Random FFVI Musings

I've played this game beginning-to-end at least a dozen times over the years, each time a different way (using different characters, doing things in WoR in different order etc.) and I have a few questions and opinions from over the years.

Banon --> I assume he was killed when the world was undone (or maybe when Gestahl double-crosses the Returners), but do they ever mention as such? Seemed strange to me that he was just suddenly gone and never mentioned again. Would've been funny had he turned up as one of Kefka's followers at Fanatics Tower, just for some comedy.

Saving Cid --> I always felt there should have been some reward (other than allowing him to live) for saving him at the start of the WoR. Maybe only getting Palidor if he lives or something. I don't know, it just seems weird saving his life and then just leaving him there by himself.

Gau's Rages --> I think the strength of each rage should've had a lot to do with the strength of the enemy you're raging. Just as an example, Stray Cat's Catscratch should not have been as powerful as it was, while somebody like GtBehemoth or Brachosaur should've had extremely powerful Rages. I understand that Gau's stats should have something to do with it, but it would've been cool to have Gau get steadily stronger as he gained the Rages of more powerful monsters. It certainly would've given more importance to getting Gau more Rages, rather than just collecting the important ones (Stray Cat, Retainer, Earthguard (to get Big Guard), etc.).

I'll probably think of some more, but that's off the top of my head.

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Originally Posted by Umaro_Smash

Banon --> I assume he was killed when the world was undone (or maybe when Gestahl double-crosses the Returners), but do they ever mention as such? Seemed strange to me that he was just suddenly gone and never mentioned again. Would've been funny had he turned up as one of Kefka's followers at Fanatics Tower, just for some comedy.

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Some people theorize that Gogo is Banon (or Gestahl or Daryl ...). My guess is that he's one of the countless people that died when the world was smurfed over. If he was still hanging out in Vector, there's a good chance he was caught up in all of the material that comprises of Kefka's tower, becoming a permanent, decomposing part of it.

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Originally Posted by Umaro_Smash

Saving Cid --> I always felt there should have been some reward (other than allowing him to live) for saving him at the start of the WoR. Maybe only getting Palidor if he lives or something. I don't know, it just seems weird saving his life and then just leaving him there by himself.

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I never knew you could save him, even after countless playthroughs myself. I always assumed he had to die to move the story along so I would grab the slowest fish to kill him off quicker. xD I agree about the better bonus for saving him and second that Palidor would be a just reward and it wouldn't mess up any continuity or balancing.

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Originally Posted by Umaro_Smash

Gau's Rages --> I think the strength of each rage should've had a lot to do with the strength of the enemy you're raging. Just as an example, Stray Cat's Catscratch should not have been as powerful as it was, while somebody like GtBehemoth or Brachosaur should've had extremely powerful Rages. I understand that Gau's stats should have something to do with it, but it would've been cool to have Gau get steadily stronger as he gained the Rages of more powerful monsters. It certainly would've given more importance to getting Gau more Rages, rather than just collecting the important ones (Stray Cat, Retainer, Earthguard (to get Big Guard), etc.).

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Another fun way to do it is to have the power of the Rage also be proportional to the number of Rages learned. It would add another reason to learn more than a select few if even those select few were weak until you gained more Rages.

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Originally Posted by Flying Mullet

I never knew you could save him, even after countless playthroughs myself. I always assumed he had to die to move the story along so I would grab the slowest fish to kill him off quicker. xD I agree about the better bonus for saving him and second that Palidor would be a just reward and it wouldn't mess up any continuity or balancing.

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You can, but it's generally a pain. You have to feed him a number of "yummy fish", but it can be hard because there's not always one in the water. You can talk to Cid without any fish to get a new set of fish in the water. It takes more time than it's worth, considering that there's no benefit to it.

(SPOILER)Basically all that happens is that he tells Celes about the raft he's been building. He tells Celes to go find her friends. Celes leaves on it and Cid is left on the Island by himself.

I quite liked this discription of what happens when Cid lives.

I found the whole Veldt thing with Gau rather unrealistic, It wouldve been better if Gau could use Leap off the veldt or atleast a variation of it where he had to use Leap when the enemy was weak (as in ready to deal the final blow) then have Veldt as an optional incase you missed out on a one time monster.

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Originally Posted by Umaro_Smash

Banon --> I assume he was killed when the world was undone (or maybe when Gestahl double-crosses the Returners), but do they ever mention as such? Seemed strange to me that he was just suddenly gone and never mentioned again. Would've been funny had he turned up as one of Kefka's followers at Fanatics Tower, just for some comedy.

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I always assumed Banon, Arvis, and the Narshe Elder were all killed either in the betrayal at Vector or during the Cataclysm.

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Saving Cid --> I always felt there should have been some reward (other than allowing him to live) for saving him at the start of the WoR. Maybe only getting Palidor if he lives or something. I don't know, it just seems weird saving his life and then just leaving him there by himself.

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I fully appreciate the emotional impact of putting the poor guy's life in your hands but like many have said already, saving him nets you nothing worthwhile. Though I would be annoyed about losing an esper cause I didn't save him cause the Suicide Attempt is one of the most powerful moments in this game and I really don't think I could do without it. It was a wonderful opening that set the tone of the whole World of Ruin. Overall, I'm not too annoyed about getting nothing for saving him cause I feel the point was to show you can do it and its not worthwhile, make the dramatic choice... :shifty:

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Gau's Rages --> I think the strength of each rage should've had a lot to do with the strength of the enemy you're raging. Just as an example, Stray Cat's Catscratch should not have been as powerful as it was, while somebody like GtBehemoth or Brachosaur should've had extremely powerful Rages. I understand that Gau's stats should have something to do with it, but it would've been cool to have Gau get steadily stronger as he gained the Rages of more powerful monsters. It certainly would've given more importance to getting Gau more Rages, rather than just collecting the important ones (Stray Cat, Retainer, Earthguard (to get Big Guard), etc.).

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I don't have my copy of the GBA version but I've heard they rebalanced his Rages a bit so certain ones were no longer overwhelmingly broken. I like collecting his Rages but I generally never use the guy. Gau is fun as a character but I never cared for him gameplay wise.

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Originally Posted by Umaro_Smash

Banon --> I assume he was killed when the world was undone (or maybe when Gestahl double-crosses the Returners), but do they ever mention as such? Seemed strange to me that he was just suddenly gone and never mentioned again. Would've been funny had he turned up as one of Kefka's followers at Fanatics Tower, just for some comedy.

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I think I kind of like the fact that you never officially know what happened to some people. It's more realistic that way. You can imagine he made it somehow and just hasn't resurfaced for whatever reason, but more than likely he's dead and you'll never know exactly how and when it happened. That's what you would expect to be the case for most people after such an event.

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Originally Posted by Umaro_Smash

Saving Cid --> I always felt there should have been some reward (other than allowing him to live) for saving him at the start of the WoR. Maybe only getting Palidor if he lives or something. I don't know, it just seems weird saving his life and then just leaving him there by himself.

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There sort of is a reward for saving him. He gives you a hint about getting the Pallidor esper. If he weren't alive to say "come back with your friends," most people (not using a guide) would never go back to the island and wouldn't find the esper.

I remember before me and my GF game. Me and my best friend Eric played the part with Cid and we were drunk at the time and he's all like "dude...don't kill him..please DON'T.." and it was hilarious. and he's all like "damn it..you're a dick, now another innocent life was lost. can this game get anymore depressing?". Than Celes went up the cliff and he was like "no..NO DON'T! VIK YOU ASSHOLE, NOW SHE'S GONNA DIE!"..turns out she didn't and he laughed at me...than, took us hours to find the stupid raft. and as i returned from the bathroom..HE, FOUND IT AND JUST WALKED AROUND IT ;|...YEP, and even made a song about how hes better at it than me even drunk...sorry i'll be quiet. I could of swore Banon was killed.

Awesome story. :)

Now there is one thing about Banon I never did get and that was why he wasn't present for the meeting with the Emperor after Vector falls to the Espers.

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Originally Posted by ,,,

There sort of is a reward for saving him. He gives you a hint about getting the Pallidor esper. If he weren't alive to say "come back with your friends," most people (not using a guide) would never go back to the island and wouldn't find the esper.

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If I remember correct, he doesn´t even mention anything about Palidor. I have saved him once and I was expecting hint about Palidoer but no. By the way I actually did find Palidor on my own without any guides on my first completed playthrough.

^I didn't say he mentioned Pallidor specifically. But he does ask you to come back to the island later. People will then try going back to the island at some point to see if anything happens, which is how they find Pallidor. It's a hint. People who saved Cid are more likely to find the esper without knowing about it beforehand. So, that's the reward.

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Originally Posted by ,,,

^I didn't say he mentioned Pallidor specifically. But he does ask you to come back to the island later. People will then try going back to the island at some point to see if anything happens, which is how they find Pallidor. It's a hint. People who saved Cid are more likely to find the esper without knowing about it beforehand. So, that's the reward.

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Yeah, but even if you come back to see him, he still says "I feel much better, thanks Celes."

His speech isn't updated, so unless you make a point of going to the beach, you wouldn't have any clue that Palidor is there.

It would've been better had he said something about a piece of magicite washing up on the beach, or even he be the one to give it to you, but I guess it was just easier to have it the way it is.

It's just weird with Banon because he was so important early on in the game, that twice your game hinged on keeping him alive, yet before the world implodes, he's completely dropped from the game, without mention. Same with Arvis, but maybe that's on purpose. Those people in Vector when the double-cross occurs are gone, so maybe you're supposed to assume that they were killed.

If you think our speculation is wierd try reading the rough drafts to this stuff. What happened to Banon and others is what I've always wondered but the truthful answer is they were only there to advance the plot.

Why do you think a 'Cid' survived while Leo, Banon, and Arvis didn't. It's Cid.

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Originally Posted by Greatermaximus

Why do you think a 'Cid' survived while Leo, Banon, and Arvis didn't. It's Cid.

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Cid didn't survive because I pumped him full of slow fish. :p

That does seem a little strange about Banon now that I think about it. I never really liked that guy anyways so I guess I just didn't care.

I think Out of the 3 times I played through it, I saved Cid twice. The only reason I can think to do it is because I wanted to do _EVERYTHING_ perfect in one go-through of the game. It is pretty lame that nothing comes of it if you save him though (aside from Celes presumably being more happy).

I always felt Gau's rage system was screwy and kind of lame. It's the main reason I almost never used him and he became one of my weakest characters. Once I really went for getting all the Rages and he obtained some good ones he became useful, but it's a lot of work for little reward. Always pissed me off when he would hop on some mega enemy and the payoff is just a regular "attack" that does weak damage.

The game has to be created reasonable enough to beat. There are people who don't play as long or hard as others so it has to be beatable at some point.

I also maxed the SNES version(original). I had it for the PS and I noticed right away Gau couldn't equip merit award. Made him too strong if he isn't strong enough as it is. He can still use Magic.

I was also the first to discover all four treasure chest ribbons in my family in the game like FFV. (Theme here anyone?) I also first found of my friends that Gogo can have up to three abilities.

I chose at the end.

Mimic
Lore
Magic
Item.

Don't men to bump up such an old thread but I did hear an interesting bit of information concerning the subject matter.

When asked about the fate of Banon and Arvis, Sakeguchi simply answered "Use your imagination". So yeah, even Square won't answer the question.

I think it's more of a "we didn't think about that" kind of thing. It's quite possible they will hear word of some fan explanations and adopt one, but it didn't seem overly important to them.