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System:
PlayStation
Genre:
RPG
Publisher:
Square
Developer:
SquareSoft
Players:
1-2
Release date/year:
10/31/1997
Other systems:
SNES
» Boxshot
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- Final Fantasy VI
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1999 SquareSoft - Square - PSX
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WOW! what an amazing game! I had loved the Super Nintendo Entertainment System version. Now, we add in amazing FMV’s and digital sound, and you have a great game. I got this when it first came out. I told my parent I had to have it, so I did. Much later… Here’s exactly what I thought.
- {~~Main Scores~~}
Gameplay
This game had the best gameplay of any game I had ever seen. It was so good that some of the ideas in it were continued over to Final Fantasy VII. It features the widest cast of any Final Fantasy game to date, that I was happy about, because most or all have some character development in this one.
It had many concepts that are completely different then all other Final Fantasy games. For example, your magic is learned by equipping espers, and hardly any espers are mandatory. Furthermore, the magic you learn is gained by getting AP, you get a certain amount of AP in every battle, that AP is split between your 4 character party and goes to whichever esper is equipped. Then, when you fulfill the AP requirement, you get that spell, for example, Fire 1. To get Fire 2, you would have to find a totally different esper and fulfill that espers requirement. Also, each esper you have equipped comes with a special feature, for example, +10 HP max at level up, each esper providing a different feature. These features forced you to have skill and basic strategy to your playing. If you have this strategy, you can transform the weakest character into a big powerhouse, great feature because there were many weak characters in need of transformation.
Speaking of characters, here’s the cast: Terra the mysterious orphan, Locke the self proclaimed ''treasure hunter'' who really is nothing more than a thief, Edgar the king of Figaro castle who left them to fight, Sabin the brutish martial arts master brother of Edgar, Cyan the swordsman defender of Doma castle, Setzer the airship wielding gambler, Shadow the mysterious assassin, Stratgo mage from ancient times, Relm the painter granddaughter of Stratgo, Mog the funny, happy moogle (KUPO!), Celes the Rune Knight from the empire, Umaro the sasquatch friend of Mog, and Gogo the mysterious shrouded figure. Each has different attacks that make the game fun and contrasted. The gameplay is very fun and smooth, only the load times keep it slightly low, but still great.
- Story
Oh… my god… What an amazing in depth story this game has. Here is the no-spoilers edition. You start out with an orphan named Terra , being controlled by the empire. Eventually she will break free, the empire doesn’t like this, they send out a force, but with the help of some fun moogles (KUPO!) and a new thief.. er rather.. ''treasure hunter'' named Locke Terra escapes. From there the story progresses extremely well with great character development for all but the optionally obtainable characters. To pull this off they will sometime focus on one or two different characters. At one point early in the game your party gets split up by an annoying octopus and you go to a blank screen where you can choose which scenario (or group of characters) you want to control. These characters each have a long quest to return back to their home base city in which each has some character development, party additions, and fun adventures. Overall this is one of the best stories I have seen in a game, tied perhaps with Xenogears, but great.
- Sound
Now this, this is simply fantastic. FF6 features the best soundtrack in any game, ever, In my opinion anyway. All songs were composed by the magical composing wizard Nobuo Oematsu. There are 17 tracks in total on the soundtrack, but in the game there are much more. Each town features it’s own song. These songs range from upbeat and happy to down and sad, all depending on what’s happening. If the mood in the town should change, the song in the town will to, something I quite enjoyed because if a town has some sort of tragedy, I find having the same upbeat happy music, kind of a damper on the now depressed mood of the town. Also, as soon as you enter a battle, can you guess what we have? That’s right! A separate composure by out magical composing wizard, Mr. Oematsu!
Furthermore, the boss music is composed in a completely different way, delivering a mood describable as worry. I think that our composing wizard tried to convey a mood of worry that you will lose, and frustration with the enemy. Not to mention that the boss and enemy composure’s fit in perfectly with the style of drawing used on them. I think by this that he actually looked at parts of the game before composing, so that he could convey the mood this game was trying to deliver. All of this attention to detail and thoughtfulness has made this game receive my highest score for sound ever, a 100 000 000 000/10. I know it’s unorthodox, but it’s the only way I can describe the true magic of the musical pieces in this game.
- Graphics
I’ve always enjoyed the graphics in this game, even in the SNES version, I considered them above average. In the SNES version, of course they were 2D, but unlike other RPG’s out at that time (i.e. Secret of Mana) the characters were built to look like people. Of course, they were sprite like in the sense that they were small, but on the map, and in battle scenes, you could always see the detail and colors put into these 2D sprites.
And now, we move into the PSX version, although having basically the same gameplay graphics, we add in the factor of amazing FMV’s by one of the most fabulous FMV teams in the video game industry. When I was told they were going to re-release this game with FMV’s my reaction was, obviously, quiet expolsion of excitement. But of course, I was worried that the FMV’s would ruin the game. Thankfully they didn’t, in fact, they improved the game greatly. As is my philosophy with FMV’s, they are not necessary, but can make the game better if done well. Well, these were done well, the gameplay graphics from the SNES were done well, and good gameplay graphics + good FMV’s = great game.
- Enjoyability
Now we come to the topic whose name is not even a real word, but one I made up to factor in how fun a game is. Well in this games case, as the idea you may have gotten from above, it was incandescently enjoyable! (another word that doesn’t quite fit, but effectively describes the mood) All the parts of the game pulled together to make a 50 hours you will never forget. This game grabbed me with it’s full potential and held me to the end. I played the entire 50 hours non stop, but of course there is so much to do that after you complete the game your not done! This was one of the most enjoyable games I have ever played.
- BREAKDOWN
Gameplay: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Enjoyability: 10/10
- {~~Other Important Scores~~}
Replay Value: High
The replay value in this game is very high. After you finish the game you aren’t done. There is a wealth of things to do. A coliseum, where you can battle for items, and of course there is the espers, there are tons of hidden espers, and it will take you some time to get them all and fully level them and get all the magic they can provide. Definitely a game to play more than once, score: 9/10, the highest replay for and RPG I’ve played.
- Learning Curve: 1 day
This game has quite a few different features and strategies. As such, it is not your average RPG, and you wont know it instantly from previous RPG experience. But, because it is an RPG, it isn’t rocket science or anything.
- Challenge: Hard
This game is not very hard but is challenging enough to be fun. It isn’t exactly easy because of the difficulty of some of the enemies you will find, and the wealth of things you can find. But of course, the enemies and bosses add to the challenge, being made not too hard, and not too easy.
- Buy or Rent: Buy
Simple, buy. Easy as that. You cant just rent this. You can rent it firt, but as soon as you do you will be hooked immediately. Some of the best parts are in the beginning to get the player into it. Buy it, NOW.
Overall this was my favorite game of all time. This version of it didn’t exactly meet the standards of the last because of the killer load times. My judgement, if you don’t mind load times, get this one, if you despise them, get the SNES version, of course when you do that you lose the enhanced graphics. In the end it’s your preference which you buy, but get one of them, you’ll like it. Two thumbs up.
10/10
//Seifer psx
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