Final Fantasy VI is a great game. One of the better ways to spend countless hours of your time.
This is the last Final Fantasy before the series gone 3D, and it represents the apex of dot graphics. This is a feature rather than a weakness, there is a sense of vintage charm in these 16x24 character sprites and 16x16 tile backgrounds that is not found in later games, not even the high-res remake of FF6. Actually the game has some notable 3D effects that are seen in key cutscenes and higher level spells, but mostly it exercised 2D raster graphics to its fullest.
Despite only so few pixels, it was able to present many distinct characters with a full range of expressions and tell a compelling story. It is an epic tale of magic, madness, world domination and destruction. But the real highlight is more than the main quest: there is a large and well balanced cast of characters to play with, each with their personalities and backstory. The attention to detail extends to enemies and even random villagers. The story was grand and the world was large, and all characters were developed with care.
The best thing to do in this large world is to explore the many thoughtfully designed dungeons, each with a distinct theme and unique set of enemies. The game definitely benefited from the 2D perspective in designing these dungeons, with many interlocking passages and hidden corners, and many hidden treasures. Treasure hunting in these dungeons is a great pleasure, and it's a great sense of accomplishment to find that secret ribbon or obtain that venerable shield. FF6 rewards those who spends the extra effort to find or farm or uncurse or mass-produce those special items, many of which changes the battle mechanics significantly.
Battle is mostly optional, and there is even an accessory that removes random enemy encounters altogether. Also, there is the system of level-up bonus built into the magicites that encourages players to carefully track how much experience they are accumulating. I got the feeling in the second half of the game that I really shouldn't have leveled up so much in the first half, and I got the feeling in beating the final boss that I probably shouldn't have tried to level up at all. But it's just so much more fun to fight the great variety of enemies, and listen to that battle theme.
The background music for battle scenes is great, as is all other songs found in this game. Final Fantasy has a long heritage of good music and FF6 upholds that reputation very well, with many original tunes and a few remixes from earlier Final Fantasy series. It's especially impressive considering that I probably heard a few thousand repetitions of the battle theme (and slightly fewer repetitions of the victory fanfare). These songs have held up well against the test of time.
There are a few bugs and minor annoyances, but overall, Final Fantasy VI just feels like a game that I can keep on playing for a long time. I figured now would be a good time to take a break, but maybe I will try to finish it in half as many hours or half as many steps next time.
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