FF6 is by far my favorite of the whole series. It inspired me to make the Woolsey Uncensored Edition hack. If you're looking for a vanilla experience with numerous bugs fixed and delivered a cleaned up script with all the classic Woolsey lines.
Hey dude, thanks for stopping by! I've heard good things about the Woolsey Uncensored Edition. Definitely plan to give it a try next time I go through FF6 :)
FF9 is the only one close to it. But I played 6 about a month after it came out. No guide. Just touching and talking to everything, and enjoying the hell out of all of it.
My favorite game of alltime. Im 44 years old and still have to replay this every year or so. Something in me always calls back to it. The characters, story, music. Nothing comes close. A true masterpiece.
UPDATE: Some of you have expressed concerns about my use of AI generated images in parts of this video. This is valid criticism, and I take this feedback seriously. The impact of generative AI has been constantly on my mind over the past year. This is something that's been bothering me even before I received such comments, and the fact that this has been brought up has made me even more doubtful about using such tools in my future content. -- I have created a monument to my love for Final Fantasy VI! I swear, this is the shortest I could possibly make the video - I cut SO much stuff I wanted to include lol. Dear god, the amount of work I’ve put into this video… I wasn’t sure I’d ever finish. Next in my retrospective series: Chrono Trigger. But first, I have a couple of Xenoblade critiques I want to publish - Torna: the Golden Country and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. What’s YOUR first great JRPG love? Let me know! And as always, thanks for supporting me! 😍
Outstanding video! I didn't think anyone could show me something new about this game. Some games I play again, and I'm like "oh wow, this is worse than I remember." FF6, Tactics, and Chrono Trigger don't suffer from this and hold up so well.
I played it for the first time 2 years ago and it held up great, for some reason it’s really easy to imagine the pixelated scenes as full movie scenes in my mind
One of the moments in FFVI that is underrated and overlooked is the mid-game plot twist where Kefka literally destroys the world. When I first played it back when I was 14, I thought I was about to fight the final boss on the floating continent, needless to say I was in for a shock. As a plot twist it hasn't aged that well; that is to say it has lost most of it's shock value due to it going on to become somewhat of a RPG trope, but in 1994 most games barely had dialogue nevermind a deep plot.
Yep, it's crazy how above and beyond this story was for 1994. Moments like the opera house, the story of Maduin and Madonna, and Cid's death (I wasn't very good at catching fish as a kid I guess lol) really hit me hard as a kid.
What will become of the legacy of the opera scene when all those of us who were there to witness what a mind blowing revelation it was at the time are gone? Through the eyes of a new, young generation, it must seem so simple and hokey, but if you were there playing the game at, or near release, it was a before and after moment for the industry. I remember being so moved by the scene that upon it's conclusion, I had to put the controller down on the floor and process what I had just experienced, echoes of Uematsu's exquisite score still ringing in my head. Gaming would never be the same. I'm glad I got to witness it first hand, as I believe it could only truly be appreciated as it deserved by those who were familiar with what had come before and carried certain expectations with them into the game. Expectations that were effortlessly obliterated. What a sad tragedy it will be when the memory of its impact fades with each passing generation. May a glimmer of its flame continue to burn for all time.
I am from Germany, so I had a PAL-version of the Super Nintendo on which american games could not run. Company politics at that time also tried to regulate the market making it difficult and quite expensive to lay hands on imported games. Clunky technical bypass solutions were needed to work around the intended hardware restrictions. In the nineties there were slightly shady stores in bigger german cities who sold these devices and imported games. I bought FF IV there and was really amazed, what storytelling could achieve, the graphics did not convince me really,but the music did. So I was totally hyped, when in Print magazines FFVI was announced. Whe I finally played it, I was totally blown away by it. Your Loveletter describes perfectly my first playthrough in an era long before the internet, where I had to discover everything the game offered by myself. Up to this day the Soundtrack is still running regularly at my place. Even my children hum the tunes without ever having played FFVI (they played Chrono Trigger eventually). Thank you very much for letting me relive my awe and wonder playing it the first time with your brilliant video.
When you take everything into account for when it was released - 1994 - this game was one of the best games ever made, period. Along with Chrono Trigger just ONE YEAR later, we were truly in a Golden Age of JRPGs and Square in general It hasn't been recreated since. Now we have 4-10 year waits on major titles we love (Skyrim anyone?)
Agreed! When you’ve gotten used to the modern game development cycle, it’s crazy how fast games were made in the past. There was a mainline Final Fantasy title per year in 1999, 2000, and 2001… And I still remember feeling like the wait for each new game was unbearable 😂
OMG, I can't believe I am posting my Final Fantasy story. A friend rented FF from a video store and we played it at my house. We loved it and barely got to the Marsh Cave before returning it to lose our save point. After thinking about FF for a month, I decided to buy it with my allowance for $40 USD. After playing and loving FF, I played through it multiple times and eventually put it down. The SNES was released. Instead of purchasing the SNES , I opted to play the newer games on my friends' SNESs. Several months after the SNES release I perused the video games at Wal-Mart one evening and saw Final Fantasy II (US) on the shelf. I was surprised and ecstatic. I walked back home, collected all of my lawn-mowing money and returned to purchase FFIV and the SNES console for $135 USD. I loved FFIV and was blown away by the depth of story and beautiful graphics. I played through FFIV several times over the next couple years and enjoyed every minutes. At some time, I learned about the release of Final Fantasy III and learned I could pre-order the game. I had never pre-ordered a game before FFVI and I haven't preordered a game since then, lol. A couple of weeks later, I drove to the Electronics Boutique in a mall where I pre-ordered and closed the purchase of FFVI for $90 USD with some of the money I had reserved for buying a guitar. Of all the hours I spent playing FF and FFIV, I'm sure I played FFVI for more hours than the previous games combined. It was easily my favorite game and remained in my top 2 ever since. Fun fact: Due to my pre-order of Final Fantasy III, I unexpectedly received a VHS cassette in the mail promoting the release of Final Fantasy VII. I never played FFVII or any other FF afterward because I was a broke college student... broke graduate student... eventually, spending all my lawn-mowing and guitar money on kids, cars, and houses. Long story, eh? If you got this far, thanks for reading!
I did play FF6 after completing FF7 and looking for more while FF8 came out. Even tho i just played it briefly, for maybe 40-50 hours and not having completed all of it, it was enough to create very fond memories of the Opera House, the story of Celes and finding the Falcon and reuniting the party. Wonderfully put together!
This game punched faaaar above its weight. The ambition, music, world, and story could be fleshed out so well with prerendered backgrounds and cinematics like the psx era. The game deserves a remake moreso than 7 or 9 which hold up just fine.
9 holds up nicely, 7 not so much. These very early 3d graphics aged really badly, I'd argue it's more pleasant to look at Ff6 even, these Pixel artstyles are timeless.
Coming from PAL region, I know how I felt when I realized that we never got this game at the time. It was during the N64/PlayStation era and FF7 was the first time I saw a game called Final Fantasy. When I realized the first 6 were only on the NES and SNES, and then I realized PAL Regions in Europe and Australia/New Zealand never got those games at all despite I could have easily understood the American version. Realizing that even if I did import, I would have had to get a separate SNES from a different region just to play it. Considering gaming these days are no longer restricted to Region Locks, I can say we live in a blessed era these days compared to what I had to grow up in.
Blessed indeed! And now we get worldwide releases as well. Remember waiting months for games that were already out in America to get to the PAL region? Lol
@@AltercateTVAnd a gamer like me from Australia having to wait a few more months after the same game has already been released in Europe when it comes to niche JRPGs. Yes I remember how it was as that was what my late teenage years were all about when I first got into JRPGs outside of Nintendo's own Pokemon series that was the exception back in the day.
Great video and good memories. I was maybe a bit too young when I played FF6, and also not a native English speaker, so I may have missed some of the finer details. This makes me want to play it again, after 30 years!
The graphics, gameplay, story, characters, the MUSIC? Everything was just so amazing. As a 12 year old when this came out I couldn't imagine gaming getting much better. Good times. The 90s were an incredible era for gaming.
I like that you cover the actual SFC/SNES version; it really bothers me how a lot of videos and sites act as if that version has never existed and only use footage and names from the rereleases, since I find this to be really nonchalant towards the original SFC/SNES version.
Thanks! Yeah, I always feel like if I'm going to do a retrospective, I have to cover the original version, warts and all! Doesn't hurt that FF6 is one of those games that still holds up super well in its original form. :)
2nd half reminds me of act 2 of DQ11. Key differences being requiring only 2 party members to be found rather than all of them, and none of the party members being perma-killed. Well, perma-killed w/o any timey whimey stuff.
I think I played FFVI at first in 2016. I wasn't born at all in 1994 to have played it back then. I don't think VI is "still a solid game in the hands of the right player". I think it's STILL a masterpiece. Its trailblazing aspects didn't stand out a lot to me beucase i was playing it over 20 years later, but the characters, iconic scenes, sidequests, structure, soundtrack, everything is still incredible. To this day it's still probably my favorite JRPG tied with Dragon Quest V.
I'm a little older, so I appreciate FFIV more than FFVI. With that said, I recently beat tge FFIV pixel remaster, and am looking forward to tackling FFVI.
I could be wrong, but I always interpreted it as a flute! But maybe I'm just being influenced by the Grand Finale version? ruclips.net/video/aoMZ0_9qaAw/видео.htmlsi=C2fjemyJ2Ly-RJmL&t=102 Don't think I've heard any official orchestral version with trumpets though...
I just rewatched a SNES version of the intro. The latter part of the song seems like a synthesized version of a horned instrument. I swear I've heard it as a higher pitched version of the song that would signify they were going for a flute. Hmmm. I have not bought the FF pixel remasters yet. I wonder if they altered the song in the GBA copy or Pixel remastered versions. Interesting. Like if the SNES version had the insrtument set to a couple of ocataves above what we got then I could see the flute fitting in.@@AltercateTV
I meant the option to switch between characters who have a full ATB gauge was new in FF6. The previous games didn’t have that. Once a character’s turn came up, you had to take it.
@@AltercateTV In FF4, there was no gage but the mechanic of active combat was there: characters will blink to show "their ATB gage bar was full", so you can switch from a character to an another one. The ATB gage bar in FF6 is just a redodant system to let the player anticpates which characters are soon to get their ATB gage being full. I repeat, the ATB gage was a redodant system from what it existed in FF4.
Looking at the title of this video and knowing that Dragon Quest III and V predates Final Fantasy VI, you better hope this video doesn't reach a Japanese audience. Not joking, you should look up Japanese fan polls. They hold those games in EXTREMELY high regard.
Well, as I make clear in the video, I’m just a passionate fan expressing my very subjective opinion. That said, I’d actually LOVE to see a response from Japanese fans - as long as they bother to watch the video 😂
Fair enough, I changed the thumbnail to feature Terra in her Dissidia NT look. You're probably right that not a lot of people would connect the image I used with Celes.
@@AltercateTVjust FYI I’m not hating, watched a bit of the video, pretty good so far. I’m at the tail end of the game so I’ll watch the rest once I’m done with it
As someone else whose favorite track from FFVI is Searching for Friends, for the longest time, I didn't know its name. I only knew it as the World of Ruin airship theme. When I found out its name was Searching for Friends, i sat back and thought for a solid minute about how much *better* that made the song.
Searching For Friends is amazing. But I quickly get tired of it because I always need to level all my characters to 99 and teach them all spells. Many hours in the dinosaur forest… and listening to that song. Well, my fave is still the end credits song. First the character theme medley, and then the “Balance Restored” theme, which totally blew me away the first time I heard it and saw the ingame cinematic. It’s some 24mins long, and Nobou Uematsu literally composed the shit out of it, and out of the SNES console. The arrangements are masterful, sometimes cranking up the tempo and the mood where you didn’t think it could get any phatter - I thought my heart would explode from the joy. At any rate, no matter what our fave is, music has affected us, and it unites us in our love for this game.
Best of the best. When it comes to gaming; FFVI belongs to the deepest part of my heart because of it's many aspects. In case you don't know since it wasn't mentioned in video - Whole final battle scene was based off "The Divine Comedy" aka "Dante's Inferno" giving it even more depth. Like the "Dante" character in The Divine Comedy, we must literally climb from Hell, through Purgatory and up to The Paradise in order to reach your ultimate goal, slaying Kefka. This "paradox of choice' pretty much also applies to innovative FFVIII I recently completed few months back. Few segments in game forces player to select a party and couple of cutscenes had surprisingly a lot of variables. This and goofy dialogue were my favorite things of VIII I'd say.
Thanks for sharing! Do you have a source for the link to the Divine Comedy as inspiration for the final battle? I haven't seen that in any of the interviews I found and I'm always interested in learning more about the creation of this game :)
I will always feel FF4 really holds this spot in my heart, and the greatness we see from 6 is built upon what was already being worked toward in 4 or 5. I will never forget how blown my mind was playing 4 back in 1991, there was nothing that ambitious in terms of storytelling and depth. Then especially since I didn't have 5 growing up, it feels wrong to make that cut off point at 6, when 5 did somethings objectively better. All that being said, 6 is a masterpiece and having played them in order when they came out really highlighted how ambitious they took each evolution of the game. I always hope they one day go back to an ensemble style FF game like this again, and see if they could pull it off for an entirely new generation. One can dream!
It’s a love letter to which I can easily add my name. 🙏 FF6 is the game I never get bored playing. I miss my old SNES for that. I am playing the pixel-remastered version for the first time, and I am in heaven (the orchestrated music 🤩). Thanks for your video - it could have been 3 hours and I would have watched it.
@@AltercateTV Above everything that made this game so great, one of my favorite features in FF6 was being able to play the game with my best friend using a second controller. To this day, it's still one of our favorite games that we've played together. FF6 is all about teamwork and friendship, right?! 😊
@@marcbabin True! I thought that was a really cool feature back in the day, even if me and my friends didn't use it much. Secret of Mana blew my mind though, being able to do 3 payer co-op with the multitap!
I still find myself whistling some of the tunes from this game even today (almost 30 years later!). What a brilliant game. Thanks for your review here - it makes me want to go back and play the game again!
I remember being 14 years old and using money i had saved up to buy this game brand new for almost $100 !!! And to be fair... im 43 years old right now, and i STILL think about and play this game, and STILL find New Things in it. So you can say... Best $100 i have EVER Spent
@@icyboy771z agreed. But this game was EXPENSIVE when it first came out. Totally worth it though, the fact everyone still talks about it To This Day says it all
@@dantediss1woah. I don’t remember it being $100. Was it???? I can’t even remember if I bought it now that I’m thinking of it. I might’ve just borrowed it to finish from my friend.
To this day the opening of this game and the music cant be best. Here we are almost 30 years later ans it still holds up. Most SNES games do. This is the Final Fantasy to beat and while i enjoy 7 8 and 9 no other FF game has ever been able to top it for me. I love that games like Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy are bringing this type of JRPG back and introducing younger generations to it
Thank you so much for all your love and care put into this brilliant video. This was incredible. Your narrative and analysis tapped into things i always felt and also put words into the feelings I never knew how to convey about why this game is so important. I cannot thank you enough... Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I agree. FF6 deserves every love letter we can write. It is hard for some people discovering today to appreciate just how massive that game felt playing it as a 10, 11, or 12 year old back in the ‘90’s. It far surpassed everything else that had come before.
This is easily is without a doubt the most biggest and most comprehensive review that I’ve ever seen in FF6, and watching this made me appreciate things that I didn’t even consider prior to watching this such as the verity of scenarios, dungeon design and how the characters and relics are similar to the job classes and abilities like in FF5 and I also admired how it tired to dealt with much more adult and complex themes then most video games where at the time of FFVI release. Though the Game isn’t completely perfect such as the stuff mentioned in this review. The Biggest example of this for me at least is how the story is structured in how it deals away with having a main character into having a large ensemble cast of characters and having the world of ruin at the 2nd half of the game as being much more open ended. And on paper it’s a really neat idea having multiple different characters that you can freely switch and giving players a lot of freedom. And I can see why alot of people really like it. But because of that the game doesn't know which character is going to be in your group, and some of the major character development and events are completely miscible, it also causes other characters to feel less developed than others and once you do get to the 2nd half of the game's the story is pretty much over and doesn't really conclude until you face Kafka. Which is why I genuinely much prefer more linear structured stories such that feature a proper main character and a fix party since it allows the story to flow more natural, have natural beginning and end points and it would mean I wouldn’t miss any important developments or major events to the characters which kinda why I liked FF5 a bit more for these reasons. So I wouldn’t say FF6 is my absolute favorite in the FF series or in my top favorite RPGs But I still did enjoy this one as it is easily within my Top 5 Final Fantasy Games and is really good for a game made in 1994. And I’m hoping to see more future Final Fantasy retrospective videos.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Gavin, and thanks for the support! I'm planning on covering every mainline game eventually, but it's going to take a very long time to get there... 😂
It was my first special and still biggest relation with a video game, and your tribute to it makes it even more complete and greater, very, very good content there, thanks!
Thanks! Yep, the conversation has turned mostly away from FF6 these days, sadly. Btw I was just watching your "anime dubs aren't cringe, anime is" video a while back, good stuff. :)
This was my favorite back in the day. After borrowing FF8 from a friend, I asked my parents to buy the game. My dad got me the Anthology. At first I was so dissapointed because it was the old pixel games. Until I played this and realised how great is is ! 25 years later I own every FF game ever created on 2 different systems. It was truly great.
I absolutely loved the "hidden in plain sight" approach to storytelling. Instead of shoving it down your throat, it actively rewarded you for paying attention, which makes for very satisfying moments and gives the "illusion" of a lot more character depth. Heck, I only figured out Shadow's was Relm's father 15 years later and I was blown away! And today I learned that the game was supposed to end at the Floating Continent. Man that would have been such a bummer. The villain winning turned out to be one of FF6's most unique and memorable moment. It would have been a completely different game with a different theme and impact had that not been so. Amazing content!
It's amazing how much more satisfying these subtle plot points are when you get to figure it out on your own. :) Thanks for sharing, and thanks your kind words!
Not only was this the greatest game ever made, it takes every person who ever played it back to a certain time of their life. I was 12 years old when I first played it and I still get my mind blown when I play it again now at 40 years old :). From the moment I turn this game on, memories flood back in. Good memories. Even the soundtrack to this game goes with the feelings I get when I start to remember where I was and who I was with back then :). final fantasy 3 That’s how I remembered it. now, we all know their is a lot of story that was deleted out of this game. Shadows mysterious past. Gogos identity. What happened to banon in the world of ruin? What happened to Arvis? this game needs to have a proper sequel or better yet Bring back all the stuff they cut out this game. They did it with final fantasy 7. They can do it with this. And I know it’ll be one of the most incredible games ever. The story is too rich with possibilities with all the characters. Please do it!
My wife thinks it's silly that I still mourn (if that is the right word) General Leo. He was the best, and I was all hyped that he would join the party... then Thamasa. Holy crap, I get to control him! It's happening! His Offering made him mighty, Shock was strong and awesome! And then, I cried like I had lost a close friend and mentor. On my first time through, I would periodically visit Thamasa, and look at that sword on top of the mound, and just lament not having Leo in the party.
Excellent video. Really love this long-form JRPG content, makes for excellent listening while I'm grinding in some game. Listened to this one while going through Colosseum fights on my Kingdom Hearts replay. Glad you mentioned Shibuya's contributions to sprite design. Those iconic sprites are responsible for much of the charm of early Final Fantasy games and Shibuya really knocked things out of the park with FFVI. I can't even imagine what these games would be like without her work.
Thank you! Yes, I think Shibuya is very much an unsung hero of FF. I hadn't even heard her name before I started doing these retrospectives, which is kind of sad!
Best two plus hours ever spent. 👍 I am also of the age where my first time playing the game would've been as FF3 on te SNES, so while I was a little late to the party, that feeling of newness if you will is mutual. To think that my favorite part of the whole game, the World of Ruin, wasn't originally supposed to be there. That part made FF6 my favorite FF game and Kefka my favorite FF villain. Just think, despite all the new features and the greater emphasis on dark and mature themes, as a young man, I still expected FF6 to end in typical fashion of the heroes stopping the villain and save the world in the last minute. But then, even with the best efforts from Shadow, Kefka still won, and watching the world tear itself apart was just mind blowing even now. I agree that it has its weaknesses, but I gotta say, the pros vastly outweigh the cons as it was alot of fun searching for the rest of the cast and grinding out new abilities and spells. I even find certain side stories work out better in the World of Ruin more than the World of Balance, like finding Gau's father. Gau saying he was happy to see him alive despite simultaneously getting insulted and complimented just felt all the more moving when the setting was all broken and gloomy. Anyways, I am happy to have found your love letter to FF6. I only wished I found it sooner.
I first played this game on ZSNES back in '99 and I remember being absolutely blown away by it. Over the intervening two decades, my fondness and appreciation for this title and what it did to elevate the artform of video games has only continued to grow. I'm so glad to see this title still getting the love and attention it deserves. This was a phenomenal retrospective! Hopefully you will give a similar treatment to Zelda: LttP and Chrono Trigger! ^_^ Thank you for all your amazing work! You just earned a sub. Shared this video with some friends as well! Wishing you all the best with your channel!
Thank you so much for your kind words! Chrono Trigger is next on my list of retrospectives, and I might cover Link to the Past as well, if I think I can do the game justice.
Honestly last year I finally finished Final Fantasy 6 and fall in Love with it, well I still like 9 the most but I'm honestly glad I that I was able to finish it and see why it was loved by fans and I can see why the Story and Characters will be forever my favorite in the series next to 9
Whuuff. 2 Hour video, but man it's about my favorite game of all time, so it was well worth the watch. I came here after watching your videos on Dragon Warrior 1 & 2; those two games, along with the original Final Fantasy, were the NES games that defined my childhood. I'm hoping you'll do videos on Dragon Warrior 3, and the excellent Dragon Warrior 4 (my favorite game, except for when my saves erased themselves.) I used to play these older NES games with my father, some of the few good memories I have with him. FF3(6) was the first time I was ready to play through by myself, and it stands as one of my favorite games of all time. You have to look for it, but Uematsu-san did a live performance of (most!) of Dancing Mad at a Distant Worlds concert, and he's repeatedly said "never again!" Thank you. Just, thank you.
Thank you for sharing your memories, and for the kind words! I'm playing through DQ3 right now and I'm planning on covering the entire mainline series eventually. :) And I'll try to find that live performance haha.
My friend, I can't tell you how amazing this video is. Thank you so much for making it. You put into words so many things I always felt about this game, my favorite game of all time. I will watch this many times in the future just to feel the nostalgia from someone else who I feel knows what I felt when I first played Final Fantasy 6 (3 when I was a kid lol)!
I recall picking this up in 1994 and playing it over an entire weekend, getting less sleep than I should and finishing the game. It has such a fond place in my memories. I was in my late teens and was already an avid RPG fan on the NES and SNES, but this game was the culmination of perfection of that era,
This is such an incredible amount of work you must have had to put in here. This is so well done. A pleasure to watch, honestly. Most youtube videos you see on retrospectives, and reviews of old games are just copy/paste videos with stcok images or just some screenshots but you've really put so much effort into making this a real documentary and tribute to the game. The artistic nuances and the overall presentation of the video are just perfect. Thank you! I look forward to more releases from you and I've subscribed..
Thank you so much for saying that. My videos do indeed take a lot of work to create, so it's really nice to get this kind of feedback! PS. Dragon Quest 1 retrospective coming tomorrow. :)
I agree that FF6 was absolutely stunning at the time (and it holds up pretty well), but I think FF4 deserves a lot of credit for laying the groundwork. It was FF4 that introduced the idea that you could tell a real story in a JRPG, with character development, conflict, and emotion, instead of just nameless heroes on a generic quest. Sure, it was greatly surpassed by 6 (my favorite in the entire series), but I don't think 6 could exist without 4.
Totally agree with that! If you're interested, I think I give a lot of credit to those aspects of Final Fantasy IV in my retrospective of that game. The reason why I personally single out FFVI as the "first masterpiece" is of course completely subjective, but in my eyes, it's the first game that truly hits every note in the symphony of mastery that would come to define this genre in the long run. That said, none of these games would even exist without the enormous contributions made by previous games in the series (and in the genre as a whole)!
Great look at my absolute favorite game of all time. I started getting big into RPGs with Final Fantasy Legend (rather SaGa I suppose) when it came out as my older cousin gave it to me as he wasn't a fan of non-action titles and I fell in love immediately. I can still recall in vivid detail my first time playing most of the mainline series but nothing compared to FF VI, how it blew me away with that opening sequence. I was strangely hesitant when reading previews, doubting that I would become as endured to the cast as I was with those in FF IV, but was very quickly proven wrong. To this day the opera is perhaps one my favorite moments in any form of media.
I will always contend that Chrono Trigger is a better game and story but it never went the places FF6 did.... this game introduced 11 year old me to nihilism.... what games marketed to kids out there now would dare to do such a thing?
I'm super torn about CT vs. FF6. I honestly don't think I could choose between them. But in some ways CT means more to me because it was the first JRPG I actually *owned*. (FF6 I played at my friend's house, although I basically lived there when the game was new lol).
Thank you for making this retrospective/tribute. Final Fantasy VI is my favourite game of all time, and you gave it the look back it deserves. Playing the pixel remaster right now, and I can say that I still love this game as much as I did when I first played it (maybe loving it even more actually).
great script, made wanna play the game, but you should reallynot use these AI images, how can you make a love letter to such amazing artists and at the same time use tools that hurt all artists? there is plenty of official artwork and fanarts that could do the same job much better
Thank you for your kind words and for sharing your perspective. Honestly, you make a valid point. In the eight or so months since I published this video, the issue of generative AI has been something I've wrestled with a lot. I do see that there's an element of hypocrisy in my use of AI content to praise original content. At the same time, while generative AI has enormous problems, I don't see that we really have an alternative other than to embrace this new technology and find ways to work with it. There's really nothing we can do to stop it from happening. Maybe that's cynical, but it's where I'm at right now.
Yes, it's a total masterpiece. I remember the characters having their own personalities, particularly when Edgar meets Terra the way he flirts with her was funny yet in a unique way sincere. I remember Locke lamenting the loss of Rachel, along with Setzer being sort of devil may care character with a heart of gold. Even Gogo, though brief, introduces himself in a quirky and straightforward manner. Kefka? A mad man who becomes an apathetic god still bound by his cynical sense of humor. I could go on and on, but this game blew my mind and captured my heart like no other game has ever been able to.
In a magazine (I forget which one) when talking about the music of FFVI it said "In terms of the technology Nobou Uematsu had to work with, he painted the Sistine Chapel with a box of crayons" I still consider Dancing Mad to be his Magnum Opus, fuck One Winged Angel
Thank you for giving me a voice. FF3 is a máster piece with flaws and all cus it was the first FF that I fully played and immersed into. Yes I Said FF3. Now as a 41yr old man, i can’t describe how this game was THE pinnacle of gaming back in mid 90s to younger generations or people who started with FF7. It’s cool I look at NES games the same way FF7+ look at the SNES. It’s all about perspective ❤
Stop misnumbering FFVI. The west has had the real FFIII for 17 years you are just going out your way to confuse people. My nephew who's first video game was FFIII on his DS lite is now in med school.
Only about 3 min in, can't wait to get thru this all (even though foe my old ass, FF4/2 edges this one out as my all time fave)... But u "left something out" when u mentioned how you can tell its different shortly after turning the game on--- THE PRELUDE is slower, MUCH slower, and just overall so much more emotional and dramatic.... Turning the game on and juzt letting it play for 5-10 min was a norm for me, so hearing this new slow version was jarring-- but that faded away once that added "flute" hit.... just incredible and a sign of the awesomeness to come...
Yup. It was groundbreaking and I was in awe of its beauty. It SO deserves a 3D makeover. It would be an amazing game made in a realistic looking engine.
I assume you've already heard the Decisive Battle version in FFXIV, but if for some reason you haven't look for a video titled "FFXIV OST Sigmascape Boss Theme ( A Battle Decisively )". It's very close to the original. I usually am in favor of the original sound (especially the Opera), but that updates does wonders. And a bonus song the Grissini Project's organ version of Dancing Mad.
The Sigmascape version is indeed very good! I think I still prefer the original, but hey, I'm probably just super biased. 😂 Thanks for the heads up about the Grissini Project! This is something that's completely passed me by until now!
@@AltercateTV Bro Kefka said it why do you fight 🤔 knowing you will all be destroyed. They are all Dead. Look at the sky on the second half of the game... now look at the sky in Vanilla sky.
Having been playing the pr version cyan actually has some lines at the banquet and during the battle of narshe. To the respective generals he fights kefka and Leo apologized to him.
as someone who played it back in the days, this was life changing. Hell I just finished replaying it just now on the pixel remaster. But what sticked with me the most until now, was the HUGE variety! I played secret of mana just before that.. and it was AMAZING.. then I played FF6 and my brain exploded! went from like 9 weapons and a few healing items to hundreds of items, combinations, espers, magic spells.. my god it was HUGE at the time.. and hell look at FFXV (haven't played XVI yet), it doesn't even come close.. there is like what? 5 summons? Back then this game just broke everything that has been done so far, it was incomparable, and to some aspect it still is.. Last games to propose such variety was the FF on PS1 in my opinion, it's all downhill from there. Also it's the last famous RPG AFAIK that proposed 2 players coop.. it's probably marginal but I noticed NO ONE ever talk about it somehow. Yes most people don't care or never used that function, but I DID back then with my buddy on the couch, and we could share that FF experience together instead of having just one boringly watch someone else play.. and obviously no one will ever get the chance to experience that anymore.. Hell I don't think it's even available on the pixel remaster for some reason.. FF6 is just something ELSE. It's like there are singers, and then there are michael jackson or elvis presley or whatever. they're just not part of the pack, they're their own thing altogether.
I remember using the co-op feature back in the day! I think I had something about it in my first draft of the script, but ended up cutting it out for brevity... 😂
Spoilers Below: Just beat the Pixel Remaster version today after playing through the game for the first time in over a decade. I still can't get over how this game was made in 1994. Honestly as a gaming experience FF6 clears most RPGs that are released even today. Something as miniscule as character interaction and tropes are brought to the nth degree. Sabin with his incredible strength, which comes into play in the town in Tzen in the WoR when you have to save the little boy in the collapsing house. Cyan and his fear of machines, and how even something as simple as stepping on a mechanical button strikes great fear within him, even as the party desperately tries to escape Kefka's tower. Locke and his "treasure hunting" antics, which allow him "find" coughstealcough outfits of the enemy in a Imperial occupied town in order to escape. Each character has a trope that's both relevant to the story and adds to the flavor of the numerous character interactions within the story. I wish more RPGs would incorporate this kind of writing in their stories.
Wonderful job. Your content is amazing. Thank you for this love letter retrospective to, what is also MY favorite JRPG of all time. A watershed moment for gaming that once again reaffirms the Japanese as the true master artisans of game design.
Not my favorite title in the series, but this video made me appreciate FFVI a lot more by helping me remember many great moments I had with it. It must have taken a lot of time and effort to put such a long video together, so thank you for all the hard work.
FF6 is by far my favorite of the whole series. It inspired me to make the Woolsey Uncensored Edition hack. If you're looking for a vanilla experience with numerous bugs fixed and delivered a cleaned up script with all the classic Woolsey lines.
Hey dude, thanks for stopping by! I've heard good things about the Woolsey Uncensored Edition. Definitely plan to give it a try next time I go through FF6 :)
FF9 is the only one close to it. But I played 6 about a month after it came out. No guide. Just touching and talking to everything, and enjoying the hell out of all of it.
Thanks, I have downloaded the patch in the past but haven't applied it, I will play this version one day.
My favorite game of alltime. Im 44 years old and still have to replay this every year or so. Something in me always calls back to it. The characters, story, music. Nothing comes close. A true masterpiece.
UPDATE: Some of you have expressed concerns about my use of AI generated images in parts of this video. This is valid criticism, and I take this feedback seriously. The impact of generative AI has been constantly on my mind over the past year. This is something that's been bothering me even before I received such comments, and the fact that this has been brought up has made me even more doubtful about using such tools in my future content.
--
I have created a monument to my love for Final Fantasy VI! I swear, this is the shortest I could possibly make the video - I cut SO much stuff I wanted to include lol. Dear god, the amount of work I’ve put into this video… I wasn’t sure I’d ever finish.
Next in my retrospective series: Chrono Trigger. But first, I have a couple of Xenoblade critiques I want to publish - Torna: the Golden Country and Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
What’s YOUR first great JRPG love? Let me know! And as always, thanks for supporting me! 😍
My first great JRPG love? The one and same: FF6.
Outstanding video! I didn't think anyone could show me something new about this game. Some games I play again, and I'm like "oh wow, this is worse than I remember." FF6, Tactics, and Chrono Trigger don't suffer from this and hold up so well.
@@hawkbirdtree3660 Thank you so much! Yes, it's a rare few games that hold up this well even after almost 30 years :)
This one is my favorite
Why does it show ff3 in 3:15
I played it for the first time 2 years ago and it held up great, for some reason it’s really easy to imagine the pixelated scenes as full movie scenes in my mind
Thanks for sharing! Yeah, your imagination really comes into its own with this game. Beautiful pixel graphics that leave a lot to the imagination :)
One of the moments in FFVI that is underrated and overlooked is the mid-game plot twist where Kefka literally destroys the world.
When I first played it back when I was 14, I thought I was about to fight the final boss on the floating continent, needless to say I was in for a shock. As a plot twist it hasn't aged that well; that is to say it has lost most of it's shock value due to it going on to become somewhat of a RPG trope, but in 1994 most games barely had dialogue nevermind a deep plot.
Yep, it's crazy how above and beyond this story was for 1994. Moments like the opera house, the story of Maduin and Madonna, and Cid's death (I wasn't very good at catching fish as a kid I guess lol) really hit me hard as a kid.
What will become of the legacy of the opera scene when all those of us who were there to witness what a mind blowing revelation it was at the time are gone? Through the eyes of a new, young generation, it must seem so simple and hokey, but if you were there playing the game at, or near release, it was a before and after moment for the industry. I remember being so moved by the scene that upon it's conclusion, I had to put the controller down on the floor and process what I had just experienced, echoes of Uematsu's exquisite score still ringing in my head. Gaming would never be the same. I'm glad I got to witness it first hand, as I believe it could only truly be appreciated as it deserved by those who were familiar with what had come before and carried certain expectations with them into the game. Expectations that were effortlessly obliterated. What a sad tragedy it will be when the memory of its impact fades with each passing generation. May a glimmer of its flame continue to burn for all time.
I am from Germany, so I had a PAL-version of the Super Nintendo on which american games could not run. Company politics at that time also tried to regulate the market making it difficult and quite expensive to lay hands on imported games. Clunky technical bypass solutions were needed to work around the intended hardware restrictions. In the nineties there were slightly shady stores in bigger german cities who sold these devices and imported games. I bought FF IV there and was really amazed, what storytelling could achieve, the graphics did not convince me really,but the music did. So I was totally hyped, when in Print magazines FFVI was announced. Whe I finally played it, I was totally blown away by it. Your Loveletter describes perfectly my first playthrough in an era long before the internet, where I had to discover everything the game offered by myself. Up to this day the Soundtrack is still running regularly at my place. Even my children hum the tunes without ever having played FFVI (they played Chrono Trigger eventually). Thank you very much for letting me relive my awe and wonder playing it the first time with your brilliant video.
Thank you for sharing your experience with the game! I'm very happy that my video was able to recapture some of that magic. :)
When you take everything into account for when it was released - 1994 - this game was one of the best games ever made, period.
Along with Chrono Trigger just ONE YEAR later, we were truly in a Golden Age of JRPGs and Square in general
It hasn't been recreated since.
Now we have 4-10 year waits on major titles we love (Skyrim anyone?)
Agreed!
When you’ve gotten used to the modern game development cycle, it’s crazy how fast games were made in the past. There was a mainline Final Fantasy title per year in 1999, 2000, and 2001… And I still remember feeling like the wait for each new game was unbearable 😂
It's like you took the words right out of my head. Saving this video for anytime anybody asks me why I love this game so much.
That's very nice to hear. Thank you for saying that :)
OMG, I can't believe I am posting my Final Fantasy story. A friend rented FF from a video store and we played it at my house. We loved it and barely got to the Marsh Cave before returning it to lose our save point. After thinking about FF for a month, I decided to buy it with my allowance for $40 USD. After playing and loving FF, I played through it multiple times and eventually put it down. The SNES was released. Instead of purchasing the SNES , I opted to play the newer games on my friends' SNESs. Several months after the SNES release I perused the video games at Wal-Mart one evening and saw Final Fantasy II (US) on the shelf. I was surprised and ecstatic. I walked back home, collected all of my lawn-mowing money and returned to purchase FFIV and the SNES console for $135 USD. I loved FFIV and was blown away by the depth of story and beautiful graphics. I played through FFIV several times over the next couple years and enjoyed every minutes. At some time, I learned about the release of Final Fantasy III and learned I could pre-order the game. I had never pre-ordered a game before FFVI and I haven't preordered a game since then, lol. A couple of weeks later, I drove to the Electronics Boutique in a mall where I pre-ordered and closed the purchase of FFVI for $90 USD with some of the money I had reserved for buying a guitar. Of all the hours I spent playing FF and FFIV, I'm sure I played FFVI for more hours than the previous games combined. It was easily my favorite game and remained in my top 2 ever since. Fun fact: Due to my pre-order of Final Fantasy III, I unexpectedly received a VHS cassette in the mail promoting the release of Final Fantasy VII. I never played FFVII or any other FF afterward because I was a broke college student... broke graduate student... eventually, spending all my lawn-mowing and guitar money on kids, cars, and houses. Long story, eh? If you got this far, thanks for reading!
Beautiful story! Thanks for sharing :)
Hey! I was missing you 😂. Great video btw.
Thank you so much! :D
Been waiting for this. Thanks for putting in all the time and effort to create it!
Thank you for saying that! :)
I did play FF6 after completing FF7 and looking for more while FF8 came out. Even tho i just played it briefly, for maybe 40-50 hours and not having completed all of it, it was enough to create very fond memories of the Opera House, the story of Celes and finding the Falcon and reuniting the party. Wonderfully put together!
Thank you! And thanks for sharing your experience with the game :)
That title belongs to Mother 1 on NES, it has the best story and characters and very unique gameplay. The Mother seried is criminaly underrated.
Fair enough! Definitely a pioneering series.
This game punched faaaar above its weight. The ambition, music, world, and story could be fleshed out so well with prerendered backgrounds and cinematics like the psx era. The game deserves a remake moreso than 7 or 9 which hold up just fine.
Nice to see you around Alan! Yep, FF6 would be really cool to see in remake form :)
9 holds up nicely, 7 not so much. These very early 3d graphics aged really badly, I'd argue it's more pleasant to look at Ff6 even, these Pixel artstyles are timeless.
Coming from PAL region, I know how I felt when I realized that we never got this game at the time.
It was during the N64/PlayStation era and FF7 was the first time I saw a game called Final Fantasy.
When I realized the first 6 were only on the NES and SNES, and then I realized PAL Regions in Europe and Australia/New Zealand never got those games at all despite I could have easily understood the American version.
Realizing that even if I did import, I would have had to get a separate SNES from a different region just to play it.
Considering gaming these days are no longer restricted to Region Locks, I can say we live in a blessed era these days compared to what I had to grow up in.
Blessed indeed! And now we get worldwide releases as well. Remember waiting months for games that were already out in America to get to the PAL region? Lol
@@AltercateTVAnd a gamer like me from Australia having to wait a few more months after the same game has already been released in Europe when it comes to niche JRPGs.
Yes I remember how it was as that was what my late teenage years were all about when I first got into JRPGs outside of Nintendo's own Pokemon series that was the exception back in the day.
Great video and good memories. I was maybe a bit too young when I played FF6, and also not a native English speaker, so I may have missed some of the finer details. This makes me want to play it again, after 30 years!
Thanks for sharing, and definitely give the game another shot! :)
The graphics, gameplay, story, characters, the MUSIC? Everything was just so amazing. As a 12 year old when this came out I couldn't imagine gaming getting much better. Good times. The 90s were an incredible era for gaming.
I like that you cover the actual SFC/SNES version;
it really bothers me how a lot of videos and sites act as if that version has never existed and only use footage and names from the rereleases, since I find this to be really nonchalant towards the original SFC/SNES version.
Thanks! Yeah, I always feel like if I'm going to do a retrospective, I have to cover the original version, warts and all! Doesn't hurt that FF6 is one of those games that still holds up super well in its original form. :)
2nd half reminds me of act 2 of DQ11. Key differences being requiring only 2 party members to be found rather than all of them, and none of the party members being perma-killed. Well, perma-killed w/o any timey whimey stuff.
This was such an amazing video. I applaud your thoughtful analysis of this beautiful work of art
Thank you so much! That's very kind of you to say :)
Thank you for the wonderful vids and all your hard work.
Thanks for saying that! :)
I think I played FFVI at first in 2016. I wasn't born at all in 1994 to have played it back then. I don't think VI is "still a solid game in the hands of the right player". I think it's STILL a masterpiece. Its trailblazing aspects didn't stand out a lot to me beucase i was playing it over 20 years later, but the characters, iconic scenes, sidequests, structure, soundtrack, everything is still incredible. To this day it's still probably my favorite JRPG tied with Dragon Quest V.
Thanks for sharing! It always warms my heart to hear stories of younger gamers coming to love these timeless classics :)
Beautifully done. My #1 game of all time.
Damn dawg this is the best and most comprehensive and well articulated review of FF6 out there
Thanks! That's very nice to hear :)
Who did the Terra artwork at 1:29? That’s some of the best ff6 art I’ve ever seen
It's AI generated. I made it using Stable Diffusion and some Photoshop touchups.
‘Final fantasy 4 had complex characters that grew and changed throughout the story -and Rosa’
lol
Crazy how FF6 offers more open world exploration in the 1st hours than FF16 Lol
FF6 > FF16
This video earned a sub. Exceptionally well done sir 🏆
Thank you so much! :)
I agree with you completely about ff6. I played it first in 5th grade and it changed the course of my life.
One of the best retrospectives of all time for one of the best games of all time ❤❤❤
Wow, thank you so much for saying that! That means a lot to me :)
Great video as always. Did you finish the trails in the sky trilogy already?
Thanks! Not yet, I’ve been stuck on Tales of Arise for months lol. I’m near the end of ToA now and I plan to play Trails in the Sky SC right after!
@@AltercateTV ah i will ask you next time though, have fun
I'm a little older, so I appreciate FFIV more than FFVI. With that said, I recently beat tge FFIV pixel remaster, and am looking forward to tackling FFVI.
Correct, the most important thing about FFVI was groundbreaking it was at release
Just imagine if Baldur's Gate 3 was released in the 90s
Calling "first masterpiece JRPG" a game that came out in 1994 is ballsy.
Just my personal opinion. Anyone's pick is equally valid! :)
Is that a flute at the story credits? I think it was ment to be a horned instrument like trumpet. Kinda like to war?
I could be wrong, but I always interpreted it as a flute! But maybe I'm just being influenced by the Grand Finale version? ruclips.net/video/aoMZ0_9qaAw/видео.htmlsi=C2fjemyJ2Ly-RJmL&t=102
Don't think I've heard any official orchestral version with trumpets though...
I just rewatched a SNES version of the intro. The latter part of the song seems like a synthesized version of a horned instrument. I swear I've heard it as a higher pitched version of the song that would signify they were going for a flute. Hmmm. I have not bought the FF pixel remasters yet. I wonder if they altered the song in the GBA copy or Pixel remastered versions. Interesting. Like if the SNES version had the insrtument set to a couple of ocataves above what we got then I could see the flute fitting in.@@AltercateTV
Great video
Thank you! :)
3:39 Why did you say 'Magi' like that? 😅
Gotta keep you on your toes! 😂
10:32 Active combat 1st appeared in FF4, not in FF6. But, in FF4, there were no gages to know which character is about to get its turn.
I meant the option to switch between characters who have a full ATB gauge was new in FF6. The previous games didn’t have that. Once a character’s turn came up, you had to take it.
@@AltercateTV In FF4, there was no gage but the mechanic of active combat was there: characters will blink to show "their ATB gage bar was full", so you can switch from a character to an another one. The ATB gage bar in FF6 is just a redodant system to let the player anticpates which characters are soon to get their ATB gage being full. I repeat, the ATB gage was a redodant system from what it existed in FF4.
This game could be the greatest tv series, if it be makes in live action
That’d be cool to see! Pilot episode ends with Kefka showing up at Figaro Castle? 🤓
1:59:01 Cid didn't die for me... I fed him tasty fish, fish, and avoided yucky ones (slow ones). Try hard, be observant, and love more.
Looking at the title of this video and knowing that Dragon Quest III and V predates Final Fantasy VI, you better hope this video doesn't reach a Japanese audience. Not joking, you should look up Japanese fan polls. They hold those games in EXTREMELY high regard.
Well, as I make clear in the video, I’m just a passionate fan expressing my very subjective opinion. That said, I’d actually LOVE to see a response from Japanese fans - as long as they bother to watch the video 😂
the ai generated images look so bad, why not use amano's concept art instead of the copy/paste artstation stuff
Yes, agreed. Didn't even recognize the character in the thumbnail, i almost scrolled past.
@@subnormality. they almost look like genshin characters
Fair enough, I changed the thumbnail to feature Terra in her Dissidia NT look. You're probably right that not a lot of people would connect the image I used with Celes.
@@AltercateTVjust FYI I’m not hating, watched a bit of the video, pretty good so far. I’m at the tail end of the game so I’ll watch the rest once I’m done with it
Thanks, I appreciate you saying that!
If you're asking what makes FF6 a great game, you obviously haven't played it. Play the game and then get back to me.
Almost 30 years later, this is still my favorite video game of all time. Thanks for putting together such a great video.
Thank you! :)
As someone else whose favorite track from FFVI is Searching for Friends, for the longest time, I didn't know its name. I only knew it as the World of Ruin airship theme. When I found out its name was Searching for Friends, i sat back and thought for a solid minute about how much *better* that made the song.
Totally agreed! The naming of things can have a lot of power. Just knowing the title of the track opens up a world of emotion!
Searching For Friends is amazing. But I quickly get tired of it because I always need to level all my characters to 99 and teach them all spells. Many hours in the dinosaur forest… and listening to that song.
Well, my fave is still the end credits song. First the character theme medley, and then the “Balance Restored” theme, which totally blew me away the first time I heard it and saw the ingame cinematic. It’s some 24mins long, and Nobou Uematsu literally composed the shit out of it, and out of the SNES console. The arrangements are masterful, sometimes cranking up the tempo and the mood where you didn’t think it could get any phatter - I thought my heart would explode from the joy.
At any rate, no matter what our fave is, music has affected us, and it unites us in our love for this game.
Best of the best. When it comes to gaming; FFVI belongs to the deepest part of my heart because of it's many aspects.
In case you don't know since it wasn't mentioned in video - Whole final battle scene was based off "The Divine Comedy" aka "Dante's Inferno" giving it even more depth. Like the "Dante" character in The Divine Comedy, we must literally climb from Hell, through Purgatory and up to The Paradise in order to reach your ultimate goal, slaying Kefka.
This "paradox of choice' pretty much also applies to innovative FFVIII I recently completed few months back. Few segments in game forces player to select a party and couple of cutscenes had surprisingly a lot of variables. This and goofy dialogue were my favorite things of VIII I'd say.
Thanks for sharing! Do you have a source for the link to the Divine Comedy as inspiration for the final battle? I haven't seen that in any of the interviews I found and I'm always interested in learning more about the creation of this game :)
I will always feel FF4 really holds this spot in my heart, and the greatness we see from 6 is built upon what was already being worked toward in 4 or 5. I will never forget how blown my mind was playing 4 back in 1991, there was nothing that ambitious in terms of storytelling and depth. Then especially since I didn't have 5 growing up, it feels wrong to make that cut off point at 6, when 5 did somethings objectively better. All that being said, 6 is a masterpiece and having played them in order when they came out really highlighted how ambitious they took each evolution of the game. I always hope they one day go back to an ensemble style FF game like this again, and see if they could pull it off for an entirely new generation. One can dream!
It’s a love letter to which I can easily add my name. 🙏 FF6 is the game I never get bored playing. I miss my old SNES for that. I am playing the pixel-remastered version for the first time, and I am in heaven (the orchestrated music 🤩). Thanks for your video - it could have been 3 hours and I would have watched it.
Thanks for saying that! :)
@@AltercateTV Above everything that made this game so great, one of my favorite features in FF6 was being able to play the game with my best friend using a second controller. To this day, it's still one of our favorite games that we've played together. FF6 is all about teamwork and friendship, right?! 😊
@@marcbabin True! I thought that was a really cool feature back in the day, even if me and my friends didn't use it much. Secret of Mana blew my mind though, being able to do 3 payer co-op with the multitap!
Snes best console of time
I still find myself whistling some of the tunes from this game even today (almost 30 years later!). What a brilliant game. Thanks for your review here - it makes me want to go back and play the game again!
Thanks! Glad you liked it! :)
The chorus for “Searching for friends” is my favorite casual whistling tune.
Sent chills down my spine when I first heard it in game.
I remember being 14 years old and using money i had saved up to buy this game brand new for almost $100 !!! And to be fair... im 43 years old right now, and i STILL think about and play this game, and STILL find New Things in it. So you can say...
Best $100 i have EVER Spent
Game prices were kind of insane in the 90s 😂
Wtf. Even $100 for a new game in 2023 is way too expensive.
@@icyboy771z agreed. But this game was EXPENSIVE when it first came out. Totally worth it though, the fact everyone still talks about it To This Day says it all
@@dantediss1woah. I don’t remember it being $100. Was it???? I can’t even remember if I bought it now that I’m thinking of it. I might’ve just borrowed it to finish from my friend.
To this day the opening of this game and the music cant be best. Here we are almost 30 years later ans it still holds up. Most SNES games do. This is the Final Fantasy to beat and while i enjoy 7 8 and 9 no other FF game has ever been able to top it for me. I love that games like Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy are bringing this type of JRPG back and introducing younger generations to it
I can't believe how criminally under subscribed your channel is for the quality, keep it up!
Thank you so much! That really means a lot to me :D
Agreed, love this channel!
I absolutely agree. Great videos!
Thank you so much for all your love and care put into this brilliant video. This was incredible. Your narrative and analysis tapped into things i always felt and also put words into the feelings I never knew how to convey about why this game is so important.
I cannot thank you enough... Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Wow, that makes me super happy to hear! I’m so glad I was able to convey what I wanted to convey with the video :)
I agree. FF6 deserves every love letter we can write. It is hard for some people discovering today to appreciate just how massive that game felt playing it as a 10, 11, or 12 year old back in the ‘90’s. It far surpassed everything else that had come before.
This is easily is without a doubt the most biggest and most comprehensive review that I’ve ever seen in FF6, and watching this made me appreciate things that I didn’t even consider prior to watching this such as the verity of scenarios, dungeon design and how the characters and relics are similar to the job classes and abilities like in FF5 and I also admired how it tired to dealt with much more adult and complex themes then most video games where at the time of FFVI release. Though the Game isn’t completely perfect such as the stuff mentioned in this review.
The Biggest example of this for me at least is how the story is structured in how it deals away with having a main character into having a large ensemble cast of characters and having the world of ruin at the 2nd half of the game as being much more open ended. And on paper it’s a really neat idea having multiple different characters that you can freely switch and giving players a lot of freedom. And I can see why alot of people really like it. But because of that the game doesn't know which character is going to be in your group, and some of the major character development and events are completely miscible, it also causes other characters to feel less developed than others and once you do get to the 2nd half of the game's the story is pretty much over and doesn't really conclude until you face Kafka.
Which is why I genuinely much prefer more linear structured stories such that feature a proper main character and a fix party since it allows the story to flow more natural, have natural beginning and end points and it would mean I wouldn’t miss any important developments or major events to the characters which kinda why I liked FF5 a bit more for these reasons. So I wouldn’t say FF6 is my absolute favorite in the FF series or in my top favorite RPGs But I still did enjoy this one as it is easily within my Top 5 Final Fantasy Games and is really good for a game made in 1994.
And I’m hoping to see more future Final Fantasy retrospective videos.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Gavin, and thanks for the support!
I'm planning on covering every mainline game eventually, but it's going to take a very long time to get there... 😂
@@AltercateTV No worries I'm just glad I'm there to support you. Your doing great!
It was my first special and still biggest relation with a video game, and your tribute to it makes it even more complete and greater, very, very good content there, thanks!
Thank you so much! :)
Great video. Finished playing the pixel remaster not long ago and can’t stop thinking about it. Shame that 6 isn’t talked about nearly as much as 7
Thanks! Yep, the conversation has turned mostly away from FF6 these days, sadly. Btw I was just watching your "anime dubs aren't cringe, anime is" video a while back, good stuff. :)
This was my favorite back in the day. After borrowing FF8 from a friend, I asked my parents to buy the game. My dad got me the Anthology. At first I was so dissapointed because it was the old pixel games. Until I played this and realised how great is is ! 25 years later I own every FF game ever created on 2 different systems. It was truly great.
I absolutely loved the "hidden in plain sight" approach to storytelling. Instead of shoving it down your throat, it actively rewarded you for paying attention, which makes for very satisfying moments and gives the "illusion" of a lot more character depth. Heck, I only figured out Shadow's was Relm's father 15 years later and I was blown away!
And today I learned that the game was supposed to end at the Floating Continent. Man that would have been such a bummer. The villain winning turned out to be one of FF6's most unique and memorable moment. It would have been a completely different game with a different theme and impact had that not been so.
Amazing content!
It's amazing how much more satisfying these subtle plot points are when you get to figure it out on your own. :)
Thanks for sharing, and thanks your kind words!
Best Final Fantasy of my generation (yes even better than 7). Sephiroth’s brooding pretentiousness has nothing on Kefka’s DK Joker Agent of Chaos!
Have you considered doing a retrospective on the rest of this series? I'm curious about your thoughts on something like Final Fantasy Tactics!
I’m planning on covering all of the mainline entries in the series, as well as some of the spinoffs. Final Fantasy Tactics is definitely on that list!
Not only was this the greatest game ever made, it takes every person who ever played it back to a certain time of their life. I was 12 years old when I first played it and I still get my mind blown when I play it again now at 40 years old :). From the moment I turn this game on, memories flood back in. Good memories. Even the soundtrack to this game goes with the feelings I get when I start to remember where I was and who I was with back then :). final fantasy 3 That’s how I remembered it. now, we all know their is a lot of story that was deleted out of this game. Shadows mysterious past. Gogos identity. What happened to banon in the world of ruin? What happened to Arvis? this game needs to have a proper sequel or better yet Bring back all the stuff they cut out this game. They did it with final fantasy 7. They can do it with this. And I know it’ll be one of the most incredible games ever. The story is too rich with possibilities with all the characters. Please do it!
I’d be up for that for sure :)
My wife thinks it's silly that I still mourn (if that is the right word) General Leo. He was the best, and I was all hyped that he would join the party... then Thamasa. Holy crap, I get to control him! It's happening! His Offering made him mighty, Shock was strong and awesome!
And then, I cried like I had lost a close friend and mentor. On my first time through, I would periodically visit Thamasa, and look at that sword on top of the mound, and just lament not having Leo in the party.
I feel the same way about ffx but I gotta give this one a go seeing how much everybody loves this one.
Excellent video. Really love this long-form JRPG content, makes for excellent listening while I'm grinding in some game. Listened to this one while going through Colosseum fights on my Kingdom Hearts replay.
Glad you mentioned Shibuya's contributions to sprite design. Those iconic sprites are responsible for much of the charm of early Final Fantasy games and Shibuya really knocked things out of the park with FFVI. I can't even imagine what these games would be like without her work.
Thank you! Yes, I think Shibuya is very much an unsung hero of FF. I hadn't even heard her name before I started doing these retrospectives, which is kind of sad!
Best two plus hours ever spent. 👍
I am also of the age where my first time playing the game would've been as FF3 on te SNES, so while I was a little late to the party, that feeling of newness if you will is mutual.
To think that my favorite part of the whole game, the World of Ruin, wasn't originally supposed to be there. That part made FF6 my favorite FF game and Kefka my favorite FF villain. Just think, despite all the new features and the greater emphasis on dark and mature themes, as a young man, I still expected FF6 to end in typical fashion of the heroes stopping the villain and save the world in the last minute. But then, even with the best efforts from Shadow, Kefka still won, and watching the world tear itself apart was just mind blowing even now.
I agree that it has its weaknesses, but I gotta say, the pros vastly outweigh the cons as it was alot of fun searching for the rest of the cast and grinding out new abilities and spells. I even find certain side stories work out better in the World of Ruin more than the World of Balance, like finding Gau's father. Gau saying he was happy to see him alive despite simultaneously getting insulted and complimented just felt all the more moving when the setting was all broken and gloomy.
Anyways, I am happy to have found your love letter to FF6. I only wished I found it sooner.
Thanks for sharing, and thank you so much for your kind words! It means a lot to me to know that there are people out there enjoying my videos!
I'm NOT crying! No, shut up... YOU're crying!
🤣
I first played this game on ZSNES back in '99 and I remember being absolutely blown away by it. Over the intervening two decades, my fondness and appreciation for this title and what it did to elevate the artform of video games has only continued to grow. I'm so glad to see this title still getting the love and attention it deserves. This was a phenomenal retrospective! Hopefully you will give a similar treatment to Zelda: LttP and Chrono Trigger! ^_^
Thank you for all your amazing work! You just earned a sub. Shared this video with some friends as well! Wishing you all the best with your channel!
Thank you so much for your kind words! Chrono Trigger is next on my list of retrospectives, and I might cover Link to the Past as well, if I think I can do the game justice.
Honestly last year I finally finished Final Fantasy 6 and fall in Love with it, well I still like 9 the most but I'm honestly glad I that I was able to finish it and see why it was loved by fans and I can see why the Story and Characters will be forever my favorite in the series next to 9
Thanks for sharing your experiences! Glad you liked the game :)
Whuuff. 2 Hour video, but man it's about my favorite game of all time, so it was well worth the watch. I came here after watching your videos on Dragon Warrior 1 & 2; those two games, along with the original Final Fantasy, were the NES games that defined my childhood. I'm hoping you'll do videos on Dragon Warrior 3, and the excellent Dragon Warrior 4 (my favorite game, except for when my saves erased themselves.)
I used to play these older NES games with my father, some of the few good memories I have with him. FF3(6) was the first time I was ready to play through by myself, and it stands as one of my favorite games of all time. You have to look for it, but Uematsu-san did a live performance of (most!) of Dancing Mad at a Distant Worlds concert, and he's repeatedly said "never again!"
Thank you. Just, thank you.
Thank you for sharing your memories, and for the kind words! I'm playing through DQ3 right now and I'm planning on covering the entire mainline series eventually. :) And I'll try to find that live performance haha.
My friend, I can't tell you how amazing this video is. Thank you so much for making it. You put into words so many things I always felt about this game, my favorite game of all time. I will watch this many times in the future just to feel the nostalgia from someone else who I feel knows what I felt when I first played Final Fantasy 6 (3 when I was a kid lol)!
Wow, that’s such a nice thing to hear! I’m glad you like the video, and thanks for taking the time to tell me :)
I recall picking this up in 1994 and playing it over an entire weekend, getting less sleep than I should and finishing the game. It has such a fond place in my memories. I was in my late teens and was already an avid RPG fan on the NES and SNES, but this game was the culmination of perfection of that era,
Yeah, it really felt like the start of the golden age for me...
16:05 hey get that thing outta here, what do you think this is? The sun palace from 2300 AD?
30 years later ppl still making new videos about this game. That tells you all you need to know
This is such an incredible amount of work you must have had to put in here. This is so well done. A pleasure to watch, honestly. Most youtube videos you see on retrospectives, and reviews of old games are just copy/paste videos with stcok images or just some screenshots but you've really put so much effort into making this a real documentary and tribute to the game. The artistic nuances and the overall presentation of the video are just perfect. Thank you! I look forward to more releases from you and I've subscribed..
Thank you so much for saying that. My videos do indeed take a lot of work to create, so it's really nice to get this kind of feedback!
PS. Dragon Quest 1 retrospective coming tomorrow. :)
I agree that FF6 was absolutely stunning at the time (and it holds up pretty well), but I think FF4 deserves a lot of credit for laying the groundwork. It was FF4 that introduced the idea that you could tell a real story in a JRPG, with character development, conflict, and emotion, instead of just nameless heroes on a generic quest. Sure, it was greatly surpassed by 6 (my favorite in the entire series), but I don't think 6 could exist without 4.
Totally agree with that! If you're interested, I think I give a lot of credit to those aspects of Final Fantasy IV in my retrospective of that game. The reason why I personally single out FFVI as the "first masterpiece" is of course completely subjective, but in my eyes, it's the first game that truly hits every note in the symphony of mastery that would come to define this genre in the long run. That said, none of these games would even exist without the enormous contributions made by previous games in the series (and in the genre as a whole)!
Great look at my absolute favorite game of all time. I started getting big into RPGs with Final Fantasy Legend (rather SaGa I suppose) when it came out as my older cousin gave it to me as he wasn't a fan of non-action titles and I fell in love immediately. I can still recall in vivid detail my first time playing most of the mainline series but nothing compared to FF VI, how it blew me away with that opening sequence. I was strangely hesitant when reading previews, doubting that I would become as endured to the cast as I was with those in FF IV, but was very quickly proven wrong. To this day the opera is perhaps one my favorite moments in any form of media.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
come on, the Atma Weapon music and intro? that shit blew my 11 year old mind!
I will always contend that Chrono Trigger is a better game and story but it never went the places FF6 did.... this game introduced 11 year old me to nihilism.... what games marketed to kids out there now would dare to do such a thing?
I'm super torn about CT vs. FF6. I honestly don't think I could choose between them. But in some ways CT means more to me because it was the first JRPG I actually *owned*. (FF6 I played at my friend's house, although I basically lived there when the game was new lol).
Why FFVI is goated? Sabin suplexed a fucking train.
Thank you for making this retrospective/tribute. Final Fantasy VI is my favourite game of all time, and you gave it the look back it deserves. Playing the pixel remaster right now, and I can say that I still love this game as much as I did when I first played it (maybe loving it even more actually).
Glad you liked it! Yep, the game still holds up. :)
great script, made wanna play the game, but you should reallynot use these AI images, how can you make a love letter to such amazing artists and at the same time use tools that hurt all artists? there is plenty of official artwork and fanarts that could do the same job much better
Thank you for your kind words and for sharing your perspective. Honestly, you make a valid point. In the eight or so months since I published this video, the issue of generative AI has been something I've wrestled with a lot. I do see that there's an element of hypocrisy in my use of AI content to praise original content. At the same time, while generative AI has enormous problems, I don't see that we really have an alternative other than to embrace this new technology and find ways to work with it. There's really nothing we can do to stop it from happening.
Maybe that's cynical, but it's where I'm at right now.
Yes, it's a total masterpiece. I remember the characters having their own personalities, particularly when Edgar meets Terra the way he flirts with her was funny yet in a unique way sincere. I remember Locke lamenting the loss of Rachel, along with Setzer being sort of devil may care character with a heart of gold. Even Gogo, though brief, introduces himself in a quirky and straightforward manner. Kefka? A mad man who becomes an apathetic god still bound by his cynical sense of humor. I could go on and on, but this game blew my mind and captured my heart like no other game has ever been able to.
Still have my original SNES cartridge with the box and manual from back in the day, FFVI will always be my favorite Final Fantasy.
In a magazine (I forget which one) when talking about the music of FFVI it said "In terms of the technology Nobou Uematsu had to work with, he painted the Sistine Chapel with a box of crayons"
I still consider Dancing Mad to be his Magnum Opus, fuck One Winged Angel
Am I the only one who wish for a Remake of FFVI for people who played it back and for new people to see how the game is amazing ?
I'd want to see it, for sure :)
This can't be the first masterpiece jrpg. It came out like almost years after Mystic Quest.
haha yeah I really messed up!
good job. starting the series with og ff7, considering vi or x as my next game
Thank you for giving me a voice.
FF3 is a máster piece with flaws and all cus it was the first FF that I fully played and immersed into.
Yes I Said FF3.
Now as a 41yr old man, i can’t describe how this game was THE pinnacle of gaming back in mid 90s to younger generations or people who started with FF7.
It’s cool I look at NES games the same way FF7+ look at the SNES.
It’s all about perspective ❤
It is indeed all about perspective! Glad you liked the video :)
Stop misnumbering FFVI. The west has had the real FFIII for 17 years you are just going out your way to confuse people. My nephew who's first video game was FFIII on his DS lite is now in med school.
Only about 3 min in, can't wait to get thru this all (even though foe my old ass, FF4/2 edges this one out as my all time fave)...
But u "left something out" when u mentioned how you can tell its different shortly after turning the game on--- THE PRELUDE is slower, MUCH slower, and just overall so much more emotional and dramatic....
Turning the game on and juzt letting it play for 5-10 min was a norm for me, so hearing this new slow version was jarring-- but that faded away once that added "flute" hit.... just incredible and a sign of the awesomeness to come...
Yup. It was groundbreaking and I was in awe of its beauty. It SO deserves a 3D makeover. It would be an amazing game made in a realistic looking engine.
I would say, the 1st masterpiece JRPG is FinalFantasy4. Nothingless to say, FinalFantasy6 is a masterpiece (it's my favorite one).
I can say with no ego that out of all the Final Fantasy games, FF6 is the best. Our of all the JRPGs, Chrono Trigger is the best JRPG in the 🌎
Bruh spitting straight FACTS! 🙌🏿💯
I assume you've already heard the Decisive Battle version in FFXIV, but if for some reason you haven't look for a video titled "FFXIV OST Sigmascape Boss Theme ( A Battle Decisively )". It's very close to the original. I usually am in favor of the original sound (especially the Opera), but that updates does wonders. And a bonus song the Grissini Project's organ version of Dancing Mad.
The Sigmascape version is indeed very good! I think I still prefer the original, but hey, I'm probably just super biased. 😂
Thanks for the heads up about the Grissini Project! This is something that's completely passed me by until now!
Everyone misinterpreted the Second half of the game....The game is over as soon as Celes Jumps.... the rest is Vanilla Sky tom Cruise 2:01:12
Lol
@@AltercateTV Bro Kefka said it why do you fight 🤔 knowing you will all be destroyed. They are all Dead. Look at the sky on the second half of the game... now look at the sky in Vanilla sky.
Having been playing the pr version cyan actually has some lines at the banquet and during the battle of narshe. To the respective generals he fights kefka and Leo apologized to him.
2 hours? 2023? FF6? Holy ... It must be your THRE LOVE.
Eh, it's an alright game ;)
as someone who played it back in the days, this was life changing. Hell I just finished replaying it just now on the pixel remaster.
But what sticked with me the most until now, was the HUGE variety!
I played secret of mana just before that.. and it was AMAZING.. then I played FF6 and my brain exploded! went from like 9 weapons and a few healing items to hundreds of items, combinations, espers, magic spells.. my god it was HUGE at the time.. and hell look at FFXV (haven't played XVI yet), it doesn't even come close.. there is like what? 5 summons?
Back then this game just broke everything that has been done so far, it was incomparable, and to some aspect it still is.. Last games to propose such variety was the FF on PS1 in my opinion, it's all downhill from there.
Also it's the last famous RPG AFAIK that proposed 2 players coop.. it's probably marginal but I noticed NO ONE ever talk about it somehow. Yes most people don't care or never used that function, but I DID back then with my buddy on the couch, and we could share that FF experience together instead of having just one boringly watch someone else play.. and obviously no one will ever get the chance to experience that anymore.. Hell I don't think it's even available on the pixel remaster for some reason..
FF6 is just something ELSE.
It's like there are singers, and then there are michael jackson or elvis presley or whatever. they're just not part of the pack, they're their own thing altogether.
I remember using the co-op feature back in the day! I think I had something about it in my first draft of the script, but ended up cutting it out for brevity... 😂
Spoilers Below:
Just beat the Pixel Remaster version today after playing through the game for the first time in over a decade. I still can't get over how this game was made in 1994. Honestly as a gaming experience FF6 clears most RPGs that are released even today. Something as miniscule as character interaction and tropes are brought to the nth degree. Sabin with his incredible strength, which comes into play in the town in Tzen in the WoR when you have to save the little boy in the collapsing house. Cyan and his fear of machines, and how even something as simple as stepping on a mechanical button strikes great fear within him, even as the party desperately tries to escape Kefka's tower. Locke and his "treasure hunting" antics, which allow him "find" coughstealcough outfits of the enemy in a Imperial occupied town in order to escape. Each character has a trope that's both relevant to the story and adds to the flavor of the numerous character interactions within the story. I wish more RPGs would incorporate this kind of writing in their stories.
Well said! Thanks for sharing your thoughts :)
Wonderful job. Your content is amazing. Thank you for this love letter retrospective to, what is also MY favorite JRPG of all time. A watershed moment for gaming that once again reaffirms the Japanese as the true master artisans of game design.
Thank you so much! :)
Not my favorite title in the series, but this video made me appreciate FFVI a lot more by helping me remember many great moments I had with it. It must have taken a lot of time and effort to put such a long video together, so thank you for all the hard work.
Thank you, that's really nice of you to say! :)