• Final Fantasy VI Remaster

    Chances are if you find yourself in a discussion about the best Final Fantasy game, VI won't be far behind. Rivaling both VII and IX in quality for many fans and coming up as number one on a lot of people lists. So naturally when we heard there was a re-release coming out for the Android and iOS there was excitement and mass panic.

    Screens like these didn't help matters.

    “What have they done!?” said pretty much every single person who grew up with the original on the SNES. The new, more 'cartoony' art style for the remaster was met under a firestorm of criticism, mainly for the rendering of the character sprites and how much they clash with the redrawn backgrounds, character portraits, enemies and Espers. If that wasn't bad enough the game was released with a variety of bugs, one going as far as to break the entire game before you could finish it. As if the game became self-aware of its current state and performed seppuku. Fortunately, Square Enix has already addressed these issues in a recent update upon release of the iOS port, leaving the art style as the main reason many won't give this remaster a chance.


    Available at your local shop for 500 gils

    There's nothing wrong with taking a trip down memory lane, we here at EoFF and people all around the world have done it. It's a natural part of life to look back on those fond childhood memories and smile, but it's when we let those perceived notions of the past cloud our judgment that the present seems to look decreasingly worse, and the past increasingly better, than it really is. So we ask, just this once, that you take off the goggles and judge the following images on their own merits.


    Terra ♥

    Okay, now this doesn't look so bad. The street, barrels and houses in the background are all drawn well, Terra and the guard sprites are nice and clear and easy to spot and the text screen also looks nice with words that are easy to read.


    Here we have the character screen highlighting the members of the party, their stats and our menu selections on the right. Wedge and Biggs have got that, “We're the Empire!” look going for them and Terra appears as, well, a girl brainwashed to serve the Empire. If that was the look they were going for they nailed it. It doesn't make any sense for the rest of the game, but they nailed it. The texture on the menus and the scroll bar are simple. Nothing wrong with simple, some times less is more and more is less, but we weren't expecting anything extraordinary on this part anyway.


    Why does it look like Wedge and Biggs have the breasts that should have been given to Terra? These are obviously meant to be the pecs on their armor, but it looks like they drew them a tad bit too round to the point they look like man boobs. The side view is still okay and that monster looks awesome with the attention to detail and the black outlines around it. Is that a pause and fast forward button on the top left and right of the screen alongside a bathroom like image of a man running? The icons down at the bottom there on your battle commands at least fit the RPG elements, the rest they probably could have done without. They just stick out too much.


    Kefka in all his glory!

    Once again the enemies and backgrounds in the remaster continue to prove to be the best part. Kefka looks great in this image, everything from the details on his face, hair, makeup and clothes does the Jester of Chaos credit and those mountains and trees back there are simply beautiful. The rest on the technical side is exactly how they should be, though the yellow on the blue background just looks ugly. A pale shade of blue would have gone with the BG color a lot better, provided it was something that could change along with the BG.


    Stop! Esper time!

    One of the many summons in the game doing what they do best, kicking monster booty! The Espers are drawn in the same style as the monsters in the game and the special effect coming from this one's attack just looks cool, and this is only a still image of it. Imagine the full animation from actually playing the game. We get to see more of the attack commands too, a basic sword and shield icon for attack and defend, a star with tools and mug and the double arrow next to row. They all look okay except for the star, but even that isn't as distracting as the icons at the top.

    Conclusion: While it may take some adjusting for those who grew up with the original game on the SNES, Final Fantasy VI Remaster is hardly a disservice to the game and despite what you may think of the art, it's still the same game underneath. The same story and characters that an entire generation of gamers fell in love with. Should it have been updated in such a way? That's a discussion for another day, but if it manages to draw in a new crowd of gamers who can play it on the go whom otherwise may not have sat down to try it, then is it really so bad?

    Sources
    Google Images
    Kotaku
    EoFF user: Flying Mullet

    This article was originally published in forum thread: Final Fantasy VI Remaster started by ToriJ View original post
    Comments 32 Comments
    1. Spooniest's Avatar
      Spooniest -
      I was saying

      It's kind of impossible to ruin Final Fantasy VI.

      It's just too awesome for that.

      And as long as you can still Suplex the Train, we should be fine.
    1. The Man's Avatar
      The Man -
      My big problem is still the character sprites. They somehow manage to be less expressive and show less detail than the originals. It looks like someone upscaled them in photoshop and just left it at that.

      Most of the other art looks ok, although some of the art styles clash horribly (the small towns on the world map are way too detailed compared to everything else, for example).
    1. Spooniest's Avatar
      Spooniest -
      The burning question on my mind is have they fixed the "unwinnable game" bug that it shipped with?
    1. Sephiroth's Avatar
      Sephiroth -
      What about the bug where Terra and Celes are not naked?
    1. Mirage's Avatar
      Mirage -
      yeah that is a game breaker to me. not buying the game
    1. Big D's Avatar
      Big D -
      Looks good to me - I own the PSX re-release, and I'd probably pick up this one as well if it was released on a convenient platform.
    1. Gamblet's Avatar
      Gamblet -
      I wish it was just a tad bit darker. Otherwise, it looks quite awesome!
      *watches Ramuh animation on Youtube

      EDIT: WTF THEY DID TO SABIN'S SPRITE!?
    1. Slothy's Avatar
      Slothy -
      Quote Originally Posted by Gamblet View Post
      EDIT: WTF THEY DID TO SABIN'S SPRITE!?
      You don't like the boobs they added?
    1. Ayen's Avatar
      Ayen -
      Quote Originally Posted by Spooniest View Post
      The burning question on my mind is have they fixed the "unwinnable game" bug that it shipped with?
      I believe that's what the patch was for. Not sure about the android version.
    1. Spooniest's Avatar
      Spooniest -
      Can someone make a "remove man boobs" patch?
    1. Botchmun's Avatar
      Botchmun -
      teehee.
    1. Fynn's Avatar
      Fynn -
      Remember the thread we once had about Sabin's package and it's size? Can we make one about his rack?
    1. NeoCracker's Avatar
      NeoCracker -
      Googling 'Final Fantasy Sabin's Package' turns up that thread on the first page. Seventh option specifically.
    1. Mirage's Avatar
      Mirage -
      I took my goggles off and the sprites are still poor.
    1. Fynn's Avatar
      Fynn -
      Quote Originally Posted by NeoCracker View Post
      Googling 'Final Fantasy Sabin's Package' turns up that thread on the first page. Seventh option specifically.
      Ah, good times
    1. Spooniest's Avatar
      Spooniest -
      Still say nothing can ruin FF6. Boobs or not, he can suplex the train, at least I hope he can.

      I wonder: can Sabin suplex the Phantom Train in this version?
    1. Vyk's Avatar
      Vyk -
      It should not look like it was made with RPG Maker...

      Though I guess it can be an exercise in what games COULD be with RPG Maker lol With years worth of work
    1. Fynn's Avatar
      Fynn -
      You know RPG Maker games were meant to look like FFs?
      So them looking like those after a remaster seems unavoidable.
    1. Spooniest's Avatar
      Spooniest -
      The big point on everyone's mind is, since this is a "remaster," it's kind of like SE saying "this is how we meant it to look the first time."

      Just with what little I've seen, I can tell that Nomura (responsible for the spritework on the original ff6) did not draw these characters at all. I wish he had...the spritework definitely isn't up to par.

      But if one jaded teenager picks this up and thinks it's awesome enough to be an improvement on sliced bread (the way I did when I picked it up), then it's all worth it. They'll find their way to the original sooner or later.
    1. Fynn's Avatar
      Fynn -
      The original sprites were drawn by Kazuko Shibuya and she definitely did work on this remaster. Nomura did the monsters and some character concept artwork.
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