FFVI Review Post

[Flying Arrow]

I love the amount of love and care that's gone into VI. I think it's great that a character is permanently lose-able like Shadow. When it comes to obtuse secrets that allow for different playthroughs, I totally get it - I really do (my favourite game from the last half-decade is Dark Souls).

I just watched a clip of how the Floating Continent scene plays out, and it's not as bad as I remember it (I remember it being really obtuse, for some reason). On the one hand, if they drew too much attention to the choice, it would never be a conscious choice at all but a 'do it because it's there'. It also works as a secret because there aren't a bunch of other secrets like it prior to that moment to school the player on 'hey, here's how you're supposed to approach this moment'. The scene is cool, I am going to give it that.

However, say the player does save Shadow the first time through. Then that player will forever miss the content (small though it may be) that comes from not saving him (why would you? Conversely, why would one kill Magus?). To get that content, you have to willingly ignore a secret you know is there. There is no gameplay benefit to losing Shadow - you're giving up a playable character, plain and simple, for obscure game lore later in the game. I guess that might not be an issue for some, but that does kind of gall me in a way that I feel like I'm losing all the change out of my pocket just so I can bend over and pick up a nickel.

Okay so I'm giving some ground on that Shadow argument.

Actually you do get a gameplay benefit. Relm gains Interceptor in battle and he works just like he does with Shadow (blocks melee attacks, high damage counter) considering Relm's equipment options make her weak in this regard it's actually sizable boost for her, so there is a benefit if you plan on using her a lot or if she just happens to be your favorite, then that's all the incentive you need to make that choice again.

Fair enough. We'll have to agree to disagree on this. I just don't think this is at all worth giving up an entire character for. What I'm seeing is a trade of a whole character - someone who can really beef up the party for the harder parts of the game - for a buff for another.

The thing is, the Floating Continent/Shadow section is a secret, and the benefit for figuring out the scenario is being able to use this unique character with his unique abilities. The more efficient option is saving him, and I just don't see why it's a fair trade-off (yes, I understand the Relm thing, but again it's just a buff for the one of the remaining 13 characters).

I have a friend who loves Frog in Chrono Trigger, and while she like Magus, she loves Frog more and will usually kill Magus just so she can see the ending where Frog turns human. She even keeps Crono dead cause the ending this causes the longest ending where you can see Frog in his human form, so I would say that despite the choices leading only to what many may perceive as minor change, it still may mean the world to some people.

Fair enough. Wolf, have you ever played Alpha Protocol? Of every game I've ever played, AP is probably the best at rewarding choices with gameplay benefits. No matter what choice you make, your in-game character is built-up in some way for it. Give it a spin if you can.

I will simply say we just disagree on this principle, to me, leveling stuff because it's there is for post games or perfect files. To put your opinion into VII terms, you're basically saying you would equip useless materia on your party for the sake of leveling rather than actually customizing and to me that's two different things.

That's not what I'm saying, though. In VII, it's easier and beneficial to ignore Materia you don't want to use because your characters have a limited space for abilities. To get them everything you want, you need to either make trade-offs or get creative. Placing useless Materia on a party member is pointless because it comes at the cost of removing something potentially valuable. So if you want your guys to be the killing machines you want them to be, you have to make a conscious trade-off of not removing the magic orbs that allow them to do the things they do. If you want Tifa to cast Barrier, great. But you need to remove Fire for her to do that, or HP Plus, or Deathblow. Or don't remove anything at all, but find another combination within your three-person party to allow you to work that ability in creatively. Maybe Tifa won't get it, but if you tweak it just so then maybe Red XIII will be able to get exactly the Barrier value you were looking for.

The difference between this and VI is that in VI, the party is composed of 10-14 characters defined by their unique skills and the capacity to learn new abilities for good. Since they can learn everything, there's no reason to not have them learn everything aside from pouring hours of your life into the effort. Even if you play the game for about 35 hours (an average playtime at least as far as I'm concerned, not an insane post-game file) you'll find yourself filled up on abilities you want. Yes, you can neglect to give people certain abilities, but that's neglect and not meaningful customization. There is zero downside to teaching everybody everything, and worst of all, there's nothing to get in your way of from doing so.

I can honestly say it makes a world of difference to play through sections of VI with one character who can actually use healing magic as opposed to having a full party that can do so. Even if you try to play roles and still teach magic to everyone to kill the time, I feel the lack of the temptation to cheat makes for a stronger game.

I'm sure it does make a world of difference, but I don't think this makes a strong game at all, actually. It's still be a fun one, but I don't think it's strong design. What's your gameplay in not having everyone know Cure? Simply not equipping them with the stone that teaches them that ability? Not using your abilities to the fullest isn't avoiding "cheating" it's just a low-level run, or a gimp run, which you can do with any game. The problem with VI's customization system is that it's so damned open that actual customization for experienced players boils down to neglect rather than creative or meaningful tinkering. A regular, non-gimped playthrough will result in most characters being able to cast damn near everything.

VI's system was Squenix's second attempt of having both a comprehensive leveling system but also one that wasn't a job class system, which was incredibly rare in the 16-bit era. I don't necessarily disagree that VII's system was more comprehensive than VI's system but I also feel what it traded to do so (character roles) was a bit of a deal breaker for me.

I don't think VII's is more "comprehensive". What it is, though, is more strict with the amount of breathing room it lets the player have. It also offers a lot of options and possible builds within the battle system it's designed for - on the one hand, you can't just throw everything at a character and have it stick but with enough creativity those characters also aren't limited to only doing certain things.