FINAL FANTASY VI Pixel Remaster

This is the pinnacle of turn-based RPGs. With an intriguing plot, character arcs, customization, and a sprinkling of non-fighting challenges (like performing in an opera), it's amazing how much is packed into one game. I played this decades ago on SNES and wanted to come back to relive the magic. The only negative is that it's hard to stop playing.

FF VI is my childhood and it brings back the nostalgia when i play the game

- Immediately blown away by the music in just the first 5 hours. 1-5 had amazing OSTs but this is already a favorite. - More detail in the sprites is appreciated as they look more lifelike with their proportions in the overworld. - Would definitely benefit from a bit more explanation in game for certain battle elements. I appreciated the in game explanation for Gau's Rage but things like the rage abilities (named after the monsters) and Celes' Runic are just not explained and you can't tell by just using the ability what it does. Final Fantasy 6 was a tale of two halves for me; a stellar, narrative driven first half that leads into a more open exploration heavy second half. I was really impressed by that first half as it was checking all of the boxes that I want in a Final Fantasy game. Character moments as well start of strong by tail out towards the second half; as a matter of fact the end credits did more for each character than the full second half of the game. Kefka needed a bit more time to be as iconic of a villain as he is; I like what he's going for but ultimately I felt we didn't get enough time to really understand him. There was a great line that was dropped and not touched on again, about how "Kefka was Cid's first test subject" and I really liked that idea of how he was corrupted in that way. But beyond that it was just mayhem for mayhem's sake out of our villain. Not bad but didn't hit as hard without the subtleties that can be portrayed in 3D. An expressive clown doesn't lend itself well to our 16-bit animations. Over on the gameplay side of things, I really liked some of the new character specific jobs like Edgar's Machinist but the Esper system is the common thread that I've liked the least in 1-6. 4 remains my favorite because of the restrictive nature of jobs/spells/etc. that give character and identity to each party member beyond the story. In 2,3,5,6 once you find the strongest spell or attack, in 6's case this was Ultima, your best bet is to just spam that on every party member. It really dumbs the gameplay down and makes it much more monotonous and less interesting. As I said I loved Tools and Blitz but they were outclassed by Ultima pretty quickly. The open world nature of the World of Ruin was cool in theory and I'm sure new for it's time but a game design principle I usually hate especially when certain conditions are so hard to stumble upon without a guide; such as entering Thamasa with Relm and Strago in your party, a small chance given there are 14 party members. The game is still fantastic and features probably the best OST to date, gorgeous pixel art, great gameplay, and superb narrative moments and direction in the first half. But I wanted more character moments and more of that great direction from the first half. Edgar was probably my favorite character in the first 6 games but I wanted more from him. Terra was great but she felt like she was missing a personality beyond her first half developments. Lastly while I spread the games out a good deal (about 11 months to play 2-6) I still feel like the first 6 games end up feeling similar and merging together in my head as time passes. A limit of the technology of the time but makes me excited for the future in 3D and how distinct the art direction is in each of the next games.