Final Fantasy VI...

[Carl the Llama]

Ok iv been thinking about posting this for quite some time and thought now was a good as time to do as any.

I think Final Fantasy VI is overrated.

Yep I said it I personally like the game alot but obviously im missing somthing here, Kefka for example... he doesnt seem very menaceing and I cant stand him... I have always thought evil was supposed to be tempting but I just cant seem to like Kefka at all.

I really dont see how this game can be so popular... dont get me wrong though I enjoyed playing it (completed it 3 times) but I honestly dont see why so many people make this game out to be gods gift to RPG players which no one has come out and said but meh its the feel I have about it.

I dont expect many people to agree with me but I thought I would just share my feelings with you.

Note: if I made any grammer or spelling errors please dont be compelled to point them out to me, surely you understand what I meant and feel its kinda lame and pedantic to do a "[word]? dont you mean [correct word]" Thankyou very much.

[Flying Mullet]

Whah! Overrated! Blasphemy!

Actually, I'm not surprised that some people find it overrated. Just like any game, there will be a specific audience that will love it unconditionally(myself included) and there will be others that never understand why some people love it so much.

I do think that part of its status in the RPG world is from the age when it came out. Compared to a lot of games today, it doesn't have anything new to offer, but at the time it came out it was cutting edge and very immersive. I know a lot of my love for it is nostalgia, but that's okay. I like having an old friend to hang out with from time to time.

[ljkkjlcm9]

lol
this thread was clearly made because someone said in the FFVII is overrated thread to come to the FFVI section and say it was overrated.

Either way, Kefka is well liked because he's just insane. Kinda like how the Joker is just insane in The Dark Knight. They even look similar!

Coupled with the largest cast of characters, each with their own back story, and it's a highly enjoyable game.

I'd just like to know, outside of actual final fantasy forums, where have you ever heard anyone praise FFVI as being truly amazing?
I love the game, it's prolly my favorite FF game, but for me to actually play through it again... there'd need to be more than just another port of the game. I played the GBA version for the special dungeons.

THE JACKAL

[Roto13]

It was the best thing ever in 1994.

[Carl the Llama]

I can say yes it was the straw that broke the camels back but I had been thinking about posting it for some time, and tbh I dont like haveing a shed load of characters but meh thats just me.

Agreed I dont find any fanboish comments but I dont really see what the attraction is to make it out to be the best game ever... I enjoyed Final Fantasy IV ALOT more the Final Fantasy VI.

[Egami]

It was the best thing ever in 1994.

Indeed and it remains one of the best things ever today.

I dont like haveing a shed load of characters but meh thats just me.

Well, Chrono Cross and Suikoden II have a shed load of characters. I don't think that FF VI has that many compared to those . Besides, I felt that the game did a good job in making you use most characters like for example in the dungeons where you have to set up two or even three parties to get through it or in the scenarios where members of your party become separated and meet up new allies.

[Flying Mullet]

No need to double post Egami. If you have something else to add, use the "edit/delete" button.

[Bolivar]

Like Kaiser Dragon, I've completed the game 3 times, gotten at least half way twice, enjoyed it thoroughly, but am still puzzled as to how it gets paraded around the internet as the masterpiece it has become. I can think of maybe ten 16-bit RPG's off the top of my head that I would say are fairly to alot better, 2 of which are FF's.

For one, its cast of characters is near-disgustingly over-appraised. I couldn't tell you how many times someone has proclaimed every one of them to be "deep", (especially when compared to later FFs) when I have to say they are all paper thin with many of them having some of the most unbelievable character-archs I've seen in RPGs.

Not to mention Kefka. He's probably the least effective villain I've encountered in an RPG. The game gives no reason at all as to why he seems to know more about Phantom Beasts/Magicite/The 3 gods of battle than anyone else. Ironically, fans of the game like to use his lack of backstory or even detail as proof of him as being a good villain.

The Esper/Phantom Beast system is also one of the most disappointing in the entire FF series. It has no implication on statistics at all, save when you level up, and it only gives characters spells, which is fairly inappropriate when, traditionally, most jobs don't use MP.

Other battle mechanics spoil the game also. Characters like Edgar, Shadow, Cyan, and Mash all have abilities which can be spammed at no cost (save Shadow's inventory of near-costless shurikens) in order to defeat huge waves of opponents. Not to mention that all except 2 characters can learn the -aga class spells and Ultima (and might as well during the course of the game) takes pretty much all of the strategy out of it.

The ATB also wasn't anywhere near as well-timed as it was in the games that sandwhich it (V and VII). Some disagree, but in my experience I spend alot of time with all of my characters on full waiting for the next animation to finish so I can have one character's fill up again. It effectively regresses the game into a turn-based RPG.

While I consider FFVI to be a "good" game, it really isn't that "great" to me, and I would probably rather start a new game of any other FF before it.

[Yar]

Do I think VI is great? Yes.

Is it my favorite? No.

I think it has one of the best stories in the series. The music was really good, and disagreeing with Bolivar (which I AM allowed to do here, k?! ) I thought the ATB was actually really good. Not X-2 good, but good. I liked having the ATB constantly running (on Active), which in others even when Active is on the bar will stop as actions are executed.

VI was actually really fun for me. I've played it bunches of times but I have yet to actually "replay" it. I've only beat it once, but I have started the game like fifteen times.

Yes, various elements of the game can be exploited such as the esper system and even the Vanish/Doom trick. But I enjoy micromanagement dealing with my characters, (that's like the only reason I play Final Fantasy Tactics.) and I like to see growth.

Plus, the game was beautiful to look at, especially enemies in-battle images. And even still, it's a great addition to any GBA/DS library in my opinion. A great RPG on the go.

I don't know that it's overrated, because I only hear people talk about it here, whereas I think VII is overrated and I hear about it everywhere. But then again I know someone's going to bitch about that too, so I'll stop talking about that now.

I'd probably give the game an B+. It's not perfect, but I mean come on, it's from 1994 and it's now 2008. It did it's job and added its worth to the series (see VIII's Junctioning System, IX's Ability System.)

I think I'm going to go play VI now. Well, maybe after I finish IV-DS. :rolleyes2

[Bolivar]

I don't know that it's overrated, because I only hear people talk about it here, whereas I think VII is overrated and I hear about it everywhere. But then again I know someone's going to bitch about that too, so I'll stop talking about that now.

Disclaimer: Non-bitching post!

I just wanted to point out that in this thread and its sister one, I think we need a distinction between "overrated" and "overrappreciated". The topic at hand is not how many people discuss something (attention is not always a good thing), but what praise it gets from the people who do have something to say about it.

Other than that, good post, I will agree that VI did have phenomenal music. Even simple pieces like Rachel forever can bring you to tears.

[Kenshin IV]

lol
this thread was clearly made because someone said in the FFVII is overrated thread to come to the FFVI section and say it was overrated.

Yes it was!

Either way, Kefka is well liked because he's just insane. Kinda like how the Joker is just insane in The Dark Knight. They even look similar!

Exactly right! More than just being clowns, they're both raw forces of evil. No rime or reason for it other than sheer enjoyment. The lack of depth in this case is actually what is essential to their greatness. To tack it back even further than the Joker, Kefka is the Loki character, pretty much the inspiration for all scary jesters.

Edit: To add before someone feels the need to point it out, I'm aware Kefka did have a goal in the game. That was plot, I'm talking about character.

[Carl the Llama]

I dont know about you but I find the reason 'just because' was kind of lame on Squares side... it shows (to me at least) lack of thought or maybe lazyness, if they went to all the trouble of making characters with 'Deep' storylines then why leave this blight on 'the best' of the series.

[Marky Tee]

it would have been a lot better if the playstation version wasnt so feckin slow

[Egami]

I dont know about you but I find the reason 'just because' was kind of lame on Squares side... it shows (to me at least) lack of thought or maybe lazyness, if they went to all the trouble of making characters with 'Deep' storylines then why leave this blight on 'the best' of the series.

Spoilers...

In Kefka's case I think that the principle "absolute power corrupts absolutely" applies. He started as a loyal servant of the emperor, even if his ways were inhuman, unlike that of General Leo. He poisoned the water because he wanted to get rid of the people who "gave rise to the returners". He burns figaro castle because he wanted to recover Terra, a woman that belonged to the empire, which Edgar and Locke hid there. But later he starts to become obsessed with the power of Magicite and starts to claim their power for himself and becomes obsessed with it to such an extent that he ends up killing anything that gets on his way, including the very emperor who he served at first.

Having an absolute and destructive power now, all that he can do is use it to destroy the world around him. As the dialogue before the last battle shows, he felt that human life was meaningless, that it was a waste of time because people were going to die anyway so he felt that a "monument of non-existence" was better. This reminds me of Seymour's idea of ridding Spira of it's sorrow by destroying it.

[Roto13]

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Kefka lost his mind to the experiments that gave him the ability to use magic. After that he was a complete sociopath. Nothing that happened in FF VI corrupted him. He was corrupted already.

Kefka is insane. As in, completely bat insane. He hates everyone and wants them all to suffer and die. He's not like Ultimecia or Kuja who are just scared of their own mortality. He's not like Vayne, who wants to manipulate history to free humanity. He's just completely and totally evil. He has nothing to gain from the things he does besides the intense joy he gets from making people suffer.