Is Final Fantasy VI worth playing?

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

I hate JRPGs. Can FFVI be played in its own right, or will it reek too much of a JRPG?

 

[dacencora]

Why are you posting here, and why would you ever want to play ANY Final Fantasy if you hated JRPGs?

Post smells suspiciously like bait.

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

Why are you posting here, and why would you ever want to play ANY Final Fantasy if you hated JRPGs?

Post smells suspiciously like bait.

I don't troll on this site. I was recommended FFVI by someone on Discord - I don't touch JRPGs usually so I was wondering if this was sort of agnostic of its genre and good despite the JRPG flavour?

 

[GhostCow]

It's pretty much a standard JRPG so you will probably hate it. I love JRPGs and I've never managed to make it through the whole thing despite multiple attempts. I'd rather play IV, V, VII, or even X.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I have a hard time playing JRPGs these days, but I still have fond memories of FFVI. It's generally a fairly standard JRPG like GhostCow said, but to me, it's actually the high point of the mainline Final Fantasy series (Tactics is better).

It might be worth checking out if you can find it cheap or borrow a copy or something, but if you have tried a bunch of JRPGs and have hated them all, it probably won't change your mind. Especially if you've tried other Final Fantasy titles and disliked them.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Final Fantasy VI has an incredible steampunk setting, a great ensemble cast of characters, and probably the best music of any videogame ever. However, it is very much of the JRPG genre, meaning a narrative focus, pre-generated characters, and simplified exploration and combat.

 

[Tigranes]

FF6 is a great JRPG. But you said you hate JRPGs. Play something else.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

The only game I bought brand new for my Super Nintendo within weeks of its initial release. It was over $30 and a small fortune to me at that time. Didn't regret the purchase though I experienced a companion-killing bug that prevented me from interacting with the Big Foot/Yeti companion in his lair and therefore having him join my party. I think It was my first turn-based game ever. It was called Final Fantasy III.

Edited: Actually Shadowrun for the SNES was another new-in-the-package game I got but it was a close-out deal from Toys R Us and I paid only $5 for it I think. Another purchase I didn't regret.

 

[Falksi]

FF6 is the embodiment of a typical JRPG, and if anything takes JRPGs worst tropes and indulges in them.

The first 5 hours are essentially entirely scripted, with barely any room for exploration. Even the fights are heavily scripted, with the game constantly pulling out conversations and suchlike mid-fight. Backtracking is plentiful, and whereas most JRPGS follow a pattern of "town-dungeon-explore", this spends a big chunk of the game chopping between "script-battle-script-battle".

There's JRPGs out there which offer enough to be worth playing if you don't like the format. Lufia 2 is a good example of one who's dungeons and puzzles make it stand out from the standard JRPG fair. Tales of Berseria another who's party banter and action based combat would make it one I'd consider even if I didn't like JRPGs.

But FF6 is a far cry from anything like that. It plays itself for a large portion of the game, and as a fan of JRPGs I recently replayed it for the 3rd time in my life, and struggled like hell to finish it.

TL-DR - Avoid.

 

[Lemming42]

Yeah, if you don't like jRPGs there's nothing in it for you. The plot and setting aren't really worth trudging through the endless repetitive combat for - the setting is visually cool and a couple of characters are endearing (albeit, as in virtually all FF games, nobody's really deeper than a Marvel movie character), but it's just a complete slog to actually play nowadays.

As with most jRPGs, if you didn't play it when you were under the age of 16, you've pretty much missed the boat. Stuff like the Celes opera scene has a big emotional impact when you're a kid, whereas now you'll most likely just be thinking "god I bet there's a shitty scripted boss fight about fifteen seconds from now" (and there is).

 

[Grauken]

I hate JRPGs. Can FFVI be played in its own right, or will it reek too much of a JRPG?

As others have said this is typical jRPG fare in style at least from the 16bit era. The narrative structure is organized around multiple characters and the game's plot pretty much rules who you are playing in what team configuration in the beginning. There's a sort of fake protagonist who becomes less important as the story goes on, if that annoys you I wouldn't touch the game (I hate it, I hate the game and I really hate that it switches my team around all the time). The game has pretty much two main halves, midway into the game there's a major change and then the game almost becomes non-linear and somewhat open-world-ish. I found the second half interesting conceptually but actually hated playing it, jap devs just didn't have a clue how to make a compelling open world (YTMV).

 

[Morality Games]

I hate JRPGs. Can FFVI be played in its own right, or will it reek too much of a JRPG?

The setting and characters have a certain suggestive beauty, but you are unlikely to perceive this given you hate jRPGs and probably have no aesthetic attachment to 16bit, pixel-based art.

The first half of the game is relatively linear and about showing you a world. The second half (after also being linear for a bit) opens up and allows you to explore this world years later.

 

[MpuMngwana]

I hate RTSs. Can Starcraft be played in its own right, or will it reek too much of a RTS?

 

[Thac0]

If you want JRPGs which reek very little of JRPG play Vagrant Story, Romancing SaGa 2, Shin Megami Tensei 3 Nocturne or anything like that.
Not Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, which literally define the tropes of the genre.

 

[wwsd]

Not sure. I think a game like this is nice to play at a certain stage in your life. For me, FFVI came into my life when I was like 14 years old, I was messing around with SNES emulators to play what were supposedly the "bestest games EVAH". I loved the music, the characters, the melodrama, the naff opera scene, even the quirky humour of the Woolsey translation. But of course it doesn't have much depth as a game. It's pure storyfag territory, which pretty much described me at that age. So of course I took to FFIV, FFVI and Chrono Trigger.

You might as well stick a few hours into it and see if it does anything for you. There's a whole slew of different ports and re-releases out there today. Even a PC version on Steam, I see. But my memory will always be of clunky emulators, glitchy fighting systems and using the accelerator button to grind more efficiently.

 

[Falksi]

It's very encouraging to see so many truthful opinions on FF6. I'm a member of a handful of Retro gaming groups on Facebook, and the amount FF6, Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger get sucked of is ridiculous.

Yes they're playable games with some merits, but fuckinghell you can't half tell that the retards have played about 3 games in their lives and haven't been anywhere near games such as BG2 or Shadowrun: Dragonfall etc.

 

[Hellraiser]

It's good for what it is(tm). I guess the setting, characters and music make it memorable, and they are why I managed to finish 6 and not any of the earlier games. Either that or the technical/graphical side of the game, the art gap compared to VI and V is IMO rather big. Mechanically or dungeon design-wise it isn't so interesting (the two split party dungeons are about the only unique thing I remember). If you look at it now it is pretty clear the game's position is the result of mass appeal back in the day, rather than that of breaking new grounds.

Good for playing on a SNES emulator on a phone on and off during commuting or waiting for the movie to start or on a trip/vacation during downtime, which is how I played it last time a few year back. The GBA version has more content but the shittier music quality (the usual case with SNES ports to the GBA) stops it from being the version to play (well either that or the improved translation which changes some famous silly lines).

 

[Sreggin Etah I]

I hate JRPGs. Can FFVI be played in its own right, or will it reek too much of a JRPG?

Play Dragon Quest 3 SNES, trust me ! party creation and customization, class change and open worldish, and no melodrama too if you don't like it. Play it !

Download the translated rom and play it on emulator, i use Snes9x:

https://www.zophar.net/snes/snes9x.html

FFVI is pretty good too, i played and finished the GBA version recently, 100% worth it. But i think Dragon Quest 3 is better for people who don't like JRPGs.

 

[Thac0]

It's good for what it is(tm). I guess the setting, characters and music make it memorable, and they are why I managed to finish 6 and not any of the earlier games. Either that or the technical/graphical side of the game, the art gap compared to VI and V is IMO rather big. Mechanically or dungeon design-wise it isn't so interesting (the two split party dungeons are about the only unique thing I remember). If you look at it know it is pretty clear the game's position is the result of mass appeal back in the day, rather than that of breaking new grounds.

Good for playing on a SNES emulator on a phone on and off during commuting or waiting for the movie to start or on a trip/vacation during downtime, which is how I played it last time a few year back. The GBA version has more content but the shittier music quality (the usual case with SNES ports to the GBA) stops it from being the version to play (well either that or the improved translation which changes some famous silly lines).

What FFVI does well is the Sakaguchi Formula™

The pacing is just very nice, the way Sakaguchi goes to effectively compose the narrative flow of his games you get a nice palate of combat, story, character moments and dungeon crawling, even if none of those elements are superior individually.
I like the Sakaguchi formula, and as such there is barely any Sakaguchi game I dislike (only II and VIII due to mechanical stuff).
FFVI is Sakaguchi's own favourite FF game, as it is the one where he pulled off his formula in the most clean way.

It is not my favourite FF, but I don't think it is terribly overhyped. Even the faction that thinks it is the best JRPG is in the minority, as those who share Sakaguchi's taste often really like IX aswell, splitting that faction.

 

[Sreggin Etah I]

I hate RTSs. Can Starcraft be played in its own right, or will it reek too much of a RTS?

Well, i hate RTS but i enjoyed Starcraft 1 and brood war expansion campaigns, one of my best gaming experiences.

 

[wwsd]

Also worth mentioning that games like this usually get criticised for linearity, and for sure FFVI is very much a one-way street for the first several hours, relying more on "muh cinematic storytelling". But still, it's quite fun having the sequence where your party splits up into three different groups that all have different, wacky adventures before reuniting for a boss battle. You can pick the order in which to go, but otherwise the three quest lines are the same, so it's still pretty railroaded. But it's a nice touch because you have to use all the characters at this point.

Later on, you get the airship and you can go where you want in the world. About halfway through, an apocalyptic event happens and your party gets scattered to the four winds, and you have to bring the team back together. But in fact you can finish the game with only a few essential ones, so a lot of the second-half content is optional side quests. All the content you do access plays out the same way, with little in the way of choices and consequences. But to me the linearity is not as bad as it's cracked up to be.

 

[Sentinel]

It's good for what it is(tm). I guess the setting, characters and music make it memorable, and they are why I managed to finish 6 and not any of the earlier games. Either that or the technical/graphical side of the game, the art gap compared to VI and V is IMO rather big. Mechanically or dungeon design-wise it isn't so interesting (the two split party dungeons are about the only unique thing I remember). If you look at it know it is pretty clear the game's position is the result of mass appeal back in the day, rather than that of breaking new grounds.

Good for playing on a SNES emulator on a phone on and off during commuting or waiting for the movie to start or on a trip/vacation during downtime, which is how I played it last time a few year back. The GBA version has more content but the shittier music quality (the usual case with SNES ports to the GBA) stops it from being the version to play (well either that or the improved translation which changes some famous silly lines).

What FFVI does well is the Sakaguchi Formula™

The pacing is just very nice, the way Sakaguchi goes to effectively compose the narrative flow of his games you get a nice palate of combat, story, character moments and dungeon crawling, even if none of those elements are superior individually.
I like the Sakaguchi formula, and as such there is barely any Sakaguchi game I dislike (only II and VIII due to mechanical stuff).
FFVI is Sakaguchi's own favourite FF game, as it is the one where he pulled off his formula in the most clean way.

It is not my favourite FF, but I don't think it is terribly overhyped. Even the faction that thinks it is the best JRPG is in the minority, as those who share Sakaguchi's taste often really like IX aswell, splitting that faction.

Sakaguchi had nothing to do with 8, and he has said that 9, 6 and 5 are his favorites, citing 9 as his favorite at least twice. Same for Uematsu.

 

[Kruno]

I hate JRPGs. Can FFVI be played in its own right, or will it reek too much of a JRPG?

hello fellow shitposter

 

[Thac0]

Sakaguchi had nothing to do with 8, and he has said that 9, 6 and 5 are his favorites, citing 9 as his favorite at least twice. Same for Uematsu.

Explains why VIII is so fucking gay then.
Recently he settled (presumably) after playing all of the NES/SNES FFs on a tv show or so.
Like all of those interviews it was part of a marketing campaign for Fantasian tho.
Ego tripping fucker put that on apple because the first western company he worked for was the Apple II with apple, now he wants to end his career with them.

 

[mogwaimon]

as a FFVI enthusiast I'd have to say...well, most of the criticisms in this thread are pretty spot on but I still consider it my favorite game anyways, even though there's far better games out there it just warms the cockles of my heart. And certainly, without bias, I'd say it's probably the best Final Fantasy game as well. Still, as ever taste is subjective.

You can remedy some of the 'the game plays itself' feel by getting a romhack. I'd suggest Brave New World, it's basically vanilla (if you use the version of the patch without dialogue edits it's even closer) but the mechanics are redone and the enemy AI is fixed up so the game actually poses a challenge. Still, OP is probably trollin so I guess there's no point in suggesting anything.