What does this story mean to you?

[Spooniest]

Troll if you must, but I don't think anyone bothers asking these kinds of questions.

What does this story mean to you?

In Literature, people come up with their own interpretations of a story, and in this way are active participants in stories, at least in a small way. You read something and it gives you an impression of a larger theme that is going on. One person's impression of what's being said differs from another; this is the basis of all literary discussion.

The nice thing about a forum like this is that we can say all that we wish about a given subject without being interrupted. Coming from a family of seven children, I have to say that this is actually one of the things I enjoy about forums.

Since I've brought it up, I'll be happy to go first.

I feel that this story is trying to explain to you what it means to be an adult, and how one must deal with the outside world as it is today. When we were children, we could get away with a lot more than now, when we are adults. As adults, we are subject to harsh punishment for breaking the rules of society as they exist in our time and place. That is the general theme. Our actions have consequences, and part of being an adult is living with the consequences of your actions in a healthy and emotionally mature way. If we can view the entire human race as one organism (not that hard when there's something like 150 or so people in the world of the game), then we can see that they pursue courses of action that lead to the inevitable consequences of the game's half-way mark. They then must resolve these consequences in the second half of the game.

This is the progression from innocence to experience; one must learn to deal with a changed world, to adapt properly, and to be inventive and resourceful, to think on one's feet.

So what's your interpretation?

[VeloZer0]

I am somewhat ardently opposed to the concept of 'theme' in literature, but I will bite anyways.

What the game always seems to be stressing is that no matter how bad things get you can always continue on.

[I Don't Need A Name]

I am somewhat ardently opposed to the concept of 'theme' in literature

I think most of us who were subjected to 'What was the author thinking/symbolising here?' in English class agree with this statement.

[blackmage_nuke]

I thought it was mostly about cheesy friendship

[Spooniest]

I thought it was mostly about cheesy friendship

Oh, you guys're no fun!!

[Depression Moon]

Well FFVI isn't anywhere on my list of favorites in the series, so I don't have much of an emotional connection with the game's story and gameplay. I didn't see it as having some kind of deep underlying message I just saw it as someone who basically just created a story that would fit with type of game and to change it up a little from the other ones.

[Pike]

I am somewhat ardently opposed to the concept of 'theme' in literature

I think most of us who were subjected to 'What was the author thinking/symbolising here?' in English class agree with this statement.

In fairness some of us writers do in fact go crazy and make everything symbolize something and stuff stories to the brim with themes.

Not naming names on who among us might do this

Anyways, I'm veering dangerously off-topic! I haven't played FF6 in so long that I can't think of an overarching theme at the moment. I do remember a sort of sidetheme being the whole "accepting what happened in the past and moving on" thing, which I remember distinctly because it helped me get through a particularly tough time in my life.

[Spooniest]

In Literature, people come up with their own interpretations of a story, and in this way are active participants in stories, at least in a small way. You read something and it gives you an impression of a larger theme that is going on. One person's impression of what's being said differs from another; this is the basis of all literary discussion.

The key words being -literary discussion.-

I guess if you aren't interested in the story, you might as well ignore me. I played this game cuz the story was cool.

Oh well.

[VeloZer0]

I think the fundamental problem here is that not everyone thinks a story has to mean anything.

[Wolf Kanno]

Apparently every FF title is designed with a theme in mind, the PS era FFs being the most well known (VII=Life, VIII=Love, IX=Meaning of Life), but if I were to state what I felt was FFVI's theme, I would say its the theme of Hope.

The first half of the game deals with Terra being the hope for he Returners to turn the tide against the empire and later its Terra again whom everyone turns to as a beacon of hope to stop the Espers. In the WoR, each of the major cast members has to do a little soul searching to find what gives them hope in their dying world, from Celes learning Locke is alive, Terra and her orphans, Sabin and Edgar have each other and their Kingdom, Cyan comes to term with his families death and lives on helping another who has lost a loved one from the previous war, Strago has Relm, and so on and so forth. I feel its pretty obvious from Kefka and the parties final exchange with each other that the theme was hope and cherishing the little things that make your life a little nicer.

In terms of different literary meaning and symbolism, FFVI in my opinion is designed to be viewed as an opera, the story is split into distinct Acts, the cast on several times acknowledges the players being there (something rather common in Renaissance Italian Operas) the ending is one giant curtain call, and not to mention the sheer amount of melodramatic moments in the game and most of the cast has Italian surnames. Kefka being a harlequin itself is a reference to the opera theme as the figures originated from Italian operas in the Renaissance and later historical periods.

Its soundtrack is also very orchestrated and utilizes musical elements like Arias, specific and distinct themes for every character, and leitmotifs. Dancing Mad, Kefka's final boss theme, is designed like a Romantic Era compostiion piece with four movements including a Fugue, a pipe organ solo, and several more leitmotifs that connect the music to the games opening track Omen, Catastrophe, and Kefka's Theme.

I would say VI was the first FF that really had some serious thematic elements interwoven into the world design of the game which continued on for the later FFs.

[Jiro]

I was hoping I could get here before Wolf Kanno so at least I could say something before he said everything

If it was going to boil down to one thing, it would have to be Hope. There are a lot of points throughout the game though. The experimentation on Espers is a good example. Obviously portrayed to be an evil act done under terrible conditions, but it did have its benefits (there was something regarding Celes and her gifted Magi abilities, but I forget). Anyway, you can draw connections between that and modern science, minus the whole murder thing. Unless of course you look at cloning using embryos and then there's a question to be discussed elsewhere!

There's also a bit on "What giving in to jealousy can do to you" with Vagras and Sabin.

I could probably continue on minor points but I'm sure WK can do that for me

[Bolivar]

My own personal take would be that the game is about community and loneliness. Each of the characters start off doing their own thing, some have different connections to the returners, but for the most part you come across them in the middle of their own journey. You link up for a while and form bonds but once that big event in the middle comes around, you're all splintered a part. Each person has to kind of fend for themselves in a hopeless situation where they may never see their comrades again. When they come back, it's not out of a pure need to feel community, they've each resolved a personal conflict and are able to come back as an autonomous unit. They realize the whole time they were alone, that they've really taken the lesson they've learned with their friends a long with them. So the influence others have on you is something you take with you into your own life, when you face trials by yourself, so you're never really alone.

Also the game focuses on a lot of outsiders such as Locke, a solo treasure hunter, Terra, the only hybrid, Celes, the shamed general, Shadow, the haunted mercenary, etc.

[Pike]

This thread is really making me want to replay the game so I can actually give a good, thoughtful answer.

[supernaps]

Well, I could write a lot about this game, but I'm lazy to do so right now (..eer) so in a nutshell, I think I'd have to agree with you OP; it's about obstacles that change you as a person, 'force' you to grow up and inevitably you have to stand up and face them. /then again, I suppose this could not get more generic, but anyway.

[Flying Arrow]

I am somewhat ardently opposed to the concept of 'theme' in literature

I think most of us who were subjected to 'What was the author thinking/symbolising here?' in English class agree with this statement.

I don't understand either of these comments. Are you saying that you're simply not interested in analyzing stories or do you saying that there are no themes or messages in stories? If the former, that's cool, but if it's the latter I have to counter that stories are told/presented in very specific ways (chosen by the author(s)) which give meaning to what you're hearing or seeing. Most stories that are sensibly written have a 'theme' - in fact, I'd argue that the theme is the story. In the case of FFVI, one of the themes is that a country which allows its ambition for expansion to get out of hand inevitably causes ruin for themselves and those around them.

In the end, anyone who tries to grab Ultimate Power just ends up wrecking trout for everyone else, and outright destroys their own humanity. Note how most of the towns manage to scrape by, but Vector itself (the center of the imperialist ambition) is nothing but a tower of garbage.