Edens_Heel

This is still, for me, the gold standard for RPGs of this style. I go back and forth on whether it's my favourite in the series (I consider it my fave of the classic style, with XII being my fave of the more contemporary/3D entries), but god it left a mark. I got it the first day it was available at my local indie store, Master Player in White Rock, BC. I was in eighth grade at the time and generally pretty friendless, and this quickly became my world.

To this day, it is my favourite soundtrack in the series, with IV, Tactics, and XII coming close but not taking it (though the VII remake soundtracks are also pretty great—better than the games, actually). What I remember so much, though, are the things that are still so seldom seen in games. It was the first I'd played that actually touched on suicide, genocide, religious zealotry, etc. It dealt better and more openly with grief and loss than anything I'd played at the time. It was the first "open world" I'd experienced, with the second half of the game. And to this day, it is one of the best and most fleshed-out endings I've seen in a game, RPG or not.

I remember so many small moments throughout—the coin toss, meeting Gau's terrible father, Locke and his guilt over Rachel—but, and no disrespect to the opera, which is incredible, it's the mid-point upheaval that still sticks with me. *SPOILERS* To have a game where, at least for a time, the villain wins and manages to destroy the world... I'd not seen that before, not in this medium at least. It felt important, like it was trying to say "hey, this medium can be more, do more, if we're willing to go there ourselves." For my young creative brain, it was eye-opening.

In the pantheon of great RPGs, I probably love Chrono Trigger more (there are a lot of very personal memories wrapped up in that title), but FFVI is a beast that has not really been topped in what it does. An all-timer, no question. If Square could ignore their worst tendencies with respect to minigame overload and forced comic characters that weren't in the original, I'd be curious to see it remade. But really, it's near-perfect as is.

Do we yet know if/when the live show will be on the site and/or YouTube?

Seconding this. I like Mike well enough, especially his chemistry with Grubb, but Jason and Jess brought more dissent and variety with their likes and dislikes, and in general conversation. As much as I love the current team, and I do, I admit I miss the more divergent takes that used to happen (I'm torn during GOTY conversations, because while I love the lack of personal attacks, I do miss the arguments, as that is when we usually deep-dived into the nitty gritty of a lot of games and really got into the minutiae of what was and wasn't better for the site).

@mellotronrules: Agreed, though I'll be shocked if Dan isn't able to muscle ACVI onto the list, given how over the moon he was for it.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I'm honestly so happy they're screwing with expectations. I'd much rather a reimagining/alt-history sequel than a straight-up remake of (to me) a mid-level FF. But that's probably due to my relatively "meh" feelings toward this—were this FFVI, I would likely be more of a stickler for "sticking to the source material." *shrug*

@splodge: I agree with this. I've been here since the beginning, and yeah, the vibe is different (and in some ways, a little less mature, which I find a bit tiresome at times as I enjoyed "growing up" with the original crew), but to me, it still -mostly- feels like Giant Bomb.

Re: Jeff's solo adventures, I tried to follow him there but I just couldn't. He was never the draw for me; the group dynamic was. On his own, I've always struggled with his tone and tenor. Nextlander gives me what I need of the old vibes, and I'm okay with that being it. (FTR, I wish Jeff well and have no ill will toward the man, but throughout the years I just never clicked with him—or Ben for that matter. Just the wrong vibes for my personality. That said, I do miss Jason and Jess something fierce.)

Gollum not only being a hot mess but also leading the developer to hang up its development hat and to shift fully into publishing pushes it into the lead for me.

@ben_h: Honestly, the gallows humour approach is just what's needed. I love and admire how their approaching their final run. And it's so good to hear that at least some of this will (hopefully) continue post-June 2.

Ahhh okay, thank you both—I missed literally all that. And when I was on the site yesterday... well, I just never saw it pop up as a thing to watch.

Looking forward to it!

Did I miss something about them missing a week? Checked the site throughout the day and never saw a "watch now" window, and it hasn't popped up elsewhere on the site or on any podcast feeds.

Did they take a week off, or is the website (and everything else) just behaving weird as hell right now?