Quote Originally Posted by Vivi22 View Post
But to say that the 16-bit titles didn't have the resources to compete is folly.
By this, I meant actual resources in terms of money and staff. I don't know how big the staff was for the old FFs, but it certainly wasn't the 300+ that worked on VII onwards. I will also give you that Celes trying to off herself was a very mature them that probably will never be handled again in a video game.

But even there, has it really been developed? Cid dies, there are a few scenes of Celes being upset and then she jumps off a cliff. Here is the scene in entirety.

Quote Originally Posted by Final Fantasy 6
Cid: I... I'm not long for this cruel, new world...

Cid: My worst nightmare is to think of you alone here on this wretched
island... hack... wheeze!!

Cid: Cough... hack... ACK!! While I can still talk, I... wheeze...
pant... want to thank you... cough!

......
Celes: Granddad. You have to eat, or else... W...What's the matter?
Celes: Cid...
Celes: No... NO!! You promised you'd stay here with me!!
Celes: Granddad, ANSWER ME! Tell me you're just joking!

Cid: Those others who were here... when they were feeling down they'd
take a leap of faith from the cliffs up north... perked 'em right
up!
Celes: Everyone's gone... Even Locke, who promised to watch over me... The
world's slowly ebbing away...

Celes: Phew... Why did you nurse me back to health? Did I ever ask you to
help me!?
Celes: A bandana??? No... it can't be...
Celes: Hey, you! Where'd you get this!? Is the person who healed you still
alive? Answer me!
Celes: He's alive... Locke's still alive!!!

You need to leave! The others are surely waiting for you! Find the stairs next
to the stove. Down them lies your road to freedom.
Love, Granddad.

Celes: I'll make you proud of me... Granddad...
It's not like it was a built-up thing or that there was any evidence of Celes being clinically depressed at any point in the game. She literally just decides on the spur of the moment to jump off a cliff. And, if you look through this, Cid first tells her to jump off a cliff and then leaves a note saying there's a boat and go find your friends. Contradiction of note there.

I'm not saying the latter FFs would challenge Dostoevsky for delving into the depths of the human minds, but I think they were better than that. There generally was some sort of build-up to a characters actions (and their history shaped their personality).

As for the worlds looking the same, let's look at a town from IV (the first sensible one from Google images):


From V:


From VI:
(And I think this is supposed to be ruined town.

Versus VII:


VIII:


IX:

I think VII-IX exhibit a very different aesthetic relative to IV-VI. Which I would expect, because they had greater technical ability to transform an artistic vision into an artistic reality.

EDIT: Looking at those pictures together, it is quite cool to see how the graphics improved from game to game. Anyway, back to discussion.