I want to like VI so badly...

[Hambone]

because I've heard from virtually everyone that it's their favorite installment in the series. I've had a copy of it for years (the PS Anthology release) and I've given it one or two shots but something's always distracted me from making serious progress in the game and I think it may be due to my quirk about the relatively large number of playable characters VI has to offer. Long story short, I get overwhelmed when games give me a lot of options (it's why I never got into Little Big Planet either) and I tend to steer away from games like that, which means I'm of course missing out on a TON of good games, I know. I think what I do when I come across games like that is I start planning stuff from the very beginning of the game so that I can weed out some of the options so that I don't get overwhelmed, but that just makes the whole experience less fun because I just worry instead of immersing myself in the game like I should.

Should I try my best to overlook this aspect of myself and just plow through VI? I don't know if this is a common problem...

[Wolf Kanno]

It can be an issue, especially with VI since it's second half is pretty open ended by JRPG standards. Yet, I would say that I find the opposite problem when I speak to other VI fans. Most fans I know tend to stick to one party except for the handful of dungeons that force you to use the whole cast.

I would say, just go for it and try to blast your way through the game. Often I feel the story sets up who should be in your party, and the cast is large enough for everyone to have at least one or two favorite characters.

[Alpha2099]

Meh, it happens. Having so many choices and not necessarily being given a clear direction can be overwhelming, and sometimes you back out of a game because of it. I get that. I think that's partly why I abandoned Suikoden. I had tons of choices, but didn't know what to do, and I was losing interest. I think if you stay with it, you'll have fun, but if you really can't stay with it, I don't think you'll raise anyone's ire here...much...

[Gamblet]

Kind of the same thing with Chrono Cross.

[Jiro]

Pick the characters you think are coolest and just grit your teeth and dive in because otherwise you are missing out on something amazing.

[Gamblet]

Pick the characters you think are coolest and just grit your teeth and dive in because otherwise you are missing out on something amazing.

That's what I do!

[Trumpet Thief]

Pick the characters you think are coolest and just grit your teeth and dive in because otherwise you are missing out on something amazing.

This.

As well, a lot of the 'open choices' can be superficial. In many cases, you might have 'freedom', but for the most part, it's the difference between you heading to one town or another location. Even with other 'choice' segments (Pick your adventure), they end up giving you great character development between different characters.

That said, I didn't enjoy the World of Ruin portion of the game, which many other people herald as their favorite. Go forward, and pick the team you like, and see how you respond to the game. You should get immersed after a few hours, I'd suspect.

[ReloadPsi]

Yeah, this is one of those games where it's generally beneficial to use all of the characters in some kind of rotation. Don't feel obligated to do so constantly though; I usually do two or three dungeons with one party, then take some other guys through a few more. Rotate them slowly, experiment with party combinations.

After all, half the fun of an RPG is learning what's in there.