I'm an old enough fart to have bought the original game. It came with a two-sided world map with Side A titled the World of Balance and B, the World of Ruin explaining the origin of the terms. Regardless, I fully embrace the Little Caesar's update. Awesome video as always.
@@JasonGravesPoser The game didn’t come with the inserts when I rented it way back, so I was actually surprised by the whole “end of the world” plot twist!
I was old enough to have played Ultima 3 when it first came out so I was well versed in RPGs. I was 25 when FF6 came out and I was still impressed with the game. Still have my copy CIB with the maps ECT. Still the best FF game along with 12,8,4 and a tie between 13 and 15 even with those games flaws. Never really was impressed with 7 at all. Probably because it wasn't my first and I have no nostalgia for it or anything frankly. 6 still holds up and I'm sure Square hasn't tried to remake it simply because they are terrified about messing it up. Which with their DEI,ESG loving nonsense now they probably would.
Good lord, the overuse of dubbing the "3" and "6" is amazing. Just completely randomly thrown in here and there, and that's what makes these videos so great.
I think one of the most difficult things to do while discussing anything as influential and popular as this game is to prevent your personality from becoming overshadowed by the enormity of the topic, and I think that's exactly what you've managed to do here. It would've been easy to go down the list of features and moments that make FFVI (THREE) such a big deal (and I wouldn't have blamed you, there was surely some pressure to deliver with this one), but, as ever, you've totally made it your own (can't say I went in expecting around four minutes of Clown History, but I wouldn't change a thing). Awesome job getting this far, I'm looking forward to what comes next. Nobody asked, but if there's anything I'd add about this game, it's that FFVI uses its framework of RPG concepts for storytelling and characterization possibly more effectively than any Final Fantasy before it. Touches as small as Terra's uncharacteristic (for a sorcerer) ability to wield greatswords, or Relm's amulet being equippable by Shadow, or the alterations in dialogue when certain characters are (or were) present for specific events add up dramatically across the entire game to create a real sense of cohesion between the ongoing narrative and player interaction. Really, Shadow by himself is a monument to Square's mastery of this stuff circa 1994; they use every trick in the RPG bag to tell his story and express his personality, and he requires a great deal of player investment to unravel. Where FFIV almost exclusively used its rigid classes for characterization and FFVII did away with a lot of character-specific gameplay traits, FFVI strikes a fantastic balance between the two (albeit at the cost of some streamlining), aided further by the player's control over their party composition and the level of exploration on offer. The story is well told by itself, but I think it's these many, tiny layers which elevate it into greatness.
This vid had the most amount of cut notes. I think shadow has about 10 seconds and he's one of the best characters, didn't know about the amulet thing that's really cool 😎.
FYI - "World of Balance" and "World of Ruin" are what the folded world map that came with each copy of the original SNES cartridge called them. I was a 16 year old High Schooler the first time I played this game back in 1994, and I remember that folded up map that came with the game very well.
There are a ton of reviews of this game, but this is probably one of the best ones in a while. Your takes on the characters and writing were great and though I haven't watched your series it's obvious your recent experience with other SNES titles informed this review and that added another unique touch.
In my opinion, this game has the greatest soundtrack of all time. The OC Remixes and soundtrack remix are AWESOME! and the remix version of Dancing Mad, Prancing Dad is my favorite heavy metal soundtrack of all time. Nobuo Uematsu at his very best!!
This is my favorite game and probably the best review I’ve heard of it. It’s a testament to its legacy that it had never been remade or had sequels done. It’s a beginning to end complete experience.
Your setup for this review was outstanding. It could not have been a much more unique, yet perfect set up to explain the making of the perfect villain and the main character of sorts for this game. I personally would say this game is very much a GOAT for everything that in manage to achieve.
Favorite game of all time. No other game changed my life more than this one. Possibly the "grandest" game ever made, honestly. UNDOUBTEDLY the greatest game music score ever composed. No one has every poured as much batshit crazy genius into "just a video game with bleeps and bloops" as Nobuo Uematsu did on this one. Unnecessarily masterful. A huge part of my career in music today was directly inspired by this game.
Kefka isn't a clown. This is a common misconception, and I think it comes from too literal an interpretation of Yoshitaka Amano's original artwork. He's more of a fop/dandy than clown/court jester.
No, bro. He's a Harlequin. Most aligned with the English ones, but that stuff is old, dating back to Renaissance Italy. To quote Wikipedia's English harlequinade and pantomime: "Harlequin used his magic batte or "slapstick" to transform the scene from the pantomime into the harlequinade and to magically change the settings to various locations during the chase scene. As the Harlequinade portion of English pantomime developed, Harlequin was routinely paired with the character Clown."
Love the rendition of ELP's song, Tarkus, in this video! Funny connection, since I always caught a distinct ELP-esque flavor to some of Nobuo Uematsu's compositions in Final Fantasy VI. Specifically, 'The Decisive Battle' and 'Dancing Mad, Part V'.
Music is of course subjective. But its funny you mention this. I always thought I heard influence from the doors in Yasunori Mitsuda's chrono trigger soundtrack.
@@Mirauge I'm not so familiar with The Doors, so I can't speak to that, but I always pick out those things in video game music if it's something I am familiar with. For example, Iron Maiden's "Somewhere In Time" album has a distinct flavor that is different from a lot of the rest of their catalogue. In context of Mega Man 2's development time window, and the 1986 release of that album, I always hear the influence of that album in the Mega Man 2 soundtrack. The 2-guitar attack, double bass drum beat, with quarter-note hi-hat and half-note snare beats are right in lockstep with the Mega Man 2 soundtrack, more specifically, the Title Theme, Wood Man, and Wily Stage 1/2 Themes.
Okay, somebody help me out here. What is the L word? Also, this game was one of my favorites growing up. I beat it every which way. I am surprised you made no mention of the famous glitches in the game. Vanish+Doom/X-zone. The paintbrush in Zozo, etc. I got my copy for 19.99 off of a "Previously Played" rack at my Local Zellers. I had played 1 and 2, and had no idea a third game existed, (I was 10 or 11, and the internet wasnt a super common thing yet) and I begged my dad to lend me 20 bucks to get it. Never regretted.
You calling the worlds Wonder Bread and Crazy Bread is the most hilarious thing I ever heard in these videos and they kinda fit too. When you said Celes is the dipping sauce of the crazy bread world made me laugh so hard I had to stop to catch my breath
Kefka is a victim of the post 2000 Squaresoft not being the same. They have turned him into a mix between the Joker from the Batman tv series and the Dark Knight.
14:21 it may not matter narratively, but you do get a Genji Glove if you say No three times. Which is a pretty big deal as there's only 3 readily available in the entire game, with the other 2 coming much much much later.
I rented this game as a kid and I loved it. Then the day it was supposed to be returned, I came home from school and my mom reveals she bought the game for me. So, even beyond it just being a really good game it's also special to me for that reason.
I love this game. It and the original version of VII alternate being my favorite in the series depending on my mood. I love the setting, and both Edgar and Locke are among my favorite characters in the series (Engineers and good aligned Rebels, Rogues, and Outlaws are both among my favorite character types.) I wish the defensive battles where you can move multiple parties around were replayable without reloading a pre-battle save though. Also that the Magicite system was introduced earlier because whenever I replay the game I always find myself thinking about how many magic learning points I would have if the game didn't wait so long to introduce Magicite.
The terms "World of Balance" and "World of ruin" are given for everyone who played the game, as Kefka shift the balance of the world by moving the statues. And i believe the manual or something said as much as well. I was 14 when i bought the game, so i do not remember that well, but the names are given.
I read somewhere that Gacy’s brain was preserved after his execution so it could be studied. Disturbingly they found no anomalies. Physiologically his brain is completely normal. We may never know how people like him become sadistic monsters.
I played this game when it came out. I rented it over a weekend. I thought I'd beaten the game only to realize kefka won and there was a second game to play. I was blown away.
The terms come from the official players guide. Its a beautiful guide with great artwork throughout. FF III player's guide. Did you think people made it up? Well its not surprising I guess.
Please, I *N E E D* to know the source for that 16-bit Tarkus cover. I tried everywhere and can't find it! (Also great review, really genuine stuff. I was doing a run of obscure SNES RPGs as well when I found your channel - your entire series is awesome, keep up the great work!)
Phantasy Star IV shifts from Alys to Chaz about 1/3 way thought the game (i mean it's obvious that Chaz is meant to be the protagonist from the start, but Alys is kind of Chaz's boss, and she's higher level and in the front a lot but as the game progresses she's put more and more in the back row, until she's replaced).
that game is the second one i downloaded as a rom file in the 2000 or so after reading about emulators and i took approx 3 hours or so (56k modem) and then played it with a dictionary since my english wasn't that good as i thought it was xD
"Some Moogle"... ha. This is THE Moogle. First, it's the only playable Moogle in any game (along with his family here.) What they don't make obvious is that Mog is the single most powerful character they've ever created when he's fully equipped.
This was always my favorite FF game and quite frankly blows Chrono Trigger away. I was never impressed with the story in Chrono Trigger and the silent protagonist has always annoyed me and left me cold. I would put Phantasy Star 4 and maybe Lunar 2 above Chrono Trigger to be honest. FF 6 was a great example of a game pushing the SNES hardware while still telling a good story.
Lol, been binge watching your content for the past two weeks, and I´ve also been waiting for a special time to watch this one to be special because FF6 is my second favorite game of all time. This one was special, thanks a lot.
Absolute shitpost with a generic internet age opinion. "The gameplay is shit but its a great game because of its shktty generic story and chenglish translation". Also kefka is barely IN the game, hes absolutely not the main character.
I'm an old enough fart to have bought the original game. It came with a two-sided world map with Side A titled the World of Balance and B, the World of Ruin explaining the origin of the terms. Regardless, I fully embrace the Little Caesar's update. Awesome video as always.
Dang lol spoiled by the inserts
@@JasonGravesPoser The game didn’t come with the inserts when I rented it way back, so I was actually surprised by the whole “end of the world” plot twist!
Spoiled i was a dumb kid i figured the world of ruin was where the esters where or something
You said fart
I was old enough to have played Ultima 3 when it first came out so I was well versed in RPGs. I was 25 when FF6 came out and I was still impressed with the game. Still have my copy CIB with the maps ECT. Still the best FF game along with 12,8,4 and a tie between 13 and 15 even with those games flaws. Never really was impressed with 7 at all. Probably because it wasn't my first and I have no nostalgia for it or anything frankly. 6 still holds up and I'm sure Square hasn't tried to remake it simply because they are terrified about messing it up. Which with their DEI,ESG loving nonsense now they probably would.
Good lord, the overuse of dubbing the "3" and "6" is amazing. Just completely randomly thrown in here and there, and that's what makes these videos so great.
I think one of the most difficult things to do while discussing anything as influential and popular as this game is to prevent your personality from becoming overshadowed by the enormity of the topic, and I think that's exactly what you've managed to do here. It would've been easy to go down the list of features and moments that make FFVI (THREE) such a big deal (and I wouldn't have blamed you, there was surely some pressure to deliver with this one), but, as ever, you've totally made it your own (can't say I went in expecting around four minutes of Clown History, but I wouldn't change a thing). Awesome job getting this far, I'm looking forward to what comes next.
Nobody asked, but if there's anything I'd add about this game, it's that FFVI uses its framework of RPG concepts for storytelling and characterization possibly more effectively than any Final Fantasy before it. Touches as small as Terra's uncharacteristic (for a sorcerer) ability to wield greatswords, or Relm's amulet being equippable by Shadow, or the alterations in dialogue when certain characters are (or were) present for specific events add up dramatically across the entire game to create a real sense of cohesion between the ongoing narrative and player interaction. Really, Shadow by himself is a monument to Square's mastery of this stuff circa 1994; they use every trick in the RPG bag to tell his story and express his personality, and he requires a great deal of player investment to unravel. Where FFIV almost exclusively used its rigid classes for characterization and FFVII did away with a lot of character-specific gameplay traits, FFVI strikes a fantastic balance between the two (albeit at the cost of some streamlining), aided further by the player's control over their party composition and the level of exploration on offer. The story is well told by itself, but I think it's these many, tiny layers which elevate it into greatness.
This vid had the most amount of cut notes. I think shadow has about 10 seconds and he's one of the best characters, didn't know about the amulet thing that's really cool 😎.
"Edgar, the more civilized brother, uses technology"
*Edgar rams an 8 foot drill bit through his opponents body.
Real civilized.....
Biochemical weapons too
Sure, but can he suplex a phantom demon train? Exactly...
FYI - "World of Balance" and "World of Ruin" are what the folded world map that came with each copy of the original SNES cartridge called them. I was a 16 year old High Schooler the first time I played this game back in 1994, and I remember that folded up map that came with the game very well.
I was 14, in 8th Grade...
Just hearing the start of that intro sequence is still enough to send the chills through my body knowing what I am getting myself into.
Man, _Actraiser_ music while describing classic clown/jester archetypes was on-point. Amazing sound design.
Im here to blast process the algorithm
There are a ton of reviews of this game, but this is probably one of the best ones in a while. Your takes on the characters and writing were great and though I haven't watched your series it's obvious your recent experience with other SNES titles informed this review and that added another unique touch.
In my opinion, this game has the greatest soundtrack of all time. The OC Remixes and soundtrack remix are AWESOME! and the remix version of Dancing Mad, Prancing Dad is my favorite heavy metal soundtrack of all time. Nobuo Uematsu at his very best!!
I will forever protest that FFIII doesn't get "GOAT" status.
It's way better than ChronoTrigger
Its long been surpassed but was the best game out back in the early 90s
This is my favorite game and probably the best review I’ve heard of it. It’s a testament to its legacy that it had never been remade or had sequels done. It’s a beginning to end complete experience.
Love the Tarkus MIDI, pretty sneaky
The number bit killed me! Comedy gold. A +, no notes.
Your setup for this review was outstanding. It could not have been a much more unique, yet perfect set up to explain the making of the perfect villain and the main character of sorts for this game. I personally would say this game is very much a GOAT for everything that in manage to achieve.
Favorite game of all time. No other game changed my life more than this one. Possibly the "grandest" game ever made, honestly. UNDOUBTEDLY the greatest game music score ever composed. No one has every poured as much batshit crazy genius into "just a video game with bleeps and bloops" as Nobuo Uematsu did on this one. Unnecessarily masterful. A huge part of my career in music today was directly inspired by this game.
Didn't know you were ELP fan. Now I have to look up that 16bit Tarkus cover 😄
16 bit Tarkus cover? Isn't that just Dancing Mad? lol
I kid, but still
Excellent choice for a 33/6th game to review
Kefka isn't a clown. This is a common misconception, and I think it comes from too literal an interpretation of Yoshitaka Amano's original artwork. He's more of a fop/dandy than clown/court jester.
No, bro. He's a Harlequin. Most aligned with the English ones, but that stuff is old, dating back to Renaissance Italy. To quote Wikipedia's English harlequinade and pantomime: "Harlequin used his magic batte or "slapstick" to transform the scene from the pantomime into the harlequinade and to magically change the settings to various locations during the chase scene. As the Harlequinade portion of English pantomime developed, Harlequin was routinely paired with the character Clown."
Fuck yeah, this is an all time legendary game, can't even count how many hours i've put into it.
I approve the usage of Lagoon OST.
Fuck skimming.
I've watched each video in this series, most of them multiple times.
And, they're awesome. 👍🏻
Holy crap I haven't even watched every video
@@JasonGravesPoser Dude, you are missing OUT! 😆
Love the rendition of ELP's song, Tarkus, in this video! Funny connection, since I always caught a distinct ELP-esque flavor to some of Nobuo Uematsu's compositions in Final Fantasy VI. Specifically, 'The Decisive Battle' and 'Dancing Mad, Part V'.
Music is of course subjective. But its funny you mention this. I always thought I heard influence from the doors in Yasunori Mitsuda's chrono trigger soundtrack.
@@Mirauge I'm not so familiar with The Doors, so I can't speak to that, but I always pick out those things in video game music if it's something I am familiar with.
For example, Iron Maiden's "Somewhere In Time" album has a distinct flavor that is different from a lot of the rest of their catalogue. In context of Mega Man 2's development time window, and the 1986 release of that album, I always hear the influence of that album in the Mega Man 2 soundtrack. The 2-guitar attack, double bass drum beat, with quarter-note hi-hat and half-note snare beats are right in lockstep with the Mega Man 2 soundtrack, more specifically, the Title Theme, Wood Man, and Wily Stage 1/2 Themes.
0:49 What city is that? That's Las Vegas, right?
The "World of Balance' and "World of Ruin" were on the 2 sided map that came with the original release of Final Fantasy 3 US.
I really liked your analysis of Kefka. When you think about it, Kefka is the Joker of Final Fantasy.
Nice work. Enjoyed this 👍
Okay, somebody help me out here. What is the L word?
Also, this game was one of my favorites growing up. I beat it every which way. I am surprised you made no mention of the famous glitches in the game. Vanish+Doom/X-zone. The paintbrush in Zozo, etc. I got my copy for 19.99 off of a "Previously Played" rack at my Local Zellers. I had played 1 and 2, and had no idea a third game existed, (I was 10 or 11, and the internet wasnt a super common thing yet) and I begged my dad to lend me 20 bucks to get it. Never regretted.
I wanna know to lol
Pretty sure it’s “leitmotif”
1. Great review. 2. "Thirty three (six!) games in" was pwnsauce.
I grew up in DesPlaines Il. when Gacy was active... He killed one of my brother's classmates.
You calling the worlds Wonder Bread and Crazy Bread is the most hilarious thing I ever heard in these videos and they kinda fit too. When you said Celes is the dipping sauce of the crazy bread world made me laugh so hard I had to stop to catch my breath
Kefka is a victim of the post 2000 Squaresoft not being the same. They have turned him into a mix between the Joker from the Batman tv series and the Dark Knight.
Such an awesome series. Keep up the great work!
14:21 it may not matter narratively, but you do get a Genji Glove if you say No three times. Which is a pretty big deal as there's only 3 readily available in the entire game, with the other 2 coming much much much later.
Oh man, I've been looking forward to getting up to this video and I wasn't disappointed. Great job
Amazing video dude. FF6 is one of my top games ever.
The 3/6 gag keeps getting better
Holy shit man, nice ELP midi there at the beginning!
I think the two world names come from the map that came with the game - it was printed on either side of the poster.
I rented this game as a kid and I loved it. Then the day it was supposed to be returned, I came home from school and my mom reveals she bought the game for me. So, even beyond it just being a really good game it's also special to me for that reason.
I still get chills whenever I see that intro.
balance and ruin are in relation to the positioning of the statues.
I love this game. It and the original version of VII alternate being my favorite in the series depending on my mood. I love the setting, and both Edgar and Locke are among my favorite characters in the series (Engineers and good aligned Rebels, Rogues, and Outlaws are both among my favorite character types.)
I wish the defensive battles where you can move multiple parties around were replayable without reloading a pre-battle save though. Also that the Magicite system was introduced earlier because whenever I replay the game I always find myself thinking about how many magic learning points I would have if the game didn't wait so long to introduce Magicite.
Crushed it! Great game, great review.
song name at 16:00 ?
thank you so very much
The terms "World of Balance" and "World of ruin" are given for everyone who played the game, as Kefka shift the balance of the world by moving the statues. And i believe the manual or something said as much as well. I was 14 when i bought the game, so i do not remember that well, but the names are given.
Cant wait for you ps1 rpg project😊
Love the use of "Birth of the People" from Actraiser @1:14
I read somewhere that Gacy’s brain was preserved after his execution so it could be studied.
Disturbingly they found no anomalies. Physiologically his brain is completely normal. We may never know how people like him become sadistic monsters.
I played this game when it came out. I rented it over a weekend. I thought I'd beaten the game only to realize kefka won and there was a second game to play. I was blown away.
At 10:00 of this video is a moment seared into the deepest corner of my being.
The terms come from the official players guide. Its a beautiful guide with great artwork throughout.
FF III player's guide.
Did you think people made it up? Well its not surprising I guess.
Didn't expect Tarkus in my Final Fantasy video.
This game...one if the GOATS no question
Balance and ruin were mentioned in the manual, when games came with those🤣
This series is great man!
Please, I *N E E D* to know the source for that 16-bit Tarkus cover. I tried everywhere and can't find it!
(Also great review, really genuine stuff. I was doing a run of obscure SNES RPGs as well when I found your channel - your entire series is awesome, keep up the great work!)
lol i love when you say “ three (six) different things”
You rock, dont stop making videos.
Yo loved the in depth on this one.
Was I catching snippets of Tarkus in the background?
29:56 leitmotif?
I feel really bad because I haven't played ff vi and I need a haircut
Phantasy Star IV shifts from Alys to Chaz about 1/3 way thought the game (i mean it's obvious that Chaz is meant to be the protagonist from the start, but Alys is kind of Chaz's boss, and she's higher level and in the front a lot but as the game progresses she's put more and more in the back row, until she's replaced).
I have no idea how you made this so fast.
Another vid? Nice.
Hey, Falcom most assuredly makes games like this NOW. Have you played the Legend of Hero's Series? Dozens of playable characters.
This is an amazing review.
dude sick use of ELP at 9:11!!!!
im really digging all these vids man!
ELP in the Tarkus era were all in dire need of haircuts... I don't trust them. But they sound amazing with FF6!
Wait... did you make this one #33 just to tie it to Gacy's 33 murders?
Or Final Fantasy 3+3(Six)
that game is the second one i downloaded as a rom file in the 2000 or so after reading about emulators and i took approx 3 hours or so (56k modem) and then played it with a dictionary since my english wasn't that good as i thought it was xD
I hope that the irony of you making that observation at 4:10 isn't lost on you. 😄
What do you mean by the L word?
Goddamn, these are fantastic reviews, bud. I've slept on your channel. Thanks to the Red Cow Entertainment fuckers for bringing you on as a slob
This review is good. Somebody tell the video maker such.
I have no idea what the L word is
Mog is just cool!
I've known and trusted an individual for 28 years, then their hair grew and suddenly they need a haircut. Guess I was a fool to trust them.
Good vid thanks.
In 2017 I want to Washington DC to march with the clowns I don't like the clown in Final Fantasy 6 Final Fantasy 6 is the best because it has Bigfoot
"Some Moogle"... ha. This is THE Moogle. First, it's the only playable Moogle in any game (along with his family here.)
What they don't make obvious is that Mog is the single most powerful character they've ever created when he's fully equipped.
This was always my favorite FF game and quite frankly blows Chrono Trigger away. I was never impressed with the story in Chrono Trigger and the silent protagonist has always annoyed me and left me cold. I would put Phantasy Star 4 and maybe Lunar 2 above Chrono Trigger to be honest. FF 6 was a great example of a game pushing the SNES hardware while still telling a good story.
The L word... Leitmotif?
This should be SNES RPG #66.
You know you can just press start to skip the opening walk right?
And Mog, well, Mog is a Moogle, and if you don't like moogles, you're just as bad as Cicero... I mean, Kefka😅
Big day
I am dumb. What's the L-Word? :')
Probably leitmotif
What is the L word?
I'm guessing if you read through the comments you will find your answer, but hint: it is a Germanic word meaning "light motif."
Kefka is the least-impressive Villain that people laud as great. Identifying him as merely a heel is spot-on.
What is the L word...am i stupid?
Leitmotif
I wonder what this guy thinks about Chrono Trigger
Lol, been binge watching your content for the past two weeks, and I´ve also been waiting for a special time to watch this one to be special because FF6 is my second favorite game of all time. This one was special, thanks a lot.
Kindly stop it with the dual numbering of the games 😂
I agree Jason, worst FF game ever!
What the fuck is "the L word"?
wtf is the L word?
Leitmotif 😂
Not a bad prequel to FF7
Absolute shitpost with a generic internet age opinion. "The gameplay is shit but its a great game because of its shktty generic story and chenglish translation". Also kefka is barely IN the game, hes absolutely not the main character.
Highly recommend playing T Edition, it offers a good challenge to any FF6 veteran