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Thread: Once More I Try To Finish FFVI But...

  1. #16
    Bustin' a killa move BustaMo's Avatar
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    I guess playing the game and tailoring it to how you wanna to make it more fun is what it's all about. I personally loved FFVI just how it was. I am trying to play through it a 2nd time on my mobile phone and am still in the early stages of the game, but love going for 100% of everything.

    Good luck on your journey!!
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  2. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by Edge7 View Post
    The World of Ruin is kinda what sold FFVI for me. I enjoyed the whole ride, but everything from "Searching for Friends" to that twilight skyline, to the non linear approach to gameplay is what really makes it special.
    The new town theme is also absolutely perfect.

    The band's all ball back together again. (and Gogo and Umaro are there too) I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed there was no cutscene or anything. Like, just a sentimental bonus for if you got everyone where they say "we're all here, it's very special, now let's go kick Kefka's ass!" (it would be BNW Relm saying this. Did she talk so crass in the original and they just spiced it up?) Dialogue from the party in WOR largely consists of words in quotes with no specific speaker attached. I guess we can maybe rule out Cyan and Gau but that doesn't narrow it down too much.This is probably why someone might prefer WOB to WOR. The former is a..."tighter and more focused" story. That's usually a good thing, like FFX or VII. But for this game, everything is built up just so it can be torn down and then built up again. Sure Locke or whoever might have a larger number of moments to their name in the World of Balance but the most memorable moments for damn near everyone come in the World of Ruin.

    And I still have a lot of gamee left, I have no idea what might happen.

    I have settled on my final main team. Celes (naturally), Cyan, Sabin and Strago. I've loved Celes and Cyan ever since my first few aborted runs of FFVI and they remain interesting and fun to play. Sabin grew on me while grinding him and various other B-listers up so he got promoted. His Imp skill was very useful against the "Master T" which confounded me with its constant counter that did 2000-3000 damage until I experimented some. I took my new team through the Ancient Castle and whaddya know, Odin goes with Strago. It all comes together. Once Strago had some levels and stat boosts and learned a few new nifty Lores, he's pretty good. I foresee every future boss fight starting with Sabin Suplexing to get Slow on them and Strago following it up with Bad Breath to get Poison and/or Sap on them.

    Speaking of boss fights, the dragon before Odin was the first challenge I've had i n a while. It was refreshing. I apparently have 5 more Dragons to beat? I had no idea there are 5 more optional dungeons scattered around.... And if I'm reading th Espers menu right, there are six more of those I'm missing, too.

    I thought that Tower was Kefka's place? It isn't the final dungeon or a way into teh final dungeon? I guess I have my next destination in mind. Thre's also that Rock place north of Thamasa which I accidentally read is related to Strago, I think.

    I beat Atma in this mod with ease. Dunno if he was weakened or not from original but early Level 30 team demolished him.

    Took me forever to find Strago as I'm convinced he's literally the only party member no one in the entire world gives a hint about where he is.

    Got Shadow back after an NPC said he went to the Colosseum and then an NPC there said a ninja wanted an item. I started a battle and sure enough, there he was. In more interesting news, I found the Phoenix Cave a day or so ago but you needed two teams and I had nobody outside my main team worth a damn. Well, now I do. More importantly, I was stymied about where my remaining party members could be. Up until now, it's all been pretty straightforward but I heard nothing about Locke or Strago Then I stopped into see the Herbalist and he said "Locke is out hunting treasure!"

    I was annoyed at first but then thought "hey... I got this place that I was led to by a treasure map. Maybe..." Once I started finding all the empty chests, my hopes grew and in the end, I was of course rewarded with Locke and a new Esper. That scene between him and Rachel was beautiful and got my eyes a little misty. Once again, World of Ruin is a whole other league in terms of storytelling to the World of Balance.

  3. #18

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    And it's over. I'm really tired and hungry and my fingers kinda hurt. I'll post my thoughts later when my eyes can stay open and my stomach isn't growling.

    For the time being, suffice it to say that the final boss was quite an artistic triumph. I know people say Sephiroth ripped off Kefka or whatever but I don't see it unless they mean just looking somewhat angelic. I loved the various stages of the Kefka battle, how you ascended and and how the music changed each stage. I haven't a clue what those things were but I think the third one ("Peace?") was my favorite. That's where I had to reset during my first and only failure because Strago had died right at the end of the last stage and I guess they are "nice" and shove in someone to replace whoever is KO'ed at the end of one of the stages. Only they gave me Terra who had no equipment and was useless.

    But yeah, the ascension thing and all of it is very different from Bizarro, Safer and "real" Sephiroth. Very different thematically too I feel in spite of the typical hero "we all have something to live for" speeches. Sephiroth is notable for his absolute silence during the entire ending while Kefka was of course anything but.

    But yeah, overall thoughts on my entire 80 hour playtrhough will have to wait. But spoilers! I think it was a pretty good game.

  4. #19

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    So let's do this thing.

    First off, while grinding up Shadow's levels, I rested a lot at inns and thus saw a few more dreams. I saw him leave Billy and I saw him wind up at Thamasa. Something I didn't mention arlier was that I went to Thamasa on my own before the story took me there and when you do that, no NPC will say much of anything to you because you're a stranger. So I wondered about who I needed to have in my party to get them to opn up to me. Wouldn't you know it, when you arrive with Shadow, everyone becomes a lot more chatty. I'm not even sure if most of them know him at all but it's a nice and subtle thing about his past that ties in with that dream sequence many people might never see.

    Did Shadow go off to die at the end? That seems a rather bleak ending considering everyone else's.... FFVI ends on a distinctly hopeful note. Despite the loss of magic and general state of the world, there is hope for a brighter future.

    One thing I noticed in the WOR is that thre's no real talk of the Returners. I can't help the VI and VII comparison but it reminds me of how the AVALANCHE identity also gets left in the dust. True, the Returners were anti-Empire just like AVALANCHE was anti-Shinra, and both of those groups are meaningless next to Kefka and Sephiroth, but it still feels like something that should have been touched upon. For instance, I didn't hear trout about Bannon or what became of him. I did my best to keep him alive in a couple prety notable segments and for a decent stretch of gameplay but he just fades away never to be mentiond again. (so far as I saw)

    And why did the Warring Triad fight me? I thought they gave up their destructive ways. They should be helping us against Kefka if they are now somehow freed again.

    I'm glad that recruiting everyone did have some notable changes to cutscenes. At least, if you fail to re-recruit Terra or whatever, is the ending stuff any different? But at the very least, it was a nice change of pace when, before first entering Kefka's Tower, our heoes wonder what will become of Terra once magic is gone from the world. She doesn't say anything though when the "camera" shifts over to her and sometimes silence is worth a thousand words. Nice touch.

    I used to really not care for Kefka's theme. It was no "Those Chosen by the Planet" which is very ominous and intimidating. I looked at Kefka's theme like I lookd at the story and Kefka himself. "This is supposed to be profound or impressive? It's a damn joke." And therein lies the brilliance which I finally appreciated when the theme starts playing before the final battle. As our heroes give their reasons for soldiering on in spite of the odds, Kefka's reaction and that music kicking in is just perfectly demented. It is a joke - a cruel, cruel joke. Hearing that song play as he wrecks the world and laughs at us is really effective at making it a lot less silly and a lot more disturbing.

    Speaking of music, I usually include my favorite tracks in these ending commentaries because music is a vital part of any truly great game. My favorite songs....

    Cyan's Theme

    Terra's Theme

    Relm's Theme

    The Decisive Battle

    Slum Shuffle ("Zozo? Never heard of it!")

    The Day After and Searching For Friends (when you first hear these songs after entering a WoR town and getting the Falcon, I knew for a fact things would never be the same. They would be so much better)

    The Magic House (Jidoor's new theme. I don't think I've ever heard talk about this song and it's so absolutely amazing)

    Fanatics (better than the actual final dungeon music)


    Something occurs to me so I have to write it down. It's yet another FFVII and FFVI comparison. In FFVII, most battles have regular battle music and victory fanfare. That's fine so far as it goes but for dungeons adn stuff? They really should have kept with FFVI's style. Keep dungeon music going during fights and maybe even omit teh celebratory poses. For video games, it's all about immersion and keeping that consistent dungeon theme really helps set a mood. FFVI was great about that and, indeed, I don't think a FF game really does this again until FFX whee I distinctly remember the main theme of Zanarkand playing during battle and there being no victory poses. (also the amazing mod called FFVII: New Threat allows you to do exactly this and keep dungeon music playing during random battles)

    I'm not sure what else there is to say... i think you all know my favorite characters were Celes and Cyan. I just wish Cyan's dream stuff hadn't been so awful. I am profoundly grateful to the creator of Brave New World for tweeking the gameplay and helping me to finally finish this great game.

    Speaking of which, I've decided to try out this romhack called Return of the Dark Sorcerer. I've never played a FF game like this. The closest thing I've considered is Crimson Echoes which I hear was supposed to be some intrepid fan's attempt to bridge the Chrono Trigger-Chrono Cross gap. I never did play that though because the two games are just too different. But I really loved playing FFVI and more of that but different sounds highly interesting to me right now.
    Last edited by Forsaken Lover; 07-27-2017 at 04:25 AM.

  5. #20

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    So I'm playing that Return of the Dark Sorcerer romhack I mentioned (so far it's pretty fun, even if it is FFVI with the name filed off and starring a purple-haired Terra who had Aerods while in Magitek Armor, Cloud (yes, that one), not-Edgar and not-Sabin. I just beat Raditz) and since i just got done recruiting not-Sabin, I'm reminded of something.

    The Figaro brothers were written by Soraya Saga, wife of Tetsuya Takahashi of Xeno-everything fame.She is quite talented and the Xenosaga series suffered from her absence. Anyway, while I enjoyed the Figaro brothers backstory as children, everything relating to Sabin's time as a monk is...pretty laughable.

    VARGAS! YOU KILLED YOUR OWN FATHER! HOW COULD YOU?!!

    A year later....

    Duncan's Wife: Oh, he's just living out there in a hut. What? Why did you think he was dead?

    Good smurfing question. I have no idea why Sabin thought that, or what his relation to Vargas was You can't even call it backstory, it's just a blurb. A couple lines of text that come up and are immediately forgotten after you win that boss fight.

    It's very weak.

  6. #21
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    Well congratulations on finishing one of my favorite entries in the series.

    To answer a few of your questions:

    Sakaguchi has been asked about what happened to Banon and Arvis, and basically told the fans to "use your imaginations" which is probably why there is a popular fan theory that Gogo is Banon even though we all know he's Adlai Stevenson. I'm pretty sure he would give the same answer concerning Seigfried as well.

    Yeah, it's kind of bleak for Shadow, but I feel he always felt he lived his life on borrowed time, and never forgave himself for abandoning his colleague. I didn't know about the Thamasa/Shadow thing, but that's a pretty cool Easter Egg. One fun fact some people don't know is that the original ending was going to be a bittersweet one because Terra was meant to disappear along with the rest of magic. The staff decided that was too bleak and changed then ending, but I feel like they probably changed it because Secret of Mana already did that with it's ending. Did you find the three Memento Rings?

    The Warring Triad are actually first hinted at by Kefka in the Magitek Factory. When the party ease drops on him, after he dumps Ifrit and Shiva into the pit, he mentions how powerful the Espers are making him and then remarks that he'll "reawaken the statues". While there is no in-game description of why they are not mentioned before then, a fan explanation I can give is simply that there are no records left from that time. Only Thamasa would probably know since they are all descended from the soldiers back then. Another theory is that the Warring Triad bowed out of the War of the Magi somewhat early and the war ended with the humans fighting the espers instead. I mean it was a thousand years ago and resulted in mankind being knocked back into the stone age, I'm sure there are a lot of things that happened back then that got erased from history. Fun fact, the names listed for the Warring Triad on Nomura's sketches (he designed them) are Sophia (Goddess), Sephiroth (Fiend), and Zurvan (Demon). Funny how two of those names become a big deal in later games made by the company.

    As for the final battle comparisons, it mostly deals with God Kefka and Safer-Sephiroth and most of it is pretty subtle. Well Sephiroth's signature Heartless Angel move debuted as Kefka's spell, but most people Westerners wouldn't know this because Kefka's move was translated as Fallen One instead due to censorship. Both bosses descend down from the heavens like a god, both have the same number of wings as the game title, both character's show a close up of their face before using their signature move though its obvious with Sephiroth and just looks like a weird animation for Kefka. Both bosses are also fought in cloudy "heaven" life location as opposed to previous villains that went for a space vibe with the exception of Neo-ExDeath. It's mostly silly stuff, but there are certainly a few similar cinematic cues they share, though I'm sure if we analyzed all of the bosses, we would see similar stuff across the board.

    Part of the weird stuff concerning Celes' allegiance comes from an aborted story arc for her. She was actually meant to be a spy who ended up changing allegiance to the Returners, but ultimately this plot line got dropped somewhere despite the game keeping some of the story elements from it. Kitase, whom loved Celes and actually gave her a larger role in the plot than she was suppose to have, ended up re-using this story idea in VII for Cait Sith/Reeve.

    If you fail to recruit Terra in the WoR, she will appear during the ending to come rescue the party after they beat Kefka, it's not a huge change, but the dialogue is slightly different. The ending is also altered by not recruiting certain people. If you don't recruit Sabin, Edgar's dialogue changes for his ending where he wanders what the meat head is doing. If you don't recruit Locke, Setzer will save Celes but remark that this should have been a certain thief's job. You also get some added dialogue in the store scene, if you take Gau back to see his father, depending on who you recruit.

    VI still has my favorite soundtrack in the series, with only VII and V behind it. Here's some great remixes:









    As for Edgar and Sabin's story, well I'm sure you noticed all the parallels to Bart and Sigurd, as well as their ancestors being named Rene and Romi. The Duncan thing was kind of dumb, but frankly Sabin's whole story is basically a bad kung-fu plot. Soraya Saga did write a doujinshi detailing the full backstory she had planned for them but couldn't put in the game, but she herself says it's non-canon. It's got some interesting details in it along with callbacks to FFIV surprisingly enough. She also wrote Relm's part. She is a mouthy brat in the original with a bit of a sailor's mouth from what I've heard.

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