Do you think the party really made a good argument against Kekfa's question?

[Wolf Kanno]

So, kind of watching the final section before the big battle again, I kind of felt the party sort of gave a half assed answer to Kekfa's question about the futility of living. Do you feel they gave a satisfactory answer, or do you feel Kekfa was pretty much set on his task and the question was more rhetorical?

[VeloZer0]

They gave a good answer... with steel and fire. I always felt like in situations like that you respond verbally only because it would sound awkward not to. Your real answer is in the determination of your fight.

I mean really, how many of us thought that talking Kefka down would possibly do any good? (Though that would make a hilarious secret ending.)

[Jiro]

Kefka was being rhetorical, and answering the question was merely adding to his satisfaction. He was beyond reason, and so beating the trout through him was the only way to make him taste what the futility of life was all about.

[VeloZer0]

I guess I could also add that after battling their way through the tower and preparing themselves to fight a demi-god the party probably wasn't at it's most eloquent.

[Wolf Kanno]

I don't know, I think it's kind of amusing that a year of godhood and doing what he likes most (making people suffer and blowing trout up) made him bored and realize how utterly meaningless life is. I sometimes wonder, if the game was remade or got a modern Ultimania, the writers might reason that Kefka lost the battle because he let them, since he kind of became a nihilist due to being a god.

[Sephex]

I think the response of simply living life day to day, ignoring the sum of life itself was a good response. It's easy to get all upset and think nothing matters just because death/destruction is inevitable. That's why you do your best to make the time you have as awesome as possible. Simple as that.

Beating the crap out of Kefka also helped, too.

[blackmage_nuke]

They gave a good answer... with steel and fire.

I responded and persuaded him with the power of dance!

Also most of them didnt go through College

[Spooniest]

Theatrics, theatrics, theatrics. Final Fantasy VI is an opera. For the party to just walk into Kefka's inner sanctum and rush him wouldn't have been dramatic enough. The evaluation of the scene shouldn't be how good their answers were (philosophically speaking), but how much feeling is in the answers, what imagery they evoke.

In other words, it's possible (as BN pointed out) that the more educated among the party could have responded with a philosophical counterpoint to Kefka's assertion that life is meaningless because nothing lives forever...

...But where's the fun in that? It's so much more sweeping, so much more epic, to respond to a coldly calculated view, one that says nothing is worth living for, we're all cattle waiting to be sliced by the scythe of death, to respond to such a view with feeling.

Because that truly is what Kefka, as a character, lacks. He is completely out of touch with anything resembling depth of feeling. He thinks life is meaningless because he's lost the ability to quantify it in terms of how he feels towards it, due to his lack of empathy. That's the real truth that he isn't stating, because he probably doesn't himself realize that's why he's come to the conclusion.

It's this "missing link" in Kefka's chain of reasoning that is the root of his madness. The cast, in responding to him, are providing the moment of drama, of crescendo, by illustrating to the player just how far Kefka has fallen, what he has lost sight of.

I.e., why it's necessary to beat the living turds out of him until he is stone dead.

[Roogle]

No, I think that the party shouting answers of what inspires them to live was more a message to the player to show you what those characters have learned over the course of their journey.

I can only think of one or two games in which the final boss can be convinced of the error of his ways.

[the_best_noob]

I my thought they gave pretty bad answers. Then again, they would have otherwise have to have said "your absolutely right" and then jumped off the tower.

[ReloadPsi]

The most important person in your life is you, no matter what anyone tells you. Therefore if you like your life, it has meaning. They like their lives, despite Kefka's attempts to change that. I really couldn't ask for a better argument out of them.

[sabin101]

Always loved what kefka said you guys sound like chapters from a self help book lol. That one always got me laughing so hard.

[Greatermaximus]

What response is best? Everyone involved enough in the game has their say. Fictional or not, Kefka isn't the first case where someone became diluted by their own lust for power.

I kinda figured he's basing his reasons on nothing. If that's the case why not commit suicide?

Partial Spoiler.

At least Celes had a valid reason to try in one case imo.