Long article on FFVI design philosophies.

[Flying Arrow]

Reverse Design: Final Fantasy 6 - 1

Enjoy. Really great article on some of the thinking that went into making FF6 what it is.

[blackmage_nuke]

Mind Blown

[VeloZer0]

Really? That's about what I would expect.

[Flying Arrow]

What's more impressive is that the entire game is communicated (with dialogue) in less than 20,000 words. This game was obviously before the time of 5-minute cutscene interruptions, but it also has dozens of characters with detailed backstories, is 35-40 hours long, and is one of the most notable examples of a story/character-driven console RPG.

[The Man]

This is really insightful. Thanks for posting it.

[Sephex]

I didn't read it all, but what I read of it I found very interesting. Good find.

[Elskidor]

That was cool. Loved the charts too.

[VeloZer0]

I finally finished the whole thing, and I am very glad that there are people who go to such efforts. It would be really interesting to see what a SE employee who worked on FF6 has to say about it.

That said I am super excited to see what comes about the Chrono Trigger project.

[Kenshin IV]

...I always thought this was common knowledge. Well, except for the people who misguidedly thought Final Fantasy VII was the first one to take the series in a different direction.

[Jiro]

I thought it was interesting how he broke the game up into three chapters, all beginning with someone waking up. It does lend weight to the idea that there are still central characters, if not "main characters" in the game.