Why is FFVI considered the best? (SPOILER WARNING)

[Goldenboko]

1 - Too easy

Please don't tell me you found it easier then FFVIII, that game can be beaten by a monkey. In this game it was necassary to try a bit.

2 and 3 - Too many (useless and pointless) characters

Most of the characters have very well done backstories, if you are willing to give the game a chance you'd see that.

4 - Broken skills

I don't totally understand what you ment here. I think you were trying to say that the fight command was pointless. I would like to point out that is wrong, build up a characters strength, give him Atma Weapon and the Ragnarok, have his relics be Offering and Genji Glove, have him use Quick on his first turn and, well, you attack 16 times in a row and instantly kill any enemy in the game.

5 - Mediocre plot and worse excuse for a villain ever

Well for the most part something like this is an opinion. But if you are looking at the facts...
A. Most characters in the game have an extensive backstory and develop as characters, (I.E. Locke, you find about his backstory, and how he loved whatsherface, you can see that dictate his current actions, and how he develops and overcomes his past love)
B. The villian is very well done. He has a backstory which coexists with the game well, he acomplishes alot throught the game and yeah.

And where are the monster HP super bosses? Right, there arent any

Thats the stupidest thing I've ever heard.... IN THE FIRST 6 GAMES THERE WHERE NO HP SUPER BOSSES!!!!!!! Back then the made the bosses difficult without needing 90 bigilion HP, why? Because they actually made it so your characters weren't gods (unless you were smart of course). Ruby Weapon, Emerald Weapon, Omega Weapon, and Nemesis are all tributes to how awful the boss concepts where in 7,8, and 10. The characters became too strong too easily and the only way the could combat that was making the enemy bosses have redicoulusly stupid HP stats (Not to mention they where all incredibly easy.)

[Zeromus]

I forgot to say in my post that there is a lot of deep meaning in the concept of the game:
"Why do you build knowing destruction is inevitable...???
Why do you yearn live knowing all things must die???"

5 - Mediocre plot and worse excuse for a villain ever

If u think Kefka is mediocre and a bad excuse of a villain, maybe u should really take the time to analize... =/ ...plz, don't take it like an offense, i try to not do it... but all about his personality is very well justified in the game, and the lines he says at the final battle makes u really understand the real meaning of his character... he is supossed to be based on the well known writer called Kafka, and if u read him, u know what i'm talking about...
Also, lots of Nietzsche ideas can be found if u analize it more deep... and i'm sure u can find more interesting thoughts if u take the time...

Atma has a deep concept too... this game is philosophicaly a piece of art too!!!

Are u really sure u already played the game??? o_O!!!
lol... what a things sometimes we have to read!

[Wolf Kanno]

Warning long post...

First FFVI IS A JOKE when it comes to difficulty.. I kept waiting for the moment something would actually challenge me, WITHOUT EVER stopping to level.. And Im not that good of a player or anything, its just that character damage in this game is WAY TOO HIGH...
At the start you have Edgar's Auto crossbow which paired with atlas armlet obliterates anything... a little later you get flash.. not to mention on how overpowered Gau is when you have all the useful rages..
Then you get Spells lvl 2 (fire, ice, bolt) etc.. I remember when I reached Atma at the floating continent... I thought "hey a WEAPON, this should be tough" what a joke! morphed terra + bolt 2 = 5 K damage every turn at lvl 20...who needs vanish + doom tricks when the game is so easy anyway?

Name me one FF that isn't easier than dirt after you figure out how to use everything? If you want challenge, you're in the wrong genre. Even the uber bosses in the FF series have simple and effective strategies to beat them.

Second, the game as way too many playable characters, and you could say "the more the better because there will always be someone who pleases you" but I hate it, its just messy.. you never have time to explore a character deeply, because as soon as youre getting attached to that character, 2 more come in and your loved one gets removed out of the party.. ugh..

This is a ridiculous argument... How about actually having to build strategies and personal playing styles? How about the fact that the cast actually brings something to the story? How about exploring the world and using the characters leasurly instead of haphazardly changing your party around to rush through the story? How about the wonderful 3 team battles that require you to use all of them? I think Zeromus argued this point nicely.

Third, whats with every character having equal stats and being able to share most equipment? So many characters and nothing to make them special.. except for...

Their stats are not equal, their is a subtle difference in everyone. How about the fact that the esper system allows you to modify their stasts so they don't seem like clones?

Fourth, SKILLS... did anyone notice you can and probably WILL go through the whole game without using the "fight" command once? Except for the very beginning with Terra of course.. Since every character has magic and magic is much more powerful until very late in the game (and ultima still owns then)... WHY are skills free? Edgar, Cyan and Sabin will NEVER use the fight command, because they can just spam whatever skill you want to without mp charge or anything.. its broken

Another ridiculous argument:rolleyes2 Now I may agree that some skills are cheap and broken, but you know what? DON'T USE THEM! Is that so difficult? And who misses the Fight command anyway? Play FFII or FFVIII if you want to use the fight command alot, build a party of Knights in FFI, FFIII, and FFV if you want to use the fight command so badly. Why not let everyone actually attack and not bother using skills and magic in FFIV, FFVII, and FFVI? Also, you DON'T HAVE TO TEACH MAGIC TO EVERYONE. It's purely optional.

Fifth, the plot, to FF standards, sucks! Sure, its better than the plot from FF 1 :rolleyes2 but other than that... its 100% predictable and ... whats up with the part at thamasa when Kefka suddenly comes in and starts killing espers left and right? So he suddenly went from a random dude to some invincible killing machine? Lame

What FF standards? You mean the ones FFVI built back in the day? Yes it's predictable at times but most of the plots are. Only V andf VIII don't have predicatable plots and that is because their stories are randomly told and lack cohesion. Flying Mullet mentioned the fact that later FF's have plotholes which are glaringly obvious. and the earlier FF's plot are basic and lack any depth.

Also, since when have FF's had deep character backstories? Cloud and Sqaull maybe but everyone else in their games are two dimensional compared to them. I also bring up what Flying Mullet said about their being major plotholes in their stories. FFVI was the first game to bring forth elaborate back stories on most of their characters. I don't think anyone cared about Umaro, and Gogo was a wink to FFV.

Ultimately it comes down to personal taste. I personally saw the beauty of this game, it's rich story about hope and finding yourself. I love it's operatic feel and beautiful music and world. I like the fact that it's not always serious or thinks highly of itself (that's what fanboys are for) in it's telling of it's story. It's cast is quite possibly the greatest cast ever assembled in an rpg and Kefka has a greater depth to him than most people give him credit for.

[silentenigma]

wait a minute, Frostwake, have you even played FF III,IV, and V? I'm sure you've played II because it always comes with FFI. I wouldn't ask this if I didn't think that you would love FFVI after comparing it to the preceding installments. All you are doing is comparing it to FFVII and FFVIII.

[Crossblades]

wait a minute, Frostwake, have you even played FF III,IV, and V? I'm sure you've played II because it always comes with FFI. I wouldn't ask this if I didn't think that you would love FFVI after comparing it to the preceding installments. All you are doing is comparing it to FFVII and FFVIII.

Which is sad IMO. If you played the newer FFs first and then the older ones, you should be more open minded

[Aqua Mage]

Fifth, the plot, to FF standards, sucks! Sure, its better than the plot from FF 1 :rolleyes2 but other than that... its 100% predictable and ... whats up with the part at thamasa when Kefka suddenly comes in and starts killing espers left and right? So he suddenly went from a random dude to some invincible killing machine? Lame

DON'T CALL MY KEFKA LAME!
Of course you're entitled to your own opinion. But if you think that the FFVI storyline is crap.. you must have been dropped when you were a baby.

[Siegfried]

And you , my new friend, have just been bashed by every hardcore FF6 fan in the forums...excpet maybe me...

You suck for this, go back to the emo games, not the uplifting ones...

Stratch the first thing I said now....Cuz now you have...

[Takara]

Heh, you want a random villain dude? Look at Ultimecia. kthxbye

[NeoCracker]

Hating FF VI is one thing. But hating because you don't pay any attention whatsoever to the game is another. Every character, minus a couple, have great backtories. And the only hard FF's were FF IV hard Version, and FF Tactics. FF V had teh Crystal Gaurdians, but that was it.

REally if you want hard games go play something else, as no FF is really hard compared to other games.

[Frostwake]

wait a minute, Frostwake, have you even played FF III,IV, and V? I'm sure you've played II because it always comes with FFI. I wouldn't ask this if I didn't think that you would love FFVI after comparing it to the preceding installments. All you are doing is comparing it to FFVII and FFVIII.

Woah lots of angry replies here today :P so Im gonna try to cover most replies here...

Well since I said "out of the first 9" it obviously means I played all of them! And let me tell you that FF I and FF V are up there as my favourites when it comes to "classic" FFs... FF I might have the most basic plot, but the gameplay is awesome and its probably the hardest FF, unless youre playing DOS

FFV has the job system and that about covers anything wrong with the game And I agree, X-Death is as bad of a villain as Kefka, "I want to get the power of the void to be all powerful" but at least he didnt laugh like a maniac :P

You see, some people like those kinds of brainless villains, I dont, I prefer 100 Sephiroths or Ultimecias than Kefka anyday, and as a note, Kuja was also a nice villain

Funny that people are saying "FFVI started it all" ugh.. No, FF VII started it all when it comes to amazing storytelling and deep characters + unexpected plot twists
If you go that way, FF II was the first to advance the plot About the only unexpected thing in FF VI is Terra being an esper, in FF II it turns out that the Dark Knight was Lionheart... Thats pretty much the same formula, so stop crediting FF VI

Now some things that are personal taste, FF VI has possibly one of the best theme tracks ever (Terra) but overall the music lacks the magic of other FFs, specially the battle theme.. Not only that but I think FF V has better graphics, when it comes to summons even more so... But thats not a "game sucks because of that" point

About the POS-FFVII superbosses with millions of HP, its natural since you can deal much more than 9999 every round, but FF V has awesome and HARD AS HELL bosses if you dont use cheap tactics (Omega and Shinryu obviously) and they dont top the 60 K hp barrier.. They dont need to, because you will do so little damage/spend rounds healing that 50 k seems like forever... Problem with FF VI is, as I said before, character damage is through the roof, and removes any challenge that might have been there

And how funny it is that FF VI lovers are also FF VII and VIII haters? Did it hurt much that square started to make 3d games and actually advanced the plot? If I forgot to cover some points remind me later :P

[NeoCracker]

You haven't commented on everyones KEfka thing. As Kefka was clearly no a random dude at all.

The Character Depth counters. The second half of the game is all about learning characters stories.

Really our problem isn't that you hate it, but that you don't even seem to have payed any attention at all.

And all the bosses you listed I could beat without cheap stratagies without much of a problem.

On note of Graphics, FF VI Graphics are without a dought superior, you just happen to preffer v's. Like I prefer Chrono Triggers to FF VII's blocky looking forms.

Also, I'm one of those haters. Mostly FF VIII. I liked FF VII, but I just go with Jenova was in control over Sephiroth. If it really is Sephiroth as the Ultimania Guide supposable says, then thats just plain lame.

[Aqua Mage]

In response to:

And how funny it is that FF VI lovers are also FF VII and VIII haters? Did it hurt much that square started to make 3d games and actually advanced the plot? If I forgot to cover some points remind me later :P

LE GASPETH! Personally, the only final fantasy I dislike is Final Fantasy IV. To me, good graphics are not essential for a final fantasy game to be good. I fell in love with FFVI in the first 5 minutes of it.
I'm just going to leave my opinion as:

Every Final Fantasy has its pros and cons and it just comes down to what sort of personality you have... kupo!

[Wolf Kanno]

FFV has the job system and that about covers anything wrong with the game

No it doesn't, cause gameplay is only half of what an RPG is and I'm sorry to say that FFV fails as a story. Gameplay-wise, I won't argue that FFV is damn fun but it's plot lacks cohesion and Reina and Krile are basically the same person. The game comes off really random and we get poor explanations as to why.


No, FF VII started it all when it comes to shoddy storytelling and poorly written characters + pointless plot twists

Sorry, I had to fix it for you Seriously, the later games have some terrible writing.

If you go that way, FF II was the first to advance the plot About the only unexpected thing in FF VI is Terra being an esper, in FF II it turns out that the Dark Knight was Lionheart... Thats pretty much the same formula, so stop crediting FF VI

Cecil being a Lunarian would have been a more accurate comparison but to each their own I guess.

But what about the whole World of Ruin? When did it occur to you that halfway through the game, the world was going to be destroyed and you would have to play in the apocolyptic aftermath of it? You already admitted that "random dude" Kefka becoming the main villain was a bit of a surprise.

About the POS-FFVII superbosses with millions of HP, its natural since you can deal much more than 9999 every round, but FF V has awesome and HARD AS HELL bosses if you dont use cheap tactics (Omega and Shinryu obviously) and they dont top the 60 K hp barrier.. They dont need to, because you will do so little damage/spend rounds healing that 50 k seems like forever... Problem with FF VI is, as I said before, character damage is through the roof, and removes any challenge that might have been there

I never found FFV challenging. I waltzed through that game without a guide and everything. Sure Gogo was a bit tricky and Omega kicked my ass the first time we met, but I still never found the game incredibly challenging. Perhaps we have a different opinion of challenge? Also, FFVI's character damage is not nearly as broken as FFVII, FFVIII, and FFXs.

And how funny it is that FF VI lovers are also FF VII and VIII haters? Did it hurt much that square started to make 3d games and actually advanced the plot?

No, I'm personally hurt by the fact that Square started to make poorly written trite. They have cutscenes to wow the player so they will forget the bad writing and half assed character development. Let us not forget pointless stupid plot twists that serve no purpose rather than to trick the player into believing the game is deeper and more intellectual than it really is. No that's why I'm pissed off by the newer titles...

[ljkkjlcm9]

I think it's hilarious that you call Kefka a "brainless" villian when he was smart enough to trick the emperor, and kill him, trick Leo, and kill him, trick everyone basically, and destroy the world. Then sit there ruling over it. While you prefer Sephiroth, who was just doing exactly what Jenova wanted... talk about brainless.

As everyone has said, no FF game is particularly hard. I honestly can't believe you said FFI was hard. Especially the hardest FF. FFIII was hard in the same way that game was hard, you have to level grind to get anywhere at certain points. That's not hard, it's just time consuming. And if you're good, you don't even have to level grind. How can FFI be hard when I was 4 playing with two brothers, 6 and 7, and my mom watching us, and we beat it. Seriously now....

FFVII did not start amazing story telling. If you seriously think that, you didn't pay attention to this game at all. FFVI definitely had the best graphics of the generation, that's just a fact considering it used more of the power of the SNES. Maybe you prefer the graphics of FFV, but FFVI are graphically superior. Also, FFVI has some of the most memorable pieces of music, namely, the Opera.

Sigh, I'd also like to point out, that I do not hate FFVII or FFVIII. In fact I did not hate the character development or story of either. I've been called a Squall fanboy for sticking up for his character, so don't even try that crap on me. I do think FFVII is overrated, but not a bad game in any sense. You can think FFVI is overrated, but what you're saying is that it's crap, and that's just absurd. Especially considering your arguments don't even make sense if you've actually played the game. Plus, you contradicted yourself.

THE JACKEL

[sephirothishere]

it is rather easy yes....but there havent been many points where i have been like....BORRRIIINNNNGGG!!!!....as i did with ff7 and 8....ther characters are cool....how many are there?!like 11?!thats not that many....this game sure beats the hell outta ff7....it has some emotion i guess...but in terms of ridiculously hard bosses there are none no...or ridiculously hard dungeons.... a la ToP and DQ...but it sure beats the hell outta ff7....so stop being a fanboy....and uh...

i think what you said about kefka is kinda void.....