are some of my less happy opinions:

* There are too many characters, many of whom don't get great stories (or even stories at all when it comes to the secret ones near the end)
* The mechanics are a complete mess. FF1 lent on grind, sure, but it felt like a very coherant gameplay experience. This one is all over the place.
* Kefka is an utterly uninteresting antagonist to me. I'm sure if it was the mid nineties I'd have eaten it up, but at this point in my life I'm unenthused by this archetype.
* The setting initially projects quite a lot of history and depth, but actually ends up feeling rather shallow.

I don't particularly recommend this port, either, as it looks like the GBA edition had a lot more fun content we're missing here. I get that's the point of the pixel remasters, but that doesn't make this a better product. GBA has some art style issues but if you can look past that (and you probably can if you're playing 30 year old games in the first place) then the actual content underneath seems better.

This game is just... alright. A solid 5/10. I don't regret playing it because now I understand the references in other media better, but that's about it. For me I'd personally that say that FF4 was a better story experience from the pixel era, and FF1 was a better gameplay experience.

I respect that some people love this. Reviewed in the mid nineties this thing was definitely great. For a newcomer coming back today it's an easy skip.

Don't trust the hive-minds nostalgia this go around.