There is one plot twist in gaming I try to avoid spoiling. I had already spoiled it for myself by reading the strategy guide, but the sheer impact of the twist was of such a scale that when I reached that point in the game and experienced it for myself at the wee age of 12, I went down to eat supper with a dazed expression and barely uttered a word. It left an impression that has stuck with me for two decades. And it's not Aerith dying.

While I'm often irritated Final Fantasy 6 (originally FF3 in the US) seems to have been forgotten in favor of Final Fantasy 7 onwards, when I see how much that entry in the series has been milked with sequels, prequels, and spinoffs, and how its plot has been publicized, criticized, and analyzed to death, I'm glad FF6, my favorite game in the series, has managed to stay untouched. Secret. Standalone. No sequel has tried to rip apart its ending's closure, like Chrono Cross did to Chrono Trigger. A new player can still try it on a suggestion and be unaware of the plot awaiting them, one filled with opera, hope, despair, and talking octopi. It was the last 2D Final Fantasy, a transition between the traditional RPG of Final Fantasy 4 and the breakout hit of Final Fantasy 7. It was the last Final Fantasy without rendered cutscenes.

Rendered cutscenes in Final Fantasy games now symbolize excess & bloat, symptoms of a game that occasionally hits some high points but often wastes the player's time getting there. When I tried to summarize the difference between Final Fantasy 6 and later Final Fantasies in one word, I came up with "taut". Lean. The plot moves. The fights are fast. Character customization is honed down to character-specific Abilities and swappable Espers which train spells. Even the optional sidequests don't feel like a diversion, doling out ultimate weapons, characterization, and new (or returning) characters in one swoop. (Final Fantasy 6, similar to Chrono Trigger, feels like it hit the sweet spot for pace and usefulness of optional endgame quests.)

Still... just talking about it like this is awfully vague. It's been nearly 20 years since I last played it; it could be the nostalgia talking. In order to really show my case, and reaffirm to myself it's not just the nostalgia speaking, I would have to replay the game and report on my progress with it. Or, potentially, convince ZombiePie to play it next for me and experience it through a set of new eyes. (One can dream.) If not, perhaps I'll log my playthrough of FF6 as a New Year's project.

I don't know about forgotten. Maybe it's the company I keep, but FF 6 seems to be among the most loved final fantasy games. Definitely my favorite, though I played it back when it was still called Final Fantasy 3, so take that with a grain of nostalgia.

I've been playing through it for the first time just this week (although I've played the first hour at least 5 times over now), and you're definitely right about it moving quick. I always feel like I'm moving onto a new dungeon or meeting new playable characters every half hour or so-- it's great pacing when you look at how slow a lot of modern JRPGs are these days for the sake of "more content", no matter the actual quality of said content.

I thought I'd have more trouble getting into it based on how grindy and confusing a lot of the 2D FF's are, but it's been a pretty breezy first few hours so far. It's also really refreshing to see some of that old humour these games had before Square decided everything in their games had to be brooding, melodramatic and gritty. I seriously doubt FFVI will top FFIX for me, but so far I'm having a great time with it.

@teddie: FF6 is a weird beast. It has the old humor, but I would also argue it's... dark. Not brooding, melodramatic, or gritty. Dark.

I'm eager to hear what you think of the plot twist once you hit it (You'll know it when you see it.), and what you think of the change from a linear plot to an open-world exploration that happens soon after it.

Simply put...my favorite game of all time. I played it when it was FF3 and nothing has eclipsed it since, and I love a ton of other games. I thought the "bond" I formed with the characters as kid have kept a lot of the feelings alive, but I try to play it once a year and end up with a smile on my face every damn time.

@mikelemmer: I think the plot twist might actually be one of the main reasons I'm playing the game, if you mean Kefka basically winning and destroying the world partway through the game.

I definitely don't mind when games get dark, as long as they do it well. FFXIII felt sterile and soulless not because it was brooding or grim, but because none of it was earned and never had any emotional impact. From what I've heard (and seen, because Cyan's story so far is very well done) FFVI will be one of the games that does a good job with its subject matter.

@teddie: Yep, that's exactly what I mean. Hence why I called it straight-up dark; with everything that happens, the characters' responses are reasonable, even stoic compared to the shit that goes down.

And yeah, Cyan's story is a pretty good indication of how the game handles this shit. A lot of your characters get additional characterization after the plot twist.

FF6 takes some of the biggest risks in the series to date. A loaded cast of character who are all amazing in their own way, bad guys who are actually just evil SOBs, big set pieces of no combat that might be better then the combat (Opera scene), and many more. I also give it major points for the main character being a female, and awesome at that. Also worth noting that it then took 6 games to return to having a female lead, but let's be serious, Terra > Lightning, no contest (also we do not talk about X-2 here)

I love it. X is still my favorite, as it was my first, but going back and playing 6 was mind boggling, especially as I played 7,8 and 9 first, as I wanted to see how the series came to be, and I was mind boggled that I heard so much about FF7 (which I personally think is lackluster) yet no love of FF6. This was back in the day mind you, and since I've seen it get it's proper attention, but as someone fresh to the FInal Fantasy series 10 years ago or so, I couldn't really stand any of the PS1 era games except 9, but 6 was amazing.

Fuck 5 though..5 is hard as hell.

It's not forgotten, just preferred by people with better tastes.

...I'm kidding!

It's worth noting, again, that I really loved this game and didn't actually play it until last year. I just bought the Steam version to replay it without the PS1's load times or the SNES's wonky translation. There are some aspects of it that don't hold up, sure, but I think the amount of imagination it must have taken to show this story with the SNES's limited power is still pretty impressive, plis the music is great, plus the gameplay is great. Best JRPG? I don't think it's better than Chrono Trigger, but it's certainly up there with it.

@takayamasama: I'd argue Celes is actually the main character, given what she does in the 2nd half of the game, but it's extremely tough to choose a single protagonist for it. It feels like a JRPG version of a superhero team.

As for the biggest risks... I'm not sure. FF3 introduced the Job system, FF7's emphasis on cutscenes was a risky maneuver, and FF12 hedged a bet on the new battle system. What FF6 did was codify the modern magitek feel of Final Fantasy while taking the biggest plot-related risks of the series (short of Aeris's death).

@believer258: FF6 & Chrono Trigger are tied for my favorite 2D JRPG game, and which one I would choose depends on what day it is. (I'd toss in Persona 4 if we included 3D JRPGs too.) There's some eerie similarities between them, though. Both start out as a linear story before exploding into open-world side-quest exploration just before the endboss. Both encourage customization (one via Espers, the other via party combos). Both deal with dark subject matter. Both don't really have a central protagonist. (Chrono would be, but he gets killed 2/3rds through the game and doesn't have to be revived, which makes it obvious the decision to save the world is a group decision.)

Or, potentially, convince ZombiePie to play it next for me and experience it through a set of new eyes. (One can dream.)

I'm never going to be allowed to be happy on this site ever again....

@zombiepie: VI is mostly sane story wise and mechanically, I'd actually check it out.

It's just really, really glitchy.

@zombiepie: You set a precedent. It's like the first time the Bombers played Mario Party.

But I agree with Error52, the story & mechanics of FF6 are quite sane. Sensible, even. You might actually enjoy it.