I never played this Final Fantasy chapter as a kid, I only really got into the series after VII and eventually played this one on the Playstation V and VI anthology, so I don't have a particularly nostalgic connection to it, but I certainly found it to be another vast, rich and rewarding RPG that was very well worth the effort of getting into, and was a great world to explore and uncover, especially after you properly unlock magic and learn how to manipulate that stat system so that everyone could be a great fighter or magic user if you so wanted. In these games I always tended to stick to four specific classes in my team, battler, healer and two black mages, Cyan and the guy with the drill are quite overpowered and give you a huge advantage early on in the game! There are a lot of them, but you do grow attached to and care for the huge cast of playable characters that include such colourful types as girl who later changes into a flying naked magic goddess, a sketch artist, a wild jungle boy who I found too troublesome to fully utilise, a good old-fashioned mysterious black-garbed ninja assassin who hops in and out of your party whenever he feels like it, a Mog and even a yeti who attacks by hurling the other party members at enemies during battle! To say there were so many characters, there's a great job done of establishing each of their personalities and motivations for joining in the fight against tyranny, some a little more than others, but it all gives the game a greater depth and level of detail that I really love. Some don't like to read such excessive text, but if you ask me if that's your attitude then what the heck are you playing a Final Fantasy game for? I suppose it was ahead of its time in that the story has a dark tone and a lot of innocents die throughout it, and a lot of the characters have sad backstories, but to me the tone never feels completely grim and hopeless, there's plenty of playful moments and humour put into it too, it's kind of a story that's about rising up in the face of destruction and hopelessness. And as for the villain, he's firmly considered a killer clown but he's really more of a court jester. I like the way the character is darkly quirky and had no composure, being nothing like the usual hulking dark overlord like Golbez of Exdeath, his character sprite is no bigger than yours, and he's basically just an insanely murderous dandy with big ambitions who pretty much stumbles upon great power after stabbing his emperor in the back and seizing it for himself. That's what's awesome about Monsieur Kefka, amongst the classic villains gallery he's the one that for all intents and purposes, succeeds in bringing about the end of the world...only the story of this game doesn't end there, and after you've located your scattered friends in the crippled world that Kefka has wrought, you scale the labyrinthian tower that he has raised on its ashes and battle the ultimate psycho clown atop a twisted pillar of effigies where he takes the final grandiose form of an angel, which is anything but an angel of mercy! Great characters and villain, great journey and rich world, and one gem of an rpg adventure that you never forget. X
Review of Final Fantasy VI
